This past Wednesday Apple had another special event. They unveiled the new iPod lineup, Apple TV, and iTunes 10. Inspired by the new updates I spent some time in the store and ended up downloading some new apps.

With all these newly acquired apps, I had to figure out how I was going to organize them on my phone and as I began designating apps to folders I started to think about how I defined their specific uses. I began to see themes to the app madness, and it seems like I break them down into the following:

Free: These are the apps that seem interesting at first glance and trigger the ”Why not download? It costs me nothing” reaction. You use it for maybe a day then never open it again. Example: Crazy Lighter, the whole purpose of the app is to make your iPhone appear to be a lighter. It can be useful to pretend your rocking out to some classic rock at a concert but ultimately provides only a cheesy, sorta-funny moment.

Social Life: For all the millions of social networking apps out there that you check multiple times a day. It’s how you stay conceted to your friends. The phone is no longer to call Bob to see how his day went but more to just check his Facebook status or twitter feed. Examples: Facebook, Twitter, AIM – we know the drill here.

iLife Apps: These are the apps that, in common with the iLife suite, run your picture taking, music listening, and video recording life. All very useful, but nothing life or death. The biggest problem with this category is figuring out which is the best Photo app out of the million available – especially when forced with that big decision of should I actually pay for the app or just download the simpler, free version. Examples: Hipstamatic, Pandora, Remote, ShakeitPhoto

Last Screen of Apps I just can’t delete: This is the shoebox in the back storage closet of apps that you still think can one day be useful and dont have the heart to delete. You can always justify why you might need that unit converter someday or the CPK app to order your food on the go but really never use it.

Actually useful Apps: These can really depend on the user, but I personally can’t live without Highrise, Shazam, Mint.com, Pandora, Google, and PayPal.

Is your phone dominated with impulse buy apps or only the select few you really cherish? Any favorites the world should know about? Do you organize by folders, screens, or is it a free for all?

How do you Define your apps?

P.S. Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for some great apps R29 has in development.

“Bad Typography is Everywhere, Good Typography is invisible.” —Craig Ward

As designers, we live this quote daily. Whether it’s a horribly kerned sign on the train, or a flyer in the local paper completely set in Impact. It makes us cringe, wince, and gasp. All of us “type snobs” have been there:

“Why on earth would you think typesetting your resumé in Brush Script would make it seem more personal?”

“Really, real estate agent? You thought Chalkboard would make your boring paperwork more fun for me to read?!”

We all have our own personal tragedies, but sometimes there comes one so horrible that the masses turn their heads. It’s not that these typefaces are terrible; it’s more that their applications were so out of place that it made us take notice. So take a walk down memory lane with us and read about our favorite typographic controversies of the last few years after the jump.

#5 – Apple forces iPhone owners to write with digital Sharpies, a la Marker Felt.

When I got my iPhone back in late 2008 I couldn’t have been more excited. Apple is the epitome of sleek, sophisticated technology and design, but as I soon learned, even the masters make mistakes. I went to type a grocery list and opened up the Notes app. Yes, it looked like a classic ledger (cute). Then I began typing and saw that Marker Felt was taking over the screen. Not only are the font proportions incredibly tall, its characters’ odd shapes make it difficult to read. Users complained so much that people eventually hacked the program to utilize Helvetica… we don’t necessarily condone it, but sometimes desperate times call for crafty measures.

#4 – The New York Times cuts back on diversity.

In the early 2000’s one of the world’s most notable newspapers cut back its typographic palette and switched over to Cheltenham. The change was made to enhance overall legibility and create a greater sense of hierarchy, but readers complained about the cut back. One letter to the editor was published days later claiming the change was “the typeface equivalent to New Coke.” Harsh? Yeah, probably a little — we’re guessing the author was a Bookman fan — but it just proves how even the slightest modification can cause an uproar. In hindsight, the decision to cut back from six headline fonts to one was probably best. After all, using more than three typefaces in a single piece is usually a design faux-paus.

#3 – Dan Gilbert’s “comical” letter to Cleveland Cavaliers fans.

More shocking than LeBron’s move to Miami was this laughable address to the people of Cleveland using Comic Sans (pun could not have been more intended). It’s unknown why in early July 2010 the saddened, and noticeably bitter, Gilbert made this particular typographic decision — maybe he was trying to have a sense of humor about the situation? Alas, as the manager of a professional basketball team Gilbert is far from a designer, but that didn’t stop us from criticizing his choice to use one of, if not the most publicly hated font in history.

#2 – IKEA ditches Futura for Verdana (aka Verdanagate).

This modern and affordable Swedish furniture giant has been targeted for years — most often put down for its DIY approach to assembly — but more recently (June 2009) for taking a common Internet typeface and putting it on EVERYTHING.

