vagabum.com

I have had a few people ask me lately about my favorite iPhone apps, knowing that I have downloaded 200+ and keep up to date on the latest entries. So I though I would post this information on my Top 15 Favorite iPhone Apps (non-gaming) for future reference.

• 15. Craigsphone (Free) – An adequate but useful Craigslist app.
• 14. Free RSS (Free) – A good free RSS Feed Reader.
• 13. Ambiance ($2.99 – New Version; Free – Old Version) – Relaxing sounds like ocean waves and lake side to lull you to sleep.
• 12. ShapeWriter (Free – Light; $9.99 Pro) – A great input alternative for much quicker and more accurate typing of longer messages. The free Light version does not have a landscape keyboard. The $10 Pro version has the landscape keyboard and is worth it if you frequently type longer emails or SMS. Even with the soon to be built in landscape keyboard with the new 3.0 OS this app will still be valuable for long messages.

** PhotoSynth requires the installation of the safe, signed PhotoSynth applet from Microsoft. Once installed the viewing should now work from any of the mainstream browsers. **

For those that did not see it, the American (ABC) News show 20/20 did a very informative piece on cheap airfares (aired on 12/14/07). They interviewed this guys who used to be a specialist on fares in the airline industry. He gave some amazing fare tips that I was quite surprised to hear. I have done quite a lot of flight travel throughout the world and I had thought I was fairly savvy at finding good fares, but it turns out I could not have been more wrong in my thinking.

I thought I would share some of the surprising tips here. Presumably these are focused on the North American market, but possibly these tips would apply around the world as well. I will summarize them below but for more information here is the on-line version of the story in this Smart Traveler Quiz.

Top Cheap Airfare Revelations:

One of the most touching news stories I have come across in the past few years was the fairly recent (April/May) 60 Minutes TV segment on The $100 Computer being developed by the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) — a U.S. based, non-profit organization founded by Nicholas Negroponte and other former faculty members of the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture, and distribute this laptop and its software to children of developing countries around the world (Nigeria, Rwanda, Cambodia, Brazil, Libya, Egypt, etc.).

While I was not able to find the supporting article on the 60 Minutes web site, with a quick Google I did come across the official web site for the OLPC (www.laptop.org) and an informative, but unofficial write up on Wikipedia and reading these two sites I was warmed by the beauty of the vision all over again so thought I would share it here.


“It's an education project, not a laptop project.”
— Nicholas Negroponte



Our goal: To provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves.