Greg In The Desert

On Point is one of the simplest iPhone GPS apps available, which is why I like it. There’s many times I just want to know which direction to go to a saved location. There are several low ratings for the app but no reviews, so the developer has temporarily made the application free to get more feedback.

On Point is free from the iTunes App store
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On Point allows you to determine the direction and distance to a chosen location simply and easily.

Have you ever forgotten where in a large parking lot you left your car? Have you ever agreed to meet your kids at a particular spot in a theme park and then lost track of where exactly that was? Have you ever been wandering in the woods and lost track of which way led back to the trailhead? Then this application is for you!

The free download allows you to test the capability with a set of demonstration points. Full Capability to add your own locations is available via an in-app purchase.

NOTE: On Point allows you to use both the iPhone 3GS compass and iPhone GPS heading for bearing direction. The 3GS compass allows you to view direction without moving, but is also somewhat inaccurate. While using the compass, a red arc displays the estimated accuracy of the compass readings. If using the iPhone GPS heading, the user must be in motion and holding the TOP of the iPhone in the direction of motion.

Application Features:

* Simple arrow points the direction to the target location without the need to interpret compass points or maps.
* Allows user to save multiple targets easily for future use.
* Uses either the 3GS compass or the GPS heading.
* Uses metric or imperial units.
* Displays margin of error in reported location and estimated directional error.
* Automatically adjusts reporting profile to user movement to conserve battery life.

If you do not have a 3G iPhone, this app is NOT FOR YOU. GPS is required to determine precision location and use on non-3G iPhone will yield large margins of error.

The much anticipated TomTom GPS navigation application for iPhone is finally available from the iTunes store for $99.99. At $99.99 (and 1.21 GB) it better be good. It will be the most expensive application I have bought. I will have a more through review in the future.

For iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS

Turn-by-turn car navigation for iPhone is here.

Everywhere you go, you can have the most advanced TomTom navigation technology to lead the way. The TomTom app puts award-winning technology at your fingertips, like IQ Routes™ which gives you the smartest, most efficient route any time of day.

Tap and go – Using iPhone’s innovative technology, the TomTom app lets you tap your way from A to B – putting you in touch with all the best routes. Scroll through the menu, or pinch to zoom in and out on a map using the iPhone’s multi-touch display.

Go your own way – Why follow the rest? See your route, your way. Simply rotate from portrait to landscape to get an easier view of the road ahead.

Meet up with friends – Find an entry in your iPhone contacts list, and the TomTom app will find the way there. It’s that simple.

Find a place to eat – Thinking of stopping for lunch on the way? Choose a restaurant, call to reserve your table, then find your way there – the TomTom app does it all.

The smartest routes – Is the shortest route really the fastest? TomTom IQ Route will always calculate the smartest, most efficient route – saving you time, fuel and money. Only IQ Routes™ uses the driving experiences of millions of drivers to work out your route based on actual road speed data.

The world at your fingertips – Always be prepared for what’s around the corner. The TomTom app comes with an up-to-date, detailed map – and you can add worldwide locations to suit you.

You can also make the most of your navigation experience with the TomTom car kit for iPhone. Check it out on iphone.tomtom.com

Map coverage statistics:

Detailed map seamlessly covers the US and Canada with IQ Routes™ data for faster routing.

Countries fully covered (99.9%): the US (all states including Hawaii and Alaska) and Canada (all provinces) and Puerto Rico.

