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Geolocation+Seasonal Filter On iPhone Bird Guide

6/29/2012

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I downloaded and use the Peters0n Field Guide to North American Birds app for my iPhone. It's really cool, has all the descriptions, plate images, photos of eggs, places to put your own photos of the birds you see, and recordings of the sounds, so you can listen to the calls. It also allows you to check species off your life list, or create additional lists. I like it, and it's probably a top 5 in-use app at the moment.

I was out "running" (more like plodding, but whatever) yesterday and startled a bird in the sagebrush. I wasn't sure what it was, and the thought of slogging through all 810 listed species, looking for a match seemed daunting. That made me think of how the overall list could be pared down in situations like this, and I thought, "Eureka!".

The iPhone has geolocation abilities. It also knows the date. The Peterson Field guide has range maps. Bingo! Put the two together and you can have a filter that essentially says "Show me only the birds possible in my current area, at my current time of year, based on their range maps."

I think that would be really cool. Then, when I have opportunity to be across the country, I can do the same, and see a display of only the birds in that area, during that season. I think that would make identification a bit easier. What say you?
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Rooting for the NFC

5/4/2012

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For all the American football fans out there who thought I was going to discuss the Green Bay Packers, or the New York Giants, or even the lowly St. Louis Rams, sorry. I think the title has misled you a bit. Not to say I don't like football, but the only NFC team worth rooting for is the 49'ers, and they follow most of the AFC in my hierarchy. I guess I have a bit of a bias after growing up in Denver, with relatives in San Diego. But I digress. 

The NFC I am rooting for is Near Field Communications. Using NFC is how I envision a scene that played out in my head when I was reading an Alan Dean Foster novel many years ago (I think the novel was Orphan Star, but it was a long time ago). In that book, two people have decided to perform a financial transaction. One person checked his balance on a card he was carrying, saw there was enough and made the transfer to the second person. All without need of a physical transfer of fungible items. 

For the most part, we are there with the ability to transfer money between Paypal accounts from a smart phone. What will get us completely there, would be the addition of NFC (and biometrics, but I'll get to that). With NFC enabled on my (and my transaction partner's) phones, a financial transaction could simply be a process of tapping out the amount to transfer, putting the two phones in close (a few centimeters) proximity, and allowing the process to happen. Why NFC is integral is that it doesn't work for distances beyond a few centimeters (approximately an inch). This significantly reduces the potential for data theft that can occur via the Bluetooth technology (both using RFID signals). Android phones already are implementing NFC technology, but iPhones are not; they are thought to be doing so this fall with the phone following the 4S. At that point, all that's needed is the Paypal app that can implement it. I do realize that Google Wallet is already possibly implementing NFC, but who uses it in comparison to Paypal?

Now let's really take it to the next - and I believe attainable - level. Instead of a lame 4-digit code to unlock the phone, make it biometric and seamless. My hand grabs my phone, and it recognizes that it is me and completely unlocks it. Someone else? Well, there can be various levels of access. For example, my kids would get to play some games, maybe see some photos. Someone other than me that tries to access it multiple times without me unlocking it, the phone shuts down. Heck, add in an automatic call as stolen and reveal its location, and/or scrubs all contents. Secure and safe. Am I OK with my data scrubbed? Yes, because I back up my stuff... do you?

While I am at it, there needs to be increased durability. Exiting smart phones are still too fragile. Gorilla glass, for all its strength and scratch resistance, can't take a fall. I have high hopes for Liquidmetal that is rumored to be in consideration for the next generation of phones. 

I want something as durable as a credit card, with biometric recognition, NFC data transfer, and self charging either through PV or kinetic recapture. I'm not asking for much. Oh, and I want it when my current iPhone 4S is in need of replacement. Sound good?
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Electronic, portable toolsets

2/17/2012

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 I have an iPhone, and have had one for about 4 years. I originally had a 3G with AT&T "service" tagging along, and now I have the 4S with Verizon "service." Yes, both have crappy service. Both drop calls more often than a skittish wide receiver going over the middle - at least in my area. Both had such bad service at my house, I had to get a micro cell tower for both in order to even get and receive calls.

It's a good thing I use it far less for synchronous vocal communications (read: phone call) than asynchronous information exchange (read: texting and/or data access). The intermittent nature of the service is of far less importance for data than voice. And, for me, it's the data over the voice communication that makes owning a smartphone worthwhile.

