5 GPS Route Planning Tools

I’m a self admitted GPS nut and certifyable map-aholic, and I hate to admit how may GPS units I own, for my motorcycle (BMW R1200RT), road bike, mountain bike, kayak… not to speak of iPhone GPS apps…

But I seldom use a GPS unit to plan a route, since it auto-calculates the quickest route. Instead I plan a route on the computer, checking out the google maps or google earth satellite images in detail to see how I can plan riding through farmland, avoid crowded areas and highways.

Click here to read about 5 cool utilities, and a screencast how-to on converting google map directions into downloadable GPS files, on my “BMW Motorrad Rides blog”

Related articles by Zemanta

• Garmin gets support for KML overlays – implications (ogleearth.com)
• Here comes the spin from the GPS guys about Google Maps Navigation (fakesteve.net)
• Google Earth adds custom map-viewing to iPhone app (venturebeat.com)

Two Biggest Tech Disappointments Of 2009

A post on ReadWrite web today outlines the “Top 10 Failures of 2009“, and the top 2 are definitely my biggest disappointments also.

Where are the Tablets?
I was hugely excited about various tablet concepts to the point of swooning every time the rumor mill turned, and having been an early adapter of Boxee and streaming net content to your large home theater TV flat screen, I bought into some of the concepts of a flat Apple or Crunchpad tablet becoming the new  couch surfing, home media center, ueber iPhone, controller, e-reader, kindle killer gadget to own.

I’m still excited by the prospect, but Michael Arrington‘s “Crunch Pad”, originally outsourced to Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan’s India company called “Fusion Garage“, evaporated at the 11th pre-launch hour, and is now relabeled  “JooJoo” as part of a completely disastrous falling out between Michael and Chandrasekar. It will likely be rendered irrelevant by years of litigation that is sure to follow the acrimonious, rapid and reality TV worthy meltdown of the US vs. India partners involved in this promising project. Rising from the ashes is not the only thing that has gone up, so has the price. (video on engadget for a high level review)

Jolie O’Dell writes in her original ReadWriteWeb post entitled “Top 10 Failures of 2009“:

All we wanted was a $200-500 flat piece of glass and plastic with some fancy gizmodgery inside so we could look at the Internet from the comfort of our couches. And what did we get? Rumors, Photoshopped gadget porn, promises – lies, all lies. We’d have been better off if we’d spent those months drawing the Yahoo! home page on an Etch-A-Sketch.

Image by Photo Giddy via Flickr

And while fresh Apple tablet rumors resurface every 3 months, all these rumors have done is to move dates from the originally expected mid 2009 time-frame into late 2010, which to me places Apple into a reactionary rather than visionary category, and by which time larger home media market shifts will dilute any innovation, novelty or wow factor.

Wipe-Out: Google Wave

I very much connected with that the web has come a long way since email, which now is 40 years old. The concept with Google Wave was to introduce a new metaphor for communication, incorporating all the collaboration successes and phenomenons of the last couple of decades. The merging of email with forums, wikis, micro blogging, real-time content generation just made so much sense.

Image via Wikipedia

The reality hits home hard, there are few use cases, waves are difficult to manage, and the marriage of asynchronous versus synchronous communication methods in the same tool, and within the same UI, just simply does not work. Is it because the UI is not usable, or is it because there is a lack of use cases? My own hypothesis is that at the center of usability there has to be usefulness, and this is where wave falls short.

Related articles by Zemanta

• First impressions of the JooJoo tablet (seattlepi.com)
• Fusion Garage JooJoo Tablet Hands-On [Joojoo] (gizmodo.com)
• Hands On With the JooJoo, Formerly Known as CrunchPad (wired.com)
• Joo Joo tablet maker says Michael Arrington had ‘flair for the dramatic’ (telegraph.co.uk)

Boxee is launching a… (wait for it) BOX!

Yeah!

I love Boxee, but instead of just watching it my Mac, it’s mind blowing  when hooked up to the large plasma in the living room!

So I have been running it on an Apple TV with a hack (anyone interested do a search for ATV Flash, from Firecore), which is great for the most part, but the hardware is just too slow for HD shows, which lag and jerk a fair bit, so I was super pleased to hear that Boxxee is launching it’s own “box”: According to Engadget:

Color us shocked and elated. Boxee, the white-hot startup that has risen from nothing to everywhere
thanks to its internet TV software portal, has just announced that a deal has been inked between it and an undisclosed “hardware partner.”
If you’ll recall, we actually heard that the outfit was mulling the production of its own set-top-box back in January, and now it looks like Roku, Apple TV and a host of other mini PCs will have yet another formidable rival vying for space underneath the tele.

Image via CrunchBase

Related articles by Zemanta:

• Boxee inks deal with first hardware partner: a ‘Boxee Box’ is coming

• Heads Up: Update your Apple TV to 3.0.1 ASAP, says Apple

Why the Slingplayer for iPhone App was rejected by the App Store

According to reports this morning, the much anticipated “Slingplayer for iPhone” app has been rejected from the app store, apparently at the request of ATT, who are concerned about “bandwidth issues”.

