Mobile Apptitude

It seems like every week political junkies have another app to stay engaged. At CREDO Action we are always needing to stay up-to-date on political news. Luckily, there are a couple of great new apps.

All of these apps can be found in the Android Market place.

Congress is a fantastic source all things congress. Find news, look up Senator’s contact info, and track legislation. This is all really political geeky stuff. This app has won a number of awards and is published by a great organization called the Sunlight Foundation.

Huffington Post is one of the most widely read progressive political news sources and is updated throughout the day. Some of the best progressive reporters are now at Huffpo and many big political names post commentary there. You’ll also find tech news, sports, style, travel, business and some salacious entertainment news if that is your cup of tea.

The Hill is the super inside the beltway, Washington DC, insider congressional news source. If you want to know what political hacks in DC are reading then this is for you.

I love apps, I also love app updates. It’s very common for Android developers to put out an app and later update it with new features, bug fixes, levels, challenges etc..

This is what makes the already great Android Market even greater! Take for example the Facebook app. The latest Market version is 1.2, if you haven’t already – go and download the update. 1.2 brings new functionality such as being able to browse your inbox without having to access it through the  browser.

To check and see if any software updates are available:

From within the Android Market, press the Menu Button -> Tap Downloads. Here you will see a list of your downloaded apps. If an update is available, you will see “Update available” to the right of the app name.

Tap on the app with the update available.

Tap Update to begin the update process.

There are many things I love about Google. One of the biggest ones is their dedication to the Android Market. They’ve launched apps like Google Goggles, Maps with Navigation, Sky Map and now they’ve announced Open Spot.

Open Spot is a very clever idea that can help users find open street parking spots. Using your HTC Hero’s GPS capabilities, Open Spot is able to locate you and show available parking spots in your area. When looking at the map you will see 3 different pins representing available parking spots.

• Red pins are freshly-marked spots.
• Or ange pins are spots marked over 5 minutes ago.
• Yellow pin s are spots marked over 10 minutes ago.

You can help your fellow Android community by marking available parking spots when you make one available. Sharing is quick, easy and can earn you “karma points”.

I’m very excited about Open Spot especially since I’m in downtown San Francisco all the time. Parking can be a bit difficult to find – especially on the weekends. Instead of driving around the block many times , I can now tap into the Android community for help.

“Start helping others find parking, and together we’ll all save time, save gas, and reduce pollution.”

**To download Open Spot with your Credo Mobile HTC Hero, press the Home button -> press the Menu button -> Tap All programs -> Find and tap Market -> Search for Open Spot.

Whenever I get an update from LinkedIn, there are always a few updates of people who are returning from a trip or leaving on a trip via TripIt. TripIt is a site that gathers all of your travel information in one place, logs miles, and makes traveling everywhere on business or pleasure a competitive game between your friends.

I don’t necessarily want to broadcast my travel schedule, and I’m not so sure about the I travel more than you game, but I think maybe there is something to this TripIt app. There is a version of the app for BlackBerry phones so I go to http://m.tripit.com/uhp/blackberry and download the beta version of the app to try it out.

You start by creating a login at www.tripit.com.
Then you can send any email confirmation from your trip planning to plans@tripit.com and it starts building trips and organizing your information into one itinerary plan.

I sent camp site reservations, priceline car rental info, and flight info, all of which automatically registered as a trip or an activity on a trip in my tripit app. The app itself is pretty limited so I recommend setting up the trip mostly using the website. But once setup, the app is very handy to have. It automatically pulls up google maps to locate any address, launches websites for things like airport and hotel info. The best part about the app is that if you forget what time your flight departs, you don’t have your confirmation code, or you need to call your hotel, you can launch TripIt and it’s all right there in the app. It even generates directions and local area maps automatically to help you on your trip.

Try it out and let me know what you think.