Here is the first of probably many reviews to come:
Evernote Cost: FreeThis app is an iphone interface for the evernote website: http://www.evernote.com. The evernote website is the real miracle here, as it allows you to store notes from text, photos and webpage clippings and index them here so you can later pull them up in a web browser, or on your iphone. It's cross platform, so I can take notes at work on the windows machine, bring them up on my mac at home and vice versa.
What I like to do with it most is take photos of the post-it notes I make for myself during the day and then tag them by topic so I can retrieve them later. I also find myself typing small blurbs from magazines that I want to remember, since the iphone isn't exactly great about photographing small text clearly.
Now there is a polycarb shell for the iphone advertised on evernote's site ($35 retail) that promises to bring the focal point for the phone's camera from 18 inches to 4, which should solve most of those text clarity problems. I plan to invest in it sometime this year. I'll post my results.
But Evernote has cleaned up my desk and ended my other habit of taping those post-it-notes inside of a large binder and organizing them by month. Organizing by subject, and having it in my pocket, is a huge improvement.
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Things Cost: $9.99I looked at several free and $1-2 to do lists before settling on this one, which I think is totally worth the price and more.
Things allows me to create project lists and group my things to do either into those projects or just in my inbox, if I'm in a hurry.
It also keeps a record log of things I've done, so I can look back and see when I got something turned in, or when my last activity on something took place.
It also has a "today" box which prompts you with a little number on the iphone app icon to let you know how many items are in your today box -- not the total number of items on your to-do list.
I like that feature because I can plan for things ahead of time and build lists of steps to get a project done, and it will only pester me when I have things due or overdue. Also, you can tell the app when you want something moved to your today box, so if you need it to show up there a day or a week early, you have that option. Very friendly to your own schedule.
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Balance Cost: FreeThis little app simply allows you to keep a checkbook ledger on your iphone. It isn't connected to any websites or accounts, like say Mint.com, which I have downloaded the app for but am reluctant to use the service (call me paranoid, I can live with that). It does require you to remember to put things in, like that app you bought at lunch from iTunes or the gas or groceries you picked up on your way home, BUT... if you are like me and have a lot of your monthly bills set to auto pay, this app is a great way to know how much you will have left ahead of time by subtracting all those bills the moment you deposit your check. You can set each entry with a date, so it will put them in order them for you. Just make sure to check now and again to make sure you didn't forget somthing.
Having this in my pocket as a reminder is great when I'm away from wifi and I need to decide whether I really can afford those extra items I'm always distracted into thinking I need.
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