TripTracker

I have been travelling quite a lot in the last month or so: even more than usual. TripTracker has been an absolute boon. If you are flying with different airlines and using properties from one or more hotel groups, it aggregates the whole lot into one reliable chronological agenda. It can even include car hire information. Simply enter your frequent flyer or loyalty account details for all providers and its agenda will pull all your travel information from their databases.  It updates flight information like gate numbers and anticipated delays in real time, often sooner than they appear on airport displays. It even notifies you when your loyalty points have been updated and shows your current balances. Brilliant! http://www.pageonce.com/travel/iphone

Wordle

The web site describes it as a “toy” but I think that Wordle is actually a useful (and free) business tool. It provides a quick and easy way of creating focus or finding the core message from a single document or from several concatenated together. Simply go to the Wordle web site and paste in your text from one or several documents.

Moments later, Wordle shows the word cloud it has created. Sometimes, the results are a real surprise, even for the author of the text!

Skyscanner

I have known of the Skyscanner web site and have been using it online, along with Travel Jungle, for some time to find cost-effective flights at viable times. The Skyscanner iPhone app has just been updated and is now very quick and easy to use. It offers clear choices, stores previous searches and enables the user to share flight options via email. It also links directly to airline web sites to complete a booking. The only downside is that you have to re-enter all the data into some airlines’ web sites. However, this is a comparatively small price to pay for the ease of identifying the best flight option.   (N.B.  Don’t mix this up with Sky Scanner (two words), a different app that provides an augmented reality view of flights above you).

Rugby World Cup 2011

The free app for the 2011 Rugby World Cup is a brilliant resource whether you’re a dedicated fan or you just want to find what it’s all about. As well as team information, match times and pool lists, it is constantly updated with results, videos, news, and, for statistics geeks, there’s even real time territory and ball possession data! There are versions for all mobile variants: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/mobileapps/index.html

BulkSMS

I’m not at all keen on bulk texting as a marketing medium but this is a bulk texting App with some other very useful capabilities. For instance, it’s really handy if I need to advise or prompt members of my team about an upcoming event or emergency (I used it to advise colleagues about traffic conditions around the office when we had snow).

In my view, its most useful feature is the ability to schedule single or multiple texts.  This is ideal for wishing people Happy Birthday, setting reminders or waking myself up in time to get off the train back from an afternoon at Vinopolis!

It works on the iPhone and iPad – search for BulkSMS in the iTunes App Store.  There are also online variants and you can share purchased texts between media.

 

iSleep

Every now and again an “App Geek” needs to be reminded not to take things too seriousl

(NB: if you follow the image link to the other T-shirts this company manufactures, you may be offended by the adult content and gratuitous bad language).

GoodReader

I feel bad about having only just heard of this app.  Apparently, it’s been a best seller since the arrival of the iPad but it’s new to me so I still feel the need to rave about it!  As a PDF document management tool, it’s brilliant.  I use it to display and discuss price lists, brochures and presentations with customers, enabling me to carry everything I need and have near-instant access in any meeting.  Even better is the way it synchronises documents with my Dropbox (and other sources) and enables me to email files in a few clicks.

Toodledo

I love this little app which manages my to-do list, reminding me what’s outstanding and allowing me to prioritise tasks.  It synchronises my iPhone and iPad and there’s a web-based synchronisation tool as well (although I never use it).  I no longer have scraps of paper and assorted, often-forgotten scribbles in my notebook – it’s all centrally managed and readily available.