Get a summary of your day on your iPhone
(MoneyWatch) Based on what I've gleaned from watching a lot of old movies, one of the long-lost advantages executives had in the 1950s was a secretary who told you your morning agenda when you first arrived at the office. And while that might be a thing of the past, your iPhone can easily play the role of a suitable substitute.
Recently, I told you about the iPad app called Morning. It packs all sorts of great info, such as the time, weather, commute time and appointments, on the large tablet screen. A few readers asked if they could get the same thing for the smaller iPhone display. And while Morning isn't available for the iPhone, I found another app that is quite similar -- and, in some ways, better.
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Top of the Morning offers the same sort of one-screen summary of your day. You get five distinct zones -- filled with the time, weather, calendar info, news and stocks. Tap any one of the zones for a full-screen view with more details, and pinch to return to the overview. In a nutshell, that's everything you need to know to use Top of the Morning -- it's refreshingly simple.
Most of Top of the Morning is fully automatic. It knows where you are and grabs the local weather. It has access to your appointments and to-dos from your iPhone's calendar. And the news headlines and stock summary are pre-configured as well. You can customize some of these. You can specify your preferred news source if you like, for example, but the stock function is limited -- you can't add personal tracking stocks.
I love Top of the Morning. For $2, you get a simple app that gets you started in the morning almost as well as if you had an assistant with your itinerary and a cup of coffee.
