Greg In The Desert

Apple announced their worst kept secret, their Apple tablet computer called the iPad. It’s exactly what what it was rumored to be, a oversized iPod Touch. The iPad will run all the apps the iPhone and iPod touch will run but it’s missing a camera and GPS. Apple says they got 10 hours of use out of it, it will come with WiFi but a 3G cellular data option is available (and unlocked).

I think every rumor, including the prototype pictures at engadget and interview with McGraw-Hill’s CEO and President (Update: McGraw-Hill might have been punished for making the comments about the iPad before it was released), were all sanctioned by Apple. It was just enough to keep the hype and Steve Job’s reality distortion field in place but not enough to actually reveal the device.

I can’t imagine I will purchase an iPad as soon as it comes out (which is not for another 60 to 90 days) I do hope that parts of it make it into Apple’s laptops before my next laptop purchase. I also was hoping for an iPhone OS 4.0 and iLife 2010 announcement.

Having flown a lot in the last few years I been able to fly many airlines. Anymore I pretty much won’t fly unless I can fly Southwest. It has less to do with ticket fares and more to do with how much hassle I get and Southwest gives me the least amount of hassle.

The Southwest iPhone app can alert me to their Ding deals using the notification system which very helpfull. The application can also book flights and check in, I was already doing that through the web interface. The web didn’t always work for me and I hope to have better success with a dedicated app.

Southwest Airlines is Free on the iTunes App Store.

Traveling with Southwest Airlines is now even more convenient with our first iPhone app. Make reservations, check in for flights, and access your Rapid Rewards account directly from your iPhone. Plus, our iPhone app has DING! functionality built in, giving you instant access to exclusive, limited-time-only air fare deals. When a DING! fare is made available, you’ll be notified immediately on your iPhone.

So now there’s no need to boot up your laptop or make a phone call to prepare for your next trip. Just pull out your iPhone to:

· View & book the latest DING! deals
· Book or cancel air reservations
· Book or cancel rental car reservations
· Check in for your flight
· Check flight status
· Review flight schedules
· Access your Rapid Rewards account
· Access helpful contact information

With many of southwest.com’s most popular features now in the palm of your hand, traveling on Southwest is more convenient than ever before.

• Business & Technology | Starbucks to close 130-worker call center in Seattle | Seattle Times Newspaper – Starbucks said Thursday it will close a 130-worker call center at its Seattle headquarters and rely on an outside company in Albuquerque, N.M., to handle customer feedback.
• AMD posts first profit in 13 quarters – AMD's revenue jumped 42 percent year-over-year to $1.626 billion, handily beating Intel's (also impressive) 28 percent jump. The chipmaker's quarterly profit, $1.288 billion, is mostly thanks to the $1.224 settlement with Intel.
• Ex-IBM Employee reveals TV Abandoned Analog Band to Make Room for RFID | qbit.cc – According to a former 31-year IBM employee, the highly-publicized, mandatory switch from analog to digital television is mainly being done to free up analog frequencies and make room for scanners used to read implantable RFID microchips and track people and products throughout the world.
• How to Survive in Federal Prison – wikiHow – If you have been sentenced to federal prison, you will become the property of the Bureau Of Prisons (BOP) and this will be the end of life as you know it. As with most federal sentences, you will most likely have many years during which to deal with this new life. This article will offer some advice so you can prepare and survive.
• Al Jazeera English – Africa – Huge ransom paid to Somali pirates – The ransom delivered on Sunday is believed to be between $5.5m and $7m, according to unnamed sources interviewed by the Reuters news agency.
• GM Corn & Organ Failure: Lots of Sensationalism, Few Facts | 80beats | Discover Magazine – On Wednesday, we covered the overreaction by a few important online sources to an International Journal of Biological Sciences article claiming to find “signs of toxicity” in three varieties of genetically modified (GM) corn produced by Monsanto. We posted some caveats that made us uneasy about the study, such as the funding sources, the unknown quality of the journal, and the fact that the toxicity claims rely on reinterpreting statistical data that Gilles-Eric Séralini and his coauthors themselves note is not as robust as it needs to be.
• Infant sealed in concrete by a Brooklyn couple charged with enslaving hooker mom was beaten to death – The infant boy sealed in concrete by a Brooklyn couple charged with pimping out his enslaved hooker mom, was beaten to death, the Daily News has learned.
• News : Developers envy the pace of Rio Rancho’��s ‘��Lego Man’�� – Rio Rancho Observer – At 58, Larry Winchell of Northwest Albuquerque is anything but a kid – and his expertise with Legos gives him good reason to dub himself the “Lego Man.” His life could’ve taken almost any direction, given that he came from a broken home, had 18 residences in a span of 18years and didn’t start turning his life around until he joined the Air Force. A self-proclaimed East Village hippie “back in the day,” he later used the G.I. Bill to finance his education, later serving as a college teacher and planetarium curator.
• Intel uses iTunes for performance benchmarking – iPod owners already know that the Windows version of iTunes is anything but an advertisement for good or stable application design, so as a benchmark of how a processor can help matters no matter what software is running this could prove quite informative. Unsurprisingly, the newer i5 processor was much quicker to finish the task than the older Core II Duo it was matched against.
• The killer app that busted ski-resort snow jobs – The Globe and Mail – The deceptive advertising has been decisively busted by the internet, where skeptical skiers can now check a skireport.com application on their iPhone to vet the resort-supplied snow tally against first-hand accounts from the slopes and lifts.