• Percentages are the Way You Think | Bad Money Advice – Imagine that you have decided to buy the latest, totally cool and sexy, iPod. It retails for $200. You are about to pick it up at a shop near your home when you hear that all the way across town a store is running a one-day special promotion, selling this iPod for only $100. It is a 90 minute round-trip drive, but you gleefully head off to score your bargain iPod. Unfortunately, after a while you realize that the iPod is not attracting nearly the number of members of the opposite sex that you expected. So you hatch Plan B, an even more totally cool and sexy convertible. The dealership near your house will let you drive it off the lot for $50,000. But then you find out that another dealership, coincidentally next to the place where you got the bargain on the iPod, will sell it to you for only $49,900. Do you make the same trek across town to save $100 on the car? Most people would not, even though they would to save the same $100 on the iPod. Because people are idiots.
• "Dr. Brown" – USCIS conducted a special naturalization ceremony last week for a man we’re referring to as Dr. Brown. Why was the ceremony so special, and why aren’t we using his real name? Well, Dr. Brown is the first nonimmigrant to become a citizen of the United States under the pilot Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. MAVNI allows nonimmigrants to enlist in the Army and apply for citizenship even though they do not hold permanent resident status. So, Dr. Brown was the first, and his story is pretty incredible.
• Heavy metal cure for constipation – Around the World – Austrian Times – Dr Cristina Bontescu, spokeswoman for the local hospital where he turned up at the emergency unit, said: "He was a bit drunk and said he had been eating cherries that had left him badly constipated. He said he had a few drinks to dull the pain and then came up with the idea of poking a hammerhead up his backside in the hope of sorting out the constipation. "But the hammerhead got stuck and then he came up with the idea of using a second hammerhead in order to try and get out the first – but then he lost the second one as well."
• WikiLeaks victorious over corruption report gag order – Wikileaks – According to statements made to the London Times earlier this month, the UK intends to suspend the Islands' constitution and take direct rule–with the support of British Navy–something that has the press of other British colonies in the Caribbean and Atlantic, such as Bermuda, aghast.
• Male cats are lefties – Like their human owners, cats also use a preferred hand to complete complex task. But unlike humans, who are mostly right-handed, felines are split right down the middle, with females preferring the right paw and males favoring the left.
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• ABQJOURNAL NEWS/METRO: The High Price of Driving and Talking – In addition to a fine of at least $100, people cited for using the phone while driving get hit with the same fees and court costs as with every other traffic citation that involves the court — about $85. Last week, Albuquerque police wrote more than 300 cell phone citations during an eight-hour crackdown and have written thousands since the ordinance took effect.
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• Review: Navigon MobileNavigator North America | iLounge – The good news: in tech industry parlance, MobileNavigator “doesn’t suck” as turn-by-turn driving direction software, at least when it’s used under the right conditions. First, you need to have your iPhone 3G or 3GS mounted or held continuously near a window in your car, or be lucky enough to have a vehicle with a roof that doesn’t impede the device’s access to GPS satellites. Second, you’ll probably want to connect the device up to a car charger of some sort, because running the app and the GPS will eat up your iPhone 3G or 3GS battery. And third, you’ll want to make sure you can locate the physical address of the place you’re planning to visit, just in case. More on that in a moment.
• FBI captures Top 10 fugitive in Wyoming – The Denver Post – One of the FBI's "Top 10" fugitives was captured in the southern portion of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming today, after nearly 15 years on the run, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Denver. Edward Eugene Harper, also known as Ed Harmon, was wanted in the alleged sexual assaults of two girls, ages 3 and 8, in Hernando, Miss., in 1994.

Monday was the big day when Apple had the their annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) and made some hardware and software announcements. Though there were a number of new and expected things I was most interested in the new iPhone.

The new iPhone 3GS doesn’t look different from the old iPhone 3G except there’s an “S” added to it’s name to denote speed. This is not really all new phone but an improvement to the current phone model:

• Faster processor
• More memory
• 3 Megapixel camera with autofocus
• Video Recording
• Includes a compass

The two features that prompted me to buy the iPhone 3Gs is the 32GB of memory (over the 16GB in my iPhone 2G) and the addition of the compass.

There has been some controversy for existing owners of the iPhone 3G and their inability to get the subsidized price of $300 off the list price ($499 for 8GB, $599 for 16GB, or $699 for 32GB. I actually blame Apple for this, they should have announced the normal price for the iPhone 3GS then noted that carries may offer subsides prices. AT&T is doing nothing different with the iPhone in terms of free upgrades to phones that they would do with any other phone. I do agree that the new iPhone models are expensive without the subsidies.

