Want to Remotely Start Your Car? There’s an App for That
If you live some place where it gets really cold in the winter — you might already be familiar with the advantages and convenience of a remote-start car system.
Rather than fumbling to open an icy door or waiting a few minutes for the car to start and the heat to come on, you can start the car using a keyremote and even turn the heat on, so that by the time you get to the car, it’s on and warm.
Today, Directed Electronics, who make the popular Viper remote start systems, are taking remote-start one-step further: start your car with your iPhone. The Viper SmartStart system combines the Viper system with an iPhone app that acts as a remote control for your car.
Here’s how the system works: if you have a compatible Viper remote system installed on your car, you can download a free iPhone app and configure your car to hook up to your phone. Then, you can start your car and turn on the heat before you head out to the driveway. The Viper iPhone app can also lock your car (or unlock it) remotely too.
The advantage of the iPhone app over the traditional key-remotes is that the range is much larger than what you get with IR. I’m assuming the system works via satellite, because Viper calls it “virtually unlimited.” This would definitely be convenient for anyone who has a relative or a spouse with a predilection for locking their keys in the car.
The Viper SmartStart iPhone app is available for either new SmartStart systems (retail price $499) or existing Viper users can get the SmartStart module (retail price $299) from Best Buy stores beginning today. If you like the idea of keyless entry and remote-start, bringing that sort of functionality to the iPhone makes perfect sense.
Do you have a remote-start system? What do you think of unlocking your car with your mobile phone? Let us know!
Reviews: iPhone
Tags: iphone, keyless entry, Remote, viper smartstart
Remember The Milk Becomes First To-Do App With Push Notifications
Slowly but surely, push notification apps are trickling into the App Store, as you can see from this handy little list by AppAdvice.com. Some of them are less than impressive, since they offer strange niche functions that I could never picture myself actually using. Beejive IM came out last week, though, which has become by far my most-used app since, and now Remember The Milk (Free with RTM Pro account, iTunes link) is available, as of today, with push features.
A to-do app with push might just be the thing I need to get me to buckle down and actually use a to-do app with some kind of consistency. Sure, RTM for the iPhone requires that you have a Pro account with their service, which is a $25-a-year subscription, but I actually already have one from when the app was first released. Yes, I signed up many months ago and haven’t exactly taken great advantage of that subscription since, but version 1.1.0 gives me reason to believe I may actually begin to get my money’s worth.
The problem, for me, with to-do apps (whether they be desktop, web-based, or iPhone apps), is that for them to actually work, you kind of have to check them consistently. Sure, most allow you to send email alerts when a task’s due date is approaching, but my email comes in with such frequency that it’s very easy for a task reminder or two to slip through the cracks as I tackle more urgent messages. Now, RTM for iPhone will send me push notifications in the form of text alerts whenever a task’s due date is approaching, at a time determined by me that I set up via the web through my account settings. Audio alerts are oddly omitted from this version, but developers say that the addition is included in the next update.
Is it worth the $25 price of admission, when there are probably one-time purchase apps with similar features on the way as we speak? That depends on your to-do tasking practices. If, like me, you like the added convenience of having your list accessible from any Internet-connected platform (and offline, too, via Google Gears), then RTM, with its attendant free iPhone app, might be what you’re looking for. You could also hold out for Appigo ToDo’s push features, which are included in an update that’s already been submitted to Apple. Either way, if you’re looking for some way to get things done more efficiently, this implementation of Apple’s push could be the most practical yet.
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