How I Got the iPhone 5 Without Waiting Four Weeks

The iPhone 5 has been very popular since it first came out. If you didn't preorder one, it is difficult to get one without waiting the three to four weeks Apple says on its web site that it will take before it ships. If you are really lucky you might find one in an Apple Store or one of the carrier stores. However, they've been trickling in and disappearing pretty quick.

I was able to upgrade from my iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5 recently once I learned a trick. Part of this trick came from information an Apple Store employee told me. Part of the trick, I learned by trial and error. I'm going to share this particular trick with you and it might work for you also, though there are no guarantees.

Annotate the Weather on Your iPhone or iPad

RadarScope, arguably the best weather radar app for iOS, is useful for watching storms, spotting tornados, and more.  With the incredible amount of wind and rainfall in the Northeast United States from Hurricane Sandy, it's a very useful tool for staying abreast of conditions.

The app is now even better with a feature that allows you to annotate by drawing directly on the radar image. To do this, simply click the pencil icon in the upper-left corner and start writing with your finger. If you click the pencil icon again, your annotations disappear. Your annotations don't come back when they're gone so this is primarily a way to share radar images. When you share an image, it includes the annotation.

The example to the right is one I shared with myself via email.  It shows total surface rainfall for Hurricane Sandy. In this image, I point out an area that has received 10 inches of rain due to the hurricane.

Special Note: While we are on the subject of Hurricane Sandy, please pray or continue to pray for those affected by this storm. Just last year, Alabama was devastated in an incredible tornado outbreak. People prayed, charities and individuals stepped up in big ways to give and server, and many affected are back on their feet again. I pray that the same response happens in the Northeast. Please consider how you might help those hurt by Sandy and continue to pray for them.

Watching College Football or Basketball on Your iPhone or iPad

Clearly the best way to watch football or basketball is either in person or on a large screen TV (with surround sound, of course). However, if you find yourself away from home, you don't have to totally miss out on actually watching the game.  Thanks to the CBS Sports app for iPhone and for iPad, you can watch college football or college basketball live. The games that are streamed are only selected ones that CBS airs on TV. However, for football, that's the SEC game of the week, which is one I typically care about.

The app itself is unremarkable for anything other than streaming live games but it's the streaming that is the killer feature. If you have a decent data connection, whether wifi or cellular, the picture is good. I watched part of one game on a 3G connection and it was quite clear. I'm sure it looks even better on the new iPhone 5.

The Taller iPhone 5

So this is not practical at all but it is funny.  I'd love to have it for the tape measure and guitar apps.

Lesser Known but Valuable iOS 6 Features

Newly Installed Apps with Banners 

It's been a little less than a week since iOS 6 was released and already much has been written about it's major features, such as Passbook, turn by turn navigation in the new Apple Maps, Facebook integration, and shared photo streams. But there are 200+ features, according to Apple. What are some of the less advertised, but still valuable ones?  Here are some that I found useful:

App Store

Now when you download a new app from the App Store or update an existing app, you don't get kicked out to the home screen. In fact, you can see the progress of your download in the App Store.

Once you've downloaded an app, you can even launch the app from within the App Store.

New apps that you download are shown on the home screen with a "New" banner over the upper right corner until you open them for the first time. If you download a lot of apps (for example when they go on sale for free), this is very handy, especially when you come back to an app a couple of days later and see that you haven't tried it out yet.

The Fantasy Football Secret Weapon on Your iOS Device

What if there were an app for your iPhone or iPad that would give you a diverse set of very timely news and opinions that were relevant to your fantasy football strategy. What if this app gave you the latest news regarding injuries, who is playing well, who is struggling, who is likely to start, and how contract negotiations are going with that hold-out player.  What if this app gave you news so up-to-date that, while you were watching one game, you knew about how players in other games were performing?

That app exists and it is not what you expect. In fact, it's not even one app, but it is, in fact, a whole class of apps that basically do the same thing. These apps are all Twitter apps and here is a good run-down of the best ones.  (I personally use Echofon.)

Track Your Walk, Run, or Bike Automatically on Your iPhone

I mainly walk and lift weights for exercise.  I track my exercise in Fitocracy on my iPhone to help keep my motivated (and at a much less detailed level in LoseIt!, to help me track calories). Even though these apps are easy to update, I found myself wanting to track how long, how far, and where I walk, without having to enter data in yet another app. This is the niche that RunKeeper fills.

RunKeeper takes all the work out of tracking walks, runs, hikes, or bike rides. I simply launch the app, click the Start Activity button, and start walking. RunKeeper uses the GPS to track my walk automatically, including total time, total miles, current pace, and average pace.  It even gives me a breakdown by mile. If I want, I can see where I've traveled as a route on the map.