Google announced a big addition to Google Maps today. “Today we’ve added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S.,” reports Shannon Guymon, Product Manager for the biking directions team. In cooperation with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to building a nationwide network of trails for healthier living, Google has marked over 12,000 miles of trails for this maps venture.
The bicycling feature even goes above and beyond by taking in numerous factors to calculate the most efficient bike route possible. Google takes a look at roads with bike lanes, busy intersections and steep hills — then computes all that data to output the best route possible. Basically, Google is looking out for bicyclists… safest, quickest path possible while trying to avoid hill-peddling exhaustion. Similar to the road maps, bicyclists may also customize their trip by dragging their path to a desired route.
This feature is currently available for 150 cities across the United States. Since it’s in beta, it’s constantly being improved upon and feedback is encouraged. Roll on over to Google Maps Biking to try it out. Hey, just in time for spring too!
Reuters tells us that the FCC will be proposing a dedicated spectrum for free wireless Internet. Not much else has been said about the implementation of “free or very low cost wireless broadband service,” since the recommendation, under the National Broadband Plan does not release until next week.
If this happens, we won’t be the first to offer some sort of public Internet access. Apparently Finland has plans for 100mb broadband by 2015, as Harri Pursiainen, secretary at the transport and communications minister, believes “data connections are no longer entertainment but a necessity.” A slower 1mb broadband has been slated to start in July for the interim.
And the Finnish aren’t the only ones who believe Internet access is a right… BBC World Service recently conducted a study where “almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the Internet is a fundamental right.” The survey included the opinions of over 27,000 adults throughout 26 countries.
So, back home? Will it happen? I suppose only time will tell…
Have you heard of Logorama? If you’re trying to win the office Oscar pool, you might want to read up.
It’s an animated short that pokes fun at a world consumed with branding. Complete. And total. Corporate. Satire. All packed in a hilarious 16-minute short film! Yeah, there’s somewhere around 2500 logos in there… Here’s the trailer:
Logorama is one of the top-runners for the Academy Awards’ animated short films category this Sunday. It also played at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. What’s this got to do with software and tech? Might be stretching it a little, but I’ll just quote the LA Times with this quick blurb from their interview with Ludovic Houplain, one of the filmmakers:
What software did you use to create the movie?
Working with Mikros Image, the post-production company that made the film, we worked on the software called “Maya,” combined with rotoscoping. For that, we filmed ourselves, as well as my son Anatole who play the roles of Big Boy and Haribo.
AUTO MAYA 2010 COMM SLM
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It’s not uncommon that airports have free wi-fi. It’s also not that uncommon that your flight has (possibly not free) wi-fi now. I’ve even frequented a commuter van pool that had wi-fi for us to continue working while traveling up and down the canyon — a way of encouraging more time to work or a nice gesture allowing you to escape work sooner (hmm… you be the judge). What’s next?
Well, according to the China Post, 1,000 taxis in Taipei will soon be offering Internet services. By March 9th, VMAX Telecom Co., one of six WiMAX licensed operators in Taiwan, will launch the service through taxis installed with WiMAX technology. “For the first time ever, taxis will be equipped with WiMAX technology to offer passengers wireless access to the Internet,” said a VMAX spokesperson. The service will be free for the initial trial period to assess whether the service will make any money long-term. As passengers use the Internet services provided during their ride, they will also be polled.
VMAX Telecom predicts the 1,000 equipped taxis will poll a minimum of 15,000 people a day. The capital city of Taipei is home to over 2.5 million people — that’s more than 10x the population of Salt Lake metro. It’s also home to a widely used bus system, train system (including the fairly new MRT) and subway system. I think it’s fair to say that Taipei is a metropolitan city where taxis are utilized fairly often. Actually, I think there was a day when I was in town and commuted in four separate taxis, all during lunch time! But, I wonder just how much the Internet can be utilized during a short car ride though…
What can I say? It’s a Friday… the week has finally dragged on and there isn’t much longer until the weekend officially starts. Rather than writing on one topic, I thought I’d share the best of what was going on today, in the world of tech and software at least…
Chinese Schools Spurred Online Hacking Remember the series of cyber attacks not too long after Google first threatened to pull out of China? Although it was never proven at the time, China was highly suspected of launching those attacks. It’s recently been discovered that two schools in China may have been responsibly. According to the New York Times, “a series of online attacks on Google and dozens of other American corporations have been traced to computers at two educational institutions in China, including one with close ties to the Chinese military.”
