Filed under: Features, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store
Use your iPhone to navigate Inauguration Day
Second Update: You can also use the free SHOUTcast Radio [App Store link] to listen to WTOP for Inauguration Day coverage on your iPhone or iPod touch. The stream works great with EDGE, 3G, and WiFi. (SHOUTcast is published by AOL, the parent company of this blog.)Update: Late word is that the Ustream video viewer has made it to the App Store today, so you might be able to stream the inaugural coverage after all. We're downloading it now and will have a full review up tomorrow morning. Joost is also planning to stream the CBS coverage, so that should work on your iPhone as well.
Among the hundreds of thousands of celebrants descending on Washington, D.C. for tomorrow's big day, there must be at least a few iPhone owners. What might they find in the App Store, we wonder, to improve the visit?
The Inauguration Guide iPhone app (all app links open iTunes), developed by PointAbout and sponsored by a D.C. law firm and communications consultancy, aims to give visitors to the District everything they need to find their way around the city in the midst of the crowds and commotion. Although the front screen of the app is a simple countdown and distance-to-the-Capitol readout, the data gallery includes parking, public transport and restaurant info. The app is free, so it's certainly worth adding to your toolbelt if you're attending the festivities.
If you already know your way around but you'd like an easy tool to relay your experiences, the Inauguration Report app (also free) might be your ticket. You can send your impressions in text, picture or audio form to the coverage team at CBS News and NPR for possible inclusion in the reporting of the event.
For $0.99 each, you could pick up a guide to the inaugural event schedule, a comprehensive photo and speech gallery or a countdown clock that includes press coverage and citations from the US Constitution (awful handy). Still don't have a place to sleep? It's probably far too late to make a difference, but the free Crash the Inauguration app provides links to room listings, places to eat, video links and more. If you want a pocket reference to the country at large, you've got a $2.99 option with America Deluxe, a reference app that promises rapid updates immediately after the inauguration is complete.
While you've got a full range of options for audio coverage of the inauguration on your iPhone (NPR Mobile, Public Radio Tuner, TalkRadio, moodio.fm), video is a bit more challenging -- many sites are streaming, but few if any will work for your handheld. The official YouTube channel will work, but that won't have live feeds. The recently TechCrunch'ed/pre-announced uStream app for the iPhone isn't in the store yet (you can send in a request for an ad-hoc build, but they're probably well past the 100-device limit by now), although it looks very tempting. [See update above.]
Comments report that Joost will offer streaming of the ceremonies, and there's a page up on the site for the stream. The SlingPlayer app for iPhone is still a month or two away, so for live TV -- if you happen to have a Windows PC with the Orb tuner card -- you're looking at the $9.99 OrbLive app for streaming some C-SPAN to your spot on the National Mall.
Got your iPhone in Washington? Send a tweet our way and let us know how the 3G coverage holds up from your iPhone. Oh, and don't forget to take a few pictures.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dave Mac said 10:00PM on 1-19-2009
Ustream is in the app store now
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Michael Rose said 10:52PM on 1-19-2009
So it is. I wonder why search wasn't finding it earlier. Thanks!
Howie Isaacks said 10:14PM on 1-19-2009
Big freakin' deal. Some people act like we have never inaugurated a president before. I think it's awesome that we finally elected someone who's not a white guy but, it's not like we elected Jesus Christ himself! I will be so glad with all of this damned hype cools down.
If it had been Steve Jobs who got elected, I just might swoon :)
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Izzy said 10:57PM on 1-19-2009
Hmmm, looking for swastikas on your photo. Only kidding. I agree, it'll be nice when things get back to their normal horrible ways and I can go back to work to pay back all those loans to banks, all $800,000,000,000 of it.
(01) said 1:03PM on 1-20-2009
Some people would argue that we've never elected a non-white president before, and the simple fact that 10 times more people came out to this one than any previous president. I know that it's cool to hate on the government, but to ignore the social and historical landmarks this presidency holds is just being obtuse.
Rei said 10:16PM on 1-19-2009
I wrote an iPhone app to say bye to Bush but it got rejected by Apple!
http://www.24x7digital.com/byebyebush
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Howie Isaacks said 11:54PM on 1-19-2009
And they should reject all of these stupid political iPhone apps. I'm sick of this constant hate Bush sh*t. The man will be gone tomorrow. Give it a rest. The socialist anti-America liberals got what they wanted. I just hope we'll all live through it. The app store is no place for petty hate filled politics. The Obama campaign app was fine but using the app store to attack someone is just wrong.
