I'm desperate to get my iPhone back from Lilith

Lilith had fun at school

Have you heard of Loopt?

This is a social networking application that I am giving a try on my iphone.
Are you on it?
If so do you like it?
It has a link to twitter and facebook feature that I am attempting to set up. If you follow me on twitter, you should see my info on it. I say should because I am only just starting to play with it and figure it out. More info and a video about it follow!
Loopt demos free location-based iPhone app
by Harrison Hoffman
The location-based social network Loopt, just announced and demoed its native iPhone application onstage at WWDC. The application, which will be free at launch, helps you connect with and find friends around you. Using the location technology built in to the iPhone, Loopt will drop pins onto a map, showing where your friends are.

Loopt also contains other social-networking features, such as calling, texting, and sending invitations to meet up. The example used was seeing if any friends are in your area for lunch. Once you have located friends, you can send them an invitation for lunch, and if they agree, you will be one touch away from directions to their location. As Sam Altman from Loopt put it, "You will never have to eat alone, or at a bad restaurant again."

This is an exciting step in bringing location-based networking into the mainstream. With native third-party applications for the iPhone and the rumored GPS feature, expect to see many applications leveraging these same sorts of capabilities in the future.

Accountability?

As I have mentioned before, I am trying out a couple of iphone food diary applications. The latest one that I am playing with is Livestrong (aka The Daily Plate). One of the features of this program is its ability to link to twitter. At first I thought, "Why the heck would you want to tweet (publicly broadcast) every bite you take in during the day?! and who would want to read it anyway?" Well, after a minute, it hit me, accountability. Am I really going to eat that fat, greasy, nutrient deficient, calorie bomb if everyone is going t be reading about it? Probably not or at least I would think twice before I did. If you are honest and take the time to enter what you are eating, then I can see this being a very valuable motivator.
I had a friend once who would constantly tell me, "I've only eaten (insert one healthy low calorie food here) all day.", but if you watched her, she was a grazer. She never apparently counted all of the chips, cookies, and treats she picked at all day long. It's like my grandmother always said, "what you eat in private, shows in public". The same goes for mindless eating, you may not count it but it shows.
Sure it takes some time to whip out the your iphone and enter the program, then search for the food, and then log it but it makes such a difference. There are tons of studies out there that prove food diaries work at helping you achieve and maintain your weight goals.
So far, I am really liking the Livestrong application for the twitter capabilities and the huge food database. The only big drawback to that huge food database is the fact that a lot of the foods are taken from user entries and therefore are not verified so you may find some of them to be inaccurate and that there are tons of duplicates for a single food. I think it is well worth the $2.99 for the download.
It even helps you to set up weight loss goals and bases your daily caloric intake on those goals and activity levels that you have entered. For example, I have 740 calories left for today to stay within my goal.
I may revise this review later after working with the program more and discovering more of its quirks, etc. but for the 4 days that I have been using it, I have really enjoyed it and found it very user friendly. It also links to the Livestrong website and your food diary there which has more detailed features and options.
As for who actually reads twitter updates of food diaries, you can show me. You can follow me on twitter by clicking on the blue birdie in the left hand column. Go ahead, you know you are curious and besides, you would be helping me by keeping me accountable!
next I need to get the nike+!

What is your favorite application for the iphone?

