Mr. Smith Gets an iPhone, part 2

This is the second article about top political apps for use on smartphones and tablets. You can hear more about these apps on Top 3 Podcast via the Wild Inspire Podcast Network. You can listen to the podcast after the jump.

In the last Top 3 Podcast, we talked about apps for political news. In the penultimate scene of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” Jimmy Stewart’s Senator Smith passes out after seeing bins of telegrams and letters from his constituents calling for his removal from office. In the age of social media, letters and telegrams may seem an antiquated way to reach out to your senators and representatives in Congress. Yet, phone calls and traditional letters are still a large part of how the public communicates with Congress.

And with more and more elected officials are embracing social media, it is hard to be believe that Congress didn’t really embrace e-mail until the mid to late 1990s. The Library of Congress’s THOMAS internet legislative database is just 17 years old. Then in 2001, the anthrax attacks on the U.S. mail system forever altered how traditional mail is handled in congressional offices, causing e-mail use to skyrocket.

Spiral bound paper directories like this are still quite popular in political Washington. They are informative and easy to use, and recently started to provide social media information. But the directories are updated just once a year, so would quickly become outdated should a senator or congressman resign or die in office. Mobile directories have started to spring up to fill that gap, both for iOS and Android devices. The best of these directories provide phone numbers and addresses along with links to voting records, detailed bios, social media services, staff contacts, and more. If you’re unsure of who represents you in Congress, the apps can use your phone’s GPS to find your congressman. There are several directory apps for both iOS and Android, but these are the best.

1. The only directory on the iPad or iPhone you’ll ever need is one of the Congress in Your Pocket apps developed by Cohen Research Group. Cohen Research Group has been provinding electronic congressional directories for years, starting with Palm Politics on the Palm Pilot apps are not free, but they are worth every penny. The apps have been featured on the App Store five times.
   • Congress, $0.99, iPhone, is a barebones app, providing key information for members of Congress: photos, bios, contact information, and social media links. Most people will find this app more than sufficient
   • Congress+, $4.99, (iPad/iPhone) is for a person with more than passing interest in politics. This universal app adds committee assignments, top congressional staff members for each office, links to legislation, campaign finance, and other web sources. You can also add notes to individual records.
   • CongressPro, $29.99 (iPad/iPhone). This app is the granddaddy of them all. While the first two apps cover most everything anyone would ever need, this app is for people in government affairs or policy position who need more in depth look at Congress, but for what it provides it is worth the price. It includes everything from Congress+, with an expanded committee section. Business professionals can also add notes in the app to track appointments or specific items discussed in meetings and share them within their organization. Most importantly, it provides free automatic updates. Every time there is a change in the database, those changes are downloaded to your device so you always have the most current information. The app currently provides information on the 112th Congress. When a new congress is seated after the elections this fall, the database can be updated with an in app purchase.

   Cohen Research Group has also expanded it’s apps to more than a dozen state legislatures, making the premier provider of legislative directories in the App Store.

1. MyCongress, free, iPad, and Congress 411, free, iPhone. At 99 cents, the Congress app is difficult to pass up. But free is even better. For iPad users, MyCongress is one of the best free directories available, making good use of the iPad’s larger screen. MyCongress provides current news, YouTube videos, and tweets from senators and representatives. It does not have sponsored legislation or vote information, however. Congress 411 is similar to Congress, but adds votings records for senators and representatives – one thing Congress is missing.

1. Congress, Free, Android Market. If you own an Android device, this app developed by the Sunlight Foundation is the only directory app you’ll ever need. The Sunlight Foundations an open government and transparency advocacy organization. The app provides all of the contact information you’d expect, and adds real-time updates of legislative activity when Congress is in session. The app’s design is also on par with those available for iOS, and since it is built on the govtrack.us database, the legislative information it provides is updated frequently.

You may find other free or paid apps for both iOS and Android, but they are poorly designed and lack significant developer support. If you’re a casual user or a business professional, any of these apps deserve a prominent place on your mobile devices.

As always, please share your favorite political apps in the comments below and we may review them in a future podcast. You can also send your recommendations via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

Rumor Has It

It’s time once again for that yearly event that gets the tech bloggers giddy and keeps the rumor mills churning out predictions: Apple, Inc., is about to release…something. That something is reportedly a new iPad. That’s about the only thing that is easily predicted, since Apple likes to stick to yearly product updates. So below, is my prediction on what will or won’t be in the new iPad. But, since my predictions are usually wrong (just like most of the rumors floating out on the Interwebs), I present you a summary of the latest rumors I’ve seen, in Mad Libs form. I figure if enough of us fill this out, one of us has to be right. It will be like monkeys typing Shakespeare.

