Favourite Apps

Here is my very partial take on a few iPhone apps you might find useful and enjoy. Most are either free or quite cheap.

Media:
iRadio UK (free and cheap prelium versions):
A fun little app that allows you to listen to any radio station in the UK. It has a few interesting features such as a Car Mode and a Sleep Timer which will close the application after a predefined time. Exists also for France, Australia, Germany, Italy and Greece.

Le Monde.fr: (free)
Enables you to read the famous French paper online and for free. No need to subscribe to read it.

Judaism:
Kosher OR Not:
Allows you to check whether a fish is kosher. Quite useful when in a country where you do not know the names of all fish. You ca write in English, Hebrew, German, Spanish and French.

Bedtime Shema (free):
Fun and interactive learning aid for Jewish children.

Dictionaries:
Merriam-Webster (free):
Very convenient app to check a meaning, spelling or a synonym. Can even be used without an Internet connection. I advised my older pupils to download it and am amazed to see how naturally they use it in the classroom. The premium version (which I have not tried) is cheap.

Urban Dictionary Definitions (free and very cheap premium versions):
Fun app to keep up with the latest swears, slang, and abbreves.

Miscellanae:
Pages:
User-friendly word processor. Works with iCloud, so your documents stay up to date on all your devices — automatically.

The Sonnets (for the iPad):
Offers an experience of over 150 of Shakespeare’s Sonnets read by the likes of Stephen Fry, David Tennant, Patrick Stewart and many performers from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company. Allows access to the Arden Shakespeare’s complete notes and discussion on each sonnet. Beautiful!

I still have to find a calendar/diary I like and even though Google Maps is back for iPhone users I don’t like the idea of signing in as a Google user to enjoy the full capacities of the app.

What are your favourite apps?

Useful Iphone Apps for Jews

– Kosher Fish: provides a searchable list of kosher fish in Hebrew, English, Spanish, German and French. Just type the name of the fish and you will be told whether the fish is kosher or not. Especially useful on vacation when you don’t know all the names of the fish in other languages.

– IBerakhot: Type the name of the food you are about to eat and will you know what brachah you should say and the text of the brachah itself (in French).

– MangerCasher: Helps you find a kosher restaurant, bakery, butcher, deli or store in France. Useful for the traveler to France as it also contains a list of authorized products available there.

– Siddur: A whole weekly siddur. This app allows you to choose your own nusach. You find the zmanim for your location, the addresses of the nearest minyanim, a Jewish calendar and a number of other features. Rabbi Eli Fink has written a much better and more thorough review, check it for more information.

– SpringCleaning: This is not strictly speaking a Jewish app but was developped in Israel. This little app enables you to delete the contacts you don’t use very often from your contacts icon while keeping them in store in case you ever need them. As a result scrolling down your contacts is quicker as the old contacts don’t get in the way.

Sync Regularly

Some of you may be aware that I was without my IPhone for what seemed like age; in fact probably no more than 10 days. It had dropped on the ground and, whenever I switched it on, all I got was a blank screen.

I therefore phoned AppleCare through my mobile network operator and got a fine and efficient answer. First, UPS came to my house to pick it up. Then, after three days, they sent me a brand new one.

When I got the new one, I was instructed to connect it to ITunes, just as with the previous one. When the software recognized that it was connected to an IPhone, I got a message asking me if I wished to restore my former data to the new phone. I clicked “yes”.

It took the phone quite a while to do this but, in the end, all the apps I had previuously downloaded (for free or through the App store), the ringtone I had added, my phone contacts, everything, including the different times on my alarm clock, were installed on the new phone as if nothing had happened.

This was only possible because I had regularly synced my Iphone to the data on the computer. So I suggest that if you are the lucky owner of an IPhone, you should try to perform this simple operation every now and again. It might save you a lot of trouble in the future.

Cool Iphone Apps

It’s been about two months since I acquired an Iphone – they offered a rebate on the two next bills so I couldn’t resist – and I have really enjoyed it a lot.

As you know there are numerous apps one can add to the Iphone for free or for a usually minimal sum.
So far I have added a few; here are the ones I find most useful:
– Anobii Iphone App which is linked to my Anobii online account.
– Mover Lite which enables you to share files from one Iphone to another.
– Bejeweled Webapp – if you like the game on Facebook, you’ll love it on your Iphone.
– Facebook for Iphone, certainly the app I use the most. It is user-friendly and enables you to keep in touch with your friends.

What Iphone apps do you use the most? Which ones would you consider getting?

I Really Should Be Working

– We have a face-to-face meeting with parents tonight and I am still wondering how I will find words that they might relay and that will have an impact on the students and improve the way they learn English.

– I have 30 papers to mark on a sales meeting between an American and three Japanese that turned sour for lack of understanding and sensitivity; wish me luck. The full article is here.

– It’s high time I booked my February flight to Hong Kong to visit my brother and his family but I can’t decide whether to fly with Cathay Pacific or Air France. Has anyone in the blogosphere ever traveled with Cathay Pacific?

– After two months as the proud and fascinated user of an Iphone I still marvel at all the things I now do on my phone. However it seems that some countries are far ahead of France when it comes to performing everyday tasks on their cell phones. Mobile payment is one of them. Are there things you wish you could do from your phone?