There's a (Free) App for That

Once a year, I indulge for an hour (or two...) in a mind-numbing, time-consuming, and potentially expensive activity that has absolutely no point. It is all process and no product. Yes, it's that stupid quarter machine at the Lancaster Fair—yeah, that one. Something about the gentle back-and-forth of the quarter-pusher thingy, and the promise (never fulfilled—never!) of a bucket full of quarters—or maybe even one of those $20 bills!—just hooks me and doesn't let go. Give me a few rolls of quarters and I'll see you later.

So I've been busily counting down the 3 months until this year's Fair, when @Leonnea tipped me off to Coin Dozer, a free iPhone game that mimics my beloved quarter-pusher:

And now, my friends, it's all I can do. I initially found it annoying that if you run out of coins, you can't just ask your husband for more, you have to wait 30 seconds for another one! But now I realize that it's a blessing in disguise, because at least I am forced to take occasional 29-second breaks from the game. (You also earn 5 coins per hour that your iPhone is off or otherwise occupied, up to a total of 40, so I'll be ka-chinging all night while I sleep.)

While I'm mentioning cool free apps, see that screenshot above? I've already explained to you that you can take a screenshot of your iPhone by holding down the circular Home button and then clicking the Power button (or vice versa—either will work). But then what if, say, the screenshot of your favorite new game has an ad at the bottom of it that you don't want to show? Well, head on over to PSMobile, the iPhone app from PhotoShop and crop it right out of there! Here's the "before" version of the above screenshot:

 

and here's the "crop" screen in PSMobile:

You can also add borders, colors, special effects, and more.

The final app I want to mention is one that Verbatim reader Jeananne told me about. It's called Grocery IQ, and it's an organizer for grocery shopping. There's a fair amount of setting up to be done, but once you've done that (I'm still working on it), it's way cool. First you input all the stuff you normally buy at the store, and you can divide it up by, say, Whole Foods or "any store" or CVS or whatever. You can enter items in one of three ways:

1. Type in the item's name, and usually it will smart-autofill before you're done. That is, if you start typing "Stony..." it will start suggesting all kinds of Stonyfield Farm yogurts and smoothies and such. Or, if you don't care what brand of something you buy, you can just type in "skim milk" or "napkins" or whatever.

2. Type in the UPS barcode numbers. I haven't tried this yet; it seems kind of tedious.

3. By far, the way coolest method is the built-in scanner that uses the iPhone's camera to scan the barcode on any product! You just scan it and then it beeps and there you have "Kate's Homemade Butter" or "Cottonelle Toilet Paper"! Very awesome and fun. It doesn't seem to recognize store-brand stuff, though, so you have to enter those things by typing the names.

So, once you've got all your usual purchases entered—and they divide themselves up by section of the store, like dairy or paper goods—you can tick off the items you need that day and generate a list. Apparently you can sync the shopping list with someone else or email it, although I haven't tried that yet. In fact, I haven't actually used it for shopping yet, because I'm still inputting all my items. Seems like a very convenient thing to have, since I frequently forget to bring my paper list to the store, but I never forget my iPhone. (Yes, I'm that lady who's blocking the aisle because I'm looking up one of my favorite recipes so I can be sure to buy everything I need.)

What free apps have you downloaded lately?

Comments

[raych]

Ok and so ALSO, with Grocery IQ (the rec for which I got from you, so h/t), I made a store called 'Packing' and then made a master list of everything I would need to pack for a trip EVER, and then when I'm going somewhere I just scroll through the master list and add all the obvious ones (pajamas, contact solution) as well as the I-always-forget-these (bathing suit, nice heels) as appropriate for the trip. BRILLIANT! You just have to set 'Store Items Only' to 'On' so that 'Those jeans that make my ass look good' isn't cluttering up your master grocery list.

[Jeananne]

I just had the feeling you'd like Grocery IQ, Karen. I don't know why it is so reassuring to me to have that list with me all the time, but it is. And to Raych: what a great idea. Love apps that can pull double duty. Thanks!