According to AdWeek, the ads will be running throughout the month of February. If you watched NBC’s Olympic coverage of the men’s figure skating last night, Kristi Yamaguchi was trying to deduct her costumes on TurboTax rather than provide commentary on the skating. Okay, okay, it was a commercial. But, it’s obvious Intuit is feeding off NBC’s domination of the Vancouver Games to promote their TurboTax software — even though that wasn’t the first time Kristi’s ad aired.
They probably haven’t convinced me to do my taxes just yet, but the commercials are a riot (and I do like the GPS-like navigation feature they’ve been hyping). It was difficult to find any of the above mentioned spots, but here’s (an equally funny) one of Days of Our Lives star Alison Sweeney…
If you’re all ready to do your taxes, SoftwareMedia.com has a handy dandy Tax Filing Guide and all sorts of TurboTax and Intuit products. Make sure to also put those deductions from the “free” business software you acquired.
TurboTax Basic 2009 (Full Product)
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The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games start tonight. I’m completely psyched! Although I’ll be out at dinner during the opening ceremonies, I plan on recording the event on my good ol’ VCR. I know, I know… old school. But I don’t have a fancy phone that could stream live content…
For those of you on the go (with fancy phone in tow or laptop or what not), here’s a gather guide of how to enjoy your Olympics sans the television set.
NBCOlympics.com
The obvious choice for those of us in the United States. Although most of NBC’s coverage will only be aired on TV (advertising revenue), there’s a handful of video content on their just-the-Olympics website. Tonight, they are also blogging live throughout the opening ceremonies.
Google Buzzdebuted earlier today. A friend mentioned it but I honestly didn’t pay that much attention. But while listening to Merrick, Dools and Ricki-Lee (as I usually do while slaving away on the computer at work), I heard a newscaster on Nova FM describe Google Buzz as a Facebook that uses your Gmail account. Apparently, it was big news. But it just wasn’t catching my attention.
In less than a day, Google Buzz has already taken on severalhits. And I sort of agree with Microsoft, “Busy people don’t want another social network…” Actually, sometimes I’m not even that busy… so maybe it should’ve been, “Lazy and busy people don’t want another social network”?
However, I did stumble upon something fairly awesome from Google today… Mountain Street View! To ready up before the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, Google’s Street View team sent a souped up snowmobile into the mountains of Vancouver and Whistler.
Loopt, a mobile application, announced they are donating $1 for every check-in at Chipotle, Whole Foods or Panera Bread before the end of Sunday. The proceeds will go towards the relief efforts in Haiti and there’s no charge to the Loopt user either. Minutes later, I read that Gowalla, a competing app, will be launching a campaign called “Hearts for Haiti” on Monday, February 8th.
The Hearts for Haiti campaign will take place in the SF Bay Area at three specified locations — two Peet’s coffee shops and the Barenaked Ladies concert. When someone uses Gowalla to check-in at one of those locations during the event, $50 will be donated in to the Red Cross in that person’s name. Gowalla hopes to reach $20,000. In addition to Gowalla’s charitable efforts, the two Peet’s locations will also be donating 10% of sales towards Haiti efforts. Details on when to go where can be found over at the Gowalla Blog.
A few days ago, Intel announced new contracts in place to incorporate “approximately 2.5 megawatts worth of new solar power projects at eight U.S. locations.” These eight locations spread over four states: Arizona, California, New Mexico and Oregon. Brian Krzanich, vice president of Manufacturing and Supply Chain for Intel tells us, “Intel is committed to renewable energy to reduce our own carbon footprint as well as to spur the market and make renewables more economically feasible for individuals and businesses to deploy.”
Intel has also increased their renewable energy credit purchases by 10 percent. This green feat has again stabilized their hold as the “largest single purchases of green power,” as named by the EPA. “These announcements represent our broader commitment which includes diversifying our energy portfolio through solar and other clean energy investments, and this will continue to be a priority for us around the globe,” says Krzanich.
Granted, Intel is an enormous company, hence enormous consumption, but they are highly dedicated to the greening business. They have invested more than $125 million in clean tech companies. Since 2001, the corporation has saved over 650 million kilowatt hours with their green initiatives and invested more than $30 million to fund those efforts.
Yay for big corporations like Intel and Adobe. More information about can be found from the Intel press room.
Remember the series of cyber attacks not too long after 
Loopt, a mobile application, 