Great advertisement by Ford Germany advertising bluetooth in Ford vehicles by showing iPhone/iPod headphones in various forms of knots.

Have a Dish Network DVR? Have it connected to the Internet? They you should have this free iPhone app that allows remote control and scheduling of TV shows.

DISH Remote Access is free on the iPhone App Store.

Introducing DISH Remote Access – a whole new way to manage your DVR and record your favorite shows – anytime, anywhere with your iPhone or iTouch. With the touch of a fingertip you can easily browse the program guide, schedule DVR recordings and manage your DVR library as if you were at home. You’ll never miss your favorite shows or sporting events with this must-have application.

FEATURES

Schedule DVR Recordings
-Schedule DVR recordings from anywhere
-One-touch recording – simply chose to record one event, all events or only new events

Browse and Search the Program Guide
-Search the program guide up to 9 days in advance
-Search for shows by title, genre, network, keyword or actor
-View graphics and posters of your favorite shows and movies

Manage your DVR Library*
-Set recording priorities
-Manage recording conflicts
-Delete shows you’ve already watched
-View and adjust your recording schedule

DISH Remote Access is compatible with the following DISH Network receivers: 522, 625, ViP® 612, ViP® 622, ViP® 722, ViP® 722k and requires an online DISH account. You must first access DISH Remote Access at least once from your PC, prior to using your iPhone – login to your online DISH account and click on DISH Remote Access to get started.

*Requires high-speed internet connection to one the following compatible receivers: ViP 612, ViP 622, ViP 722, ViP 722k

If you don’t have one of these compatible receivers, upgrade today by calling 1-800-333-DISH (3474)

I wrote about an rumored Apple tablet computer as far back as 2004 and now it seems to be confirmed by the Wall Street Journal.

While the device’s ship date hasn’t been finalized and could still change, people briefed on the matter said the new product will come with a 10 to 11-inch touch screen—which would make it closer in size to Apple’s line of MacBook laptops than its smart phone.

John Martellaro at macobserver says this was part of a controlled leak because he used to do the same thing when he was a Senior Marketing Manager at Apple. I always believed that Apple did controlled leaks like this and they have figured out how to control the hype around product releases.

Supposedly this thing will be announced in a January 27th event. I’m also hoping for an updated iPhone and especially a updated Apple TV.

I normally haven’t been writing “year in review” type posts, but this year I thought I had made significant enough improvement to Greg In The Desert to make a few notes.

I would like to think that my actual writing has improved. I have spent quite an effort on editing and I think it shows in my posts. It’s not where I would like it to be but it is better. I have also moved to dedicated hosting using Wordpress and it has been a huge improvement over the previous systems I used. I wished I had switched sooner.

It was difficult to get back into writing posts when my dad died this summer, but I’ve started to pick up again in the last few months. I’ve been able to increase traffic and increase affiliate and google adsense income. It’s enough to cover the costs of hosting plus a little (maybe enough for a few tanks of gas). To better target subject matter, have considered breaking Greg In The Desert into at least two blogs with Greg In The Desert’s subject matter focusing Home Improvement and Automation.

I can see the potential to make real money on the internet by blogging. Whether I have the time needed to devote to it is another matter.

Here’s a top 10 list of posts by raw page views.

