So you’ve got a wi-fi only iPad, or any other wi-fi device, and you want to connect to the Internet while away from home or your nearest wi-fi hotspot. You can actually do it now, and you don’t need to upgrade to the soon to be released iPad with 3G.
The solution is simple… you become your own Wi-Fi hotspot. Yup, all you need is a MiFi from Verizon and you can instantly become your own mobile wi-fi hotspot. The MiFi is a tiny portable battery-powered wi-fi hotspot that allows you to connect multiple wi-fi devices at a time and provides Internet access over Verizon’s Wireless Network. Charge it up, throw it in your pocket and you could be walking down the street surfing the net or answering emails on your iPad, and you can even share your hot-spot with your friends.
The good news is that this will allow you to connect all your wi-fi enabled devices, not just an iPad, and that since it’s on the Verizon network coverage is good (IMHO, a lot better than AT&T*). The bad news is that it is a more expensive than AT&T’s all-you-can-eat data service which will be offer to iPad 3G owners, but again it allows you to connect multiple devices not just the iPad. This might be a great solution for those who travel for work and tire of paying $15 a day or more for connectivity at a hotel.
I do not own an iPad and I do not have a MiFi from Verizon, so I can’t tell you first hand that it works. All I can say is that I have heard that the combination is working great for some people. As usual, your milage may vary.
* For personal use I have an iPhone (AT&T), but I also have Blackberry (on Verizon) for work. I say that Verizon’s coverage is better simply because I go a lot of places where I have weak or no coverage on my iPhone, but a strong signal on my Blackberry… enuf said!
Tech and gadget news (or rumor) site Gizmodo is reporting that they have uncovered the next generation iPhone. It’s a story that involves an Apple engineer, a top-secret prototype device, a local watering hole and probably more than a few brewed beverages.
Knowing how tight-lipped Apple is about their new products this all sounds almost too strange to be true, however I find the pictures of this magical new device, and the now almost comical story of Apple requesting its return, to be fairly compelling evidence of its actual existence.
So the big question I have is… will it work on Verizon’s network?
This is a slightly old news, but still worth a mention.
On April 8th Apple previewed it’s new iPhone OS 4 to the world, which at first glance appears to contains many new and exciting features such as Multitasking, App Folders, Wallpapers, Enhanced Email, a Game Center and more.
Now before you get too excited there’s a catch; While iPhone 3G users will be able to upgrade their phones to the new OS, not all the features will be available, namely Multitasking. Those of you with an iPhone 3GS have no fear, you’ll get your Multitasking and more, it’s just us lowly 3G and 1st-Gen iPhone users that won’t. Sigh.
As a 3G owner I was a bit disappointed when I read this, while app folders are useful and wallpapers are neat, I REALLY desire multitasking. I’m sure that Apple will tell us that the processor or memory in the 3G isn’t capable of supporting multitasking, and they are only just protecting us from encountering crashes or performance issues, and perhaps that is the case, but the paranoid part of my brain is telling me that this is just Apple’s way of encouraging us to upgrade our phones. Maybe that is Apple’s strategy, but my phone isn’t even two years old and I can’t help but feel a little jipped.
Now all of this may be moot (for me) when the next version of the iPhone hardware is released. And what killer-feature would make me upgrade? One word… Verizon!
I’ve now incorporated the Web Apps into the main Apps List, assigning them to their own category (Web Apps) in the process. In fact, here’s a shortcut to just the Web Apps.
What are Web Apps and why are they different than regular apps? They are web-based apps that run in Safari rather than something that needs to be downloaded from the app store and installed. In the Apps List, when you click on the links for a Web App, Safari will open and you will automatically directed to that site which you can then bookmark or add to one of your home screens (to give it an icon like an regular app).
Many web sites have mobile versions, but my criteria for listing something as a Web App is that it must be styled or optimized for the iPhone. For example, if you point your iPhone’s web browser to http://weathermeister.com/ you’ll find that our friends at Weathermeister have provided us with a page that is optimized for the iPhone’s screen. In fact, the AviatorApps news feed (which you are reading right now), contains an iPhone optimized style that will display only when accessed from the iPhone.
As always, let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.
A few more apps added to the list today. While the GoodReader apps are not Aviation specific apps, they can be very useful for displaying Charts and Maps downloaded in PDF format.
For all you iPad owners looking for a way to secure your iPad in the cockpit, Tech Boards has released a new kneeboard made specifically for the iPad. It’s called the Tech Board iPro Kneeboard and it is available for $149.95 from the folks at ForPilotsOnly.com.
Just moments ago I flipped the switch to make both the Category and Device filters live. OK, so I didn’t literally flip a switch, but it sounded cool. What does all this mean? I means you can now filter the list of apps so that only the apps for a particular Category and/or Device are displayed.
To use the new filters, just select the desired values from the drop-downs directly above the list, then click “Apply”. Currently, you may select only one category at a time (or the default value of All), and the same goes for the Device filter where by default you will see apps for all devices or you may filter the list to see only apps for the iPhone/iPod or the iPad. These filters may be used in conjunction with each other; For example, you may filter list so that you see only the “Aviation Weather” apps for the “iPad”.
Multiple categories and devices may be assigned to each application, so it is possible for the same app to be to appear for different categories as well as for both the iPhone and iPad.
Along with the new filters you will notice several other design changes all done with the goal of making the site more user-friendly and visually appealing. I think it is a big improvement, and I hope you do too.
I still need to update the other pages of the site, but I’m just happy that I can say the Category and Device filters are now available for public consumption.
Thanks for your patience and please let me know if you encounter any problems or have comments or suggestions.
With his books, CD-ROMs and most recently with his apps, Max has established himself as the zen master of the glass cockpit. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Max on a few occasions and his knowledge of all things GPS and Glass Cockpit related is nothing short of amazing, so when he wrote me to tell me about his new apps, I told him that I would gladly mention them here on the AviatorApps News Feed.
I have used his Garmin 430 app and I find it to be clear, concise, complete, easy to navigate and well documented with plenty graphics and screenshots for a visual thinker like me. Rather than me going on about them I thought it would be best if I let Max tell you about his apps in his own words, or shall I say his own voice.
The GPS Guide for the iPhone can be use as a Quick Reference Checklist, Illustrated Self-Study Learning Guide, or as a Refresher for Pilots and CFIs Using Many GPSs.
More than a paper GPS Checklist, the GPS Guides give detailed descriptions—not just a list of steps. They also include TIPS on the most efficient ways to use the GPS.
Each GPS guide gives clear, concise answers to your GPS questions without hunting through user manuals. Information is organization by function, so you can quickly find what you want.
Testing of the new category and device (platform) filters has been occurring all week and so far so good, no bugs have been found. I am currently working on some design changes to the site and I am very pleased with the way things are turning out. The changes are subtle, but to my untrained eye they seem to make a big difference.
So when will you see the filters you ask? Well, I am going to give it the old college try and I expect it to take no more than a few more days. Yup, you read that right, I said days. Not months, not weeks, but days!
Expect an official go live announcement here on the news feed and on Twitter very soon.