Verdana, designed for Microsoft by Matthew Carter, was created originally to be have a high onscreen legibility. In order to maximize their brand consistency, IKEA decided to replace their Futura-based typeface, IKEA Sans, for the web font. Usually, unification across a single brand is crucial, but not to this extreme. Across the globe people were outraged that the beautiful Futura characters were replaced with generic ones in signage, advertising, and the always anticipated and cherished catalogs. For a company that is so design-focused, this decision caused a massive uproar in the creative community.

#1 – Papyrus causes a subtitle uproar.

The designer who tried to find cultural similarities between giant blue creatures and the Ancient Egyptians could potentially be blamed for Avatar’s Best Picture loss. Just kidding, but despite its lack of cultural ties, the fact that Papyrus has legibility issues makes it a horrible choice for subtitles. I actually know people that have refused to see this movie based on this design choice, so to say this was a typographic controversy seems more than appropriate. It’s also quite impressive that a font was almost able to overshadow an entire technological feat of a film (no comment on story, here — that’s another blog post).

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We only included five, but there are countless other typographical blunders throughout history. What typeface crime gives you bad dreams at night, or makes you so angry that you had to remove the font from your library? Share in the comments.

I awoke a couple of days ago to the morning news anchor spouting off the day’s top stories. Usually the morning news is full of fluff that goes in one ear and out the other, but the last report I heard before leaving my house caught my attention.

The Internet is running out of addresses. [Gasp!]

Yes, it was always inevitable, I suppose, but in the story the anchor declared a time limit—one year. By the end of 2011 there will be no Internet addresses left. I laughed at first, but during my commute I couldn’t stop thinking about this foresight. Could it really be possible? Do we really only have a year before we all start scrambling for any address we can get our hands on? There have even been reports that an IP address black market will arise.

It turns out that with all the mobile devices and the growing number of Internet users in general is the primary cause for our imminent IPv4 (Internet Protocol version four) failure. First introduced in the 1980, IPv4 is what today’s Internet was built upon with its 32-bit addresses allow for approximately 4 billion IP addresses. Unfortunately, experts say we will use all these up by next September. So what’s the world to do? In the meantime, check out this countdown on Twitter to either induce an emotional collapse or perhaps just a laugh.

Good news is there is a solution: IPv6 (gold star to anyone who can explain the leap over IPv5). Without this 128-bit address protocol (that’s 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses) Internet growth is slated to go downhill. The problem, like with most other global issues, is all about the benjamins—millions of devices need to be updated to be compatible with IPv6. Without the upgrade businesses could lose out on traffic from users connecting to the web on new IPv6 addresses.

So, will this make people go pre-Y2K crazy, or will it be more like the actual Y2K? Will we break the Internet? No, but either way I’m sure hilarious T-shirts and hysteric Facebook statuses are just around the corner.

Do you need to take an umbrella today? Sometimes here at Rule29 all we care about in the weather report is if we need to take an umbrella with us in the morning. Luckily this site was made just for folks like us (iPhone app available too). Just type in your zip code, and Umbrella Today? will tell you if you will require one. You can even sign up get text message alerts for you on the days that you do need an umbrella!

So, do you need an umbrella today? Are rainy days even that bad? Do you like to sing or dance in the rain? Let us know in the comment section.

#54 Keep image/video gadgets handy for inspiring shots, recording a thought or just to have an excuse to be creative. Love this: http://tr.im/j52k

I love working with images, whether it’s shooting stills or recording video. If you’re like me, the biggest issue we’re faced with is finding the time to shoot like we used to. It wasn’t until I bought my iPhone and got a FLIP camera that I started shooting more, or at least I’m trying to. Carrying these items around has become quite fun!  I might see something in a store that I just love, a cool ad, or a funny scene – anything that jumps out at me as I go through my day – and now I take a quick snapshot or record my thoughts about what I’m seeing. Then, I can go and look back at that moment and capture the inspiration that originally hit me. Since I’m often running at a hectic pace, the inspiration would have been lost had I not captured it at that moment. Plus, it’s just plain fun having something handy to record with. I’ve tinkered with starting some type of video blog or an iPhone gallery…and I just might. Until then, I’ll start by keeping my inspirations on these handy little items.

What do you use?  Any samples?  Come on, don’t be shy…I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

It’s in our nature to anticipate the future – we always want to make things better than they already are. Even the smallest ideas, from a single person, can eventually grow into something massive and perhaps even change the world. Just think, because of our desire for progress computers are faster, communication is easier, and we have hundreds of different fonts to choose from!

This simple concept is the foundation of a website community known as The Better Project. We at Rule29 love our social networks, but we love it even more when those networks can change the world through collaboration.

This recent online community does exactly what you may think– it prompts users to make whatever they want better. TBP allows people to share their thoughts on anything they want to improve, creating an arena where they can work together towards common goals. There are currently forums for discussing how to improve Facebook, New York City, and even democracy.

What is something you would like to improve? Dislike the way your iPhone gets so smudgy after only a couple minutes or use, or how the Chicago Cubs always fall short of the Wold Series? Join in the discussion, and share your thoughts on how to make something better.