Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Do you have an iPhone? If you do, do you further understand the awesomeness that is Instapaper? If you have an iPhone, you really should start to get it. It’s awesome like RSS feeds are awesome. It’s awesome like GMail conversation threading is awesome. If you get why those are so awesome, then I urge you to consider that there is another kind of awesome that you may not quite get yet.

In Instapaper’s own words:

Instapaper facilitates easy reading of long text content. We discover web content throughout the day, and sometimes, we don’t have time to read long articles right when we find them. Instapaper allows you to easily save them for later, when you do have time, so you don’t just forget about them or skim through them.

In the above audio recording, I explain why, for iPhone users,

Take a listen, try it out, and see if you agree. That trio along with the Kindle app for iPhone means I am reading MUCH more than I did only a few months ago. It’s a no-brainer and easy as pie. It makes it more possible to read all those articles you’ve kept in open tabs. There will be a useful place to put them; a place where they may actually get read!

Ginny asked me about my favorite iPhone apps this morning. I get this question a lot, so I thought I’d just share my answer to her in a blog post. Thanks for the inspiration, Ginny. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while!

• Feeds is awesome if you use Google Reader, and just awesome for RSS feeds in general.
• eBuddy is new, free, and AWESOME. It’s an IM app that uses push, so you can set it to wait for 5, 10, or 15 minutes after you exit it so stop being “on.” Hard to explain, but it’s really good. Interfaces with all the popular chat clients.
• ReQall is badass for speaking to do lists and converting them to text. Worth experimenting around with. I love it for talking in things I need to do when I’m driving!
• My favorite Twitter app is Tweetie. Tweetdeck is nice, but crashy sometimes.
• Camerabag and Autostitch are the shit for photography fun.
• Audioboo lets you post talking directly to Twitter.
• Are you a Last.FM user? If so, the app is great. (For the record, these are so easy to find by looking them up on your iPhone or in the iTunes app store, that I’m going to stop doing all the leg work at this point in my blog post!)
• I have three radio apps I use: Slacker, Public Radio (for listening to Tara on WCPE!), and Radio Paradise.
• For reading when I’m out, I have the Kindle app, Instapaper (free AND paid are both good – takes a little learning to get going, but it’s so badass, it’s ridiculous).
• Do you use Tumblr? If you do, then the app is excellent. I recommend it highly, for posting and reading.
• Shazam is fun to have, cuz why not? And it’s free.
• Card Star will blow your mind. You won’t have to carry around those little keychain cards anymore. It really works.
• Shopper is good for grocery lists.
• Evernote is handy as hell.
• Local Picks is (to me) the most useful of the location-based sites (better than Yelp or Urban Spoon if you ask me)
• Produce Guide and Locavore are good for being healthy. I love the little quiz in Produce Guide.
• Birdhouse is good if you have a bunch of things you want to tweet, but you don’t want to flood your stream. You can save as many as you want. I don’t use it a lot, but when I need it, I’m glad I have it.
• iMapMyRide is great for biking, and I know you can use it for walking and running, too. It tracks your route, speed, etc.
• Now Playing is so good when you are thinking of taking yourself to a movie. It interfaces with Rotten Tomatoes, which is my favorite movie site online. It’s purely data based. So instead of averaging the reviews, it simply culls all reviews of a given movie. Each review is considered GOOD or BAD. Then it gives you a percentage of how many reviewers liked it and how many hated it. If more people hated than loved a movie, I’d rather not waste my money!
• i.TV is good for finding when stuff is on TV. I use a TiVo, and I can schedule recordings right from my phone.
• Bebot is silly and fun and awesome and just a trip to play with.
• Games I dig are Solitaire City Spiderette, Peggle, Quordy, and Drop7. The kids are really into Flight Control, but I’ve been trying to resist addiction to another game.