So far I am loving;
FREE! Betty Crocker mobile cookbook. You can type any ingredient into the seachbox and all the recipes that contain that ingredient will show up. Each recipe has a list of ingredients and cooking instructions. The other day I was at the grocery store and saw a can of green Chile was on sale. I typed green Chile into the search box on this application and decided on a great southwestern stew (for your slow cooker and we know how I love my crock pot) out of the several recipes that came up. I was able to see what other ingredients I needed and even get ideas for side dishes! It's great. It also gives nutritional info on each recipe! Get this application, you'll love it!
Free!All Around me. This application utilizes the gps component of your iphone. It will give you a list of the; banks, bars, coffee shops, gas stations, hospitals, hotels, movie theaters, parking, pharmacies, "pubs", restaurants, supermarkets, taxis, theaters, as well as a "nearby" tab that takes you a listing of other notable locations (think schools, sports stadiums, cities (suburbs), zoos, parks, etc) around you. It also has a weather tab that will give you a 3 day weather report. The listings are by no means complete but they are pretty through especially for Alaska when you consider almost no mobile gps or satellite radio service works here.
Free!Sparkpeople. This food & fitness tracker keeps track of your weight (with graph), contains a simple food diary that links with their online site (if you make an entry to your daily intake from your computer via their website, it shows up on your phone too), an exercise tracker, and a water intake tracker. The food listing isn't as complete as I would like but it allows you (on their site) to add your own foods and its nutritional data. You can then save them to your favorites and then they will show up on your iphone version too. I am still wondering if there isn't a better food diary application out there, but for a free one, this isn't bad.
$9.99 iBlogger allows you to blog with photos, tags, categories, links, and location. It is easy to use and very convenient. Those of you that are regular readers have probably noticed the little, "published from my iphone using iblogger"
signature lately, so obviously it does it's job. the only drawback is that it doesn't support photos or videos yet for Blogger but since I was easily able to configure my Blogger account to accept emailed photos and videos from my iphone, it hasn't been an issue. For $10.00 however, you would think they would offer photo and video blogging but no application is perfect.
Free!Pandora Radio is a free music streaming application that allows you to search for artists, songs, albums, and music type. It then makes recommendations and plays songs and stations based on your preferences. You can give songs thumbs up or thumbs down. Presumably, it learns from your ratings and gets better and better at recommending songs and stations that you will enjoy. It is compatible with their web service. If you really like a song or album, there is even the ability to buy it from itunes, bookmark it, and email the station to a friend.
Free!Facebook allows you to keep up to date on your friends latest updates, photos, and chat (I haven't used the chat yet). I love getting updates and posting photos. You can't respond to some requests however. I lost a pillow fight because of this, Ha Ha! But other than that, it is still a pretty good application.
Free!Myspace Mobile allows you to send and receive messages, upload and share photos, read bulletins, post comments, and find friends. You can't see some personalized layouts or hear profile music however. You also can't see when someone last logged on. I like this application but if I am honest, I use Facebook more now. I still have many friends that are only on Myspace so it is nice to be able to comment and post photos that they can see.
Below are two articles that I found that list more useful and fun health related iphone applications.


21 iPhone Food Apps to Eat Your Heart Out
by Amanda MacArthur
Sure there are plenty of foodie sites online like YelpYelp, Zeer, Dishola and tons more. But how many have actually merged into the iPhone space, the most portable way to figure out what you want to eat?

Here are 21 food-related iPhone apps, both free and paid, that will let you eat your heart out:

Where (free) – A location-based app that works with Yelp as well as Starbucks. So you can find food and your coffee wherever you are. The app also works with GasBuddy (for the cheapest gas nearby), EventfulEventful, Buddy Beacon, ZipCar, and Quibblo Quizzes.

Yelp (free) – The Yelp app is GPS-enabled and will find you places to eat nearby (amongst other things). The problem with this app is that it lacks Yelp’s best feature – the ability to review.

UrbanSpoon (free) – A fun app if you’re close to a city. It’s not as limited as the LocalEats app (above), but you’re not going to find anything nearby if you’re more than 20 miles from a city. It’s a slot machine application that lets you pick how much you want to spend or what kind of meal you want to eat. You shake the iPhone and it gives you a list of results within the categories you selected.

iFob (free) – This app goes against GPS technology and encourages Wi-fi connections. So when you’re at a restaurant that has wi-fi, you can walk away with a friend? The idea is to connect people that are within close range of each other. So maybe you’ll have an eating partner.

Restaurant Nutrition (free) – The most disturbing of the nutrition fact iPhone apps is this one. It lists the nutrition facts for most popular chain restaurants. You won’t believe how many grams of fat are in a chicken caesar wrap at Chili’s.

iWant (free) – A (possibly better) version of the Where To app (below) that’s free. Like the Where To app, it works easily like the POI navigation on a GPS device. Easy to use, easy to drive with. It has 3.5 stars at the iTunes store with the biggest complaint being that it doesn’t list enough results under some categories.

Nearby (free) – Works like other geo-locating apps, you search for things around you; only this time there will be various types of commentary about a particular spot: photos, notes, reviews and “virtual graffiti”.

YPMobile (free) – When worse comes to worse, hit up the Yellow Pages.

Where To ($2.99) – This is a cool little app that works like the POI (point of interest) function on a regular GPS. It finds your location, you choose a category, and it finds all of the places in that category that are near you. Food & Drink is just one of the 600 categories that you can choose from. It works kind of like a front-end to Google Search, however makes using it while on the road very easy and simple to use. Is it worth the $2.99? Well that’s less than a tank of gas in most places, so sure.

LocalEats ($0.99) – Based on the site wherethelocalseat.com, this app gives you the best 100 restaurants in the top 50 U.S. cities. The interface is extremely easy to use and it mostly avoids chain restaurants. The downside is that it’s only applicable if you’re near or in a big city. Still has 4 out of 5 stars at the app store.

There are also some good Web apps for foodies:

Menus – Offers menus for many fast food restaurants and includes a Google MapsGoogle Maps link so that you can direct yourself to the nearest drive-thru.

TopChef Recipe Finder – Hosted by the Bravo network, this Web app will help you find recipes when you’re grocery shopping or just plain looking for something to make. AOL Recipes and 101Cookbooks are other Web apps like this.

