iPhone News Updated

iEverything at Macworld Expo

You’ve heard of iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad. It’s time to meet iGrill.

That’s right, iGrill. This cooking thermometer will let the host of a barbecue socialize with guests without having to worry about what’s sizzling on the grill. When the meat is ready, the iGrill will beep the host’s iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch via a Bluetooth connection. The iGrill may be the perfect cure for distracted cooking. Or as the marketing pamphlet from iDevice, the marker of the iGrill, says, it is “redefining how we socialize.” I have to think that was said tongue-in-cheek.

The iGrill is one of hundreds of products on display at San Francisco’s Macworld Expo, the show for Apple enthusiasts that Apple itself abandoned two years ago. Given the amount of stuff dedicated to Apple’s mobile products, iWorld Expo may be a more appropriate name.

Incidentally, as Apple fans crowded around booths to gawk at all sorts of products, I heard no talk about the health of Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, who recently went on medical leave.

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Fire Department Uses iPhone App for Emergency Response

A new cell phone app is changing the question “is there a doctor in the house?” to “is there a CPR-certified citizen in the area?” In California’s San Ramon Valley, the fire department has begun using a mobile, GPS-based notification system to get people who are trained in performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the site of a heart attack more quickly than emergency services could on their own.

The iPhone app, which is available for free download, directs area residents to cardiac emergencies in publicly accessible locations, as well as to the nearest Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The fire department coordinates and communicates with over 700 members of the Community Emergency Response Team using the app, and in the last six months they’ve begun including the public — more than 22,000 iPhone users — with a limited version of it. Since San Ramon Valley is only 155 square miles, that’s nearly 150 people per square mile who are connected and ready to jump into action when CPR is needed.
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