My 6 Favorite Music Apps For the iPhone

By Secondhand Karl on March 8th, 2010

I love music. I don’t know where I’d be without it, honestly. One thing the iPhone (iPod) does really well is music. I use Smart Playlists to sync songs all the time, love my iPod.

And there are some great music apps for the iPhone, too. Thought I’d share a handful of my favorites with you.

Moodagent – FREE

Moodagent ? Automatic Playlist DJ for your music, your mood

Moodagent is a really cool app I discovered not long ago, and best of all, it’s FREE. It profiles the music you have on your iPod and then lets you automagically create playlists based on your mood. Yes, your mood. You move five different sliders around. Based on the five sliders – Sensual, Tender, Joy, Aggressive, and Tempo – you figure out how you’re feeling, make the adjustments and then Moodagent does the rest.

The result is a playlist of 25 songs that all match your mood, like so.

You can also save and load playlists you’ve created with Moodagent. And if you’re not feeling the slider thing at the moment, you can click on the Search (magnifying glass) icon and hand-select any song on your iPod. Moodagent will then adjust the sliders accordingly for that song and create your playlist based on the song.

Very, very cool. Plus, it integrates with your iPod, so you can start a playlist, then exit Moodagent, and have your music still playing. (Unlike most music apps. At least, until Apple allows multitasking.)

Last.fm – FREE

Last.fm

Been using Last.fm for years now. It came before Pandora did. It’s a social music site. You sign up, create a profile, and it keeps track of your favorite music for you. That’s the basics. You can also use it like Pandora…enter an artist or song, and Last.fm will create a custom music station based on your selection.

Last.fm tracks all the songs you listen to. In fact, my favorite thing about Last.fm is what they call “scrobbling.” Thanks to a small download, every time I sync my iPhone through iTunes, Last.fm scrobbles all the songs I’ve played and uploads them to my account. It organizes everything…how often I’ve played each song, etc.

And my “neighbors” (friends) on Last.fm have access to my library, too. They can  listen to MY “station,” which is a great way to find great music. Another great way is to listen to your “recommended” music. Based on the music you’ve scrobbled so far, Last.fm finds recommended artists and puts them into a special station for you. Rocking service that I think everyone should be using.

Simplify Music 2 – $7.99

Simplify Music 2

Simplify Music 2 is another great app. I got it for free a while back; now it’s $7.99, but it’s worth every penny.

Simply put, Simplify 2 lets you stream all the music in your iTunes to your iPod/iPhone. Now you don’t have to worry that you can’t fit all your music into that phone of yours…you have access to your entire music library. Provided you have iTunes up and running, of course. It forms a network connection between the Simplify app on your phone and the Simplify app on your computer.

Works fantastically.

Slacker Radio – FREE

Slacker Radio

Don’t get me wrong, I love Pandora, but rarely use it these days, thanks to Last.fm and Slacker Radio. Slacker is very similar to Pandora – you create custom music stations based on songs/artists you like. Again, it’s a great way to find new artists.

The difference, to  me, is that I think Slacker puts together a more organic sounding mix based on my selection. They put songs together that I’d never think to put together, but once I hear them together they click and make sense. Love, love, love.

Plus, I can select from musical genre stations. Sure, there’s your typical “80’s, 90’s, and Today” station, but I can choose from Reggae or Blues or any number of genres I want to hear. The only caveat is the occasional 15-second commercial (unless you buy the premium subscription, but it’s not required).

I can even listen to stand-up comedy. For instance, Steven Wright. Creates a comedy station just for me. Nice.

Great sound that streams via WiFi.

SoundHound – $4.99

SoundHound

How many times have you heard a song on the radio, or in someone’s car, and wondered who sings it? Look no further.

Load up SoundHound, tap the TAP HERE button, and let your phone listen to that song. SoundHound is remarkably accurate and should have your song for you in a matter of seconds. You can even hum or sing a song yourself and get results!

From there, you can Bookmark a song, Share it (Email, Twitter, Facebook), and even Buy it. It also looks up the lyrics for you, and corresponding Youtube videos.

