TiPb's curious -- how do you use the iPhone for your job?
We want some real life stories, some real world experience. We want to know what it's like to use the iPhone in your line of work (and yes, being a student or caregiver or stay-at-home parent or even... politician, counts as work!)
1. Tell us what your job is.
2. Give us a paragraph or two describing how you use your iPhone during your workday. Tell us the *story*.
3. Share any tips or tricks you might have come across. What about the iPhone makes your job easier?
4. List the top 5, must have apps you use to get that job done.
And... That's it!
We'll be picking one reply every week or two and including it in a post right on the front page of TiPb.com. If/when your post gets picked, not only do you get your name (or username) up in lights, you get a sweet $20 iTunes gift certificate for your trouble! And yes, we will prioritize based on how awesome, how funny, how tragic, how well written, how inspiring, how disappointing, -- generally how memorable your entry is. So bring it!
So what are you waiting for, tell us how you use your iPhone for your job?
2. I use the email app more than anything to regrettably communicate with people who have no idea what they are talking about..
3. Mail to talk to clients, Phone to have them waste my minutes, Safari for looking at the ridiculous websites they want their product to look like, PS Mobile for quick proofing (rarely, but it's come in handy), LogMeIn Ignition to access files on the go.
2. I use email all day every day...lol.... I have a exchange account that use daily. I also use the notes app daily to keep little notes to review at the end of the day.
3. Mail i use this to communicate with both customers and co-workers. Phone again communicate with both customers and co-workers. iPod when I am sitting at my desk working, it helps me to have music or a podcast playing in the background. Calendar helps me keep my work life in order, lots of meetings with co-workers and customers to keep track of. Maps sometimes i have to go out on the town for sales calls, this maps keeps me from getting lost...lol
1. Programmer Analyst working with Clinical Applications
2. For work I use Exchange email to keep up with the frequent cc'd emails that have nothing to do with me.. and calendar to acceptment the thousands of unecessary meetings.. I get calls when I'm offsite/working from home and would occasionality remote in with logme in Ignition.
3. email: this I use the most, thousands of emails come in each day that I need to pay attention to.. Also makes it seem like im always working cause I'm reply emails as soon as I get them, even on the weekends. Calendar: helps me stay on track with deliverable dates, meetings and accept or sendout meetings requests. Logmein Ignition: I use this whenever I'm offsite and need to access my computer for whatever reason.. be it to send out files or check office communicator just incase I recieved a message from someone of importance.
The last two are Todo and Files. I use Todo for my tasks and files to store important files that i might need access to on the go or might want to have if I get fired or laid off.
I'm an RN Manager in a local hospital. I work on a medical-surgical floor. My iPhone is invaluable to keep track of my schedule, appointments, and for all the medical apps that help me do my job efficiently. Since I get up at 5am, I have to have a great alarm clock that will get me up! My iPhone has never let me down. I do yoga in the morning and like to listen to some yoga music while I'm doing it. AmbiScience makes a great app called Pure Yoga that plays soothing sounds while I'm stretching. I connect my iPhone via bluetooth to my Ford Fusion Sport as I head out to work. I have a very busy schedule but like to keep in touch with friends throughout the day. I use Tweetie to do that. All my personal emails are pushed to my iPhone so I never miss anything important coming from the "outside" world. I have alarms set throughout the day so I don't miss any meetings. On my lunch break (anywhere from 5 minutes to 30) I like to play a little Words with friends. Of course I use my iPhone for my buisiness purposes too. Top 5 apps are:
1. Calendar - keeps my schedule and appointment at hand.
2. Notes - All my lists and important small documents.
3. Remember the Milk - Best task manager.
4. Skyscape - My important medical apps such as Taber's medical dictionary, RxDrugs medications database, and OCM (outlines in clinical medicine).
5. Medscape - Not only a great drug database but also access to the latest medical news and breakthroughs.
After work, it time to relax to some music and tweak my iPhone with the newest app or music.
This isn't a point-form contest. Tell us a story. Make it something you'd find interesting to read.
Bring the drama. Bring the comedy. Bring the joy. Bring the pain.
Here's a sample:
1. I'm the editor of a popular iPhone and iPad blog.
2. I wake up in the morning to an alarm -- on my iPhone. I grab it off my nightstand and quickly skim through my emails, delete spam, answer anything super-urgent, and make a note of fairly urgent stuff I need to tackle when I get up. Next is RSS. I want to know what news has happened when I was sleeping. Again, I skim for critical stuff first and fire off any urgent items via email. Last is Twitter, DMs and mentions, then a quick scan of the time line.
Once I'm up I'm syncing podcasts. I listen to a lot, especially if I have to drive around. Most of the other stuff, the gaming and web browsing, Instapaper and book reading has shifted to my iPad, but the iPhone is the feet-on-the-ground, moving, taking action device for the rest of the day. Oh, and phone calls.
