Top Twenty-Four Apps.

In the spirit of giving at Christmas, we are giving you the gift of the top twenty-four apps all in one little list.  We know... you're welcome.  You should know, though, that there was no way we were going to spend Christmas day typing a blog post (even for you), so we actually typed this last week (twice, if you need to know- we deleted the first one... nice.  Ya, we were pretty happy about that.).  So, you ask, how did we type it last week and have it post on Christmas?  Did we get up at the crack of dawn Christmas morning, rush to the computer, and hit the "publish" button?  Did we hire elves?  Did we actually type it on Christmas after all (you know, third time's a charm)?  No.  No.  And, no.  If you want to know how we did it, click here.

Anyway, on to the list.  So, in no particular ranking, but in the order in which they were published, these are the twenty-four apps we reviewed:

1.    Evernote
2.    SoundHound
3.    Better Christmas List
4.    Postagram/Sincerely Ink
5.    Lose It
6.    ePrint
7.    Pandora
8.    Words With Friends
9.    Alarm Clock
10.  Fantasy Monster Football
11.  Capture
12.  Glo Bible 
13.  Silent Film Director
14.  Grocery IQ
15.  SnapTell
16.  All Recipes/Epicurious
17.  Nike Training Club
18.  Pages
19.  App Advice
20.  Card Shark Deluxe
21.  TripIt
22.  Greeting/Holiday cards by Cardmon
23.  HootSuite
24.  BlogPress

Day Twenty-One. App Twenty-One. TripIt.

TripIt is an indispensable travel app, in our opinion (really, who else's opinion did you expect?).  What we like about TripIt is that it puts all of our travel information into one place.  This is wonderful!  Especially when we go on a longer trip and stay in multiple locations or use multiple "frequent this or that miles."
 
To use TripIt, all you do is forward the travel confirmations you receive from hotels, airlines, trains, etc. to plans@tripit.com and within seconds the site takes care of the rest, putting together a whole itinerary for you with everything included!  And... if you are a gmail user, it will automatically update to TripIt by just using that email address when you book your travel plans.  For every entry, the app provides links to information you may need (maps, phone numbers, websites, etc).  If needed, you can also update and customize your entries yourself (for example if you want to add in notes, additional phone numbers, maps, links, etc.).  Once you've created your trip, you can then share it with others (nice for letting parents or significant others know where to find you).

If you travel, you need TripIt.  Period.  It's like having a little travel agent/personal assistant in your phone.   Now who wouldn't want that?  

So, check it out.  Tell us what you think?  Is there something better?  We doubt it, but if you think so, let us know!

Day Eleven. App Eleven. Capture.

"Wait, can you do that once more?!?"  That's what used to happen at our house when someone would do something worthy of the almighty video-recording.  Back in the old days, it used to mean running to the closet to dig out the clunky video recorder; remember those HUGE tapes?!?- (Hmmmm, we may have just stumbled upon the root of obesity in the US; we aren't lifting all those heavy electronics anymore- cell phones the size of Shaq's shoe and video cameras you had to perch on your shoulder to lift, not to mention TVs that you had to get up to change the channel... Yikes!  You better look back at one of our favorite fitness apps!).  These days spur of the moment video recording more likely just involves pulling our iPhone out of our pocket.... then, opening the camera app.... then switching it to video from still... then pushing record.... okay, so still not that speedy.

Anyway, no longer do we miss those video capturing opportunities, and we owe it all to Capture.  Capture is a simple little app that does one thing.  You tap it and it begins recording automatically when it opens up.  When you tap to stop it, the recording is automatically sent to your photo library where you can do with it what you like.  We have placed the Capture icon on the bottom of our phone so it is always there no matter what page of our phone we're on ("page of our phone"- now that's a phrase that wouldn't have made any sense at all a few years ago.  wow.).  So, stop missing the first half of what you want to record and try out the cheapest video recorder you'll ever buy (less than $1... barely).

Day Nine. App Nine. Alarm Clock.

Today's app is one that we use almost every single day...except those glorious days when we can sleep in. Yep, you guessed it; it's an alarm clock. Our alarm clock of choice is the aptly named app, Alarm Clock by iHandySoft.  We like the app because it's easy to use and it works; we set the alarms we need and then just leave it.  Because waking to jarring or screeching sounds is not how we like to start our day, we especially like the ability to add our own songs and to control the setting for the gradual volume increase.  With our settings, the music begins at zero volume (not very effective for waking us) and slowly increases over a two minute period (length is adjustable) to a loud volume, which will definitely get us out of bed.  Nice.  However, if you are one who will go back to sleep after turning the alarm off and you think you may need multiple reminders to get up (slacker), there is a snooze feature.

We also like the miniature weather forecast and current temp. at the top of the screen, but it isn't a deal maker or breaker for us (like the "add your own music and make it come on slowly" was).  You can also have the screen tell you what city you are in, in case you are someone who may not know that when you wake up.  Wow.  Anyway, the app is customizable in a number of ways (color, celsius or fahrenheit, seconds or not, etc.).  The only thing we can think of that would make it better is if it got up and brought us our coffee... and from what we read, it seems that you can get a different app for that! [Update]: The latest update to Alarm Clock didn't seem to us like a big deal at first- brightness adjustment. See what we mean? It doesn't seem that impressive, especially because we could already slide our fingers to adjust the brightness of the clock. However... what we didn't realize until last night, was that the "slide the finger to adjust the brightness maneuver" now adjusts the overall brightness of the phone. The reason that's cool is because you will no longer be blinded by your bright phone when you turn off your alarm in the darkness of the early morning and begin to check your email. We like the update.

Day Four. App Four. Postagram/SincerelyInk.

What will it be today?  You already maximized your brain power,  identified the song you were mindlessly humming, and painlessly organized your christmas list (in the process realizing that in fact you do have three gifts for your sister and nothing for your father-in-law...good thing you got organized and realized that early!).  So, what other app could you possibly need?  Trust us, there are a few.  Today we will be giving you a two for one:  Postagram and Sincerely Ink.  They are both apps that allow you to use pictures from your phone to create postcards and have them mailed to whatever address you choose!  It's REALLY easy, fun, and inexpensive.  Check out how this person used Postagram to create an invitation.

The Sincerely Ink app is more of a greeting card approach to the same thing, with a variety of templates to choose from.  Both apps are pretty cool, because they take care of the mailing and everything.

We especially like this idea for when we travel; did we tell you we plan to become world travelers? Well, we do, so you can look forward to worldly posts in the future... and you can send us postcards and greeting cards with your new apps you just learned about today.  That'll be fun.