GREAT app that will never leave my iPhone. I was lucky enough to get it for free way back when, but again…worth every penny.

Wunder Radio – $6.99

Wunder Radio

Listen to most any radio station around the world, people. Add in Weather radio, police and fire rescue scanners, accessibility for subscription satellite radio (Sirius/XM), and you have Wunder Radio. Damn cool app.

Find stations based on genre (talk, sports, pop music, new age, rap, etc.) or location (Great Britain, Australia, wherever). Listen to police scanners from your old neck of the woods (provided they’re in the list). Sometimes I tune in to some Dallas radio stations, just to hear the ads for my old hometown. Or British radio, same reason.

Streams great over 3G or WiFi.

There you have it…great apps to help you stay in touch with your favorite music, maybe even find some amazing NEW stuff to listen to.

You’re welcome. How about you? Have any fave music apps on your iPhone or iPod Touch?

Fun iPhone Apps to Pass the Time

By Secondhand Karl on March 23rd, 2009

A few friends on Twitter have mentioned recently getting iPhones and iPod Touches. Thought I’d review a few of the apps I use, most of them for entertainment.

1. iMob Online. This is a FREE game, similar to Mafia Wars on Facebook (FREE app here). You start out as a lowly mobber and slowly build your mob by performing missions and buying properties that yield hourly incomes. I spend way too much time on this game.

Add me, my iMob family code is 144-886-434. My name is Don Karlione.

iMob Online screencap

iMob Online Code 144886434

2. Mafia Live. On sale right now for 99 cents. Same game, basically, with a different name. Yeah, I’m hooked on two of these games. Build your mob, buy new weapons and vehicles, etc. etc.

My Mafia Live family code is 194-000-323. Again, name is Don Karlione.

Mafia Live screencap

Mafia Live Family Code 194000323

3. MMS Buddy. $4.99. Yes, MMS is coming to the iPhone this summer in OS 3.0, but for now there’s not a lot you can do with those occasional MMS messages sent to your phone. Unless you use MMS Buddy.

MMS Buddy

Basically, you look in your text messages, scroll til you find the MMS message with username and password. Then do a screen capture of your iPhone or iPod Touch. Load MMS Buddy, have it fetch the screen cap, it’ll run character recognition on the screen cap – pretty accurately – then fetch the MMS message.

I don’t get MMS very often, but this app is invaluable if you get any at all.

4. Tweetie. $2.99. My favorite Twitter app by far.

Tweetie, my favorite Twitter app

Streamlined interface, very intuitive. Click the TWEETS button on bottom, go to a window full of all of your followers. Click REPLIES, see all of the Tweets that @ your name. Click MESSAGES for your direct messages. FAVORITES, obviously show you your favorites.

Then there are other features in the MORE tab. My favorite allows you to search for Twitterers that are close by you.

Runner-up Twitter app, and FREE: TwitterFon

UPDATE (January, 2010):

These days, my number 1 Twitter app is Twittelator Pro.
Twittelator Pro

Close 2nd is Tweetdeck.

5. Zombieville USA. $1.99 for the full version. FREE lite version here.

Zombieville USA

Nothing more than a very fun shoot-em-up. You against the zombies that pop up out of the ground and lurch in your brainy direction.

Zombieville USA

Side-scroller where you walk to the right, occasionally going inside houses for money and bullets, all the while blasting zombies brains all over the pavement.

Try it out for free on the Lite version, which gives you a feel for the game with one level. The full game gives you more than 15 different weapons to choose from, multiple zombie types, and different difficulty levels.

UPDATE (January, 2010): There’s a brand new update to Zombieville and it adds a slew of new characters you can play as. This game is still on my iPhone’s home page. Will review again soon, more in depth.

6. Distant Shore. 99 cents.
Distant Shore

Purely pointless app that is kind of hard to describe. Most of what you do in this app is “walk the beach shore,” looking for shells and bottles. Collect 5 shells and get yourself an empty bottle. The bottles you find on the shore contain messages to read.

