Category archive for ‘Mobile’ at bioneural.net

Archive for the 'Mobile' category

iPhone 2G on O2 Simplicity contract

Published by Bruce on June 23, 2009 in Mobile. 19 responses

If you liked the concept of a new iPhone 3GS but found the contract tariffs and Pay & Go up-front costs unpalatable, now might be a good time to obtain a pre-loved iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G. I have an iPhone 2G which I previously unlocked and used on Vodafone UK, but found myself drawn to O2's offer of unlimited O2 to O2 calls—not to mention avoidance of the need to unlock the device and the hassle around firmware updates that doing so entails. I had to dig around the Interwebs and make a support phone call to discover all I needed to know to get up and running with O2 Simplicity; that knowledge is summarized below. Feel free to contribute any further tidbits!
Continue reading 'iPhone 2G on O2 Simplicity contract'

Dropbox and iPhone sitting in a tree

Published by Bruce on February 15, 2009 in Mobile. 5 responses

It's amazing how easy it is to fill an 8GB iPhone. While apps like FileMagnet (using a proprietary protocol & desktop companion app) and Air Sharing (WebDAV via your desktop or web browser) provide "documents to go" functionality, this only works if your phone is on the same WiFi network as your desktop—and providing you've enough space left after syncing that episode of Battlestar Galactica! Since the iPhone does not offer expandable storage there are two alternatives. The first is to stream media content to the device (e.g. via BBC iPlayer, Internet radio, or DRM-free iTunes tracks). Alternatively, you could temporarily cache and view a limited range of file types via mobile Safari, or download and store various documents retrieved from your FTP server (e.g. via FTP On The Go, MobileStudio)—or make use of the cloud (e.g. via Dropbox or Box).
Continue reading 'Dropbox and iPhone sitting in a tree'

Add a geo field to iPhone and Address Book

Published by Bruce on February 9, 2009 in Mobile. 5 responses

Both the Mac OSX Address Book and Contacts/ Phone apps on the Apple iPhone support a custom "geo" field. You can use this field to store GPS coordinates that will open a Google Map when right-clicked on Mac or tapped on iPhone. The reverse geocoding in Google Maps isn't always perfect; this gives you the option to store a more accurate location alongside a human-readable address.
Continue reading 'Add a geo field to iPhone and Address Book'

RouteBuddy To Go for your iPhone

Published by Bruce on July 29, 2008 in Mobile. 6 responses

I've been spending a lot of time lately using RouteBuddy (more on that soon), and also too much time playing with various apps from the App Store for iPhone/ iPod touch. Among other functions RouteBuddy allows you to create high-quality road maps upon which you can plot custom points-of-interest (waypoints), or display track logs and route plans. While these maps may look stunning on a 23" Cinema Display as you zoom in and out, that's not hardware you can tuck under your arm as you explore unfamiliar streets on foot. True, you could just print the maps, but Apple's iPhone offers a high resolution yet compact viewport—so why not go paper free? There are several native apps for iPhone that make this prospect enticing; here's how to fake your own RouteBuddy To Go and how to create waypoints in RouteBuddy using your iPhone's location awareness.
Continue reading 'RouteBuddy To Go for your iPhone'

iPhone geotagging good for a laugh only

Published by Bruce on July 21, 2008 in Mobile. 10 responses

Geotagging outdoors with the original iPhone—which uses triangulation of cell tower signals—seems to be as entertaining as some of the "productivity tools" in the App Store. In other words, laughably useless. While the iPhone did somewhat erroneously relocate a pavement sign to the North Sea shipping lanes, it also managed to pin a photo of a rose to within 1.4km of the actual location. How can it be so inconsistent, and are things really as bad as they seem?
Continue reading 'iPhone geotagging good for a laugh only'

Using faux Contacts for GTD on the iPhone

Published by Bruce on April 24, 2008 in Mobile. 4 responses

Despite strong indications of an imminent second generation 3G iPhone, the recent £100 price drop on the 8GB iPhone proved too tempting. I had hesitated because the iPhone failed to meet my minimum requirements for basic PDA functionality. With 1Password mostly overcoming the secure data exchange obstacle, the remaining challenge was to find a network-independent way of managing and synchronising tasks ("to do" items). I've also been wading through David Allen's book Getting Things Done in a search for ways to improve my personal productivity. Could I cherry-pick the key principles of the GTD religion and apply them on the iPhone using only the built-in apps?
Continue reading 'Using faux Contacts for GTD on the iPhone'