Big Apple Announcement....

....Today at 1pm Eastern time Apple will be announcing what looks to be an itablet, islate or ipad. Rumors are out over what the official name will be. Many websites are pointing to a device that would be a netbook, kindle and ipod all in one. Many sites are pointing to a built in projector, handwriting ability, and face recognition to name a few. Following Apple for sometime now, you could probably take some of these to be true, but we will all have to wait until 1pm.

One other rumor out there is that the new iPhone OS 4.0 will be released. My gut is they may introduce 4.0, but in the last three years, any new OS has been released in early Summer.

Big Blog Giveaway!!!!!!

Check out My Life In Mommyland This blog is giving away a great new book from SparkPeople! Also, be sure to check out the Sparkpeople iPhone app. This iPhone app marries with your Sparkpeople.com profile. The app allows you to track all your daily activities and record food and water intake. The original iPhone app carried the basics, but Spark listened to it's subscribers and updated to the app to something really special.

To find out more about this great website, app and book giveaway, contact @bouncermb on Twitter or My Life In Mommyland.

Don't miss this!!!

Attending the GIS 2010 in San Diego?

Since I have several followers of this blog that are fellow industry professionals, I thought I would post this today. If you are attending the GIS Show and don't have any seminars picked yet, consider "Taking Control of Your Career, Make it Magic!" This is held on Tuesday morning from 8am to noon. I was asked by GCSAA to assist in teaching this with Carol Rau, PHR. Carol and I have finished developing the program and it promises to be exciting and informative. Learn to bring value to your current club and utilize technology to advance your career. I am very excited to have this opportunity to teach with the GCSAA.

Not making any seminars, then be sure to stop by the Test Drive Technology Lab on the Trade Show floor. I will be completing a demonstration of the iPhone. Showing Superintendents and other industry professionals how to maximize your daily tasks with the use of this smartphone. Featured iPhone apps will include, Weather Tracking, vewing and editing word and excel email attachments right on your phone and how to maximize your course or properties irrigation with apps from RainBird and Toro. Many other applications will also be demonstrated. Currently, I am unsure what time I will be in the Test Drive Technology Lab, I will post updates on here and Twitter when I have further details.

Last but not least, are you a Twitter user? If not, start now! This years GIS Show will be huge on Twitter!! @BASFTurf_us has already made several announcements via Twitter and most likely during the week of the show via Twitter. @GCM_Magazine discussed creating the hashtag #GIS10 for all communication for the GIS 2010 show. If you are a part of GIS be sure to include this tag on all your posts regarding the show.

Looking forward to seeing you all there....Safe travels!

Apps for the Golfers

It's that time of year again....the golf season has once again started. For me the season really doesn't begin until..."a tradition unlike any other"....The Masters! If you are as big a golf enthusiast and purist as myself, to hear those words for the first time from Jim Nance or to hear the famous tune "Augusta" will put chills down your spine. Well, for you iPhone users, you don't need to be at home or even in front of the TV to enjoy not only The Masters coverage, but all the Majors. Each of the majors has created their own iPhone app. All are free except the PGA app. In my opinion, The Masters is by far the best, they did it right. You are able to watch television coverage beginning with the Par 3 contest, through all medal play all on your iPhone.....and no WiFi needed! This can all be done with a 3G connection. All these apps allow you to view the course, follow specific players and a live leaderboard.

Along with these apps is the PGA Tour app. I highly recommend. I would also highly recommend following @PGATOUR on Twitter.

Who's Hot

Waking up this morning and heading to the club to plow for the 4th time, I figured discussing the app Who's Hot? would be appropriate. Who is Hot? is a fantastic weather app from weatherunderground. It is a free weather app that seamlessly integrates with your address book. This app also automatically updates your location each time you open the app. This ensures you will receive weather and radar data from your current location. Integrating with your address book allows you to see the weather for all your contacts.

I have provided some screen shots of the application.



Above is a photo of the homescreen once you enter either one of your contacts or your current location. The homescreen will provide you current weather data as well as tabs at the top of the page allowing you to see radar, forecasts and warning



My favorite part of this app is the radar, shown below. This is one of the only iPhone apps that has the ability to show you accurate realtime looped radar. You also have the ability to view a regional view or a local view.

Another CNBC Apple program!!

Mark your calendars, 10pm Thursday night on CNBC, Planet of the Apps! I am sure many of you, like myself, will be watching the national championship game. I am not that much of a nerd, but I'm sure most of us have TIVO or some sort of DVR. Check out the link, looks like a great program!

Plant of the Apps

Facebook

Since Facebook just released it's most recent update a few hours ago, I figured I would do a post on the app. The facebook app is the best price.....free. The newer version of facebook's UI is much easier to navigate than the original. From the iphone facebook app you are able to complete the same tasks as if you were on the computer, however, on the iphone you are unable to view any videos. For people who would like to marry all their social network activities together, facebook has many applications that will allow your blog and twitter posts, post to your facebook wall. A word of warning, when accessing facebook from any wireless device, it will reflect on your posts that you are doing so. I only warn because with all the employer/employee issues that are occuring in this country with social networking, you may want to regulate your facebook access from your phone.

Although this application doesn't directly relate to turfgrass management, communication has been a huge part of my success. Facebook when used appropriately, can play a huge part in your communication to peers and other industry professionals

iTunes facebook app link

Let's talk turf tech!

Well here we go again! I got the itch to begin another blog after watching a couple Apple specials on CNBC. Two great programs, "Welcome to Macintosh" and "MacHEADS". I have always been pro Mac, used a Macintosh since the Apple IIe was released. Since Apple has expanded into the realm of music players and phones, my addiction has followed.

When the iPhone first arrived in June of 2007, it took me a year, mostly because my contract with Verizon, to get one. I was hooked! Initially the iPhone wasn't the greatest business phone. It was good for email and web, but limited in it's email capabilities. The release of 2.0 and most recently 3.0 update has made the iPhone a must for any business person.

Since entering the blogosphere in early spring of this past year, I found it easy to blog. My first blog greensuper.blogspot.com was developed to communicate to members regarding happenings at Hartefeld National. 8 months later, my experience and exposure has allowed me to blog on so much more. I was extremely lucky to have the privileged of being featured in Golf Course Industry Magazines October Issue - Mobile Mileage. This article featured all the uses of a mobile device, mostly iPhone in the daily grind of being a Golf Course Superintendent.

Not wanting to stray from my objectives in my other blog, I developed this blog to allow me to blog on all things iPhone and other tech related ideas that will help any turfgrass manager. From the golf course, ball field or just a home lawn junkie. Feel free to follow both blogs and share your experiences, thoughts and ideas!