Distant Shore

You can read the messages you find, reply to them, and then toss the bottle back into the ocean for them to find on THEIR beach. Use empty bottles to pen messages and then throw the bottle into the water for some random stranger to find on their beach.

And that’s pretty much it. Think of it as Twitter, except that instead of throwing out messages to people following you, you’re throwing out random messages to random strangers.

Cutting It Close

By Secondhand Karl on August 10th, 2008

Thanks again to John for guest blogging for me yesterday in the Summer of Love. We’re down to our final weeks and I still have plenty of great bloggers posting here at 2HT, so keep your eyes out for them. This week we have:

Tuesday: Jester of Jestertunes

Thursday: Monty of The Daily Bitch

Saturday: Poppy of Poppy Cedes

SecondHand Radio on TalkshoeNext up, it’s time to formally announce the new timeslot for SecondHand Radio. Some of you may already have seen the new banner in my sidebar. I’m moving to Thursday nights at 10pm Eastern on Talkshoe. I’ve decided to move from Sundays for several reasons. First of all, 5pm on Sunday was simply not a great timeslot as far as reaching more listeners. Many people are busy on Sundays, doing family things and whatnot. It was also nearly impossible for my friends in Europe to listen, since that came out to around 1 or 2 in the morning over there.

I think 10pm will be much more doable. It’s still way early in Europe, but the comments I got from my American and Canadian friends said that a weeknight would be better, so I took all of that into consideration and decided on Thursdays at 10.

I’ll be running a test show in the next couple of days and will announce it on Twitter. Not a long show, just want to get a feel for the Talkshoe interface before I start the regular show on Thursday night. I’ve sent out an email to a group of potential guests and I hope to hear back from them in the next couple of days.

What you may want to do before Thursday is download the Talkshoe Pro client. It’s not required - you can listen through the web interface at Talkshoe, but the client allows for a much cooler chat experience. More about that in the coming days.

I’ve been hanging around Talkshoe for the last couple of months or so, ever since Jester switched from BTR to Talkshoe and it’s generally far less fraught with technical problems. True, they don’t currently allow for music or soundbytes to be played, but that’s not a huge issue for me. There’s much more control for recording the shows and I can have hundreds of people on the line at one time. Granted, that’s not likely to happen, but it’s far better than BTR’s limit of five people plus the host.

Schick Quattro Titanium TrimmerSo a couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Angelo, who is some marketing guy from Schick. You know, the razor people. He offered me a free Schick Quattro Titanium Trimmer – which I found on the web for $14 – in exchange for me writing a review of it. I’m all about free stuff, so of course I said yes. And sure enough, it was waiting for me (along with gobs of other mail) when I got back from Karlifornia.

Here’s what Angelo told me about the Titanium Trimmer in his email:

As someone with complicated facial hair and a love of gadgetry – I find this thing incredibly cool and useful.  It has a four blade razor and an edging blade on one end, and a trimmer on the other.  It’s the Swiss Army knife of razors.

Now that’s a tall order. I’m here to tell you right now that the SQTT does NOT comes with a built-in compass or nail clippers or even a machete like Swiss Army knives do. But it is pretty cool.

Before the ShaveAs someone that usually uses an electric razor (Norelco, if you must know), I waited a few days between shaves to be sure to give the Quattro a workout. My stubble is pretty thick stuff…I come from Italian stock, after all. Granted, I didn’t get the olive skin complexion of native Italians, but hey, why bitch about that now? I do plenty of bitching when I get sunburned on my ghost-white alabaster skin.

What I *do* like about shaving with a blade – or in this case, four – is the baby-smooth skin I get afterward. And if I go for four or five days without a shave (not that uncommon an occurrence) using the electric razor almost kills me. It’s like a thousand tiny little Amazons pulling my facial hair out in tiny little increments. Owch!

I don’t know about you other dudes out there, but if I’m shaving with a razor cartridge (as opposed to the electric razor) I shower first to soften up my whiskers, and then I shave when I get out of the shower. I realize that some guys shave IN the shower, but I’ve never gotten into that habit. Besides, I’d need a fog-proof mirror for the shower and I’m too lazy to find one.

