Kastang » Uncategorized http://kastang.com Ramblings of a Geek Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:17:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 iPhone Apps http://kastang.com/blog/2009/03/iphone-apps/ http://kastang.com/blog/2009/03/iphone-apps/#comments Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:08:28 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/?p=169 I have had my iPhone for about three months now. The first few weeks I had my phone I found myself constantly trying new applications. I had a hard time decided which apps were the best. Now, three months after getting my phone, I have noticed that I rarely add new applications, I find myself more then often deleting unused apps. I am curious to see what others are using for their iPhone apps. I am sure there are some great apps out there that I missed!

Here is what I currently use:

The first page consists of the applications I tend to use on an almost daily basis. The usual culprits are here: Safari, Phone, Mail, App Store(Haven't used this much lately, but it still deserves a spot on the front page), Settings(Constantly turning on/off Wifi and other services. I wish Apple would have made it easier to enable or disable services on the fly), and Text. I use these mainly because there are limited other options to use without Jailbreaking my iPhone.

Three of my absolute favorite apps are on this page: Facebook, Stanza and Twitterfon apps. I use these three extensively on a near daily basis. The Facebook app is self explanatory, if you have a Facebook account you probably already have the iPhone Facebook app.

Twitterfon on the other hand took me a while to find. I originally started out with the free version of the Twitterific app. The ads got to me after a short while, so I switched over to Twinkle. I never cared for the layout of Twinkle, but it was ad-free and worked very well for a month or so until one of the updates caused the application to crash constantly. From a recommendation of someone on Twitter, I tried Twitterfon and never looked back. The layout of Twitterfon is perfect. It has every feature I need.

Stanza is the app that persuaded me not to buy an Amazon Kindle. The thing I absolutely LOVE about Stanza is that it has a desktop app that allows me to sync my current eBook collection on my computer with my iPhone. Other eBook readers I tried before Stanza would not allow this. They would only allow books to be purchased via the iPhone.

Lose It! is a calorie monitoring weight tracking app. I was a bit skeptical when I started using this app, but I have lost seven pounds using this app so far. I am on a <1900 calorie diet and it is really showing results. Lose It has a large library of different foods and their nutrition value. It takes seconds to look up. It was a real eye opener to see how some of my favorite foods are extremely high calories.

Shovel is the best application for Digg I have found. Digg is one of my favorite news websites. Shovel allows me to access Digg without going through Safari. My only complaint is I cannot 'Digg' articles through this app. Evidently the Digg API does not allow this. Weird huh?

The only game I have on my iPhone is iMob. I am not really sure if you can even consider it a game. It is more like a good way to waste five minutes. It does get addicting after a while though. If you also play iMob, feel free to add me: 148-152-001. I have yet to find any games that really have made me want to download them. Any suggestions?

Page two is a little less exciting then page one. These applications I use on a weekly/monthly basis. They are not used enough to warrant being put on the front page. The highlight of this page is Things. Things is a GTD app for the iPhone. I originally bought this app to manage my college homework and projects. I found it was too much of a hassle to add all my small assignments into Things. I chose to hang an eight foot whiteboard from my wall in my bedroom instead. While it may not  be as organized as Things, it certainly gets the job done. I currently use Things for larger projects I have planned for We Know's website along with other larger college related projects I am working on. Things also has a OSX desktop app available that will sync with the Things app. The app is extremely simple to use and syncing is easy. if you are looking for a GTD app for the iPhone, I suggest taking a look at Things.

I currently have three World of Warcraft applications on this page. WarcraftStat shows the status of all realms. I find this app handy at times. I frequent this app on Tuesdays maintenance. I use WoWTalents when I have free time or when I am thinking about modifying my current talent tree. Characters is an app that pulls armory data for selected characters. It is a nice app to look up details on a character or multiple characters on the go.

I guess the proper name for page three would be the graveyard. These are applications I either cannot remove/hide(Thanks, Apple.) or hardly ever use. Not much to say about this page sadly.

Backgrounds is a neat little app, I like to change my unlock screen background every few weeks, or when I am feeling particularly bored. I suppose that is the only reason I keep the app on my phone.

Surprisingly, I have never used the Google app. My GMail account goes through Mail, I use iCal rather then Google Calender, etc etc... I keep it there because I know better then to under estimate Google. I am confident that one day I will need to use it.

I still carry my old 30g iPod with me, I only have a few audio books on my iPhone at the moment. I like keeping my music and phone separate.

There is a look at my iPhone. What applications do you use on a daily or weekly basis?

