Inspired by German entrepreneur Kolja Hebenstreit's Blog post on iPhone apps I too wanted to share some of the Apps and iPhone optimized websites I use on a daily basis and find very useful. His list comprises some very fine apps that I run on a daily basis, too. Apps Of course all the communication apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, and especially Skype fulfill their purpose. They don't have any special features in my opinion but pose a quickly accessible alternative to the website. Most certainly none of them are a good "complete replacement". If you work on a Mac I can only recommend using Things for both, the Mac and the iPhone. Syncing is done quickly and I never experienced any problems there. As long as you are in the same Wi-Fi you don't even have to connect the device. The UI is clean and very intuitive. Managing tasks, projects, or tracking tasks that were assigned to others was never easier. When traveling by plane with Lufthansa there is nothing better that checking in via the Lufthansa Launcher. If you have a registered mileage account it will also let you check that. Most of the application involves iPhone optimized websites that are launched after pressing the respective button in the app. Check-in with seat selection and mobile boarding pass are some of the features that take the time-consuming hassles of air travel. For reading RSS feeds I use NetNewsWire (Pro). The app connects to your Google Reader profile and downloads all the feeds that are listed there. It is very convenient for checking stuff quickly but also for reading entire articles. I can also recommend the Pro version since the additional 3.99 Euros will take out all ads and stability is no problem. German Newspaper Handelsblatt has launched their new app and there I one distinctive feature that I just love about it. You can download all articles with the push of a button. This is great for reading the articles on the plane or other places where you don't have a 3G network or Wi-Fi available. iPhone-optimized Websites As a German I praise our public channels ARD and ZDF every day. I am glad that we have them. The mobile version of Tagesschau, probably the most prominent and respected news broadcast, is just great in terms of content and usability. Another great resources is offered by Harvard Business. The content is the same as on HarvardBusiness.org and everything is very nicely readable on the small screen, too. More well researched and commented news are available through SPIEGEL Online. The mother website is by far the most visited news site in German and the mobile version makes most content viewable on the iPhone. "Insiders Tip" If you dont know these Apps just download them and explore their entire beauty: Dropbox (if you have one), MProfs (if you are interested in Marketing), ConAngel (if you go to events that use it), Tube Status (if you go to London frequently), and Airport Staus (Free) (if you travel in the US a lot). What about you? What do you think of the apps that I have listed here? Do you use them, too? What are your pros and cons? Which apps / websites can you recommend that make your life easier? (Photo on top: Courtesy of Apple Inc.)

On the 30th of November 2009 I was one of the lucky ones to attend the first-ever TED-related event in Germany. TEDx Berlin was organized by German communication agency red onion around Stephan Balzer and took place at the Grand Hyatt in Berlin. Stephan Balzer was also the moderator of the event and did a great job guiding through the day. The location was also a great choice as it (apparently) offered all its services for free to the event and the layout of the hotel and its facilities supported the collaborative character of the event. The event was organized meticulously and it was just a great pleasure to be guided through the day. The choice of speakers and their stories was phenomenal as the list was quite diverse, some talks were in a sense complementing, and the whole atmosphere was very stimulating. The balance between talks and opportunities to talk to the speakers and other participants was excellent. Frequent coffee breaks and a very nice lunch gave everyone the opportunity to network. My Favourite Talks Till Behnke - The Web of Trust Till Behnke's presentation about the web or trust was another great example of how web technologies (being very intangible) can solve a very pressing and devastating issue like poverty or lack of access to resources (being very tangible). His website is achieving this through matching supply and demand. Mr. Behnke told the audience about his younger years when he made the transformation from an up and coming rugby player to corporate player to internet entrepreneur. Having visited South Africa and having seen its beauty and foremost its devastating problems he decided to attempt to change something about it. He started off with organizing some volunteers for a housing project but was never quite satisfied since he could not find access to a larger lever that would really move things. When researching opportunities to raise money he was shocked by the amount on in-transparency in most charitable organizations. His project betterplace.org is giving people with lack of resources access to people with resources. They are "merely" matching people with projects to people with money and the desire to invest it in charitable projects. I enjoyed his presentation a lot since the level of energy was very high. Till Behnke was not really talking just about a problem but more a problem that he made his own. The level of pure passion to talk about this topic was very inspiring. Ralf Schmerberg - Who is Independent in the 21st Century? What I liked especially about Mr. Schmerberg's talk was that he showed some vulnerability and shared some very personal thoughts. He talked extensively about his "past" life in which he was part of a corporate machine that he started to hate more and more. Finally, he broke out of it and changed the direction of his life. Instead of using his energy to promote and sell products in large amounts he dedicated more and more of his time to "independent" (film) projects. An interesting approach that his projects take is to not pay anything. According to Mr. Schmerberg this works out perfectly. The idea is simple: They don't pay themselves, external service providers, and they also not sell their movies. He made the comparison of what would have happened if they tried to sell their latest documentary. Had they tried the traditional channels he claimed that they might have sold 50k copies of the film but instead they made it available online and had 4m views in a very short time. Overall, Mr. Schmerberg's message was to really think about how independent you are from people, money, ideologies, and preconceived opinions. Peter Eigen - Grand Corruption & Petty Corruption - Fighting them Through Civil Society Mr. Eigen was the most inspiring speaker of the day for me personally. Having worked for the World Bank Mr. Eigen told stories about facing grand corruption and his deep desire to stop it. In other words he said that corruption is in many developing places the root of all evil and rather culminates problems than to solve them. He named corruption as prime reason for poverty since corruption creates inefficient and economically unjustifiable situations. He founded Transparency International with this dilemma in mind and formed the hypothesis that corruption could only be fought through the formation of a civil society. Mr. Eigen went on to explain this: The backbone of the idea is that corruption is criminalized (in many developed nations this is apparently still not the case) and society itself is the driving force behind an enforcement. In other words corruption becomes socially unacceptable and is not tolerated at all by the citizens. This is especially important in developing nations as this would prevent waste of public money. One of the most remarkable things about Mr. Eigen's talk was that he spoke from decades of experience. His service in the World Bank gave him a great look and perspective from the inside that he generously shared with the audience. Also his level of passion for the topic and clarity with which he presented made is a pure pleasure to listen to him. My Favourite Video One rule a TEDx event has to apply is to show a certain amount of videos of the "real" TED conference in Monterrey. The team of TEDx Berlin presented a great choice of videos: David Logan's "Tribal Leadership", Pattie Maes' "The 6th Sense", and "Hans Rosling's "The Best Stats You've Ever Seen". I knew Hans Rosling's and  Pattie Maes' talk already and they are more than a must-watch. The talk given by David Logan is very inspiring and fascinating since he shows how our society (or better: all societies around the globe) actually work like tribes. His main point is that we all live and work in tribes and that we are part of many tribes. You can find the video here: David Logan on Tribal Leadership (At this moment TEDx Berlin has not yet published any pictures or videos - I will add them when they come online eventually.) So would you go again? It was the very first TEDx in Germany and I will try to attend all the upcoming TEDx events near me. The level of inspiration is overwhelming and I can only recommend it to anyone who is interested beyond whatever it is they are doing. Luckily, the organizers announced that in about 6 months they will try to realize TEDx Hamburg which I will try to be a part of as well. Thank you for the great event!