Got my new iPhone yesterday. Pretty cool stuff. It has some pretty cool apps to download. I canceled my Sirius satellite radio some months ago when I got the original iPhone. Using an iPod and iTunes let's me hear all the radio shows that I like to listen to in my own time. Very much superior to listening to broadcast radio. Of course that also lets me listen to all of the music in my collection whenever I want. The big negative to that is... it's nice to listen to random music that you maybe haven't ever heard before. Well, now, the Pandora Project has an app for the iPhone, so you create a "Radio Station" then it will play songs for you that match the radio station you have setup. Each song that plays (downloaded to you as it need to play it) you give a thumbs up or thumbs down, and it continues to pick songs more to your taste based on other people who have liked or disliked similar things to you. So here is a list of the apps I have downloaded and tried:

• Pandora: Explained above, the iPhone portal to the Pandora Project
• Urbanspoon: You shake the phone and it randomly picks a restaurant near you current location.
• Midomi: This software can identify songs from listening to the music around you, or even you can just hum a few bars.
• Showtimes: Quickly find the theaters close to you and lets you see showtimes for movies at each theater, or you can pick a movie and see the theaters playing it close to you
• YouNote: This lets you take "Notes" by photo, recording sound, sketching, typing or noting a webpage, and lets you keep all those together.
• Nearby: Pulls google map items from around your current location.

I'm sure there are other cool apps as well, those are just the free ones I've tried and was impressed with so far. As you can see, GPS figures heavily into a lot of them, but the old iPhone can also use it reasonably well, as it does tower triangulation to find a much less accurate position for where you are.

I've been experimenting with some other PodCasts lately. I've found a couple of keepers, and more not keepers. I will try to remember to update the list on the right side module over there.

Blackened Forge is finally getting through Zul' Aman. Progress is nice. I've pretty much got all my tanking gear, though I'm still trying to get some of the minor badge upgrades I can get to creep my hitpoints up a little. I've been spending a bit of effort in getting PvP currency to buy Merciless Gladiator equipment for my Boomkin set. That's actually been going pretty well. I've already picked up 3 pieces and am nearing a fourth. Now I jsut need BF to stop running Zul' Aman every day so I can respec to Boomkin and have some fun with my new equipment.

Check out my new Book Reading History Timeline I made with the JSON API from LibraryThing. I really like that site more and more. Now I'm able to get at the data more and more. Soon the Books I've Read page will be replaced with another JSON formed piece. Now I once again feel like I'm contributing to a larger cause.

Got a new Laptop 2 weeks ago. I think that says something that I'm so unenthused about it that I don't even care to mention it to anyone for 2 weeks.

Got 2nd place last night at Trivia, but it was really a lack-luster performance. We only really made it because the other teams were worse.

I've been sick with some kind of flu for more than a week now. I feel a bit better today, btu I've got a dragging cough. I know how to get rid of it now, though, it will just take a little time.

Ok, Vic showed me up.

Apparently he found that Library Thing actually has all the multiple reading date stuff, and I have more control of the widget interface. I think it will be the eventual winner. I can actually use it for everything I need there on the right hand side. As you can see.

I can also input my Amazon Associate's ID in Library Thing , so I can get a small piece of the pie for driving people to them. Yay!

We won Trivia again this past Wednesday after a non-placing week before.

I think the obvious winner for Online Library is Good Reads. This one has some weaknesses, but overall provides the best amount of feature I need. I will continue to run my own database in parallel for now, but maybe they will eventually be able to house all of my needs.