Favorite new iPad and Android app! - White Noise

White Noise by TMSoft
I had this app on my iPod Touch, and when I got my new iPad, I was able to load it on there, too.  (Nice to know all the apps I had purchased earlier for the iPod transferred right over to the iPad.) They also have a free version, but for a couple of dollars, why not get the upgrade and help support these guys?  I also willingly paid the $1.99 and put it on my Samsung Android phone, too. 
Not only do you get lots of different sounds, but you can update with new ones created by the company and by others -- FREE!   Bonus a beautiful picture appears on the screen, and you can use as a digital LED alarm clock when traveling.  Big numbers, too!   
On a recent trip with a noisy hotel room air conditioner cycling on and off, I remembered this app and programmed a playlist loop of Light Rain on Deck, Great Falls and Small Fountain on my iPad.  I slept great! 
Right now my favorites are:
Violet Noise
Bamboo Chimes
Great Falls
Hatteras Beach
Light Rain on Deck
Small Fountain
St. Lucia

Hello Kitty iPod Touch Cover

Found at Best Buy. I especially like the blingy crystaled bow on the back.

Peet's Tea Surprise in Houston

All places, Houston Hobby Airport. Peet's Coffee & Tea has a place near Southwest Airlines gates. I think this is their only storefront location in Houston. Pity, they make a great iced tea at a great price, especially in an airport. I got a large for only $2.45! Crystal-clear and not at all grassy or funky. Great ice, too!

Now if only Hobby would get free wifi. . .


(Psst! If you are by Southwest Gates 22/24 near Buffalo Wild Wings, you can grab their free signal. While not strong enough to connect your iPod Touch through (it could detect the signal, that's all), you can get up and surf the Internet with a netbook or laptop. There is also a table for two with an outlet next to the ordering area. I point this out only because while Southwest has some gates with tables and chairs with outlets, Gates 22/24 do not. So if you are charged up or can wangle that spot, go for it!)

Books A-Go-Go -- Mobile Digital Libraries

OK, this is pretty cool -- and FREE! Our county library has digital book downloads for all sorts of media players, including iPods, phones, BlackBerry and other MP3 players. I can even play it on my computer. You just have to download the software -my library uses the OverDrive Media Console. I was able to transfer it directly into my iPod without going through iTunes. (I'm going to see if I can put it on my iPod Touch, too.) And it was free -money-wise and virus-wise. You "check out" the book for two weeks. Since this is my first time trying it, I have no idea what happens after two weeks - does it delete itself? Can I "renew"? I'll keep you posted. Sure beats having to pay for retail audio downloads. There were lots of titles available -- I was able to grab "The Painted Veil"

OK, a few more things I've just learned -- 1) Haven't tried this yet, but forewarned is forearmed...to delete your "book" you need to connect your iPod into iTunes using the manually managing option. 2) Downloading the book into the iPod took a long time. I thought it was just my computer connection. OverDrive divides the book into Parts. Each Part took about 7-8 minutes, about 48 minutes total for this particular book, which is a little over seven hours long. Once you have downloaded the book into OverDrive, you can just download one part or as many parts you want at a time. I didn't know that and my little iPod got HOT! I had to plug in my power cord as the battery drained to almost 4% before it finished. And that was with a charged battery.

I'll keep you posted with other hints, tips and suggestions as I go along. I'm the type of "click this-oh s**t!, click that-Whew! electronic gadget girl!

Peeps Show IV

Check out The Washington Post's "Peeps Show IV" Peep diorama contest entries -- the winner is a take on the movie, "Up"

http://ow.ly/1tf7s

There is even an iPhone/iPod Touch app! "The Washington Post Peeps Show" For only 99 cents, you can see over 130 top photos from all four years, commentary from the creators, share your favorites online and more.

H(app)y Days

More Cupcakes!

Just found this one today - half the fun of cupcakes are decorating them (the other half eating!). But this app is calorie free! It also seems to get frequent updates based upon user suggestions. Be sure to check out the St. Patrick's Day options. 99 cents

Fly Kiwi, Fly!

Cute game. You tilt the iPhone/Touch to make the kiwi fly. Earn money to buy equipment to help his journey. 99 cents

H(app)y Days - Everyday Food App!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Boy, was I happy to find out there's an iPod Touch/iPhone app for MarthaStewart's Everyday Food! Definitely well worth the 99 cents. It will even "push" the recipe of the day to your home screen. You do need to be connected to the Internet to enable the recipe search function.

