CapMac iPhone SIG

Meals at The Frisco Shop have always been a favorite ritual – awesome food, great service, and the relaxed charm lost in so many Austin eateries.

That’s why seeing an iPad display this morning caught me by surprise.  The iPad is part of new Austin-based service called BellyCard, that offers restaurants and businesses an opportunity to reward loyal, repeat customers. The refreshing difference is that BellyCard offers a quick-read QR code that identifies your patronage quickly and seamlessly using the iPad’s built-in camera.

Each establishment offers its own custom rewards program. For the Frisco Shop, it could be free appetizers or a Down South all the way up to having a stool at their venerable counter named in your honor.  The concept is fun, easy, and easy to appreciate.

And appreciation is what it’s all about.  The Frisco manager mentioned that new customers are always great – but its the regulars that keep the doors open. And rewarding that loyalty is a high priority at The Frisco Shop.

BellyCards are available free for the asking from your server or the cashier, in the form of a plastic affinity-type card, and key-fob bearing your own personal QR code. All you need to do is register your email address.

If you prefer a higher-tech solution, you can download the BellyCard app [free] from the App Store.  Just a few quick questions and you’re ready to scoot across Texas and have your visit recognized and rewarded by the merchants you visit.

We hope to have folks from BellyCard and The Frisco Shop visit one of our iPhone + iPad SIG meetings and discuss this innovative and exciting new service.

It’s always great to feel appreciated – that’s never been a problem at the Frisco – and now they’ve added yet another reason to give into those Chili-Size cravings more often.

If you’ve ever had friends ask for apps you’d recommend, you know just how hard it is to pick out ‘favorites’.

Well, that’s exactly what our February iPhone + iPad Meeting is all about.

As they say – watch this space – after tonight’s meeting I will not only post the app names, but descriptions, prices and links so you can easily find them.

Can’t wait to go digging?  Here’s a favorite place to stay current on the best new releases, and proven old ones –  App Advice.

*freedom not included.

Ask any feudal slave owner – some slaves prefer to be kept that way. Protected. Fed.  Unfree. And just like Android users, they don’t know escape when they see it.

Recent furor over Andy Rubin’s blog post about Google’s ‘openness’ has led many folks to re-examine this whole freedom vs. walled-garden argument.

And thankfully, today’s editorial in Electronista nails it. It’s an enlightened, solid read – with plenty of fodder to throw back at your uppity Android using friends.

Anyone who has ever enjoyed a live concert knows the joys of musicians working together seamlessly to create sheer magic.  Orchestra – a new iOS app – does the same thing for life.

Orchestra is not merely a to-do list, or timed reminders – it is a brilliantly crafted collaborative tool that enables lists to be shared by appropriate people, who can seamlessly propose, discuss and share tasks easily.  All members of a team can participate and watch as tasks are created, delegated, and completed. Push notifications, and activity monitors work seamlessly with iOS5.

Setup is easy. Just create a free account and start to create lists, tasks and team members.  You can even invite team members to join. You can sync any number of iOS devices and computers – all at no cost – via Orchestra’s secure server.

After three days of use – I can assure you that Orchestra is as ground-breaking as Siri. And yes, it even offers voice recognition and twitter integration, and they’re working on location based reminders and integration with iCal.

Check out Orchestra in the Apple App Store, or at their website  www.orchestra.com

Get ready to change the way you think, work, and organize your home and work life.

Kitty Code 'Hurricane' for iPhone

With the season’s first tropical storm headed for the Texas coast – what better time to be prepared?  And if you want or need the ultimate resource for tropical weather – nothing beats Kitty Code’s HURRICANE.

Hurricane can push text alerts to you when bad weather pops up in the gulf, or a storm changes course or intensity. Beautiful animated maps show you current storm path, and projected course. Full radar support, historical storm paths, access to NHC bulletins and alerts, and stunning satellite imagery make Hurricane the only choice for keeping a wary eye on approaching storms.

I’ve been using Hurricane for several seasons now and couldn’t be happier. None of the other tracking apps offer the features, ease of use, and stunning visuals of Hurricane. In fact, no one else even comes close.

