GMail

Almost everyone but the true Luddites have gotten onboard the e-mail train by now (in fact, can we drop the hyphen? cool, thanks). Unfortunately, a lot of us hopped on many, many years ago and although email clients have advanced, not all have done so at the same rate. If you're still using the AOL, for example, you're probably suffering unnecessary pain.

My email client of choice is GMail (by Google). Don't be fooled by the eternal "beta" tag; GMail is the webmail service (i.e. email accessed via the web instead of by a desktop application) that pushes all the others to innovate -- for now, at least. If you're really fastidious with folders or otherwise particular about email, you're probably going to want a desktop client anyway. But for the rest of us humans, webmail is pretty darn convenient, especially while traveling.

The most important features that make GMail standout (for me) are:

• Search: Shockingly, Google knows how to do this well.
• Conversations: Rather than displaying each individual message, replies are grouped with the original message. Usually, this is a good thing.
• Fatty Limits: You can store a LOT of data, send BIG attachments, have as many labels, filters, etc. as you want. Google doesn't play the Freemium game.
• Offline Browsing: As of January 2009, you can keep a cache of your mail on your computer and browse it, search it, compose messages etc., while offline. Once you get back online, you can send your saved drafts and synchronize any changes you've made.
• Interface: GMail has an excellent interface that is intuitive, easy to use, simple, easy to look at, and tends to work well. I don't say those things lightly.
• Spam Filter: It works. That's more than I can say for any other email service I've ever used.
  
• Features, Features, Features: GMail supports a lot of features, but even more are behind the scenes in GMail Labs, essentially a playground where Google Engineers add bells and whistles they'd like to use themselves. Just a few include: Offline (mentioned above), Undo Send (that's right!), Forgot Attachment Detector, Vacation Auto-responder, and on and on and on. They are not always bug-free (hence the "labs") and should be used with care, but can be extremely handy.

Another consideration is that GMail is embedded in the Google ecosystem (chat, groups, etc.) which can lead to some handy integration if you use other Google tools. This is similarly true for Yahoo!.

Of course, there are downsides:

• Google can scour your email as much as it likes, though presumably will "do no evil" with your data. If you're fond of your privacy, it's worth noting that at some level, you really are giving it up. The ads it puts along-side your messages also may creep you out by how relevant they are (unless you block them, like me, shhhh).
  
• It's rare, but GMail does go down occasionally, which will leave you out in the cold unless, perhaps, you have Offline enabled. Of course, you could always go take a walk or read a book. And, if Google somehow loses your account or your data, well, I hope you exported a backup.

Check into your current email client/service and see if it supports forwarding. In that case, you can have any email sent to your old address automatically forwarded to your new GMail address. If not, it actually can be kind of liberating to jump to a new email address... not quite email bankruptcy (I give up!), but like moving to a new physical address, you can weed out all the people (or organizations, Russian gangsters, you get the picture) sending you mail that you don't really want to hear from.

Signing up is a snap. And who knows, perhaps you'll be intrigued enough to make the switch. If not, you can choose not to use it, or you can forward your new GMail address to your current email address. Free your inbox! Or feel free to disagree!

iPhone Tip: Beyond .com

If you work in education or otherwise make frequent use of domains that do NOT end in ".com", you may have felt ever so slightly left out the first time you entered a url (that's what dorks call a web address) in Safari on your iPhone. The ".com" button in that bottom right corner is just not that inclusive, is it?

Fear not! You can actually end your urls with .net, .org or .edu as well with just one (extended) click. (Sorry, .mil, .gov, foreign countries, etc., you were sacrificed to the screen real estate gods.) Next time you are entering a url, hold down the ".com" and up they pop. Thank god you don't have to hunt and peck for those last three letters anymore!

Credit goes entirely to my Mac-obsessed friend for this little tidbit. She knows who she is!

Next up, a not iPhone-related post, promise.

iPhone Tip: Taking a Screenshot

My Home Screen
My guess is that many an iPhone user has discovered a random image in his or her Camera Roll that looks suspiciously familiar.

