Ahhh…. the ubiquitous iPhone! It is, indeed, everywhere nowadays.

No! This isn’t going to be yet another one of those …]]>

Ahhh…. the ubiquitous iPhone! It is, indeed, everywhere nowadays.

No! This isn’t going to be yet another one of those iPhone evaluations, urging to you to buy… buy… buy! But, consider this dear reader, the days of the computer, as we know it, has a limited lifespan. Technology marches onward with newer hardware, newer applications, newer form factors, and newer operating systems (we will one day be bidding even the mighty Microsoft a fond “buh-bye”). We are already seeing the Netbook oozing its way into the Laptop sales real estate. Laptops are certainly a move forward in portability, but they are just too big! And one day soon, we will be thinking that the Netbook is also (excepting for its screen size) “too big”.

Enter the Smart Phone! Slowly but surely it’s becoming more competent as a Computing Platform! A far cry from being only a phone with, say, an “extra” like a built in camera.

Smart Phones have some amazing capabilities now. You need to be thinking of them more as ultra-miniaturized computers. Capabilities now include Music, a fairly high resolution Camera/Video Camera, Voice Recorder, Videos, Movies, Photo Albums, Text Editor, Voice recognition, Things to Do Lists, Address Books, and Contact Lists. They also have built in connectivity options like WIFI and Bluetooth. With the current Data Plans you have capabilities of E-mail, “Tweeting”, Instant Messaging, Texting, and Internet Browsing. All of these capabilities used to be things that fell under the purview of COMPUTERS! Now you hold it in the palm of your hand! And your iPhone does even more when you add apps from the App Store.

Apple, via the iTunes Store, has provided yet one more feature to the mix. Application Software! Thousands and Thousands of Applications now exist that can be purchased (most of them for the meager price of $.99), from the iTunes Store. And access to the store is just a simple icon click away! This article, however, is an evaluation of only ONE of those thousands of available Apps for your iPhone. Specifically….  The Very First iPhone application for Truckers!

The First Trucker App on iTunes – The Premier iPhone Trucker App featuring a vast Drivers Resource Page area where you can find information on everything a truck driver might need for his/her job or life on the road.

The creators of the Trucker App are husband and wife team of  Aubery “Allen” and Donna Smith.  What better way to introduce you to the Trucker tool than Allen’s own words contained in the Application’s intro.

“Welcome to the official iPhone user site – Trucker.  As you know, Trucker is the first and premier trucking application for the iPhone. Packed with important features and links related to the trucking industry, Trucker truly is a revolutionary Apple iPhone Application!
Providing links to Government sites and vital trucking resources, Trucker also includes many features established to make the trucking life a little easier and a lot more fun! This first of its kind trucking app has the ability to have content added at any time. Literally, every time you open the Trucker App, there could be new and fresh content, unlike many standard applications which simply remain the same. This application is for you… all the drivers. We urge you to become an active part in the continual development of the Trucker Application.

For example: Have a cool photo that you would like to share? Then e-mail us your photo in .jpg format and we will share it with millions – right on the Trucker App! Have a favorite YouTube video? Send us the URL, and we will review it and post it to the application for everyone to see.

This truly is an interactive trucker application, and it’s just the beginning!”

After the Trucker App has been purchased from the iTunes App Store (again, this remarkable tool is only 99 cents!) and installed on your iPhone (or iPod Touch) your screen will look similar to the photo above. The Trucker App icon will appear, and it will also visually indicate the quantity of any “pending actions” that you might wish to invoke. This dynamic icon will allow you to see if there have been any “new items” posted (News stories, media clips, or Twitter items) without requiring you to even launch the app!

Once you launch the Trucker App you will be able to witness the very Dynamic nature of the application. The “out the windshield view” photograph will change often, as well as any applicable text messages. All areas of the application, invoked by the simple use icons at the bottom of the Home Screen, are equally Dynamic in their individual and ever changing content!

But before I described those areas, let’s look at what Allen calls the “Bloodline of the Trucker Application”, the User Site Resource Page. A simple “click”  and you are whisked away to the most useful areas of the application.

NOTE: The very first time that I used the Trucker App, I completely missed reading the Text, directly below the Home Screen Picture, telling me to “click” there. If you “miss” clicking there, then like myself, you will miss out on absolutely the most useful area of the application!

