PostPoints tip: Put A grocery list on your smartphone

Yesterday, Apple announced that its App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch has now seen 2 billion downloads, an impressive figure for something that only opened last summer. But how many of those apps serve a useful purpose instead of simply providing idle distractions when you're waiting on line at the DMV or the HMO? Do they all require that you have a strong wireless signal? One of my favorite kinds of smartphone application, grocery-list managers, can help solve a common real-life problem and often doesn't require an Internet connection either. Think about it--you probably have your phone on you when you notice something's missing in the fridge or the pantry, you almost certainly have it with you in the store, and a good program can spare you from having to write "milk o.j. cold cuts lettuce" every week. On the iPhone, try Zenbe Lists or Grocery IQ; on BlackBerry phones, YadaHome's Grocery List Manager has drawn favorable reviews; on Palm OS and Windows Mobile phones, check out HandyShopper.