My Mobile Life

In news just in Google Earth, one of Google’s most popular applications has been released for the iPhone this week. As you would expect the application is free and can be downloaded through the App Store or found on the iTunes store.

Google Earth for iPhone

After playing with it for a bit, I found that it tends to crash (at least it has done twice for me tonight), however it is pretty cool to be able to show off Google Earth features like the 3D zoom in on your current location, from your iPhone.

One of my concerns with the application is that it could be a bit data hungry (what with downloading all that satelite imagery to the phone), so I ran a little test to see how much data would be downloaded within a short period of use. The test was fairly simple, I just reset my usage statistics and then launched Google Earth and brought up my current location in Brisbane. The process ended up running twice (after crashing the first time) so I let it run again a second time and after doing this I checked the usage stats. Sure enough a fairly sizeable 1.5 MB of data was downloaded in the process. Which means you may not want to use this app too much if you’re on a small data plan, but hey, if data is not an issue or you’re using a wireless connection then download away.

Google Earth Zooming in on current location

That said, the app does have some pretty cool features, for instance you can “tilt your iPhone to adjust your view to see mountainous terrain” or “view geo-located wikipedia articles”.

When you crank up the phone and zoom in on your current location you get the standard prompt from the phone asking for permission to use your location. I find this a little bit silly (and rather Vista), because I had to interact with the phone to initiate the process anyway. But I suppose it’s not that big a deal.

Prompt for current location

All in all though, I have to say this is one of those cool little apps, that most self respecting geeks will want on their phone. Thanks again Google!

Map view close up

Have something you really want changed on the iPhone? As great as it is, I think most of us probably fall into this category. Well, I came across this site yesterday called PleaseFixTheIphone.com. It’s a neat little site, dedicated to collecting votes from users like you and me who want to tweak their favourite phone in some way.

Some of the top requests include:

1.) Copy and Paste

Personally this has to be at the top of my feature wish list as well. Having come from a Windows based PDA/Phone, it’s probably the only feature I really miss (well that and To-Do list integration with my mail client).

2.) MMS capability

Given that the iPhone is so good at multimedia generally, this was always going to be on people’s wish list. Yes, I know you can email photos from your iPhone, but it’s just not the same as being able to MMS someone a photo. While this certainly wouldn’t be too high on most business user’s wish list, I think the iPhone is certainly more than a business phone. In many ways it’s a phone that tries to deliver all things to all people and this is something we’ve come to expect from our phones.

3.) Flash plug-in for Safari

Once again, this probably isn’t that important for many users. How often do you go to a site that has Flash on your iPhone and really miss the Flash content? If you’re like me, not very often. However, it is a nice to have and I think that generally describes the iPhone as well.
Again, probably

About a week ago I posted about the Xtand iPhone stand and I mentioned that I was planning to purchase a Kensington in-car holder for the iPhone from Streetwise.

Well, I have to say I was pretty impressed with the service at Streetwise. The Kensington Car Mount took three days to reach me from the time it was ordered.

Attempting to position the holder properly took a couple of minutes but it really wasn’t that hard to do. The flexible arm on which the cradle is extended allows you to adjust the position of the holder to suit just about any configuration you need and the fact that a suction cup attaches to the windscreen means that you can easily take the holder with you when using multiple cars.

The iPhone Car Mount

The downside of the flexible arm system if there is one, is that the device does tend to move a little bit as you’re driving due to the movement of the car, though I doubt there’s really a way to avoid this and I don’t think it would bother most people.

The primary use for the car holder for most users I imagine will be to use Google Maps for directions while driving. This is certainly quite feasible and provides a reasonable substitute for a GPS in my opinion. The trick with this though is to turn off the AutoLock feature on the phone, so it doesn’t shut the screen off automatically after 1 minute (which is the default setting).

iPhone General Settings

To get to your Auto-Lock settings, just go to Settings and then General settings. The Auto-Lock settings option is available from here. Set Auto-Lock to Never as this will ensure the screen remains on while you’re driving, and it will save you from having to touch the screen constantly to keep the device on.

Auto-Lock settings

Depending on how far you are travelling and the zoom level you use, you will probably have to move the map around with your fingers a little bit while driving to your destination but this can be done without too much trouble with the phone in the holder.

In summary, I’m quite happy with this car mount for the iPhone and I can recommend it to others looking for a way to set the iPhone up in their car for phone or map use while driving. At $39.95 (AUS) it’s certainly pretty good value for money.