The new screen is presented to you with convenient links to take you to their individual resource sections, without requiring scrolling down to “find them”. Much of the application’s operations are very predictably “browser like” in their behaviors. It’s my feeling that some real attention was paid to the overall design of the application to keep it intuitive and easy to use.  Keep in mind that the entire application is Dynamic in nature and can be improved or expanded upon at any time. Also keep in mind that Allen and Donna are listening to Truckers inputs. They genuinely want this to be an application that addresses the needs of truckers.

OFFICIAL LINKS -  for example: FMCSA Rules and Regs, Hours of Service Regs, OOIDA, ATA

DOT LISTING – DOT Listings for Each State

TRUCKER SERVICES – Links for finding things like: Lowest fuel prices, Driving Directions, Mileage, Truck Stops, Repair Facilities, Weather, Scales, Truck Washes, Clearances, Load Boards, Motels with Truck Parking, and one of my personal Favorites… A Walmart Locator, With Driving Directions! NOTE: The Walmart Locator, Donna tells me, was recently included after a trucker (Twitter name @markinark) submitted the idea to her.

SECURITY AND EMERGENCY – some examples: TSA, Homeland Security, FEMA, Red Cross

THE DAC REPORT – “Everything You Need to Know About The DAC REPORT – Including a handy link to take you to a location where you can sign the petition to “Stop False DAC Reporting”!

PDF INFORMATION – PDF documents on: HAZMAT Routing, Routes for RadioActive Materials, Driver Qualifications Guidelines, Truck Driving Schools, and info for the CDL Waiver

TRUCKERS HELPING TRUCKERS – Some useful links to other truckers with valued information they’re willing to share with their fellow truckers

U.S. TIME ZONES – ’nuff said?

Most other iPhone applications present a “Done” button selection that quits the app.  In the Trucker application, selecting “Done” takes you back to the last section that you accessed.

The ICONS at the bottom of the Home Screen include links to:

NEWS – News stories from various Internet sources

EVENTS – Coming Trucking Related Events

MEDIA – Some informative and even some entertaining Media Links: Music Videos, Video Clips, Pictures, etc.

TWITTER – This selection allows you to view the Latest Tweets from @Truckerapp. The Tweets include a link which can then direct you to the Headline, or optionally, to the full expanded story

Needless to say, as a trucker myself, I love this application. Virtually all of the information that the app provides is available on the Internet, but ONLY after very exhaustive Searches and/or bookmarking! For only $.99 I have purchased a tool that consolidates everything of interest to me (from a trucker perspective) in ONE remarkably easy to use tool, in only ONE location, on only ONE device! FIVE STARS! Allen and Donna – “mission accomplished”! Thank you both, for all that you do!

Allen Smith has been an advocate for bettering the success and careers of truck drivers and CDL students. He has exposed many trucking industry myths and scams within the industry and in doing so has coined the slogan, “Raising the Standards of the Trucking Industry”.

The iPhone Trucking Application “Trucker” was Allen’s vision to coordinate and organize the most important categories and features, all in one place, so that truck drivers can conveniently have all their needed information, links and vital resources available to them at the touch of a button….right on their phone.

ASKTHETRUCKER
Welcome to our interactive  AskTheTrucker Blog for Truckers and Students!  Here, you will be able to ask Allen questions and interact with one another concerning topics related to “Trucking.”   I will be offering articles here also, for your reading enjoyment and enrichment.   Post comments, ask questions…….interact!

Allen is a 30 year trucking veteran whose goal and passion is to aid those in the trucking industry, whether they be students or new truck drivers. Allen enjoys writing, flying, playing the guitar, and talking to those interested in raising the standards of the trucking industry.

Allen is the original author of “The Truth About Trucking” e-book and Audio CD’s, which have saved thousands from the scams within the trucking industry…truck driving schools and trucking companies.

Allen also hosts the website GuaranteeMove.com designed to eliminate the horrors within the Moving Industry. No stone is left unturned in his book, “How to Guarantee a Perfect Move” As far as we know, there is not another book like this available to the general public.

Finally, there is the website  AubreyAllenSmith.com which briefly describes Allen and who he is;  his goals, motivations, and his passions.

On this website are links to many of Allen’s newest websites which are the home of his latest books,

“So You’ve Got Your CDL…Now What?” and “The Best Truck Driving Jobs- A State by State Guide”

For those who would like a review of all 3 of Allen’s Books which have helped thousands succeed in trucking, please visit:

http://www.truthabouttrucking.com/3BookSpecial/index.html

Donna Smith, a medical lab researcher

http://bettertruckerhealth.blogspot.com

A Blog addressing health issues of the Average American, specifically targeting the Over The Road trucker.

