Fully Altered Media » new media

my top 15 iPhone apps

Matt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:36:08 +0000

A couple people I know have recently acquired iPhones and I’ve been asked a couple times which applications (aka apps from the App Store) I like/use the most. Here’s a list:

I could definitely not live without Twitterific Premium ($3.99), Yelp (free), Facebook for iPhone (free) and NetNewsWire (my RSS reader). This app hooks up with a desktop version which you have to download online at NewsGator.com for free).

Most banks have Mobile software so you can check your balance by logging in from the iPhone. I have Chase Mobile.

PayPal has a good iPhone app that is useful for sending money quickly without having to use a web form.

I use an invoicing program called Freshbooks which has a mobile add-on called MiniBooks where you can actually issue invoices by email or mail (they ship fro you – you just buy stamps) from your phone. Amazing!

I recently started using a program called iGasUp to check for the cheapest local gas – you put in your zip code or it finds your location and tells you cheapest gas by price and by distance from where you are anywhere in the US.

Shazam recognizes most commercially available music if you put it up close to the source of the sound for about 20 seconds. Good for parties/dates/in the car.

The NYTimes app is great for reading stories in an easily legible format on the go…especially in airports or on the bus. And it’s free!

The JamBase app is good for finding local concerts by where you are.

Camera Zoom and TiltShiftGen are good for zooming in closer to take photos and altering the visual palette of an image you took with your iPhone.

I also love this Word game called Word Warp where you make as many words out of 6 letters as possible.

And if you love MadMen and Breaking Bad as much as I do, the AMC app is a must.

What are your favorites?

Chris Potter on New York Times Popcast

Matt — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:58:28 +0000

Fully Altered client, Chris Potter was featured on this past week’s New York Times Music Popcast, the weekly music podcast from the pop critics of the New York Times. Contributor Ben Sisario invited Chris to perform in the paper’s studios. He plays a lengthy solo saxophone version of “Body & Soul,” the popular song written in 1930 by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and Johnny Green and popularized by tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, among others. Potter also talks about the music on his newest album, “Ultrahang” (Artistshare) with his band, Underground. You can subscribe to the New York Times Popcast in iTunes or access it from the Times’ website here.

Show Order:
1. Jon Pareles reviews “Murdering Oscar (and Other Love Songs)” by Patterson Hood
2. Ben Ratliff on “A Man’s Thoughts” by Ginuwine.
3. Chris Potter performs in [the New York Times] studio[s].

Listen here.

Sia Michel, the pop music editor is the host.

Fully Altered offers “web-savvy” services

Matt — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:04:36 +0000

Peter Hum's informative Ottawa Citizen jazz blog

Check out the nice words Canadian journalist and blogger Peter Hum, of the Ottawa Citizen, had to say about us:

I suspect that for Indie musicians, jazz or otherwise, life was so much simpler when the only game in town for online promotion was MySpace.

Now, the Web-based methods of promoting one’s music are bewildering. Which of the many music selling/sharing/promoting websites offers bangs for the bucks and time invested? Grandaddy MySpace? Last.fm? Yahoomusic.com? Reverbnation? Mymusicsite.com? Internet radio services like AccuJazz Radio? And what about the cutting-edge webtools from outfits such as artistdata.com and bandcamp.com? Or the Web-savvy services of publicists like Matt Merewitz of Fully Altered or Ariel Hyatt of CyberPR or the folks at Topspin?