It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

I saw this iPhone Application on the top 10 free list and had to take a look. I remember seeing this , Peanut Butter Jelly Time dancing banana several times on CNBC on Friday's and thought it was weird, but also funny. CNBC would play Its Peanut Butter Jelly Time during the middle of a show and never acknoledge the fact that they just played it. I know it was featured on the Family Guy also.

This dancing banana doesn't do much but sing, "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time" over and over again. The songs lasts for about 1 minute and there aren't a whole lot of words to it, but it is incredibly catchy.

The iPhone app is free and very small so it won't slow your iPhone down like some others I've downloaded. Peanut Butter Jelly Time is turning into a very popular song/video clip and really for no apparent reason. But, I love it and think it's pretty entertaining.

Crazy Penguin Catapult Lite : Iphone App

Crazy Penguin Catapult is the top Free App for iPhones currently, so I decided to check it out. I rarely consider downloading games to my iPhone, but it's so popular I went ahead. Here's what I found.....

The download takes a lot longer than any other iPhone App I've tested, but it's the most complex also. The whole object of the game is just like in the title. Penguin Catapult. As Penguins swing, you hit them with a catapult to the next stage of the level. After you've catapulted all of your penguins over, they are now kamikazee penguins. The goal is to have the penguins dive-bomb the bears and take them out.

Each level is pretty much the same. You always start by catapulting a group of penguins. The number of them changes, and the way they swing also changes. As the levels progress, there are also more bears to dive-bomb and becomes more difficult to get to them.

I played several levels and feel I get the gist of the whole Crazy Penguin Catapult game. Keep in mind, this application is free, or the "Lite" verson, so the paid might be much more complex (although I doubt it).

For all of you iPhone gamers out there. I would recommend this game if you want something graphically pleasing, very easy to pickup, and doesn't require much thought at all. I personally don't see myself playing Crazy Penguin Catapult very often, but definitely see why its become so popular recently.

iPhone App: Night Stand

The Night Stand application for the iPhone has been getting quite a bit of attention lately. Night Stand is one of the most popular and most simple of all the applications I've seen so far.

The whole basis of Night Stand is to function as a typical alarm clock with a green/blue analog display. This way, you can grab your phone and see what time it is just like looking at you clock by your bed.

I've used this a couple times and doesn't make the most sense for me since I have an alarm clock on my night stand but if I ended up spending the night somewhere I can see where it'd be a nice application to have. As long as the battery doesn't run out.

Night Stand doesn't have any settings to mess with or options. You install it, click it, and its up. To turn it off, you hit the main button. That's pretty much all there is too it. Very simple, very easy.

iPhone Application: Say Who

The iPhone 3g application, Say Who is available for anyone interested in a voice recognition application for making phone calls. This application installs very quickly, and is free. To use, you simply open the app, press the button while saying the name of the contact you wish to call, the next screen shows who it will call in 3 seconds, and if you don't press any other options, it makes the call.

This application is a good alternative to dialing the phone when driving. It comes in handy when you are calling people you don't very regularly. I have my favorites setup so for those people, it's not any faster to use the Say Who application. But for those other 140 people not on my favorites list, this application is very helpful.

You will need to familiarize yourself with how you entered your friends names in your phone. I know for some of my contacts I use first and last names, just first names, just last names, or nicknames. Once you use Say Who you start to remember how your contacts are stored in your iPhone.

Shortly after installing Say Who my iPhone applications wouldn't open correctly. I have about 10 on my iPhone and not one would open. This isn't the first time this has happened, but I did have to delete all my apps and reistall them. They all work fine now. Just something to be aware of.

iPhone Application: Loopt

For all you iPhone users, there is a pretty cool app called Loopt available for free!

This iPhone application Loopt tracks your location and shares it with your friends who have the application on their iPhone. I really like the idea and have a 10 friends who also use it so far. It's very accurate and will show each friend on a map or in a list displaying what streets they're on and how far they are from you. Each user can customize their profile with a picture as well.

From each friends profile page on Loopt, you can call, text, ping, comment, and my favorite, get directions to their location. This is where I see this being the most useful. Essentially, you'd never need to call and have someone give you directions again. You would simply look them up on your Loopt application, find their location, and have Loopt map the directions to your friend.

