Top 5 Fun Halloween Apps for Your iPhone

We all loved Halloween as a kid. I mean, what kind of kid didn’t want to have free candy and a license to act stupid even for just one day. As we grow up, though, we lose all these special privileges because it’s just not acceptable for adults to dress up and act foolishly with the kids.

So after years and years of dressing up and trick or treating, it’s now time for you to grow up and do the decorations. But what if you’re lazy? What if you don’t want to spend Halloween like the rest of America? Don’t worry, there’s always your iPhone to keep you company. Now be ready to sell your iPhone 4 because there are so many fun apps that you can play with on a new iPhone 5! Treat yourself to cool Halloween apps like…

1. iMut8r - Since you can’t dress up and roam the streets for trick or treating this Halloween (except of course if you’re going to a costume party and you don’t have a car to get there), you can still make scary face changes through your iPhone! iMut8r allows you to transform your normal photos into different characters like ghouls, werewolves, witches and zombies!

2. Dracula HD – For bookworms and nerds who refuse to be bullied with slushies at costume parties, maybe the best way to spend Halloween is to lounge at home and read scary books instead! Reread the story of Dracula with this iPhone app with scary audio effects and animations!

3. Free Halloween Sounds Pro – Of course if you want some excuse to dress up for Halloween, all you have to do is organize your own costume party! A great idea would be a trick party where you play different kinds of funny tricks on your guests! You don’t have to sell your iPhone to afford a good sound system though. Just try this free Halloween app on your iPhone for frightening sound effects.

4. Halloween Alarm Clock – Since Halloween is the time for scary tricks and foolishly frightening pranks, you have an excuse not to sell your iPhone especially if you have this app! Wake the hell out of your kids or your wife with a great big evil laugh or the sounds of vampires, witches and werewolves.

5. SpookyPic – Of course, you can always enjoy the Halloween festivity by taking pictures of all the kids in spooky costumes knocking on your door! But if you want to make their photos less cute and more Halloween-perfect, try SpookyPic for your iPhone. This app is an easy photo editor app that also has Facebook and Twitter integration. Upload the pictures of cute trick or treaters on Facebook and tag their mothers saying Happy Halloween!

Before you go searching for these fun Halloween apps, maybe you want to reconsider your old and scary looking iPhone! If your iPhone looks like it’s been scratched by Freddy Krueger, you better sell your iPhone now! Visit our website to know how!

How to Not Let Your iPhone Distract You

So you’re in a posh restaurant picked out by your very helpful secretary and your wife is sitting across from you looking at the menu. Suddenly, your iPhone rings and you see that it’s Barry, a friend and an officemate calling you in the dead of night, after office hours. Your wife looks up as you pick up the phone and asks, “Do you really need to answer that?” You think again and decided to let it go to voicemail.

As your dinner arrives Barry calls again, so despite your wife’s agitated face, you stand up to go outside the restaurant and answer the call. It turns out that Barry only wanted to ask if you managed to keep a certain reference file, which you don’t know the answer to being that you’re not in the office. What would make you want to sell iPhone 3GS all the more is that when you come back your wife is angry as a bull because you haven’t even greeted her with “Happy Anniversary” and yet you’re off to answer Barry’s call.

The major problem here is not Barry’s stupid call or your wife’s short temper. The real culprit here is you. You don’t own your iPhone. Your iPhone owns you. So how do you prevent this from happening again? I think the best advice I can offer right now is to tell you to either sell your iPhone or buy my iPhone 5. Why the latter option? Because apparently, the iPhone 5 is packed with features that will help you take control of your iPhone!

Aside from that, here are five things you should try to prevent your iPhone from interrupting your life:

1. Put some silence into your iPhone. Crank the ringer volume down to zero and turn off various alerts for SMS, MMS, Mails and Notifications. It’ll prevent you from disturbing the people you’re with.

2. Set a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. One of the iPhone 5’s great perks is that you can actually set a specific time where you will not be disturbed except by important people like your boss, your clients, your wife and your kids. This is perfect for when you’re finishing something or sleeping.

3. Block all interruptions especially during critical times. This can best be done using the Airplane mode where you cut yourself off from everyone else without having to turn off your iPhone completely. This feature is important for meetings with critical clients or for beating deadlines at work. But you don’t have to sell your iPhone for this because it’s often present on all smartphones.

