Ideal Bite

SMARTPHONE APPS

An Application a Day...

08.24.2009

Submitted by tmeronek on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 11:00pm.

The Bite:

Wanna keep the doc away? Bite into the best new smartphone (B-Berry, iPhone…) apps to make your life healthier, more convenient, and greener…you don't even have to compost any cores when you're finished.

The Benefits:

Many green varieties. These apps help you shop, get around, eat, and play greener.
Most are as free as apple juice at a blood drive.

Personally Speaking:

They can't all be green… Check out our other favorite phone apps in the blog, and share your own.

Wanna Try:

Food

Seafood Watch - basic and helpful: just search for the most sustainable seafood choices from restaurants or the store. Also gives you fish-specific info if you wanna know more (free).
Shopper's Guide to Pesticides - healthcentric list of which produce items carry the highest and lowest amount of pesticide residue, so you can figure out where to spend on organic; for iPhone (free).
What's Fresh - find out which fruits and veggies are in season (so they don't have to be transported so far - saving energy) based on your state and the month; for iPhone ($2).

Shopping

GoodGuide - get greenness ratings for over 70,000 products - even offers nutritional info and ingredients lists (free).
Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide - check the recycled content of your bathroom paper products at the store (free).
Seventh Generation Label Reading Guide - find out what the ingredients on the back of the label mean. A tad bit dark green, but it's simple to use and includes links to related terms (free).

Transportation

Carticipate - car pool match-up service; for iPhone (free).
GreenMeter - a bit complicated, but once you figure it out, it'll help you measure your car's efficiency and carbon footprint; for iPhone ($6).
TomTom - supernew: no need to buy a separate GPS with this (admittedly pricey) app - plus it saves the paper you'd print your directions on; for iPhone ($100).

3rdWhale - uses your phone's GPS to find green shops and restaurants nearby; for iPhone, coming soon to other platforms ($2).
iRecycle - lists more than 100,000 recycling locations (including some nearby that you'd probably never think of) for over 200 types of materials; for iPhone (free).
Kindle - download books and read 'em on your iPhone (app is free; most books go for about $10 a pop).

Cocktail Fact

Real iPhone apps: Drunk Dialer (makes it tougher for you to drunk dial exes); Annoy-A-Teen (emits high-frequency sounds only kids can hear); MyVibe (vibrator).

Bang For The Bite

All of these apps are helpful and most are free - we just wish they worked on all of our phones.

11 comments

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Ashleigh on August 24, 2009 at 04:56 AM 1

I was really excited about the 3rd Whale application being free, and would have downloaded it...but unfortunately it's now listed with a $1.99 price tag. The blog listed it as free :(

Idealbite Team Member tmeronek on August 24, 2009 at 08:34 AM 2

Sorry for the fake-out, Ashleigh. Our bad. We've made the change to the archives.

Paul Smith on August 24, 2009 at 11:13 AM 3

Thanks very much for recommending our app! A few other things to know: We donate 25 cents per app sold to 5 environmental/green nonprofits/NGOs that our users nominated and voted for, from Natural Capital Solutions to Orangutan Outreach. Last week we released a new Android version of our app ( http://3rdwhale.com/node/72 for more on that) updated the iPhone app to now include a newly merged database with GenGreen Life, for a total of 65,000 green businesses and services, the largest such database in North America. And we've begun to include news from CSRWire, Mother Nature Network (local reports from all over the US) and Eco Matters, which is a distillation of the day's green news (and why it matters), with action steps you can take in relation to them.

Paul Smith on August 24, 2009 at 11:17 AM 4

Ah, just noticed Ashleigh's comment. Our Android app is starting out free for the next 3 months, and as mentioned above, we give what works out to more then 15% of our app revenues (after Apple's share) to 5 great organizations. We're actually the first mobile app developer member of 1% For the Planet, and encourage others to do so too. The app continues to get useful features added to it, upgrades free for the life of the app.

cheryl on August 24, 2009 at 12:41 PM 5

what is an app??

Paul Smith on August 24, 2009 at 01:32 PM 6

@Cheryl - Oops! An application. A program for your phone, like the ones above. Since writing the comment earlier, I've now learned today that there will be two versions of the 3rdWhale app, one with the shopping and crowdsourced green living tips from Creative Citizen, and another, the premium, which adds the news and many more still top secret components ;) Stay tuned...

Joe Beyer on August 24, 2009 at 07:06 PM 7

There's a great real estate open house finder for iPhones called Phind Homes.

Paul.Evans on September 03, 2009 at 10:12 AM 8

Thanks for sharing these apps. Hopefully there will be more in the future. If there are then maybe some of those companies can donate to the cause as well. casino

Nike Shoes on October 08, 2009 at 06:04 AM 9

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amazonca on October 23, 2009 at 04:21 AM 10

oh! thanks a lot for the applications. I was really amazed by the Annoy-A-Teen:D I've never supposed it can really scare teens! The second place goes to MyVibe (vibrator) - it is probably the first x-rated app approved by Apple. Now I can really control the intensity of the vibration ;) Great!

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