I keep it next to my desk as a way to alert me to incoming email and tweets, and sometimes as a tiny companion device to use when my Mac is busy. The iPad is encroaching on this, but not replacing it yet.
At night, I set the iPhone as my alarm, and put on a 20-min countdown time for iPod sleep. Then its more podcasts until I'm unconscious.
3. If you forget to sync podcasts, iPhone can stream new ones right from the iTunes app. iPhone OS 4 makes this even better and less flaky. Use it.
4. Aside from email, I use a variety of Twitter clients but still default to Tweetie -- er, Twitter for iPhone. Its work flow just works for me. Reeder is my Google Reader app of choice for staying on the news and since its syncs, it keeps me up to date everyone. Likewise, I use SimpleNote combined with Notational Velocity for both Notes and Todos. Sync is king. Must. Have. That's why I also use DropBox as my main repository. Having my daily files everywhere is unbeatable. I've already mentioned a ton of built-in apps, but for third party I typically get lost so have some navigation software handy. I alternate between TeleNav for quick, on-grid to and fro, and Navigon for beefy off-grid anywhere access.
That's my typical daily use for the iPhone. Not an app for that, but a bunch that get the job done.
Once upon a time there was an inner city high school in lower Alabama. The children there all believed themselves to be the center of the universe. So it always came as quite a shock when their beloved French teacher told them that the US dollar was not used throughout the civilized world. Fortunately for these children, said beloved French teacher used WorldMate on her iPhone and was quickly able to find the current exchange rates for most currencies. This made it much more fun to window shop online and find out how much things would cost in real money.
These same children were also subject to school-wide initiatives such as DEAR (Drop Everything And Read). Because it was school-wide, the teachers were expected to play along. Thank heavens for the Nook reader on the iPhone. That old French teacher always had something to read and was happy to drop everything for it.
The children may not have liked taking tests, but our favorite teacher loves giving them. And not for the reason you may think...although, yes, she does have a bit of a sadistic streak. However, testing meant that she could stand in the back of the room and play Words With Friends!
After testing, it was common for our very favorite teacher in the world to whip out her iPhone and play some contemporary French music for her not so little learners. And she has been known to toss that iPhone under her Elmo document projector and show a music video or two.
Of course, this particular teacher was not just an excellent teacher, but the school's Go To Gal for all things tech. It was not unusual for her to receive a cry for help from colleagues and administrators at any time for any reason. And as often as not, the cry for help would go out, and the "victim" would wander away from his classroom/office. Ascendo Data Vault to the rescue. Here we find all the passwords for most everyone in the building, along with administrator passwords for both computers and systems. Everyone wondered how she did it all.
Email? Pedestrian. Phone calls? Run of the mill. Except - Voice Central from Black Swan handled her Google Voice number so that students could only disturb her when she allowed it. And because a teacher's job is never done, students called and sent text messages all day and all night!
But at the end of the day, it's nice to flip that mute switch and know there will be silence until the iPhone's alarm rings at 5:00 the next morning.
life of a Financial Advisor... well the life of my iphone a least
I would say my schedule is very common and generally i do the same thing as everyone else who commutes into NYC every morning. Im a financial advisor so i use my phone a lot for communication with clients and office emails. ON TO THE STORY
I wake up every morning to the sound of my iphone alarm. I've selected the ascending sound for fear of choosing "alarm" sound since it might give me a mild heart attack that my home was the target of a nuclear strike. I have my phone charging at my desk so I have to get out of bed to turn off the alarm. depending on how well i slept i choose to sit in my chair and slowly wake up to reading emails. If i didnt sleep to well I will likely hit the snooze button and go to sleep for those lovely 9 min (WHY 9 min apple??). So Ill bring the phone back to bed with me and wait for that lovely ascending sound.
Once on the train I will read through my emails again (I use the Microsoft Exchange server through email) , call into my office voice mail, and begin reading things on my bloomberg app or on safari some online investing blogs.
Around the office I use my phone to text my girlfriend and keep up on things online which I cant check on my office computer. I'm almost always listening to music because i hate silence but it blocks out all the calls people are making to clients around the office. having youtube is extremely helpful to show people funny videos that we cant watch on someones computer. Most people in the office have Blackberrys so they cant easily get to the videos themselves. I probably use 1password every day because i cant remember the 5 passwords i need to use my office computer, all of which have to be changed on a 3 week basis and i cant use the same password for 12 cycles. It drives me nuts. I probably had 5 passwords that i could use but after a few months with the company i had used those up and now im stuck making up random passwords with 2 caps 2 symbols/numbers and NO words from the dictionary. MOVING ON...
On my way to the long island rail road home i usually go on safari to check the MTA schedule because of course MTA feels that it keeps everyone on their toes by canceling or changing schedules on a day to day basis.... i guess thats what you get when the MTA is going bankrupt.