You can change your "What's Up?" message to let friends know what you're up to similar to a "status" update on Facebook which you can set to link up with each other. Under the settings tab, you can set your location settings to one of 3 choices:

1. Share with all of my friends
2. Share with some friends
3. Hide from everybody

One feature that I don't use on Loopt is Loopt Mix. This feature lets you create a custom profile to connect with Loopt users who aren't in your address book(stranger), who may share similar interests. Loopt doesn't share your phone number or your exact location. You have to click on "I Accept, Turn ON Loopt Mix" to enable this feature.

iPhone Update Finally Here!!!!!

So it looks like Apple has come through and provided some fixes to frequent iPhone problems. Update 2.2 is now available and I recommend everyone download and install it ASAP. I'll review this update in more detail soon. But for now, enjoy these features!

• Street View now available on Google Maps
• Fixed dropped and failed call issues
• Safari updates
• Podcasts
• Etc.

There is already information on the updates still to come so be on the lookout for more updates.

ATT 3G Network Review Part 2

In a previous post I went through some of the noticeable problems with ATT's 3G service for the new iPhones. My initial review wasn't very good and unfortunately, this one is going to be worse.

Since the first review, I've gotten feedback from more users in more cities that are experiencing the same problems. During peak usage hours (5-10pm) users are experiencing "Failed Calls" which is what is displayed on the iPhone when a call is dropped, over 10% of the time within the first 2 minutes of a conversation. The updated cities list which I've tested and gotten feedback from are as follows: St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Richmond, and Austin. That's 10 cities in 9 states.

The iPhone users love all the applications, ipod, GPS, and internet features. BUT IT IS TERRIBLE AT MAKING AND ACCEPTING PHONE CALLS, which is arguable the most simple, but most important feature of a cell phone. I continue to check the web and company website to look for updates on their network. I've gotten my phone looked at twice to make sure I didn't have a defective phone before I bashed the company, and it checked out perfectly fine. I encourage all feedback and testimonials on this problem. Hopefully as time goes by, ATT can straighten out these issues.

Urbanspoon iPhone Application

The newest application I've tried for the iPhone 3G is Urbanspoon. Urbanspoon is designed to find restaurants near you. It uses a graphic interface similar to a slot machine. Based on your location, it will find nearby cities, and a diverse pool of restaurants to choose from. The search fields are city, type, and price range. You simply enter your location, shake your phone to start the "slot machine" style search, and it will find you a restaurant. The 3 criteria spin until they land on something. You can make one constant by "locking" that field and the other 2 will spin until they find something.

It actually has been very useful this last weekend as I was looking to find some restaurants that I hadn't been to before. I was able to find a lot of restaurants I hadn't heard of that had great reviews. Urbanspoon also lists recent reviews to the restaurants it finds. The best part I think, is that you can search by price range. I personally like to have a good idea of what things cost before entering the restaurant.

Google Maps on iPhone 3G

Google maps comes with all new iPhone's. I really got to use it this last time I was out of town and was very impressed. Especially with the GPS feature. I was traveling with by business partner who has a Blackberry and was comparing the GPS features. Now from the beginning the Blackberry seemed to be much better. But after a couple tries, we started to notice that Google Maps was sending us on a better route most of the time. Now, the Blackberry might have been sending us on a shorter route, but for the most part, the iPhone sent us on streets that made a whole lot more sense. Blackberry's GPS was constantly sending us down streets with a speed limit of 20 MPH and lots of stop signs. The iPhone or Google Maps, was sending us on routes that were much quicker and driver friendly. I can't speak for all users of both GPS systems, but during my last trip, the iPhone consistently outperformed the Blackberry.

