Aug
2009

ShrinkURL for iPhone

Paul Carmody, @macjasp on Twitter, has created an iPhone App called ShrinkURL, (Site, iTunes) which can shorten url’s using the tinyurl.com service.

When posting links on Twitter nearly everyone uses a link shortening service in order to cram as much as they can into the 140 character limit, for example my quick review of TomTom for iPhone is 56 characters long (https://www.g4shallow.co.uk/2009/08/17/tomtom-for-iphone/) but using tinyurl this is shortened to 25 characters http://tinyurl.com/n39zom

In the images shown below I have copied the URL http://www.macjasp.com/2009/08/shrinkurl-for-iphone.html from Safari

Then launched ShrinkURL

and voilà the shortened url is copied back to the iPhone clipboard. For me this is extremely useful in order to shorten links ready to paste into Tweetie.

You can also type a URL in the application itself and click on the go button which will then shorten the URL and copy that to your clipboard. If you have non-url text in your clipboard when you open ShrinkURL you will see the following error so links that don’t work are not created 😉

Of course some people will have personal preferences on which shortening service they use such as bit.ly, is.gd etc so a user selectable preference would be an added bonus, something that the developer has stated will be coming in a future update.

Nice one Paul, a useful application that I can see me using often (especially when it has bit.ly support ;))

Aug
2009

TomTom for iPhone

TomTom for the iPhone was finally released in the UK today. I have been looking forward to this since they announced it as it would make sense to just have one device. I bought the European version as we holiday in France so it will come in handy. After taking an absolute age to download and sync I launched the app.

Clicking on the iPhone application gives this splash screen.

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To navigate simply tap the screen anywhere to bring up the menu, this brings up the following screen

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You then have the option to select Home, Favourite, Address, Recent Destination, Point of Interest, Postcode, Point on Map, Contact. I tested the Postcode and Address options.

Postcode Option :
When you first select this you are prompted to select a country. The UK postcode selection supports the full 7 character postcode which I think is essential in a navigation app. Once you enter the Postcode if the street supports numbers you will be asked to enter the number otherwise it will automatically plan your route and present you with a summary.

Address Option :
Once you tap this option you are then presented to enter the city where you want to go to, once you enter that you are asked to enter the street or crossing. As you type the street it will show you the streets along with the first part of the Postcode. It works incredibly well.

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Clicking on options shows you the following screen

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Clicking on the Instructions shows you a text version of the route that you will be directed on.

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Example of the navigation screen in Landscape mode.

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Map of route

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Browse Map

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Whilst browsing the map you can click on a POI to get more information, navigate to it, call the number associated with the POI etc

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With regards to POI, the majority of them are turned off which is probably a good thing as there are loads of categories.

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I only tested the actual navigation on a short journey to Penshaw and then back again. What I did find is that the GPS positioning can be quite slow in keeping up or pops you onto a road which is nearby thus causing the application to re-route you which can be a bit of a pain and in a place that needs you to take several junctions one after another I can see people taking the wrong turning or missing it completely.

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For example in this screen grab I had actually turned right just before the arrow and it thought I had gone straight on. Now, of course this could be due to the position of where I had the phone, mounted in front of the radio (I plugged it into the LiquidAux Deluxe) and not on the dash which may help (will test this with a screen dock tomorrow).

Speaking of the LiquidAux the TomTom application will actually sound the spoken words through the device and therefore via my car speakers (just wish voice calls would do this!).

I suspect that when they release the car kit this will cure the GPS lag and keep it in the right position but only time will tell. Also, where is the Live features? With the iPhone having 3G, GPRS etc and with pretty decent data plan in the UK on O2 I think that this is major oversight, or maybe they will just use it to inject more interest in the app in future updates.

A quick note about playing your music at the same time. The music simply cuts out, reads out the direction then music comes back in. Personally I would of preferred that the music volume was turned down a touch and the direction overlayed but I can understand why it goes silent first.

I will give the TomTom for iPhone a better run out over the next couple of weeks and report back my findings.

