The past few weeks I have been playing with some new applications for my iPhone. There are thousands of applications available. Something to suit every-body's taste. There are apps for just about anything. Smule has four apps out now that I believe are not only fun to play with, but they are also a way of social networking. Social Networking with Smule iPhone Applications are still very new, but they have so much potential to bridge what you do in your free time with the rest of the world.
Smule's Ocarina, Sonic Lighter, and Sonic Boom all have a world mode which connects what you do with the particular application with the rest of the world. You can isolate which part of the globe you want to view or listen to. The Ocarina will record the different songs that you play and you can go online or listen to them right from your iPhone. You can watch and see who has the their Sonic Lighter burning or who is setting explosions with Sonic Boom.
No doubt in the near future we will be able to communicate directly through the application with various friends we make around the world. The Internet and the iPhone are all about connection, interaction, and Social Networking through various channels of social media. Smule's applications are on the ground floor when it comes to exciting new ways to network.
What do you know about geocaching? I know very little, but have you ever thought about why we have odd and even house numbers? I have to admit I don't spend a lot of time thinking about this concept, but the other evening I happened to be watching the History Channel about Napoleon and the commentator mentioned that it was Napoleon that came up with the idea of odd numbers on one side of a street and even numbers on the opposite side of the street. No big deal, you might say. But think about how this simple idea impacts your daily life: mail delivery, GPS, visitors, emergency support...the list goes on. OMG, could Napoleon be the father of Geocaching?
I am not going to bore you with a whole history of street numbering, but it occurred to me that I have lived long enough to remember life before Zip Codes (pre 1963) and I have lived in enough different communities to know how challenging life can be when you don't have a numbering system. In today's world this is akin to not having order in the World Wide Web. Order is what makes the Internet work and allows all of us to stay in touch.
The first time I learned about life with mail delivery placed in a road side box was in Anchorage, AK. It was 1983 and we were transferred to Alaska. Our house address was 15040 Platinum Circle; however, our mailing address was SRA (Star Route Assignment)Box 460, Anchorage, AK 99507. Just when I had all of our friends trained to send mail to the SRA address, the USPS decided that we had to start using our actual street address for mail. Hmmmm...wouldn't you know that was the year that I was president of the home owners association and we had to build a whole new series of postal boxes which needed to be identical in every way, clearly marked with our street addresses (as opposed to the SRA addresses), and all 20 boxes had to be attached to a sturdy metal pole system. (Thank god a number of the neighbors were engineers that worked on the North Slope - read not Dennis).
In late 1985 we moved to Conway, New Hampshire. Now one would think that since New Hampshire was one of the 13 original colonies, street numbers would be old hat. WRONG! 90% of the homes and businesses did not have street numbers, for that matter, most roads were not clearly marked or had many different names for the same road. For example, Main Street in Conway Village was also known as RT16/RT113. I worked for Indian Head Bank North which was located on Main Street. Vendors would ask me for my business address and I would simply say "Indian Head Bank North, Main St, Conway, NH 03818". The vendor would repeatedly say what is the street number and I would simply say "we don't have street numbers!"
By late 1986 we purchased our country inn on Kearsarge Rd, Village of Kearsarge, Town of Conway, Carroll County, New Hampshire. We did not have a street number. Our mail went to P O Box 1194, North Conway, NH 03860 (only because for marketing purposes more people recognized North Conway, as opposed to Kearsarge Village, which had its own zip code, 03847). Are you confused yet? In late 1996 Conway Town Officials decided we all needed to put street numbers on our homes and businesses, because if we were to dial 911 the fire, rescue and police needed to know how to find us. You don't want to know how many properties burned to the ground in the old days when buildings had no addresses and we depended on volunteer fire departments. So in 1996, Cranmore Mountain Lodge received its street number: 859 Kearsarge Rd, Kearsarge, NH 03847. 175 years after Napoleon's death(1821)!
So today when you are searching for an address using the Internet, your GPS navigation system, your iPhone, or GeoCaching...thank Napoleon for being so practical. For fun here is a YouTube video called Geocaching Napoleon. I have no idea what it is about, because I don't speak French, but maybe it is fitting.
It was between 40 and 45 degrees yesterday up on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona; the wind felt like it was blowing 50 mph and it did not seem like we could find any cover. My friend Ryan and I went up there to do some bouldering for the day. When the conditions are this bad it is hard to stay focused on the goal of finishing a boulder problem; you can't feel your hands or your feet for that matter, and these extremities are pretty crucial for climbing rock.
