Will your phone read you 18th century love poetry as you go to bed at night? With the right choice of iPhone apps, it’s possible. Iphone technology achieves the impossible every day, from streaming your entire CD collection to finding the lowest hotel rates in Brazil, all in the palm of your hand.

The iPhone can in fact do so much that not all of it is worth doing, admittedly. Some iPhone apps are merely an excuse to give some techie guy a job without really accomplishing anything. Others can dramatically improve what you can get done every day. Here are a few iPhone apps worth bragging about.

Yelp – Get lost in the city with no idea where the good bars or restaurants are? Give your best Yelp and find what you need. This iPhone app locates the best bars, restaurants and banks that are closest to wherever you are. If you aren’t sure about the place, read thousands of reviews from other regular Joe users who don’t work for the New York Times. Also available is Urban Spoon which offers locations to local eateries.

NYTimes – Speaking of the New York Times, this iPhone app allows you to stream the voluminous sections of New York City’s biggest newspaper right from your phone. You can find stories by their section or just stream the most popular. Each article comes with full color photos, and the text is surprisingly easy to read on the screen. At this time, there are hardly any other iPhone apps that stream entire media publications, but expect more on the horizon.

Stanza – If you get stuck with some down time without a book, the Stanza lets you read the classics or anything from their large volume of public domain files. Add lengthy Word or PDF files from your computer so you can edit your term paper or look over a report from your cell phone. This is one of those iPhone apps that can appeal to anyone, from college students to federal lawyers. Don’t expect to find Heathcliff Laughs Again in the public domain, however, if your reading tastes are still stuck in the third grade.

Jott – Does the iPhone’s virtual keyboard give you carpel tunnel syndrome of the brain? Jott transfers voice mails into text to file for future reference. You can leave yourself messages for up to 15 seconds. It’s great for text messaging if you don’t like putting in all that text.

Stanley Brasen is obsessed with everything about the iPhone. Follow his blogs detailing the latest in iPhone apps.