On The Road Again

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Of course, nothing is ever 100% certain in the consulting business until it actually happens, but it looks like I’m going on the road again to a client in Indianapolis starting on Monday. This will be my second time working there and I simply love working in Indy because I can drive there and not have to fly. I’ll drive out Monday morning and drive home Thursday evening (I work at home on Fridays). Avoiding the hassles of flying is always wonderful and it makes it much easier to take a whole bunch of stuff with me, if I want. When flying, I’m constrained by what can fit into a carry-on bag (I never check luggage!). Also, when driving I get to leave for home on Thursday whenever I’m ready to go and not have to wait for my flight. So, all-in-all I’m really looking forward to this assignment on the road again!

Evernote Updated for iPhone/Touch

The free Evernote application has again been updated in the iTunes App Store. The major addition to this version is support for locally stored notes, a feature that has been anxiously awaited by many users. Notes can be selected for local storage by marking them as Favorites. As you can see in the above picture I currently have none, although I certainly may take advantage of this feature in the near future.

Google Earth Available for iPhone/Touch

Google Earth is now available for free from the iTunes App Store. It seems to have just about all the features that the PC-based version does, and with a very nice iPhone/Touch interface built into it. You can even tilt your iPhone/Touch to change the angle at which you’re viewing the image. It’s a very nice addition to the iPhone/Touch. I just used it to “fly” from my current home to my old home in Bradley Beach, NJ, which is shown above.

This Month’s Underground Kitchen

Last night I attended this month’s Underground Kitchen. It was held at Ferguson’s Kitchen and Bath Gallery – an unusual and interesting venue. One huge advantage it had was the massive kitchen it provided our chefs. We were served a very substantial 5-course meal: soup, appetizer, salad, main course (ginger pork), and an amazing dessert (coconut pumpkin mousse). I had the opportunity to dine and converse with a very interesting group of people, including a teacher, lawyer, marketer, and the owner of Charleston’s Bluegrass Kitchen (a very well-known and respected restaurant). If you’re in the Charleston, WV area, I strongly suggest you consider attending this wonderful monthly gourmet dining event.

Caught Up in the Charleston Social Whirl!

One of my big reasons for moving to Charleston, WV was that in spite of its small size (and lack of congestion!!), the city has an extremely vibrant social life. For example, there are four theatrical groups, a first-rate symphony, a ballet, and two chamber music groups of which I’m aware. The picture above shows just some of the tickets I’ve got for upcoming events – a musical comedy, a play, and two classical music performances. In addition, this weekend I’m going to be attending the Underground Kitchen, a monthly gourment dining event. I actually go out more since moving to Charleston than when I lived in NJ – and I lived just an hour away from New York City!

Brightkite Application for iPhone/Touch

The long awaiting Brightkite iPhone/Touch application has finally arrived – and I think it was well worth waiting for. I’ve long thought that Brightkite was the best of the location-based social networks, and all that was missing was an application that could take advantage of the iPhone’s automatic location services. This application does exactly that, as well as allow the user to perform just about every function available through Brightkite’s full web-based interface. I’m going to be using Brightkite a bunch again!

X-Plane for iPhone/Touch Updated Again!

Just last week I told you X-Plane 9 had been updated to add more territory to fly over and 2 more airports. Well, today another update has appeared in the iTunes App Store that adds an instrument panel including NAV radios, as well as VOR and ILS navigational and landing aids. This program is rapidly turning into a serious flight training tool!

X-Plane for iPhone/Touch Updated!

X-Plane 9 is my current favorite iPhone game. It’s really more of a simulation than a game, but nevertheless I play it more than any other game on my iPhone.

It has gone through a major update recently. The biggest change from my point of view is a great expansion of the flight area covered by the game, plus the addition of two more airports. As the picture above shows, there is now also a map screen which locates your aircraft within the flight area. These features have greatly enhanced the enjoyment of this wonderful flight simulator. It’s also an amazing program to show your friends to demonstrate the power of the iPhone/Touch!

Byline for iPhone/Touch Updated and On Sale

My favorite RSS reader, Bylline, has just been updated with new functions and a brand-new interface, AND it’s on-sale for a limited time. Take this opportunity to check it out and see if it doesn’t become your favorite, too!

Say Where for iPhone Actually Works!

I absolutely love my iPhone’s built-in Maps application. It’s great for directions to addresses as well as finding local businesses. But, what about trying to use it while driving? It’s more than a little dicey trying to enter addresses or business names while driving – it’s an invitation to a wreck! Here is where the application Say Where! comes in very handy – it allows voice input of addresses, points of interest, or business names, and it then enables you to launch Google Maps to display directions to that place. It can actually do more than that – see the screen above for other available options. It’s incredibly handy when your hands are full doing something else. Most importantly, the voice recognition actually works amazingly well. One tip for using it: make sure you stop talking for about 1 second before presssing the “Press while speaking” button. That seems to greatly increase its voice recognition accuracy. Oh, and by the way, this amazing little application is free!