Michael Koppelman is an iPhone developer and model rocket enthusiast. He decided that combining his two hobbies together would be a good idea. He created an app that constantly polled the iPhone’s GPS and accelerometers, logging them to a file and then transmitting the data from the GPS over the web so that the unit could be located if it became lost.
Intel showed off a prototype handheld based on Moorestown, its upcoming Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform designed to enable a new generation of ultra-thin, touchscreen devices with extensive battery life.
Moorestown will consist of a system-on-a-chip (SOC), codenamed "Lincroft," which integrates a 45nm processor, graphics, memory controller and video encode/decode onto a single part. The platform will support a range of wireless technologies including 3G, WiMAX, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and mobile TV.
The divice will be avaliable sometime in the 2009-2010 time. Here is a video with presentation from IDF:
The iGPS360 is a $75 device that brings full GPS to your jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch. Available for preorder now. Check Orange's site if you're interested.
Sn0wBreeze 2.9.6(pwnagetool for windows, supports untethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1.1 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad and Apple TV 2G)
Sn0wBreeze 2.9.3(pwnagetool for windows, supports tethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad; untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom; untethered for iOS 5.0.1, iOS 4, iOS 3 supports Apple TV 2G)
Sn0wBreeze 2.8b11(pwnagetool for windows, supports iOS 5, iOS 5.0.1, tethered jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad, Apple TV 2G; untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom)
Current version is ultrasn0w 1.2.3, download in Cydia (unlock for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, firmwares 3.0-4.3.3; it supports basebands 01.59.00, 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04, 06.15.00)
While browsing cool applications I've found PocketDyno (AppStore Link). This application measures the performance of the vehicle. It uses internal accelerometer, not GPS. So iPod and old iPhone users can try this application.
Take a look at appsamuck.com. They create sample lessons for each of 31 days. Now 13 lessons are avaliable. Eant to make fire or get familiar with GPS? I recommend all potential iPhone developers to take a look.
The key here is simple: "Taking baby steps is better than taking no steps at all!" We plan on writing 31 iPhone applications in the next 31 days. We will publish both the executable and the source code for each application. Our goal is for each of these applications to be useful, interesting, and straight-forward. Someone considering writing their first iPhone application should be able to look at these applications and "get it".
G-Map is announced recently. Hopefully it will show up in AppStore soon. Among the features are:
Stand-alone electronic map that needs no internet connection
Large-capacity map data enables easy search of desired location and route
Real 3D View of intricate major intersections and highway junctions
Smart location search powered by a search engine
POI
Detailed information on restaurants, hotels, and leisure destinations provided with Premium POI
Search by phone number and latitude/longitude
For now developers say that the covered area is: Buffalo, NY/ Cincinnati, OH/ Cleveland, OH/ Columbus, OH/ Nashville, TN/ Pittsburgh, PA/ Rochester, NY/ Boston, MA/ Hartford, CT/ Middlesex, NJ/ Nassau-Suffolk, NY/ New York, NY/ Providence, RI/ Wilmington, DE.
iComing allows you to be alerted when you are reaching a target location and / or send an sms to warn someone that you are coming. It uses GPS, GSM cells and WiFi. iComing updated to version 0.3.
myFox is an alternative browser for iPhone. Updated to version 1.3.
LockDown allows users to protect iPhone applications with a password. Updated to version 4.0.
Several users have reported an issue in which GPS functionality and location services in general do not work properly after the update to iPhone OS 2.1. In most cases of the problem, location service crosshairs appear, but the tracking blue dot (indicative of GPS) never appears.
As described by Apple Discussions poster hitchsaid:
“Both my brother and I have iphones and we both updated to 2.1 and the GPS on both our phones were working fine prior to 2.1 Now all we get are the crosshairs- the blue dot is nowhere to be seen. I have tried all the recommendations sitting outside for 20min, 3G off, airplane mode on/off, soft reset, location services on….wi-fi on, bluetooth off…. but nothing seems to make it work again….what is really bugging me is that it was working fine before the update.”
The fix for this issue, for many users, is to navigate to Settings > General > Reset and choose Reset All Settings.
MSNBC recently spoke with several GPS manufacturers about their plans to develop a turn-by-turn GPS solution for the iPhone. Such a program is likely some months away. Several of the 'bigs' in the business — TomTom, Garmin and Magellan — are interested.
"We have made our navigation system run on the iPhone; it looks good and works very well," said Dutch-based company TomTom, in a statement to MSNBC.com. "We will have to look more closely to Apple’s strategy before we can say more about what kind of opportunities this will bring us,:".
"We’re always looking at new phone platforms to expand into for Garmin Mobile, but we don’t have any announcements regarding the iPhone at this time," said Jessica Myers of Garmin International. Magellan spokesman Raphel Finelli said the company does "not have immediate plans for this, but we are looking into it."
Apple is already providing developers with a new iPhone firmware beta with enhanced location-finding that could lead to true navigation as well as the roots for background push services.
The one of new features is update to core Location - it can now recognize the cardinal direction of an iPhone with GPS as well as its velocity, both of which are ingredients necessary to providing turn-by-turn directions. The additions confirm statements recently by Apple's Greg Joswiak, who rejected earlier claims that iPhone 3G's GPS antenna wasn't powerful enough to handle navigation and in turn explained that "complicated issues" are holding the device back from serving as a true navigation unit.
Apple is also implementing a rough version of its background push notification service in the 2.1 firmware. Announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference, the feature lets third-party native programs receive data such as alerts or new messages without actively running. The measure saves processing power without interrupting some apps that depend on constant access to the Internet.
The inclusion of this early version of the code alludes to the 2.1 update becoming public at the same time as the push notification service itself, which is tentatively due for September. In the meantime, Apple and its US partner AT&T are known to be testing iPhone 2.0.1, a maintenance release that likely fixes some of the outstanding bugs with the initial 2.0 release.
There is just one step from hate to love. There was a post about hate, now about love:
Here is a list of top 10 reasons to love:
10. Search improvements.
9. Scientific calculator.
8. Sync with Mobile Me.
7. Supports for Word attachments
6. Normal headphone jack.
5. It's cheaper ($199).
4. Microsoft Exchange support.
3. Applications. Especially games (from AppStore).
2. 3G
1. GPS