I can’t complain about AT&T too much. I get the subsided price for the iPhone 3GS but I did pay $599 for my iPhone 2G so AT&T never subsided me in the first place. AT&T recently placed a new tower near my house so I am no longer in a cell signal black hole. I get a full 5 bars at my house all the time. Clearly they are working on improving their coverage.

The other complaints about AT&T is their inability to provide multi-media messaging service (MMS) and using the iPhone as a modem (tethering) when the new iPhone launches. It’s pretty amazing that AT&T can’t get their act together in time and clearly aren’t ready to handle dealing with the type of users that use the iPhone.

I pre-ordered my phone through Apple’s well done iPhone ordering site. I’m thrilled that Apple promises delivery of the new iPhone on Friday June 19th, the day of launch. I don’t have to stand at in any lines and I’m guaranteed a device.

Hardware aside, the big improvements will be with the software. iPhone OS 3.0 is to be released on the same day the new hardware launches and has more improvements that any new hardware. It works on older iPhones and will be free. The Golden Masters have already leaked onto the internet and the reviews have been good so far.

Wow, I’m really ruining my reputation as a Apple Fan Boy and early adopter. I didn’t buy the first iPhone when it first came out (instead waited for the 16GB version) and I haven’t purchased a iPhone 3G. I had no desire to stand in line for one on launch day. I’m not really a people person and I’m not interested in socializing with strangers.

I did look into it last week. The Albuqueruque Apple Store was out and while I was in Portland for a few days, all three of those stores were out.

I can live with the EDGE network speeds. The killer feature for me is the GPS. Since there are no real GPS realtime navigation software out for the iPhone, yet, I think I will hold out. If I hold out long enough a 32GB version might be available.

The best Friday iPhone 3G launch story comes from very-simple.com

about 30 seconds after I walked out of the store, I decided to take the iphone out of the box because it was buzzing (most likely with ‘welcome’ texts from AT&T), and the phone slipped out of the box and landed face down on the cobblestone sidewalk of central park south and the screen cracked into about a gazillion pieces. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

That’s not the best part. Read the rest of the iPhone story at very-simple.com for the happy ending.

Lets say you lived in the Albuquerque metropolitan area and were considering purchasing a new phone come July 11th, you will be happy to know there is 3G coverage in the city. Through Rio Rancho and Bernallio even. Travel no further than Los Lunas or the east side of the Sanidas else you should have stuck with the first generation.

Steve Jobs pretty much said that a 3G iPhone will come eventually. That shouldn’t be a surprise. TheStreet is the one saying that it will be in the first quarter of 2008. I’m 100% sure it will be here in the next 5 years, within the next 9 months is a little less certain.

Navigadget says that Apple will add GPS hardware in the first quarter of 2008

The reason behind this rumor is the fact that Apple has been in touch with Broadcom’s Global Locate unit to supply chips for the phone. Global Locate, which was recently acquired by Broadcom, makes assisted GPS chips that use a combination of GPS satellites and cellular network signals to get a location fix. A-GPS will improve what’s a called TTFF, even making it possible to get acquire correct position indoors

I’m not holding me breath for either. What I am still waiting for is a minimum 16 GB of memory. I will keep my money until then.

Alarm clocks are a very personal thing. Once you get one that does what you expect, you don’t want to just swap it out without something that will work as you expect. I’ve been searching for years for a new clock and not finding anything worthy.

iPodLounge shows off iH5 alarm clock radio with a iPod dock and integration.

The iH5 also features %u201CGentle Wake and Gentle Sleep,%u201D which %u201Cgradually increases and decreases Alarm/Sleep volume for a more relaxing beginning and end to each day,%u201D and utilizes Reason8 speaker technology to create “sound quality that has outstanding depth, clarity and power.” The iH5 works with the 3G/4G iPod, iPod mini and iPod photo. iPodlounge was told the iH5 will be available in August for $99.99, and that a website for the product will go live later this week.

It’s has the functions of my exsiting alarm clock plus more! Won’t be out till August, I hate when I have to wait.