Not everyone can afford MobileMe, and some of us simply don't need all of the added features and storage space that it has to offer for the $99 price tag, but we all want to be able to track our expensive mobile device in case it is lost or stolen. Orbicule recently updated their iPhone and iPod touch tracking app Undercover with the ability to send Push Notificaitons, making it much more worthy of a purchase.

Undercover has always been able to track your iPhone's location as long as the app is open, but the problem has always been making a thief actually launch the app.  Now, in Undercover v1.5, you can at least try to trick a thief into opening the app via a well-worded Push Notification.

Here's how it works.  When you first download Undercover, you will be asked to register your device, for free of course, at Orbicule's Undercover Center.  Once you are all set up on the desktop side of things, simply launch the app again on your iPhone and its location will be logged into the website.  From there you can see your iPhone's current location, IP, and accuracy of location on a Google Map.  So now if your iPhone is stolen, you can log into the website and track its last known location, but to get an updated status, your thief is going to have to launch the app, and that's where the Push Notifications come in.

Via the Undercover Center, you can report your device as stolen.  You will have to first fill out some Police details since it isn't exactly safe to go after your device on your own.  After that, you are brought to another page where you can fill out a custom Push Notification message or use one of the default messages to entice your thief to launch Undercover.  If your message is convincing enough, your thief will hopefully access your iPhone to follow the notification's lead, which will launch Undercover. Undercover will take its sweet time loading at this point or load a website of choice to distract the thief while the GPS coordinates and IP address are being sent to Orbicule's website.  Those coordinates will be sent directly to any police officer you have contacted and registered on the website.

Of course, some thieves may be smarter than others, so the Push Notification may not be all that convincing, especially considering it says "Undercover" boldly at the top of the message. But as we all know, nothing is perfect, and $4.99 is a small price to pay for even a chance at recovering your stolen device.

You could also use the Push Notification system to inform someone who has found your lost device of how to contact you, so that in and of itself may be worth the price tag.

Here is a video from the company

Homebuyers $8,000 Tax Credit Extended through April 30, 2010

On November 6, 2009, President Obama signed into law an extension of the $8,000 first-time homebuyers tax credit until April 30, 2010. Binding contracts for the purchase of a principal residence signed by April 30 must close by June 30 to qualify in order for the first-time homebuyer to qualify for the credit. For qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers will have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 return. 

The new law added several new provisions that apply to persons purchasing homes on or after November 7, 2009:

• Homebuyers with higher incomes can now qualify for the credit for homes purchased after November 6, 2009. Income limits have been increased to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for couples filing jointly. These income limits were formerly $75,000 and $150,000, respectively. The credit phases out for individual taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income between $125,000 and $145,000 or between $225,000 and $245,000 for joint filers.
• The new law adds a $6,500 credit for long-time homeowners who want to trade up, that is, current home owners who have lived in their home for five of the past eight years and who buy a replacement principal residence by April 30, 2010.
• Qualifying home purchase prices must not exceed $800,000.
• The extended tax credit for first-time homebuyers remains at $8,000 and requires that the buyer have not owned a home in the past three years, as before.
• Purchasers claiming the credit will need to attach documentation of the transaction to their tax returns in order to help combat the tax credit fraud that has been experienced by the IRS to date.

Extended Homebuyer Tax Credit Resources

For additional information, the following resources – which can be expected to be updated frequently over the upcoming days and weeks – offer examples of fact situations, filing options and other details:

• NAR The Basics: Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit 2009/2010: http://www.realtor.org/home_buyers_and_sellers/2009_first_time_home_buyer_tax_credit
• Internal Revenue Service: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204671,00.html
• NAR FAQ Regarding Tax Credit Changes: http://www.wra.org/pdf/government/2009_NAR_FAQ_TaxCreditChanges.pdf
• NAR Comparison Chart: http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect
• WRA Tax Credit Extension Video: http://wra.org/video/tax_credit_extension/tax_credit_extension.

Newegg is having a sale on a Energizer protective case that has a built in battery for your iphone on sale for $39.99. The iphone will fit into the case and it will extend the battery life of your iphone. It retails for $79.99 

Pass-Through USB: Charge and sync your iPhone 3G and G3 S to iTunes without removing it from the iPower2 via the included USB cable

• Charging: You can use the included USB cable to charge the iPower2 and iPhone simultaneously or just charge the iPower2.
• Intelligent Power Distribution: Smart Battery Technology instructs the iPhone to always drain out the iPower2 first. When you are done with the iPower2, simply detach it and you still have a fully charged iPhone.
• Safety First: The iPower2 utilizes advanced rechargeable lithium-polymer battery cell technology for added safety. Built-in circuitry prevents the iPowre2 from shorting, over-charging or malfunctioning even under the most extreme conditions.
• LED Battery Status Indicator: The integrated LED status indicator tells you how much power is left in your iPower. The LED lights also indicate the charging status and
• charging progress.