4. Let unwanted calls go to voicemail or answer it with an SMS. You know you could have allowed Barry to go to voicemail several times. You also could have tapped on ‘Reply with Message’ on your iPhone 5 to tell Barry you were with your wife or you were busy. You could have also tapped on ‘Remind Me Later’ so you could remember to call Barry back after your wonderful dinner.

5. Prioritize the present. As they say, you have to live in the now. Don’t mess up amazing moments by answering the call. Remember that the people in front of you are more important than the person on the other line. So be polite and be present.

Going Paperless: How to Organize Your Evernote Clutter Wisely

Whether you’re a cook, a student, a writer or just a bad article hoarder, using Evernote would probably one of the best things you’ve ever tried on your iPhone. For bloggers like me, Evernote proved to be one of the most important tools that would make you never want to sell your iPhone. That’s because Evernote allows you to work within the realms of the progressive and highly-technological life we have today.

Back in the days of old technology, one would have to go in front of a desktop PC to start typing up articles and printing them or copying them on discs or flash drives to pass them to the editors. Today, you can write and post your blogs directly from your phone without the need to stare at a computer monitor for hours. Gone are the days of paper printing and clutter making. Apparently, you can do that digitally through your iPhone and Evernote!

But since it’s a must to stay organized for productivity’s sake, here are some tips that you can try to make your Evernote account a neat freak’s version of heaven.

Decide on a Naming Convention

Uniformity is the first step to making your Evernote as OC- clean as possible. You don’t have to sell your iPhone to start all over again; all you have to do is gather the patience to rename all your documents (so we hope you don’t have many of those). Decide on a naming convention. Do you want to name all your files based on a date, a letter, or a specific format? In my case, I like naming my files with the date, the specific ‘category’ of the article or note and the note’s title!

Learn to File and Re-File

Just like your email, your Evernote account can also have an ‘Inbox’ for incoming feeds and articles that third party services could send you. Since a lot of Evernote users tend have the habit of picking up news and whatnots around the Internet that you then sync to your account, it is a must to turn your default notebook into an Inbox. Learn the habit of checking your Inbox frequently to file and re-file. That means that you need to clean up your Inbox and move the files to certain stacks, notebooks and folders. Remember to put tags and change file names based on a specific format that you decided on.

Make a List of Tags

To find articles without going ballistic or wanting to sell used iPhone, it is very useful to put in tags. In a nutshell, tags are attributes you attach to your notes to make it easily searchable. It’s the ultimate filing weapon, I say. In my case, I have a list of tags that I use on Evernote to make searching notes easier. As much as possible, I don’t make new tags; I just find the perfect tags to go with the note!

Finally, the best habit that you should master is the art of neatness. Digital documents are hard to manage without utmost discipline. So have patience and keep noting!

The Mini Competitor: iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini

I know what you’re thinking now.

As an Apple fan, you may be thinking: “Samsung has been listening to Apple all along!” and “How about serving a plate of originality please?”

Looking back at the iPhone 5 keynote, we all probably remember the moment when Phil Schiller showed off the taller iPhone while explaining that Apple wanted the smartphone to feel normal in the hands and easy to use by making sure the design follows the rule of the thumb. A few weeks later, the Korean based electronics company announced that they would be releasing a Samsung Galaxy S III with (*gasp*) a 4-inch smartphone! Have we heard about this before? You must be kidding me!

Not an iPhone Killer

While it seems that Samsung wanted to push its smartphone forward in the battle of the best 4-inch display smartphones, a lot of tech experts still believe that this isn’t a smartphone that would make you want to sell your iPhone. Truth be told, the Samsung Galaxy S III had a lot of edge over the iPhone because of its extra features like NFC. But so far, reviews about the mini version remains firm on the fact that the iPhone still packs more than the new smartphone Samsung released. Why you may ask? Here’s a rundown of the specs and how they compare.

Display (Winner: iPhone 5)

Isn’t it weird that Samsung is reducing their smartphone’s screen size at around the same time Apple decided to add some inches on theirs? Both the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini and the iPhone 5 have 4-inch displays. The S III Mini champions a Super AMOLED Display (not so bad in its own right) while the iPhone 5 has the Retina Display. What would not make you sell your iPhone is that the S III Mini has 800 x 400 pixels compared to iPhone 5’s 1136 x 640. The S III Mini only packs in 233 pixels per inch while the iPhone 5 is more vibrant at 326 pixels per inch.

