I knew the iPhone 3GS’s pictures had GPS coordinates in them. You can easily access this data via the ‘exif_read_data’ in PHP 4.2.0 and above. That’s cool stuff to me. I wrote something to get all of the coordinates and link them to a Google map. That was nifty.

//Thar be coordinates

I was wondering if coordinates were in the videos. So, I opened iPhoto and checked out the detailed data of a video. Sure enough! The coordinates are in it!  I tried to use the ‘exif_read_data’ but it spewed an error that they were not supported file types.  In actual reading of the manual, sure enough, it is only for .jpg and .tif images.  Crud.

//Getting deeper – just a matter of digging through the file

I put on my propeller hat and started hacking away and checking stuff out.  Yep, found the data in the file.  Easy squeazy.  I dug out the coordinates and I am now able to do what I want with it.  This is another reason that I host my own videos now.  I can display any data that I want and how I want it displayed.  It is really simple.  My data, my display, my backups and my everything!

//Now display all of this cool data you found

I am working on a page to just list all of the videos (from now on) and have basic information that is searchable (even from the iPhone since I can’t CTRL-F or Command-F and find stuff on a page).  Just a simple page with everything.  I may do something else in a few years as I have plans if I continue to send videos to the blog.  It is REALLY cool.

//I like to share

If you are geeky and wanna know how I did it, feel free to ask.  You can figure it out too.  The information is available.

If the iPad supports all of the iWork applications, will it be able to print from the iPad to a printer? Customers will want to print the documents that they create. If that is true, would Apple enable printing support for the iPhone? That would be excellent!

Limits on the iPad are numerous. No Flash player, no camera and no calling capabilities. I don’t see a fit in my life for such a device. I have a laptop with a 500GB HDD that is portable. I have an iPhone that does some things while on the go without access to my computer (like this blog post).

Now I will take time to throw this out. I am sure that I have suggested it before but I will bring it up again. The iPhone can provide Video Out already. I wish they would include a Bluetooth driver in the operating system for an external keyboard and mouse. I could then just dock my iPhone in front of me, pair the KB and mouse and the monitor would be connected to the dock. Done. I have a dual display (the iPhone and an external monitor). Sure, you would HAVE to multitask at least two apps so I can have a Twitter client running on the phone and another application on the other display. That would be a sweet make-shift computer system.

Think about it, Apple. Make it so!

This works on the Mac and iTunes. I have not tried Windows. If you find that it works, let us know in the comments.

Ok, I connect the phone. Joy. iTunes sees the phone and the “Sync” button is available. Press the “Sync” button and watch the bar at the top (do not switch applications). It will say “Syncing…”. In a few seconds it says “Backing up…” (as the image below). Well, when the “Backing up…” comes up, count off 5 seconds. One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, four-one thousand and five-one thousand. Now, press the X on the right of that little display. ONLY PRESS IT ONCE or it will cancel everything. Wait a second and it will go past the backup and move on to the important Sync operation. Voila! Time saved!

Count 5 seconds when you see this and then press the X ONCE!

Instead of continuing to whine and do nothing, I am going to fix it. When I get back to my computer (and Internet), I will begin work on getting the video on the blog by sending the video via email and having it post automatically. That means if one wants to view the video, it will be in .m4v format. QuickTime plays it wonderfully.

I should be able to finish it by next week some time. My problem will be solved and I can then post my odd videos whenever I want!

Stay tuned!

That is what I have in my face right now. I am going to whine about my iPhone now. If you don’t wanna hear it, stop reading now.

The iPhone has great features. I feel it is a useful tool now and love the feature set. I would love it more if they all worked!

First: The Network
AT&T is lacking. I lose calls. I have poor call quality. Data is very sketchy. Enough said? I would love it if this really worked properly. I only have experience with Sprint and they were excellent with signal strength, data and quality of call audio. Option A against Option B? Easy choice but I now have the inferior of the two.

Second: YouTube Upload
That has to be the coolest thing but is the most hacked together crap on this planet. It does not live up to Apple’s standards as software. I constantly get “Cannot upload Video” when I try to share my videos. I want to share a cute video of Zoe right now but no matter what I do, I can’t get it to work. I usually try several times in a row and stand on alternating legs to make the video upload. I will even patiently wait until the next day to try again. No luck this time. If that is not bad enough right there, EVERY TIME you have to retype ALL of the information for the submission to YouTube. Then you get the same errror message each time. It does not describe the error it is having, just that it failed. Why did I fail? Network? Invalid text in one of the fields? It was unhappy? YouTube is overloaded? Grrr! Please update this hack as I enjoy the feature!

I think that I am finished griping. For now…

I have traveled a good bit recently.  I have used a Garmin GPS in the RV, a Toyota GPS in the wife’s minivan and also an iPhone to supplement both at times.  The biggest thing is when you have no service (read – AT&T sucks!) you will not have map data.  If you are lost, do you want to look for cellular service so you can find your way out?  NO!  A real GPS has maps stored on the device and requires no outside information.  I use the iPhone at times to look things up but it will never be good enough to be any type of automobile navigation.  Save your pennies and get a real GPS.  I have also owned a TomTom but I would recommend any Garmin over the TomTom.  The Toyota GPS was more helpful in Canada in my experience (over Garmin).

TomTom released it’s navigation application for the iPhone and the link will take you to a review of the application if you want to see it.

iPhone model: iPhone 3GS/3.0 software.

Problem: You have several pictures in your camera roll and take another picture.  The picture does not appear to have saved to the phone.  You can connect the phone to your computer and import the photos that you took but they still do not appear on the phone.

Solution (Mac only – sorry Winders): Download the demo version of an application called PhoneView.  Run the application with the phone connected.  Change the preferences of the application by clicking “Show Entire Disk (Advanced Disk Mode)”

Click "Show Entire Disk..."

Close that and now you can look at the iPhone as a normal volume.  Your objective is to delete “/DCIM/.MISC” from the phone.  To do this, double click “DCIM”.  Then, highlight “.MISC” and click the delete button at the top of the PhoneView application.  That’s it.  Use your phone as a camera again.  All is good!

There was a write-up that I got that information from but it said to delete the entire “DCIM” directory.  This would cause you to lose your photos.  I did not want that so I played and did the minimum to make it work again and also not losing the valuable photos on the phone.

Observation: The last two operations that I did with the camera that could have caused this problem were – Trim a video and also save a picture from Mail.app that my wife sent (from another iPhone 3GS/3.0 software).  I suspect the database file that maintains thumbnail information is corrupted.  I would assume that either of the operations that I did before the problem could have caused the problem.

I like the new “tilt to the side for a nice big detailed chart” option. I like the “swipe the chart” and getting detailed stick information and news on each symbol. I also like that you can see volume along with percentage and dollar value when you tap the number to the right of the symbol.

This is a welcome upgrade with little press.

I’m having fun taking the phone apart and checking out the salty guts. Hopefully I’ll be back soon!