Author: Terry White

Terry is the co-author of The Best Selling "The iPhone Book" 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th editions. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years and is the founder and president of MacGroup-Detroit, Inc., Michigan's largest Macintosh Users Group, host of the Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and a technology writer - Terry White Tech Blog.
Sale
navigon

Navigon Apps Half Off Sale

Get the Navigon North America App for only $39.99 here from the NAVIGON <-My favorite Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation App

Get the Navigon USA App for only $24.99 here from the NAVIGON

 

Navigon is celebrating their birthday with a Half Off Sale on their iPhone/iPod touch GPS Navigation Apps. My Region Apps normally go for $24.99, however for a short time they are only $14.99 each!

Now you can get: MyRegion US East – covering: (AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, IN, KY, MA, ME, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, Ri, SC, TN, VT, VA, WV) On Sale for $14.99

MyRegion US Central – covering: (AL, AR, CO, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NE, NM, ND, OH, OK, SD, TN, TX, WI, WY) On Sale for $14.99

MyRegion US West – covering: (AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY) On Sale for $14.99

 

Need a little more? Say two regions? No worries, just buy the main region you need and you can expand your coverage with an in-app purchase of up to two additional regions. So this way you can start with the main region you need, but add on later and only if you need to. This is the kind of pricing that I felt these GPS Navigation Apps should have had all along! So don't hesitate. Jump on these Sale prices while the getting is good. Also if you have an iPod touch or you just want a great Car Kit to go with your Navigon App, check out this one by Magellan.

 

My setup above is:

 

FAQ: Yes, all of the Maps are built-in to the App. No, you don't need a data connection while you're using it (except for the weather, parking and Google POI search). No it does't require your data plan (except for the 3 things I just mentioned). No it doesn't require a Car Kit unless you're using an iPod touch, which doesn't have a GPS (the car kit does). No, there are no monthly fees. You buy the App and you're done.

Reviews / Utilities
FindMyiPhone

Find My iPhone App

Find My iPhone is a feature of Apple's MobileMe service that allows iOS Device owners to find their missing devices. If the device is on and connected to the internet, Find My iPhone can be accessed from a web browser by logging into your MobileMe account or via this New App installed on another iOS device. This App does NOT need to be installed on the missing device to use the feature.  I like the prospect of the Find My iPhone feature of MobileMe. However, you have to realize that there are limitations. First off, you have to be a MobileMe customer and the Find My iPhone feature has to be turned ON on the device before it comes up missing. Even then, you will only be able to locate the device if it's turned on and connected to the internet. So let's say you just discovered that your iPod touch is missing and the last time you used it was a couple of days ago. If the device has run out of power or if someone took it and is walking about outside (not in a WiFi zone), then this feature won't help you. As long as you realize the limits, having MobileMe and this feature provides more hope of recovering your device than not having this feature. If you have an iPhone, you have a better chance since the iPhone can be on a cellular data network just about anywhere.

The only thing worse than losing your device is someone having your information too

Although you can replace your iOS device, it may be a lot more frustrating and potentially damaging  if someone has access to all of the information on it. We often don't think twice about what's on these devices. However, there's a lot of information on them about YOU! Your contacts are on there. Your calendar is there. Your photos are on there. Your emails are on there (probably complete with order confirmations complete with your shipping address, from the places you shop at), and most of your Apps probably have the passwords saved in them for easy access to your various accounts. I always tell people regardless of whether or not you have MobileMe, you should protect your device with a PIN. So it takes a few extra seconds to key it in when you want to use the device, at least it gives you peace of mind that someone else can't just turn it on and have your whole life in front of them. With that out of the way, now let's talk about the App. Like I said, you can do all of this from any web browser. However, since Apple doesn't really let you get to the MobileMe site from your iOS device (odd, I know), you now have a FREE App to use this feature. Once you launch the App you sign in with your MobileMe credentials. You can then access all of your iOS devices that have the Find My iPhone feature enabled. If the device is on and on the net, Find My iPhone will begin to locate it. Once the device has been located you can Display a Message on the device that pops up. This could be a message with instructions on how to return it to you. You can have it play a sound even if the device is muted, which is handy for locating a missing device in your home or around you. You can Remote Lock the device with a new or different PIN. Lastly you can Remote Wipe the device, which will remove ALL of your information from it. This last one is great because once it starts the process of wiping there is no stopping it. Even if they power off the device, the wipe will continue once it's turned back on. What if your device is off or not on the internet? Although Find My iPhone won't be able to tell you where it is, you can still use the Display Message or Sound, Remote Lock and Remote Wipe features and they will kick in the next time the device is turned on and connects to the internet.

You can get the Find My iPhone App here from the Find

 

The Bottom Line

I was already a MobileMe customer before this feature, so for me this just adds more value to my MobileMe account. Although I understand the limitations, I would still like to see a couple of additional features added. First off I have a MobileMe Family Pack and it seems silly that I have to log in as each user separately to locate a particular user's device. I understand the privacy implications, but I still think that the Family Pack MobileMe members should have an Opt In option for the master account holder to be able to see ALL the devices associated with the one account at the same time. The other thing I'd like to see is a Remote Wipe and Destroy! What good is Remote Wiping my iPod touch if the thief can then just configure it as their NEW device once I wipe it? Wipe and Destroy would render the device useless until it was either sync'd with the last computer that it had been sync'd with or taken into an Apple Store to be cleared (not on the stolen list). Even without these last two features I find MobileMe and Find My iPhone a much better value than AT&T's Family Map feature.