Camera (Winner: Still iPhone 5)

It’s a smaller smartphone, what do you guys expect? The Korean company has replaced the 8 megapixels rear camera of the Galaxy S III with a mere 5 megapixels. The front camera was replaced with VGA (the original S III had 1.9 megapixels). That’s far from the iSight camera’s 8 megapixels for the rear and 1.2 megapixels for the front.

Processor (Winner: iPhone 5)

Another plus point for the Cupertino-based tech giant is the 1.2 GHz A6 processor chip. And though both smartphones have dual core processors, it’s still not worth it to sell iPhone 5 for a Samsung S III Mini’s 1 GHz CPU. There are a lot more features that the iPhone 5 won when compared to Samsung’s new offering. The iPhone 5 has a more comprehensive Siri than the Jellybean 4.0’s S Voice. Yes, Google’s virtual assistant is really good at searching stuff, but it can’t answer you with witty remarks about life and HAL 9000.

The Fanboy Conspiracy Theory

If this was a movie, it would probably need a lot of money to start productions.

Do you remember those weird fanboys who kept commenting at the end of every single iPhone article saying they loved this Apple product and they hated this Android product? Have you ever fought back the huge wave of fanaticism by bullying them with comments bearing the terms “fanboys” and “sheep”? Have you ever looked at all those people in line for the iPhone 5 release thinking “these people are so insane”? If you answered yes to most or all of these questions, you, sir, are one exceptional electronics consumer.

But what does it really take to make a fanboy? How exactly are these fanboys made? Experts are saying the answers to these questions may be rooted somewhere deep into the hearts of the companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google as well as deep into the minds of mindless fanboys.

Now let’s first answer the question why do people sell iPhone and buy a new one every single year like crazy maniacs?

The Adaptability Theory

Some psychology and tech experts believe that more than just being a great believer of the product they get addicted to, fanboys could actually just be a product of adaptability. They say that once a person locks himself into a single product line like WinDrones to Microsoft PC and other Windows based products, you get too familiar with the workings of the said products as the years go by that your body adapts easily to the fanboy figure that you hate.

This means that if you’re the kind of person who likes to sell used iPhone to buy the newly released version, it could be that your brain is telling you that you’d rather have a better iPhone than a better smartphone in general because you’re used to using an iPhone.

Some experts also say that the Cupertino-based tech giant’s fierce battles with Jailbreakers, third party iPhone accessory makers and other smartphone manufacturers aren’t exactly means of showing the world that they are have “values” in their community. Rather, this could be a big show for all consumers and the world to see that the company values exclusivity very much. And since the Apple brand has become so exclusive to fanboys and general Mac users, a lot of their consumers decide to be repeat customers because they don’t want to feel alienated by other brands that they’re not used to.

Psychology experts believe that this becomes worse the longer you stay exposed to the brand you’re addicted with. The more you sell your iPhone for another iPhone year after year and the longer you use your iPhone, the more alien you become to other brands.

And how does Apple come to play in this twisted mind game? Some tech alphas noticed that in the iPhone maker’s app developer guide, the company encourages app developers to follow Human Interface Principles, which are design principles that supposedly patterns its user interface based on the “way users think and work.” Now think about it, all the apps that you’ve been using are actually modeled after Apple’s environment principles, thus making you more familiar with the interfaces and more of a fanboy every time you use it! Bang

Knowledge on iPhone Buying Lvl: Apple Store Genius

Sheldon Cooper has a very good reason to make fun of Apple Store geniuses. It’s not because he hates Apple (we think he doesn’t really hate them, he just prefers Microsoft or Alienware). It’s just that at some point, he was a genius to say that being an Apple genius is the most mind-numbing, pedestrian job he could think of that devaluates the word “genius”.

It’s not that we hate Apple too—we don’t, we love Apple so much that we even buy and sell iPhone units. It’s just that a lot of Apple fanboys have pointed out time and again that while Apple products remain on top of the quality pyramid (if there is any) their customer service in the Apple Store doesn’t.

Still don’t think so? Let’s take a look at the numbers shall we?

Recent information from the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners showed that compared to AT&T and Verizon stores, the Apple Store made a lot lower sales from December 2011 to August 2012. The sales data from CIRP not only showed that AT&T was able to sell iPhone units 7 percent more than the aesthetically pleasing Apple Stores Tim Cook shows off in his keynote speeches but Verizon also sold 5 percent more than the Apple Stores’ 21 percent share on the iPhone sales.

Isn’t that kind of saddening for a store that’s supposedly filled with “geniuses”?

