Convert (Unit Converter by PBF) – One thing I’ve learned over the years is that there are several categories of possessions. The two that come to mind today are the possessions of others that I would love to own and those that I own but seldom use — but when I do use them nothing else will do.

Convert (Unit Converter by PBF) is an iPhone app by Polar Bear Farm Ltd that helps to condense the latter. I don’t know how many times throughout a year that I’ll need to know how to convert miles to nautical miles or need to know that 45 radians is the equivalent of 2,578.31 degrees but with Convert handy I know I will be able to solve such dilemmas.

Convert is a unit converter that allows you a selection of a wide range of categories and units from which to chose. Your choices include Angle, Area, Currency, Length, Mass, Power, Pressure, Speed, Temperature, Time and Volume.

Within each category of Convert are sub-categories. For example within Angle you can convert degrees, radians, gradian and revolutions.  Chose Temperature and work between Fahrenheit, Celsius and Kelvin. Tap into currency and your choices are endless.

When I first saw Convert I knew it would convert currency using up-to-date exchange rates. I thought, that’s nice but how often do I really need to know the exchange rate, once a year or so?

Shortly after I got Convert I heard a discussion on the radio concerning 35 nautical miles. I was quickly able to determine that 35 nautical miles was equal to 40.277 land miles.

Convert is nothing fancy but extremely functional. It’s basic gray and blue screen colors are a perfect combination. The look and feel is such that I can almost hear my old professor working his way through algorithms on the board. The only problem I could find with this app was the inability to enter a minus when converting. Which could be useful when converting temperatures. (Note:it will show a minus within results after calculating.)

There are probably thousands of situations when Convert would be great to have available. One of the things that it could be very useful for is converting things like tablespoons into teaspoons while cooking.

I own many items that I must have but seldom use. Tape measures, power drills, hand saws, and levels are the types of things I’ll use only couple of times a year. The security of knowing they are available is often more important than actually needing to frequently use them.

The Convert iPhone app falls into my category of possessions I love to own but will probably use just a few times a year. If I were still in school I’d probably use it considerably more. For the time being I’ll be happy knowing that when I have a need to convert something,  I’ll have Convert available to me. Maybe someday in the future I’ll have a boat like my neighbor and really want to do some work in the nautical miles category.

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category: Business, Currency & Units, Misc Business, Utilities