Speaking of voice (ha, get it?), I gave Siri a whirl when I first got the 4S a couple of months ago. It was interesting - when their servers weren't overwhelmed, disallowing any information return. Now, it appears Siri has some competition. Evi, created by True Knowledge, a Cambridge, U.K.-based semantic technology startup can answer questions posed by voice (using Nuance software) in a conversational manner or by typing. (Nuance is the current incarnation of Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software.  I gave it a whirl back in the late 1990's as an addon tool for my legislative drafting software that I wrote. Unfortunately, it never worked quite as well as I hoped back then.) 

Evi is intended for use as a general reference for facts and location-based information (think Yelp or AroundMe). I read that some users have issues with Evi servers being overwhelmed as well. I haven't yet given Evi a try, but being on the west coast of North America, and True Knowledge being in the UK, I anticipate the 8-hour time zone difference alleviating the server load issue for me.

For computational information, I use the WolframAlpha application on my iPad. It's now a mere $9.99 and (for me) exceeds any mathematical needs. I don't know if it matches the overall power and elegance of Mathematica, but for 1/100 the price of the standalone application ten years ago, that's OK. 

A favorite query is to input two given names and get a comparative analysis of those two names' use over time. You can do this on the web as well, as they both link to the same servers. I also used it to review my son's homework. He has a graphing calculator, I have Wolfram Alpha.

 I think I'll give Evi a go as another handy tool for the computer in my pocket.
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Big Brother is Corporate

12/1/2011

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Holy crap. I always knew that using smart phones (Android, iPhones, etc.) can be potentially a problem for anyone who wanted to keep a reasonable modicum of privacy. Then I saw this, and the words "can be potentially" were replaced with "is definitely."
Though I haven't specifically found any references to CIQ on iPhones, do I believe there is something similar? <Puts on tinfoil hat> Probably.
I am stunned by the duplicity and disingenuousness of the perpetrators of the data mining, especially Carrier IQ. Gotta love the quickly generated video of Carrier IQ's CEO standing in his office in shirt sleeves, all "regular guy" claiming--falsely—that their software doesn't capture keystrokes, when it very clearly does as the above video demonstrates. I really found it interesting his eyes kept flicking away from the camera. Isn't that a "tell" of someone lying? Also by taking the low road and attacking Trevor Eckhart (the person who discovered the data mining) by threatening legal action certainly torches any confidence you might have had in the eyes of public opinion. CarrierIQ: definitely evil. 
Google? Well, I'd have to put you in the evil camp, too. Sorry guys, but I find it impossible that you don't know what is going on and it's a load of crap. You're infringing on the privacy of every Android phone user, and if the government doesn't step in and do something to slow it, then we will all know that the mining was done either at the explicit instruction of the boys in Washington, or with the sly wink and nod, knowing they get to root through the goodies whenever they want.
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You phone, my phone, iPhone

11/3/2011

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I finally bit the bullet in a couple of ways this week and updated my old phone and changed carriers simultaneously. We had been using AT&T for the last forever years, but the signal strength at the house was not bad - it was abysmal. Typically, it would be one bar, dropping to no signal after a minute or so into the call. After numerous complaints using their handy iPhone app, AT&T sent us a microcell tower that hooked up to the DSL line. Whoo-hoo! Five stinkin' bars! As long as you stood in the kitchen where the tower was. In my office 50 feet away, or in the kids' rooms also 50 feet away, the signal strength dropped to one to two bars. Not as bad as with no tower, but still, pretty lame.
Enter the new iPhone4s and Verizon.
Signal strength at the house is a solid 2-3 bars. Considering what it was before, that kind of performance can only be described as relatively stellar!
The screen on the 4s is so much clearer than my old one, and the ability to use iMessage in addition to text is nice. I also am impressed with the way I can do a voice text. The recognition is pretty good. I can even do smilies that way. I need to find out about if I can have the phone read incoming texts, though.While driving, that would be a really nice thing, especially as Nevada has a law now banning hand-held cell phone use.
The kids really enjoy asking Siri ridiculous questions like "where to dump the body?" and "what are you wearing?" I did ask it what the answer to life, the universe and everything was. Already knowing the answer to be 42, I was gratified to see Siri also knew. :-)
Other considerable improvements over my old phone that are immediately noticeable are the speed and battery life. I used to wait seemingly interminably for things to happen on the old phone. I guess what was considered speedy in 2008 is pokey today. Either that, or my old phone simply got tired in its old age. I know the button's sensitivity was about shot; I had to mash it before it would recognize the action. No longer. With the new Blue Jet, all is happy clappy. And fast.
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    A never-was endurance runner, and paripetetic wanna-be who is eyeing early retirement with gleeful enthusiasm.


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