I got out of the habit of using razors (for the most part) because of the obscene amount of money it costs to buy cartridges. I’ve never counted, but I probably only get around four or five shaves out of a cartridge before having to throw it out and move on to the next one. And I hate paying $350,000 for four cartridges. It’s insane. Sure, I’m probably paying for it regardless by buying an electric razor (and you still have to replace the razor discy things once a year), but oh well.

Now get our NEWEST razor with our NEWEST cartridge that has EIGHT blades!

At some point, they’re going to hit the razor blade ceiling and top out somewhere, but it hasn’t happened yet. For me, 3 blades work fine. Four blades are good, too.

SideburnsThe Shick Quattro Titanium Trimmer uses the four-blade Quattro cartridges, which I found online. They run $7.99 for four cartridges. That’s about par for the course these days. The trimmer they sent me came with just the one cartridge, which serves fine for the purpose of this review. And the difference is that on the OTHER end, there’s a battery-operated trimmer (battery included…one AA).

So I thought I’d get a good shave and also trim up my sideburns, which are coming in pretty thick. I haven’t had a haircut since I shaved my head last month, but it’s about time to get one.

I looked at the Quattro and started with the proper shave. A little Barbasol shaving cream slathered over my face, and a short 30-second wait to let it soak in. Then I went to town.

Schick Quattro 1 Schick Quattro 2

You can see the Trimmer above. The second photo shows the Power button – it’s the silver oval down near the trimmer end.

I found the shave to be really, really good. Nice and close and the lubricated strip really helped the blades to glide across my face. I’m a fairly quick shaver and I didn’t have any problems. When I’m using a blade razor, I have been using the Gillette Mach 3 Turbo. Yeah, I totally bought into the “Turbo” thing, what can I say? Anyway, I will say that I found the Quattro to be a superior shave to the Mach 3.

Then it was time to try the trimmer function. Again, this is something I normally do with the trimmer attachment on my Norelco electric. I turned the power on and felt the familiar hum of, well, trimmers. Then I started with the left sideburn. Honestly? Meh. It works, but it doesn’t work as well as I’d like it to.

It did, in fact, trim my sideburns, but it’s not good at leaving a nice clean cut edge. For example, I wanted to shorten my sideburns and deliberately didn’t do that with the razor. The Trimmer doesn’t trim down to the skin – it does, indeed, shorten the sideburn hairs. But it won’t leave a clean line like a razor will or my electric razor trimmer.

EDIT: My goof. There is also a one-blade trimmer on the flip side of the four-blade cartridge. This blade is used for cutting sideburns. The trimmer is just for trimming the hair. That totally changes how I feel about the trimming aspects. It rocks.

So here you’ll see the finished effect:

Sideburns After

See what I mean? I’m sure the razor will shorten them just the way I wanted, but the trimmer? Not so much. I’ll be sticking to my electric for my trimming needs. I use it also for trimming over my ears between haircuts.

And me after my complete shave?

Fully Shaved

Yeah, I cut myself a little on the chin, which typically happens. That’s because I’m a bad boy and don’t follow the Professional Shavers Advice. They recommend only shaving in a downward direction. I shave down, then UP for a really close shave. You’re really not supposed to shave against the grain of your whiskers.

Overall, I recommend the Schick Quattro razor. Great shave. I don’t think I’d spend the $14 on the Titanium Trimmer, though. Just didn’t do the job for me.

Thanks to Angelo for thinking of me. I’ll definitely be buying Quattro blades in the future for the rare occasions when I do the “real shave” thing.