• Resolving The 6X Red Blinking Light Of Death On My Sony TV (with pictures)
• Costco La Crosse Technologies Weather Station WS-2810
• iPhone App 2 Of The Week: Bikini Blast
• Original Lego Space Theme Is 30 Years Old
• iPhone App Of The Week: Jaadu VNC
• Baja BE500 500 Watt Electric Scooter
• Robert Kearns, Inventor of Intermittent Wipers Dies
• 1957 Buick Super For Sale
• Albuquerque Craigslist: 1950 Fleetline, 1967 Mustang & 1973 F100
• iPhone App Of The Week: iHome Remote

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
.

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.

• KOB.com – Albuquerque non-profit provides protection for women – Imagine having your own personal bodyguard outside your home all day and all night at no cost. That’s what an Albuquerque non-profit group is providing, specifically for abused women.
• The Official Site of Rio Rancho, NM – Outdoor Lighting Task Force – The task force will provide the Governing Body solutions to address existing outdoor lighting concerns, feedback regarding existing outdoor lighting ordinances, and recommendations to regulate outdoor lighting in future development areas while taking into consideration safety, reduction of light pollution, aesthetics and energy conservation.
• 300 competing in Lego championship at ASU – Arizona State University is hosting the First Lego League robotics championship this Saturday where 300 students ages 9 to 14 statewide will be vying for a chance to compete in the national finals in Atlanta.
• Man dies after sitting in recliner for eight months – KSN TV – In March, Webb's 550-pound husband, Tillmon, sat down in a recliner inside their trailer in Greenwood. Wearing nothing but a blanket, the 33-year-old didn't move from that recliner for the next eight months.
• Supreme Court dismisses challenge to Illinois forfeiture law | csmonitor.com – The US Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a victory to the Cook County State's Attorney and the Chicago Police Department when the justices unanimously dismissed as moot a challenge to Illinois' controversial forfeiture law.
• Andy Ihnatko’s Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA) » The Seven Words You Can’t Say In A Dragon iPhone App – Friends, this screenshot represents my g*ddamned best effort to get the Dragon app to properly parse the spotlight lines from George Carlin’s “Seven Words” routine. The seven naughty words appear twice in this passage. In the final sentence, I simply read them naturally. But when I spoke them in the second sentence, I spoke with the measured tones and eloquent baritone of Frasier Crane, enunciating carefully and confidently, over and over again, one word at a time, coaxing the Dragon to do the right thing and giving the software the best chance possible. What you see there in the second sentence is the very best I could do to get Dragon Dictation to correctly transcribe some extremely naughty dictation.
• Intel scraps graphics chip based on Larrabee| Reuters – Intel decided to scrap plans for the graphics card because Larrabee's silicon and software development are behind where it had hoped they would be at this point in the project, spokesman Nick Knupffer said.
• Pearl Harbor Day 2009: three enduring mysteries | csmonitor.com – A better explanation for the enormity of the US defeat might be that the attack was a so-called black swan event: something so far outside the realm of expectations that Americans could not conceive of it occurring.
• Intel: Initial Larrabee graphics chip canceled | Nanotech – The Circuits Blog – CNET News – Intel said Friday that its Larrabee graphics processor will initially appear as a software development platform only.
  This is a blow to the world's largest chipmaker, which was looking to launch its first discrete (standalone) graphics chip in more than a decade. "Larrabee silicon and software development are behind where we hoped to be at this point in the project," Intel spokesman Nick Knupffer said Friday. "As a result, our first Larrabee product will not be launched as a standalone discrete graphics product," he said.

A bonus iPhone app of the week is released by AT&T. The app lets the user provide feedback to AT&T, dropped calls, voice quality and etc, along with GPS coordinates.

AT&T Mark the Spot is free from the iTunes App Store.

AT&T Mark the Spot is an application that provides customers a means to provide feedback on network user experience to AT&T.

Features

- Simplicity of operation
- Submit a real time report capturing local GPS coordinates at time and place of event
- Submit a report after the fact when a customer is not at the place of event
- Submit a report of dropped call, failed call, lack of coverage, data service failure, or poor voice quality
- Submit optional specific comments about an event
- Receive an SMS acknowledgement that the reported event was sent and received successfully

AT&T is committed to providing its customers with the best network experience possible.

This application will help contribute towards this goal and its utilization is greatly appreciated.