However, I think this is a mis-direction, as I would point out that there is already currently a Windows Mobile version of Slingplayer that is fully functioning over ATT’s 3G as well as over Edge networks.

Rather I think ATT is using it’s iPhone monopoly to position it’s own video service that will be launched later this year.

I think the critical difference here is that ATT’s monopoly as service provider for the iPhone is strongly trending into consumer unfriendly lack of options, applications, innovation and flexibility.

We may see a WiFi only version of the Slingplayer (like Skype), but how does that compare to the fully enabled version for Windows Mobile?

According to PC Reports:

Meanwhile, another possible reason for SlingPlayer‘s ban from the App Store could be AT&T’s speculated plans for its own mobile video services. The wireless carrier silently changed its terms of service at the end of March, basically prohibiting services like Sling is offering from its network.

But if AT&T won’t get to keep its exclusivity with the iPhone, maybe this kind of won’t happen anymore. That would allow users a bit more freedom with which apps they can get on their phone and how they actually use their (already capped)

mobile Internet.

Related articles by Zemanta

• SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry Exits Beta, iPhone Version Looms (appscout.com)
• T-Mobile Germany banning Skype for iPhone (macworld.com)
• SlingPlayer for iPhone submitted to app store (tuaw.com)

Polymash Prediction: Monetization features of OS 3.0 will change the iPhone app landscape completely

I was following today’s iPhone OS3 announcement live event, and one thing in particular struck me:

Most of the advancements are focused on the app developer community, and while I agree that these will enable this community to produce far better and innovative apps, one feature in particular I think will change the application landscape for the iPhone completely: the ability to have optional paid content and subscription models within an app.

iPhone 3.0 in-application payments

In general I am in favor of multiple business models for developers to monetize their apps, however I do see this eventually resulting in a completely changed application landscape compared to what we know today, where freemium vs. free will reign, and where I believe a majority of applications will have limited functionality and some sort of premium concept.

Now Apple promised that free applications will indeed remain free, “no new taxes, read my lips”… But I think the temptation for re-designing existing apps to build in monetization will prove too tempting for the app dev community, and will result in fewer free apps in general, and fewer choices for consumers eventually.

Additionally, the concept of getting prompted via a fairly intrusive pop-up boxes to purchase content, or sign up for a subscription, rankles me a bit. My iPhone experience is based on being used to pay for an app once, and then enjoy seamless service, and the user experience of reading something only to be then prompted for premium content mid-stream does not sit well with me. Signing a once a year subscription may be OK too, if I value the service, but I don’t know if I’ll like to “pay as you go” for content.

Let’s hope that the bevy of OS3 features announced will make it all worth it in the end, and that the resulting increase in innovative apps will be just so cool, we will all be happy to pay for them, one subscription at a time.

What do you think?

Related articles by Zemanta

• The iPhone OS 3.0 Announcement Scorecard (mobilecrunch.com)

Kafka-esque iTunes Tweetie 1.3 flip flop at the app store leaves some questions…

The byzantine mechanism by which new iPhone apps are approved for listing in the iTunes App store has always been a subject of somewhat derisive musings among Apple’s many fans.

Yesterday however, the story reached Kafka-esque proportion when Apple rejected an upgrade to Tweetie, arguably the most popular iPhone Twitter app. The reason given was profanity, which they had noticed in a screen shot that displayed a dynamically generated has tag list. (see image)

The truly amusing thing is that Loren Brichter, the developer of the app,  did not provide the offending screen shots to Apple, but that the Ooompa Loompa’s at the app store factory generated these screen shots themselves, only to be surprised and dismayed to find that 1.) profanity exists on the internet and 2.) can be displayed on mobile devices and browsers

In apparent realization that perhaps iPhone’s safari browser would need to be removed on similar grounds, Tweetie 1.3 was reinstated in a sudden burst of sanity.

Or could it have been the outcry and ridicule of  the Twitter community that ensued?

For your amusement I enclose some of the developers tweets:

clipped from twitter.com To clarify: no, I would never submit a screenshot with profanity. Apple sent that to *me* as an example of the objectionable content.about 19 hours ago from web Hot damn I love Twitter. You are all awesome. #fanningthefireabout 20 hours ago from web clipped from twitter.com You all ready to be pissed? Tweetie 1.3 rejected. Because there’s an offensive word in the TRENDS – http://twitpic.com/1zbcsabout 22 hours ago from web

Related articles by Zemanta

• Twitter iPhone App “Tweetie” Has Been Updated! Ping.fm, RT’s, New Theme and More! (thenextweb.com)
• Tweetie 1.3 rejected from App Store because of swearing on Twitter (downloadsquad.com)
• Apple stupidly rejects Tweetie 1.3 for foul language in Twitter trends (engadget.com)
• Tweetie 1.3 approved — what are we supposed to do with this wagon full of torches and pitchforks? (engadget.com)

Boxee Brings Hulu Back to Its Service… (maybe)

The Boxee HULU Saga continues and will likely result in a series of technolgy and legal ping pong for some time to come. In the latest release of the Boxee application released yesterday, HULU content was made available via their public RSS feeds.