There are many more I love and have on my Mac at home for when I feel like adding stuff back, but I don’t like more than 4 pages of apps at any given time. More than that, and I can’t find anything. My main rule for myself is to keep the stuff I use most on page one. Page Two is for Camera Apps, Audio Apps, and Reading Apps. Page Four is for Games and Entertainment Stuff (TV/Movies). Page Three is all the other Utilities I use.

My Current Page One

That’s my iPhone way. Everyone’s is different, but mine makes me superhappy.

I got a MacBook Pro 13″. It’s cool, and yes, it’s one of the new ones announced last week. I’m really loving it so far. It’s the first Mac I’ve ever owned (unless you count the iPhone, and I don’t). My ex-husband always had Macs, so there are very few things that I don’t know how to do right off the bat. The gestures on the trackpad are new, so I’m learning those slowly – as needed.

I have but one small complaint, and it relates to the design of the body itself. There is an extremely sharp 90-degree angle where my wrists rest, so that there’s always a little digging in my skin on the underside of my wrists/lower forearms. I thought Mac was all about design? Maybe they are going more for visual than functional with this choice? I really am perplexed. Since it’s a Mac, I keep thinking I must be “doing it wrong!”

Thoughts? Comments? General harangues?

I really did try to get the Blackberry problems sorted out, but in the end, the not getting service in my office thing was a BIG problem. I learned from the receptionists that noone was able to get Verizon service of any kind inside the office. They’d actually lost contracts because of it. And so once I realized I’d have to switch carriers, I knew I would have to cave and get an iPhone. Yep, I followed the herd. I have so many friends around with them that I knew it wasn’t a stupid herd move, and that I would likely be pretty happy changing over. I’ve had the thing about 2-3 weeks now, and I really love it. Lots of fun to be had, AND when I schedule appointments while sitting in my office, they sync correctly. Hooray!

So along those lines, I was out shooting with friends (pictures, not guns – of course), and Lalitree was messing around with her Tumblr iPhone app. I had tried it briefly but for whatever reason, wasn’t that all impressed. I re-added it yesterday and now can’t imagine was was not to like. It is perfect for both reading on the go and posting on the go. So easy, in fact, that I’m expecting I’ll be posting there a LOT. So if you aren’t following my Tumblr blog, might wanna add it to the feeds… or perhaps conversely, REMOVE it from your feeds if you would like less Abby content (yes, that is often the case, as I believe I have proven time and time again that I generate WAY more content online than anyone should have to deal with!).

I love Facebook. I know a lot of people who don’t. One obvious reason for this is that I LOVE connecting with people I knew long ago. I think it’s fascinating. Also, I love connecting people I know to other people I know. I’m a connection-gal. If you know me, you know that’s true. The OTHER reason I believe that I love Facebook much more than other people is my quick tendency to click BLOCK APPLICATION whenever I see a new invite for yet another application. My friend Patrick posted a list of all the applications he’s blocked. I did the same thing and was amazed to find that I have blocked 200 applications! Here they are:

