iPhone Emergency Caller App

So you want to get your grandma into the digital age? You want to send her pictures, emails, text messages, and an occasional phone call? Why not have an app that allows the "Home" button to act as the emergency button in the commercials? Remember the old lady saying "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"???

Of course, Grandma would have to keep the phone on her all the time. And since she has it on her all the time, why not have it run some diagnostics? Do a random check of her blood pressure and pulse via a device in her watch...a random check of her blood sugar...and if there is a problem with anything, or if the pulse goes away, it automatically connects to the emergency system via a phone call, email, text message, etc.

Not to mention the fact that if someone was ever injured on vacation and away from hometown doctors, this app could provide important medical information about allergies, conditions, medications, etc.

Could save someone's life!

iPhone RF Transmitter/Blocker

So you want to play your iTunes music in your car? You could opt for the expensive professional installation. The problem with this is future connectivity! I have a cable in my car that works for an iPod, but not an iPhone! Who wants to pay all of that money for something that likely will not work with the next generation?

The other options are auxillary cables. These are great, but when your phone is transmitting/receiving, you get this horrible interferance with your radio! So how do we get around this? How about an RF transmitter built into the iPhone? I mentioned this on another blog post for different purposes. The key would be a small device you could attach to your antenna cable (easily found in the trunk, under the hood, or just behind the radi0) that you would switch on/off via the RF signal from the iPhone. When your iPhone is transmitting RF, this device blocks the stronger signals received by your antenna from reaching the radio! This way you have a nice clear signal, no cables, and very simple installation!!!

Now if you just had a bluetooth microphone you would have a nice speakerphone system...

iPhone Virtual Screen Projector

So let's revolutionize the iPhone with some technology that exists already. We all know that there are virtual keyboards available that project the image of a keyboard onto any flat surface. Then you just place your fingers in the normal ASDFJKL: position and type away without a real keyboard!

So why not develop one of these beauties that will project an image of the entire iPhone. Sure it would need to be a little taller than the current models (that are only about the size of a cigarette lighter) to project such a tall image, but imagine the possibilities! You sit your little device on the table a couple of feet in front of you and voila (yes I like that word) you have a 2' x 1' iPhone right in front of you! It is big enough that you can pull up the virtual keyboard on the iPhone and type just like normal!

All other iPhone features are the same. To open an app, simply touch its icon. Swipe to change screens. Touch and hold an icon to move it, etc. It would simply make it a little easier to work with.

Finally, considering the new netbook market that is taking off and killing the laptop market. Would you rather spend $300 on a subpar notebook or $200 on this accessory that would take your iPhone to the next level. Now if Google Docs were just editable on the iPhone.......

iPhone Accessory: Garage Opener / Car Remote

Now how cool would this be? You've borrowed someone's car to run to your house and pick something up. Since you aren't in your car, you don't have your keys or your garage door opener, but of course you have your iPhone with you! Now what if you could whip out your trusty iPhone, open the garage door app, and voila! Your door opens up! Not only could you control your Garage Door, but you could control multiple Garage Doors, Electric Gates, Parking Gates, etc. Basically anything that transmits an RF signal could be learned and retransmitted!

Now I know they would have to actually put a RF receiver/transmitter in the iPhone, but it has lots of implications. What about RFID on an iPhone? What about opening your car with your iPhone? Unlocking the trunk? You'd be the coolest person in the parking lot!

iPhone / Smartphone Emergency Weather App

So you are signed up for the emergency weather alerts for your county. What is the first thing you do when you get a text message that your county is under a tornado warning? Pull up the Weather Channel App to see exactly where the weather is?

Why not build this in automatically so that TWC sends the latest radar pic with the warning? This time you can see if it is right on top of you or if it is on the other side of your county completely! It would save you a lot of time and could possibly save your life!

Of course, I'm sure they would have a disclaimer that you shouldn't trust their system completely. It would be bad for someone to see the radar pic, stay home, then a tornado pop out of no where right on top of them...

iPhone / Windows Mobile App Virtual Machine

So you finally transitioned from a Windows Mobile device over to an iPhone. Even though the iPhone is awesome, how about an app that will allow you to install and run either Windows Mobile or Windows Mobile Applications within your iPhone?