Recent reports point to Apple releasing the iPad 3 on DATE. That is the name most NOUN have chosen for the new tablet, but it could just as easily be called the PROPER NAME or PROPER NAME. One thing is clear, the new iPad will be ADVERB more ADJECTIVE than previous versions. It will retail for NUMBER and have capacities up to NUMBER gigabytes. Apple will also introduce a ADJECTIVE version and a NOUN, which has long been seen as the next ADJECTIVE step in Apple’s plan for ADJECTIVE NOUN.

The camera in the iPad 2 camera has received poor PLURAL NOUN for its low resolution, so Apple will probably VERB the new iPad’s camera to NUMBER megapixels, and video resolution VERB to NUMBER. It will also include the ability to VERB while GERUND its NOUN. The iPad’s NOUN will be ADVERB ADJECTIVE, while its NOUN will allow you to VERB it longer.

On the connectivity front, the iPad 3 will include NOUN, and might include NOUN. It will mean Apple has solved the NOUN of NOUN. If NOUN is missing from the iPad, it will be ADVERB VERB or VERB by tech pundits, depending on which NOUN you read. It will be sold by PROPER NAME, PROPER NAME, and PROPER NAME. Apple will also release iOS version NUMBER, which finally adds NOUN integration and NOUN. PROPER NOUN users will VERB these additions, saying their ADJECTIVE NOUN has had NOUN for time.

The iPad’s NOUN will have significantly more PLURAL NOUN, rivaling the NOUN of previous versions. The NOUN screen will be virtually ADJECTIVE, thanks to the addition of NOUN and NOUN. Internally, the iPad will run ADVERB thanks to a new NUMBER NOUN, designed by PROPER NAME in COUNTRY. This will enable users to VERB NOUN SIMILE.

All in all, the iPad 3 will be a ADVERB ADJECTIVE device. Of course, all of these rumors are subject to VERB, because no one really VERB any NOUN about just what Apple is going to VERB.

And now, the required blog title music video reference. If you’re not a Glee fan, I’m sorry. I really need to get out more.

Hysteria

It’s another day at the hospital, this time for one of the last surgeries for Shannon. Since we can no longer have children (doctors orders), she has gone in for a hysterectomy and oophorectomy. Her chemotherapy already put her into menopause, and both her OB and her oncologist believe this is an appropriate course of for both her long-term health and her cancer treatment. She has to be on anti-estrogen medication for the next 5 years, and having the surgery will increase her options greatly. And, as Shannon has said in recent months “It’s not like I need those parts anymore.”

The etymology of words has always fascinated me. “Hysterectomy” comes from the Greek hystera meaning “womb.” It’s where we get the term “hysteria,” a catch-all medical diagnosis popularized in the 19th Century to describe any number of “female disorders.” It is no longer an official medical term used by physicians, but it did give us one of the greatest lines in movie history and a pretty kick-ass British rock anthem.

Today’s hospital visit brings our total trips to Medcenter One to more than 50 in the last year and a half. Five more trips and we get a surgical wing named after us. Or a free Slurpee. I haven’t read the fine print yet. That would be sweet.

As I sit in the waiting room, Shannon is in “holding” and we’re waiting for her surgery to start. It’s a relatively simple procedure, and should take about an hour once they start. Medcenter recently started offering robotic-assisted laproscopic surgery, so it will cut Shannon’s hospital stay to just overnight, and her recovery at home to a few weeks. I’ll be posting updates to Facebook and Twitter throughout the day. If anyone wants to come keep me company, feel free to stop on down.

Tell me why

I’m going to take a small step back from tech blogging and enter cancer blogging mode again to tell you about the amazing people in the blogging and social media community I discovered after Shannon’s diagnosis. It has been a long hard recovery for both of us, but nothing compares to the stories of the many brave women and their families I have discovered in the last year and a half. Here is one of them.

Susan Niebur, aka Toddler Planet aka WhyMommy, is an amazing woman. She has gone through and is still going through so much as she battles metastatic breast cancer that it puts my wife’s advanced, yet still treatable, cancer in perspective. Susan may not have much more time on this planet left, but I would be remiss if I didn’t pause to say thank you. Thank you for being a source of comfort, humor, and even hope during our time of need. You made us realize that life is what you make it, no matter what crap gets thrown at you. Live your life. Love those around you. And never lose your sense of humor.

Susan, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Keep fighting and know that your blogging family is behind you 100%.

– A conversation with my husband, shortly after arriving home this afternoon with fresh oxygen tanks, spots on my liver, fluid pushing around my lungs (likely filled with cancer, as are the tumors inside) and at least one broken vertebra that must be healed before we resume any kind of treatment. –

How did we get here? I asked my love, across the bed strewn with children’s toys, books, and an oxygen tank.

Read More via How did we get here?.

Hip to Be Square: retro photo apps are taking over the world

Taken with Hipstamatic

Updated: January 20, 2012. Apparently it was a Kodak Instamatic. It even has my initials on it. Sweet!

I can’t remember the brand of My first film camera, but I do remember that it was similar to a Kodak Instamatic. since It used a film cartridge and took square pictures. It went with me to summer camp throughout the 80s. I think I took my last photos with it when I was around 12 or 13. When I got my iPhone 2011, I quickly became a fan of apps that mimic photos taken with cameras like this. Hipstamatic and Instagram started the trend and may be the most well known, but there are a wide variety of square format apps. There are a lot of photo apps on the iPhone, but square format apps are uniquely designed for retro photography. Some apps are certainly better than others, but they all share the same basic tools. They offer a sense of nostalgia and leave a lot of room for creativity.

Jump to my favorite square format apps.

Not all photographers share the view that apps enhance creativity. Last year, New York Times photographer Damon Winter used Hipstamatic to document U.S. Army infantry soldiers in Afghanistan. Those photos spawned a debate over whether it counted as “real” photojournalism. Winter defended his decision as simply a new type of tool to help a photographer tell a story.

Taken with 100 Cameras

Manipulating photos has happened since film was invented, and continues in the digital era with Photoshop. A friend of mine who is a photography major at Black Hills State University recently shot a roll of slide film and opted for a developing process more suitable for prints rather than slide film, because she liked the unique look it created. Apps on an iPhone may make it easier to manipulate photos, but that doesn’t make them any less valid than other more manual methods. There are many fantastic square format apps, and there are an equal number of extremely bad apps. So there are a few things to consider when making a purchase.

The first is photo resolution. The app should either support the full resolution of your phone’s camera. Some would place filters first on their list, but for me resolution is more important. Too many apps produce images with such low resolution they are hardly worth sharing on-line. And with new services offering physical prints for your photos, a high resolution will ensure the best quality photo. The original iPhone had a 2 megapixel camera, providing a maximum square image of 1200 x 1200 pixels. Many of the first apps were built with this lower resolution in mind, but are now updating to handle the higher resolution cameras in the iPhone 4 and 4S.

With respect to filter effects, most apps range from 12 to several dozen. Hipstamatic has more than 300 different possible combinations, based on the various lenses, film, and flash they have released. The unpredictability of Hipstamatic is one of its appeals, and is the closest you’ll get to the true toy camera experience on the iPhone. With so many options, it can be hard to remember your favorite look, so Ben Gremillion and Cherie Benoit developed Hipstamatrix.com, which lets you browse nearly all 300 of the possible combinations.

PhotoAppLink and SendToApp streamline the editing process

A third factor is whether to app plays well with others. Multiple camera and editing apps are the digital equivalent of multiple lenses on a big DSLR. You will never be satisfied with just one or two apps. With the normal iPhone editing process, you have to save the image to your camera roll before opening it in a new app. This leaves you with a lot of intermediate edits that need to be deleted later. To avoid this, a group of developers created PhotoAppLink, an open source code that enables photo editing apps to talk to each other. You can send edited photos directly to new apps, speeding up your editing process. Apple also has it’s own “Send to App” function that is included in many photo and non-photo apps, like Dropbox.

I have an entire screen on my iPhone devoted to photography apps and it keeps growing as I discover new and unique apps. I could probably devote an entire post to each app. But for now, here is my list of my favorite iPhone apps. Most will work on the iPhone 3GS and new models and current iPod touches. Make sure to check the system requirements before you buy. For a full list of capabilities for these and other apps, check out the app compatibility grid on the Life In Lo-Fi blog.