The first problems Ryan and I worked on were completely exposed from every angle! As our hands gripped the rock we could feel and almost hear our fingers cracking. Bouldering in this environment can be rather discouraging after a while, but, you keep truckin' on because the idea of finishing a problem far out weighs the pain your feeling. On the outside, climbing in these conditions, it all looks crazy; although, on the inside, you feel as if you were born to climb and there is nothing that can stop you.
We ended up taking a break for a little while, which gave us time to eat and figure out where we should scout for new challenges (problems) to climb. As the sun was setting, we were hiking down a mountain stream when we came upon our next challenge! We were losing light quickly but we pushed on, what we found were two giant boulders that had been pushed up next to each other by the elements. Our challenge was the inside of the cave made by these boulders. Right as the sun was almost completely gone, Ryan got it! All my photos were taken with my iPhone and the video was shot with my Flip camera.
This week was about Ocarina advancements and IPhone screen capture elements which have made my life easier. I was playing my Ocarina the other day and was marveling at the changes made on the Ocarina since the last update. The buttons don't stick like they used to, this makes playing something from start to finish a lot easier. On globe mode, you can now zoom into a particular region to listen to; or listen to only the top melodies around the world, only my melodies, and only my loved melodies. There is a new finger hole layout which I find makes playing the Ocarina much easier. I can honestly say that I am excited to see what they add on to the Ocarina next.
I recently discovered another amazing IPhone feature that will come in very handy, a screen capture element. The pictures shown above were taken with the screen capture element. No matter what you are looking at on your IPhone, whether it is a web page or a text chat conversation, you can take a picture of what you see. After you capture what you are looking at, you can then email yourself or anybody a picture of what you deem important. When looking at something on your IPhone that you want to remember or use for a presentation there are only three simple steps to take. First, find something you want a picture of. Second, press the sleep/wake button at the top of the IPhone. Third, press the home button while pressing the sleep/awake button. The IPhone display will turn white for a second if you've done the steps properly, then you can go to your photo roll and take a look at what you captured.
Apple released the new iPhone OS, Version 2.2 on Friday, so if you have not done so already please open iTunes and update your iPhone,
New Features that Apple is touting,
Google Street View for Maps, see where you are going before you get there.
Podcast downloads over WiFi or 3G
Updated Safari, the iPhones web browser so that you always see Google search.
One of the things we have noticed and have seen mentioned across the blogisphere is much improved battery life. We use our iPhones more like a Laptop, checking mail, feeds in Google reader and what not. Saturday we went Geocaching with our iPhones, and normally this would have sucked the battery dry in the hours we were out caching. But Sat, after we got home both of our iPhones were still half full.
Nice work Apple, while Cut & Paste would have been a nice addition, this kind of improved battery performance should have been noted on the top of the list of reasons to upgrade to 2.2.
Have you noticed better battery life after your upgrade?
The ocarina is an ancient flute-like wind instrument believed to date back some 12,000 years. While several variations exist, an ocarina is typified by an oval-shaped enclosed space with four to twelve finger holes and a mouth tube projecting out from the body. It is often ceramic, but many other materials, such as plastic, wood, glass and metal may also be used.
Ocarina-type instruments have been of particular importance in Chinese and Mesoamerican cultures. The Ocarina played an important role in China's long history of song and dance. The ocarina has similar features to the Xun, another important Chinese instrument. Cortes' expedition to Mesoamerica resulted in the introduction of the ocarina to the courts of Europe. Both the Mayans and Aztecs had produced versions of the ocarina, but it was the Aztecs who brought the song and dance that accompanied the ocarina to Europe. The ocarina went on to become popular in European communities as a toy instrument
You can now play the Ocarina with your iPhone! You have access to several keys and modes that can be changed in order to play a full variation of songs. Rest the iPhone on your ring fingers and thumbs with the headphone jack facing away from you. Use your index and middle fingers to cover the four holes. In order to play your Ocarina, you will need to blow into the microphone (you will see a small gold arrow where to blow). The mic is sensitive, so try not to blow very hard (if you are puffing your cheeks, you are blowing too hard).
I feel like the iPhone Ocarina is the most engaging application out there. It is a lot fun and with a little bit of effort one can learn to play some great songs; you can also transpose your own songs on to the Ocarina. There is a "globe mode", where you can listen to what people all around the world are playing on the Ocarina. Download the Ocarina by Smule for your phone and start making music with your iPhone!
