An Excellent Civics Lesson

I'm not sure who did this but it is excellent:

Not Really AWOL

I haven't blogged in a while, mainly because of time. A lot has happened since Christmas: I broke my left hand and wrist (still in a cast so typing is slower), I got put on an intense but somewhat short-term project at work (still ongoing and involving some travel), and we are in the middle of planning our missions conference at church. So blogging has been on hold some. Here are some things I want to write about in 2009:

1. Why healthcare is so expensive - I have some opinions on this being in the software for healthcare insurance business for 18 years.
2. What kind of e-mail provider you should use
3. How to subscribe to a blog so you know when a blogger has a new post - You may already know this.
4. The death of proper English?
   

I promise that there will be variety. Stay tuned...

The iPhone: iLike It

Laura and I both got iPhones the day after Christmas. Mine will replace my Palm PDA, my phone, and my iPod so I won't have to carry three devices anymore. Right now its still new so it still has that "new toy" feel to it. However, it has already become a very nice productivity tool for me. Part of making it a productivity tool has been acquiring useful applications--some free, some at a small cost--from the iTunes App Store. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Todo - a nice task manager with repeats, due dates, multiple categories, etc. It also syncs with either Toodledo or Remember the Milk, two web-based task managers. I use Toodledo because it is free.
   
2. SplashID - a very good manager for passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, lock combinations, and any other secret information. It stores it behind a single password and is 256-bit encrypted. It also syncs with a desktop version of the application since you generally don't want to keep this kind of information on the web.
   
3. My Lists - a simple list manager that has nice aesthetics. I don't use this for tasks but for other kinds of lists, such as what I need to pack for a business trip. This app is only $0.99 and is well worth it.
4. Lose It! - this is a food and exercise log with quite a large database of foods and exercises. It is the nicest free app I've seen and very well designed.
   
5. Mach Dice - a free dice throwing utility. OK, this one is mostly for fun, but it is useful if playing a game where dice are required but throwing dice is not convenient (e.g., in a car). It's just a really good use of the iPhone's accelerometer. Just shake the iPhone slightly and the dice roll around very realistically.
6. SnapTell - a very useful utility when shopping for DVDs, CDs, video games, or books. Snap a picture of a DVD, CD, video game, or book with this app and it will show you online prices and local prices at a number of different stores, as well as eBay results, reviews, and more. This app is free, also.
   
7. Byline - an offline RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader. I use it to read news, blogs, etc. that I'm subscribed to. Since I use Google Reader, having it sync with Google Reader was something I was looking for. I could use Google Reader via the browser on the iPhone but I am going to be on a trip soon where I will have to use my iPhone totally offline on the plane.