About a dozen years ago, this blogger drove his father's Buick Regal Gran Sport Coupe to a Pink Floyd concert at the 80,000-seat Pontiac Silverdome. After the concert was over, said blogger spent two hours trying to find his old man's ride in a sea of tie dye shirts and strange-smelling smoke. We've all misplaced our cars in mall parking lots, at airport garages or sporting venues before, but iPhone 3GS owners now have a device that can stop it from ever happening again.
Car Finder uses the newest iPhone's GPS hardware to keep track of your vehicle's locale, and when it comes time to get back to your car or truck, the app points you toward its location. Car Finder seems easy enough to use. Whenever you park your vehicle, open the application and mark your position. The 99-cent app will then tell you if you've got an accurate GPS position along with the margin of error. You can also name the spot or provide a parking spot number or letter to help you find your car later.
When it comes time to find your car, simply open Car Finder and your iPhone camera will be activated and an arrow will appear to point you in the right direction. The app will tell you how close you are to your car by giving you a meter readout that will let you know if you're getting hotter or colder.
Since the jammed packed parking lots of the holiday shopping season are right around the corner, we're thinking Car Finder may be worth a try. Few things suck more than losing your car in the parking lot when it's 25 degrees outside and you're holding four shopping bags.