Bicycling Directions, Trails Come to Google Maps

There’s nothing worse for a bicyclist than finding yourself a mile in to a two-mile stretch of shoulder-less, busy, highway-speed traffic with no alternative route. Before today, this was a common occurrence if you went to trusty Google Maps to get bicycling directions, but starting today, that has all changed.

Google has added bicycling directions, lanes and routes to Google Maps, meaning you no longer have to drive, walk or bus to get directions. And we can tell you, bicyclists are excited.

Before now, the only option to cyclists to get even remotely appropriate directions, was to use the walking option, but this would still ignore bike trails. Google has heard the pleas of cyclists and, from first look, we have to say that the feature is well implemented.

We gave it a test to see if it would put us on some of Austin’s more bike unfriendly streets, but it managed to chose some good alternative routes and stick to the bike trails when it could. The directions got a little wonky when we threw it a few curve balls, but we expect this to happen with any mapping service, especially one still in beta. But, as we’ve learned, you can’t just gomindlessly follow directions, lest you end up in a lake.

The new feature also includes a “Bicycling Layer”, which shows bike paths and bike-friendly streets with or without lanes. Three different lanes appear in the layer.

• Dark green indicates a dedicated bike-only trail;
• Light green indicates a dedicated bike lane along a road;
• Dashed green indicates roads that are designated as preferred for bicycling, but without dedicated lanes

According to Google, it has also taken steps to avoid uphill and long downhill routes, busy roads and even busy intersections. Google says that it even takes hills and other factors into account when calculating your trip time. “Assuming typical values for mass and for wind resistance, we compute the effort you’ll require and the speed you’ll achieve while going uphill,” Google says in its Lat Long Blog.

Google worked with the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to bring more than 12,000 miles of biking trails to its map, along with bike lanes and recommended streets for 150 cities across the country. Google makes sure to point out that the feature is still in beta, so feel free to tell Google the next time you find yourself on a crowded, shoulder-less highway because of Google Maps.

And for those of you headed to fair Austin this week, make sure to take a look at the new feature, because it includes all of Austin’s numerous bike trails and bike lanes. If you’ve never been to Austin for SXSW before, bicycling is the way to get around town and now you’ll know how to get there.

(from readwriteweb)

Text books in electronic format: CaféScribe

Students buy an eBook either on CafeScribe’s online store or in its offline store. They then read it via a PC and Mac software program called MyScribe.

CafeScribe Features

Notes in MyScribe are done as overlays, so that they stay in context. Notes can also be shared, including in groups, which according to Isabella Hinds means that students can “have a dialog about the book while they’re reading.”

Groups may be created not only inside the classroom environment, but as part of the purchase of an eBook. The buyer can see who else purchased that same eTextbook, and choose to create or join a group around the book. Follett has observed that many students are creating study groups around books.

Groups are also very useful for instructors, who can create a group for their class. Hinds told us that this enables instructors to “enrich the core book with content or comments that they find valuable.” They can also better engage with students and ascertain whether students are really learning the material. Teachers can encourage students to ask questions, via the notes feature.

One of the main features of MyScribe that Hinds pointed to is maintaining pagination, which helps in group collaboration and also syncing eBooks with paper books.

eTextbook Market & Future

Currently there are about 10,000 books available in CafeScribe. Hinds said that Follett represents all of the major Higher Ed publishers, including the 5 largest.

The product is being used today by about 400 education institutions across the US. Some are using the product heavily, while others have just a few courses that utilize it. The product is currently being introduced in Canadian stores, but there are no plans to extend outside of North America.

As for its future, CafeScribe is making a push towards mobile – in particular the iPhone, Android, and iPad. It recognizes that students use a variety of devices nowadays, so it wants to go beyond the PC market. Whether CafeScribe can tackle eReader devices will, as noted above, depend on iPad pricing going down and eReader functionality going up.

Other companies in the eTextbook market include CourseSmart (which we reviewed in readwriteweb last August) and VitalSource.

Students & Teachers: Are You Using eTextbooks?

A study in May by OnCampus Research showed that 74% of students still prefer to use a printed textbook when taking a class. The Seattle Times also reported in May that eTextbooks are “flunking.” So clearly, eTextbooks have a long way to go. On the other side of the coin, eTextbooks are expected to 1 in 5 textbooks by 2014.

