DropBox: FREE — sync files — with this iPhone app, you have access to your files on the go. And since the storage is cloud-based, and dropbox works on both Mac/Win you can have your files synced effortlessly. See my previous Dropbox article about the software versions and how to download and install on both platforms with FREE 2GB + 250MB of storage.

Evernote: FREE — sync notes — while the iPhone app isn’t as robust as some other Note applications, it will sync with their incredibly handy Mac and Windows application. So, if you’ve made notes or clipped screenshots at home for your big presentation at work, you can edit it on the way with the app, and then have it synced and ready on your work PC. See my previous Evernote articles for more details.

LastPass: FREE (requires $12/year subscription) — sync passwords — there you are visiting a favorite website at home or on your iPhone, but you can’t remember what password you used. Not any more with LastPass. LastPass works as a browser add-on that will store and sync your login information. Plus, anywhere you travel, you can log into the LastPass.com site to find those passwords. Find out more about LastPass with my previous article on it.

Skype: FREE — cheap talk — sure iChat is great on the Mac, but it’s limited to the Mac. Skype works on both platforms and even on your iPhone. With Skype, if you subscribe to one of their unlimited talk plans (US = $3, Japan = $6), you can not only talk all you want at home, at work, and on your phone. (NOTE: Skype currently requires you to use WiFi to make calls on your iPhone. To get around this limitation, you can use the FREE Fring application, which allows you to make Skype Out calls over the 3G network.)

Pandora: FREE — cheap music — if you love music, this is one app you need to have. Set up “stations” of your favorite music and let Pandora stream that music to you via this iPhone app. Pandora.com works great in Firefox and Safari also, so you can listen to those stations at work or home too.

Toodledo: ($3) — sync to-do’s — with this iPhone app you can edit/add/delete your To-dos. Toodledo’s website offers links to sync your account with both Mac and Windows, so those changes you made will be reflected wherever you go.

Photo apps: — see your photos — there are several good apps to show and upload your photos to a photo site, including Shutterfly (FREE), Flickr (FREE), Eye-fi (FREE), and Picasafoto ($.99, for Picasa) . If you take a lot of photos and want to see them on the road, these apps will help you stay connected to those images.

Yelp: FREE — great tips — Yelp’s iPhone app can help you find local businesses quickly. The “bookmark” feature is really great for keeping your favorite places’ phone numbers handy. So, you can order your favorite Thai dish in advance for quick pickup. User reviews can also give you tips what to order or avoid.

MAC ONLY:

AirMouse: ($2) — control your Mac with your iPhone. This app will work with your local WiFi network to become a trackpad to control your Mac wirelessly. Much more robust than Apple’s free Remote app, and cheaper than a Magic Mouse.

Prowl: ($3) — get PUSH notification on your iPhone from any Growl messages on your Mac. If you have Growl installed to display notifications on your Mac, Prowl allows you to send those notifications to your iPhone. You can be notified of things like disk errors, completed downloads, or whatever you want.

Well, I hope that’s helped you with some cool apps for you iPhone. If you have children and don’t mind them holding your $300 device, then check out my other articles on iPhone Apps for Toddlers.

The Wi-Fi-only iPad version will be released on April 3. So, members who attend that already have their iPads delivered prior to the meeting will get the chance to learn more as experts from Apple give us tips. For the rest of us, it will be a chance to see what this little beauty can do, and see if we can wait until the 3G option is available in a couple of months.

The event will be free but with limited space for about 20 members only. Register NOW to get a space. (Once those spaces are filled, registration will end.)

Let’s look at the iPad features you already have with iPhone: Safari, Mail, Video, Photos, YouTube, iPod, iTunes, App Store, Maps, Notes, Calendar, Contacts, Home Screen, Spotlight Search.  Wow, seems pretty complete already doesn’t it?!

But, let me help you “upgrade” your current device to be just as fancy as the iPad, and all for under $50!

* E-reader Capability:

one of the biggest new features of the iPad is the ability to read books on your device, called “iBook”. Well, “Classics” app (free right now, usually .99 cents) has been around for a while for iPhone/iPod Touch and gives you the same kind of look/feel as the $500 iPad but on your smaller screen. Great app, get it now while it’s on sale!

* Excel, Powerpoint, Word Document Viewing and Editing:

iWorks on the iPad looks great, but costs $9/each and are “coming soon”. “Documents to Go” ($14.99)
– is available in the iTunes app store now, and waiting for you to give it a try. (I personally haven’t used it, so you’re on your own to review it.)

* Large 9.7″ screen:

OK, that’s kind of tricky to fix, but check out this accessory from Amazon — for only $29 you can now view your iPod Touch/iPhone with so much magnification it will be IN YOUR FACE without limiting your multi-touch ability! (Great for Grandma and Grandpa too!)

So you see, for under $50, your “yesterday’s” device is new again!