But here’s the beautiful thing…you can get a Schick Quattro Titanium Trimmer to try it out for yourself – for FREE! All you have to do is go to Trim Flixx and create your own little film. It’s fun and you can sign up for a free sample. Here’s my video:

    meta1

    Dashboard
    Register
    Login
    Wordpress.org

    recentposts

    Post-Plugin Library missing

    Vacations


cialis canadian cost
viagra pfizer online
online viagra gel to buy
healthcare of canada pharmacy
buy cialis online without prescription
viagra online sales
how to get viagra
when will viagra be generic
what is cialis
buy cialis professional
viagra label
viagra rx in canada
buying cialis
buy cialis
real viagra pharmacy prescription
cialis buy overnight
viagra overnight
cialis for less 20 mg
low cost canadian viagra
canadian generic viagra online
cialis quick shipment
cialis dose
express viagra delivery
cialis transdermal
viagra prescriptions
mexico viagra
cheap viagra from uk
real viagra without prescription
brand name cialis
buy cialis fedex shipping
buy viagra china
cialis kanada
buying real viagra without prescription
viagra sales in canada
viagra 100mg england
women viagra
cialis canada
canada viagra
rx generic viagra
cialis arterial fibrillation
viagra online without a prescription
buy cheapest cialis
where to buy cialis
bio viagra herbal
cialis no prescription
non pescription cialis
viagra mexico
buying viagra in the us
herbal alternative to cialis
ordering viagra
how to get cialis
canadian generic cialis
buy cialis canada
canadian viagra 50mg
online generic cialis 100 mg
cialis tablets
professional cialis
buying viagra with no prescription
discount canadian cialis
viagra aus usa
viagra propranodol
viagra pfizer canada
cialis generic
viagra canada
viagra overnight delivery
cialis en mexico
viagra sales canada
brand viagra professional
cialisis in canada
cialis fast delivery usa
natural viagra
cialis fast delivery
soft viagra
cialis 20 mg
best cialis price
brand cialis for sale
viagra canadian
real cialis
viagra tablet weight
cialis online canada
next day viagra
viagra original pfizer order
generic viagra canadian
canadian viagra india
online viagra
is pfizer viagra available in india
buying generic cialis mexico rx
cialis by mail
indian cialis canada
viagra in canada
purchase real name brand viagra
pfizer mexico viagra
pfizer viagra
cialis brand
canadian healthcare
purchasing cialis
woman and cialis
brand viagra over the net
buy cialis on line
cialis medication
cheap canadian viagra
usa cialis
viagra injectable
generic viagra in canada
real cialis online
cialis samples
cialis profesional
generic viagra online
viagra gel
name brand cialis
viagra professional
viagra en gel
viagra without prescription
ordering cialis gel
get viagra
cialis alternatives
buy cialis online canada
viagra doses
cialis prices
viagra fast delivery
cialis on line pricing in canada
viagra samples
viagra canada
united healthcare viagra
cheepest cialis
buy cialis online uk
overnight viagra
cialis soft canada
how much does cialis cost
viagra prescription label
viagra uit india
cialis daily
viagra sales
viagra on line
cialis angioplasty
cialis price
where can i buy real viagra
bying viagra online cheap us
pfizer viagra 50 mg online
cheapest prices for viagra
purchasing cialis with next day delivery
cialis usa
canadian pharmacy
viagra dosage
cialis canadian
canadian healthcare cialis
cialis professional 100 mg
get viagra fast
canadian pharmacy cialis pfizer
spain female viagra
female viagra pills
soft cialis
how to get cialis no prescription
cialis once daily
viagra china
generic cialis sale
viagra seizures
canadian pharmacy viagra
cialis philippines
next day delivery cialis
cialis and ketoconazole
viagra online 50mgs
viagra for sale
viagra india
cialis blood thinner
canadian healthcare viagra sales
cialis brand name
buying cialis soft tabs 100 mg
generic cialis next day delivery
buy pfizer viagra
combine cialis and levitra
how to get cialis in canada
viagra online deals
cialis daily canada
cialis discount
cialis buy
cialis testimonial
us cialis
viagra femele
viagra generic canada
woman testimonial of cialis
cialis iop
price cialis
viagra canadian pharmacy dosage
canadian viagra
get cialis
buy viagra germany canadian meds