 

Whatever you do, don't pay full price for MobileMe

I've been a MobileMe customer since day one and not once have I ever paid the full retail price for it. You can get any version of the retail packaging and use the code inside to renew your subscription. You can get the individual pack here for about $68 ($99 retail) and the Family Pack here for about $98 ($149 retail)

Finance / Reviews
checkpleaseforipad

CheckPlease for iPad

Honestly I never thought that I'd be reviewing another Tip Calculator, let alone one specifically for the iPad. The thing about Tip Calculators is that usually once you have one that you like, there isn't really much more that you need. My favorite Tip Calculator for the iPhone is BigTipper. I love the UI (User Interface) and it has all the features (I thought) I wanted. Also In the beginning I never thought I would have my iPad out in a restaurant. However, more and more I find myself using it especially if I'm eating alone or during a lunch/dinner meeting. When the check comes and I need to figure out the tip I either do it in my head or I reach for my iPhone. Granted, any calculator can figure out a tip. There's not a lot of math going on there. :) What I like about a dedicated Tip Calculator is the ease of use of doing things like adjusting the percentage, not tipping on the tax and rounding up. Although there are several Tip Calculators on the App Store, many of them miss one or more of these basic requirements or their UI's are horrible. If I'm going to have a Tip Calculator, let alone pay for one, then it has to have EVERYTHING I need. After my last breakfast meeting, I started thinking about getting a Tip Calculator for my iPad. Although BigTipper runs fine on the iPad, I want a native iPad App whenever I can get one. I want one that not only works on the iPad, but looks great on the iPad's large display.

CheckPlease for iPad does what I want and even offers a unique feature

Let's start with my minimum requirements: Great UI!, easily adjustable percentage, the option to not tip on the tax, the ability to round up/down, and it has to be fast and easy to enter the total of the check (some of the early tip calculators defaulted to the alphabetic keyboard-doh!), lastly although I never use it, it should have the option of splitting the bill (people just expect to have that option). CheckPlease for the iPad has all of this of course or it wouldn't be getting a review here. However, it has one thing that I never thought of, but did run into recently. It has the option of adding in a coupon or gift card. Just the other night I was at dinner with some friends and I had a gift card to the restaurant that I wanted to use on the bill. The amount of the bill was more than the gift card, so I was going to have to pay the difference. In this situation the waiter/waitress should still get the full tip amount AND once the coupon/gift card is deducted you want to be able to see the proper totals to fill in for the payment. CheckPlease for iPad allows you to easily add in a coupon or gift card with a single tap. It's a small thing, but it's one that I hadn't seen yet on any other App in this category. Lastly CheckPlease for iPad integrates with PocketMoney. I don't use PocketMoney, so this feature doesn't mean anything to me. What I would like to see though is the ability to keep the history of your transactions right in the App like BigTipper does. Otherwise, I'm completely happy with this App!

You can get CheckPlease for iPad here from the CheckPlease

Accessories / Reviews
macally_bookstand

Macally BookStand Case for iPad

When I bought my iPad, I also bought the Apple iPad Case, mainly because I knew I needed a case and at the time it was pretty much the only one that was available. Now we have lots of choices with new cases coming out every day. The Apple iPad Case frustrates me because you can't leave it on the iPad and put the iPad in Apple's own iPad Dock/Keyboard Dock (unless you're willing to cut the case). It's also not easy to the get the iPad in and out of the Apple case. So I immediately began looking for alternative cases. I have three cases now and the Macally BookStand is my goto iPad case when I want a thin case that's easy to get the iPad in and out of. Since I haven't found a case yet that allows docking and sleeves don't usually allow you to stand the iPad up for video watching, the Macally BookStand is a very nice compromise. 

It's very easy to put the iPad into this case. You simply snap it in to the four corner holders. All of the ports and controls are exposed so there is n't much protection on three of the sides. There is a nice suede feel to the outer case and a nice leather strap that folds over. The case can be used either so it opens to the left or to the right, which makes it nice for left or right handed people. Flip the cover over and around, insert the strap and you've got a nice easel like stand. If you want to use the iPad in a Dock, just pop it out of the case in about 3 seconds. That's pretty much it! It works and it works well. I took it with me on a recent trip because I was low on space and like the Apple case this one is very thin. 

You can get the Macally BookStand here for $37 ($49.99 List Price)

Productivity / Reviews
dropbox

Use Dropbox to share big files

Although I have access to my 20GB of space on my iDisk with my MobileMe account (family pack), it's hard to ignore some of the great FREE alternatives out there. Dropbox is a great service for people that want to share large files. Most email services cap the size of the email that you can send to anywhere between 15-20mb per email on average. While that's probably plenty for your JPG pictures, it's definitely not enough for video files. With Dropbox you signup for a Free account and then you can access up to 2GB's of online space from your computer or your iOS device using their FREE Universal App. Not only can you access your files for sharing, but if they are in a compatible format you can view them right in the App too. So for example, if you upload a PDF you can view that PDF from your device. Many apps offer this type of viewing. What makes Dropbox different is that you can also elect to send someone a LINK to the file so that they can download it from YOUR Dropbox. This way instead of emailing the large file, you're just emailing a link that they can click on to download the file to their computer. This is also a great solution for having an online backup of an important presentation. Since it's also web based you can access your files from any computer on the internet by going to dropbox.com and logging in.

iPhone 4 users can share HD video

It's great that you can shoot 5MP stills and HD video from your iPhone 4. With the Dropbox App you can upload those files directly from your camera roll to your Dropbox account and share them! If you need more than 2GB of space there are paid options starting at $9.99/month. 

Although it's great to be able to send/share files from your camera roll, I would really like to see this App updated with to register itself with the "Open In" command. For example, if I already have a PDF on my device in another App, I'd love to be able to say Open in Dropbox to share that PDF.

You can get Dropbox here from the Dropbox

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