Well, if you are one of these people, using an iPhone running version 2.0 or later of the firmware, you probably accidentally took a screenshot (for the non-techs out there, this is exactly what it sounds like, a picture of your current screen).

To do this deliberately, simply click the home button and the power button at the same time (or hold down the home button, then click the power button). You should see the screen flash white for a moment but otherwise be unchanged. You can do this from inside an application, while sending mail, or anywhere else. When you go to Photos, then Camera Roll, you should see any screenshots you've taken.

Whether you're documenting a strange bug, succinctly sharing the apps you use, or just think something looks cool, this comes in handy every now and then. Or at least explains random photos appearing in your Camera Roll.

Firefox Add-On: Pronounce

It's always disconcerting when you begin to read some text aloud to someone and run into a word you just aren't sure how to pronounce. You may often know precisely what it means, or be able to suss out the meaning from the context, but the pronunciation is just a total crap shot.

Well, if said text is in a browser, you're now in business. With the simple little Pronounce Firefox add-on, you simply highlight the word (often double-clicking will do this), right-click the highlight, and choose "Pronounce" from the pop-up menu. If your sound is on, the word is spelled correctly (!) and Mirriam-Webster has it in its dictionary, you should hear a male or female voice pronounce it for you. You can also add a Pronounce button to your Firefox toolbar (from View -> Toolbars -> Customize...) rather than right-clicking if you're really into learning how to pronounce words -- or if you just like looking at the smiley little Pronounce button guy.

I can't say I use this add-on every day, but it does hit the spot when you have that particular need. Install it and try it out on the words below. I'm tossing in definitions in the interest of literacy.

• barbiturate - n. any of class of sedative and sleep-inducing drugs derived from barbituric acid
  
• hierarchical - adj. of the nature of a hierarchy; arranged in order of rank
• nuclear - adj. of or relating to the nucleus of an atom (I just couldn't help myself!)
  
• obstreperous - adj. noisy or difficult to control
• prerogative - n. a right or privilege exclusive to a particular individual or class
• segue - v. move without interruption from one song, melody, or scene to another
  
• sherbet - n. a frozen dessert made with fruit juice added to milk or cream, egg white, or gelatin
  
• wizened - adj. shriveled or wrinkled with age

This one is for all you word nerds out there! Comment with any words you find hard to pronounce!

Heard about it from: net@night podcast, I think
Get it from: Mozilla Add-On library

iPhone App: Free Memory

Has your iPhone ever seemed particularly pokey? Or do applications sometimes crash when you open them? One culprit could be the iPhone's relatively teensy amount of runtime memory: 128MB. Before anyone gets too confused, this is not the amount of storage on your iPhone (e.g. 8GB or 16GB), but rather the memory (RAM) that the iPhone uses to "think". Most of that 128MB is used by the operating system, leaving only about 30-40MB for applications. (!!)

I've found the Free Memory application to be helpful in making my iPhone a wee bit snappier. It's a very simple app that allows you to see the process currently running on your phone, and if applicable, free up to 20 MB of memory. It also displays a numeric value for the battery charge remaining, which is handy. (Apparently, Apple is not a fan of this, and the battery indicator will be removed in the next version, 1.5, due out "soon").

A true geek will have a jailbroken phone with all kinds of nerdery to this and more, but for us humans, it's worth a buck.

One word of warning: some reviews in the iTunes store complain of serious issues after installing this app. I haven't had any at all, and most such issues can be resolved by restoring your phone or reinstalling the application, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Developer: Recession Apps (what a depressing name!)

Get it from: iTunes
Current Version: 1.4 (but "soon" to be 1.5, which has no battery indicator, bleh)
Current Price: $0.99

Current Rank: #6 in Utilities (paid), #98 Overall (paid)
Reviews: iTunes: 3/5, Average Review at apptism: 3.5/5

Twitter

If a web service is being covered by David Pogue and major news sites, produces over 199 million search results, and it is used by the President and Britney Spears then it's safe to call it mainstream.

