Tag Archives: iPhone

End Of Year 2009 Post

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.

More On The iPhone Balloon Tracking Application

The local TV news station KOB has more on the iPhone balloon tracking application. The app is written by Anthony Cardinale and is a real time tracking application. It’s being tested by 5 ballon pilots and chase crews at this years Albuquerque Ballon Fiasco, I mean Balloon Fiesta.

“At some point, every pilot could be using this, and we are going to have a free version that allows people to come to the Balloon Fiesta and load it up to see where all the balloons are in real time,” Cardinale said.

Might make going to the Balloon Fiesta worthwhile.

The Cocoa Conspiracy: Albuquerque’s iPhone Developers

KOB recently did an interesting article on a group of independent iPhone developers in Albuquerque who work at a coffee shop and call themselves the Cocoa Conspiracy. The group includes Andrew Stone of Stone Design who has a number of both Mac and iPhone applications.

Apparently Stone Design’s Twittelator Proicon is doing well. The article also talks about a very cool sounding hot air balloon and chase crew app.

“It can actually overlay the chase group’s position and the balloon’s location and speed over a map live. That way people can plan their routes to get to the balloon and where it’s going to land,”

That’s an awesome idea, I wish I would have thought of it. Albuquerque has “Largest balloon convention in the world” according to Wikipedia so it’s fitting that a app like this should be developed in Albuquerque.

I want to hook up with these guys perhaps they can give me some help in developing my own apps. The article fails to mention what coffee shop the “The Cocoa Conspiracy” hang out at.

Update: The group has a website at cocoaconspiracy.com and apparently meet at the RB Winnings Coffee Thursdays at 9:30 am.

Mount Hood Flyby Video From The iPhone 3GS

I took some video while flying near Mount Hood in Oregon from my iPhone 3GS. I posted it to Flickr, which I prefer to YouTube due to the better privacy controls. But Flickr only allows 90 seconds of video. I also posted a version to YouTube but I think I may force myself to keep my iPhone videos to less than 90 seconds.

Now that I’ve had some time to use the video capabilities from the iPhone I find it’s OK but not great. It can be a lot better when there’s good lighting. It won’t replace my HD video camera anytime soon but ability to instantly upload to online video sharing sites is a huge advantage.

Since the built in iPhone camera application doesn’t support uploads to Flickr for videos, I used the $2.99 Mobile Fotosicon app.

I’m In A Cell Phone Signal Black Hole

AT& T Coverage Map

Well, I’m close to being in a black hole. I checked out AT&T’s coverage map for my house (which I blurred to protect my privacy) and you can see that just around my house, the signal strength is “moderate”. Which to me means almost none since moderate is the highest level just above No Coverage. I can’t even get my K750i to roam on Cingular/AT&T’s network.

Even T-Mobile’s coverage map shows less than optimal coverage at my house.

Boo Who. No iPhone for me till this is better. At least I have Transformers to look forward to.

No iPhones For Residents Of Mardid

People living in Madrid, NM have prevented AT&T (formerly Cingular) from building a cell tower on a ridge overlooking the town. AT&T is, of course, the provider of the Apple iPhone. Personally i’d rather see Madrid get some public toilets before they worry about the cell towers.

They don’t seem like the iPhone types anyhow.