Much of the problem at present seems to be that eReaders are either too expensive (e.g. iPad) or not functional enough (e.g. Kindle). Those issues certainly seem solvable by 2014.

If you’re a student or teacher, we’d love your input in the comments about your use of eBooks – or if you don’t use them, why not?

(from readwriteweb)

Google Launches App Inventor: DIY App Creation Tool for Android

Google launched “App Inventor,” a do-it-yourself mobile app creation tool that lets anyone build their own Android applications without needing to know how to program or even write a line of code. Instead, using an online interface, would-be developers visually design the app’s interface and interactions, using drag-and-drop blocks that specify what the app should look like and how it should behave.

Want your app to talk to Twitter? There’s a button for that. Want your app to use text-to-speech? No problem. Use the GPS? Piece of cake. Or so says Google, who had tested the app for a year prior to launch with groups that included “sixth graders, high school girls, nursing students and university undergrads who are not computer science majors,” reports The New York Times, who broke the story this morning.

Does that list of testers sound a little odd to you? “It’s so easy a high school girl can use it!” Or a nursing student! (A profession still dominated by women, mind you.) In any event, the point The New York Times was making is that Google App Inventor is so easy anyone can use it; they just came about that point in a somewhat sexist way.

Official DIY App Highlights Difference Between Apple and Google Philosophies

But DIY app creation tools aren’t new, nor are they unique to Google Android. However, apps like these usually exist as third-party applications, not ones that are officially launched and blessed by the company whose software they support.

For example, in Apple’s ecosystem, there are a number of DIY apps that let non-developers create and submit iPhone applications to the iTunes App Store without needing to know Apple’s own development language. Last year, we profiled over a dozen of these services, ranging from the templated creations made with Sweb Apps to the more robust app builders from Appceleratorand Rhomobile.

Unfortunately, third-party Apple tools are always just one step away from being knocked out of existence, thanks to Apple’s ever-changing software developer kit license. Earlier this year, Apple famously updated its terms to specify that only applications written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript would be permitted in the iTunes Store. The move was a swipe at Adobe, and the intended victim was Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone packager, a tool that would have allowed Adobe developers to code for Apple’s platform with Flash. But in Apple’s zest to kick out Adobe, other application developers were fearful as well that they, too, would be affected.

Google: Anyone with an Idea is Welcome Here

Google, on the other hand, is taking an entirely different stance than Apple. Instead of locking down its App Market, barring entry to anyone but those who know how to code in the languages it specifies, Google is embracing “openness,” saying anyone with an idea is welcome here.

To function, Google’s App Inventor uses the Open Blocks Java library for creating visual blocks programming languages. Open Blocks is distributed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Scheller Teacher Education Program and derives from thesis research by Ricarose Roque. It’s also closely related to the Scratch programming language – a language, notes Forrester Research principal analyst Jeffrey Hammond, that was banned on the iPhone.

Yes, that may mean a bunch more “junk” applications, as TechCrunch rightly points out. But it could also mean more great applications, too. Or maybe just more of everything. Like Michael Gartenberg, partner at Altimeter Group, quipped on Twitter this morning: “…look how much damage those WYSIWYG word processors and graphics programs have done.” Damage? Like a Web where everyone can publish?

Those interested in signing up for App Inventor can do so here.

(from readwriteweb)

YouTube Gets a Cloud-Based Video Editor

If you have found yourself like I recently have – stuck with video on an iPhone and a netbook, but no real way to edit it – then fret no more, because YouTube has added an editor.

While the YouTube Video Editor is certainly nothing to compete with the likes of Final Cut Pro or Premiere, it has the basic functionality needed to finally make it possible for those living the ultra-mobile, ultra-lightweight lifestyle to put their videos online without having to leave all the unwieldy odds and ends.

The editor is simple and intuitive, with a drag-and-drop interface showing a full thumbnail inventory of all of your videos. Editing a video consists of setting a starting and stopping point for each clip, so if you want to select multiple clips from the same video, you simply drag that video to the bar below and repeat the process for each clip. In much the same way, different videos, or clips from those videos, can be spliced together.

