little feet, big sky

In spite of being child-distracted and tired, I must have been a half-decent wife lately. The spouse-unit recently gifted us with a Kindle. We’d talked about it before, as I’ve been an avid eReader eBook buyer for years now, but I just wasn’t terribly impressed with the first-gen Kindle. I’ve gotten quite used to backlit devices and the unlighted Kindle always made me nervous. I couldn’t imagine how realistic paper-like text would be more valuable to me than the ability to read in forced bad lighting. (Think of trying to read in the dark next to sleeping baby…) Still, with the new slimmer Kindle, the spouse-unit splurged and we tried it out.. and still have it.

Really, the text is quite beautiful. On first try, the page flash is annoying but over a couple of days, I got used to it and hardly notice it. (Apparently it has something to do with all the electronic inks being realigned on the ‘page’.) I like being able to adjust the font size because I tend to read smaller fonts and more text on a whole page faster in the middle of the day, but come nightfall, my eyes are tired and setting the font larger makes it easier to read. I do still miss backlit, and until the Kindle for Amazon iPhone app recently came out, I just stopped reading on the Kindle once I went to bed. Now, I just make sure to sync the Kindle, get ready for bed and curl up next to the sleeping baby with my iPhone and the screen brightness set down to low. (No wonder I seem to be getting less sleep lately.. hmm.) We did get the clip-on Kindle light, but it’s just too bright for me to use in bed with the baby, though I imagine it would be great on airplanes and the like. I’ve had a few software glitches with the Kindle, mostly not syncing to the latest page read accurately, and one time it seemed to reset and lose my latest read place entirely, sending me back a few chapters. But these problems were minor and often because I was switching between Kindle and iPhone within minutes and, I’m assuming, not giving them enough time to sync properly.

All in all, I’m enjoying it. I would be totally sold if I could figure out an easy way to get my old DRM’d eReader .PDB books on the Kindle, as I have 1776 to finish reading and it would be awesome on the Kindle. I’d like for the “sync to furthest read” feature to be able to turn on the wireless, sync and turn off the wireless again. Also, it would be nice if the magazine subscriptions supported bookmarks, and if the iPhone app supported magazine subscriptions. Other than that, Amazon has a reasonably decent product on their hands.

Yup, $4.99. I stalled on buying Monopoly for so long because I’m a cheapskate when it comes to iPhone apps and for $4.99, it had better empty the dishwasher for me. Overall, it’s been pretty good. It’s just like the board game, but it goes much faster since you tap the screen to do just about everything and don’t have to count out paper bills by hand or fetch the dice out from under the couch. In fact, you shake your iPhone to roll the dice, and that’s the one feature I’m not thrilled about, since I get my playing time in while I’m nursing Spice down and even a flick of the wrist once in a while risks waking her up. It’s taken me a while to get used to the new properties and their inflated prices (c’mon, Montreal as the most expensive city?!), but I’m adjusting. Still, good old-fashioned fun all around.

Weightbot is a gorgeous iPhone app to track your weight. Honestly, if more iPhone apps were this pretty and slick to use, I’d be broke. I’m tickled pick to use it regularly because it’s just so well done: open, enter weight, close. (Really, if I wanted it to sing “Happy Birthday” to me while showing the latest ESPN scores at the same time, I’d be using a Chumby.) Turn it sideways to see a graph of your weight over time, and double-tap the graph to toggle different chart views. Simple and elegant. I’ll be keeping an eye out for future Tapbot apps.

Okay, so of all the things you can do with your iPhone, you can’t actually knit directly with it.. but almost.

Store knitting patterns on your iPhone using Evernote. After trying for ages to find a practical way to use this slightly clunky desktop app/website/iPhone app, I’ve found it’s great for storing patterns I’m currently knitting. Sign up online and create a new note. (You can download the desktop app for either Mac or Windows, too.) Copy and paste the pattern text into your new note. You can even drag a picture into the note, too, which is great for cables/braids or even charts. Install the Evernote iPhone app, login in from your iPhone and you’ll see your pattern there. :-)

Track stitches on your iPhone with Stitchminder. It’s a free app, and despite the slightly garish background of a blue ball of yarn, it works pretty well. Ironically, the preset column counts don’t have a heading for tracking stitches. Instead you can choose from column names like row count, increase/decrease row and pattern row. Make sure to set your Auto-Lock setting (Settings > General > Auto-Lock) to something like 5 minutes, so that you don’t have to unlock everytime you finish a row.

Now all we need is an iPhone app for Ravelry. :-) Any other ways you use your iPhone to help with crafting?

One of my twitter moms, techmama, was asking about favorite iPhone apps – the perfect question for a Monday morning blog post. :-) Since I feel that an app really has to be stellar for to me to pay money for it, most of the apps listed below are free unless otherwise noted. Enjoy!

• Stitchminder – For any craft in which you need to count stitches. Customizable column names, like “increase row” or “pattern row”.
• Sunrise – $.99. Spice starts knocking off to sleep right after sunset, so it’s handy to know exactly what time that is, so I can start her evening feed/bath/sleep routine.
• Wordpress – Blog from your iPhone. Pretty slick overall, but obviously not perfect if I’m still not blogging from it frequently.
• Things – $9.99. The ultimate to-do list. Really, I love this one, as it has a Mac desktop app that will soon sync with the iPhone version. Right now, it’s easier to just use the iPhone version for everything.
• eReader – Awesome e-book reader. One click download from books purchased on ereader.com or fictionwise.com. No sync needed! Setting white text on a black background is perfect for nighttime reading in bed. (Tip: Try it with one of their free books, like The Age of Innocence.)
• NYTimes – Full NY Times articles. What’s neat is that you can organize your preferred sections, like “Politics” or “Photos” in the bottom bar.
• Twitterific – Twitter client. Not as full-featured or fast as Hahlo, but Hahlo can’t do pics. :-(
• Weatherbug – Extreme weather details. Insanely better than the useless default Weather app. Like radar/satellite views and weathercams.
• Evernote – Note-taking program that syncs with website and desktop app. Can be a bit clunky. Neatest trick is being able to take pics that sync to both places automagically, which is useful for blogging later.
• NetNewsWire – News reader that syncs with NetNewsWire (OS X) and FeedDemon (Windows) through Newsgator Online so you never read the same thing twice.
• eBay Mobile – Track your auctions, whether you’re buying or selling.
• Pandora Radio – Incredibly sharp choose-your-own Internet radio.

I’ve figured out to play Aurora Feint one-handed while nursing. Great graphics, incredible play with the accelerometer and perfect for semi-mindless entertainment. Would love to blog more about it, but in the meantime, if you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you should check it out. Free, from the App Store.