 TigerDirect has a refurbished Magellan Maestro 5310 5-inch GPS for $129.99 shipped.

What's the big deal about a 5-inch display? That seemingly small amount of extra screen estate makes maps easier to view and onscreen menus easier to operate. Consequently, I'd say it's a safer GPS than one with a 3.5-inch screen.

The Maestro offers everything else you'd want in a GPS, too, including text-to-speech (i.e. it pronounces street names), 6 million points of interest, a windshield mount, and optional real-time traffic.

Even if you don't spring for a traffic subscription (which costs $60 annually after a free three-month trial), you can use the Maestro's SmartDetour feature to plot a route around suddenly slow or stopped traffic.

You don't get a lot of fancy frills like Bluetooth or a media player, but I consider that stuff fairly superfluous anyway. The big screen is the big attraction here, and the traffic option is icing on the cake.

CNET hasn't reviewed the 5310, but the handful of user reviews over at Amazon are overwhelmingly positive.

Because this is a refurb, the warranty expires after 90 days. As always, I think that's a potential positive: whatever problem might have existed has already been corrected. this deal has been running all weekend, so there's a chance it'll be ending soon. If you're in the market for a nav system and you'd budgeted $100 or so anyway, I'd definitely consider paying a little extra for this big, beautiful screen.

  Senators have agreed to extend a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers. 

 The tax credit provides up to $8,000 to first-time homebuyers but is set to expire at the end of November. A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said senators agreed Wednesday to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years.

A congressional aide said the tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes. The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to publicly discuss the deal.

Anyone having problem with there Iphone since the new update?  Here are a few things you can try.

• Reset your iPhone by holding down the sleep and home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
• Restore your iPhone: In iTunes, click the Restore button under the Summary tab. Restoring the phone will erase contacts, calendars, photos, and other data on the phone, but will restore automatically backed-up information including text messages, notes, call history, contact favorites, sound settings, widget settings, etc. Of course, make sure that you back up your phone before restoring.

Podcasts are listed in random order for some users who are reportingthat podcast episodes are not being displayed properly by date. We encountered this problem in one out of seven podcasts on a test iPhone 3GS. This bug has been confirmed by Apple, so look for a fix in a future firmware update.

This has been happening to me a lot. 

Random freezes or shutdowns are a major complaint for users after upgrading. The problem is the source of heated discussions within a huge Apple discussion threadcontaining nearly 900 posts. The problem seems to manifest itself whenever the iPhone goes to sleep, the user locks the display, or just randomly. When the user next tries to use the phone, he or she will find it completely unresponsive--the display remains blank and pressing buttons won't wake it. The only recourse for the user is to perform a reset as described above.

Battery life is another major complaintfor users after upgrading and one we've encountered ourselves. So far, none of the usual fixes have resolved a problem some are claiming happens even when the iPhone is idle. Regardless, we've noticed on our own iPhone 3GS that battery life is significantly poorer after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1. It isn't unusual to commute home at the end of the day with 25 percent or less battery life.

Apple is clearly aware of the battery problem and is actively trying to resolve it by engaging iPhone users in a study. Participating users will receive a special BatteryLifeLogging.mobilecongfigfile that will capture Powerlog files from the iPhone when syncing with iTunes. The user sends the log files to Apple via e-mail or http://bugreport.apple.com. Hopefully with enough input, Apple will find the root cause of this problem and issue a fix in a future firmware update.

 guide to getting the most out of your iPhone battery for suggestions on improving battery life.

Slow or sluggish performance is a complaintfrom some users, blaming the problem on MobileMe syncing. 1. Launch the Settings App
2. Go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3.Go to your MobileMe account
4. Turn off contacts and calendars
5.When prompted, delete them from your iPhone
6.Reset your iPhone by holding down the sleep and home buttons until the Apple logo appears.
7. Perform steps 1-5, but this time turn contacts and calendar syncing on.

If the above steps do not resolve the problem, another alternative is to delete your MobileMe account from your iPhone, perform a reset, and set up your MobileMe account from scratch.

Unknown error (-50)was an error we encountered when syncing from iPhoto to our iPhone 3GS on another computer. According to Apple, all we needed to do was sync using iTunes 9, which we had not installed on the second computer. After upgrading to iTunes 9 the problem disappeared.

A local radio station is having a contest for Oklahoma's Hottest Realtor. I entered my wife and me into the contest. The winner gets a weeks worth of free air time so you can promote your business.  The first round ends of Friday Sept. 21. We are in Poll #3. 

PLEASE VOTE FOR US!!!!!!!!!! THANKS, CHRIS & JEN SONAGGERA, COLDWELL BANKER SELECT

OKLAHOMA'S HOTTEST REALTOR