This post is a third in a series which outlines the iPhone applications that I find most useful. Check out “My Favorite iPhone Apps” (October 14, 2008) and “5 iPhone Apps That Rocked My World” (February 3, 2009) to see my previous recommendations.

CardStar	My wallet is filled with membership cards, which is super annoying. It means that I either have to make sure to bring it out or risk not having a specific card (and getting the membership benefits). With Cardstar, you simply enter in the number on your membership card and it creats a scanable barcode, effectively allowing you to leave the clunky cards at home and ensuring that you’ll always have the informatin (and the discounts) with you.
foursquare	My friends frequently ask me why I would share my whereabouts with the world (through Twitter, mostly). Now I have an answer: To unlock badges, become mayor and beat my friends at “nights out”.In Foursquare, I get “points” for checking in at different restaurants, bars, attractions, etc. Each Foursquare user starts out with just a “newbie” badge but things like 4 nights out in a row, checking in at three places in one night, checking in past 2am on a school night, will “unlock” other badges. I can “compete” with my friends (which can be added by scaning an address book, looking up someone by phone number, or finding Twitter friends who are using the service) to see who has the most check-ins or just as a way to see where they are.If you are a big going-out person and are maybe a tad competitive, you will be HOOKED on this app! (Add me on Foursquare!)
Photogene	Photogene brings photo-editing capabilities to the iPhone. I snap and upload pictures (to Twitter, to Facebook, to Flickr, etc.) on the go all the time so I think this app is completely worth its $2.99 pricetag. I use it mostly for cropping my pictures, but it has many more capabilities like adding special effects, straightening tilted pictures and correctiong the color.
PPB (Photo Phonebook)	This app is simple yet genius. Download up the app, create a user account and when someone calls you who you are Facebook friends with, their Facebook profile picture will come up. Did I mention it’s simple yet genius?
SnapTell	See a book (or CD or movie, for that matter) that you are interesting in buying but not ready to buy it at the moment and/or don’t want to overpay? Simply “snap” a picture of the cover and SnapTell will not only show you prices at other stores, but it will also save your query, effectively creating a wishlist on your iPhone that you can come back to later. For indecisive folks like me, this is great (or dangerous since it means I can put off making the decision)!
TweetDeck	I was a big, big fan of Twitterfon — until TweetDeck came out with an iPhone app earlier this month. Anyone using Twitter who has a smartphone needs an app to Tweet on the go. Tweetdeck originated as a robust desktop application in which users can create “groups” of Twitter contacts, searches by keywords and otherwise segment Tweets. Using the iPhone app, users get all that functionality on their mobile phones and it syncs to a user’s desktop instance of the application.
Yelp	Yelp is a phonebook, a map, and a guide book all in one. If I’m out somewhere and need to find the closest sushi restaurant, let’s say, Yelp will locate me and with a simple search provide me with nearby sushi restaurants, complete with reviews, addresses pinpointed on a map and phone numbers to call ahead. And after I’ve eaten, I can pull the app back out and write a review right then and there. In my opinion, its the reviews and other helpful information (like business hours) that helps Yelp trump other location-based restaurant/services apps like AroundMe and Urbanspoon.
DC Bonus: inauguration	This app was created to help visitors navigate around DC for Barak Obama’s Presidential Inauguration. Five months later, it’s still installed on my phone. I use it primarily to find out which Metro station is closest and the upcoming train schedule (Do I have 2 or 20 minutes to catch the Red Line train to Glenmont?). I know other Metro apps do exist, but whether it’s laziness or an unwillingness to pay for an app when I already have one for free that will do the trick, I’m sticking with this one for now.

What is BlogPotomac? BlogPotomac is this year’s premiere social media marketing event for greater Washington DC. Attendees can expect a one-day event with nationally renowned speakers and advanced discussion of best social media marketing practices.

What is live blogging? Live blogging is basically taking notes, photos, or recordings at lectures, conferences, and presentations of what was said and posting it to your blog.

Julie at BlogPotomac

Read my notes from BlogPotomac here: (more…)

On Monday evening, I went to hear Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, speak about his new book Who’s Got Your Back. A lot of the things he spoke about really resonated with me.

His message was that we, as a culture, have become isolated from each other yet it’s relationships that drive both professional and personal success.

(A sobering statistic: 50% of individuals believe that someone has their back. Of that 70% are married. That means that only 35% of unmarried individuals believe that they have someone looking out for them.)

During the talk, Keith had us do several exercises with the person sitting next to us.

In the first exercise, he had us identify an ultimate goal of ours – something that we longed for and fear we might never achieve. Those who know me well know that I ended up sharing one of my biggest fears with the Indian gentleman sitting next to me who I had just introduced myself to moments earlier.

In the second, Keith wanted us to think of something that was holding us back, a behavior that was detrimental to our success but we kept doing anyway (an addiction if you will). My “addiction” came to mind just as easily as my “ultimate goal”: My perfectionsim has fueled an aversion to answering e-mails.

I am horrible, horrible, at answering e-mails even though I have the best of intentions. The problem is that when I get a personal e-mail, I want to respond in kind. I want to really sit and write from the heart and be able to edit and re-edit until I get the flow and content just right. 

But in the end, the e-mail remains unwritten.

I know, I know, that my contacts would rather receive something than nothing. And yet, I always find myself in the same situation.

So, as of this Monday, which happened to be June 1st, (a nice round date), I vow to hold myself to a higher standard – or maybe to a lower one, as the case may be – and to really make a concious effort to respond to the personal correspondence I receive.

I haven’t yet read Who’s Got Your Back (although when I do it’ll be a copy signed by Mr. Ferrazzi himself), but from what I can tell, the next step in Keith Ferrazzi’s plan for happiness is to seek out two to four people who can act as a peer support system or a board of advisors. These are people who must exhibit: vulnerability, candor, generosity and be able to hold you accountable to your goals. 

So, if I actually go through with this whole thing and you get a call from me asking to be on my “team” I hope you won’t let me forget this promise I’ve made to myself.

Last week,  it was a question about social media and dating (namely, “When is it appropriate to Facebook someone you are dating?“) that led someone to this blog. This week, the question is about being a twentysomething in DC.

Since the collective of the group is always much wiser than my thoughts alone, I pose this person’s question to you in the form of the poll below. Feel free to elaborate on your answer (perhaps explaining why you’ve chosen the answers you have) and to suggest areas I did not include.