CookBook – So you have all these ingredients in your house but you’re not sure what to make with them. This Web app will let you input ingredients and will try to come up with some recipes that you can make using those ingredients.

Steak Timer – You didn’t think someone would spend the time on this one did you? Yeah this little Web app shows a piece of steak on a timer from raw to well done. I think I’d do the meat thermometer test first though before trusting this app.

GrubOntheGo – A little Web app that has you enter what you’re craving and where you are. Will display local results and the distance (approximately) from your location. A lot like the other iPhone apps but I like the twist of “what you’re craving”.




5 Great Health Applications for Your iPhone
And 1 lousy one
By Matthew Shulman
The release this month of Apple's iPhone 3G, the sleeker, faster, cheaper version of the original iPhone, was met with cheers and long lines across the country. But the star that stole the show was the introduction at the same time of the App Store, which features hundreds of downloadable programs—some free, some not—for both the new and old iPhones as well as the iPod Touch.
While video game apps like Texas Hold 'Em and Super Monkey Ball are leading the pack in downloads, the App Store features a number of useful health, nutrition, and fitness programs. U.S.News & World Report tested more than a few of the currently available applications and picked out our five favorites (and a least favorite, too).
Absolute Fitness. By far the most impressive health app we tested, Absolute Fitness is also one of the more expensive at $14.99. But for those wanting a comprehensive, easy-to-use way to keep a food and exercise diary, set target nutrition and weight goals, and track and graph vital health data including cholesterol and intake of calories, saturated fat, and sodium, this app is a bargain. (Food diaries have been proven to be effective tools for weight loss.) Before you get started, the program asks you a series of questions to establish your gender, date of birth, activity level, and whether your goal is to gain or lose weight. The powerful diary section has a wide-ranging database of nutritional information on foods in nearly every category (dairy, meats, snacks, and seafood, just to name a few), and even nutritional facts on specific brand-name products. By entering what you eat at each meal and which exercises you do, you can get the program to calculate calories in minus calories burned, letting you know if you're on the right track to meeting your health and fitness goals.

Quitter. For former smokers who have kicked the habit or are trying to, Quitter offers an extra boost of motivation. The free program is as simple as they come: Just enter the last date on which you smoked, how many cigarettes you used to smoke on average per day, and the cost of a pack. The app will calculate how much moolah you've saved. Thereafter, whenever you open the program, an outsized "Congratulations" appears on the screen, along with a statement about how long you've been smoke free and a meter showing your savings so far. As the months pass, the dollar amount can add up to hundreds or thousands. Congratulations, indeed.

ICE. While it may not be much more useful than a paper card in your wallet, the concept behind ICE, which stands for In Case of Emergency, shows a lot of promise. There are other emergency contact programs at the App Store, but ICE seemed the most comprehensive and the best performer. And for only 99 cents, it's the best value, too. The app lets you enter any allergies you may have to medications, food, or "other" (latex, stinging insects), and comes stocked with a long list of meds to choose from when entering what you take. There's also a section for recording any medical conditions you may have. Emergency contact names and numbers can be added easily from your iPhone's contact list. What's missing? Info on blood type, organ donation, and a way for emergency personnel to override your phone's security PIN, if it has one. Another problem? Since electronic and portable emergency contact programs are so new, emergency personnel—who would need the data if they found you unconscious—may not yet even think to check your iPhone.

Kenkou. The name of this simple, $4.99 program app means "health" in Japanese, and the aptly named app lets users keep track of some important personal health and wellness data. It's particularly useful for people with diabetes. The user can enter her blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight—and date-stamp each entry, enabling her to track trends over time. The program also lets users track how many minutes they exercised, record what foods they ate, and note other relevant details.

iScale. This is another food diary app, but with significantly fewer features than Absolute Fitness. Its simplicity, colorful user interface, and price tag (only $4.99), however, make it worthy of consideration. Each day, the user enters the foods eaten at each meal as well as nutritional and calorie information for each item. The program features an FDA food database with nutritional facts on a wide variety of foods, which is particularly useful for fresh fruits and vegetables and other nonpackaged foods. The program will calculate the total calories you consumed at a particular meal, and it will even keep a shopping list of foods you need to restock. A graphing feature will be added to a soon-to-be available updated version, but it's unclear whether that will cost extra.

Not every program in Apple's new software store is a winner. Our least favorite application in the healthcare and fitness category was Steps. This pedometer program uses the iPhone's built-in accelerometer to measure the number of steps a user takes. Unfortunately, it simply isn't accurate. In testing, it seemed to register only one of every two or three steps we took. It's a worthy idea that could be useful if its accuracy were improved, but at $1.99, save your money for Super Monkey Ball ($9.99).