About Me

Twitter: @max4health My husband Allen and I have been on a journey during the last 3 years to help truck drivers succeed in an industry filled with scams and deceit. Our 2 main websites: http://www.truthabouttrucking.com and www.AskTheTrucker.com has aided thousands of students and truck drivers become successful in an industry that has a very high turnover and even failure rate. During my time with Allen on this quest, I began my own research concerning the health of truck drivers. Being in the field of research, I wanted to help Allen and other truck drivers relieve and eliminate the many ailments that truck drivers face, including: joint pain, obesity, diabetes, and arthritis…among a few.

© 2009, Dennis Dearborne. All rights reserved.

I just completed an Online Seminar (the better part of 2 hours) viewing of the about to be released …]]>

I just completed an Online Seminar (the better part of 2 hours) viewing of the about to be released (sometime this Summer?) Google Wave Application. This seminar was geared towards API (Application Programming Interface) developers. Google’s Wave is “Open Sourced for developers”. Which, loosely defined, means… “Ya’ll Come and help us develop this puppy”.

WHAT IS WAVE?

Google Wave is a new communication service previewed recently at an API Developer’s showing called “Google I/O”. “A wave is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more”. The service seems to combine Gmail and Google Docs into an interesting free-form workspace that could be used to write documents collaboratively, plan events, play games, chat (Twitter for example), or discuss recent news.

FIRST THOUGH, A LITTLE BIT OF “WEB HISTORY”

Two of the most influential successes in digital communications, email and instant messaging, were originally designed in the ’60s to imitate some analog counterparts. Email mimicked “snail mail”, and IM (Instant Messaging) mimicked phone calls. Since then, so many different forms of communications have also been invented; Websites, Blogs, WIKIs, collaborative documents, etc. Computers and networks also dramatically improved along the way.

THEN ALONG COMES A NEW IDEA!

An idea which quite possibly may be the birth of something HUGE, taking us rapidly from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, and completely reshaping the way that we view computer interaction, both in Business and/or Social Networking. Email is now 40 years old, yet still remains the most popular method to communicate. Email came before the internet… before the web. What would email look like IF it were to be invented today?

Email becomes REAL TIME. Instead of simple static documents that need to be created, SENT, distributed, and then REPLIED to, with the same ponderous and static distribution back to the originator. Imagine this whole process occurring in REAL TIME, with all participants of the WAVE making their individual contributions TO that Wave!

Spell Checking also occurs in Real Time as you type your contribution to the Wave. But it’s also so much more than just a “spell checker”. It’s also a “context checker”. Here’s a real example used in the seminar. A demonstrator typed “icland is an icland”. The “spell/context checker” converted this (INSTANTLY) to “Iceland is an island”. Thunderous applause resulted from the programmers in attendance!

WHOSE IDEA IS THIS?

Two engineering brothers (Jens and Lars Rasmussen) created a well known (and well used) application by the name of Google Maps. This also morphed into Google Earth and Google Sky! They then conceived of a new idea/project, which they codenamed “Walkabout”. This idea has morphed into Google Wave!

They started with a set of tough questions:

* Why do we have to live with divides between different types of communication — email versus chat, or conversations versus documents?

* Could a single communications model span all or most of the systems in use on the web today, in one smooth continuum? How simple could we make it?

* What if we tried designing a communications system that took advantage of computers’ current abilities, rather than imitating non-electronic forms?

They then gave developers an early preview of “Google Wave”.

WHAT’S A WAVE COMPRISED OF ANYWAY?

A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Think of a “wave” as something akin to a “thread”. The WAVE starts out simply, gathers participants, and the WAVE builds. It can gather documents, text, graphics,photos, videos, IM’s, WIKI’s, etc as it “builds”.

Wave is an HTML5 App that uses your browser as it’s engine. It’s quite easy for me to imagine the platform being a simple NetBook (or Smart Phone), with it’s internet connectivity, using it’s browser as your “Window” to ALL of your communication needs!

HOW IT ALL WORKS:

Here’s how it works: In Google Wave you create a “wave” and add people to it. Everyone on your “wave” can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly (in REAL TIME I might add, NO waiting required!). It’s concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages (IM’s) as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use “playback” to rewind the wave and see how it (the thread) evolved. This “Playback” capability allows for Newly added participants to “catch up” with conversations, and other added content that occurred before they were added to “the group”. One mouse click on a button… boom! instant “catch up”. Very, very nice capability indeed!