Twitter, available at twitter.com, is ostensibly very simple. You can "tweet" 140 characters at a time, what some call a "microblog". Your tweets are available to anyone on the web unless you protect them (which sort of misses the point). You can follow other twitterers and if they also follow you, you can send them a message directly. And, that, technically, is really all there is to it.

What gets complicated are all the ways people use Twitter, proper Twitter "etiquette" (twittiquette?) and the myriad of Twitter clients. There are oodles of articles on all those topics and tips on getting started, so I'm going to write about how I use it.

My account: zazerh_news just to follow news and zazerh as myself, following everything else

How I access it: with Tweetie on my iPhone, Twitterific or Spaz on OS X, and rarely, via the web

When/how often I read my feed: Often I'll browse headlines first thing in the morning unless I have to rush off. I'll peruse it from my phone while waiting for something somewhere (e.g. in line). Many of my OS X use Growl to flash little notification on the upper right of my screen, so sometimes I'll see them flash by as I work. Of course, if I'm crushingly busy, I tend not to check it all.

What I tweet about: I try to avoid answering the actual question Twitter asks ("What are you doing right now?"), unless it's interesting or funny. I'll sometimes "retweet" other people's interesting tweets, pass on interesting links with TinyURL (or some other link shortener) or what I think of a movie or book, make a witty (I try) observation, post a picture with TwitPic, or rarely, reply to another tweet. You get the idea.

How often I tweet: Usually once or twice a day, unless I gotta lot of interesting going on. From following other people, you tire very quickly of people twittering every five minutes if it's not very high quality.

Who I follow:

• for news, CNN @cnnbrk, Newsweek @Newsweek, NYTimes @nytimes, MacRumors @MacRumorsRSS, to name a few.
• the few family members and meatspace friends of mine that are on Twitter
• web developers like Paul Boag @boagworld
• web celebs like Veronica Belmont @veronica and Wil Wheaton @wilw
• political figures like Ahhhnold @schwarzenegger and Obama @BarackObama
• software vendors I use like @CulturedCode (they make Things)
• services like @TrackThis and @FuelFrog
• podcasters like LeoLaporte @LeoLaporte and @GrammarGirl
• musicians I like, such as Ingrid Michaelson @ingridmusic and Trent Reznor @treznor
  
• tech notables like Tim O'Reilly @timoreilly and Craig Newmark @craignewmark
  
• actual celebrities, like @TinaFey
• deal finders like @woot and @gotodaily
  

Other uses: I feed my tweets into my Facebook status using the Twitter facebook app. Twitter is also a great way to find out what people are talking about right now, such a disaster, a live event, movies out right now, what have you. It's surprising how unsuccessful it can be to Google for some of these things... so try http://search.twitter.com and you might be surprised at how useful it can be.

Overwhelmed yet? Take it slow. Read David Pogue's introduction. And a word to the wise, Twitter can be flakey!

iPhone Tip: Less Other Please

Have you ever been irritated at whatever the "Other" is that is taking up space on your iPhone? It's the orange section of the bar of the Capacity indicator on the Summary screen on iTunes.

"Other" is iTunes catch-all category for everything that isn't Audio, Video, Photos or Apps. Presumably this includes contacts, crash reports, illegitimate ringtones and who knows what else. Well, my "Other" had crept up to 338.8 MB.

Just for kicks, I restored my phone to see if doing so might help. I lost some settings here and there (my phone doesn't lock now, e.g.) and your applications will be in a different order, but for the most part, everything was pretty much as it was when I last backed up, including application data. I did find rearranging the applications (over five pages) pretty tedious -- Apple really needs to come up with a cleverer way to allow folks to organize their apps.

Now my "Other" is 294.8 MB. That's a 44 MB difference, so for me, a worthwhile exercise. Hopefully I won't regret it at a later date. Now that I think about it, I wonder if this might clean up iPods as well...

(Side note: I'm using the latest iPhone OS 2.2.1)

Web App: Joe's Goals

I'm a wee bit obsessed with productivity and I'm always on the lookout for tools, habits, and processes to incrementally improve myself in that regard.

