Dave Aiello

Internet application developer, writer, and hockey official in the Philadelphia area

Dave Aiello founded Operation Gadget, a weblog about electronic gadgets, computers, and the technology used in sports, in November 2003. He is currently serving as the site's editor. Dave also founded RinkAtlas, the only website that provides door-to-door directions to all of the indoor ice arenas in the United States, in June 2006.

Dave was born and raised in Denville, NJ, and attended Chatham Township High School in Chatham, NJ, where his father was a U.S. History teacher. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY with a B.S. degree in Management. He would have done better in school if he hadn't played for the varsity hockey and lacrosse teams, started a business in the Incubator Center, and officiated 100 hockey games a season at the same time.

He has been a member of the USA Hockey Officiating Program for over 25 years and is also a member of the men's and women's ice hockey officiating staff of the ECAC, the National Ice Hockey Officials' Association, and the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Officials Association (ECHOA). Dave officiates at prestigious amateur ice hockey tournaments including the 2008 USA Hockey Girls Nationals, 2005 Chicago Showcase, 2005 USA Hockey Boys' 12 & Under Tier II Nationals, the 2003 - 2007 New Jersey Interscholastic Championships, the 2003 USA Hockey Women's Nationals, and the 1990 USA Hockey Tier I Midget Nationals.

Dave competes in 5 and 10-kilometer running races and duathlons in the Northeastern United States. He trains by riding his bikes, jogging, and in-line skating.

He is the founder and president of Chatham Township Data Corporation, a web application development company. CTDATA develops large, complex websites that contain relational databases. CTDATA provides Movable Type and TypePad consulting services through its Weblog Improvement website. Dave has 20 years experience in corporate Information Technology and the consulting business.

Dave is married to Kathleen Kuykendall Aiello, MD, a pediatrician at Ambler Pediatrics in Ambler, PA. He and Kathleen have one son named Jimmy, born in 2006. They all live in Newtown, PA, between Philadelphia and Princeton, NJ on I-95.

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Dave blogs at:

TapIt4Me: A Serious Productivity Tool for Heavy iPhone Email Users

February 01 2009

One of the secrets of MacOS ninjas are shortcut utilities such as TextExpander, TextMate, and TypeIt4Me. These programs allow you to type abbreviations that are automatically replaced by words, sentences, or whole paragraphs. Apps like these have been absent from... read more

The New Father in the Nursery

January 30 2009

My wife gave birth to our second son, Peter, last week. The proud parents are both iPhone users, so you'd expect us to have an iPhone-based solution for announcing the big news to our friends and family. Although we tried... read more

Plenty of Choices in Weather Apps

January 15 2009

With the weather as brutal as it's likely to get this winter in much of the Continental United States, now is a great time to take a quick look at the leading free weather apps for your iPhone and iPod... read more

We Probably Aren't the Target Market for the iPhone Anymore

January 09 2009

I've been cheerleading for iPhone tethering since this past summer. In spite of that AT&T and Apple have failed to announce it. With Macworld Expo 2009 almost over, I'm beginning to wonder if Apple considers this feature a maybe-someday feature... read more

Is Tweetie an iTunes App Store Anomaly?

January 05 2009

I am really impressed with Tweetie, the multi-account Twitter client iPhone application. I find it bizarre that Loren Brichter (the developer) has created a true, multi-account Twitter client for the iPhone and there's still not a native application for the... read more

Why Didn't Apple Declare Victory at Macworld Expo?

December 18 2008

Like everybody else, I saw Apple's announcement that they would end their participation in Macworld Expo after Macworld Expo 2009 and was not surprised. The real issue about this and all trade shows is do they make sense in 2009,... read more

Why Didn't Apple Declare Victory at Macworld Expo?

December 18 2008

Like everybody else, I saw Apple's announcement that they would end their participation in Macworld Expo after Macworld Expo 2009 and was not surprised. The real issue about this and all trade shows is do they make sense in 2009,... read more

Seeing the Power of the iPhone as a Gaming Platform Through the Eyes of Kids

December 12 2008

On Thanksgiving my wife, son, and I ate dinner at my wife's parents' house. My brother-in-law and his family were also visiting my in-laws for dinner. After dinner I did a little experiment that showed me the power of the... read more

Seeing the Power of the iPhone as a Gaming Platform Through the Eyes of Kids

December 12 2008

On Thanksgiving my wife, son, and I ate dinner at my wife's parents' house. My brother-in-law and his family were also visiting my in-laws for dinner. After dinner I did a little experiment that showed me the power of the... read more

iPhone Apps Built By Retailers Coming Out Just in Time for the Holidays

December 11 2008

In the run up to Christmas I became interested in the iPhone applications that several major retailers have been rolling out. I think the Amazon Mobile iPhone app provides some useful functionality and will stay on my iPhone. Target's iPhone... read more

iPhone Apps Built By Retailers Coming Out Just in Time for the Holidays

December 11 2008

In the run up to Christmas I became interested in the iPhone applications that several major retailers have been rolling out. I think the Amazon Mobile iPhone app provides some useful functionality and will stay on my iPhone. Target's iPhone... read more