Here's a link so you can grab yours, too!

H(app)y Days - Foodie Apps!

I've basically created a separate App page on my iPod Touch with these Food and Recipe apps!

Serving Sizer - This is quite handy, literally. You can adjust by serving size, halve, double, triple or custom. A keeper!

All Recipes.com Dinner Spinner - Spin and match in three categories - Dish type, Ingredients, Ready In (which also includes Slow Cooker). It even makes a spinning sound. Love this one, too!

Woman's Day Cooking Assistant - At the top you'll get recipes from the sponsor - this month, Knorr. There are also almost daily entries with recipes. You can search within the app by Cuisine, Course, Main Ingredient, Cooking Method, Holiday recipes, Quick & Easy, Budget recipes and Low Calorie. Also a shopping list and Tips & Tools (cooking time calculator, kitchen equipment, vegetable prep, weights and measurements, herbs and spices dictionary, and kitchen tips). Another favorite!

Betty Crocker Mobile Cookbook - I love Betty Crocker's recipes and cookbooks. You can search recipes or search by ingredient. Special button tabs for "Surprise Me" "Favorites" and "Email" (I like that feature). So far, all of these are staying on the top row.

Food Network - Red and black "Nighttime" page shows up with the channel's shows. Yes, but wait - Click on the show and it lists episodes with video excerpts. Whoa! Click on the Recipes tab and you can search Foodnetwork.com's recipes. The loaded current page is "Our Holiday Favorites" with Appetizers, Mains, Sides, Baking, Desserts, Leftovers and Browse Holiday Videos categories. The On TV tab gives you today's programming. Click on the More tab and get "Most Viewed, Latest Videos, Highest Rated, Search, Favorites and Share App. I clicked on Share App and got the message box "Exit App to Share? Cancel /OK" Which takes you to your iTouch inbox to send a link for the app to your friends. This will stick around for awhile, too.

Big Oven - This app connects you to BigOven.com website with over 170,000 recipes. There is an active ad bar on the bottom of the page. Probably the most "meh" one.

McCormick Recipe Finder - Browse and Search Recipes buttons, along with one to star your favorites. The Browse button takes you to Recipe Collections (featuring McCormick spices, natch) with a good number of recipes per category including Appetizers and Snacks, Beverages, Breads and Muffins, Breakfast and Brunch, Casseroles, Desserts, Gravies/Sauces/Condiments, Main Dish, Other, Salads, Side Dish, Slow Cooker, Soups, Vegetables. Breads and Muffins had 28 recipes alone. Bonus points for the slow cooker recipes. You could get lost in this app for awhile.

Epi Epicurious - Search/Favorites/Shopping List tabs. Categories on main page are Weeknight
Dinners, Decadent Dessserts, Cool Cocktails, Healthy Lunches, and product-sponsored Beer+Food Duos (Stella Artois) and Holiday Helpings (Helmann's). Wonder if they will change? For the many, many recipes (Healthy Lunches had 396), it loads very quickly and smoothly.

Spark Recipes - Healthy Recipes - Browse by category -- Course, Cuisine, Dietary Needs, Occasion -- and subcategories. Bottom tabs include star Favorites and Videos. The recipe and technique videos are by Chef Meg Galvin, along with the recipes. Honestly, I've never heard of her before. This app will be fun to poke around in, though.

Whole Foods - Like that "On Hand" tab along with the Search, Favorites, Locations and List ones. Search with pull down menus by Course/Category/Special Diets and the ubiquitous app spinner wheel. I'm not sure what its official term is. I've found it on many apps.

Simply Organic - I have seen this brand in different stores. This app has recipes, random recipe spin and coupons you can have them email to you. 20 recipe categories, a shopping list, store finder (though I think driving 165 miles to Corpus Christi for one location is a bit much!)

Fresh Fruit - Save money and keep the best taste with this app. It features each month's best fresh fruit with lots of cool information. The Search or the All buttons helps you find "strawberries" listed directly instead of flipping through the months. No recipes.

Urbanspoon - When you want to eat out instead of at home!

H(app)y Days - Fashion Apps!

Fashion edition! (All these apps are free!)