Other data from CIRP showed that in other product categories, Apple Stores were able to sell more than AT&T and Verizon. For example, the company’s official stores were able to contribute 40 percent to the overall sales of the iPad while AT&T sold only 3 percent and Verizon 2 percent. Realizing that both mobile devices were such big hits, isn’t it weird that the Apple Store was able to sell more iPads and less iPhones since last December?

It doesn’t take a Dr. Cooper to explain that question.

People at CIRP say the reason iPhone’s sales were smaller in Apple Stores than in AT&T and Verizon stores is because the company just doesn’t have enough stores. As of press time, the Cupertino-based tech company has erected 372 stores all over the United States. Compared to AT&T’s 16,000 stores, 372 is still a small number for a smartphone that can sell to over 5 million people.

A lot of Apple owners can attest that people at the Apple store aren’t always as proficient in other phone related stuff other than what they sell. What most buyers say is the reason it’s unadvisable to buy an iPhone at the Apple Store is that you they can’t seem to get their head around complicated phone plan questions customers throw at them.

Go to an Apple Store and ask them how you can get a $199 iPhone 5. Most probably (and based from experience) they’ll just point you to an iPad with an iPhone attached to it so that you’ll know if you’re eligible to buy an iPhone. Most of the “geniuses” don’t even know how to explain all the benefits of a phone plan. So unless you plan to sell your iPhone and buy an iPhone 5 without a contract, going to the Apple Store to buy an iPhone may not be the best thing to do.

A Geekier Angry Birds iPhone App

Thought you’d seen enough birds on the App Store?

Nope, you haven’t seen the best of it yet. Attention all geeky iPhone users, Rovio is out to test your nerd abilities once again! From the simple bird-throwing physics they presented for iPhone addicts back in 2009, to the astronomically challenging variations they did with Angry Birds Space, the Finnish gaming company is now taking the geeky gameplay up to a higher notch. They’re going full blast on the galactic invasion by tying up with Lucas Films Ltd. to release Angry Birds Star Wars.

Yup, you read that right. After its successful and addictive versions back in 2010, Rovio is out with another addictive gameplay. The company announced that they will be having a worldwide release on November 8 for all mobile platforms including Apple’s iOS and Mac. The company will also release versions for Google’s Android smartphones and Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet PC. Microsoft fans could also be free to sell iPhone because Angry Birds Star Wars will also be available for Windows 8, Windows PC and Windows Phone.

It seems that the gaming company is out with more tie-up tricks this year! From the initial Angry Birds Seasons game that made a lot people want to sell used iPhone because of its addictive nature, the company has teamed up with a whole bunch of weighty merchandises to make different game variations out of the original iPhone gaming app.

Last year, Rovio teamed up with 20^th Century Fox to create a highly tropical based on the animated movie Rio. Not only did the game succeeded in getting to the hearts of younger audiences, it was also downloaded 10 million times!

A year after Angry Birds Rio, Rovio decided to challenge their simple physics-based game by tying up with NASA in creating Angry Birds Space. The said game even had a trailer that featured astronaut Don Pettit demonstrating the art of microgravity used in the Angry Birds gameplay while inside the International Space Station.

This time around, Angry Birds joins the massive number of games that features the Star Wars merchandise from Lucas Films. We bet that geek iPhone lovers out there have dreamt of the day they will sell iPhone to get a Lego Death Star set, a Star Wars Battlefront series game and a Wii version of The Clone Wars game. Well, you probably won’t be able to do that now because tech geeks are saying this game may be the next game to die for. Not only will the game be set on Star Wars locations like Tatooine and the Death Star, it will also feature the cute wingless bird characters we love, dressed up in Star Wars costumes.

Also, the 21-second trailer that Rovio has released will make Star Wars geek jump up and down in excitement. We will be seeing a black Jedi bird, a pink and cuddly Padme Amidala, a red Anakin Skywalker bird with a lightsaber, an R2-D2 shaped like a golden bird (or egg?) and pigs with a Darth Vader headpiece! If that’s not enough to make you sell used iPhone to get an iPhone 5, something is definitely wrong with you! LOL!

The iPhone 5’s Real Price Tag

Now that you managed to sell used iPhone 4, it’s finally the right time to chase after the iPhone 5 hype. Yeah, you may have been frightened by the complaints and bad raps about the said iPhone but you’re still willing to buy it, right? Why? Because it’s an iPhone. So far, the iPhone has managed to lift Apple to such great heights that it has grown to be such an influential and valuable brand. But more than just the branding, it’s the investment you’re probably into. The fact that you decided to sell your iPhone for a new one shows that you know just how much an iPhone is worth.

