MileBug 2.1 - GPS Full Path Tracking with Map Display

Last night MileBug 2.1 hit the App Store with the most exciting feature of the year - GPS Full Path tracking with Map Display. Ever since Apple allowed apps to run in the background, users have been requesting full GPS tracking. Now it's here - http://bit.ly/MileBug!

When adding a new trip, select "GPS Tracking" under the odometer readings on the Add Trip screen. This will slide on a Map View and show your current location. Simply tap "Start Tracking" and MileBug will drop a pin every time you move more than 1/10 mile. You can return to Add Trip and fill in the rest of the information, save it, and even leave MileBug to open other apps. As long as MileBug is running in the background (which it does by default), it's tracking your trip.

At any time, you can open the Trip and return to GPS Tracking and see your path on the map. Your path is drawn on the map, with dragable pins every 1/10 mile. To edit your path, you can drag pins around, remove pins, even add new pins. If you happen to forget to turn off GPS tracking when you arrive at your destination, you can easily trim your path to the correct pin when you do remember.

Full Path GPS Tracking is in the full version only. MileBug Lite GPS is only "as the crow flies" and does not include map display.

Please let us know in the comments below how it's working for you and suggestions on improvement, or even new features for our next release.

MileBug in the App Store - http://bit.ly/MileBug

Peace of Mind Organizing Blog Entry about MileBug

Just saw this great little blog post about MileBug at the Peace of Mind Organizing blog. Chalk one up for MileBug in the great battle of tax preparation!

http://www.peaceofmindorganizing.com/blog/milebug-my-tax-time-time-saver
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Julia Doherty at Green Umbrella blogs about MileBug

Just wanted to point your attention to the Green Umbrella blog by Julia Doherty. She's written a great little piece on MileBug:

http://www.green-umbrella.biz/2011/02/a-cool-iphone-app-for-recording-business-mileage-milebug/

I think she's in England, our friends across the pond, so drop by and say hi!

Quick HOW-TO for MileBug Beginners

Here's a repost of a blog entry from last January that I thought might be helpful again:
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First understand that the general idea is that you open MileBug right when you get in the car to go somewhere. You add a trip, enter the data including the starting odometer reading. Then you close it up and drive to your destination. When you arrive, open MileBug and it will automatically take you to the incomplete trip where you now simply enter the ending odometer reading and hit Save. Voila! Now it's in your Trip List.

For the simplest case, focus only on the Trips tab. Don't worry about the others right now. On the top right, there's a "+" button. Simply tap that to add a new trip. You'll see a new screen slide on with different fields for information about the new trip you're about to take. Simply tap on each one to either choose or enter the data for that field. For fields like Business, Destination, Vehicle, etc. you'll be adding a new one to the system by tapping "Add Preset" at the top of the screen that appears when you select Business or one of the others. Simply add the new one, and it will now appear in your set of Businesses, Vehicles, etc. that you can choose from for this trip and all future trips.

If you want to customize a few things, you can do this in the Presets tab. There you can choose among different settings, as well add/edit/move/delete your set of Businesses, Vehicles, Expense Categories, etc. Keep in mind that each business has it's own set of Destinations and Purposes.

Link for MileBug on Android

Unfortunately Android Market doesn't allow direct links to apps from a web page, but here's the Cyrket link that will get you there:

http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/com.izatt.milebug/

Open that link on your device and click the QR code to get to MileBug in the Android Market.

IRS Announces 2011 Standard Mileage Rates

IR-2010-119, Dec. 3, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2011 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2011, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 51 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs as determined by the same study. Independent contractor Runzheimer International conducted the study.

A taxpayer may not use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) or after claiming a Section 179 deduction for that vehicle. In addition, the business standard mileage rate cannot be used for any vehicle used for hire or for more than four vehicles used simultaneously.

Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.

Revenue Procedure 2010-51 contains additional details regarding the standard mileage rates.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=232017,00.html
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MileBug Featured at MacCreate

Just got notice from Joanne Carter at MacCreate that MileBug has been listed as part of their Daily iPhone App Digest - 9 December 2010. She notes in there that MileBug rose to #2 last January in the Finance category..let's do it again!

http://iphone.maccreate.com/2010/12/09/daily-iphone-app-digest-9-december-2010/