Recently a tweet from LifeHacker breezed through my Twitter feed (more on that later) linking to an article on Top 10 Tools for Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions. One of these caught my eye in particular: Joe's Goals.

Joe's Goals is a dead simple little web application that allows to easily track your habits, both those you'd like to improve upon (wear sunscreen is one of mine) and those you want to avoid (eating fast food, for example). Your goals are the rows and days are the columns and you click in a box to add a checkmark, or click a checkmark to remove it. That's the gist of it, but there are more fun little featurelets if you choose to make use of them. Goals can have tags by which you can filter your list as well as weights, which are totaled each day, giving you your daily score. Joe's Goals also tracks "chains" of consecutive days, generates summary reports, and provides a badge for your blog or iGoogle (more on that later too).

I've only fussed with it for a day or two, but it really hits that daily habits sweet spot just next door to a task list (daily repeating tasks are just oppressive). It took me no time to slam out at least 10 or 12 things I'd like to do every day (and a few to avoid). Time will tell if I can keep it up!

Joe's Goals is free, but they request just $12/year to be a paid subscriber. I may do just that, especially if he (Joe?) completes my circuit with an iPhone app.

iPhone App: WeightBot

I'll start off my iPhone apps with my most recent acquisition: WeightBot. WeightBot does exactly one thing, track your weight, but it does so brilliantly and beautifully.

There are two simple modes: data entry and graphing. When the iPhone is upright (vertical), you can view, enter, and edit your weight up to once a day, including entering past dates. Your BMI is displayed along with your weight. After turning the phone on its side, you see a graph of your weight over time, including a moving average and horizontal lines representing your target weight and where overweight ends and normal begins. Clicking anywhere on the screen cycles through different time periods (week, month, year) and flicking left and right moves your backward and forward in time.

That's really about all there is to it. You can add a password to the app if your anxious about an incidental handler of your phone peeking at your weight. Height and weight units can be displayed in either U.S. (lbs, ft/inches) or metric (kg, cm). Cute sounds can be turned off if you prefer your phone to be seen and not heard. Finally, you can back up your data. According to the iTunes page, upcoming features include a data summary view and data export and updates are free.

Despite the fact that other health and fitness applications have weight trackers and much more, I can't resist using this little app, due to its slick design, simplicity and how easy it is to use.


(Video courtesy of bestiphoneapps)

Developer: Tapbots
Source: 2008 Best App Ever Awards (Winner of Most Original User Interface)

Get it from: iTunes
Current Version: 1.2.1
Current Price: $1.99

Current Rank: #5 in Health & Fitness (paid)
Reviews: iTunes: 3.5/5 (harsh!), Average Review at apptism: 4.5/5

Review Update: New Ars Technica review on 1/14/09
Price Update: Looks like there was a price bump to $2.99 on 2/3/09. Meh.

iPhone

What follows isn't so much a review of the iPhone, but merely my experience of acquiring and owning one.

I managed to resist the sexy charm of the first generation of iPhones, given the hefty price (starting at $499!) and my personal tendency to avoid being an early adopter.

However, when my ancient LG decided to start turning itself off intermittently about a month before the iPhone 3G came out in July of 2008, I knew the time had come. The 3G (confusingly, this refers to the cell phone network, not the third generation of the phone) was definitely worth the wait. It was cheaper, faster, smaller, lighter, had better battery life, had real GPS, and the headphone jack was no longer irritatingly recessed, which required an accessory to use non-iPhone headphones.

Most importantly, as the iPhone 3G was released, the iTunes app store was launched, which changes everything. Third party developers can now create applications of (almost) all kinds which can the be sold (or given away for free) via iTunes (available on both OS X and Windows). It is incredibly easy to install applications... you can even do it directly on your phone. After just 6 months, there are thousands of applications, many of which are actually useful and implemented well. The iPhone took smartphones to the next level, challenging the Crackberry and clunky Windows Mobile devices.

