Mazen Al-Angary's Official Blog
Posts tagged GPS
eSkyGuide: Travel Info at Your Fingertips
Jul 28th
While preparing for my vacation, I was introduced to a new app on the iPhone called eSkyGuide.
The whole purpose of the application is very straight forward, it lets you navigate changes and track all your air travel plans. Using your current location it would locate nearby airports, giving you updated flight schedules, since you can lookup availabilities and flight options for the next 7 days.
eSkyGuide gives you a 7 day weather forecast for airports that are listed in your itinerary.
The app truly shines when it provides you with contact information for airlines, hotels, car rentals, and travel agencies at your destination with numbers that you can tap to place a call right from your iPhone.
During my vacation to Europe, I tested how the app operated and functioned, to find it quite useful when it comes to providing me with needed information right at my finger tips.
eSkyGuide is available on the app store and sells for $4.99, Personally I think that the price is steep for what the app has to offer, where I find that a $1.99 price tag would be the sweet spot. Yet this is one of those apps that I will always keep in my iPhone’s Travel folder to find what I want when I need it.
Quadical: A New Dawn of High-Tech Events
May 24th
A spark of thought launched the idea behind Quadical, a new high-tech event management network in Saudi Arabia.
Quadical has been initiated to meet an eager demand in the Saudi market, to provide a reputable source of high-tech information by organizing events and seminars to decipher all that technical jargon in a simple easy to understand way.
Driven by the passion of sharing knowledge, the Quadical team works extra-hard to present a one of a kind presentation in every single event.
Starting on the 25th of May 2010, Quadical will organize its first gathering to talk about Gowalla (a Location Based Service application), offering all Saudi Gowalla users a chance to learn more about the technology and how they can benefit from it.
The event will be broadcasted live over Ustream, and will be available later on at Quadical YouTube channel. Since Quadical has arranged this event in coordination with Gowalla, Texas to be the first official off US shores event ever.
Yet more surprises are planned since Quadical is putting the final touches on a grand event that will take place at Dar Al Hikmah college on the 31st of May, to talk about the iPad and how people can use this futuristic piece of technology, answering all the questions that might arise during the event. And to add a little excitement, Quadical will offer two secret surprises during the event.
You can watch the Gowalla event live stream here. or on Quadical YouTube channel.
You can also find out about the latest updates by following @Quadical on Twitter.
Or surf over to Quadical’s website, for upcoming events. You know what they say, four heads are better than one. 
JeddahFood App: Gets You Out & About
Apr 10th
One of the best sites about restaurants and cafés in Jeddah, has just launched their first application on the iPhone, The JeddahFood app offers a lot of cool features.
This application will use your GPS equipped iPhone to locate your whereabouts and recommend venues that are close to you, you can even specify what cuisine you are looking for.
But what really makes this application so special, is its ability to let you read live reviews about the venue, see ratings, call the place you want to visit in case you want to place an order or make a reservation, visit the venue’s website, or even get to know the opening hours.
As a user of the application you can add your review or comments, rate, and share with your friends on FaceBook or Twitter.
A must have app if you live in Jeddah or plan on visiting, using the app gets you to discover more than meets the eye, even to people who live in Jeddah, I tried the app and found locations around me that I never knew were there.
You can get the full version of the app on the iTunes store for $3.99 (That’s about SR15, consider it as buying the JeddahFood team a cup of latté for the great work they did with their site, and now their application).
One Device that Does it All
Jan 3rd
When I travel I tend to carry so many gadgets with me, I even remember on one occasion where I had to fill a form in one country that required a list of all the electronic devices I had on me.
Here is the breakdown of my digital travel list:
- 1 MacBook Air.
- 2 iPhones.
- 1 iPod nano.
- 2 GPSr Units.
- 2 Battery packs for iPhone/iPod.
- 12 Rechargeable batteries for my GPS units.
- A bag chockfull of cables and USB thumb drives.
- Canon DSLR + 6 SD cards (4GB each, and it’s not like I shoot a lot).
Now I bet you might be wondering why would I need an iPod when I have two iPhones… And why two?
Another question would be, why would I need two GPS units?
There is an answer to all these questions (might start a FAQ page to answer them, but not today). Being such a neat freak, I find it easier to assign a task (or multiple tasks) to each device, to shift my brain gears when I operate it.
Now I am going on a trip, so I decided to try something new and different, going minimalistic (inspired by a friend ).
Here is the new and revised digital travel list:
- One iPhone 3GS.
Let’s see how I can survive with only that. The device that rules them all. 
Uboxing Garmin Oregon 550
Aug 17th
Have been using a GPSr for quite some time, and been very proud of my trusty Garmin GPSMAP 60 CSx
But what I didn’t really like about the 60 CSx was that fact that it attracts people’s attention since it really looks like a walki-talki which adds another level of difficulty while Geocaching in urban settings. So I needed a device that has the same power (if not more) and capabilities of my trusty 60CSx to be used as my primary device. I got the Garmin Oregon 550 with its touch screen interface, and the 3.2MP camera that geotags images, this new device was release mid-July 2009. I was trying to get it locally or from nearby region with no luck so I had to get it shipped from the US.
When I got the package I thought of doing an unboxing post so here it is:
Unboxing the Garmin Oregon 550
Just opened the box to see the surprise inside it.
They had to put the Mac logo in there, didn’t see any Windows logo though.
In the box you will find:
- Oregon 550.
- AA battery charger
- 2 AA NiMH batteries
- Carabiner clip
- USB cable
- Owner’s manual on disk
- Quick start manual
The back where you can see the camera lens of the GPS device.
Right next to the trusty 60CSx, much smaller.
A tad thicker, but it feels great in hand.
The back of the Oregon 550 and the 60CSx.
Where in the World is Teddy?
Jul 7th
Back in May 2008, I released a Travel Bug I called Teddy of Arabia.
It’s this cute teddy that wanted to travel the world, his mission is:
Go westwards from one cache to another, and get photographed next to famous monument around the world.
Teddy have traveled so far across the globe and made many new friends on the way.
I am waiting for his to come closer to me from the East so that I can pick him up again returning him back home 
You can visit Teddy’s page here , to see where in the world is Teddy?
If you need to see more pictures of Teddy around the world check him out on my flickr account.
This shows how far he traveled, now he is on the west coast of the US.
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