]]> http://kastang.com/blog/2009/03/iphone-apps/feed/ 0 The Past Month…ish http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/the-past-monthish/ http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/the-past-monthish/#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:07:24 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/?p=136 Twitter has ruined any form of blogging I used to do. I really have to work on that. Here is what has been going on the past month or so....

iPhone

My LG enV started acting up a month ago, I brought it to Verizon and they gave me a bunch of crap that they would not replace it. I was not eligible for a discounted upgrade for another three months unless I wanted to extend my contract two years. Instead of selling my soul to Verizon again for another two years, I made the switch to AT&T and the iPhone. AT&T rocks in my area, I have yet to see "No Service" on my iPhone. So basically AT&T + iPhone = WIN.

I have been testing out many Applications on my iPhone. Top 5ish favorite apps:

  • Facebook - Feeds my Facebook addiction while on the road.
  • BeejiveIM - Best IM client for the iPhone. Worth every penny.
  • AroundMe|Yelp - I like AroundMe more, but I keep both.
  • Amazon App | Snaptell - Take pictures of books at amazon and upload to Amazon reminders, but later for cheaper. Same with Snaptell for books or DVDs.
  • Remember The Milk - Still working with the free trial, but will be buying a year subscription when it runs out. Best GTD app for the iPhone with a nice web interface.

Other apps: Shovel(Digg App), EverNote, Last.fm, Now Playing, Shazam, Weather Bug, Google App, Urban Spoon, SnapTell, 1Password, WarcraftStat, Characters, Chest, WoWTalent, Stanza.

College

College went very well this semester. Classes I took: Comp 1, Introduction to Object Oriented Programming(Java I), Discrete Structures, Intro to Symbolic Logic, Intro to Sociology. Easiest classes were Intro to Sociology and IOOP. Finals were not nearly as bad as I expected them to be. Finished the semester with a 3.756 GPA.

Next semesters lineup is: Calc 1, Computer Organization, Foundations of Computer Science, C++, Java II. Hoping this semester will go as smoothly as the first.

World of Warcraft

Started playing WoW again the day after finals were done. Went from 70 - 80 in about 13 days. For those interested, I did 70-72 in Borean Tundra, 73-74 in Howling Fjord, 75-76 in Grizzly Hills, 77-78 in Zul Drak, and hit 80 in Sholazar Basin. Still haven't really touched Ice Crown or Storm Peaks yet. I am geared for Naxx according to be.imba.hu Getting into a group will be the difficult part. I don't for see myself quitting WoW again anytime soon. I really enjoy the new WoLK content, BC content just got boring that is why I took my break.

I will have to start balancing WoW with College in a little over a week. I hope it won't be too difficult or I will have to force myself to quit WoW and only play in between semesters which I hope does not happen.

Christmas

I asked for books this year. I hated having nothing new to read when I wanted too. This collection should last me for a bit hopefully:

Most of the books I received for christmas were from suggestions from friends. My friend Snowchyld currently has me hooked on the Dresden Files. I am currently on the 4th book of the Dresden Series. After completing Summer Knight, I am going to start World War Z based on suggestion from Nelson Minar.

End

Well, Thats about it.

]]> http://kastang.com/blog/2009/01/the-past-monthish/feed/ 0 America gets Rickrolled http://kastang.com/blog/2008/11/america-gets-rickrolled/ http://kastang.com/blog/2008/11/america-gets-rickrolled/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:14:49 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/?p=132

]]> http://kastang.com/blog/2008/11/america-gets-rickrolled/feed/ 0 REGISTER TO VOTE. http://kastang.com/blog/2008/10/register-to-vote/ http://kastang.com/blog/2008/10/register-to-vote/#comments Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:05:46 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/?p=37

Please register to vote and send this video to 5 Friends.

]]> http://kastang.com/blog/2008/10/register-to-vote/feed/ 0 “I am free” http://kastang.com/blog/2008/08/i-am-free/ http://kastang.com/blog/2008/08/i-am-free/#comments Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:24:35 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/?p=33

Goto work, send your kids to school
follow fashion, act normal
walk on the pavement, watch TV
Save for your old age, obey the law
Repeat after me: I am free

Source

]]> http://kastang.com/blog/2008/08/i-am-free/feed/ 0 Hot Temperatures http://kastang.com/blog/2008/06/hot-temperatures/ http://kastang.com/blog/2008/06/hot-temperatures/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:45:08 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/blog/?p=10 Today was an interesting today. It hit over 100F here. My High School was literally an oven today outside of the air conditioned rooms (which I am lucky enough to be in 90% of the day). The school closed two hours earlier then usual. It is also rumored that we will be having half days for the remainder of the school year, Friday. If it is true, that it really a great way to go out senior year. Hopefully the weather cools down before Saturday, my graduation day! Its going to be a hot one wearing my dark red cap/gown with dark dress clothes under it.

]]> http://kastang.com/blog/2008/06/hot-temperatures/feed/ 0 Hello world! http://kastang.com/blog/2008/06/hello-world/ http://kastang.com/blog/2008/06/hello-world/#comments Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:26:37 +0000 Josh http://kastang.com/blog/?p=1 Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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