The Oxbow World Longboard Tour came to town last week, And Webconsuls was there to cover the show. Surf legends and 44 of the worlds top longboard surfers were treated to hot and glassy surf for the entire contest. This year the event was located on the historic Surf Beach at San Onofre, the heart of Aloha on the US mainland. The winner, Bonga Perkins, was kind enough to sit down and answer all of the tough questions for our littlest interviewer. For more from the Oxbow World Tour 2008 San Onofre Championships please visit, LBChampionship.com. Video By Ella G. McClure, Questions By Ella G. McClure
For help with getting your live event on the internet, Via Blogs, Youtube, Twitter, and other social media venues please contact us here at Webconsuls.
Google released its Google Earth browser for the iPhone and its FREE!!!
What is Google Earth? And if you are an iPhone Geocacher why do you want this is Free App? Watch the above video from Google to find out, In short, Google Earth for the iPhone is Google Maps in 3D, and with just a flip of a switch in the apps settings you can turn on the Latitude and Longitude of your location, very important information for us iPhone Geocaching folks!
With a quick trip to Geocaching.com to find the latitude and longitude of the caches you will be hunting for, make note of that info for later reference. Match up your location, with the location on your note and then start the drunken bee dance in search of your prize!
Google Earth for the iPhone provides most of the functionality of the full program but formatted to fit your iPhone. Pressing the "My Location" button in the lower left of the iPhone display and your perspective changes from one of viewing planet earth right down to seeing what car was parked in your driveway at the time the satellite photo was taken. Impressive, detailed sat shots and you have the option of viewing these as maps or the live terrain or a hybrid of both.
Search functions for Google Earth are also included. Search for addresses, specific businesses, landmarks in relation to where you are on earth. Those of you familiar with Google Earth will also love the addition of the Wikipedia and Panoramio layers.
Google Earth for iPhone, Yet another cool tool in the iPhone Geocachers Tool kit.
Click here to open iTunes and download the Free Google Earth iPhone Geocaching App.
Watch this short Youtube vid on an overview of the use of Google products on the world's first Android-powered phone, the T-mobile G1. Is it the iPhone killer?
Brightkite, a location based social network, now has it's own iPhone application. One of the unique features of Brightkite as a social network is that it organizes its members according to where they are geographically. After experimenting with the new iPhone application I anticipate there will be an upsurge in Brightkite activity as the application makes this social network not only easy to use but very appropriate to the iPhone's features. Application will require the iPhone 2.1 software.
I have found as a general rule that I prefer the iPhone application interfaces for social networks to their online equivalents. It seems to me that when designers have to flesh an application down to fit on the iPhone improvements and ease of use tend to follow. I will surely be checking in more as the "checking in" procedure is really sleek with the iPhone's GPS built in.
Take a picture and geo-locate it. Find where your friends are nearby. Take a look at Brightkite, it is especially fun when you are traveling as you can search for restaurant reviews and local attractions. It is a great place to ask for restaurant and lodging suggestions and there tends to be a trend among users to photograph and post their meals when dining out.
Kevin Rose, of Digg fame, demos the new Qik.com app for unjailbroken iPhones. For those of us who did not want the chance of having an iBrick you will no longer have to jailbreak your iPhone to install this new Qik app once released. Did you watch the above video? Excited yet?
What does Qik on the iPhone do?
The Qik iPhone app Streams video to the Qik.com site,
The Qik iPhone app notes the location of the video,
Chat with the folks watching the live stream at Qik.com from your iPhone.
The iPhone 3G the Swiss Army Knife of SmartPhones, just keeps getting better and better.
Happy Columbus Day, Get outside and find something!
iPhone Geocaching the outdoor treasure-hunting game in which we participants use the GPS receiver built into our 3G iPhones to hide and seek geocaches. There is a hidden world all around us, with treasure, trinkets, coins and bugs to find.
Step #2 Head over to Groundspeaks website, Geocaching.com and sign up for a free account,
( not required to use the app, but join up to keep track of your finds, and meet folks)
Step #3 Crank up your iPhone Geocaching App, and find a cache! don't let the Muggles catch you!
Step #4 Take a shot of the area & the cache contents with your iPhone, making sure not to give away the location of the hide.
Step #5 Go back to Geocaching.com and log your visit & share your photos, and if you found or did not find the cache.
With hundreds of thousands of caches hidden around the world you are sure to find one nearby. Being that you always have your iPhone with you, next when you find yourself with some extra time on your hands instead of plopping down in from of the television, take your family on a hunt for treasure.
Music is a universal language, it has no boundaries - no limits. When we find ourself in trouble or heartache the only thing that can make us happy is music. I live for music and my music lives through me, it is how I communicate with myself and others.
