Verizon Dare vs Hurricane Ike
September 20, 2008
This weekend the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew 80 mph winds through northern Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana leaving me powerless and Internetless on Sunday. In the meantime, my Verizon Dare connected me what was going on. I could access weather maps 2 ways, through the navigation system which was really simple, or through the internet. I am really amazed that as 1.26 million people were without power and/or internet, I had the world at my fingertips. The small screen played YouTube videos flawlessly, checked Duke energy’s website for updates, checked my email, and provided up to the minute radar maps. It’s a little annoying to browse a large site on a little screen, because everything is adjusted and you have to scroll down forever, and the touch screen limits how far down you can scroll. Other than that, it was awesome. I charged it up using a converter in my car and it charged it from dead to lasting three days so far in about 1 hour.
Free Google Earth-Like iPhone App
September 18, 2008
For a limited time, the normally $10 Earthscape iPhone app is free to download (iTunes link)! I’m in the process of downloading it now, and it looks like it should be really cool, despite its lack of some important features. I’d definitely recommend giving it a shot if you’re an iPhone owner.
From Techcrunch:
“The app, which we first wrote about in May, puts a little globe in your pocket that you can spin around and zoom in to specific locations. It shows where you are based on your GPS coordinates, highlights locations with Wikipedia entries (and lets you read those entries as well) and flickr photos. Users can also take their own photos and add them to the application’s database.”
5 (or 7) Things The Emerging Church Got Wrong
September 16, 2008
Just read this post on Andrew Jones’ Tall Skinny Kiwi. I think you should go check it out. Andrew took a poll a couple of weeks ago and decided to stop using the term “Emerging Church”. Now he’s discussing some things that the movement can use to improve itself, and I think he (and the article he’s referencing) bring up some good points.
So check it out:
First Impression of iTunes 8
September 9, 2008
Real quick, I wanted to give some first impressions that I’ve had about iTunes 8. If you haven’t heard, Steve Jobs and Apple held a special event today to announce new iPod Nanos and iPod Touches. One of the more exciting things in my opinion is the iTunes 8 update. This version comes with lots of minor updates, but perhaps the most significant thing is the Genius feature. Here are some things I noticed:
- The set-up of Genius is very simple. iTunes does most everything for you.
- The playlists are actually good. I have most of my songs rated and stuff, and I’ve tried several songs out as tests and have found that the songs Genius recommended have been very similar to the selected songs.
- The right sidebar is pretty straightforward, although I’d like it if you could create that playlist in that right sidebar rather than in a new tab on the left sidebar.
- Graphically, everything looks good and clean.
Just some initial observations. Take it for what it’s worth.
The Essential College Student Application
September 1, 2008
Last semester I stumbled upon the application Schoolhouse and have never looked back. The author brands the app with the idea that it is a homework management application, and I find that it is very successful at doing that. Schoolhouse has a number of great features that allow users to add assignments, keep track of upcoming due dates, and even calculate grades in a class based on inputted data. The author even claims that the next version will have iCal support, but it’s been a while since he has made any mention of his intent to finish the next version of the app. I’m hopeful, but regardless you should check it out.