Not So Hot 3G Network

The 3G network that ATT and Apple have been boasting about is not stacking up to the hype. Any user of the new 3G iPhone can tell you that they are experiencing more than just dropped calls. Often, iPhone users are unable to place calls, along with having their current conversations “fail.” The current speculation is that there are not enough satellites to hold the larger than anticipated 3G network of users. At times, it can be so bad that iPhone 3G users are not able to place calls for periods of up to 30 minutes. At first I thought it might be a regional issue. However, I experienced the problems initially in St. Louis, my friends in Chicago are having the same problems, and during my trip to the San Francisco Bay area and Phoenix, the issues were still present. I’ve had my phone looked at by the Genius Bar, and completed all necessary updates. Hopefully this problem will be addressed soon. Otherwise, I would expect ATT and Apple to get a lot of angry customers most likely resulting in discounted monthly statements. I was unable to find any sources discussing ATT’s plans to beef-up the 3G network. Hopefully they have a plan to address the recent problems. I’ll continue to look for reliable information about the current issues and hopefully get some insight as to when the problems will be fixed and we can continue to use our 3G iPhones without major service interruption.

If any readers feel these statements are false, or exaggerated, please comment on your experience.

iPhone Application Ads

For those of you iPhone users, I'm sure you've noticed your applications are being updated rapidly. That's because they are incorporating advertisements to your favorite iPhone apps like Bloomberg and Pandora internet radio. Sportacular is the only iPhone app that I have which hasn't been updated to display unwanted advertisements. Now all of these apps are free so we can't be too picky. However, if they start to make the iPhone run slowly, or have any sort of problems, they'll need to remove the unwanted application ads.

Spotacular's most recent update made the application better without the advertisments. You can now make a list of your favorite teams which displays their scores on the front page of the app. Sportacular is definitely one of the better apps and I appreciate them not following the new trend of iPhone apps putting banner ads on my phone.

iPhone Application: Bloomberg

This is the first application I put on my iPhone 3G. Bloomberg provides financial information and is a great resource for investors, financial professionals, and anyone interested in the capital markets, or related news. The Bloomberg App lets you pick stocks you want to watch and gives you current quote information, related news, and performance charts. You also have access to international equity, bond, currency, bond, and commodity markets/indices.

The Bloomberg app would not make much sense for someone who didn't have a strong need or desire to be informed of current market conditions on more than a daily basis. This is where the iPhone can really compete with the Blackberry's that business people have been set on since their creation. As far as I know, no other phone has anything close to this informative for financial information, and therefore, would make the iPhone 3G a great option. The Bloomberg application for the iPhone is free as well.

iPhone Application: Shazam

I have been using the iPhone Shazam application for about 2 months now and thought I would write a bit about it.

The Shazam application for the iPhone "listens" to music playing and then sends you the artist, title, and album of the song! Its absolutely awesome. I cannot believe how much I use. The application takes about 15-30 seconds to listen to the music playing, and about another 15 seconds to send you the song information. It works incredibly well also. I've used it in bars, in the car, during a commercial playing a song I like, during the credits of a movie, and more. I can honestly say, there were only 2 times it hasn't been able to identify the song I was requesting and I've probably used it over 100 times.

Once you have "tagged" a song, meaning you've identified it with Shazam, you can quickly preview the song on youtube, send the tag to your friends, or buy the song directly to your iPhone from iTunes. Its truely amazing how streamlined the who process is and the best part is the Shazam application is completely free!

iPhone 3g Charger Problems

Last Friday, Apple announced that the "ultracompact" charger that came with the new iPhone 3g's is causing some problems. Apparently they are breaking off in outlets which can be dangerous. iPhone owners have 2 options to exchange their existing ultracompact power adapter.

1. Bring your existing power adapter to an Apple store and exchange it for a new one.
2. Go to Apple's website and fill out a request to have a new charger mailed to you. (you'll need your iphone serial number and will have to mail back your existing ultracompact power adapter)

I'm a current iPhone 3g user and have not had this problem, but I will be going online and requesting the new power adapter to be mailed to my house. I hope this solves any problems people are having with the product.

iPhone Application: Sportacular

I recently added the Sportacular application to my iPhone 3G and love it. You get a great range of sports coverage on your iPhone. Sports include MLB, NFL, NCAA FB, NBA NCAA BB, NHL, and MLS. The best part about this application is it's free. There are several other sports apps you have to pay for. It's important for me that this application covers NCAA FB. You can select your main page on the app to be the AP Top 25, or your favorite conference. I have mine set for the Big 12. Scores are updated across the board every 30 seconds. You can also view player stats, standings, current weeks scores, news, and more.

