Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Many intense hurricanes in the last five years have caused tremendous damage to the the Gulf Coast and eastern US, so interest in keeping a constant eye on tropical storms has definitely increased. Last August, TUAW covered AccuWeather's tropical storm tracker for iPhone. While this information is part of the overall weather coverage available from AccuWeather, there's a recently updated iPhone app that is focused solely at hurricane watchers."

I've never really quite understood the need to drive towards a hurricane or tornado, although I do enjoy the video feeds when the reporter is standing at about a 45 degree angle in order to stay in the shot. If you are interested in getting current as well as historical data about hurricanes, and you want to be ready when the 2009 hurricane season officially kicks off on June 1st, this app might be worth checking out.

"Hellfire is an exciting helicopter combat game that takes you on a worldwide tour of duty. Climb aboard your helicopter gunship and take on 16 missions of adrenaline-fuelled combat action in a global theater of war."

It's a new game in the iTunes store, and looks like it might be fun based on what I saw in this you tube video. While I'm not a big fan of the controls on the iPhone/iPod Touch, I do love shoot 'em up games. It would be a lot easier though, if one of these gets the support it sounds like it deserves.

"FBI agents and Marines have a fashion challenge -- it can be so difficult to figure out how to accessorize your Knights Armament M110 sniper rifle. You don't want to put shiny bling on it, since that may attract the curiosity of your target. Dangly things would probably get caught on something. Hmmmm, how about an iPod touch?"

I know fumbling around for your phone to give a SITREP (situation report) to the command post can be difficult when you are in a tight spot for hours, but now you have a tool to make it so much easier! There is even an app on the iTunes store called Bullet Flight from Knight Armament to figure out quick ballistic solutions in the field. Seriously though, a SWAT team from one of the agencies I dispatch for is looking into something similar to use on their sniper rifles so the idea has merit.

"One shining year -- that's how long the iPhone-optimized iGoogle search page hung around, and now we must tell it goodbye."

Guess it was a matter of time for Google to standardize the display over all mobile browsers, especially since they are now in the phone business. I guess it seems logical to me to have the same page show on all mobile browsers, especially when you consider the Android coming into the mix. Google wouldn't want one phone to have an advantage over their own phone now would they? I didn't use the iPhone iGoogle interface all that often so it doesn't matter too much to me. Any power iGoogle users out there upset over this change?

"Mesa Dynamics and CardStar have announced CardStar for the iPhone/iPod touch, its latest mobile application for personal card management."

This looks like a slick program, perfect for those of us with a lot of reward card or club cards. There was a tutorial online showing you how to input your cards to your iPhone by scanning them, but I could never get them to look right. This program from CardStar, available now in the iTunes Store, could be just the ticket. I can never seem to find the cards when I need them, but I always have my iPhone.

"A Lethal app for your iPhone! OK, the headline is a bit misleading. This app won't kill you; in fact, it's designed to inform you about dangerous situations in your vicinity."

Lethal bases your danger level on several geographical factors (lethal wildlife, crime, disease, and disaster probabilities), and lets you know the best option, ie get out now! I wonder if it factors in that the use of this diverts your attention to your surroundings, so if there was something dangerous coming your way, you might not know it until too late?

"Buyers at the show were eligible for a $30 discount on the original and newer 1800 models, but if you missed that opportunity you can still save: through the end of January, use coupon code 'Macworld' at checkout and get $20 off either product (usually $50US for the lower-capacity model and $70US for the 1800 model)."

I have yet to purchase a battery backup for my iPhone, I've always had a charging option available, but I can see the benefit of throwing one of these in my bag "just in case". The RichardSolo site has quite a few nifty gadgets available for the iPod Touch and iPhone. I guess that is to be expected from a company run by the founder of The Sharper Image (bankruptcy and retail store closure aside, you can still buy products on their web site).

"Recently, digital cable provider DISH TV announced plans to incorporate Slingbox technology into several of its upcoming digital video recorder set-set boxes."

Since I have Dish, and am away from my DVR for sometimes week at a time, this is a welcome addition. This information is already on the Slingbox website and they are in a private beta that you can sign up for here. In a previous post in the forums, I mentioned that having the Slingbox viewer for the iPhone put the Slingbox at the top of my "want to buy" list. Well, this just pushed it to my "buy it now" list. Any Slingbox users out there? If so how do you like it?

"More evidence suggesting Apple's (AAPL) iPod touch had a big Christmas: Its owners looked at a lot more mobile ads in December than November, suggesting Apple sold a lot this past holiday season."

Not only did web hits increase during the Christmas season, so did ad hits according to Silicon Valley Insider. In the article, AdMob is referenced as saying they "served 292 million ads to iPod touches in December, up 3.4x from November, when it displayed 86.4 million ads to iPod touches."

They are quick to note it doesn't mean the unit base tripled and these stats depend on other factors outlined in the article. Still, that many more hits sure implies there are a lot more of them out there.

Product Category: iPhone App
Developer: Box.net
Where to Buy: iTunes App Store
Price: Free
System Requirements: iPhone/iPod Touch
Specifications: Box.net requires about 200k for installation, and needs some free memory for downloading files.

Pros:

• Allows you to view supported file types on the iPhone/iPod Touch;
• Intuitive interface;
• You can share files from the app with people in your contact list.

Cons:

• Many bugs and easy to crash;
• No way to share with people not in your contacts list;
• Lack of landscape mode makes reading some documents difficult.
  

Summary: Box.net's iPhone application is a good idea, but the implementation needs a little work. Read more...