I usually watch some TV episodes on my phone on the way home because it helps me relax and mellow out. I usually watch scrubs or futurama because those are the TV shows i've uploaded to my computer and they make me laugh. You get some really awkward looks when you start laughing on the train where no one says ANYTHING! Its usually complete silence and then i will burst out a "HA" and have 10 people give me the death glare, wondering how someone could laugh after being at work all day. Some times ill start playing a game i've downloaded like Angry Birds but it doenst always make me happy, it usually makes me angry because I get stuck on a level. They should just call the game "Get Angry" because you cant get those damn birds to fly in the exact pattern you want them to.
At home I'll use skype on my phone and if anyone messages me that I would like to talk to I can get to my computer. Sometimes I use the iphone remote to control my itunes library.
ANDDD thats my day with my iphone... couldnt live my life without it... and thats very sad but true
1. Self-employed general contractor specializing in creative carpentry (oh, and I also build giant puppets.)
2. Heres my story: My work day starts when I get up, and that starts with my iPhone. The Alarm is set to a peaceful tone that doesnt annoy my wife (she got sick of marimba real quick so currently its set to strum. Well see how long that lasts.) From here I check TiPb and my Mail in bed as I wake up. Hopefully there arent any emails from a client that said that their house burned down last night due to something I did. I would expect that in a text, not an email. As I make my morning elixir - coffee - I check my Calendar to see what is on my schedule. Ah, today I am building a fence out of old reclaimed doors and windows. I jump in my dilapidated truck (needed a new truck, got an iPad instead), record my starting miles using AppCubby and find my route using Google Maps. On the way I plug in my iTrip to listen to Pandora (I swear, I don't have a Michael Buble channel) while using my bluetooth headset to call the lumber store to order the framing materials. When I get to the lumber store, I realize that the coffee hasnt totally kicked in (did I even remember to put the espresso in my mocha?) and I need to use Convertbot and Calculator to figure out how many 4x4s and 2x4s I need. Simple math but its just too early to strain my brain. As I get set up at the job site, I plug my iPhone into my Ridgid job site radio which conveniently has a 30-pin dock for Apple products. More Pandora ensues (what can I say, Buble is my muse) as I create a masterpiece of wood and glass. Now the end of the work day is near. I open Notes to list the materials needed for tomorrow (easier than trying to remember in the morning.) Then I check the weather using Accuweather to see if Ill need rain gear tomorrow (it is Oregon after all) and I squeeze in a few levels of Angry Birds, check TiPb again for the latest Apple news, and check my Facebook while the homeowner isnt looking. Before leaving, I snap a few photos of my work for my portfolio using the Camera. Driving home I listen to my iPod app for a change of pace (More Buble, different album). As I pull up to my house, I record my ending mileage using AppCubby and set my Alarm for tomorrow to start it all over again.
3. The iPhone has become my most important tool. If only it has a hammer feature then it would be just about all I would need. I have found that by pluging it into my Ridgid radio I have a full charge throughout the day. That way when I go to lunch I can hit the internet, play TowerMadness and frequently check TiPb (shameless plug but true!)
4. 1. Convertbot 2. Calculator 3. Maps 4. AppCubby 5. Mail
Well theoretically I am unemployed having quit my job to focus on studies but needed a source of income so took my hobby of programming to the next level by creating iPhone Apps as a source of income and in the last 8 months it has been a life saver, even if it currently only covers basic costs.
The iPhone is the pinnacle for this source of income as it allows me to find bugs and errors that are fine in Simulator e.g. Memory leaks don't affect it as much, but on the iPhone can be horrific. I also use my iPod as that is G1 and so allows me to check apps on both old and new systems. Having lost my developers license due to a lack of funds jailbreaking my phone has been an essential part of testing my new app as it uses the Accelerometer and also allows me to check comments on Rock and Cydia alike.
Developing for the iPhone is an amazing experience, the language is solid and useful in other areas, for example porting apps over to Android, but Androids developing experience is not nice, the process of building apps seems so simple and streamlined that errors that annoy me are nowhere near as annoying on other devices and the iPhone has a solid market. Unlike other Mobile OS' the iPhone seems to have been built with 3rd Party Apps in mind from the beginning, definitely shown in 1.x and having gained a user base before the Apps were available meant a demographic could be found before apps were developed.
Developing for the iPhone has also given me an ultimate goal in life and helps keep everything into perspective when I feels I have had enough of my studies and that it is all helping me to that ultimate goal. Which I am determined to achieve
Mail is a big part of it, any emails sent by users come direct to me and trying to keep my personal and "business" account separate means I can access them all in the same place anywhere anytime, I am looking to the integrated inbox in 4.0 Facebook and Twitterific at the moment are must haves for checking social networks and any comments people may have and YouTube has been helpful in checking any reviews or ratings on videos. Safari is also handy for checking forums etc on the go and responding ASAP.
Also in school my iPhone has been handy showing off the latest tech developments, check out whats going on and kill time in free periods
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