There’s an app for that
The summer’s only half way over, so there’s still plenty of time to enjoy the warm weather, fun nights out with friends, and travel plans you’ve been considering, but haven’t quite gotten around to. Here are 5 free apps to download on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to help you get the most out of your summer and make your plans run a little bit smoother:
1. Gas Buddy: We all know that one of the most painful things to pay for this summer is filling up your gas tank. With gas prices constantly changing, this app will show you the cheapest place to find gas wherever you are. (Network/Wi-Fi needed)
2. Mixology™ Drink Recipes: Even if you’re not a bartender, this app gives you access to thousands of drink mixes to impress your friends. It allows you to search in several ways, depending on what you want to make, and gives enough options to be sure to please everyone you’re entertaining!
3. Urbanspoon: Finding a restaurant (especially while on vacation) can be somewhat of a hassle, trying to please everyone and find somewhere you don’t go every week. This app can help! Urbanspoon allows you to do an open search of restaurants in your area or a specific search where you can dictate price, neighborhood, and type of food you want to eat. (Network/Wi-Fi needed)
4. Lose it!: Has this been the summer you were going to lose weight… but it hasn’t happened yet? This app can help you get on track. It allows you to set personal goals and food choices. Each day, record your food intake and the amount of exercise you do to stay within your previously set goals, and start to lose the weight you want.
5. Fandango Movies: Tickets and Times: With the amount of movies that are coming out this summer, download this app to make sure you never miss one. This app shows the times of the movies you want to see at a theater near you… plus allows you to purchase tickets in advance! (Network/Wi-Fi needed)
Anything that comes up this summer, remember… there’s an app to help!
And That’s What I Call A Situation
Here’s the situation: Mike from the Jersey Shore has taken over the world. Ok, not really, but three recent projects have catapulted him to fame (and fortune) beyond his abs’ wildest imagination. What are they? Let’s take a look:
Project 1: Dancing Queen
Mike has joined this season’s cast of Dancing With the Stars with professional dancing partner Karina Smirnoff. But Jersey Shore obligations in NJ gave him a late start to the show’s rigorous dance rehearsals, which may explain why he tied for last place on the first episode. We’ll have to see if he and Karina can quickstep their way into the top next week!
Project 2: Total App Domination
Since its release last Thursday, “The Situation” has become one of Apple’s top 10 grossing iPhone apps . Retailing for $4.99 on iTunes, the app boasts a “GTL Finder”, which uses your GPS location to find the nearest gyms, tanning salons, and laundromats/dry cleaners. At the gym you can follow The Situation’s photo demonstrations of his workout routine, and in your downtime (perhaps waiting to get in the tanning bed?), play the “Grenade Dodger” game, listen to his recorded catchphrases, and email The situation with your pressing GTL questions.
Plugged Out
I know you usually spend Friday nights catching up on all the Your It List reading you missed during the hectic week, but we’re going to ask you to make an exception tonight. Sure, it may be ironic, but this blog–a blog that relies on modern technology to pay the bills–is asking you to switch all that tech stuff off for 24 hours.
Starting at sundown today, the folks at the Sabbath Manifesto are asking all of us to observe a National Day of Unplugging. Yep, that means no phone, no computers, no Blackberrys, no Sidekicks until the sun sets on Saturday. None of that stuff that is turning our brains to oatmeal and shrinking our attention spans to nil. Hell, half of you probably didn’t even read this far (word #132) into this post. For those of you who did, I challenge you to watch this how-to video (all 3 minutes of it!) from beginning to end:
Now hurry up and make plans with your friends and loved ones for tonight and tomorrow, because there shall be no Twitter, no Foursquare and no texting for 24 whole hours. Perhaps this movement will re-kindle the age old tradition of booty telegramming. Only time will tell.
On a steel horse (or train) I ride…
A few days ago we caught you up on all the goings on with Bon Jovi. And there’s more!
New Jersey Transit Commuters – be on the look out for the poster below on your trains through out the month of November. Take a photo of the barcode on the bottom left with your barcode enabled smart phone, sit back and enjoy some great content on the Bon Jovi mobile website. It will make your commute fly by.
Then take a photo of the poster and email it to YourItList@HarperCollins.com and we’ll send the first 10 people a free copy of Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful.
Shake it like a…oh never mind.
My new obsession? The iPhone app: ShakeItPhoto. Gone are the days when you could purchase a gen-u-wine Polaroid camera and film, but have no fear, ShakeItPhoto offers a digital dose of instant-film nostalgia.
It’s easy enough: you just snap a photo with your phone (or choose one from your exisiting photo library), shake up your phone like a suburban kid who’s out of Adderall, and you instantly have a digital approximation of the real thing. The flared, hot-spot lighting is the same; the flat, seedy quality is there; and of course there’s the white border. So this should give you your fix until Polaroid re-launches in 2010. Bonus irony-points for celebrating the iconic brand via one of the digital devices that helped kill it in the first place!
The Wild Things on the Really Small Screen
If you’ve been watching color television, or reading your local newspaper or even frequenting incredibly informative blogs, you probably know by now that the film adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s killer children’s book Where the Wild Things Are is premiering next week. What you might not know, unless you’re a regular visitor to We Love You So, is that the movie’s iPhone app is now available for no cost (other than the time it takes to download it from the app store).
I’ve been pelting Carol with dirt clumps (and incurring his wild wrath), watching trailers, and listening to songs from the Karen O soundtrack. Just what I needed to hold me over until the incredible ‘making of’ book comes out next Tuesday and the movie releases on Friday!
Recession-Friendly Smart Phones
The blackberry is cheaper than ever
Recession specials aren’t just for bars and restaurants anymore–now there are recession-friendly smart phones, too!
Walmart released the Blackberry 8520 Gemini phone today, retailing at only $48! The phone has all the normal Blackberry features, so you won’t be missing a thing. Just beware: it costs $129 at T-mobile. Why? Because there are no set Blackberry prices.
If you’re more in the market for a 3G iPhone, Apple has priced refurbished models at around the same price–$49.
But if $50 feels like too much to spend, check out the Peek, which is an email-only device that costs $20.
Don’t worry, nobody makes calls anymore, anyway.
