KTdict C-E from Klaus Thul
Klaus Thul is so cool, I read his blog, which has inspired me to be more serious about my running. He provides what I think is the best Chinese-English dictionary for the iPhone. His app, which is based on the CC-CEDICT project, makes the iPhone a must-have for any foreigner living in Taiwan or China or any student of Mandarin Chinese.
AP Mobile and New York Times
I personally think that the earlier versions of the apps from Associated Press and the New York Times were much better. While their new designs are not as good, I still open these news apps first thing in the morning. I just can't wait to find out when Obama finally gets his health care bill passed. Also, the wacky news section on AP Mobile helps remind me that life is still much stranger than fiction. If you want news, install these apps.
Dictionary.com
Confounded by a nasty highfalutin English word? Dictionary.com for the iPhone will give you definition after definition even when you're offline, making it even better than the popular reference site. When in a conversation with pretentious intellectual snobs, you can feign texting while you look for that crazy word that will leave them dumbfounded and feeling stupid--the same way they always make you feel when they do their pretentious intellectual snob things.
Bored? Change your status from "bored" to "very bored" on Facebook anytime with the official Facebook app. Or try something interesting like "suicidal" just to get your old high school friends busy.
Y! Messenger, Skype, and fring
Instant Messengers should stay hidden in the background unless you have a new message or you want to send one. With the iPhone unable to concurrently run apps, IMs are not really that great on this platform. However, chatting on the iPhone can really help improve your typing. After a few chat sessions on Yahoo Messenger, typing emails on the iPhone is like a walk in the park. Of course, Skype and fring (using Skype) will also let you make cheap calls--I call the US and China for around US$0.02 per minute.
fring, by the way, is a mobile-only application that will let you log on to Skype and other instant messaging services at the same time. This is particularly good since, again, the iPhone can only run one third-party app at a time. fring has never been very reliable for me, but it's free and it was made available on the iPhone even before Skype and Yahoo Messenger. It also lets you log on to ICQ and MSN. I fell in love with it on my Nokia, I'm married to it on my iPhone.
RemotePad
This app is almost useless, but it's a great way to show off your iPhone. If you're connected to the same network, ask a friend to open a small server application (available for download here) on her Mac or PC. As soon as she has this small server application running, you can start controlling her keyboard and mouse with your iPhone. You can do this even when you're not in the same room (again, you will have to be on the same network). How cool is that?!
Drag your finger around this interface and watch the mouse pointer move on the remote computer
Polarize
The iPhone will never be able to take higher quality pictures than a regular camera. Let's face it, most low-light shots look good only on its tiny screen. This app won't let you shoot pictures like your D90, but it will apply some processing to make your shots look sweet. Your pics will look like they've been taken with a retro Polaroid camera, plus you can label them with a felt pen-like font. If you can come up with witty labels no longer than 14 characters long, this app will make your friends think you're actually artistic. See my masterpieces below.
Lock n' Roll
I'm not sure why iPhone users have been obsessing over Paper Toss. I do understand that Paper Toss is mindless and silly like most popular iPhone apps, whereas Lock n' Roll is challenging. Perhaps, most iPhone users have not heard of this game. Seriously, I would vote to put this game on the list of simple but fantastic video games. Forgive my blasphemy, but Lock n' Roll should be in the pantheon with Pac-Man and Tetris or at least with lesser deities like Zuma and Pipe Mania. Besides, this app is free, while Tetris and Pac-Man are being sold for around US$5 on the App Store.