Of course, rough editing like this can leave some interesting audio, so YouTube also provides you with audio tracks to overlay over the entire video from its AudioSwap library. Two caveats come with using the audio overlay – adding an audio track from the AudioSwap library will permanently erase the audio track on the mashed-up video and YouTube says that it may display advertisements on videos using these audio tracks.

(from readwriteweb)

Memeo Launches “GDrive” with Google’s Blessing

Memeo, the company behind a host of backup, sharing and synchronization tools and mobile applications, has just launched Memeo Connect 2.0, an updated version of its earlier desktop-to-cloud synchronization service for Google Docs.

Like its progenitor, Memeo Connect still offers drag-and-drop uploads, but in the latest release, the application’s operating system integration has been dramatically improved. Most notably, your Google Docs folder now appears as a virtual drive that Memeo labels “GDrive”, and, according to company representatives, the name is being used with Google’s blessing.

But Is it Really a “GDrive”?

To Internet early adopters, the name “GDrive” rings more than a few bells. It’s referring to the long-rumored cloud storage service that Google has yet to launch. In its imagined state, Google’s GDrive would have been a lot like Microsoft’s SkyDrive: several gigabytes of free storage available on the Web for all your files. On the theoretical GDrive, however, files could be in any format, of any size and there would be easy ways to sync them or move them back and forth between your computer and the cloud. Office files would open with Google’s Docs service, an online counterpart to desktop programs like Microsoft Office, and some even imagined that GDrive would further integrate with other Google properties, like Picasa for photos or YouTube for videos.

Google never fully realized everyone’s GDrive dreams, but its Google Docs service is functional enough for most. It allows for the upload of any file type while multiple third-party services offer decent options for keeping files in sync between your computers and cloud. These include Memeo competitors like Box.net, Dropbox, Syncplicity, SugarSync, OfficeSync, Gladinet and more.

There are few programs that actually offer the full virtual drive functionality that Memeo now does, though. The company worked closely with Google to build this latest version of its Connect software and when Google engineers found out Memeo was calling the virtual folder it creates “GDrive,” they had a good laugh.

Sorry, Internet, Google isn’t designing its own GDrive service anytime soon, but it’s well aware of the rumors.

Google actually prefers that, when it comes to GDrive-type offerings, third parties do it for them. The closest thing we’ll see to a Google-branded tool of any sort is a desktop uploader application now being built, sources tell us. But it’s no GDrive, based on what we’ve heard.

Version 2.0: More OS Integration Blurs Line Between Desktop and Cloud

In Memeo’s case, version 2.0 of its software continues to offer drag-and-drop uploads (even folders!) and automatic synchronization. But it goes further with a combination of features that make using its so-called GDrive a more viable option. For example, you can save files from your desktop-based applications like Microsoft Office directly to Google Docs via GDrive, and you can open GDrive-hosted files with its associated native desktop program. In other words, it blurs the line between the cloud and the desktop, just as Google’s mythical GDrive would have supposedly done. And for that reason, we don’t at all begrudge Memeo the name “theft.”

Memeo Connect‘s other new features include the ability to select multiple files at once for deletion (from the cloud), filter files by type or category, download all Google Docs with a click, view folders shared with you via Google Docs and more.

And let’s not forget one of the most exciting new features: full text search for documents, another benefit of the in-depth collaboration between Memeo and Google when building this new version of Connect. To truly transition to cloud-hosted files, this feature is considered a must-have for many users.

For Business Users Only?

Memeo Connect is more business-focused than it is a consumer tool. It’s not available as a “freemium” offering, as some would expect. Surprisingly, that’s not Memeo’s decision, but rather Google’s. Google restricts its API usage for these types of synchronization services so that they only work with those who have business-level accounts.

As far as pricing goes, for Google Premier users, it’s $9 a year per user and for non-Premier users, it’s $59 a year per user, which includes a new Google Apps Premier Account in addition to the sync service.

Memeo Connect 2.0 is available for free evaluation from here. Both Mac and PC versions are available.

(from readwriteweb)

Microsoft Rolls Out Office Web Apps

DeHood: A Location-Based Social Network for Your Neighborhood

The current crop of location-based social networks mostly focus on getting users to check in and share tips about local venues like restaurants, stores and coffee shops. DeHood, which officiallylaunched earlier today, wants to bring a bit more value to its users by going beyond check-ins. The new location-based social network wants to bring a local community closer together by giving its users the ability to share news and information about deals at local shops and restaurants.

