Thursday, November 24, 2011

Apps I'm Thankful For

We had our feast on Monday when my mother in law was in town, so today we get to relax and eat leftovers and watch the parade - and blog! Here are a few apps I'm thankful for that have improved my life in some small way:

Sleepstream 2 - The "soft piano" music gets my baby to sleep every time, and the "distant thunder" kept him there until we bought a Gentle Giraffe so I can take my iPad out of the room while he's sleeping. :)

Baby Geek - As I recently posted about, Baby Geek helps me track his sleeping so I can see that his bedtimes are getting earlier and his naps longer and breathe a sigh of relief.

TextFree - I don't have a smartphone, and I don't have a text plan on my dumbphone. At 20c per message sent OR received, I avoided texting unless necessary - until I found this app. It gives you a real phone # to use for free texting. My mom and sister are very happy that they can now contact me via their favorite method, and from my end it's a lot like instant messaging - and autocorrect beats T9 every time.

AppShopper - This app lets you make a wish list of apps, then notifies you when they go on sale. I've gotten some good deals this way! You can also search the app store for recent price reductions and view an app's entire price history (if an app's never gone on sale, I assume it's doing fine at the current price and isn't likely to be reduced soon and just buy it - but many go in sale every couple of months, making it worth the wait).

Photobucket - Along with an Eye-Fi card for my camera, this app has helped me go nearly all-iPad for my photos.

Dropbox - Is there anyone with an iPad who isn't using Dropbox yet? Sure, now with iCloud it's not as vital, but it's still a great tool.

Dimmer - This JB tweak lets you turn the brightness on your iPad all the way down - I don't know how I made it through so many nights of feedings without it!