I have a few applications on my iPhone and this is one of my favorites. You really can't beat this sports application seeing as its free and has great coverage. I'm pretty sure that Sportacular has a paid application if you are really interested in getting even more detail in your sports coverage. I personally don't need it, but a die hard sports fan might want to consider it.

iPhone Picture Messaging

I received my first picture message yesterday with my new iPhone 3g. Previously I had Sprint and I thought it was a pain to have to connect to the internet to see my picture message, but ATT is much worse than that.

I got a text message saying that I had a new "multimedia" message. To view it you have to visit an ATT website. But, you also have to log in with a username and password sent with each text message that is about 8 characters long each with letters and numbers. This is a much bigger pain in the neck than the way Sprint does it.

I'm confident that the reason they chose to do it this way is to discourage users from sending such picture messages or video messages since it is included in your plan. Not a very good feature of the iPhone or ATT service.

Tape Deck Connector for iPods

Good news!!! I just tested a tape deck connector with my iPhone and it works the best out of any others I've tried so far. The only problem is that my Jeep doesn't have a tape deck. But for those of you out there that do, I would highly recommend trying one out.

As far as FM Transmitters for Ipods are concerned, they usually run about $74+ for a good one. As as stated in previous posts, a lot of them DO NOT work with the new iPhone 3g. You can pick up a cassette hookup for you ipod or iPhone for about $25. You can find one even cheaper but I wouldn't recommend buying the cheapest one you can find. Maybe grab a mid grade hookup and see how you like it.

Here are some popular models that I've found with good feedback from users:

Belkin - $19.99
Monster iCarPlay - $24.95

I hope this was helpful for those of you looking for the cheapest, best ways to listen to your iPods in your cars.

Nike Plus for iPod Nano

I had heard a little bit about the Nike Plus plugin on for the iPod Nano and decided to go ahead and buy one. First you need Nike shoes that have the +, meaning a hole under the inserts in the shoes. Then you have to buy the package for about $30 which includes a little plastic ball and a small plugin for the Nano. Once you have the ball in your shoe and the plugin on your iPod Nano, you are ready to go. A new field on your iPod main screen will appear called, "Nike Plus."

You have a few options with Nike Plus. You can build your own workout, set a "Power Song" to play, and select a man or women's voice among other options. The Nike Plus will keep track of how far you run, pace, and keep track of your record times. I even used it on the tread mill to compare how accurate it is and it really was dead on. I was pretty impressed.

I generally run mile before my workout and occassionally go for 3 mile runs outside. At first the Nike Plus was a lot of fun to use but after a week or two, I kind of lost the desire to even use it on my 1 mile warm-ups. I would definitley recommed this product to anyone who runs 10+ miles per week. Otherwise you probably don't run enough to really need it. Plus if you don't already have shoes that use it, you'll have to buy a pair which can run anywhere between $70-$150. I'm pretty sure you could just put the plastic ball under your laces of other shoes but I'm not sure it would still work the same.

iPhone 3G GPS

One great feature of the new iPhone 3G is GPS. It didn't take me too long to figure it out. The feature is used through the Maps application. You simply identify where you are going by typing in the address, then select, "Get Directions" which it will map out the shortest distance. When you are ready to go, select "Start" and the 3G network will locate you on the map using a pulsing blue dot. As you move, so will the dot. It's definitely pretty cool.

I did notice a couple fixes that would make it better. One would be a voice command to prompt the user to turn or when a turn is coming. Another would be to have the map rotate to that you are always traveling up on the screen. Currently, you have to turn your iPhone after you make a direcitonal change if you want to be moving in the same direction as the blue dot.

The commercial for the Instinct says that it has voice command GPS. At this point I would say that is its biggest competitve advantage over the iPhone 3G. It wouldn't take much for the Instinct's GPS to be more responsive than the iPhone's. I noticed that sometimes I would be passing streets that the iPhone GPS displayed I hadn't yet. I would say the feature is definitely useful, however, if I were planning a long road trip I definitely wouldn't trust it to get me there without a few mistakes along the way.

iPhone Rubber Skin

I recently purchased a rubber skin for my iPhone. I originally wanted one that had something to hold the headphones with as well but I couldn't find any for the 3G iPhone. I would recommend that anyone that has an iPhone get some sort of protective casing since accidental damages caused by the owner are not covered.