Macy's iShop - Fun to shop the different departments, check out the sales and see what the top-starred items are...but the main reason I snagged this app was for the In-store Savings Pass. However, it remains to be seen first, if and when there is a pass available, I'm getting the message to check back later. And secondly, if the store will accept a flash of the iTouch. I have problems enough with the clerks taking the newspaper's coupons. There are also updated coupon codes for online shopping.

Style.com - Fashion show videos, "Look of the Day" and Style File, a source of fashion blogs with updated posts -- Wherein you can get a peek at the White House Blue Room's Christmas tree skirt, designed by Natalie Chanin - bonus!

Chic Feed - Photos from The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, Jak and Jill Blog, Cherry Blossom Girl, LookBook and Altamira. However, you have to scroll through them all unless you adjust the settings. Takes a long time to load. This app is getting deleted.

Channel - Grab if only for the logo icon! You get the fashion shows, news (load time is very slow and you need to be wifi'd) and store locator (as if, but I'll be ready!)

Net-a-Porter - I like how it is divided into What's New -- all, clothing, bags, shoes, accessories; the magazine -- if only to get a head's up on the cutting edge.

H(app)y Days - Newsy

More cool apps I've found for my new iPod Touch!

New York Times - The latest headlines, plus most popular/most emailed article links. Sections include World, U.S., Politics, NY, Business, Technology, Science, Health, Opinion, Sports, Arts, Books, Movies, Fashion and Style, Dining, Travel, Real Estate, Automobiles, Obituaries, Week in Review, and T Magazine. Bonus points for all the content and fast loading.

Conserva - Fox News, Drudge Report Lite, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, The Washington Times, headline feeds and links. I got this mostly for Drudge Report Lite and for Fox News. The Fox links can be a little pokey. Fox News Radio has TuneKast and you can listen live. Not a bad overall news app.

USA Today - Has The Weather Channel weather for your current location and favorite locations. Surprisingly this app loads fast.

AccuWeather - I know there is already a preloaded local weather app, but I like the additional AccuWeather one. It gives hourly and 15 day forecasts, plus has Risk (disruptive weather potential for t-storms, rain, snow, ice, wind and fog) , Alarms and Alerts (National Weather Service advisories, warnings, watches). Always a great conversation starter, the weather.

Drudge Pro - Loads faster than clicking on Drudge Report Lite via Conserva and you get the photos.

Times Square Live - Webcam feeds from Times Square. This is just fun! It was really cool to see the snow the other day.

GeoCamera2 - After getting all excited about the Times Square Live app, I found this one with Global webcam feeds. It's a little hard to figure out right away (and slow to load). I'm still in the "Let's push this button" phase.

iNet - One app, lots of links. Search engines, news, email, social networks, magazines and more. I am having fun going to the local TV news webpage links all across the country.

TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog - News, App Reviews, Accessories

H(app)y Days - More New Favorites

New favorite iPod Touch apps --

Byline -RSS viewer with 2-way Google Reader syncing. Perfect for keeping up with my blogs and favorite websites on the go. Even though it is $3.99; it was worth it for me with the iTouch because you can view your feeds offline. I moved it to my main start-up page!

Marquee (99 cents) - Create your own moving sign or use several preloaded messages.

Touch Hockey FS5 (Free) - Play against the computer or with an opponent on your iTouch.

SearchTrends (Free) - Fun to see the real-time Google, Yahoo!, Bing searches and the latest Twitters.

Paper Toss (Free) - More challenging than you think. Over 10,000 ratings can't be wrong.

Boggle ($1.99) - A bit of a learning curve to get used to the touch, but then lots of fun.

H(app)y Days - Info Apps

I just got an early Christmas present, an iPod Touch, and having a great time finding and using all those apps. Thought I would share with you some of the more interesting and fun ones I've discovered. Feel free to share any you have found, too!

Information apps, all free!

Google (Free)

Google Earth (Free) - This is just fun to play with, too.

Search Bing (Free) - The new Bing search engine. I use it as a backup, I'm still a Google girl.

Wikipanion (Free) - This is so much faster than my laptop!

Dial Zero (Free) - Skip all the steps and get a live person a lot faster for customer service.

AAA Discounts (Free) - I always forget about where I can use my AAA card for discounts. It will even update based upon your current location. And it has their great map and directions, too.

AccuWeather (Free) - There are lots of weather apps, but I like this one. It has lots of information. One complaint is that the radar doesn't work unless I'm on a super fast connection.