Today I downloaded the LinkedIn application for the iPhone. I’ve been keeping track of a buddy in Los Angeles who recently lost his job in the financial crises and so I thought it would be handy if I could do this from my phone. Personally I find that I don’t normally spend much time on thi sort of networking while sitting in front of the computer, as there are countless other things that I generally want/need to work on, but it’s great to be able to catch up on this sort of stuff while killing time in traffic or on public transportation.

Linked In Application

LinkedIn Startup screen

Well, I’m happy to say the LinkedIn application didn’t disappoint. The app Provides four main screens, Updates, Connections, Search and Status. The Updates screen provides a snapshot of the new connections that people in your network have made recently. 

LinkedIn Updates screen

The Connections screen lists all the people in your network who you are directly connected to and provides quick access to message them or view their connections.

Using the Search screen you can quickly look up contacts who you are not yet connected to, with the Options button providing access to choose your search type.

LinkedIn Connections

Finally the Status screen allows you to view and change your own status, while viewing the recent updates of your contact’s status messages as well. All in all, I think this is a handy little app for keeping up to date on your business networks. 

LinkedIn Status Screen

One of the issues I’ve noticed with the iPhone as I use it is that there seems to be a problem with wifi in the device. Frequently I’ll connect to the network in the office for example and I find that the connection gets dropped very quickly, normally within minutes but sometimes even within a second or two of connecting. When the connection is dropped WiFi is often turned off as well. I will then go and turn WiFi back on, only to find that I need to reconnect to the desired network, at which time the connection is dropped again. This will happen a few times until, eventually I get sick of it and shutdown the device and restart it.

Having done a little bit of research about this problem, I’ve discovered that there are two distinct issues here:

1.) The iPhone will disable WiFi when put into sleep (or locked) mode and not plugged into a power source of docking station. This behaviour appears to be by design. While you can disbable the Auto Locking feature, this wastes battery life as the screen remains on while the phone is unlocked.

2.) The problem with the WiFi connection being dropped immediately appears to be a valid issue, though it’s unclear what causes this.

Okay, in situation 1, there may be times when you wish your WiFi connection to remain enabled/connected (i.e. you’re downloading something, etc…). In this case you’ve got a couple options the first of which we’ve already covered (disabling auto lock). The second option is to use a little application called Insomnia by Cydia. The purpose of this app is to ensure the WiFi connection stays alive when your phone is locked. Check out this little video about it.

With the second situation, I imagine there could be a number of reasons for this, from invalid certificates, range issues, etc… to actual software issus with the iPhone. Right now I think the best way to resolve this is just to shutdown the phone and re-start it. However, I’d be interested to know if anyone else has this problem and if you’ve found any good evidence which points to the cause of the problem and more importantly if you’ve got a solution for this.

A couple of days ago a friend sent me an interesting link to a website featuring a product for the iPhone which looks quite handy. It’s called an Xtand. The product looks like it’s been designed as a desktop based holder for the iPhone. It’s about $35 to purchase online through Streetwise.

Seeing this got me thinking about purchasing an in car holder for the phone. I realised how much I could use one this weekend, while down the Gold Coast for a conference. On a few occasions I was using Google Maps on the iPhone and was holding the phone while driving around which just isn’t all that practical really.

The in car holder that Streetwise sells looks like it would do the trick nicely, featuring a little suction cup that allows it to attach quickly and easily to your dash. While I haven’t tried one yet, I think I will pick one up, so I’ll let you know how it goes in real life.

Okay, I must admit there’s probably a high degree of self-interest in the application that I’m featuring for this particular post but I suspect I’m probably not the only one who wants to update a blog from my iPhone. WordPress, arguably one of the most widely used OpenSource blogging platforms on the planet (and the one I use for this blog) has released an iPhone application.

I was planning to use this application on the way home last night but had a little difficulty connecting to the blog initially due to the fact that I hadn’t enabled XML-RPC services for the blog. I think this is disabled by default in WordPress 2.6. However, once I’d enabled it this morning I had no trouble connecting and editing my blog via the phone.

WordPress application home

When you initially setup WordPress on the iPhone you will need to enter the URL of your blog (don’t worry about typing in http://wwww or the wp-admin bit on the end). Just put in the main URL. I.e. for mine I put mobilelife.net.au. Then enter your username and password and whalah. You’re away.