canada viagra pharmacies scam
cialis tablets foreign
cialis endurance
discount cialis
buying viagra without prescription
viagra 100 mg
cialis overnight
online cheap viagra
online cialis
where to get viagra cheap
how does viagra work
overnight delivery cialis
viagra brand
cialis okay for women
viagra discount
5 mg cialis
indian cialis generic
how strong is 5 mg of cialis
us discount viagra overnight delivery
canadian viagra and healthcare
viagra dose
buy viagra pills
generic cialis in india
cost of viagra
cialis 100 mg
price check 50mg viagra
canada meds viagra
professional cialis online
viagra cookies
viagra 50 mg
canadian pharmacy
viagra from india
viagra prices
chip cialis
cialis on sale
50 mg cialis
viagra how much
viagra usa
buy pfizer viagra in canada
get cialis online
buying viagra
how you get pfizer viagra
viagra in canada pfizer
what is cialis professional
viagra canada generic
viagra purchase
cialis refractory
cialis express delivery
viagra prescription
cialis price in canada
cialis for woman
cialis alternative
what is better viagra or levitra
viagra in spain
buy viagra in canada
cialis headaches
cost of cialis
cialis professional 20 mg
cialis and canada custom
cialis price 100 mg
viagra for cheap
buy discount viagra
viagra buy
viagra alternative
cialis for sale
should i chew cialis
no prescription viagra
indian cialis
cialis
real viagra online
discount brand name cialis
what better viagra or cialis
cialis for women
buying cialis next day delivery
levitra vs cialis
buy cialis without a prescription
viagra for women
canadian pharmacy viagra legal
cialis professional
where to purchase viagra
buy generic cialis
viagra pills
cialis online without prescription
canadian healthcare pharmacy
viagra soft tabs 100 mg
purchase cialis next day delivery
purchase cialis overnight delivery
viagra tablets sale
canadian healthcare viagra
cialis soft tablets
viagra through canada
viagra pfizer
best way to use cialis
female viagra
generic cialis canadian
purchase cialis cheap
herbal viagra
cialis no rx
purchase cialis
getting cialis from canada
viagra next day delivery
how much cialis
cialis and diarrhea
hydrochlorothiazide cialis
cialis at real low prices
viagra cost
buy real cialis
cialis delivered overnight
order usa viagra online
viagra soft
buying cialis online
real viagra
healthcare canadian pharmacy
viagra order
pfizer viagra canada
brand viagra
viagra in india
viagra available in india
which is better viagra cialis
best price for generic cialis
cialis soft
cialis soft pills
buy cialis without prescription
cialis order
canadian pharmacy cialis
one day delivery cialis
buy real viagra online without prescription
viagra overnite
ordering viagra overnight delivery
cialis overnight delivery
levitra vs viagra
canada viagra generic
viagra
when will viagra be available as a generic
brand name cialis overnight
viagra canadian scam
cialis dosage
price of cialis in canada
viagra non prescription
cialis vs levitra
viagra blister 4
how to buy cialis in canada
china viagra
how much is viagra
generic cialis soft tabs
cialis professional no prescription
cialis next day delivery
bruising on cialis
best viagra
cialis canada illegal buy
pfizer soft viagra
where can i purchase cialis
generic cialis next day shipping
buy viagra online
cialis strenght mg
viagra buy now
cialis from mexico
cialis women
low price cialis
buying viagra in canada
viagra tablets
cialis 30 mg
buy cialis next day delivery
soft gel viagra tablets
cialis low price
cialis samples in canada
can i order viagra from the chemist cialis dosagem
original brand cialis
how much to buy viagra in pounds
best way to take cialis
effect of cialis on women
cialis trazodone
cialis india
canadian pharmacy discount code viagra
buy pfizer viagra online
buy cialis once daily
generic cialis
viagra side effects
which is better viagra or cialis
viagra price germany
how can i get some cialis
cialis next day
soft gel viagra
similar cialis
viagra effects on the penis
pfizer viagra cheap
obtain viagra without prescription
viagra tablet
online order viagra overnight delivery
buy viagra
map of france with cialis
viagra in australia for sale
overnight canadian viagra
cialis cost
pfizer viagra 50mg
cialis woman
cialis india pharmacy