Mar
2009

Sending email from iPhone

Setting up O2 SMTP server on the iPhone

For months I have struggled intermittently to send email from my iPhone when not connected to WiFi or a decent signal. This was infuriating me a lot so I decided to see if there was something I could do about it. I thought the easiest way was to set up a SMTP connection to the ISP, this of course being O2 and a quick scan of Google confirms that this would work.

Rather than editing the existing SMTP connection settings you can add a new one by doing the following :

setting1

Tap Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Click on mail account you wish to edit
Scroll down to Outgoing Mail Server and tap SMTP
Tap Add Server

Then enter the following information

Hostname : smtp.o2.co.uk
Username : youro2username@o2.co.uk
Password : youro2password

setting2

Tap Save, now this is the important bit , be patient. It can take a while before it verifies the connection. Once this has finished you need to go back into the setting and turn it on and ensure the other settings are as follows:

SSL : OFF
Authentication : Password
Port : 25

setting3

Now, when you send email it will try your primary SMTP server first and if that fails it will then use your alternative SMTP server. (I have lots of email accounts set up on my iPhone hence there being a lot in the Other SMTP servers.

I hope this helps a few people.

Mar
2009

Home Set Up – A rethink!

The way I use my Macs at home is all wrong.

I have the following main machines:

  1. MacBook Pro – used the most
  2. Mac mini – home server
  3. 24″ Aluminium iMac – Home office Mac

The machine I use the most is without doubt the MacBook Pro. I use it at work, home, when away etc…. and it sits on the edge of the sofa, much to the distaste of my wife 😉

Mac miniThe iMac is my home office machine tucked away in the loft where I go to get away from the kids to work 😉

My Mac mini, which sits in the shoe cupboard ;), is controlled by Screen Sharing or via a 7″ touchscreen.

This machine is used to store all our family photos, my iTunes purchases which are also synched to the Apple TV, as an answering machine using Ovolab phlink, and it also monitors my web servers in London using Simon. Oh, it’s also used to sync music and playlists onto the iPod video which sits in a speaker system in the bedroom.

The main issue I have found recently is that I have been buying more and more music on iTunes which are downloaded on the mini but then not easily available to sync onto my iPhone or wanted to print some images from iPhoto. I have been downloading what I want onto the mini then copying over to the iMac or MacBook Pro as an when needed.

So, I have been thinking that I need to re-arrange the way I have the system setup and should use the iMac as the machine which stores all my photo’s (a lot easier to manage the photo events on the larger screen ;)), music, playlists, sync with Apple TV, iPhone and iPod. Then set up an Automator script which backs up the iPhoto and iTunes library folders to the Mac mini and MacBook Pro as and when I make changes.

Thoughts? How do you handle music, photo’s on multiple Macs? Is there software already out there that would handle all this a lot easier?

Edit
I have merged the Mac mini data and the iMac data together and now scheduled a script which will run on a weekly basis to synchronise the iMac Pictures and Music folder to the Mac mini. After the first time this runs, which said it would take 6 hours to back up pictures alone 😮  I will then change it to be daily if it truly does just synchronise. I have a feeling it may start the iPhoto one from scratch each time. Ah well will soon find out 😉

Feb
2009

Xtand has arrived

As mentioned a few days ago I ordered a Xtand for my iPhone so it can sit proudly next to my Aluminium iMac 24″. Today it arrived 😀

It comes in a box similar to the iPhone (Image 1). Upon opening the holder part of the Xtand is  visible and screwed into the top of an inner box (image 2). Once removed from the box you need to screw the holder and the stand part together. Also inside the box are 4 further rubber corners, which are labelled for use with an iPhone 2G, I assume that means second generation iPhone 😉

The iPhone sits snug in the holder (Image 3) and is very easy to remove once in though I do find that there is a significant amount of resistance, however this is probably a good thing in order for it to prevent your iPhone from falling out :p

It also looks very good when on rotated so that the iPhone is horiontally, I have show the iPod coverflow operation in use (image 5).

Personally, I think this fits in excellently with my iMac (Image 5) and I am very happy with the way it looks. Let me know what you think 😉

I purchased it from Play.com priced at £17.99 with free delivery!