1. Instagram, Free, is the app I use the most for sharing my photos, but I tend to edit my photos in other apps. It’s free and comes with 17 different effects to choose from. Instagram will save a full resolution copy of the photo to your phone, but only uploads photos at 612×612 resolution.
2. Hipstamatic, $1.99, and comes with a starter pack of lenses, flashes, and film. HipstaPaks with additional gear are available via in-app purchase. The only downside of Hipstamatic is you cannot load images from your phone into the app, but I think that adds to the app’s retro appeal.
3. MagicHour, $1.99, is primarily a filter editing app. It has 40 built-in filters, but gives the user nearly unlimted options through its Filter Market. This is a repository of free, downloadable filters created by other MagicHour users. The app is currently on sale for $0.99 cents, so get it now before the price goes back up.
4. PhotoToaster, on sale for $0.99 (regularly $2.99), is one of two universal iPad/iPhone app on my list. While not exclusively a square format app, it has a simple square cropping tool as well as wide variety of preset effects. You can also create and save your own effects. It also serves as a full-featured editor for other photos, supports PhotoAppLink, which makes it a must have general purpose photo editor.
5. Squaready, Free, bills itself as an “Instagram layouter”. It is the simplest way to crop your photos for sharing on Instagram. The app supports SendToApp and PhotoAppLink, and you can upscale lower resolution photos when exporting. Squaready has funky sound effects for each action (which thankfully can be turned off) and is ad supported, but the ads are unobtrusive, and clicking one will leave the app ad-free for several hours.
6. 100 Cameras in 1, $1.99, was developed by professional travel photographer Trey Ratcliff from StuckInCustoms.com. The app offers Golden Ratio and Rule of Thirds guides to help compose your shot. With 100 different filters, the app is definitely worth downloading, especially given the names assigned to each filter. Instead of “black and white” or “vintage” you have “I dreamed of the clouds of Jupiter” and “going back for more ice cream when no one is watching”. I can’t help but chuckle every time I use the app.
7. Ttv Photo Studio, $2.99, is an effects app that emulates the viewfinders of more than 30 cameras, like the Brownie. It doesn’t connect to any other editing apps, but does gives you manual control over each effect. All of your images are saved in the app as well as your camera roll, so you can open past projects to make changes.
8. Fx Photo Studio, $0.99, is an effects app that I haven’t had a chance to play around with very much but is very well designed. It has 194 filters, and you are able to adjust the strength and contrast of each. You can bookmark your favorites and customize filters for reuse and export directly to Instagram. The smile factor comes from the random facts it displays on screen while saving your creations.
9. Picfx, $1.99, is a simple to use effects filter/camera. First you select a photo texture with names like Galatic and Paint Peel and apply different styles to make the photo look vintage, warm, or cool. There are 47 effects and 13 styles to choose from. It doesn’t have full manual control over the effects, but supports PhotoAppLink SendToApp and exports photos at full resolution. (Correction: Picfx supports SendToApp, not PhotoAppLink. Sorry for the confusion.)
10. Instacam, $1.99, is another Instagram companion app. If you’re sensing a theme, it’s that Instagram’s doesn’t offer a real diverse set of built-in filters, so to get the most out of the service you need a solid effects app. Instacam only offers 19 effects, but it does integrate with Instagram rather well so is a good go to app for quick effects. The app often goes on sale for $0.99 or free, so you may want to keep an eye on it for now.
11. ClassicInsta, Sale price $0.99 (regularly $1.99), emulates old Polaroid and Instamatic cameras, complete with an animation of your photo developing, without all the shaking. It’s a universal app for iPad/iPhone. It requires iOS 5.0 to run, so is limited to the iPhone 3GS and newer.

This not an exhaustive list by far, and only focuses on apps designed to work easily with the square format. For example, Camera+, the all-purpose camera replacement app, has built in analog effects and editing tools, but I don’t consider it a “square format app”. If you’re just starting out in iPhoneography, iPhoneography.com and Life in Lo-fi are two invaluable blogs (besides this one, of course) for reviews and tips. And PhotoAppLink.com lists several apps that work great with many of the ones I’ve listed. I could do a whole post just on PhotoAppLink.

My final word of advice is experiment. Take lots of pictures. And don’t forget to share them. You can follow my photo journey on Instagram @dcmacnut.

Leaving on a Jet Plane? Tips for traveling with your iPad

I logged more than 25,000 miles in the air flying for my job last year. My iPad was my constant companion on those trips. It’s my DVD player, my eReader, my iPod, and my laptop. As a frequent traveler, I can almost quote verbatim the question I hear from every TSA agent as I place my briefcase on the x-ray belt. “Do you have a laptop, DVD player, or camera in your bag?”

Laptops have long had to be removed from your bags before going through the x-ray machine, long before they also started making us take off our shoes while carting around miniature bottles of shampoo like some stocking-clad giant. But the introduction of the iPad the other mobile tablets that followed caused some initial confusion over whether it, too, had to be removed from your bags before going through security. The TSA quickly provided an answer shortly after the iPad was released.

Electronic items smaller than the standard sized laptop should not need to be removed from your bag or their cases. … Only electronics the size of a standard laptop or larger (for example Playstation®, Xbox™, or Nintendo®), full-size DVD players, and video cameras that use video cassettes must be removed from their carrying cases and submitted separately for x-ray screening. Removing larger electronics helps us get a better look at them and also allows us to get a better look at the contents of your bag.

