Google maps. I live in Japan and I don't read Japanese so it's extremelly helpful. Even when I was living in London 2 years ago, I was quite upset during the two months Google maps was not on iOS.
What are these applications doing?
Do you want to turn these applications completely into Single Page Applications or you just want to have some clean JavaScript instead of the old school jQuery?
I don't know if it counts as "advice/tips" but I follow many blogs and a few periodic lists of news and articles like this one for .NET http://blog.cwa.me.uk/
and this one for JavaScript http://javascriptweekly.com/
http://www.trackersound.com/
I'm working on a website where people can track the artists and bands they like in order to be notified when a new album/EP is released. It's like Songkick or BandsInTown but for albums instead of concerts.
It's still work in progress and I'm also looking for a new website name.
It might be a bit cliché but I read On the road by Jack Kerouac and it motivated me to do a big road trip alone across USA/Canada/Mexico. I met many awesome peoples, became more confident, more adventurous, more open to people and new experiences.
So the trip changed my life but the book led me to it.
This other book motivated me as well : Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline