iPhone: Mobile Air Mouse - On Sale

**UPDATE** - Forget about the Air Mouse, Logitech release a killer app that includes mouse functionality as well as a keyboard, and it's FREE! Grab it here.

iPhone : Mobile Air Mouse: **Currently (as of 9:20am EDT 8/7/09) on sale for $2.99**
"Instantly transform your iPhone or iPod touch into an air mouse, trackpad, and wireless remote for your computer! Sit back and surf the web, browse your photo library or control your music player from the comfort of your couch. Our air mouse uses the built in accelerometer to translate your hand motions into mouse movements on your screen. It can also operate as a trackpad, allowing you to control your computer with a single finger.

Cloud Computing Conundrum

I am listening to the "Cranky Geeks" podcast #174 on 7/8/09 (here's the iTunes link to the MP3 audio only edition... they also have video podcasts as well), and they started to discuss the potential disaster of having your info in "the cloud", as well as the fact that you don't "own" your information in a sense, or at least that these services have access to your information (no matter what the privacy agreement states). One of their comments was that Google has more private/personal information than the NSA.

For the disaster part, they discussed the threat of someone targeting these "mega-hubs" where these datacenters and backbones are located, and the effect this would have on the country. I think there is some validity to this, but I feel like there is a decent amount of redundancy and fault-tolerance in this day and age. I see their point though. If you lose your internet connection, how do you retrieve your data?? If the company you have this data with folds, where does it go??

Because of my mobility and want for having my information everywhere AND always in sync (so one device doesn't have the latest copy when I'm not at that device but need that data), I have started to try and move ALL of my computing data into the cloud with services that

Moving Notebooks to the "cloud"... trying to do this with Evernote

***UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM OF POST***

I have been an Evernote user for a little over a year now, but I never really used it to its full potential. This may have been in part due to the fact that I had a BlackBerry for a while and there was no Evernote application for the BlackBerry (there is now of course). I recently bought an iPhone, and there is a pretty solid Evernote client for the iPhone. I also have been feeling the need lately for better organizing and mobilizing (is that even a word? - looked it up... it's a word, but not the definition I am using here) my notes. I suppose I have simply used email in the recent past, but that's not a great solution and is too cluttered (in my opinion), so searches tend to have a lot of junk I'm not interested in sifting through and wastes time. I have also used Microsoft OneNote for some things, but it's SOOO limited to a PC (or Windows Mobile device which I don't own any longer... and even that mobile app is lame for mobile notes access IMO). My main concern, similar to my Task Management Solution concerns, is that the solution needs to be ubiquitous and work on all of my devices... which dictates some form of web-based backend and syncing.

Evernote seems to fit that bill, and since I have an account and notes already in it, I am deciding to experiment more with it and see if I can make it work better for me. I am trying to

TomTom for iPhone en route | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld

TomTom for iPhone en route | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld:

"There are also logistical issues. For example, because the iPhone doesn’t support background processes, any navigation app must shut down during phone calls, making real-time tracking difficult—something that doesn’t happen on a dedicated GPS unit, even one that includes telephony features."

This is the biggest drawback I've had with ANY phone based GPS application. I had the Verizon VZ Navigator on one of my phones in the past, and while it was a great GPS app, if you took a call or were on a call, GPS no workie. One time, I was on a conference call and wasn't familiar with where to exit on my trip. A while later I realized I MUST have missed my turn and had to hang up on the call and wait nearly 7 minutes for the GPS to reinitialize and find my location to then tell me that I essentially went 30 minutes out of my way... extending my trip by 1 HOUR!!! Ugh! I will never forget that mistake, and since have purchased a Navigon 2100max stand-alone GPS. The Navigon is truly awesome (none are perfect as far as I'm concerned) and has some incredible features. However, Navigon is pulling out of the US for both sales and map updates at some point in the not-too-distant future. They will be honoring the remaining subscriptions for map updates from their customers, but then that's it. What does this mean??? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm guessing I still have about 3 years of (up to date) life left in my GPS. Past that I have no idea, but technology changes pretty fast anyway and something better may come along by then.

For now, I will be staying away from any phone based GPS system/app. I think the Tom Tom package looks promising... but if it still means taking a call stops the function of GPS telling you where to turn, I don't want any parts of it.