Yelp (Free) - I love Yelp. While most of the time you need to take the reviews with a grain of salt, it is a good way to find and try new places.

H(app)y Days - app post edition

There is even an app for blogging!

I did this post using BlogWriter Lite, which is free! I had to come back in and edit to add the tags. I don't plan to upgrade to the $1.99 version, as the only difference I can tell is the ability to add photos. Since I have the iTouch and not the iPhone, that's not a biggie for me.

H(app)y Days - Christmas Holiday Edition!

I just got an early Christmas present, an iPod Touch, and having a great time finding and using all those apps. Thought I would share with you some of the more interesting and fun ones I've discovered. Feel free to share any you have found, too!

Here are more cool apps I found which are Christmas/Holiday related. Some are fun, some are silly, some are cool!

Christmas Solitaire (99 cents) - Change the cards, change the backgrounds, change the music, change the game - 21 themes!

RTP Snow Globe 09 (Free) - The scene is supposed to change upon your location. Good if you are traveling! "Real" snowflakes.

Another snow globe is the Zen of Snow (Free) 360 degree viewing angle and neat "snow"

The Flakery (99 cents) - Create and save your own snowflakes -- you can even make them "snow"!

iRelax Christmas (99 cents) - 22 Christmas sounds (including fireplace!), you can create your own music combinations and save your favorites.

Sheep Launcher (Free) - updated version launches Santa!

Crazy Penguin Christmas (Free) - The penguins seek revenge against the polar bears who have captured Santa and his elves! . This game is so fun, I am considering getting the other Crazy Penguin games.

Candleglow (99 cents) - Not really Christmas per se, but the different candle variations and combos look very seasonal and pretty.

Snowball Runner (99 cents) - Tilt and roll your snowball down the mountain, hitting or missing obstacles to gain points and size.

H(app)y Days

I just got an early Christmas present, an iPod Touch, and having a great time finding and using all those apps. Thought I would share with you some of the more interesting and fun ones I've discovered. Feel free to share any you have found, too!

1) Phone Flicks (Free) - Access your Netflix queue on the go. Add and remove movies, change positions, search. Don't worry about the warning asking if you are sure you want to allow access to your account--it is a Netflix third-party program.

2) Dictionary.com (Free) - Dictionary and thesaurus are accessible even without Internet connection after you install it. Because of that feature, it does take awhile to download the app -- Try to find a fast wifi connection. Word of the Day does require you to be connected to the Internet.

3) 1Password (??) - All those websites, all those passwords. It's hard to keep track! This app has a two password combo to securely guard your information and automatically times out and locks should you set your phone down or switch applications and functions. Prices change on this app - I was shocked when I checked while typing this they are now $4.99; $7.99 for the Pro version. Would you believe there are apps which can check when other apps go on sale? I'm pretty sure I only paid $1.99 for the Pro version - it was the same price as the regular one.

4) Snowy's Christmas Pinball ($1.99) - Pinball gone Christmas-crazy.

5) iBowl (Free) - it's like turning your iTouch into a Wii-style bowling game! You don't have to stand, you just need to be able to move your arm upwards.

H(app)y Days

I just got an early Christmas present, an iPod Touch, and having a great time finding and using all those apps. Thought I would share with you some of the more interesting and fun ones I've discovered. Feel free to share any you have found, too!

These five became my immediate favorites ---

1) Facebook (Free) - This app makes it even easier to scoot about on Facebook than my laptop!

2) WifiTrak (99 cents) - Makes it easier to find and connect to free wifi spots. It will also save and automatically connect your known network settings.

3) Twitteriffic (Free) - Finally Tweeting without worrying about being charged cell phone text fees. (I never could get the BlackBerry app to work anyways) It will even chirp when it finds new tweets.

4) Koi Pond (99 cents) - So many options to create your own very realistic Koi Pond. Bonus: They added a Christmas/Holiday update to make holly and berry lily pads, even a Rudolph red-nosed fish. And when you shake your iTouch/iPhone to feed them, you hear jingle bells and it feeds them gingerbread cookies and candy canes. Just touch the Christmas package in the upper left corner to activate it.

5) Battery LED (Free) Lets you know how much battery power you have, along with remaining time for standby, Internet, video, audio and games. Very cool 70's style graphics and colors. The only difference between this version and the "Pro" is an alarm signaling when your battery is charged. Save your 99 cents and get Koi Pond instead!