In the past the only way people could experience their music is with their ears, the only bands with music videos were big and commercialized. Digital Video Cameras and YouTube have allowed musicians to share their music across the spectrum. Everyone with a computer or an IPhone have the ability to watch and listen to your art. Flip cameras are a dream come true when it comes to sharing the experience of music. You can record a video and instantly upload it from your camera to a computer and spread it across the universe via YouTube and Google Video. The band that I am in has taken full advantage of Flip Cameras to help us share our music with the world. The image quality, as well as sound, is amazing!
Anybody who has a message, musical or not, has the ability to share it now. Flip cameras help musicians as well as businesses spread their word online like never before. Here are a couple examples of Flip videos:
I am having issues with my new iPhone 3G and I wanted to share them with you. I have noticed that the new 2.0 verision was about half as stable as the old version, and after a hard crash all of my apps stopped working.
A quick trip to the Apple support forums confrimed my fear, I have stubbledupon yet another know issue with the iPhone. Here are the steps I used to fix it. (Come on Apple! We Need a REAL fix here ASAP!)
After you have synched with iTunes, if your downloaded apps stop working, {On my iPhone they open then close blip!} From your iPhone, go to the app store and download a free app, which will ask you to log into your iTunes account, when your new app is done downloading and installed, switch your iPhone all the way off by holding the power button and the home button until you see "slide to switch off" then slide the switch off. Wait a bit then switch your iPhone back on, all apps should be present and working. Y.M.M.V.
Did this help you get your iPhone Apps working, or did you use another method?
There is a world out there, more of a world. With the push of a button, a million possibilities await you; this Utopia is smaller than a note card, and lives inside your pocket. The new IPhone is the cutting edge of technology, the Alpha y Omega; there are many instruments that try to compete and at the surface appear to be similar, but with a little investigation you find something quite unique.
Your music, photos, and email accessible with a touch-screen, is only the tip of the iceberg; real time GPS and any kind of application you could think of, with more to come. The question is not what your IPhone can do? Rather, what can your IPhone not do? Having the ability to manage your social media real time makes social media more universal. Millions of web sites have and are making their pages IPhone friendly; companies have become aware of the implications and the potential of this virtual treasure chest. Wake up on time, plan your day, work from anywhere, and do all of this while listening to your favorite tunes! On a daily basis I find something new and exciting regarding the capabilities of this hand held computer. I am experiencing the joy of this product, like no other gadget I have ever had; at times the excitement can be too much to handle.
I can still remember: my first desktop, my first laptop, my first Discman, and my first IPod. The desktops were bulky and slow and were inefficient; speed got better, but what about size? Laptops made up for the size problem, and for a time satisfied your needs; but you could never fit your laptop into a pocket. Discmans made sound mobile, but they skipped and you had to carry all your cds with you wherever you went. IPods held all the music you wanted and could fit into a pocket, but in a pocket already containing: car keys, cell phones, palm pilots, and whatever else one carries with them daily. Was all the clutter convenient?
It seems like so long ago that I started this technological ride into the future. I felt like I was on the brink of something amazing taking place; with every year that passed, the horizon became closer. The anticipation of a new gadget that would make my computer more universal, faster, and a little better was what I dreamed about. The release of the IPod was the pinnacle of technology when it came to media; first with music and recording, and then with video. I was satisfied beyond belief with IPod, and wondered where Apple could go next with this device? A phone? An IPhone?
With the advent of the IPhone it became very clear that the sky was the limit. You could now manage your whole life with this masterpiece; from organizing your media, all the way to managing your business, work and play had truly become One. Isnt that what life is about? The freedom to accomplish your needs from wherever you exist at any given moment; especially in this fast paced world, a world where every second counts, when he who arrives first gets the prize. The plot has been set, the characters are in their right places; I welcome you to the climax, enjoy!
Found a good one from MacRummors, Where and how to download and install the new iPhone 2.0 version firmware. Yes folks! It is now time to start installing those Apps on your iPhone!
Now you will need to update your iTunes, in iTunes Store search for "apps" then click on the title of one of the free apps and try to "Get App" this will prompt you to download and upgrade your iTunes. Do so, and run iTunes and plug in your iPhone.
PLEASE FULLY SYNC BEFORE MOVING FORWARD!!!!
You install your iPhone firmware to 2.0 by manually by pressing the "Option key" on your Mac or the "Shift Key" in Windows when you are pressing the "Check for Update" button for your iPhone in iTunes. You can then navigate to where you saved the iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw file and click open. And you are walked thru the remaining steps! It is that easy!
click hear
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