I purchased the DLO rubber skin from Best Buy about a week ago and think it works great. I had a clear plastic case for my iPod Nano which is fine, but after having the rubber skin, I recommend rubber. I say this because it is way less likely to fall out of your pocket. Actually, I think it's impossibe for an iPhone or iPod to fall out of your pocket if its cased in a rubber sleeve.

Another important feature/benefit of the DLO skin is that it comes with 4 screen protectors. I originally thought they would make my iPhone screen unresponsive but they are very thin and when applied properly you can't even tell its on. Again, I recommend anyone with an iPhone or iTouch get something similar to this. You really do need to protect your screen as well.

Road Trip for iPod

I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee and the receiver unfortunately does not have a hookup so I use an FM transmitter. Particularly the Road Trip. It costs around $70 and can be purchased at Best Buy, Circuit City, and I'm sure several other electronic stores. It's definitely better than the Harmon Kardon I had before, but could be better. I know that I'll probably never get super high sound quality out of an fm transmitter, but would like to see some improvements in the future. My signal always gets overpowered by satellite radio users. Why can't a product for iPods be as strong as satellite radio signals?

The Road Trip is also slightly compatible with the new 3g iPhone. The support however is not there. It will play music just fine, but cannot really support it so you'll have to either use some sort of rubber band, or don't take fast turns. I still use my iPod Nano in the car since it fits so well, but would like to be able to use my iPhone. There is supposed to be a product made specifially for the iPhone which is the iTrip Auto by Griffin. I haven't had the chance to pick one up but probably will be doing so in the near future.

Sony Earbuds

Sony Earbud headphones are a great product for the money. I picked them up at Circuit City for about $30 which isn't bad at all for good product if you use it frequently. I use them with my iPod Nano, iPhone 3g, and on my Dell laptop. They block out a ton of noise and sound great. I've only compared them to 2 other headphones and those are the stardand headphones that come with the iPods and Apple products and Creative Earbud headphones. So far they are the best of the bunch. One other feature is that they have an extension if you plug into your iPod on your hip, or just use the short cord if you use an iPod arm band.

iPhone 3G 8gig

I recently made the change to the new iPhone 3g 8gig. I previously had the Palm Treo with Sprint. I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with the iPhone. Sprint tried to talk the company I work for into keeping Sprint and getting the new Blackberry. Sprint said that if you use your phone for business you MUST have a Blackberry. I couldn't disagree more. Here are the key features I'd say are necessary for a cell phone for business use.
1. Email
2. Internet
3. Storage

The iPhone 3g dominates all of the categories listed above. You can add just about any email account to your phone and be updated in real time when you receive a new email. The internet is so much faster than Sprint's that it's not even arguable. And I'm a previous customer so I know from experience. And my last point is storage which is no contest. I have the smaller memory iPhone which is quite a bit more storage that any other phone offered by Spring other than the Instinct.

Anyone who cares about the stock market would be better off with the new iPhone as well. The iPhone starts you with an icon for "stocks" but I would recommend the Bloomberg Application which is FREE! If you haven't checked it out you really should. The main page shows you all of the markets in the world along with recent news, plus you can add any stock you want to your own portfolio page.

Now just about anyone who buys an iPhone is interested in music. With 2 options you can hold around 2,000 or 4,000 songs. There are a ton of music applications you can add for free as well. Verizon boasts of their system where you can hold your phone to the radio and you will sent a message of what the song is. The iPhone has a really cool application call Shazam which does the same thing. I absolutely love Pandora radio and listen to it on my laptop all the time. Now you can have it on your iPhone. And thanks to the super fast 3g network, you can listen to Pandora without download interuptions. I'd have to say this is my favorite application I've used so far.

There are tons of available applications for your iPhone that I would encourage any user to check out. Even one that turns your phone into a flashlight in case you find yourself in the dark.

For now thats all on the new Apple iPhone 3g. I'll add more as I learn more about the phone and what else is out there.