Mo’z Thinkz

Last updated 19 March 2010 at 12:59h.

Most of these apps can only be installed on jailbroken iphones. The general rule is that if an app conflicts with Apple’s business, or hurts their businesspartners, it won’t make it into the appstore. Period. That taken into account, you can guess that 90% of my list applies to that rule. And that in turn suggests that you better jailbreak your iphone :p
Here’s the list, divided into categories:

It’s been a long time since I updated this page, and as a result almost all of these apps are obsolete. I’ve made a quick list of currently available apps that you truly wish you’d have:

• Rock (Your Phone) instead of Cydia
• Backgrounder + Kirikae
• SBsettings + sbsettings plugins: Fast Notes, Rotation, Insomnia, Tethering, evt UAFaker (user agent faker)
• VOiPover3G,
• Winterboard + a nice theme (I personally like the ‘black’ addons)
• 5 icon hack + 5 icon dock
• IM+

So consider the following list obsolete. I leave it here, because some of the apps are still useful.

Utilities:

• Crackulous + appshare + Installous: share, find and install allready installed apps
• ℏClipboard – The Best “Copy and Paste” Solution for the iPhone
• Sound volume patch: increase your headphone volume
• Backgrounder: keep home button pressed to keep app running in background. Add auto background apps in settings.
• MobileFinder: mobile version of ‘Finder’ (doh!).
• AirSharing: move files from/to your iPhone over wifi. AirSharing offers a webdav server on port 8080 that offers faster file transfer than the usual openSSH supported transfer mechanisms (SSH/SFTP).
• AptBackup: backup your Cydia-installed apps settings. You can’t backup your Cydia apps list in iTunes, so I am still waiting for a solution to that. But once you have that list plus the settings saved, reinstalling should be fairly simple. I haven’t found a way to backup my ipa settings yet, so I am hoping that will soon come too. If apple comes out with the next upgrade (I don’t really need 2.2.1, do I?) in which it incorporates truly useful functionality, then I surely have to upgrade :)
• VOiPover3G: trick apps into thinking they’re using wifi instead of the 3G you’re on. Edit /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries/VoIPover3G.plist to add your IM apps to the list.
• PDAnet: turn your iPhone into a wifi router. Let everybody in the car use your 3G wifi connection!

Music:

• dTunes: well known alternative to iTunes, that has so much more, like torrent downloading, movie searching/viewing. It even has a SeeqPod interface! Allowing you to search/discover music tracks, and then download or STREAM them; play your online kept seeqpod playlists (podlists). Too bad it doens’t allow new playlists to be made yet. I did a post on it (and PwnPlayer, see next in list) here.
• PwnPlayer: the alternative for the ‘iPod’ player. Gives the same functionality plus: movie playback; file system browsing/playing; creating playlists.
• Fstream: stream any audio url. Oh yeah, here’s my fav stream for fstream: http://radio.intergalacticfm.com/1.m3u
• LastFM: internet radio and more, such as artist info, events calendar, audio scrobbling
• ShoutCast: you must have heard of it before. It lists a lot of radio stations by genre. Too bad it doesn’t allow custom streams to be added. (I wouldn’t need to use Fstream anymore, even though I like it a lot)
• WunderRadio: over 60.000 radio stations from around the world are converted by the wunder server into iphone friendly streams. Your local stations are probably among them. Nice, clean interface that even displays station’s logo.

Productivity:

• Remember the Milk: for paying subscribers, like me :p (only $25,- a year)
• Sync in a Blink: Google contacts sync. Very nice merge/management features. Has never failed me yet.
• Nuevasync: google calendar (+ contacts) sync: free while it lasts I guess. Syncs all my calendars. Very well done. Syncs with NuevaSync’s exchange server that translates google’s services.
• gNotes: google notes implementation
• Vlingo: I think the best voice recog out there. Has 4 main sections:
  1. ‘find …’ (using google maps);
  2. ‘search …’ (search info using google or yahoo);
  3. ‘phone …’ (call a contact);
  4. ‘update …’ (telling twitter/facebook your status)
• Peeps: browse your contacts ‘coverflow’ style (if they have photo’s added)

Messaging:

• BeejiveIM / Nimbuzz / Fring: I have installed all three, and keep switching back to BeejiveIM, because it has the best interface in my opinion. However, it doesn’t have support for Skype yet. Nimbuzz and fring do, with Nimbuzz supposedly having better audio quality. I haven’t been able to make a call yet with Nimbuzz (tried calling a friend in the US), not over Skype nor MSN. Fring did work however, but its interface kinda suxx, since you can’t really tell what protocol a buddy is using, because all the icons look the same.

Fun stuff:

• ComicZeal: convert your Comic Book Archives (cbr, cbz, zip) into leaner ComicZeal archives with their ‘Creator’, and watch them with their ‘Boom’ viewer.
• Phony: Want to ditch that meeting you’re in? Program a bogus call and have yourself called at a certain time or after a time period.