Apps that may Save your Ass

Here are a few apps that I keep on my trusty iPhone just in case the SHTF and I gotta bug out!  I also have a AA charging cell to keep it going if the battery starts to die out.

I have several navigation and location based apps that are in other parts of my phone menu (listed below), but these are what I go to when I need to find out information quickly:

Flashlight - Pretty self explanatory.  Only thing is this one has several flashes and configurations you can use in emergency situations.  Also lets you control the flash for the rear facing camera.

Disaster Alert - List every ongoing disaster in the world.

Compass - General compass for land navigation.  No cell service required.   

5-0 Radio and Police Scanner - Databases of local police and fire broadcast.

SAS Survival App - Basically a media rich version of the SAS Survival Handbook.

iFirstAid - Basic first aid and lifesaving techniques with an automated read over and CPR timer.

Surf Report - For currents, tide and water temperature readings.

Weather Bug and TWC - Local weather.

Find iPhone - If I need to get a general idea of where my wife is or send her an emergency message I can through this App.

Survival Guide - Good collection of free survival techniques.

Other apps not listed in this section that may be useful in a bug out situation:

Google Doc's - I have several PDF's that have first aid and survival information on them.

Twitter - To monitor social media response to an event.

Google Voice - To make calls if the cell service is down (Wi-Fi required).

Google Maps - for directions (walking routes available).

iFM - Radio station feeds.

Paypal - Buy stuff, transfer money from you phone.

iBooks - View any PDF's you have stored on your iPhone.

Star Walk - Navigate by the stars even when cloud covered.

    

Geocaching Finds April 10th, 2011

Went to Mt. Trashmore with the Family for a quick picnic and play. My son fell asleep so we walked around and got these two caches as targets of opportunity.

Geocaching Finds April 9th, 2011

When possible I'll post up some of my geocaching finds. These may have spoil alerts so keep an eye for the CG#.

Last Located

I typically try to update this on a regular basis.  If your near by send a message @rc4f on Twitter and I should get a notification.

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

iPhone Geocaching App Reivew and Today's Geocaches - 3/21/10

Today I took my son and found a few caches that were close together.  He's almost two and was a blast to have along during the finds.  They were his first!

Here is a rundown of what we found:
CG22VDT - 1098 Old Dam Neck Rd. P&G - First find of the day.  Easy!  Always fun though.
CGJEH4 - Corporate Falls - Good little cache.  Its in a spot you wouldn't expect thats for sure.  Nice placement!  I took the Travel Bug and moved it to a cache across the street.
CG20N8M - This could be Taxing - Very cool small cache.  In a nice little spot you can easily miss if not careful.  I placed the Travel Bug I got from CGJEH4 here.  Was a tight fit, but will be a good surprise for the owner as I bet they never thought a TB would make it into this cache.  This is a premium cache only open to members of geocaching.com.

Today's trek was to test out the Geocaching.com iPhone App.  It was pretty good for the type of caches I was after (urban).  Not sure how good it would have been in the thick stuff because the iPhone has a hard time determining direction.  We did a lot of circles around CGJEH4, but it still did the job.

Pros:  It's nicely integrated with the iPhone and website.  I was able to post in the field.  Overhead imagery was a nice reference, but the images were a little blurry.
Cons: Battery hog!  Had to long-in every time I shut the app down.  It seems that you can get better resolution imagery on Google Maps app.

Overall:  It's still earning it's $9.99 price tag as far as I'm concerned.  Especially since I'm a paying member at the website.  It's a lot more convenient compared to my older method of keeping points with me that makes me want to continue to use it.  It's a nice to have in my GC toolkit.

GeoCaching Season 2010

I don't know why I let the winter squash my desire to be outside, but I do.  This year I hope to have a little more time to partake in "other" outdoor activities such as: hashing, geocaching biking and of course running.

I dusted off my ole Geocaching.com account and downloaded a few pocket queries so now I'm ready to go.  I also picked up the Geocaching.com iPhone App for use when an opportunity presents itself.  It's $9.99 and it's hooked directly into the GC website to pull the latest information so I don't have to preload anything.  Thats a major plus when in cell coverage.  It also has an offline feature that's seems like it could be useful, but I'll have to check it out first.

Another app I have is called iGeoCacher which is mainly an offline caching tool thats a good backup if cell coverages is lacking.  It's been pretty reliable up to this point, but you have to preload everything.  I'll post updates as I test them out.