Northwest Trail, Pirates, Ninja Academy, Who Would Win, The Ultimate Battle: Pirates vs. Ninjas, How Many Ninjas Could You Take in a Fight?, Pirates vs. Ninjas, Zombies, Are YOU Interested?, Lexulous , SuperPoke!, Friends For Sale!, Hug Me, HOT or NOT, You’re a Hottie, Honesty Box, Vampires, Hot, Hatching Eggs, Best Friends, Parking Wars, Funnest Person Contest, What does your birth date mean?, Jetman, SpeedDate, Romantic Greetings, Birthday Calendar, Send Good Karma, Send Cupcakes, Verbal IQ Test, My Heroes Ability, What Musical Instrument Should You Play?, What Flower Are You?, Likeness UNRATED, Mesmo TV, What Greek god are you?, Are You Normal?, What Kind of Drunk Are You?, What’s Your Stripper Name?, Discover the color of your aura, Custom Cartoon Personality, Scramble, (Lil) Green Patch, What’s Your Dream Engagement Ring?, There/Their/They’re Test, What Musical Instrument are you? (best version!), SpeedDate, Blackjack, What Greek God are you, Hugs, Most Creative People, Slide FunSpace, Pet Pupz, My Garden, Sparkey, How Many Strippers Could You Take in a Fight?, Hot Men, U.S. Citizen Test, Which bollywood actress are you?, Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?, Who’s Your 80s Hunk?, Coolest Person Contest, What kind of person should you be with?, What Musical Are You?, Which 1950’s Pin-Up Girl are you?, Your Birthday, We Love the 80’s, Super Wall, Movies, Optical Illusions Challenge, Got Love?, Pets, What Kind of Poop Are You?, Who Has The Biggest Brain?, Are You Bangable?, LivingSocial: Beer, Click to Give – The Hunger Site App, Which Sondheim Musical Are You?, Typing Speed, Which 80s movie defines you?, Are You Intelligent?, LivingSocial: Albums, What song are you?, Dr. Phil’s Personality Test, Your American Accent, Top Friends, What is Your Kama Sutra Position?, Wack-a-Billary, Shots and Drinks!, Twirl, which opera are you, Which movie star are you?, My House, StumbleUpon, Send Starbucks, Hug Me, Poke Me, Best Looking Person Contest, Office Poke!, Which singer are you?, Dirty Harry, Kindest Person Contest, WereWolves, What’s your Actual Age?, Mob Wars, What German philosopher are you?, Most Eligible Singles, Zoosk, Brain Battle!, Flower Power!, Send Krispy Kreme, Birthday Cards, Earthkeepers, Challenge Sudoku, Likeness, Owned!, Send Prosperity, Hug Me, SpeedDate, Webkinz, Childhood Memories of the 80’s, Dianne’s Nature Goddess Photos, PackRat, Send Muppets, The Brain Game, Click a Day for Breast Cancer, Pink Ribbon, Winnie the Pooh, Visual Bookshelf, Causes, Six Degrees, Magnetic Words, Stuff White People Like, Dogbook, How weird are you?, Karate Monkeys, Cutest Friends, Send Jewellery!, 70s and 80s toys and gifts, Cute Catz, Martinis, Tree-Nation, Re-Green Greensburg, Pet Society, Catbook, Poke Pro, Which Peanuts/Snoopy Character Are You?, Happy Hour!, Rock the Vote Online Precinct, Locations 2.0, LinkedIn Contacts, Digsby Widget, Valentine’s Gifts, MyBO , Kidnap!, MyCalendar, Nicest Person Contest, Oberlin Gifts (90s), Willy’s Sweet Shop, iSmile, NetworkedBlogs, Knighthood, Which 60’s Band are you?, The Pink Ribbon, African Safari, Pass a Drink, MyCalendar, Atlanta Falcons Fans, (Lil) Blue Cove, Love Cheers, Snowball Fight!, What were you born to do?, Covered Dishes from the Fellowship Hall, Punk Rock Singles, Friendship Day Wishes, Ghetto Snacks, Countdown Calendar, Throw This Shoe at Bush, Are you a good lover?, Happy Obama Day!, Who’s the Coolest Cat?, 80’s Nostalgia, Pass a Drink, What Mythical Creature Are You?, What Led Zeppelin song are you?, Toast, smiley’s, Give Southern Stuff, Mardi Gras, My Girls, You’re Sexy, Characteristics, What’s Your iCue?, Glad We’re Friends, Soul Food, Who Sang That 80’s Song?, Analog Synths, Totally 80’s Fashion Gifts, Voted! (Talented), Voted! (Smart)

If you want to do this and see how many applications you’ve blocked, here are the instructions:

Go to SETTINGS | PRIVACY SETTINGS | APPLICATIONS | SETTINGS. Scroll down to see all Blocked Applications. If your list is short, you probably hate Facebook, unless you have LOTS of free time and are wildly interested in silly games.