If you have an iPhone...

If you have an iPhone (I have IOS 4) do yourself a favor and get the Peterson iStroboSoft app. I got mine a couple of weeks ago and all I can say is "WOW!" Super cool and super accurate. I'd only been using it with my acoustics through the phone's built-in mic, but today I used it to tune up an electric after putting on new strings. I could have done it through the phone's mic with an amp on, but I happened to have a mini to 1/4" adapter that I got a couple of years ago for plugging an electric into the computer to record into GarageBand. The adapter works perfectly with the iPhone so no need to fire up an amp. Anyway, as a longtime StroboStomp user, I can honestly say that the iStroboSoft app is the hands down best $9.99 you'll ever spend on a piece of gear.

iStroboSoft

--GDub

+1. First thing I installed when I got one a couple of months ago. Even before any of the iPhones games I work on ... Indeed money well spent!

- Jos

Guitartoolkit was the first app I bought...Thats my favorite barre none.

probably doesn't really matter in the scheme of things but...

Your iPhone's watching you. Should you care?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20055885-37.html

probably doesn't really matter in the scheme of things but...

Your iPhone's watching you. Should you care?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20055885-37.html

Yeah, I know. I'll be interested to hear the "reason" and the recant. Regardless, I like the iPhone and the iStrobosoft app is a winner.

BTW, jon, you should come out to see us when we're "letting our hair down" some time. Those tame little Farmer's Market gigs aren't a real venue for our large band of lunatics.

--GDub

probably doesn't really matter in the scheme of things but...

Your iPhone's watching you. Should you care?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20055885-37.html

Yeah, I know. I'll be interested to hear the "reason" and the recant. Regardless, I like the iPhone and the iStrobosoft app is a winner.

It's not my intention here to defend Apple but sometimes the media create a tempest in a tea cup. It is my gut feeling this is the case here too. Everybody knows mobile devices have GPS sensors internally. Apple is actively using that feature in their 'Find my iPhone' app for obvious reasons. And working myself on PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz game which has an iPhone version, I am aware that these devices maintain a so-called syslog file. Likely these researchers stumbled over this file or a particular subset of syslogs. And if I was an engineer working on a mobile device and confronted with a problem or bug, I would like to have as much data available as possible to be able to answer questions like: 'Where was the device when the problem occurred and hence who was carrier or what tower was used?', 'Have there been more reports of problems for this location in the time period of interest?', etc. I would absolutely make sure I would keep these data in some form on the device so I can ask for it in case I need to troubleshoot a problem. That these data sometimes have other applications, some potentially unintended, is a trade-off I'm willing to make. There is no reason to deny nor should it be too hard to justify its existence.

Just my 2¢.

- Jos

Good points Jos, and the reason why I mentioned not a "real issue" in the scheme of things since this is the way things are going and the trade-offs in using technology. I do know our German outlet is up in arms about this but of course the German government has/is also going after Google about the same issue. I do think there's something more to this then just keeping syslogs but that might be based on my experience working in the online advertising space and keeping track (no pun intended) of the efforts underway to provide personalized services to the end user while collecting the widest swath of user data for both the manufacturer/vendor and their partners.

G - - you're absolutely right. I need to come by and see you guys in all your glory. I'll check out your schedule. Of course that means I might have to bring one of the babies along for you to try out.

I do think there's something more to this then just keeping syslogs but that might be based on my experience working in the online advertising space and keeping track (no pun intended) of the efforts underway to provide personalized services to the end user while collecting the widest swath of user data for both the manufacturer/vendor and their partners.

That's funny Jon, we seem to have more in common than just G&L's Before my current stint at PopCap Games, I worked at Atlas Solutions which was the technology branch of online advertising mogul aQuantive and got bought by Microsoft. Which incidentally was the reason for me leaving that gig. But having worked in the online advertising space too, and written software for the back-end of things, I am intimately familiar with ad tracking and/or geo location. And it is the reason I set the opt out cookie for both Google/DoubleClick as well as MSFT Live/Atlas in all my browsers

- Jos