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 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.