DeHood is currently only available for the iPhone (iTunes link).

Going Beyond Check-Ins: Local News and Deals

While the app allows users to check in at local venues, the focus of the app is on sharing information and helping users to discover local news and events. As the company’s CEO and founder Babak Hedayati told us last week, he wants people to be able to check the app first thing in the morning and feel informed about what’s going on in their neighborhood. This part of the app feels a bit like EveryBlock, though like many new social networks, the service currently suffers from a lack of users that contribute to the service (which, after all, only launched today). In Hedayati’s vision, regular users, as well as local officials, will soon post short, hyperlocal news updates about traffic jams, fires and deals at the local coffee shop.

Besides the utility aspect of the app, DeHood also features some game mechanics. When checking in at some places, DeHood will display a scratch-off game where users can win titles and find special offers for a product. One interesting aspect of DeHood’s shopping section is that users can alert others of deals at local stores and verify deals that already appear in the app.

Challenge: Getting Users

While DeHood definitely has great potential, the app currently suffers from the simple fact that it doesn’t have a lot of users yet. Given that other networks like Gowalla and FourSquare already have a lot of momentum (though not the feature set of DeHood), it will be hard for DeHood (and other companies that want to enter this space) to persuade users to switch networks and build up their social networks from scratch again.

That said, though, it’s important to note that DeHood plans to offer an API for developers in the near future, and, as Hedayati told us, that the company is not an app company but a platform company. Because of this, the app itself is only a part of DeHood’s roadmap, and we might just see other developers include DeHood’s functionality in other apps in the near future.

(from readwriteweb)

How To Use Google Wave for Live Blogging

This an article you can find at ReadWriteWeb. They had been Live Blogging during Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook privacy press conference. They decided to put this theory into practice and live blogged the event with Wave. The reaction to the experiment was overwhelmingly positive, so they decided to share how they did it :

How It’s Done

It’s surprisingly easy. Now that Google makes it simple to embed a Wave in any blog post, starting a Wave-based live blog is as easy as copying and pasting a URL into a Web form.

Step 1: Start a Public Wave

To create a public Wave, simply head over to Google Wave and start a new Wave. By default, Wave’s are not public. To make this live-blogging wave public – so that your readers can later see it on your blog – you have to add public@a.gwave.com to the new Wave. This account is probably not in your contacts yet, so just copy and paste the address and add this account to the Wave.

Now you have two options: 1) you can give your readers full access to your Wave, which means anybody can comment as you live blog, or 2) make the Wave read-only and don’t allow others to edit it. To change these settings (even after you start), simply click on the globe icon that represents the public@a.gwave.com account and change the access settings. By default, all public waves are set to “full access.”

Step 2: Get the Embed Code and Embed Your Wave

Now you need to get the embed code. Just copy the URL of the wave from your browser’s address bar and head to the Wave Elements tool. Paste the URL into the form, hit Return so that the tool recognizes the new URL, set the desired size of the embed, and then head to the bottom of the page where you can find the updated embed code.

After this, all you have to do is head over to your favorite blogging tool and paste the embed code into your new post.

Step 4: Start Blogging

Head back to Wave after you finish setting up your post and start blogging. Your readers will see every letter you type in real time.

Lessons Learned

Here are a few things we learned today:

• Wave worked like a charm. We did not experience any hiccups and our readers were very happy about seeing us type the updates in real time – live blogging really doesn’t get more “live” than this. Having Google’s infrastructure as the basis for your live blog definitely helps when you have lots of people hitting your blog at the same time.
• Adding a few extra people to Wave allows you to share the workload. If possible, have at least one extra person around to create and upload screenshots. We used a Skype backchannel during the event to coordinate in the background, but you could also use a second Wave for this.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

• The default font size in the Wave embed is too small, and changing it for every new wavelet takes too long. Hopefully Wave will soon allow us to set a slightly larger font size as the default.
• Wave didn’t work well for Safari users and is obviously also still an issue for Internet Explorer.
• Uploading screenshots to Wave is easy, just click on the attachments icon, pick the desired image and hit submit. Sadly, you can’t just drag and drop images from your desktop onto your browser (yet), so having a second person to manage that is helpful.
• Spell checking in Wave is still a bit difficult even when you have a second person edit your posts.