Hurricane is a must have purchase for anyone living along or near any coast. I know several evacuation shelter managers and volunteers who rely on Hurricane for the latest storm information when tropical weather forces coastal residents to flee inland – there is no higher recommendation than that!

Hurricane and Hurricane HD are available in the App Store for $ 3.99USD.  Check out the Kitty Code website for full details.

As hundreds of thousands watch today’s liftoff of Shuttle Atlantis – the last of the STS series – you can share in the excitement and wonder of space travel as it happens, without the vapid commentary of broadcast networks. And thanks to NASA – there are apps for that.

NASA has prepared an array of apps that stream news and events direct to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch – offering a behind the scenes look at flight preparations and liftoff.

• NASA Television – brings live and on-demand TV programming to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Watch the latest NASA events unfold in real-time or select from a list of recently uploaded videos. [ FREE – iTunes Preview ]
• NASA App – The first official NASA App invites you to discover a wealth of NASA information right on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The NASA App collects, customizes and delivers an extensive selection of dynamically updated information, images and videos from various online NASA sources in a convenient mobile package. Come explore with NASA. [ FREE - iTunes Preview ]
• NASA Astro – NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends after 30 years. Celebrate this accomplishment with us. Get to know all the space travelers who flew on this unique vehicle. You can sort by name and mission. The “Suit Me Up” feature allows you to become a Space Shuttle astronaut yourself. Share it with your friends and family. [ FREE – iTunes Preview ]

Through these apps we can share the excitement of being there. For the shuttle crews and support teams, it has been a wondrous journey – thanks for giving us a front row seat to history.

Good luck and Godspeed.

Apple today announced yet another milestone – it’s 15 billionth download from the App Store.

“In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

More than 15 billion apps have been downloaded from the revolutionary App Store and more than 425,000 apps are available, including more than 100,000 native iPad apps, to consumers in 90 countries. Users of the more than 200 million iOS devices around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, education, sports, health, reference and travel. Apple has paid developers over $2.5 billion to date.

My grandparents were lucky enough to make it to Ellis Island – gateway to ‘The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave’. I can only imagine their tears as they saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time. Fleeing the violence and oppression in Russia – they saw America as their last, best hope.

As we take stock of ourselves this Freedom Weekend – we should look back at our own roots… remembering the immortal words of Emma Lazarus’ poem, forever emblazoned within Lady Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The sage goes that everyone talks about the weather but we can’t do a thing about it. But now, thanks to WeatherTrends’ new iPhone app – WT360 Pro – at least we can be forewarned as much as a year in advance.

The app isn’t magic, or necessarily dead-on accurate, but compared to the accuracy of short-term forecasts on TV – WeatherTrends are eerily correct more often than not. The process isn’t Farmer’s Almanac voodoo, but solid scientific principles backed by algorithms that could perplex a Cray.

The net result is an app that can help you plan outdoor outings, vacations, and events up to a year in advance, knowing in general terms what the likely weather will be on a certain date, anywhere in the world. Pretty nifty.

WeatherTrends’ science backs some of the world’s largest companies – Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl’s, Agway, the Golf Channel and dozens of others, and 100s of seasonal category suppliers like Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, 3M, Duraflame, Clorox, and Anheuser-Busch. When adverse weather threatens supply or transportation lines, WeatherTrends can help a company steer clear – saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mark Twain was fond of saying, ‘Better check the weather forecast before you pray for rain’.

Now thanks to wt360 Pro – the science of long-range weather forecasting is available on your iPhone for less than a dollar.

Want to write apps but don’t know how to get started? Well, there’s an app for that, too – App Cooker. Consider it a Swiss Army Knife of tools to help new and experienced coders in pre-visualizing concepts and processes needed to create successful apps.

App Cooker itself is a superb – and growing – compendium of tools for coders. Think of it as training wheels for Apple’s Xcode. Targeted exclusively for iPad users, it is the perfect platform for noodling and doodling app ideas for any iOS device, for later coding. The program is so versatile and user-friendly that you almost forget the power of the interface and tools.

And with launch pricing of $19.99 it is an absolute bargain. As additional functions and features are added, the price will increase. The feature-complete version will sell for $49.99 in the App Store.

Check out the full capabilities and features at the App Cooker website. Special props to CapMac Board Member John Oeffinger for this incredible find.