Tag Archives: iphone apps

Web clip: new cocktail compass for appaholics anonymous

appaholics

appaholics

(Brokelyn, 2/2)

Picture this scenario: you had a job interview in some foreign section of town and, if it went anything like our interviews, it was an unquestionable disaster, due to vague reasons of “not addressing the room” and less vague ones like “completely and totally flubbing questions about the economy for an economic reporter job.” Your morning hopes of being able to splurge on a $6 Hennepin in celebration have been replaced again by the afternoon reality of drink-special consolation. What you need is some sort of function or operation to help you find a cheap drink, and fast!

Thanks to the ever-expanding effort to leave no aspect of modern life un-apped, you are in luck. The Cocktail Compass from L Magazine and Night and Day Studios gives you access to a database of happy hour information for 866 bars (167 in Brooklyn, 662 in Manhattan).

Read the rest, because there’s only like three more paragraphs anyway

(Ed. Note: the above hypothetical situation is based on true experiences, which were earlier documented on this blog. If you can find them, you win a share of my career shame.)

UPDATE: An elegant news feed for a more frustrating age

More on the previous post about the free New York Times iPhone app. So, it’s free, right? Good for those of us riding the broke-but-informed train. But what about ads? From the FAQ:

Does it cost anything to use the NYTimes iPhone application?

No. The NYTimes iPhone application is free to download and use. Please note that in the absence of a Wi-Fi connection, the NYTimes iPhone application uses your iPhone’s cellular network connection to access and download content. Please check with your carrier to see if you will be charged for usage, especially while traveling.

Does the NYTimes iPhone application include advertisements?

Yes. The NYTimes iPhone application has display ads in fixed positions on article pages and summary pages. On article pages in landscape mode, no ads appear.

So what are these ads? They’re house ads offering 50 percent off HOME DELIVERY. ReallY??!?!?what that faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakldjfa;lkjflkhal;f dlkfljesajfw;o4qtqtutuut4t8u96yt4804qgh8[hg[kdjfoi9r3ur9u2 m9c 323;lkmvrfm4j;qjqwwiufjnvmvkdfgk;df;jfa.d3904;lkj;fjdka;fknvnm,ccvnnnvmvcnmcnm,vcnmnosaehijwqoipiejqifja;d;asjfjadlk kdjl;dkslajfkl;dsjflk;jsaklf;fk;jsdf;9ewq93afd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[breathe.]

Seriously, NYT, demographically target me. Probe into my usage data and sell me something I’m powerless to resist. Zoey Deschanel’s cotton wardrobe. Indie-soundtracked youthful revivals. Hell, even try to get me to buy more of the product I already have. I’ll take it.

An elegant news feed for a more civilized age

Been spending a lot of time this week playing with and exploring the new iPhone, getting caught up on the last three years of technical and social innovations I’ve been in the dark about. Cut to scene in our kitchen on Tuesday where I was again giving an awesome demonstration of the capabilities of the Lightsaber app, through which you can brandish your space phone and have a simulated — even musically soundtracked — laser sword battle. Upon completion, roommate Brittany said to me: “So is that how you’re going to get a new girlfriend?”

As I was loading up other apps, I couldn’t help but be baffled why the New York Times app, which provides updates from all sections of  the paper in an eye-friendly format, was free, while this skeeball app — and all its incumbent Jersey shore nostalgia — cost 99 cents.

If I can drop a dollar to spend hours trying to win pretend plastic combs and erasers, I can justify spending at least another dollar on the top news of the day.

But you shouldn’t have to pay for the lightsaber app. Lightsaber, like information, wants to be free.