After a year or two of wise usage, the iPhone’s worth is always something to look into not because it’s a really good product but because it’s the kind of product that knows how to give back. But is it really just the branding that makes Apple’s smartphone such a valuable possession? We don’t think so. Actually, owning an iPhone, especially an iPhone 5, will be worth a lot of money.

The iPhone 5 Off the Hook

Here’s the catch. Apple always advertises its new smartphones for $199, $299 and $399 depending on the capacity. What most people don’t realize (especially the non-techie people) is that these prices are limited to two year contracts provided by their partner mobile carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. So at a glance, the 16 GB iPhone 5 can be yours for only almost $20, but in reality, it entails monthly fees and whatnots.

If, for instance, you decide to sell your iPhone to get funds for an iPhone 5, you probably have to hold your horses right there and just rethink the purchase that you’re about to make. Without a two year contract, you will have to spend $649 up front to buy a 16 GB iPhone 5. A 32 GB is $749 while a 64 GB iPhone 5 would cost you $849. That’s a lot of money, but that’s what it takes to own an iPhone without the strings attached.

The iPhone 5 and Company

Should you choose to buy an iPhone 5 under a contract, you would have to submit yourself to spending a little bit more than what you possibly intended. Apart from the $199 fee, you also have to pay a monthly fee. For AT&T their 16 GB iPhone 5 comes with a $59.99 monthly fee for calls and data services. If you’re going to calculate the amount of money you need to pay to AT&T for the iPhone 5 plus the 450 minutes of monthly calls and 300 MB of data services, it’ll all amount to $1,439.76.

For Verizon, it’s a lot more practical but also more expensive. For a 16 GB iPhone 5 the company offers an $80 monthly fee which includes unlimited calls and texts plus 300 MB of free data usage. In a span of two years, you’re going to have to spend $1,920.

Yup, that’s quite a lot of money for a smartphone and that’s exactly what makes the iPhone special.

A $150 iPhone 5?!

So, the world has finally seen the iPhone 5 thanks to worldwide media popularity. While the world is busy ranting, complaining and singing praises for “the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone” some of us in the country side were busily thinking about when we can possibly get one of those in the middle of a money crises. But that’s alright; if you haven’t yet started planning how to sell your iPhone for an iPhone 5, then you may want to hold your horses for quite a bit!

For those who are in the Green Bay area in Wisconsin, rejoice because apparently, local carrier CellCom is offering a spanking new 16 GB Apple iPhone 5 and a two-year contract for only $150. Not everyone knows about Cellcom, of course, it’s just one of the many rural mobile carriers that Apple partnered with to bring the iPhone to Apple fanatics all over the United States. Despite its obscurity, Cellcom has actually been existing since the year 1910, when there were no other means of communication other than letters, telegrams and mental telepathy (kidding, LOL).

So far, that’s the lowest iPhone 5 price we’ve seen in the market! The only problem is that this iPhone 5 may not have a strong 4G signal since the company has just recently rolled out their 4G technology services. The iPhone 5 is retailed at $149 for 16 GB while the 32 GB and 64 GB are priced at $249 and $349 respectively. Meanwhile, the two-year contract for an iPhone 5 would make you want to sell old iPhone more or less because it starts at $70 every month. It’s not so bad for a rural carrier, though.

Meanwhile Apple has also launched their newest iPhone offering to other rural mobile carriers including Cricket, C Spire, Bluegrass Cellular, GCI, Nex-Tech Wireless, Golden State Cellular, Appalachian Wireless, MTA Solutions, nTelos and Pioneer Wireless. Cricket Wireless and C Spire Wireless are releasing their subsidized iPhone 5 units today (September 28). There were also reports that C Spire is also selling iPhone 5 at $150.

Also on September 28, Apple is selling iPhone 5 to 22 other countries around the globe. The tech giant finally released the iPhone to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. If you’re in any of these countries, be prepared because the Apple whirlwind of a smartphone is coming your way! (And we seriously hope that they have finally fixed the Apple Maps for this batch of iPhone 5s because it’ll be an international embarrassment for them if they release it anywhere around the globe with missing maps of places like these.)

On the other hand, if you’re finding yourself still cash-strapped despite the $50 cut from the regular pricing, don’t lose hope. You can always get some fast cash by simply letting go of your old iPhone! Sell your iPhone to Cash for iPhones and get fast cash for your $150 iPhone 5 purchase!