Another new feature on BxB: Apps We Use (and Love!). Every few weeks somebody from team BitMethod will be offering up a feature on apps that we’re using in the real world and really appreciate. Igor is up first with an iPhone app review, though we’ll also be featuring web and maybe even desktop applications as well.

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This one is for all the road warriors out there. After trying to figure out the best possible mileage tracking system (for a while, nothing beat a notebook and a pencil in the car), two years ago I stumbled upon a better solution: Trip Cubby. Trip Cubby allows you to keep track of the miles that you drive in your car that you can deduct from your taxes or get reimbursed for.

Trip Cubby makes it easy to collect all of the needed data and get the data out of the software into an easily digestible file format you can pass on to your accountant at the end of the year or the HR department when it’s time to get expenses reimbursed.

Say I have a sales appointment across town and have to drive there in my Yugo 65e (in almost perfect condition with only 234,508 miles [$500 to a good home])…Trip Cubby only needs three pieces of information.

1. The purpose of the trip. I usually enter a short description about who I’m meeting and what for.
2. The destination, which is usually the name of the company or restaurant where the meeting is being held.
3. The odometer readings at the start and end of my trip. This is made easier by the fact that the app remembers the odometer-end entry from the previous trip that you’ve recorded.

Done! It automatically dates the entry and adds it to the list of previous entries. It will let you export this list as a nice little spreadsheet — just imagine all the possibilities with that data.

This is just scratching the surface. You can setup frequent trips you take to make entering the information even faster. Say you have a client that you drive to from your office four times a week and don’t want to have to renter every time. Setup a frequent trip and select it when you are creating a new entry, adjust the mileage if it’s off, and you are done.

The app will also let you tag individual entries, which makes it easy to export mileage based on a particular tag. Say you want to differentiate between a sales and a support trip, or you are working for two divisions in a company and they require you to submit mileage based on the division that you did the work for. Tag the entry with the appropriate tag, and voila! — you have two sets of entries that you can use to generate the report from.

I could easily write another five paragraphs about everything the app will let you do to track this information, but instead I’ll just throw this data out there: last year I put 3,582.39 miles on that Yugo. The current rate the IRS will let you deduct from your taxes is $0.50/mile for business travel. The app paid for itself after the first 10 miles. Go ahead and get it (iTunes Link) for yourself.

Announcing the Better Business Beatdown (#bbbdsm) – an open-source series of idiotic challenges between Des Moines area businesses. We’re creating the template and issuing the first challenge in hopes that other businesses will join in. Feel free to snag the layout below and issue your own challenges – including back to us!

We thought this up on Friday afternoon (there may have been beer involved) and we’re launching it today. BitMethod has received a lot virtual awards from Silicon Valley blogs like ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch, but we’re really craving some solid, atom-filled hardware to stick on our shelves. How better to acquire said hardware than buy trophies, design contests we know we can win, and win them?

In brainstorming competitors, one name quickly rose to the top: RAYGUN. With their bold proclamation of “Greatest Store in the Universe”, we felt that they would be unwilling – nay, unable – to walk away from a challenge.

Following is our challenge to Raygun in the Better Business Beatdown.

Better Business Beatdown Challenge (#bbbdsm)

CHALLENGER: BitMethod, a mobile and web application development company

CHALLENGING: Raygun, an East Village t-shirt shop and self-proclaimed “Greatest Store in the Universe”

CONTEST: Mario Kart Wii, 4-player Team Race.

RULES: 150CC Class, 12 Races, Normal * CPU, Balanced Items, Random Courses

VICTORY CONDITIONS: Winner will be determined automatically by points within the game.

TIME AND PLACE: Wednesday, August 4th, 8:00pm at Impromptu Studio 300 SW 5th Street

AWARD: Hand-cobbled-together Des Moines Mario Kart Trophy

DESCRIPTION: Our two best Mario Kart Wii players will challenge your two best Mario Kart Wii players in a game we know (well, think) we can win to score some sweet hardware. 12 races of shell slinging, lightning blasting, Kart slamming racing action.

CONSIDERATIONS: Our Wii is open to your competitors for practice anytime during Impromptu Studio’s business hours

ACCEPTANCE: If accepted, drop us a note with your best posturing and smacktalk on the RAYGUN blog. Intimidate us…if you can. If the date/time/conditions are unacceptable, you may initiate negotioations by emailing dan@bitmethod.com.

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To some bosses, conflict is a dirty word – something to be avoided at all costs. I’ve developed a different view of conflict and its purpose, and it’s all thanks to the first boss I ever had.

When I was a young lad I worked as a stock boy at the local grocery store. Tom was the store manager. Over time, he grew to depend on me to get a vast array of things done in a timely manner. I loved the responsibility and really enjoyed having Tom as a boss. Having taken on so much responsibility, I decided one day that a raise was in order. I marched into Tom’s office and asked for one. Things got heated during our discussion and he eventually gave me a very firm no. As I went to leave, Tom could tell that I was angry and upset with him. He proceeded to tell me something I still remember to this day. He said…

“Dan, I liked you yesterday, last week, and last month. And though we may not like each other very much right now, I’m still going to like you tomorrow and I hope that you’ll do the same.”

Tom understood the importance of allowing conflict (the event) to happen in order to prevent conflict (the state-of-being) from living on. We talked, we argued, and it was done. No passive aggressiveness, no “I’ll look into it”. A healthy discussion with a healthy attitude. It increased my respect for Tom and made me feel even more comfortable working with him after that.

I take this view of conflict into a lot of things we do here at BitMethod – design reviews are a great example. We put everything on the table and let the best opinions rise to the top. When it comes time for a client to see the work, team BitMethod is on the same page. I didn’t get the raise, and I still thought I deserved it, but Tom’s handling of the situation kept me from being in constant conflict with him.

Welcome to a new feature here on Brick by Brick. Every few weeks we will highlight a few of our favorite faves, you know, random things that make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

1. 80/35

The third annual 80/35 festival took place over the Fourth of July weekend here in Des Moines and Uncle Sam would be proud. Great music and mostly great weather. One of our favorites was local William Elliott Whitmore, who hails from Lee County, Iowa.

We also enjoyed:
The Cool Kids – Download their entire album here
Modest Mouse – Watch their video ‘Float On’
Earl Greyhound – Watch their video ‘S.O.S.’
Sara Watkins – Watch her perform ‘Long Hot Summer Days’ Live

2. iOS4

None of us have the iPhone 4 yet, but we are definitely enjoying the upgrade to iOS4. The folders, the multitasking, the spell checker and the replace word thingie. It’s the little things that make us happy.

3. The World Cup

We love us some football. The U.S. didn’t make it as far as we would have liked, but now we have an office vuvezela, and plenty of earplugs.

4. Fake Twitter Accounts

Why bore yourself with tweets from REAL people when you can enjoy updates from amazing imposters such as @bpglobalpr and @sarrahpalinU5A.

5. Zach Anner

So Oprah is creating her own network and is searching for THE next TV star. She held an online contest, people uploaded their audition videos, and the internet voted.

The “unofficial” winner is Zach Anner, a 25-year-old from Austin, TX, who was born with cerebral palsy. Even though he received 9.1 million votes, his win is “unofficial” until he makes it through another round of auditions in Hollywood and is offered a show. Regardless of the outcome, Zach’s audition is hilarious and so are the other videos on his YouTube page. If Oprah doesn’t hire him, someone else definitely should.

So those were a few of the things we are into right now, what are some of your current faves?