Dear Gadget Diary,
My smartphone (which happens to be the iPhone 4 at the moment) was my BFF this past Saturday. The first thing I used it for was Google Maps to navigate to the GRT Glass Design Studio on the East side of Indy for an art workshop that Jeanne and I attended. Google Maps isn’t as good as a full blown GPS app since it doesn’t have spoken turn-by-turn directions. But it works just fine when you’re the navigator and not the driver.
The workshop was called Glass Design Play Days and we were able to create a piece of art from a scrap of plate glass. The process requires you to cut a design out of special fire proof paper. I knew I wanted to make a moon shape for my design, I but wasn’t sure exactly how to draw it on the paper. I used my iPhone to surf google’s image library for ideas. One minute later, I was all set.
After I cut out all the little parts of the design and layered them for a sort of 3D effect, I placed the piece of glass over it and set it on the kiln where it will be fired this week. We go back next weekend to pick up the finished tiles. I hope mine turns out good.
After the workshop, we met my Dad for lunch at Cheesecake Factory. I used the iPhone during the drive from the glass studio to the restaurant to browse their menu. They have too many choices, so I wanted to figure out what I might want to order before I got there.
During lunch, I was able to show him pictures I’d taken at the glass studio so he knew what we’d been up to that morning.
After lunch, we went to the Barnes & Noble book store next door. I snapped pictures of books that I thought might be fun to read at a later date. At one point, another customer noticed me doing this and commented that I was just like his wife. 😉 Ha!
Jeanne found a book on jewelry making and asked me to look it up on Amazon.com via my phone to see what the price was. Instead, I pulled up ShopSaavy, scanned the barcode on the back of the book and boom, it told me that Amazon indeed did have it for a cheaper price. She was impressed.
On the drive home, I was able to catch up on some emails and Facebook. Ain’t technology great? 🙂
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Mmm Cheesecake Factory
Good things run in the family… I was in Greenwood on Saturday too, went to Barnes and Noble too and…..I ALWAYS take pictures of books with my cellphone! =)
@Amy what time were you there? Darn it, you could have had lunch with us. I was paying!
We (Alicia and I) were in Greenwood all afternoon. We were at Barnes and Noble around 2 or so and then we ate at 5 Guys, my favorite burger place. =)
@Amy We just missed you…
Hatchet, I remember that reading that book as a kid, Loved it. I really enjoyed the sequal “The River” as well. I just looked it up, looks like he wrote a few others following the story arc. Granted it’s been 20 years I think I will have to revisit hatchet and the river, and then read the new one’s.
Thanks for this memory Julie. Also makes me wanna reread my other favorite childhood series. “My teacher is an Alien” series.
@Andrew I’d never heard of Hatchet till the other day, but I love survival books, so I’ll have to read it. There was another one I read several times as a kid. “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean George.
My teacher is an Alien 😉 Ha! Not heard of that one either! Did you ever read the Great Brain series? Those were a lot of fun too.
I use my iPhone to take pictures of all kinds of things; chalk written lists of beers that I can read back at my table, plumbing fixtures that I can show the hardware guy, key paragraphs in print media, books (like you) at bookstores, my hand written notes and receipts that I then post to Evernote, etc. Just a small percentage are normal “photographs” since I’m usually carrying a real camera. We’ll see if the iPhone 4s camera changes my “real” photography.
Google Maps Navigation does have Voice Turn by Turn directions for the Android version… Though a dedicated GPS app may still be preferable regardless. Especially for off-line use…
try WAZE for the iPhone. I found it and like it for a gps.
@Julie I never read “My Side of the Mountain” (I don’t think I did at least) I did read the Great Brain series tho. Good fun books. I remember they pulled hatchet from my school at one point because a parent complained about a part where he hunts down boar or something to eat after he had been stranded. Something about violence disturbing the kids. But I find it funny that “Lord of the Flies” was considered ok, simply because it was a classic. I remember Lof being alot more violent then Hatchet.
But then again I went to a Catholic elementary school, and books like “My Teacher is an Alien” were frowned on as well, lucky I had parents that provided me with this “mindwarping, horrible and inappropriate” reading, keeping me entertained while growing up. LOL