Swimatm said 1:36AM on 1-20-2009
Howie, that is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. I totally agree with you.
DBReed said 8:29AM on 1-20-2009
Do you honestly believe that people who voted for Obama hate America?
Michael Rose said 8:05AM on 1-20-2009
Re. Howie's comment: "The app store is no place for petty hate filled politics. The Obama campaign app was fine but using the app store to attack someone is just wrong."
I agree that the App Store should be a haven for civility and free from slurs (fart apps notwithstanding), but I have a bit of trouble taking high-minded instruction on avoiding "petty hate filled politics" from someone whose personal website features an animated GIF of Vice President Al Gore with what appears to be excrement coming out of his mouth. Way to walk the walk there, Howie.
Also, describing 52% of your fellow citizens as "socialist anti-America liberals" seems to be, what's the word, "breathtakingly arrogant." But what do I know, I'm a socialist anti-America liberal New York Jewish intellectual communist lefty traitor.
Ryan said 10:18PM on 1-19-2009
Yeah all these apps are nice but there's no guarantee the network will work tomorrow morning. I was there for the concert and the phone service worked ok, but there was little or no data.
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crazypenguin said 10:23PM on 1-19-2009
Um, for those wanting to watch inaguration on iphone, i sugest joost...they sent me an email earlier today about inauguration live streaming, i'd think it works on iphone too, add that to your list tuaw.
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Michael Rose said 10:51PM on 1-19-2009
added joost! thanks.
Dave said 10:41PM on 1-19-2009
I kinda agree though... I don't remember all this fuss over an inauguration before.
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Dave said 11:42PM on 1-19-2009
I also do realize that the big deal is because Obama is not a white president... The Today show was talking about all the things previous presidents did for their inaugurations. They do a lot. There are parties and festivities. Indeed, it's always an important time, but I don't think the press has hyped it up as much as they are.
Here's the thing, it's not everyone that's talking about it and going crazy... it's the press. They make it out to be that tomorrow the world is going to change. Not to downplay the significance, it will be a day that is remembered in history, but the world is not changing tomorrow anymore than it has when other presidents were inaugurated.
Charles R Hamilton said 11:26PM on 1-19-2009
Yea, I think they are over playing the whole Obama thing. I get it, first black President. But to hear some people talk you would think slavery ended last week. Think of this people, the very first time a serious black candidate runs for President, he wins. America is not the racist nation some would have you believe. Congrats Senator Obama. Good luck tomorrow, you have a lot of hard work to do.
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Aloysius Snuffleupagus said 12:12AM on 1-20-2009
I take it that most of you are pretty young and it's a good sign for our country that you don't consider Obama's race to be worth making such a fuss over. But try to remember there are many, many people still alive and kicking who remember a time when black people had to drink from separate fountains, go to different schools, sit in the back of the bus, were attacked, brutalized, lynched by mobs, had crosses burned in their lawns, were murdered for standing up for their rights. Less than 150 years ago black people were property. Is Obama the savior? No. But his election is a huge step for this country. Regardless of what comes to pass, I share the excitement of such a giant forward leap after eight years of total backwardness.
You may now carry on talking about iPhones.
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Bracken said 8:35AM on 1-20-2009
According to the UStream website, streaming if Wi-Fi only right now to "ensure the highest quality broadcast on the iPhone." And the one stream that's up so far is a weird angle from the American Indian museum.
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Scott Biddle said 8:57AM on 1-20-2009
Also, AOL radio will have news stations streaming it. I live near Philadelphia, so I will be listening to it via KYW 1060, who will be broadcasting it.
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Mo said 10:09AM on 1-20-2009
I'll have a better idea about Obama in the next couple of months. That said, Bush can go rot somewhere. Between 9-11, Katrina, Afghanistan, Iraq & the economy, Bush certainly did NOT help this country. The US is NOT a better place now than it was 8 years ago.
While I am hopeful, we will see. Nonetheless, we should all be celebrating today (no matter what the political affiliation).
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