Yet within hours HULU blocked the Boxee browser from receiving it’s otherwise publicly available content. Since then HULU content availability has been intermittent.

Update March 12: HULU just announced the introduction of a Social Networking feature to allow it’s subscribers to exchange what they are watching. This is a feature Boxee has had for a long time, and one wonders if it contributed to the prolonged feature availability dance between the networks, HULU and Boxee…

For the un-initiated, Boxee is nothing more than a media browser that can access HULU content like any browser on someone’s PC, but makes it easier for consumers to watch this content on their TVs by accessing many other internet video content sources such as Netflix and Youtube.

The push by consumers is that we want an elegant way to finally watch internet content on our TV. Boxee gives us this.

Hooking up an entire PC or MAC as an entertainment server seems a bit like overkill for most, and the form factor of AppleTV or Mac Mini are much more appealing.

More set-top boxes and apps which can run a “regular” browser, and thus access the HULU content on TV in a way that cannot be blocked, are surely just around the corner, and I could envision other workarounds such a reverse sling-catcher concept to connect to your PC to your TV.

So NBC, FOX and HULU are just incredibly shortsighted and are loosing the opportunity to help shape the business models of the future.

Instead they encourage innovation to circumvent their unfair singling out of the boxee media browser concept.

Update as of Fri Mar 6, 11:30pm: HULU “unblocked” their RSS feeds and re-enabled access to boxee within a few hours after this article…. stay tuned…

Related articles by Zemanta

• Hulu Content Back on Boxee–In a Roundabout Way (ostatic.com)
• Hulu Reappears on Boxee, Against Its Wishes (blogs.wsj.com)
• Boxee launches App Box addons, plus Hulu workaround (downloadsquad.com)
• Boxee’s New Band-Aid Solution To Its Hulu Problem: RSS Feeds (paidcontent.org)
• Boxee Addresses Hulu Concerns With New Version (appscout.com)
• The Hulu/Boxee Battle Continues To Go Back And Forth (techdirt.com)

HULU is creating it’s own desktop app

So it would appear that HULU is partnering with other software providers do deliver their content on a desktop app. Surprise. Given the recent boxee debacle though, one wonders if these type of desktop apps will continue to be restricted to one content provider like HULU, or will continue to develop towards being boxee like portals to aggregate content from several.

The consumer preference seems clear: HULU delivers a limited set of content only, and consumers want to access all their internet streaming content through one app, not many. So unless HULU partners with additional content providers and starts acting as an overall portal, I do not see this “one channel” app as a long term strategic approach.

It also means consumers will contnue to have to suffer through infighting between networks, cable and content providers trying to kill aggregators like boxee.

On a personal note, can I get this to work on an Apple TV?

Hulu Gets An Unofficial Desktop App In MyMediaPlayer2

by Erick Schonfeld on March 2, 2009

Everything comes around full circle. First we had Joost, Babelgum, Veoh, and others create standalone client software for watching online videos, but the ease and ubiquity of watching directly in the browser trumped whatever technical benefits a standalone client provided. The rise of YouTube, and more recently Hulu, proved that. But now that watching videos on the Web is something many of us spend an increasing amount of time on, the idea of a better viewing experience through a download client may now be making a comeback.

Self-assembling nanoscale discovery could catapult data storage capacity

Engaget reports a nanotech storage breakthrough that can fit the content of 250 DVDs on a storage unit the size of a quarter. This has the potential to revolutionize mobile storage, your iPhone could carry your entire desktop’s documents.

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 1st 2009 at 6:52AM

Ready to have your mind blown? What if 250 DVDs could fit onto a storage module no larger than a quarter? According to research conducted by brilliant geeks at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it’s all within the realm of feasibility. Reportedly, an easily implemented technique “in which nanoscale elements precisely assemble themselves over large surfaces” could soon blow open the doors to significant improvements in data storage capacity. Without getting too Ph.D on you, the process essentially works by taking advantage of just how precise molecules can self-assemble. The end result has researchers achieving “defect-free arrays of nanoscopic elements with feature sizes as small as 3 nanometers, translating into densities of 10 terabits per square inch.” Per square inch, son.

[Via TheStandard, thanks Apoc]

Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle to be sold at Best Buy

For anyone who likes motorcycles and computers, here is a toy you will be able to pick up at your favorite Best Buy store. The part I don’t fully understand is that most bikes already get 50mpg fuel efficiency, and for a lot less money than $12,000. Or maybe it’s that I just love my BMW R1200RT.

You’re already buying TVs, washing machines, cheap keyboards and cell phones at Best Buy, why not a $12,000 electric motorcycle? That seems to be the thinking going on at Brammo HQ, where an infusion of cash from Best Buy’s investment arm last year has now led to plans to sell the $11,995 Enertia at five West Coast Best Buy stores in May. Okay, sure, but we’re way less optimistic about plans to let the Geek Squad handle basic repairs and maintenance — we don’t let those fools near our laptops, god forbid Pimples McUpsell touch something that could actually kill us. Eventually Brammo wants to sell bikes at every Best Buy location around the world, but we’ll see how this initial test works out.

[Via Autoblog Green]

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 28th 2009 at 3:39AM