There are plenty of things that aren't ideal about the iPhone. It's still quite expensive, it doesn't have cut and paste, it's only available on AT&T, it doesn't support Flash, doesn't record video, the camera is pretty feeble, and not everyone is a fan of the virtual keyboard. This is probably not the phone for folks who are on a budget, who live or work where AT&T coverage sucks, who would pay a fortune to escape their current cell phone plan, or who are devotees of text messaging (especially tactile texters) and non-stop emailing. There is also the legitimate argument that Apple is suppressing creativity and competition by keeping the App store in lockdown (unlike Google's Android). Apple must approve all applications, takes a cut of all sales, and will not permit applications that compete with its own software (e.g. a podcast downloader app) or that it deems inappropriate for whatever reason. On the other hand, this probably makes for a better end-to-end user experience, which is Apple's whole gig.

But really the bottom line is that having a usable, flexible smartphone has had a huge impact on my daily life, especially while traveling. It's like having a tiny laptop with me at all times, allowing me to do just about anything: surf the web, identify a song on the radio, know what my friends are up to, find a tasty local restaurant, get from place to place, remotely control my music library, check my cash flow, and of course, listen to music and watch video. That's just the tip of the iceberg... with applications and software updates, more functionality is available by the minute, literally. From what I've heard from speaking to friends, everyone I know that has an iPhone would be hard-pressed to give it up. It also sure doesn't hurt that it's purty.

Even if you don't get an iPhone, a smartphone is the way to go. Check it out and make your life better. And stay tuned for my favorite iPhone apps!

Heard about it from: Massive Apple PR campaign and buzzing around entire geek community
Get it from: Apple, AT&T and even (gasp) Wal-Mart

Firefox Add-On: Adblock Plus

I loooove ads on web pages. I especially love it when they flash, or start a movie, or start playing audio while I'm trying to read something. In fact, sometimes I take advantage of the extra load time they add so I can meditate.

If, in fact, you aren't as excited by banner ads as I am, you can just avoid seeing them altogether with one of the best Firefox extensions out there, Adblock Plus. Adblock Plus uses a filter system to prevent ads from being loaded at all. You won't see them and they won't slow you down. Sometimes it can make some pages look a little odd, but (sarcasm aside) it's well worth it.

Here's an example of the difference it can make:

First you see ads...


and now you don't:



Yay! I'm actually just fine without a "bay land rover" or "data migration software" so I think I didn't miss much.

To add this extension, go to the Adblock Plus page and click the big green Add to Firefox button. After you restart Firefox, you'll be presented with a page that allows you to select the filter you'd like to use. You can create your own filters, but the filters maintained by someone else are a lot less work. Choose the one most appropriate to your geographical region (probably EasyList + EasyElement USA) and click "Subscribe". Voila, you are now 99% ad free. Enjoy!

Let's all thank Wladimir Palant for making browsing the web less irritating!

Heard about it from: Don't remember... in fact, it will be a while before I plow through the stuff I've been using forever
Get it from: Mozilla Add-On library

Firefox: Add-Ons

Last time, I mentioned Firefox extensions. These are little additions to your browser that allows you to customize it in any number of ways, such as blocking out banner ads, integrating web applications or widgets into your browser, or adding snippets of functionality to the browsing experience.

Mozilla refers to these as "Add-Ons" and maintains a library of them on the Mozilla site. You can add an extension right from within the browser. Just go to the page for that extension and click the "Add to Firefox" button. Note that older extensions that have not been maintained may not work with the newest version of Firefox. You'll have to restart Firefox before the extension will be loaded. You can disable or uninstall any current extensions at any time (this also requires restarting) from the "Tools: Add-ons" menu.

These extensions are written by third-party developers (not Mozilla), so some may be more reliable than others. In fact, it's a good idea to install and check out extensions one at a time to verify that you actually want to use it, that it is stable, and that it doesn't have any strange interactions with any other extensions you may have installed. Also keep in mind that every extension you install makes your browser use up a bit more memory and possibly, run slower. It's not a bad idea to occassionally review your extensions and dump any you don't want or need.

Next up, individual extensions I <3! style="font-weight: bold;">Heard about them from: Probably wherever I heard about Firefox
Get them from: Mozilla Add-Ons or from wherever else the developer makes them available