We use a lot of tools to build our iPhone apps, and these are my favorites. For most of these, we pay a monthly fee, and for those where we don’t, we would! If you are one of the developers that works on these apps, we thank you and so do our users.

• Crittercism- sends us anonymous crash reports from users, and tracks DAU and MAU – also has other features to communicate with users that we will soon integrate
  
• TestFlight- the only way to fly when it comes to managing test users – we beta test many apps with many groups of people, and TestFlight keeps it simple
  
• GitHub- The best hosted source control in the world. Every week it seems, they are coming out with new features that I actually use, while maintaining the site I know and love.
  
• UserVoice- absolutely the best way to solicit, sort, and act on user feedback. There are other similar services, but none
  
• Harvest- The easiest to use and most comprehensive time-tracking tool on the market. We end up doing custom apps for people based on our platform, and this is how we track and bill.
  
• Appirater- A dead simple, drop-in library for getting user reviews. Sure, we could make our own, but this has been doing the job for us since 2009.
  

If you love whales and iPads, today is a good day indeed. We are happy to announce the launch of Whale Alert – a free iPad/iPhone app that helps captains to avoid running giant ships into endangered whales.

The app warns ship captains when they enter areas of high risk of collision with critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, and also uses data transmitted from Acoustic Whale Detection Buoys to alert vessels to the presence of right whales in almost real-time.

We were delighted to be involved in the development of the app and to have our software platform applied in such an interesting and positive way. This project involved the collaboration of many groups:  Bioacoustics Research Program at Cornell University, Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire, EarthNC, Excelerate Energy, EOM Offshore, Gaia GPS, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Massachusetts Port Authority, NOAA Fisheries Service, National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore, NYK Lines (North America), United States Coast Guard and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Here are  some additional links about the project:

• stellwagen.noaa.gov
• earthnc
• NOAA release
• Boing Boing article
• National Geographic article

There is a nasty, but easy-to-fix, crash you might experience in the latest version of Gaia GPS. You can fix this crash via iTunes, simply by following the instructions below.

If you do not have any important data saved in Gaia GPS (tracks, waypoints, or downloaded maps) or don’t have access to iTunes on a computer, you can also fix this crash by deleting the app and reinstalling it from the App store. You will not be recharged during the reinstall.

Fix from iTunes

1. Plug your device into iTunes
2. Select the device in the menu on the left

1. Select the Apps tab at the top

>

1. Select Gaia GPS from the list of apps at the bottom

1. Delete the file called “newSettings.txt” from Gaia (press the delete button on your keyboard) Then tap “Delete”.

After that, restarting the app should make it work fine. The only effect you will experience is your settings (metric/imperial, etc.) will need to be set again.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Gaia v6.3 was a big release, and this bug snuck in! We hope you otherwise like the improvements.

This past Wednesday we received an email from a user in Alaska, who used Gaia to good effect when a storm struck:

The email that simply read, “the gps worked awesome in Alaska and saved my ass in a white out.”

Marketing and User Support

TrailBehind now consists of 3 full-time developers, and we are looking to hire our first non-technical employee.

Your primary responsibility will be to answer user emails for Gaia GPS, and to create FAQs and other materials to decrease support requests and improve the user experience.

In addition, you may be asked to help with marketing, including things like improving our website, creating how-to videos, and improving our press coverage.

Requirements/Info

• The position is part-time to hire. Expect 20 hours of work per week to start, potential for full-time after 3 months.

• We are offering $15-25/hour, depending on your strength as a candidate.

• You can work from our office in Berkeley, and after the first week, you can choose to work at home instead.

• We would prefer you have a college degree or are working towards one, though it is not required.

How to Apply

Please send an email to jobs@gaiagps.com with a resume and/or other information that you think would help distinguish you as a candidate. We will pay attention to how good your email sounds.

I got this email from a user on an search and rescue team, and I wanted to share what he said. It makes my day to hear Gaia really make a difference.

Our group S&R group was actually out this evening evacuating a snowmobiler with a broken femur from miles back off the trailhead.  I am a huge proponent of your software and I think I’ve gotten at least a dozen people our team using it now.  The area we were in this evening, is an area we were in last year, past midnight in a white out blizzard.  It is on top of a ridge where you have to thread your way down through various rock bands without actually going off the ridge.  Last year, after we found a lost snowmobiler we used my phone and your app to guide about 10 of us and the subject through the white out conditions and safely down through the rock formations while we couldn’t see more than 10 feet around us.  The others with their GPS units had horrible version of topo maps, and it was too cold and windy to break out the actual maps.  Using the GPS overlayed onto the actual USGS topo maps was key in getting us out safely.  So, with all sincerity, thank you for this app!     

The new version of Gaia GPS for Android, v3.2, should now work with devices that have been upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s also must faster and more memory efficient.

if you have any issues with Gaia under the new operating system, please email us at android@gaiagps.com.

iTunes makes it hard for people to get refunds for apps they don’t like – you have to send an email to Apple, and they won’t always provide a refund. Android too – on the Android Market, you can only get a refund within 15 minutes of your download.

That’s not how we think it should work though – if you don’t like our apps for any reason, send us an email at gaia@gaiagps.com, and we’re happy to provide a refund, no questions asked.

Here’s a new video that explains how to record tracks using Gaia GPS.

You can also access this in Gaia’s Help section in the app.