iPhone 25db louder in the car, no power needed!

I covered a fun bit of technology from Griffin Technology over the last couple years called the AirCurve. There is a model for the iPhone 3 and one for the iPhone 4. The technology is simple in that it channels the iPhone’s speaker audio output though piping that enhances the db level so you get much more volume. In the case of the iPhone 4, about 10db, which is enough to make the iPhone usable in the office as a speakerphone.

Now, Griffin Technology has introduced a version for the car. Similar to the desktop version, except with a window mount and a boost of 25db! That is enough to hear the iPhone speaker output while driving, without the need of additional wires for power or external speakers. It has an opening in case you still need to run a wire to charge your iPhone on the go, but it isn’t needed to get the louder speaker output that normally would require wires at least to a speaker. This should be a hit in the areas of the US that require handsfree phone usage.

 

Quick and easy summaries of Web Sites articles on the iPhone

There are a lot of news readers for the iPhone to keep up on the latest news from your choice of info providing sites. The reader provides a headline and a short that the article provided for them. The short text is usually the first line or two of the article or a teaser to get your to tap the ‘read more’.

An app that is providing a different view of Web site articles is Summly. The app shortens a Web site’s post to the core of the article. This is not text provided by the site, the app does some crazy science to deliver the post in a quick view. Just put in a site URL and you quickly get what your interested in without all of the extra words.

If the URL is going to a page with many posts, Summly only handles the top most article. This is great if your using Summly to get the newest news/posts. Entering a more specific URL will result in a summary of that single article.

Any Web page article reduced to the core information can easily be shared. The Summly share button in the upper right corner allows for emailing the Summly summary or link directly to the article. Being able to copy the summary to paste in a text I’m working on is proving to be handy.

At the bottom of each Summly conversion page is the keywords associated with the article. Tap one to be taken to a search page giving you a list of Web site articles also using that keyword.

Tap one of the article short-cuts or putting in a specific article url and you get just that post’s real meaning points. In just one iPhone screen, you get the core information that would normally require you scroll through many screens of content.

If you want to see the ‘long’ version of the article, tap the headline to go to a view of the actual Web page. Do this from time-to-time just to see how good Summly really is at showing you ‘just the facts’.

Summly keep the history of the sites (via ‘Recent’ in the lower left corner) you visit down to the level of the individual articles for later reference. Tap any to go to the summary. Removal from the list is through the ‘Edit’ button in the upper right corner.

 

iPhone photos send on printed postcards – Holiday Special 30% off

I’ve been covering a few apps lately that will allow you to print images taken with your iPhone. One that got a lot of press when an actress/singer gave funding to has been low on my priority list. Not that there is anything wrong with the app, it’s actually very nicely done. I just have a tendency to not jump on the bandwagon with news that is just because someone else says it’s ‘cool’.

The app, Postcard On The Run, gives you the ability to create a postcard on your iPhone using images you have on your iPhone or on Facebook, maps to your location and text you edit. Must like you have seen me talk about before. An extra feature is the app has ‘Postal Gopher’ which helps finding addresses to mail to when you have forgotten an address or it’s not current… I have had to lean on it twice today as I put together holiday ‘Thank You’ postcards. The system sends the person a request for an updated address which you can use. Single or multiple recipients can be chosen from your iPhone’s Contact area.

Don’t forget, print postcards are wide so using a image you created for Instagram will either have it’s top/bottom trimmed off or blank areas on the left/right.

As a bonus for the holiday, the developer of Postcard On The Run is offering 30% off… just use the discount code: HOHOHO     … so, create a card on the iPhone of the our happy scene picture I took, adding ‘Thank You, you shouldn’t have!!” text (you can choose text color and font) and Postcard On The Run will print/mail for me for less than a buck (US) a card. Oh yea… and they have the feature of being able to actually ‘sign’ the card with my finger! That all adds up to me adding my name to the folks saying the app is pretty cool. I’ll update on how the cards look when people get them.

 

 

Small change to iPhone charger makes a big difference

Like most people, I don’t have a iPhone charging cradle everywhere I need to give my iPhone a boost of power. Most places, like the kitchen, has the factory charging square in the wall with the cable down to the iPhone laying on the counter. As cooking in the kitchen or shuffling papers on the work desk, the iPhone has to get moved around.

Griffin Technology has a square charger (PowerBlock) that looks very much like the device that comes with the iPhone. The difference they have made is move the USB cable plug opening to the bottom and a slot in the front face. If you put the USB to iPhone cable into the slot, the iPhone will sit on top of the charger. Thus, the iPhone is off of the desk or kitchen counter. The iPhone won’t get spilled on or knocked off the counter (worse, something hot sat on it).