Hasta La Gadget!

Last weekend we suggested 10 tools for sticking to your New Year’s Resolutions. Those with an iPhone or iPod touch, though, have a few additional, always-available tools for keeping up the good self-improvement fight.

Here’s our list of five apps that make tracking, remembering, and motivating your resolutions easier than willpower alone. All of them (except RunKeeper) run on both iPhones and iPod touch models.

RunKeeper for motivating your run

Running is one of, if not the best, exercise plan for those who like immediate, measurable proof of their progress. RunKeeper, a free app that Adam used to roll his own Nike+ iPhone for free, is the data-hound’s running companion. Using the iPhone’s GPS powers, where and how far you went is mapped out (if with a few glitches), your calories burned and average speed marked, and it can all be searched through and/or synced to the RunKeeper web site. For a similar solution with a different mix of strengths and features, try Fitnio. (RunKeeper Free and Pro)

Weightbot for, well, your weight

For just $2, you can grab an app that makes measuring your body weight sort of (seriously) fun. The previously toured iPhone/iPod touch app has a really slick look to it, and takes your weight down in tenths-of-a-pound increments, along with auto-calculating your Body Mass Index. Your day-by-day progress can be graphed out and tracked against a goal weight, and if you’re concerned about friends prone to “Ooh, let me see your iPhone apps!” fever, Weightbot can be password locked before giving away the stats. (Store link)

Remember the Milk for everything else

This one’s a bit pricier, but you’re getting more than just a nagging reminder to do this or don’t do that. With a $25/year Remember the Milk Pro account, its iPhone/iPod touch app (which offers 15 free days to any account) gives you pretty much complete access to all your lists, tasks, alerts, reminders, and whatever resolution you’re plugging in. Plus, using geo-location features, you can goad yourself into stopping by Goodwill to finally drop off those clothes, since you’re already shopping in the neighborhood. As noted in its Top 10 entry, though, RTM’s real benefit is that it syncs itself everywhere at all times. So remembering to buy a better paper filing box while you’re at your desk can pay off the next time you’re in an OfficeMax. (store link)

iOwn to stop hoarding stuff

Most of us can probably do with a little less stuff, and we’re all prone to buying things we already own—I’ll point you to a drawer full of barely-used duct tape, if you’d like. iOwn is a one-stop spot for keeping track of those things you always tend to buy more of, or just want to have more details about the stuff you already have at your fingertips (does the DVD player take component cables, or just S-Video?). You can give any item as many attributes as you’d like, and the full $5 version lets you store, and backup online, as many items as you can think of (the free, Lite version is a 10-item trial). It’s pitched as a total-home organizer, but if you’ve just got one collection or acquisition habit you’re looking to reign in—spices, music, photo frames, whatever—it’s pretty indispensable. (via LA Times Blogs; iOwn free and lite links)

Mint for managing your money

Mint.com’s a streamlined webapp for graphing, tracking, budgeting, and otherwise keeping tabs on your money. Its free iPhone/iPod companion is no less a handy tool, and it’s just as secure and informative. Check your basic balances, browse your last few days’ cash flow, and peek at multiple budgets you set up for yourself from a series of sliding screens. If you fear losing your device and opening up your financial world to the thief, you can remotely deactivate the read-only tool from your Mint.com profile. If you can get your head around Mint’s money management, you’ll really benefit from this app. (Store link)

That’s our flight of five apps, but we want to hear what free or paid iPhone/iPod apps work for goals and resolutions. Share the app names in the comments.

Windows Mobile 6.5 is rumored to offer cosmetic upgrades, not major feature changes.

(Credit: Mobilemag.com)

For all the talk there’s been about Microsoft’s big Vista problem, much less has been made of its smaller operating system, Windows Mobile, which has some major problems of its own.

…

T-Mobile has launched two new phones this morning: the Nokia 7510 and the revised T-Mobile Shadow (pictured). The Nokia 7510 is a flip phone with a hidden external display that can show different designs when backlit. The handset is available with three face plates: expresso brown, fatal red, and emerald green. It features a 2-megapixel camera, a music and video player, and a microSD slot. The 7510 also works with T-Mobile’s Unlimited Hotspot Calling service. It’s available now for $49.99 with a two-year contract.

The 2009 version of the Shadow, meanwhile, is a mildly refreshed version of the mediocre T-Mobile Shadow. The HTC-manufactured handset runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and features a quad-band GSM radio (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), Wi-Fi, and UMA support for T-Mobile’s Unlimited Hotspot Calling service. There’s a navigation wheel and a pseudo-QWERTY, 20-key keyboard that slides out. The Shadow also includes a 2.2-inch QVGA (320-by-240-pixel) touchscreen LCD, a 2-megapixel camera, and a microSD slot. It’s available now in black burgundy or white mint for $149.99 with a two-year contract and appropriate data plan.

Is it a portable media player, or just a media player? Should it be worn around the neck, or simply left on the living room table? These questions and more become yours to answer should you choose to invest in mobiBLU‘s A10 UFO. All we’re told is that it’s available in glossy red or glossy black and that it features Bluetooth, support for a multitude of file formats, a built-in battery, headphone jack and 2/4/8GB of internal storage. If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the red version is actually already starting to float upwards upon the strumming of the first chords in “White Rabbit.” Far out, man.

[Via AnythingButiPod]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

mobiBLU’s A10 UFO player may lift off when playing Jefferson Airplane originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Get ready Barcelona. Acer sent out a press invite this week letting the world know that it’s using this year’s Mobile World Congress to launch their new smartphone line.

Acer bought Taiwanese mobile manufacturer E-Ten last March; they made a line of Windows Mobile phones called Glofiish that pretty much nobody in North America owns. Mobile analyst Sascha Segan tried to review one once, and it gave him an electric shock. That pretty much put him off E-Ten. Acer, of course, has a much better reputation for quality.

In April, Acer president Gianfranco Lanci said he was aiming for smartphones to make up 10 percent of his company’s revenue, and that he would look for carrier partners to sell his phones. Combined with Acer’s strength in PCs in the US, that may mean their devices are coming to these shores. We’ll have more details on Feb. 16.