Appigo Todo and Toodledo… a dynamic duo!

I recently purchased both Appigo's "Todo" iPhone app (for $9.99) and Toodledo's Pro account (for $14.95/yr) which offers advanced features over the free account that were important to me. However, the free account itself is pretty spectacular, in the sense that every other web-based backend that works with an iPhone app charge you a yearly fee, and generally over $24.99/yr (which is what Remember The Milk charges for the account that works with its iPhone app or Appigo's Todo)! You, personally, may never need anything more than the free account from Toodledo, but I like what the Pro account offers in conjunction with what Appigo's Todo application offers with such grace and ease in their iPhone app. The most important to me being subtasks to create "projects" and "checklists", both which *require* sub-tasks (in all honesty, Toodledo can still handle this in the free version, but the subtasks show up as regular tasks. For you, it may not matter, but I like seeing where they are associated and also be able to hide them to remove the clutter). To demonstrate this, I suggest that you visit Appigo's site and watch some of the screencasts. It helped me better understand what the capabilities are, and is partially what sold me on this iPhone app over others. I also first downloaded the Appigo Todo Lite app, which is free, signed up for the free account at Toodledo and upgraded to the free 7 day trial of the Toodledo Pro account to check it all out together. The Todo Lite app only allows 10 tasks total, but it was enough for me to see the benefits over other solutions out there. By the way, checklists and projects seem to be considered 1 task for the limitation, but there is also a limit of about 5 subtasks for these in the lite version (NOT in the full version).

I suppose I should give a little background on my situation regarding task management so you can better understand what I was looking for in a system. I've read

Fell off the grid for a bit... but got my new iPhone 3GS!!

Hey All,

Sorry I sort of fell off the grid for a bit. I've had a bunch of things going on that really didn't allow me to easily blog... but I've had things I've wanted to discuss. First of all, I got the new iPhone 3GS on June 19th!! WooHoo! I new this model was coming out before my first 30 days was up with AT&T, and I made sure I would be able to exchange my 3G for the 3GS when it came out. I only had to pay a $20 "restocking" fee to do it. I am EXTREMELY impatient, so I couldn't just sit it out and wait for the new model to release. I'm actually glad I did, because it allowed me to experience just HOW different and better the 3GS is to the 3G. I'm also glad that I upgraded my 3G to OS 3.0 before turning it back in. This allowed me to see that OS 3.0 most definitely had some performance improvements on the 3G, let alone the new feature set.

Most recently, I have been trying to find a solid task management system that I could use on both my iPhone and my PC (Windows, not Mac... but my wife has a Mac and I wanted something that was universal for the desktop). I'm pretty sure I finally found the right solution for this, so I will have a post on this specifically (hopefully over the weekend). In the meantime, there is a box on the top right of my main blog page that lists what I am using, with a link that has my referral number in it. If you decide to sign up for it, I'd sure appreciate you using my link so I get the benefits. ;-) I honestly would be happy paying for the service either way, so that should tell you how much I like it. I tried some others, and none of them had everything I was looking for, or were too expensive... or a combination of the two. I will discuss my findings and thoughts on these other services/apps in my review.

I want to get back to my app review series because I have found a lot of apps that are worth their price. So look for more in that area soon as well. Hopefully my Task Management System will help me along in this area! ;-D

iPhone App Review Series

Being that I bought an iPhone recently (5/22/09 to be exact), I have been trying out and buying applications based on finding reviews from other various sites. I will attempt to share some of those sites as I determine them to be worth it (some I haven't found very helpful, or I disagree with the reviews).

This first post in this series will be a quick summary of some of the apps I've come to like/love. I hope to do much more in-depth reviews of specific apps as I use them and my phone more. So look for more in this series.

Games:
I want to lead this category by saying that I don't have a ton of time to game on my phone. Because of that, games that I find to be challenging and offer some life may not provide this to someone who has hours at a time to game on their phone. I've read some reviews from people saying they beat the game in 2 hours or whatever... If you are one of those people, my reviews may not be the best for you.

Real Racing, by Firemint (genre = Racing) - This came out a few days ago and looks to be the best racing sim game so far. I haven't had a chance to play it much yet, but the graphics and depth of the game appear to be second to none. I will review this in more depth at a later date.