It would probably be best if you could just run the WM App without the operating system. Installing WM could only mean trouble. But there are some REALLY cool WM Apps out there. For example, if you are a pilot, APIC Systems makes a FREE GPS system that shows you airport information, GPS position, approach procedures, directions, etc that you can run using your built-in GPS. Nothing like this exists yet for the iPhone. So you either have to wait for Apple to release the GPS stuff so people can build GPS-based apps that can track your location in real-time, or someone needs to build an app that would allow you to run WM Mobile Apps that already do this!

iPhone / Blackberry Notification Buzzer

You know how the iPhone has a "vibrate" feature to notify you of new calls, SMS, email, etc.? Well what about those times when it doesn't vibrate hard enough for you to feel it? What if you are cutting grass, riding a roller coaster, at a rodeo, a ballgame, shopping, or anything really where you are walking a lot and are not likely to feel the vibration OR hear the ring? How will you now pick up your phone call?

Say hello to the bluetooth enabled iPhone Buzzer. It's a little device that is the size of a tube of chapstick (but could come in almost any shape). It is paired with your iPhone and run by an app on your phone. It has varying levels of vibration, as well as an extra loud "siren" style speaker ~ both of which are more intense than the standard ring/buzz of the iPhone.

This little device will be tough. Tough enough that you could clip it onto your belt and it wouldn't be noticed, but could take some serious beating and not be damaged...something you don't want to happen to your phone.

Within the app you could specify who you wanted the phone to ring for (just like you can already do in many phones) so you don't get alerted about everyone/everything. You will only hear about a few, but you will know for sure that you won't miss those.

The vibration feature in the iPhone does just what it was intended to do. It is very discrete and would rarely even bother a quiet meeting (unless it was laying on the table). But that just won't quite cut it when you need something more intense, and this little device will fix the problem!

iPhone / Smartphone Bluetooth Traffic Radar

Well today I found another need that the iPhone could fulfill. I'm camping with my family and for the first time, we pulled our pop-up camper two and a half hours to Stone Mountain, GA. It was great, but I noticed that I really needed to know quickly whether or not there was traffic behind me, beside me, or in my blind spot.

As a private pilot who doesn't fly much but keeps up with the magazines, I know there are traffice avoidance devices on general aviation aircraft. Now how hard would it be to take that technology and make it work on an app for your phone?

Say it is some sort of rechargeable (or solar powered) bluetooth device that mounts on your trunk or toward the back of your vehicle. It is simply a little bubble, much like we are used to seeing for GPS, or Satellite Radio today. So it wouldn't look out of place at all. However, this little beauty would send a very low powered radar signal around to pick up the location of other traffic and display it on your iPhone! Now if Garmin would add this to a GPS app (that they still haven't built yet) that would be GREAT! Then you'd have your map, your traffic, and more in one easy location!

Imagine driving through Atlanta traffic and not having to check your mirrors...

iPhone / Smartphone Google Map Tour Guide

Google has an awesome tool in their map. Online you can see traffic, satelite, terrain, street view, etc. But what we really need is a more powerful (and more accurate) iPhone map. For example, you can use the separate Google App to run a voice search for restaurants, places to shop, fuel stations, etc. But you can't do it via voice directly through the map with the search tied to your location.

Now what if the map went one step further and spoke back to you? Just the other day my wife and I took our kids to Chuck E. Cheeses. We followed our Google Maps (on our iPhones) and we both missed it! Maybe we were both looking at our phones when we went by it, but if something in the phone had said..."Chuck E. Cheeses is on the right hand side of the road across from Lowes, behind some trees" That would have helped a LOT!

I guess what I am suggesting is the practical side of the map. It is great for showing you where you are, where you need to go, but it lacks sometimes at getting you there. I'm sure Google has a fix planned for this. Maybe it will be available sooner than later. Otherwise I'm planning to buy some map software sometime...

iPhone / Chef Cooking App

So you want to prepare a romantic dinner for your wife? Hate trying to read and remember everything in a recipe? Why not have your phone "coach" you through the whole process! What if someone built an app that translated a recipe into spoken directions that would tell you exactly when to turn the oven on, the temperature, the ingredients, the when to measure, combine, etc. Once you complete a step, you simply tap the screen for the next instruction! Of course, when you get to the part of simmering, cooking, grilling, or whatever, the phone also is a timer that reminds you to check on your food, stir, flip, or take it out of the oven so that nothing gets burned, overcooked, or undercooked!

