In the not so distant future I will go on vacation to the Pyrenees in France. And as a Hiking trip could last far longer than the battery life of my iPhone, I bought this cool clamshell that on the one hand protects my iPhone plus adds more grip to hold it and on the other hand gives it a huge power boost. The idea for this item is so simple and genious. I just love it and therefore I wanted you to know…

> Mophie Juice Pack Case…

Tags: iPhone

After a long long wait Apple finally approved RaceBunny 1.0 for the app store. RaceBunny will let you send and receive tracks to and from your iPhone.
RaceBunny uses the new iPhone 3.0 build in maps and can record tracks. You can even send route courses to RaceBunny from within TrailRunner and follow the carrot symbol as it moves before your nose. Before you send a route course to RaceBunny, you can set a target speed.

Other than that, RaceBunny does not do much and but is free. Currently RaceBunny is the only application you can use to send GPS courses to your iPhone and follow them. So it might be an interesting use case to study for all other developers with great GPS solutions for the iPhone (hint, hint)

RaceBunny works best with the iPhone 3G and requires TrailRunner 2.1
To exchange data between TrailRunner and RaceBunny a domestic WiFi connection is being required.
RaceBunny uses the Build in iPhone OS 3.0 Maps requiring an internet connection to update the background map.

To use RaceBunny, follow these steps in a recent build of TrailRunner 2.1:
Go to Preferences > Synchronize and set RaceBunny as the iPhone partner application.
In the main document window, press the iPhone icon and select the send tab in the left pane. Start RaceBunny on the iPhone and press the send button in TrailRunner. The selected route should now be available in the list of routes within RaceBunny.
To receive tracks from RaceBunny, switch the iPhone tab in TrailRunner to Import.
Send a selected route in RaceBunny and TrailRunner should display it.

Download RaceBunny for free from the app store:

Tags: iPhone, import, export, NanoMaps, directions

TrailRunner 2.0 is now able to receive GPS recordings from yet another famous iPhone app called 321run written by Cyril Godefroy,

321Run is an iPhone coach for running. Learn to run more efficient, lose weight, increase your speed and get prepared for competitions. The app follows your runs with the GPS of your iPhone and records your run stats and tracks. You can then send these recordings over to TrailRunner.

The cool features of 321run are
- Record your workout
- Listen to how far you've gone and the duration of your training.
- Set yourself goals and reach them during your workout.
- Setup and follow Training plans

Find out more about 321run:
- Features
- Screenshots
- 321run in the AppStore

Tags: iPhone, workout, routes, import

TrailRunner 1.9 is able to receive GPS recordings from yet another famous iPhone app called Trails written by Felix Lamouroux.

Trails is the only GPS iPhone app that allows you to record, import and export tracks onto your iPhone. Trails is an iTunes Staff Favorite!
Record maps while hiking, on bike trips or while jogging directly on your iPhone. Easily import tracks and follow hikes of others!

This is how it works:

Download Trails
If you did not already, buy Trails in the app store and make some route recordings. Please note that the TrailRunner and Trails data exchange requires TrailRunner version 1.9 and Trails version 1.8. A domestic Airport/Wifi network is required to transfer data from the iPhone onto your Mac.

Transfer Routes
Start TrailRunner. Notice the iPhone control button in the toolbar. Press the control button.

An importer pane will open on the left hand side of the main window. Follow the steps described there.

On your iPhone, open Trails and select a recorded track. Press Export and press the TrailRunner button as depicted below.

TrailRunner and Trails will detect each other automagically and the selected track will be transfered to TrailRunner. The course of the track will be depicted immediately in TrailRunner.

After the course was received in TrailRunner you’ll see the regular workout import pane you might already know. Choose any of the import options and probably add a diary entry for this recording.

As of this writing both application versions are not yet available to the public

> Trails Website

Tags: iPhone, routes, import

The other days I was sitting together with some friends and thought about a fun iPhone app. Well, as one thing came to another we decided use the accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod touch to detect if someone has slammed on the table and to point out who’s going to pay the next round.
And here’s the outcome, a 0,79 Euro App in the AppStore:

“Slam it!” is a fun way to draw sticks, have a shoot-out, find a random winner. Having a kids’ birthday and want to find a team captain? Need to determine who’s paying the next round? Who will be the designated driver? Which poor soul in your shared flat will do the dishes? Don’t just agree on it or, god forbid, command it – no, slam it!

Put your iPhone or iPod touch on a table or desk. Gather the participants around your precious and have them select a playing field by placing a finger on the screen. (Explain to them this is the only circumstance under which you’ll let their greedy paws touch it!) Once everyone lifts their finger, the spinner will start.

Now here’s the twist: While the spinner will eventually decelerate and randomly point out a winner (or loser!) you can influence fate by slamming on the table. When you do so, the spin-down will start and select the loser not so randomly...

“Slam it!” can be played in two game modes (Protect Yourself and Last Player Wins) and comes with three themes to choose from.

Have fun!

> Website
> AppStore

Tags: iPod touch, iPhone

As developing a decent iPhone application is as much work as developing huge parts of TrailRunner I decided to not write my own iPhone app but to partner with one of the existing ones. This companion application you can buy in the App store is iTrail.
TrailRunner and iTrail require domestic Airport/Wifi network to transfer data from the iPhone onto your Mac.
This is how it works:

Buy iTrail
If you did not already, buy iTrail in the app store and make some route recordings.
> Website

Transfer Routes
Start TrailRunner. You’ll notice a new icon in the toolbar if you are a first time user. Otherwise you can add this icon by control clicking the control bar and adding the new iPhone Icon.



An importer pane will open on the left hand side of the main window. Follow the steps described there.



In the current version of iTrail (shown on the left), TrailRunner and iTrail Desktop are the same. This will change in the future to something like in the right screenshot (taken from a preview build of iTrail 1.7).

It is important to know that TrailRunner can not interpret the proprietary CSV file format of iTrail. The GPX file format is the one you should choose for the transfer.



After the course was received in TrailRunner you’ll see the regular workout import pane you might already know. Choose any of the import options and probably add a diary entry for this recording.

Tags: iPhone, routes, GPX, export, import, cellphone, diary