Fieldrunners, by Subatomic Studios (genre = Tower Defense) - This is a more classic style Tower Defense gameplay model where there is a blank canvas for you to layout the path to force the AI to follow to their doom. ;-) This style of Tower Defense is a LOT of fun, and can play different based on how you lay out your towers. Tower Defense has become one of my favorite genres lately, and this game does NOT dissappoint. I started off on Medium and failed the first level. I like that, because it tells me it will challenge me and stay interesting! I should say that what I am calling level 1 has (I believe) 100 waves of "runners". These included helicopters that didn't have to follow my path of death, and it also included tanks which can take a LOT of firepower before dying. I got defeated by wave 40. Obviously, I need a better strategy for the choppers and tanks, since they are the only things that got through. One EXTREMELY nice feature of Fieldrunners is the ability to pause your game, even exit and resume a pauses game. This is a must have for any phone based game, but I don't believe most have it.

Star Defense, by Ngmoco (genre = Tower Defense) - This game has some beautiful graphics and great gameplay. You are at a 3D planet with a path that the alien invaders will follow, and in certain areas the path will loop and come near to the other side of it, so placing one tower can get both sides. I only played one world and on Easy, and I got through it easily... But I've been playing Tower Defense games for a bit and understand the strategy, so I should probably never play them on easy.

I think I'll stop here for my first post in this series. I will talk about other types of apps besides games... Like the app I'm using to post this to my blogger account, BlogPress. So far I really like it, but I want to use it more before reviewing it.

-- Post From My iPhone

iPhone 3G Review - Part 1

I want to preface this review with the fact that I am coming from T-Mobile where I had a BlackBerry Curve 8320. So much of my review will consist of comparisons because it's foremost in my mind. The devices are VERY different (in my mind) and I would say are directed at very different audiences. The BlackBerry models and software is more utilitarian and targets the enterprise user with a HEAVY focus on email, and in my opinion it is the best here hands down... no question. I don't think there is a close competitor for business type applications and usage.

With that said, the BlackBerry kind of sucks for internet and other personal goodness. Don't get me wrong, it is hanging in there with apps like Facebook and other things... and the Storm (as well as the Bold and Curve 8900 I believe) have a MUCH improved internet experience... but I don't think they are as good or as slick as the iPhone in this regard (or the Pre from the videos I've seen... the Pre is using the webkit, same as the iPhone, so the web experience should be identical... signal strength aside... more on that later). I had contemplated buying a NetBook or cheap laptop just to have around for web browsing so I had a larger screen, etc. I didn't really like this idea because I think I would eventually stop using it or it would become cumbersome (it CERTAINLY doesn't fit in your pocket).

My recent decision to go with an iPhone consisted of quite a bit of research that encompassed: AT&T as the carrier, so their signal strength in my area since that's where I am most of the time; The iPhone itself compared to other phones that I could buy (understanding a LARGE portion of what is getting fixed in the 3.0 software release for the iPhone and what that fixes); and finally the applications available to any phone I might purchase.

The Palm Pre:
The Pre shows promise because it has the ability to multi-task well (though it remains to be seen what the performance will be with multi-tasking... so let's assume it will be adequate... AND, there is rumor that Apple will be starting to utilize multi-tasking with the new model of iPhone because it will have a faster CPU and more RAM... but that's rumor at this point). Not only that, it is also using the WebKit for its browser (like the iPhone), and from what I can see the browser experience is pretty much identical to the iPhone (cellular carriers and signal strength aside). I, personally, like the idea of the slide out keyboard for several reasons: 1) I am coming from a line of keyboard phones (Palm Treo w/Palm OS, Palm Treo w/ Windows Mobile, finally BlackBerry), so I am more comfortable with a physical keyboard; 2) This allows the screen to display more info since it is not being filled with the keyboard on-screen (this is not a *huge* deal, but I personally think it would be nicer and have found the lack of screen real estate when the keyboard is up to be somewhat limiting on the iPhone... but not a big deal); 3) I always fear that the "touch" portion of the touchscreen will stop being responsive (this has happened to me on several touch only devices, some older Palm devices included). Some of the videos of its capabilities are impressive (here's a 26 minute video that provides GREAT coverage of it's features... at least what they'll tell us) ... but SO much is still unknown because Palm and Sprint are keeping very tight lips on capabilities, etc. They don't want any bad press before the launch is my guess. Not only that... this is a COMPLETELY new phone and operating system from the ground up, so it has NO proven track record (other than Palm's track record, and I've always been a fan of Palm). This also means that accessories and software (applications) for the OS will be very limited for quite a while I would think. Developers are going to have to get ramped up on this OS, and are they *really* going to spend on this phone/OS unless it takes off like gangbusters?? Me thinks not... not until it gets some presence in the market and proves it can hang with the iPhone. This finally brings me to Sprint. Sprint has some good things about it, but they are bleeding and the Pre is pretty much its last effort to gain back some ground in the market. So who knows what will happen to Sprint in the meantime... but I doubt they will be investing in new towers for a bit. And that brings me to the lack of coverage where I live. It's not EVERYWHERE around me that is a problem... but my house and the neighborhood I live in basically are not even on Sprint's coverage map (it's listed as "Roaming"). That pretty much clinched it for me... and the fact that AT&T's signal strength at my house is now stellar (as good as Verizon in my area, which is saying something).

