iPhone- The Lifestyle Concierge, by Tatiana – In The Mix #31

September 10, 2009 Tatiana EL-Khouri 8 Comments

I live and breathe the internet. It’s a rarity to see me without my laptop at my side when in public. Much of my days center around shuttling off to meetings and jet-setting. Despite my immense technophilia, I’m pretty selective when it comes to the gadgets I add into my digital and electronic arsenal. Every true tech nerd will tell you that as cool as the product appears, NEVER buy first generation! There will usually be bugs and a second edition on the market before you have time to pay off the charge on your credit card statement.

When I accept anything into my inner circle, be it a concept to people or even a gadget, I’ve done my research. It took 3 generations of the iPhone for me to finally make that purchase. I was resistant but have whole heartedly welcomed it into my digital tool-belt. However once I’ve given something my stamp of approval, I can mouth off like an expert on the product and love finding the quirkiest details.

One of my favorite past-times with other iPhone owners is showing off Apps. I always get a look of surprise when they see that I have 5 pages of Apps.

So in an effort of sharing, here are my top FREE iPhone App picks you might not have:

• UrbanDaddy – The Next Move
  You may have heard of Urban Spoon from the Apple commercials, where you input in your location, price point and food interest. That’s cool if you are only looking for the basics. If you are looking for a full blown digital lifestyle concierge, UrbanDaddy’s The Next Move is for you.The choices are limitless!    With GPS enabled search, you tell the app who you are with (ex. Boyfriend, Boss, Friends, Colleagues, Parents, Date, Ex, etc) , Time, what you want to do (ex. Dinner, Dancing, Drinks, Breakfast, Coffee, etc) and my favorite option “And…” (and we want burgers, and we’re broke, to rekindle the flame, somewhere covert, who are old and stodgy, and we want a celeb chef, next to a fieplace, who are foodies, who is picking up the tab, to talk business, who I’m schmoozing, etc)

  With all those options you are sure to find just the right thing or have a blast changing the combos like I do.

• Fake A Call
  This app gives your friend the night off when you are going into a meeting or event that you just don’t think you want to stay at. Instead of having a friend call you to check on the status of your outing, you can set this app like an alarm clock to show a name, set a ringtone and a time for it to go off. The app goes off like clockwork and mimics the iPhone app’s interface, appearing like a real call.??   Now I’ve never used this in real life. I just get a kick out of the novelty idea.
• Yowza
  From the telepathic good-guy cop on Heroes, Greg Grunberg, comes an app that organizes coupons and special offers on local deals. Using GPS to track your location, deals in your area are at your fingertips.
• Darkroom
  This app transforms your iPhone camera, giving you slight control over the shutter speed and adds a timer mode to the camera. It also uses motion detection to ensure a steady shot.

What app’s are in heavy rotation on your phone?