I was talking to my friend Judie Lipsett, founder and editor of Gear Diary, earlier today about some of my favorite iPhone apps. She suggested I put together a post on the ones I currently consider the real standouts (so far). I happen to have the good fortunate to be a GD Team Member so I did just that.

I figured a dozen or so would be a good number to pick. I’ve been listing the apps on my iPhone in my What’s On (My) iPhone series of posts but trying to narrow those down to a list of just a dozen wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. In the end I had a Baker’s Dozen although there were a couple more I would have liked to include. Next time…     You can check out the list HERE.

WebIS has just released Speedster a new app that makes use of the GPS-enabled power of the iPhone.

As I wrote previously, I’ve had the opportunity to see a Beta version of it.

I’ve been using it for the past week and love it. (It actually confirmed something I have long suspected- my car’s speedometer needs to be calibrated.)

According to the developer’s description-

Speedster GPS shows you your speed and altitude in real-time using the GPS on your iPhone 3G. It also tracks your speed, distance travelled, and altitude as you drive, jog, or boat. Features – Shows your speed from 0 to 260 MPH or KPH – Supports both US and Metric systems – Tracks changes in speed

There are a few caveats, however-

– Because Speedster relies upon the location-finder it is an iPhone only app (sorry Touch owners) and will work best with an iPhone 3G’s gps.

-Because Speedster relies on the GPS for accurate coordinates to calculate speed depending on your location and GPS acquisition it may take Speedster.

-Speedster may not work well in cities with high-rises that block the iPhone receiving a strong GPS signal.

One of the things I did not know is what the pricing for it would be. Now I do and at just $.99 it is a great app to buy.

One of the great things that is happening here on What’sOniPhone is that many of you, our awesome readers, are beginning to share your feedback on the various apps you are using. Some you love… others not so much. It’s GREAT since that is the best way for us to help eachother make the best choices in apps possible.

Here are a couple of the most recent comments–

Apps that make you say "YEAH!!!!"

Mortgage Payment Calculator Professional

ToDo

Twitterific

One Tap Movies

Apps that make you say "NAY!!!!"

iSpend

GTS World Racing

Spend

If there is an app you love (or one you don’t) and you want to share a more in-depth review of it, let us know- We would love to share your review with everyone!

Okay, so we are in the process of putting together the next list of crApp Apps (it’s not hard to do but with SO many crApp Apps now available it takes some time to find the ones that are "just right".) and this little app comes along. It shouts to us- "Look at me!!! I’m total crApp!! Waste your money on me!!" And all of that is said with "little hearts floating around" the words…

Category: Lifestyle
Released: Aug 13, 2008
Price: $1.99
Description:
I love you. You love me. Express your love with this customizable application… Little hearts floating around your love one’s name… Hearts change direction depending on how you move the ipod or iphone..

I love my wife. Enough, in fact, to not throw away $2.00 of our money on this.

Did you ever go across an old bridge or step on an old staircase that just seems to wobble endlessly as you nervously rise to the next floor?  Well, that’s how I feel about my iPhone now.  It’s like someone built a very sturdy foundation out of cement, the kind that holds up skyscrapers, and then decided to give access to anyone who wants to play architect so that they could create their own floors and charge money for access.

I have rebooted and re-installed my iPhone more times in the last month than I care to keep track of.  It isn’t one particular application’s fault that my iPhone is no longer that stable foundation it used to be, it’s the combination of applications that makes it unstable.

Let me explain…

Software development is accomplished by using a set of tools to write your own custom code with other pre-written code that may be provided to you by the platform creator (in this case Apple). So, as a software developer, I use Apple’s development environment to write my custom application, invoke the use of other libraries of pre-written code (provided for everyone so we don’t all go writing the same things over and over again), and after much testing and hard work, hopefully, I end up with a stable, working, new application that I can distribute to the masses.

I’m sure that Apple is doing a fine job of reviewing how stable an application is before releasing it to the masses (no comments here please).  But the problem may not lie with that single application, but rather the combined set of applications that you might choose to put on your iPhone.

As I have written previously, I have been going back and forth between Jott and reQall trying to figure out which one better suits my needs.

Both are currently free services. Both offer quick transcription of voice notes. Both offer free iPhone-resident apps. The similarities are numerous and both work quite well. Both integrate with numerous other calendar and task programs in various ways.

There are differences as well. reQall offers 30 seconds of recording time per note- twice the amount of Jott’s 15 seconds. reQall’s system recognizes key words in order to sort whether something is note, a task or part of a shopping list. Similarly, when creating tasks and reminders it can recognize dates and times. Jott doesn’t (it will input specific information but in a more selective way). As a result, Jott is more focused on straight transcription while reQall is a complete task and note system.

I am a big fan of both but, since I really only need the transcription ability, I have been back to using Jott for the past few weeks.

reQall released an updated version of their software the other night, however. Between the new software and an e-mail conversation I had with Wayne Schulz from Gear Diary about the pros and cons of Jott and reQall, I decided to give reQall yet another look the other night.

This is the third installment of my "What’s On (My) iPhone" series looking at the apps I am ACTUALLY using on a daily basis. I have bought many from the App Store but only a few remain on my iPhone and are seeing real use. The four listed below give me a wide range of options and easily provide more content than I could consume in ten lifetimes.

Can’t sleep? Warm milk not working? Ambian not doing its thing?

Why not try some quiet soothing sounds? Two of the most popular applications in the iTunes App Store are waiting to help.

Ambience and aSleep both  to sell for a low price and do pretty much the same thing: they offer various soothing sounds that can help as you try to relax or fall asleep. Both have countdown timers that turn off the sound after a certain period of time.

JAMM’s Doug Goldring is in the midst of an exceptionally long in-depth multi-part review of the iPod Touch. Doug is doing an excellent job of looking at the Touch as both an iPod and a PocketPC/Mobile Internet Device (MID) replacement. It is really worth a read.

Doug made a comment in his most recent post that got me thinking. For Doug the lack of a Today Screen is a missed opportunity. Actually, he said much more than that-

I thought the unlock screen itself was, perhaps, the biggest waste of space on any device.  I am about to make a controversial statement here, but one of my favorite features in Windows Mobile is my Today Screen.  Why?  because with a glance at the Today Screen, I can see my agenda, my to-do list, the current status of my device, and any number of other tidbits of information, all without opening a single program.  Its just there, staring me in the face.  This is particularly useful for my daily schedule, as I never remember to open the calendar and look unless I have some kind of a reminder.

This doesn’t come as a surprise since Windows Mobile devices have a long history of having Today Screen that are both customizable and rich with information. Moreover, Doug is also the editor of the website MyToday Screen– a site dedicated to Windows Mobile phone. WM devices have always offered some degree of customizable Today Screen so that you immediately had you calendar, email, calls and SMS available to you. In recent years software such as SPB’s Mobile Shell (a favorite of mine the last months I used a WM device) and OEM-loaded Today screens have taken this accessibility to an entirely new level.  

It got me thinking about whether or not I want a WM-type Today Screen on my iPhone.