As far as the iPhone goes, I am still struggling with getting all of my email accounts, calendars and contacts squared away. Don't get me wrong... if you have one email/calendar account and one set of contacts to sync up, you should be golden. I have several, and it seems you can't have them all doing updates at the same time... so I have to make some decisions on what to do. Don't worry, I will share my experience with everyone in case someone else is in the same boat. That will all be in Part 2 most likely, since that is currently my main focus.

One quick thing I found that bugs me. You can't create an appointment and invite someone else to it. This is what prompted my current project to get me and my wife on the same calendar and also simplify my workflow... more later.

Hell froze over...

I'm still in shock, but I actually went and got an iPhone 3G 8GB from my local AT&T shop.

This wasn't an easy decision, and I *DO* have 30 days to return it, but some of the key features it has were just too compelling. AND, one of the biggest deciding factors of going with AT&T over Sprint was signal strength in my area. The other phone I was *seriously* considering was the Palm Pre, which I think looks like a great phone, and even has some better features than the iPhone... but the AppStore and the apps for the iPhone trump the Pre. I mean... they have a frickin' Kindle app for the iPhone!! So you get access to all the Kindle library and pricing!!!! That's killer! I used to read books on my BlackBerry (read Angels & Demons on it) and found it to be great... but the library was limited and pricing was nearly identical to physical books.

So, back to Sprint and the Palm Pre... my wife and kids are on Sprint for their phones, so I was thinking maybe it would be better to all be on the same account... and the Palm Pre was about to be released and it looks like a really slick phone. However, I've known for a long time that Sprint hasn't been very good where we live, and T-Mobile was in the same boat... but at least with T-Mobile and the ability to use WiFi for my phone was pretty killer. AT&T was never great in my area in the past... but that's a long time ago that I had them, so I decided to compare AT&T with Sprint as far as coverage. AT&T was showing full strength signal and 3G in my area, and Sprint was showing *Roaming*... seriously... not even 1 bar in the surrounding area of where we live... roaming.

There was NO way I could deal with that, and I think it may actually get the rest of my family out of their contracts without paying the fees to cancel (this is what got me out of T-Mobile and they were at least showing 1-3 bars for my area.

So, between the signal strength (and it IS good for me, by the way) and the iPhone AppStore... it won. I'm sure I will find things I dislike and can't work around... but I think I'm finally okay with that. And with the 3.0 update right around the corner (June 8th, 2009) which fixes a LOT of my initial complaints, I think I will be happy.

Posting from my CrackBerry

So, while I wish there was a native app for posting to various blogs, I suppose email is easy enough. I mean, there's not too much you need to do in a post other than type text, and I'm pretty sure I could post pix from email too.

Posting from my BB is great, because I don't get to sit in front of a computer for personal reasons much, but I pretty much always have my BB and can write my posts in pieces where I get breaks (like this post which has spanned many hours and even in the midst of a family party like right this second).

My brother-in-law is sitting next to me with an iPhone, and it reminds me why they frustrate me so. They are VERY slick on many fronts, but no hardware keyboard and pretty much only a touchscreen, on top of other things like no memory expansion, etc, make me glad I don't own one. But there is a slickness to them, and graphically they blow the BB away... But life isn't eye candy.

Anyway, I have some other observations on the BB I will post soon, like using it for various things.