You may be wondering if allowing your $300 device in the hands of a three-year old is the wisest of moves. And, this I often wonder myself, as I watch my son shaking my iPhone rather violently to get the iGlowStick to light up — a definite fear of seeing your phone sail across the room removes some of the thrills for the parents. However, for the kids, they love it!

Here are some really fun apps for kids that build on an original post I wrote some time back: “Kid-friendly iPhone and iPod Touch“. I added “EV” for “Education Value” (how educational it is) and “PV” for Play Value (how interactive and fun it is). As any parent with active kids will tell you, getting 10 minute breaks that keep your son or daughter entertained, can make a huge difference. It’s wonderful if the app is educational too, but at least it has to have good, clean fun.

Educational:

Tickle Tap Apps have a series of very gentle learning apps for your toddler. CountCaddy ($1.99)
is a cat that helps kids with counting, while Field Flier ($1.99) is more free-form; allowing your child to help the birdy explore his surroundings while learning verbs. Both are well done, calming, and good for younger children (under 4). (Good support from the company also.) EV= high, PV = good

EliasABC and EliasZoo (was free, now $1.99 each) — simple, clean graphic and easy movement to help toddlers learn either ABCs or animal sounds. EV = high, PV = good

FeedMe (free) — Living in Hawaii, you know how important other languages are. Feedme is available in different languages, including Japanese. Interactive and educational, my son really enjoyed playing it with his mom. EV = good, PV = good

Number Fun Time (free) — fun app for kids to learn numbers. “Where is number four?” EV = good, PV = good

iWriteWords (lite/free, $1.99) — very good way to help kids learn how to write and spell words. Colorful, entertaining, and encouraging. Well worth $2 to watch your child learning how to write letters on his own! EV = high, PV = high

Monkey Preschool Lunchbox ($.99) — A funny, happy monkey teaches kids colors, counting, letters and more. My son really likes this one; very interactive and educational, plus he gets “stickers” for completing sections correctly. EV = high, PV = high

Pre-K Safari (lite/free, .99) – kids learn about the animals in the Serengeti while studying ABCs. EV = high, PV = good

Fun:

iGlowStick (free/pro $.99) — this is just a lot of fun, pull the two corners of the stick to break it, then shake it, and watch it glow or animate. Fire, snow, bats, and more are included in the pro version. My son loves showing this one off to others. EV = questionable, PV = high

Cybertoy – Transformers ($1.99) –
for transformer fans — for $2 your child can convert these virtual robots into cars or trucks, have them dance to music, or shoot lasers. EV = none/nada, PV = good

Lego Photo (free) — not sure if this is for kids or geeky parents, but we both like it. Take photos and have them “lego-ized”. EV = low, PV = good

SpongeBob Tickler Lite (free) — poke or stretch him and SpongeBob will make funny sounds. Bit annoying to parents, entertaining for kids. EV = none, PV = high

TalkingCarl (.99) — much like the above SpongeBob — poke and stretch Carl for funny sounds. Plus, he’ll repeat what your child says in a funny voice. EV = none, PV = high

JumbaluZoo (free) — mix and match colorful animal characters. EV = low, PV = good

Having a couple of these on your iPhone or iPod Touch can mean turning “wait time” into “play time”. And, even if you don’t have kids, pulling one of these out for your nephew or niece can mean you might actually be able to finish a sentence with them around.

If you’re interested in learning about other cool iPhone apps, either for kids for adults, let HMAUS know; (members can sign in and add comments, or, just contact us). We could even provide a MacLearn on the iPhone to demo some of these, if interested.

Related posts by author:

• Kid-friendly iPhone and iPod Touch: Tips on setting up your iPhone or iPod Touch for your child
• Zen Apps for iPhone/iPod Touch: Apps to help you keep your cool and release some stress

Imagine getting updates from your favorite web sites delivered directly into your mail inbox. No more having to visit those sites in your browser to find interesting articles. With RSS those “feeds” of information come to you.  You “subscribe” to a feed and then get article summaries to view, almost like email messages. You decide if you want to visit that site or not.  All you need is an RSS “reader” (and for Mac OS X users, one is already built in.)

So by now you may be asking, “what is RSS?” Most commonly it stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a special format of XML (Extensible Markup Language) in which all the data is wrapped in tags. These tags allow the data to be understood very easily, which has allowed RSS to flourish worldwide.

For website owners who write content on their site, publishing RSS feeds can be just another path or channel to their site.  And now, many CMS (Content Management Systems) and blog software have RSS feed publishing built in, so there’s nothing extra you as the site owner have to do.  WordPress sites, for example, are some of the easiest ways to have RSS feeds running for all “posts,” or “news updates.”

Sound interesting? Let’s see how easy it is to subscribe to the HMAUS feed in my three step process.

Step 1: Find the feed. On sites with RSS feeds there are usually two places to look; 1) the address bar of your browser, or 2) a button mentioning RSS/Subscribe. Here’s an example with the HMAUS web site showing both of them:

Once you find one of them, simply click on the that link and copy the feed URL (control-c).

