My favorite iPhone apps as of Feb 2009

Free apps:
Pandora:
Pandora is a music player that takes your favorite songs, and plays songs with similar attributes as streaming audio - like a radio station that only plays your favorite songs. There are some songs that don't seem to match at all, but the more you use it, the better the music selection gets. And it introduces you to new artists you might not otherwise encounter. I think this link should take you to it.
phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284035177&mt=8

Snaptell:
The idea is this: you're in a store, and you wonder if buying the item you're looking at would be cheaper online. Take a photo of any item (book, CD, game) with the phone, and it searches for prices of that item from online sites like ebay and amazon. What a great use of iphone technology - camera, browser, web. Very cool.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/17/snaptell-one-of-the-coolest-iphone-apps-gets-even-better/
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=291920403&mt=8

WSF schedule:
This one tells you what time the next ferry will arrive at any WSF dock. Very handy if you ever take the ferry. Supported by unobtrusive embedded ads.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288902938&mt=8

Midomi:
Hold your iPhone up to a radio, and it will identify the song. Or you can hum a tune into the phone... I tried it in a store playing a nice song over the speakers, and it worked very well.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284972998&mt=8

Wikipanion:
Search wikipedia quickly, and have the result already formatted for the iphone screen.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288349436&mt=8

Charts and Tides
This 'teaser' app shows nautical charts for the Seattle area and uses your phone's GPS to locate you on the chart. It's to convice you to buy the full $50 version.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=300499486&mt=8

Units:
convert any imaginable unit into another unit - area, temperature, speed, you-name-it
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284574017&mt=8

Showtimes:
Uses your current GPS location to tell you what showtimes are available for movies near you.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=285018181&mt=8

Youversion:
Raed and search the Bible, and add your comments to any verse.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=282935706&mt=8

Yelp:
Find reviews (usually by techno-savvy trwenty-somethings) of restaurants and services by location. You do have to register with the website (free, no junk mail so far).
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284910350&mt=8

What's on:
Automatically updating TV listings - set your locations and the provider at that location.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289190113&mt=8

Epocrates:
Drug compendium - handy reference. Also can suggest a digest of a couple of noteworthy new articles each week, if you want. Have to register (free, and no junk emails so far).
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=281935788&mt=8

Everytrail
Use your iPhone to record a hike or bike ride, link pictures to a location, and figure our how far you went. Can show a live terrain map of your location, and has a nice minimal-battery-use lockout function so it'll record up to say four hours of hiking.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=290954446&mt=8

The Weather Channel
Can show a live Doppler map of precipitation.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=295646461&mt=8

Paid applications:
$10
Seattle Bus Map
My favorite new toy: shows where Seattle buses are in real time, using the GPS transponders signal from every bus. So you don't have to stand there wondering 'When will that bus ever get here?' Not worth the $10 unless you take Seattle buses often. Doesn't work for the Seattle-Tacoma express buses, unfortunately.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299293359&mt=8

$10
mboxmail
Finally, finally, I can get hotmail on the iphone. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted trying to sign into hotmail only to get odd redirects and answering 'Is this going to be your primary phone' over and over again. Now I have rapid access to fully functional email with swipe to delete, move to folders, and click contact list features that are so handy on the regular iphone email program. However, since the program can't run in the background unless it' open, there's no change in the screen icon when you get new mail. And it has a maximum attachment size of 1MB which hardly bothers me, but seems to have some reviewers on the Apple app store pretty steamed.

$20
iBird
Love this one. Used to do a lot of birdwatching, and here's more than a field guide now conveniently tucked into your iphone. (Lugging that field guide was always a nuisance, but ya gotta have it.) You can identify an unknown bird by answering a series of questions (size, color, location etc) and then have illustrations, photos, recordings of its song and maps of its range at your fingertips. Layout looks great on the screen, and all info is stored on board the iphone so it works where there's no phone signal.

$3
Easy wifi -
allows you to sign in with one click at a Starbucks or McDonalds. Easier than typing in your phone number each time and then waiting for a text message and so on as they'd normally have you do.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296273148&mt=8

$1
Searchquest:
Uses you GPS location to find wikipedia entries that are located close to you. Probably useful when traveling, but only finds a smattering of local entries here in Seattle.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=283286021&mt=8

$10
Anchor alarm
OK, I don't have this one yet, but next time I go sailing overnight, I'll get it. Last time I was anchored overnight, I kept waking up at night wondering if the anchor was still holding. Peering out in the darkness, it took my sleepy eyes a few minutes to figure out if we had drifted more than a few feet. Here's an app that sounds an alarm if you drift more than a specified distance from your original anchoring point. Granted, you'd need a power source to keep the iphone GPS up and running all night, but peace of mind is worth it.