We Need iPhone Tethering and We Need It Now

November 20 2008

Several weeks ago I wrote about the experience of using a Nokia E71 as a 3G tethering device for my laptop here on Inside iPhone. I took advantage of a $19.99 unlimited data plan offered by AT&T GoPhone, the pay-as-you-go... read more

We Need iPhone Tethering and We Need It Now

November 20 2008

Several weeks ago I wrote about the experience of using a Nokia E71 as a 3G tethering device for my laptop here on Inside iPhone. I took advantage of a $19.99 unlimited data plan offered by AT&T GoPhone, the pay-as-you-go... read more

Redirecting Your Website to an iPhone-Optimized Site

November 17 2008

I've come to an important stage of the development of an iPhone-optimized version of my website, RinkAtlas. I've decided to redirect all visitors to the site who are using an iPhone or an iPod touch to the iPhone-optimized version of... read more

Debugging Mobile Safari Applications

October 23 2008

I'm continuing to work on RinkAtlas for iPhone to make it more iPhone-friendly. This required me to get serious about using the tools that Safari and Mobile Safari provide to help developers debug web applications. Although I am not an... read more

Getting an iPhone Web App Off the Ground

October 17 2008

Way back in September 2007 I attended an iPhone Tech Talk in New York that was all about building iPhone Web Apps. This free Apple-sponsored event helped me get a very basic iPhone-optimized version of my Google Maps mashup called... read more

State-of-the-Art Websites Build an iPhone Web App and an App Store App

October 10 2008

When I started writing for Inside iPhone, I promised that I'd talk about why iPhone web apps are still important. I decided to make good on that threat this week. One of the reasons that I think its necessary to... read more

Why Was the NDA Only Dropped for Developers Who Have Shipped?

October 03 2008

It's great that Apple has dropped the NDA for developers who have shipped iPhone software. My question is, why continue to restrict developers who haven't yet shipped their iPhone apps? Let's say that you decided to invest time and effort... read more

What Does Month-to-Month Mobile Service Mean Now?

September 26 2008

Earlier this week, Verizon Wireless announced that it was offering month-to-month mobile phone service contracts to anyone who wanted to bring their own compatible device for use with Verizon's network. This was greeted with cheers by many analysts and bloggers... read more

What I Learned about OmniFocus When I Came Back from Vacation

September 12 2008

The week that my family and I spent at the Jersey Shore was rejuvenating for all of us, but I've paid a price since coming back to work. OmniFocus, which was so helpful to me over the first four weeks... read more

3G on Vacation

September 04 2008

I'm on vacation this week, and the big question on my mind beyond when are we going to the beach is when will AT&T let its customers use the 3G capability they are building in vacation communities around the USA?... read more

A Glimpse of Our Tethering Future

August 28 2008

I believe that it's only a matter of time before AT&T Mobility offers iPhone 3G users the ability to tether their iPhones to any other Internet-centric device that they carry. For the past week, courtesy of the Nokia Blogger Relations... read more

The Strange Co-existence of iPod Functionality with Other Audio Apps

August 21 2008

I've been experimenting with AOL Radio, Last.fm, and voice recording apps to get a better sense of the iPhone's ability to be a general purpose audio device. In the course of regular use over the past three weeks, I'm really... read more

Is Pinch Media Going to Make Monetizing Free iPhone Apps Easier?

August 14 2008

I watched a couple of hours of presentations from iPhoneDevCamp on August 2 over my home office broadband connection. One of the presentations I heard (because the video wasn't working for me at the time) was from PinchMedia, a company... read more

When a Native iPhone App is Really a Web App

August 07 2008

A friend recently asked me if I had seen Hotels.com's iPhone App? I said no, because I had no need for a hotel room anytime in the next few weeks, and I'd probably book ahead when I did need one.... read more

How an iPhone Can Help You Be More Effective When Commuting Via Mass Transit

July 31 2008

Regular Inside iPhone readers already know that I'm one of the new authors here. What you probably don't know is that this is not the only new job I started in July. Last Monday I started working for a travel-related... read more

Obvious Winners and Losers in the iTunes App Store Rollout

July 23 2008

I spent Thursday, July 10, installing the pre-released version of the iPhone 2.0 firmware on my first generation iPhone. I couldn't wait to start playing with the native iPhone apps I saw in the iTunes App Store. The journey was... read more

Dave Aiello's Attempt at Introducing Himself

July 16 2008

Hello Inside iPhone readers. I'm Dave Aiello, an Internet application developer and ice hockey official. I've been blogging at Operation Gadget for almost five years, and I've been a proud owner of an iPhone since June 30, 2007, which is... read more

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