So for this week’s post I thought I’d share a collage. These are just quick grabs off my hard drive. The only thing in common is that these snaps tend to make me smile. Apologies to those who didn’t want to be included but hey, it’s only pixels! Plus I’m not naming any names. If you’re not in my collage and you should be then we haven’t been spending enough time together. Sorry, life goes fast, no?

Hello new iPhone user.  Killed that Crackberry and moving over to iPhonedom? I am what’s known as the seasoned iPhone user.  Okay, no one calls me that.  But perhaps techie or “West Coast Tech Support” is throw around in my direction.  Whatever the name I keep getting new iPhone users asking what apps they should install.

The application store does a fairly decent job of spelling out the options but then again it’s handy to have recommendations.  So here are my current top 9 or so free iPhone apps every new user should install:

1. Install the Google app and try out searching by voice recognition (just tilt the phone up and wait for the beep) and also check out the free 411 service under the “Apps” button.  Finally use the reader!  Refer to this article to see why you need a reader.
2. Install the Facebook app because let’s face it if you have an iPhone then chances are that you’re on FB also.
3. Install Showtimes.  This movie app beats Fandango in my book.  It’s actually better than looking for movies on a computer because it automatically searches the theaters near you.  Plus it’s just laid out nicely.
4. Install Epicurious. You’re going the store and you don’t know what to make.  Problem solved and you get the ingredients (shopping)  list to boot. If you use this one too often then you may wish to install Lose It.  Great program to track your weight, look up calories for food.   I don’t use it often enough but that’s a different blog post.
5. Install Yelp.  Unleash the power of social media to find out which restaurants are sought after and which ones are better off left unknown to you when you’re traveling.  (Ok some people say Urban Spoon.  Both about equal but I like Yelp.)
6. Install Photoshop mobile for great image editing on the iPhone.  You’re going to need this app because the camera on the iPhone sucks big time.  Ok, it’s actually great as a video camera but it still sucks as a regular camera.  This program is super intuitive and a joy to use.  I may be slightly biased as a long time photoshop user but I’ve always thought Adobe makes some of the very best interfaces to be found.
7. Install Card Shark because some day someone will want to play solitaire on your phone and this is a very nicely put together app.  By that I mean that it’s intuitive and fast.
8. Install PenguinLite to entertain your niece.
9. Install Tumblr and post your crappy iPhonography to your web page.  Mine is here although I’ve learned from the web-Jedi that I work with I must leave Tumblr immediately in  favor of Posterous.  These web-Jedi are never wrong about such things by the way so I’ll have to ditch it.

For better (and more advanced) advice on iPhone apps I suggest you check out Luke’s blog on Mobiah.   He’s got a new post on TED.  Gotta check that out!

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