Cooking more than one dish? No problem! The "paid" version of the app would integrate multiple recipes and help you prepare everything so that it all comes out hot!

Now...someone go and do it so I can easily cook for my wife!

iPhone / Smartphone Solar Charging Cradle

Everyone knows the weakness of the iPhone is the battery strength. Well what if you have a cradle that will keep your phone charged without ever plugging it in??? Why not harness the power of the sun? A small solar panel could be connected to a rechargeable battery, that is then plugged into your iPhone and wah-lah! It stays charged on the road without a wire dangling to the power port!

iPhone / Smartphone Car Computer Accessory and App

Once we all have our wireless keypad and everyone's iPhone is in some type of mount in the vehicle, why not also display your vehicle's diagnostics as well? All you would need is a diagnostic computer plugged into your vehicle that would transmit signals via bluetooth to your iPhone! Now you can see everything just like the fancy cars...current mpg, manifold pressure, battery strength, fuel, engine temperature, oil temperature, water temperature, outside temperature, transmission temp, alternator output, etc. You name it and you can have it! This could be especially helpful for someone pulling a camper, trailer, or anything really that pushes the vehicle close to its limits!

iPhone / Smartphone Mall Shopper

Now this one is a little far fetched....or is it? Consider the situation where a mall (most likely a "mega mall") installs additional GPS technology inside the building that can send a very precise location to your phone? It is completely possible to know your location by store, floor, even department! Now if you are shopping in Macy's for blue jeans in the Men's Department, what if you received a message from Dillard's that they had just started a sale on Men's blue jeans? Or, you could scan the barcode of the item you are considering, and search the rest of the mall for a particular size! There is already scanning technology available. I forget the name of the app, but you can scan any barcode and it will automatically search the web for that particular product in online stores. This is just a matter of taking the same concept and applying it to a "mall" database.

Another cool feature ~ you are ready for dinner and you look at the list of restaurants and place a seating request via your phone to get your name on the waiting list! This way when you arrive, your seat is ready!

iPhone / Smartphone Bluetooth Watch Accessory

So you are in a very important meeting, but you are also waiting on an important call or email. Your phone vibrates and you need to check it, but you don't want to appear to be "taking a call" during the meeting. But since you recently bought your iPhone Bluetooth Watch, you simply "check the time" and see who is calling! Not your person...no problem! You know who is calling without getting your phone out of your pocket, purse, or holster. You can also see a "dashboard" of how many texts, emails, and voicemails you have waiting on you. Maybe the weather forecast, current temperature, and depending on the size of the watch, you can also briefly read a few texts messages and emails...just imagine the possibilities!

iPhone Thermostat

Wouldn't it be nice if you could control your house thermostat from your iPhone? Not that the phone had a thermostat in it, but that the thermostat was on the wireless network and you could bump it up or down a notch from your phone! Maybe you could even email the thermostat from anywhere and change the schedule if you are away and forgot to turn it down...

iPhone / Smartphone Keypad Remote

Sometimes you receive a text message or an email and you need to navigate through your iPhone menu, but you are driving down the road! What if someone invented a small remote keypad for the iPhone that you could navigate by feel much like a regular numeric keypad? Maybe it is a numeric keypad and you can assign certain apps to open by a certain number...phone is number 1, email number 2, text number 3, maps number 4, weather number 5, etc. This way you have access to what you need without taking your eyes off of the road! Your iPhone could remain mounted in some type of mount in the car, your eyes could stay on the road, but you could still manipulate your iPhone. Now that would be nice...wouldn't it? Has anyone already built such a thing?

iPhone Icon Organization

Is anyone else annoyed with all the jiggly icons and moving them from page to page? How about an app or something within the settings that allows you to organize your apps in one spot rather than one at a time?

iPhone One-Click Access to Mail, SMS, Phone

I wish Apple would create a "one-click" access to certain apps. For example, why not have multiple slider bars on the welcome screen that would unlock the device? If you have a new SMS, then there is a slider bar that would unlock and open your text message. Same for email, phone calls, voice mails, app store updates, calendar, weather, etc. You could customize app unlocks that you always want there, and you could also state which ones you want to only show up when you have something new.