I’ve been happily using ABContacts for a number of months now. As I said in my initial review, it is everything that the native contacts application should have been.

It enables the user to add new context faster and easier than ever before, and permits isolating contacts according to company, city, state, country etc. It also makes it easy to quickly e-mail contact information to others.  The best feature, by far, is the ability to double tap a contact and immediately pull up all of the various ways in which that context can be reached — phone number, SMS, e-mail etc. In other words, it takes all of the data resident in the context application that adds a high degree of additional functionality.

An update that was released just this evening adds a few nice features. In the new version, contacts that are not filed are now placed under the group name "unfiled". The "double tap" that pulls up all of the various ways to contact someone can now be done with slower, allowing it to function more accurately than it did previously. In addition, you can now BCC when doing a mass mailing. Most importantly —

My pals over on Gear Diary and I shared our favorite apps. Tops are Evernote, ToDo, Facebook, Twittelator Pro and eWallet.

Our reader jnamcharg shared his favorite apps (Evernote, Facebook, Google Mobile App, Shazam, Snaptell, Orb Live, Pandora/Last FM, eReader, Labrinth LE, and NYTimes app) and will soon be enjoying his new Etymotic hf2s.

Here are the top apps some of our readers recommend to their mythical friend John. John just got a new iPhone and on it should be……

An interesting piece over on ars technica suggests that there are tons of new iPod Touch users thanks to the holiday season.

The post notes that the Touch earned top spots in Amazon’s sales ranking.

And the proof goes on. App sales spiked Christmas day, suggesting that many had just unwrapped a shiny new Touch and were going to town downloading everything in sight. (Remember those days veteran users??)

So yes, all indications are that a lot of folks are getting started with new devices.  So what are we doing about it? A Lot! 

I love Jott  and use it all the time.

Back when we first started this site I  chronicled of my search to determine which of the  iPhone voice to text services worked best for me. Ultimately, it is Jott that I use every single day. I use it to send messages to my assistant and, more often, to simply send messages to myself. Jott is particularly useful when I’m in the car and think of something that I must remember. I start Jott’s  iPhone application or I call Jott’s  number and start to speak. My Jott Pro plan gives me 30 seconds of recording time. That’s usually enough time for a brief  message and  when it’s not, I just called back. Yes,  there are many days when I am a "serial Jotter".

After so many months using the service, "Who do you want to Jott?"  is now burned into my memory along with "Have it your way",  "Where’s the beef?", and "I want my MTV."

Jott came out of beta a number of months back. It was only reasonable that at some point they would need to move in a direction toward profitability. Some people grumbled about the pricing plan,  mostly, I suspect, because they were used to getting the service for free. I happen to think the  company  came up with incredibly fair plan. If you want to use Jott  for free there is still an option to do so. In fact, that option even includes the iPhone application! If, however, you want the option to leave longer messages and to have them e-mailed to you (if you use the "call in" approach  since the iPhone application doesn’t do that)  you can choose one of the other plans. They begin at just $3.95 a month.

I opted for an annual Jott Pro plan and think it’s a good value.  For that I get to leave messages that are 30 seconds long, I can use Jott  for iPhone,  Blackberry, Outlook, and Jott Express.  I have access to all of the Jott Links  (there are too many to mention) and each time I leave a message in e-mails it to me.

The good folks at Jott  have been kind enough to offer a one-year subscription to the plan of one WOiP reader’s choice. We cannot thank them enough for their generosity and think this is one great giveaway. What better prize during our "Get Organized in 2009" giveaway.

We love sharing our thoughts about the best and the worst applications out there.

When we look at an application we do our best to give you as good an overview as we can and to make a specific recommendation as possible.

One of the best things, however, is when we give our perspective and you share your take, as well.

More and more we would like to see the site become a forum for all of us, as end users, to share our thoughts and ideas.

In fact, our final contest is focused on doing just that…

Welcome to our "2009 iPhone Survival Kit" Giveaway.

If you use an iPhone and Toodledo you are likely familiar with Appigo’s ToDo and Notebook.

ToDo syncs with Toodledo’s task management.

Notebook syncs with the notebook feature Toodledo added some time back.

Notebook can be used as a standalone app but when used in conjunction with ToDo and both are synched with Toodledo they become a remarkably powerful organizational system.

Like all of Appigo’s software, Notebook is updated at an amazingly fast pace. A recent update to Notebook added

-Full Landscape support
-The ability to password protect private notes
-URL and phone number link support (Linkability!!!!!!!!!!)
-Bullet Support
-Support for multiple fonts and sizes
-Improved load time
-Improved searching
And more…

Notebook can be found HERE in the App Store for $4.99.

We have 3 copies to give away tonight.  For your chance to win one just tell us one of the more "unusual" ways you would put Notebook to use.
 

If you travel much you know how  infuriating the process can be. 

Actually, if you travel at all you know how infuriating the process can be. Here’s a great app for getting real-time flight status on your iPhoto or iPod Touch.

You can track your flights, or flights that family or business associates are on. You can see flight cancellations in real time, delays and weather maps too. You can even save flight schedules for upcoming flights  for quick reference later.

FlightTrack  is powered by professional level flight tracking data — in fact, it puts the same information that airlines and the government use right in the palm of your hand.

Currently, it tracks commercial flights in the United States as well as flights that  depart from or  arrive in the United States.

More features are planned for the future.

You can check it out HERE in the App Store.

We have one copy to give away tonight. For a chance to win it just tell us your worst travel disaster story.

Readdle Docs is an incredibly powerful document and file management system for the iPhone and the iPod touch. It allows you to upload documents from Windows, Mac, or Linux computers using any web browser. From there, you can immediately access them within the application on your handheld device.

Using the application you can —

Copy files directly from your computer to your handheld. The application lets the iPhone or iPod touch effectively operate as if there were a flash drive.

 E-mail files that are currently saved on your iPhoto or iPod touch with the ease.

Read common office documents including PDF, Microsoft office and more.

All users of the application are eligible for 512 MB of free online data storage at the Readdle Storage Web service.

Save attachments received through e-mail.

Accessible MobileMe’s iDisk  will and other Web storage services.

And much more.

There are a number of applications that provide similar functionality. Readdle Docs, however, gathers all of that functionality in one place as part of one incredibly powerful, and it’s stable application.  (I’m currently working on a review and have to say that I’m incredibly impressed by this application.)

 You can learn more on the Readdle Docs  website HERE.

We have Two copies to give away. For your chance to win one of them tell us how you might best use the application.