Google says, “As with Android, Google Chrome, and many other Google efforts, we plan to make the code open source as a way to encourage the developer community to get involved. Google Wave is very open and extensible, and we’re inviting developers to add all kinds of cool stuff before our public launch.” Google Wave has three layers: the product, the platform, and the protocol:

* The Google Wave product (available as a developer preview) is the web application people will use to access and edit waves. It’s an HTML 5 app, built on Google Web Toolkit. It includes a rich text editor and other functions like desktop drag-and-drop (which, for example, lets you drag a set of photos right into a wave). This feature ALONE is incredibly powerful. Have you ever tried to create a photo album that ALL members of a group can add to? And merely by performing a drag and drop operation? ALL members of the Wave are upgraded simultaneously AND instantly! And, again, any added Wave participants can “catch up” by merely clicking the “playback” button! WOW!

* Google Wave can also be considered a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other web services (Twitter for example), and to build new extensions that work inside waves.

* The Google Wave protocol is the underlying format for storing and the means of sharing waves, and includes the “live” concurrency control, which allows edits to be reflected instantly across users and services. The protocol is designed for open federation, such that anyone’s Wave services can inter-operate with each other and with the Google Wave service. To encourage adoption of the protocol, they intend to open source the code behind Google Wave.

In Wave,   what you would think of as an email “REPLY” can be inserted into this “next generation email” scenario as an IM exchange. All of which occurs in REAL TIME. Current IM exchanges (let’s use Skype texting as an example) you spend most of your time watching a “pen scrawl”.. indicating that the other party is typing… typing…. typing…. when, in WAVE, you watch character by character as they are actually being typed. Imagine how much quicker IM’s transpire if you can be reading while they are typing…. and vice versa. This allows you to “formulate” YOUR OWN reply as you read. This can DRAMATICALLY speed up the conversation. BTW, there IS a check box that you can invoke so that others CANNOT see your typing (mistakes and all) until you hit “return”. Have it YOUR way!

This will allow email “type” communications to be combined with IM type communications, all to be combined into ONE TOOL! Once again, new participants can be added to the Wave with a simple mouse click, and a simple function called “playback” allows the new Wave participant to “catch up” to the Wave by adding in prior subject threads, that they, otherwise, would not be privy to.

Private replies (akin to DM’s) can be injected into the threads, and they remain PRIVATE. Pictures can be dragged (from a desktop looking Wave panel,) right into the content of the Wave. Thumbnails appear immediately (as the file transfers of the photos takes place behind the scenes). HTML5 can not support this drag and drop from the desktop quite yet. However it’s, as we speak, being implemented into the new spec. It’s the ONLY part of Wave that isn’t accommodated as yet! Group photo albums can be created quite simply with WAVE, something that remains complex to do with today’s current tools.

This technology is incredibly exciting. I can’t wait for the developers to get busy with API’s and turn Google Wave’s infrastructure into something incredibly flexible and useful. I believe WAVE will SURELY transform the way that we all interact on both Business AND/OR social levels.

Comment I found on the Google Wave forum, to me, pretty much encapsulates my feelings about where the development of this product is headed. I would give David’s full name (for credit to him) but it was not included in his post.

” David said:

I just finished watching the video, and I was blown away. I was amazed at how content-centric this is. Any type of content can theoretically be added to a wave: chats, e-mail, documents, images, spreadsheets, code, video, twits, etc.–anything you wish. Even extensions are exposed as content within waves. This completely breaks down the barrier between different forms of content (and applications) and unifies it all as waves. This means that, theoretically, all of Google’s services can be unified within Google Wave. They wouldn’t necessary have to go away, but their interfaces would be used less, as all their content would be exposed through Google Wave’s interface. Not just that, but any service could be added and exposed as waves, from Google Reader and Gmail to competing services like Flickr and Facebook. Just like RSS feeds pull in the web to us, Wave could eventually pull in all our online activity into one organized place. And we’d rarely need to leave it!

The best part of all this is how open this is. Anyone can offer a competing services, and anyone can theoretically take all his waves with him to a competing service. One could even run a Wave server at home, solving the privacy issues of using a third-party service.

In short, this has the potential to change not just the web, but how we compute in general. I can’t wait to see where this goes.”

Many kudos to all at Google…… Dennis Dearborne The HiTech Trucker

© 2009, Dennis Dearborne. All rights reserved.