If you travel… ever… you need TripIt. TripIt is amazing. It’s a free app for your iPhone that keeps all of the information for your upcoming travel itineraries organized and easily accessible from your iPhone. The description says it all:

Use your iPhone to access your TripIt itineraries whether you’re online, offline or in airplane mode.

TripIt is the best way to organize and share your travel plans. Forward your travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com, and TripIt automatically creates a master itinerary for your trip, with detailed information about flights, hotels, rental cars and much more. It also includes maps, driving directions and local weather.

I use TripIt all the time. And it’s so easy. Here’s an example of how sweet it is. I booked a flight in June for a 10 day trip and forwarded the itinerary to plans@tripit.com. Immediately the trip showed up on my phone and on the website. Great, right? Well, I actually didn’t book our rental car at the time. We weren’t sure of the details on that yet so we decided to wait. Well, a couple weeks later, we reserved the rental car. I again forwarded the itinerary to the email address. This time I was worried. I thought that I’d have to do some fancy finagling to join the two trips together so I wouldn’t be going back and forth between one trip and the other to keep track of my stuff. To my surprise however, TripIt automatically noticed the car rental was for the same dates and same airport codes as my previous trip and then joined them together. Sweet!

So now, every time I travel, I have my flights, car rental, and hotel information in one place. I also get driving directions and flight status with just a tap on the phone. Pretty much everything you need to get from point A to point B is right there in your hands without digging through emails and printing out a bunch of stuff.

Go ahead and download the free TripIt app and sign up for an account online. You’ll be glad you did when you take your next trip.

It’s time to break through the clutter and get down to business. This weekly post is going to list not the top 10, or the top 5, but the top 3 of anything gadget related. Why the top 3? Because anything more would be watered down.

So without further ado, here are the top 3 Apps released for the iPhone this week.

3. DIRECTV

With the free DIRECTV app you can connect to your home DVR and set it to record something now or in the future. With just a few taps you can search the program guide for movies and shows that are coming up then set any DVR in your home to record it. You can also set it to record Pay Per View content so you can watch it when you get home. Very cool stuff.

2. MLB.com At Bat 2009

MLB.com At Bat Lite is great. With it you can get pitch by pitch coverage of live games and keep up on box scores. You can get play-by-play and video highlights shortly after a play is complete. Upgrade to MLB.com At Bat 2009 and you will get all that plus live Gameday Audio broadcasts for every regular season and postseason game. You can even choose between listening to the home team’s broadcast or the away team’s broadcast. $9.99 is a small price to pay for a season’s worth of MLB audio at your fingertips.

1. Skype

Skype has finally landed on the iPhone. This app gives you the ability to call any of your Skype contacts for free. Anytime you’re connected via WiFi you have the ability to bring up Skype, search and call your contacts, and most importantly, save your precious minutes. If you’re not connected to WiFi, you can still bring up your contact list and instant message anyone else who is online. So make sure you download the free Skype app for your iPhone; because there is nothing better than calling your friends and family for free.

Have you ever purchased an app then found out the next day it went on sale? Or worse yet, the next day it’s free? It happens all the time. Apps constantly go on sale for half off or free. As a user of the App Store, it is frustrating when you just decided to make the purchase only to find out you could have waited a few hours or days to get it heavily discounted.

Well in comes a new free app called BargainBin. According to the apptism, BargainBin’s main features are:

•Sale prices updated as they happen
•Price tags that indicate when apps are: Free or Bargains (50% off or greater)
•Filters that allow you to see Free Apps only, Bargain Apps only, or All apps on sale
•Browsing by a specific category or all Bargains
•Browse only popular apps that have gone on sale
•Viewing screenshots of the application quickly, without having to go to the app store
•Viewing application descriptions quickly, without having to go to the app store

Now that’s what I’m talking about. I have had this app installed for about a week and I love it. I check it everyday. Why not? With just the tap of my finger, I can quickly find everything that is on sale or reduced to free. What a concept!

So head on over to the App Store and make sure you install BargainBin. Cause only fools pay full price for apps.

It’s time to break through the clutter and get down to business. This weekly post is going to list not the top 10, or the top 5, but the top 3 of anything gadget related. Why the top 3? Because anything more would be watered down.

So without further ado, here are the top 3 free music apps for the iPhone.

3. American Public Media’s – Public Radio Tuner
You don’t have to be a nerd to enjoy public radio. I do. And this app provides access to hundreds of public radio stations which will keep you up-to-date with the most honest and unbiased take on news available. So whether you prefer to listen to “This American Life,” “Marketplace,” or “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” this app will hook you up with free streaming NPR anywhere you go.

2. Shazam Entertainment Ltd.’s – Shazam
Who hasn’t ever been listening to the radio wondering what the name and artist of the song is you’re listening to. Well, use Shazam and you’ll never wonder again. That’s right, with Shazam you only have to open up the app, click “Tag Now” and in about 10 seconds you’ll have the artist name, song name, album name and more. You’ll also have links to download the song from iTunes, watch the video on YouTube or read reviews. Now that is sweet.

1. Pandora Media Inc.’s – Pandora Radio
Traditional music stations should be scared because with Pandora Radio you can get personalized radio stations for free that stream directly to your iPhone. No commercials. No bad music. Just create a station based on an artist or song that you like and Pandora instantly starts streaming music that matches your taste. Best of all… no commercials! Sounds crazy, I know. Pandora Radio even learns. Don’t like a song being played? Give it a thumbs down and never hear it again. Plus, I’ve never had an issue with songs skipping or slow playback, even while streaming over Edge. For all these reasons, Pandora Radio is the best free music app on the iPhone and also the reason I will be cancelling my XM account.