5 (really useful) Apps for everyone

I used my scanner to scan in all my membership cards and rewards cards, then created a separate folder in pictures to carry them around... Sounds like CardStar does pretty much the same thing... It is a great idea though!

Hi, Avalon...thanks again for the thoughts. We believe we deliver at least 99c worth of value. :-)

We're constantly innovating with Scanaroo on a number of dimensions - the photo handles cards with multiple numbers on them (like Insurance cards, which have name, group number, member number, and the like) as well as things like supporting a passcode to keep all your info from casually prying eyes. So, I hear what you're saying wrt scan quality, and I think we're going to see all boats rise on that front as scanners improve over time.

Thanks again for the feedback! We thrive on it.

I don't know about anyone else, but I love CardStar. Even with the screen-protector-film, it scans most of the time. Hand-held readers do better, of course, but even flatbed scanners will work with a little effort. When it won't scan, cashiers manually type the numbers in, and they don't seem to mind.

I love having all my cards in one place--a place that is NOT my keychain!

Hello everyone! I'm the developer of FlickTunes and am thrilled to have made this list. I'm popping in to update people with a little bit of news:

> Rego, do you ever adjust the volume on your radio? It takes
> about the same amount of time to adjust your radio volume
> as it does to flick to the next song.....

I don't see any discussions about volume, did a post get edited or deleted? In any case, the next update that comes out features two finger up/down gestures for volume control so it'll be super easy to do that too!

> Anyway, in the link below, you can see how Flicktunes is
> being restrained from submitting an update.

Indeed. It's been a very trying situation. My bug-fix update was eventually rejected citing "duplication of the iPod app", but they gave me the opportunity to resubmit and didn't reject the app entirely (just the update, which contained no new features). Go figure. To make a very long story short, the update currently submitted now is actually v1.1 (instead of v1.0.1) and is still pending review. It's been six weeks now! I'm cautiously optimistic it will get through soon.

Thanks again for the mention!

Avalon, was responding to L3's statement of "searching for other apps." (Don't have generalizable data to answer your question, unfortunately; there are many variables that drive "scan better" in this domain.)

Although BigOven is filled with a ton of recipes, I found it to be a poor front-end to its website. It is entirely search based, essentially displaying HTML pages formatted for the iPhone, without key features such as grocery list, recipe browser, and so on.

L3, if you are "searching for another app," would love your opinion on Scanaroo ( http://www.scanaroo.com ). We're taking quite a different approach to getting the loyalty and rewards cards into the iPhone, and actually do it via the camera (instead of via typing in the numbers). Would love to hear your opinion.

(disclosure: we developed Scanaroo)

Instead of criticising the developers of THL for the lack of an iPhone app, what about criticising Apple for not putting iCal todo sync on the iPhone out of the box? That was the number 1 thing I was hoping was going to slip in unannounced in OS 3.

Soooo . . . . we don't call regular Mac Applications "apps" anymore? If someone says App then it's definitely iphone . . . good to know.

Ditto on Cardstar. Was excited when I got to the paypump and tried to scan my phone for Giant Eagle. Eventually had to climb back into my car and retrieve the card itself. Oh well.