WordPress Setup screen

WordPress post view

One of the cool features of the application is you can create local drafts while working on the iPhone which means you don’t have to be constantly connected to or updating the server version of the post.

WordPress Post Edit

Editing posts is relatively easy though slightly more challenging then doing so on a computer, which I guess is to be expected on such a small screen. I also suspect that those new to the iPhone will find it somewhat frustrating to try and type a long post using the device’s keyboard, which can be a bit challenging for those with big fingers. However, the freedom of being able to post to your blog while on the go (making better use of time spent on trains, planes, etc…) will definitely be attractive to many. Happy blogging!

I discovered a great little application this weekend called AroundMe from TweakerSoft. I got to test it out this afternoon while wandering around a little gallery in Byron. Yes, after another idyllic weekend on the North Coast of New South Wales, we decided to finish off the day with a wine and some food in Byron before heading home. While selecting our watering hole, I thought I’d see if the application actually worked locally as I wasn’t sure if it supported Australian locations when I downloaded it from the iTunes app store (for free).

AroundMe icon

Some of you might recall a post I wrote not so long ago about an app called Buzzd which lets you recommend places and things going on in your local area. AroundMe is similar to Buzzd, except that it works off a pre-populated database with information on facilities (banks, cafes, restaraunts, service stations, hospitals, etc…). The idea being that you can lookup facilities close to you, using the phone’s ability to pinpoint your location.

AroundMe - current location prompt

When you launch the application you are asked if you want to let it access your location info. Once you permit this, you see a menu which gives you a list of the types of businesses that you might be interested in. You select the type of place you want and after a short delay for the search, you get a listing of the businesses in the area ordered by proximity.

AroundMe - Initial listing screen

From the listing screen you can add the business to your contacts, email them or choose to see the address on the map. Alternatively you can choose contact info or see the route to the location via Google Maps.

AroundMe - Service station listing

AroundMe - Business detail listing

I think this is a great example of the sort of apps that the iPhone is perfect for and this one in particular will definitely be one I keep on my phone.

One of the things you’ll probably want to do at some stage when using your iPhone is check your usage data. I’ve touched on this a little before and mentioned that while some carriers such as Vodafone offer a nice easy way to do this (i.e. dial 1527 from your mobile) other carriers don’t necessarily provide this service.

Fortunately however, the phone itself tracks your data usage and will give you a summary of the amount of data saved and received. To access this info just do the following:

1.) Go to settings

The settings screen

2.) Select General

The General screen in settings

3.) Select Usage

The usage screen

The other cool thing I learned today (coincidentally in preparing to write this post) was how to take screenshots on your iPhone, thanks to this post.

The first thing to note is that you must have the 2.0 Firmware update. Again you check this in Settings > General > About. So make sure you have the right firmware.

Then to take a screenshot simply hold down the Home button (the black button on the bottom on the face of the phone) and click the Sleep/Wake button in the top right hand corner. Wahlah, you have a screenshot which you can find in your Camera Roll.

Handy to know!

Okay, we’re back on the subject of lifestyle design, a favourite topic of mine, in case you hadn’t realised and I want to talk today about income.

I was re-reading some of the early chapters in Four Hour Work Week recently and I become particularly interested in a section where Timothy Ferris talks about money and how our take on it is often distorted by a lack of understanding regarding the difference between absolute and relative income. While the concept is quite simple and probably obvious to some, I so often find myself thinking or talking about income in absolute terms when it’s relative income that is actually important.

To use an example from the book if John makes $100,000 per annum working 80 hour weeks (and has 2 weeks off) and Jane makes $50,000 per annum working 10 hours a week (again with 2 weeks off), most of us would relate to John as somehow better off. But that’s thinking about absolute income. If we look at the hourly rate that each are making, John is on $25 per hour but Jane is on $100 per hour (almost four times more than John). Now who’s better off? Jane is of course in relative income.

While I don’t necessarily recommend that we all compare incomes to try and work out who’s better off, I do think this is worth understanding as it puts in perspective the choices we make about income and how we generate it. It may be rewarding seeing your bank account swell, everytime you receive your paycheck, but it’s worth considering the time cost to generate that income and working out whether the rewards are worthwhile on balance.

Personally thinking about this distinction makes me consider the various income streams that I have and helps me to understand which are the best fit in terms of the lifestyle design that I have for myself.

Have an opinion on this and want to share? I’d love to hear your comments.