# Apps you really, really want, but don't exist! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 17, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480 "2013-10-17T13:55:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/61 "2013-10-24T18:36:55Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > 😃 > > I want an app that will allow you to refuse calls to any number you input. Yeah, I know there are some apps like youmail that kind of help with unwanted calls, and Verizon allows you to block up to 5 numbers for free. I want an app that will allow and unlimited amount of blocks to numbers so that your phone will refuse to accept calls from any number on your list. Well I’ll be darned… [http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/mobile-phone/3442391/how-block-number-on-iphone/](http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/mobile-phone/3442391/how-block-number-on-iphone/) ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/62 "2013-10-24T22:30:12Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Off topic, but that is NOT how it works in Texas and if that is how your wife is getting paid, then her employer is violating Texas labor laws and your wife has the makings of a lawsuit. > > [This page](http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/lablaw/texas-minimum-wage-law.html)is the Texas minimum wage law in simple language. [Here is](http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/LA/htm/LA.62.htm) the actual law. An employer may use tips in figuring the wage, but the total must come to $7.25 per hour (or greater). If tips fall below that mark, then the employer must make up the difference. **Drum God** we actually discussed this in another thread. The law is the law but what happens in practice (my family is 6 restaurants in total down the waiter/waitress role) in Texas is something else. One restaurant that my wife worked for did not even pay her the 2.13 an hour. She just flat made tips only, they didn’t even fill out a W4 or whatever the form is that gets you set up with the IRS. What the law is in Texas and what happens here are two different things, especially if its a federal requirement. I just took the DOL’s webpage up to the gas station next door to my house and showed it to the clerks I know there (they are all still getting paid 5.15, which until it was pointed out to me last week on the SDMB… I thought was still minimum wage.) ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/63 "2013-10-25T05:09:13Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > **Drum God** we actually discussed this in another thread. The law is the law but what happens in practice (my family is 6 restaurants in total down the waiter/waitress role) in Texas is something else. One restaurant that my wife worked for did not even pay her the 2.13 an hour. She just flat made tips only, they didn’t even fill out a W4 or whatever the form is that gets you set up with the IRS. What the law is in Texas and what happens here are two different things, especially if its a federal requirement. I just took the DOL’s webpage up to the gas station next door to my house and showed it to the clerks I know there (they are all still getting paid 5.15, which until it was pointed out to me last week on the SDMB… I thought was still minimum wage.) What happens if you turn them into the DOL? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/64 "2013-10-25T07:45:35Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > I want an app where I can input the ingredients I put in a dish and then hit a button and get nutrition information calculations. I find no two calorie counters are the same, so I don’t know if there’s a standard somewhere. Me too, actually. A few years ago when I was brainstorming ideas for an iPhone app, that was one of the first things I thought of. Pretty much all the diet software I’ve used on a standard computer, website, or mobile app has sucked sweaty donkey balls. Someone clearly needs to make something better than what’s around right now. > [@scr4](#): > > I want a personal time management app that goes beyond a simple ToDO list, and actually tell me which task I should be doing now. It should allow me to make a task list with estimated time to complete each task, deadline, priority, etc. And combine that information along with the scheduled events in my calendar, and plan out my day for me. You probably want [OmniFocus](http://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus). It’s not cheap, but everyone I’ve ever heard of who needs something like what you described here says it’s the best of the bunch. > [@Ranchoth](#): > > One that would automatically identify and label stars using the camera and time/position of the phone would be kinda nice. [Star Walk](http://vitotechnology.com/star-walk.html) uses GPS to determine your position, and the accelerometer to determine viewing angle. Point it at the sky and it’ll show you the name of what you’re looking at. You can zoom in on celestial bodies in that line that you probably can’t see with the naked eye, and it has a built-in gazetteer. I bought it when I got a 3GS, so a few years back now. In the same vein is [Theodolite](http://hunter.pairsite.com/theodolite/), which does what it says on the box; it turns your iPhone into a surveying instrument. It’s not professional-grade, but doesn’t cost 10 grand and weigh several kg either. Valuable adjunct if you’re into geocaching or similar, or if you just want to document something with high precision like a good camping spot. > [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > A very simplified music player with an equalizer would be great. Google Play Music and PowerAmp both have very cluttered interfaces. There’s a built-in preset equalizer, but you probably want something you can adjust more manually. I’m sure if you did a search there would be a few. Most of them don’t work on streaming sound, though, probably due to back-end APIs. [Rondo Player](http://rondotheapp.com) automagically adjusts the sound quality to emulate listening to music in a physical space rather than through earphones. It’s an interesting effect. I personally prefer no equalization at all — I like to listen to music the way the artist intended it to sound — but you might like their adjustment. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/65 "2013-10-25T18:22:14Z")
> [@1096EX](#): > > I would like an app that takes my position (per GPS) and draws a straight line to a broadcast tower and a deteremined height and identifies if the topography rises in the way. The use is for television microwave truck transmitters sending a signal back to the tower (or other receivers). The signal is very directional and a big hill between me & the tower will stop the signal. > > Being able to determine the likelihood of a successful shot would be nice when deciding if to bring a microwave or satellite truck to a location. > > As it stands now we tend to look how close a stream or river is on the map, then use that to guess if the area is too low to send a signal. It might be overkill, but I think what you’re looking for could be some kind of LIDAR-based viewshed analysis. You’re not going to find a mobile app that does that for you though. You’re going to need some relatively sophisticated GIS software and the required data to feed into it. Again, it’s probably overkill (and too expensive) for whatever it is you’re doing, but it’s pretty cool technology. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/66 "2013-10-27T17:34:45Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > What happens if you turn them into the DOL? From time to time on late night TV, I see advertisements for lawyers calling out for people that have to pay into illegal tip shares and other wage type illegalities in the restaurant industry like this for class action lawsuits, but Texas is a right to work state, and employers just fire and replace you. There is an endless line of people waiting for jobs here, so speaking up pretty much gets you fired in this area. I suppose that reporting it would get you an eventual check in the mail, but no one pursues it honestly because people are very replaceable. I got fired once from a manager position at a restaurant because I corrected a computer glitch on a point of sale system for a waiter. The policy of the place was to make a waiter pay for any items that needed to be voided off of an order that got put into the POS system. Sometimes, when a waiter split an order on the system, all of the items would appear on each split check. The waiter that was working for me split a check that only had soft drink orders, and the Sprite that he had on one ticket cloned itself on all four tickets. Now since the Sprites never got made by the waiter, I just voided them off and put a note on the ticket as the void printed out. They called me the next day when they were going through the logs and fired me over the phone. I was bummed out totally, but three weeks later they got shut down for serving frozen margaritas to the cheer-leading squad on prom night. Kharma is a biotch I guess. ---
**Author:** ![joeschmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@joeschmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joeschmo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480/67 "2014-07-04T19:06:20Z")
> [@2gigch1](#): > > I would like an app that takes my position (per GPS) and draws a straight line to a broadcast tower and a deteremined height and identifies if the topography rises in the way. The use is for television microwave truck transmitters sending a signal back to the tower (or other receivers). The signal is very directional and a big hill between me & the tower will stop the signal. > > Being able to determine the likelihood of a successful shot would be nice when deciding if to bring a microwave or satellite truck to a location. > > As it stands now we tend to look how close a stream or river is on the map, then use that to guess if the area is too low to send a signal. I have written software similar to this, but not as an app. I could combine line of sight (LOS) with a path loss calculation to give you a color coded map of the area where the color equates to the receive signal strength at the tower (or any point). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apps-you-really-really-want-but-dont-exist/671480.md?page=3)