One thing to remember when you use Wave to live blog is that your readers aren’t likely to reload your page often, so your page views will likely be lower than if you just posted regular updates into a static blog post. We think this is a worthwhile trade-off, given that the experience for our readers is superior to using a static post, but that’s a decision every publisher has to make individually.

(from readwriteweb)

UrbanSpoon Challenges OpenTable With iPad-Based Restaurant Reservations Service

Restaurant review site UrbanSpoon is slowly moving into OpenTable’s territory. About half a year ago, the company launched a very limited test of a basic reservations tracking system for restaurants in the Seattle area. At that time, however, restaurant owners could only use UrbanSpoon to tell their customers whether they had last-minute openings. Now, however, UrbanSpoon is launching RezBook, an iPad app and online reservations platform that will allow restaurants to bypass OpenTable and manage their tables and reservation books. Currently, UrbanSpoon is testing the iPhone app with 5 restaurants in the Seattle area, but as the company’s co-founder Ethan Lowry told us earlier today, the company plans to expand this program nationwide over the next few months. UrbanSpoon will first concentrate its marketing on large markets like Seattle and Los Angeles, but anybody with an iPad will soon be able to download the application and use it. The app will be available in Apple’s store within the next few weeks.

UrbanSpoon will charge its customers a subscription fee of $99 per month and a $1 fee for every reservation that is made through its system (reservations through UrbanSpoon’s widget will be free).

The application will store its data on UrbanSpoon’s servers. Besides allowing restaurants to manage their reservations, the service will also include a customer relationship management database.

Manage Your Restaurant with the iPad

As Lowry told us, the iPad is an ideal device in the restaurant context, as it gives the host far more mobility than the regular large terminal that you can find in most restaurants today. Besides that, Lowry noted, the iPad is also very “cool and sexy,” something that a lot of restaurateurs appreciate.

With this move, UrbanSpoon is clearly invading OpenTable’s territory. According to Lowry, restaurateurs never really had an alternative to OpenTable until now. With over 8 million users, UrbanSpoon’s iPhone app is already one of the most popular restaurant-related mobile apps and given that the company offers a cheaper subscription price and runs on relatively cheap hardware, the company, which has been working on this service ever since Apple announced the iPad, has a chance to make a dent in OpenTable’s market.

(from readwriteweb)

All Google Services To Be Available on Google Apps Later This Year

This post is part of our ReadWriteCloud channel, which is dedicated to covering virtualization and cloud computing. The channel is sponsored by Intel and VMware. As you’re planning your Cloud Architecture, check out this helpful resource from our sponsors: Using a Data Center Relocation To Create A Virtual Infrastructure.

At Google Atmosphere last month, Google Apps President David Girouard said that the company gets lots of requests to open more apps from the Google portfolio.

Google responded to those requests today and later this Fall will make available all Google services for Google Apps customers. No date was set. The apps include Blogger, Google Reader, Google News and others.

Historically, this has not been a simple task. Google Apps customers would have to work through a different account to use apps such as Blogger. That changes with this update.

In a post today on the Google Enterprise blog:

“For example, coworkers will be able to publish their organization’s blog on Blogger, share project images with Picasa Web Albums, track industry news in Google Reader, advertise online with AdWords and much more, all without switching back and forth between multiple accounts. While these additional applications won’t initially be covered by the core suite’s support and service level agreement, this change will open up the spectrum of Google’s functionality to businesses, schools and organizations using Google Apps and we’ll evaluate future support options.”

Google states the underlying systems will need to go through a significant overhaul. It will require IT Admins to have fill control over what can be accessed.

Google will be working with Google Apps admins to so they may plan ahead on which apps are available to their user base.

(via readwriteweb)

Peace Corps Devs Win Web Award for Remix Site

Who knew the Peace Corps were Web developers? Certain African farmers did anyway. Now, with its AfricaRuralConnect project the recipient of an Interactive Media Council Outstanding Achievement Award, a lot more people know it too.