Step 2: Add it to Mail. Once you have the feed URL, go to Apple’s Mail program and click File and “Add RSS Feed.”

If you did step 1 correctly and are connected to the Internet, Mail should find the feed and populate it for you. Whenever there is an update, you’ll be notified, just like you are with email.

Step 3: That’s it! You’re done. Let the best of the web come to you!

Now, what if you don’t like Mail or want fancier features? Well, there are plenty of other RSS readers. Desktop apps include free open-source Vienna, free NetNewsWire that syncs with Google Reader, and Times, a beautiful, newspaper-like reader.  For online readers, you can use Google Reader or MyYahoo to name just two.

What other feeds are out there? Most major sites now have RSS feeds available; CNN, NYTimes, MacWorld, and Honolulu Advertiser. Remember to check your favorite sites for feed icons, and you can also subscribe to the HMAUS Twitter feed for real-time updates.

That’s really just scratching the surface of RSS.  If you’d like to know more, or have some great feed suggestions, let us know.

There are a wide variety of editing tools available in Voila that help you create a very unique and detailed image, these include; drawing (pen, spray), text editing, blur (to blur out non-important sections), “callouts” (like speech bubbles), and others. Added to this are “effects” that let you crop, skew, and filter (black/white, sepia, etc.) your image, which means that your screenshots can now take on an artistic and professional look to them.

Taking a screenshot of your desktop and editing in Voila is fairly simple. Open the application, use the same key combinations as mentioned above, and Voila will store those images in its “Organizer”-tab collection. You can then edit any of them to add or remove parts, until you get the perfect image.

For me, however, there was a slight learning curve to using the program.  While the provided Help does lessen this, the multiple tabs plus upper/lower panels were (and still are) less intuitive than I am used to. (Coming from a Windows environment where I have to do daily training on web applications, I have come to love the Firefox add-on, Fireshot (which unfortunately isn’t available for Mac). Fireshot has simple toolbars, lots of options, but without the “artistic” features that I usually don’t need for training, that Voila includes.)

Voila comes packed with lots of options, but some aren’t so obvious. The main tool bar at top doesn’t have an “Export” button, you have to use the menu bar to Save As. The application allows you to email but only to NEW email, not into one you might have started (like an Export might). Adding Text to screenshots is really simple, but getting the width, font size, and location where you want it can be a bit of back and forth.   You will find that the “Select Object” (CMD-L) button will soon become your best friend in the program. Also, even though the main functionality of the program is on various tabs (Organizer, Tools, and Effects), the SIZE of those tabs seems to diminish their importance.

All in all, Voila is a very good screenshot editor that has all the features you would probably ever need, without having to use Photoshop for layers, or other photo editors for fancy filters. You can find out more at: www.globaldelight.com/voila/

If you would like to see Voila in action, I’ll be doing a short demo at the upcoming “Mac Geeks Mashup” on August 25th.  (We’ll be working through how to create an “RSS Feed” training document.)

The full list of speakers is HERE — highlights include; Peter Kay, Andy Bumatai, and Bert Lum on topics like iLife ’09, Mac 101, Adobe Lightroom, and Social Networks and Livefeeds. You may want to arrive a little early for some of the speakers to get a good seat. The JAIMS buildings will be filled with Mac enthusiasts, experts, and “switchers” (PC users just starting to use Macs). So, no matter YOUR level of expertise, you’ll find someone there to learn and chat with.

You should bring some money with you, especially if you like bargains. The Professional Photographers of Hawaii and HMAUS will have a swapmeet — expect to find goodies for cameras and computers. And, if you plan to stay the entire day, order a little bit for the tasty bento meals now: link is HERE.

If you like to blog, bring your camera and computer to capture the events. HMAUS sponsored HawaiiGeekWeek last year and brought out lots of social networking fans; posting to Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and videoblogs. We’re hoping to see lots of great posts about “MacSpringFest” this year!

As with HMAUS’s Mactoberfest, there will be some fun prizes and giveaways, and this time someone will win an iPod Touch!

If you’d like to volunteer to make this years MacSpringfest the best ever, just let us know, we could sure use extra help!

That’s pretty much it, be sure to review the days events HERE so you don’t miss the topics you are most interested in. Tell a friend and see you there!

Place your lunch orders HERE -- Order yours NOW to make sure you’ll get one. Limited quantities except for pre-orders.

HMAUS presents MacSpringfest '09

You can read all the details of speakers and events HERE.  Get the a copy of the flyer HERE.

Sponsors

Hawaii Macintosh and Apple User’s Society http://www.hmaus.org

Professional Photographers of Hawaii  http://www.pphawaii.org

TAPA Communications  http://www.tapa.com

Peachpit Press  http://www.peachpit.com and

O’Reilly Books  http://oreilly.com

Hope to see you there!