The exemption also applies to netbooks, like the 11 (but not the 13) inch MacBook Air. Being able to keep your iPads, Kindles, and Nooks safely tucked away in your bag will definitely speed your trip through security and make the passengers waiting in line behind you happier.

Once you’re airborne, you have a lot more choices beyond the in-flight movie, expensive snacks, and watered-down drinks. The blog LifeHacker recently shared this guide to the best tech-friendly airports and airlines. It provides info about mobile airline apps, Wi-Fi availability (in airport and in the air), and power outlets to give your iPad a boost between flights.

For my friends in Bismarck-Mandan, Minneapolis and Denver aren’t listed here, but I can tell you from experience that the Minneapolis airport has done the best job of making sure you can stay charged up on the go. There are multiple power outlets and USB charging ports located right in the seat backs in many boarding areas. Denver Airport, on the other hand, seems to place a premium on outlets. There are a few charging stands in the terminal, but they aren’t always convenient. If you do happen to find an outlet, it’s probably already taken by a fellow traveler, hunched over, guarding his “precious” like some deranged Gollum.

What tips do you have for traveling with your mobile device? As always, find us on the usual social media sites. And now you can text us your questions or comments at (701) 5950-APP (701-595-0277). Until next time, safe travels.

You’re the Best Around

You can’t turn around on the Internet today without bumping into an article give a “Top Best Super Duper Can’t Live Without Them Apps to Install Right Now or Angels Will Cry” list. For example:

Top 50 Best Free iPhone apps
Top 25 iPad Resources
30+ Best iPhone Apps for Kids
Top mobile apps for Amish Internet Entrepreneurs

OK, so I made that last one up. But my point is that every blogger or tech reporter that covers the mobile space, whether it be Apple, Android, or Windows, have come out their own definitive lists. There is a lot of crossover between lists, and many of the apps are gems. But as the lists get larger and larger, some actually turn out to be lemons. When friends or family ask me what apps they should get, my first question always is “what do you plan to do with your iPad?” My second question is “where do you plan to use it the most? Home, work, or vacation?” How they answer those two questions influences the kinds of apps I recommend.

My home screen.

I have 426 apps on my iPad and 385 apps on my iPhone. (Don’t worry, I’m seeking professional help.) I have my favorites (see below), but what you install on your device, whether it is photography apps, games, of news all depends on what you expect to get out of the device. You may need to download more than one of the same type of app to get the full use of your device, too. I have over a dozen camera apps and five major photo editors. You’ll quickly learn that apps have their own distinct personalities, and one may perform a specific task better than another. Watch for sales for reduced price or free apps to build your library.

Generally, any iPad or iPhone user can’t go wrong with one of the apps listed below. All app links will open in iTunes if you have it installed. A couple are currently on sale (Nightstand Central and Camera+).

1. Calculator. Calculator HD ($0.99) and PCalc Lite (Free), are great iPad apps.
2. Alarm clock. Nightstand Central is the best clock app. There are free versions, but the (iPad and iPhone) versions at $0.99 are worth the price. The iPad version is regularly $2.99, and is on sale for a short time.
3. Weather. WeatherBug, Free (iPhone and Android) or The Weather Channel, Free (iPad/iPhone/Android)
4. Find my iPhone. Lose your iPhone or iPad? Track it’s location from any computer with this free app.
5. Documents. GoodReader (iPad/$4.99 or iPhone/$0.99) is the best app for viewing documents (PDF, Word, and more).
6. News. Flipboard, Free (iPad/iPhone) is a social magazine you build yourself.
7. Speech to Text. DragonDictation, Free (iPad/iPhone). The technology behind this app powers Siri on the iPhone 4S. It won’t schedule appointments for you, but is great for dictating short notes.
8. Photo editor. Filterstorm ($3.99) or http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snapseed/id439438619. Both are universal apps for both iPad and iPhone. Snapseed was Apple’s iPad App of the Year in 2011 and is now being released for Android. Filterstorm Pro ($14.99) is available for those who need to edit multiple images at once.
9. Camera app. The iPhone’s native camera app is vastly improved since the update to iOS 5. But Camera+ ($0.99) and Top Camera ($2.99) are better. Camera+ is regularly $1.99.
10. Angry Birds. No list is complete with out this game. Enough said.

More favorites.

Is your favorite not listed? What categories of apps would you like me to review next? Also, you may want to check out Appolicious.com or AppAdvice.com for app news, reviews, and videos. Both websites also have free apps to make your search simpler. Happy hunting.

Update: By popular request on Twitter. Enjoy.