ARC is a product of the National Peace Corps Association and provides a platform for Africans in the business of agriculture, and those interested in African agricultural issues to present, hear and remix each others’ ideas.

Open Source Success: Alfresco Software Reports Record Revenues

Alfresco Software reported record revenues today, providing a signal that open-source technologies are a top choice for the enterprise as the economy moves out of the recession and cloud computing becomes more prevalent.

Alfresco reported both record fourth quarter earnings and record revenues for 2009. Growth is up 61% compared to last year. We look at these results with a grain of salt but in Alfresco’s case it increased its staff 29 percent and also added 300 customer, including companies such as Cisco, Merck and the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In an interview today, Alfresco’s Ian Howell said the growth is coming from companies making the switch from document management platforms. Most of these document management companies have been acquired. And since most of those acquisitions, the market has changed. Open-source content management systems and Sharepoint have disrupted the market, providing a web oriented alternative to document-based, enterprise applications.

The customer is also adapting to an open-source culture. Before, a customer would ask: Do i get source code? Do you support it or do I have to go the forums? Do you scale in an enterprise?

Now, customers ask; How do I roll out? Do you offer 24/7 customer support?

The infrastructure is there. The ISV market and partner networks for open-source companies is growing as are content applications for open-source enterprise technologies. Service organizations are a core part of the open-source ecosytsem.

Further, how can proprietary technology have any role in a cloud environment? It’s the economics that drive open-source adoption in the cloud. That factor alone is drawing the enterprise to open-source.

And that means a bright future for open-source enterprise technologies from companies like Alfresco.

(from readwriteweb)

Send Help: Disaster Response From The Cloud

Relief agencies, companies and volunteers came together and built a global network of systems and people to coordinate emergency aid operations for the Haiti earthquake victims.

This piecing together of a jigsaw of different organizations and technologies with one common goal serves as a testament to what is possible using cloud computing and may serve as a template for disaster relief operations in the future.

SMS and Radio

Whilst SMS is low tech in comparison to mobile services like 3G and Wi-Fi, its simplicity is its success. Repairing or erecting temporary cell towers is a far more efficient way to reach people than fixing wire-line infrastructure. As SMS is a basic feature supported by all handsets, it is widespread and popular in Haiti.

A short-code weather service (4636) was commandeered and setup on the Digicel and Comcel networks to serve as a gateway for anyone who could access a mobile phone. Josh Nesbit co-founder of FrontlineSMS:Medic humbly describes his involvement as a “co-coordinator” who put together the SMS team by getting lots of different volunteers and organizations talking together. The work was done by people like Jean-Marc Castera, a Haitian network engineer for Digicel, and Nicolás di Tada from InSTEDD who went station to station and made sure the message got out and was clear. The service was publicized via local radio stations and word of mouth.

The earthquake hit on Jan. 12, and the first emergency messages from Haitians were being received four days later on Jan. 16.

Translation and Classification

Messages received were forwarded onto a crowdsourced team powered by CrowdFlower and SamaSource who would translate the messages into English and then classify them. Other information such as addresses, mobile number and map coordinates were derived from the cell locations.

Once classified, messages and the accompanying information was forwarded on to a number of different agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United States Coast Guard.

Messages relating to lost or found people would be forwarded to people finder services. Mobile phone numbers were added to a distribution list to receive information bulletins via the Thomson Reuters Foundation AlertNet and InSTEDD.

The Big Picture

An open source piece of software called Ushahidi was re-purposed by volunteers wanting to assist from afar. They created a Web portal to visualize and collate this information for relief agencies and the public.

Ushahidi, which means ‘testimony’ in Swahili, was originally developed to map reports of post-election violence in Kenya. Its ability to graphically display maps and “hotspots” was ideally suited for visualizing areas where relief was most needed.

The Future?

The earthquake disaster in Haiti happened less than a month ago and the emergency support service built has already served over 26,000 messages and played a vital role in coordinating the relief effort. You can imagine what an impact this service has to the people who need it most when you consider one such message:

“We need water, food and medications. We are about 950 people. Thank you Abner”

The world may just have had its first glimpse of a truly global disaster management system. We should marvel at the scale of problem it tackled and how quickly it was developed. The use of cloud services like the crowdsourcing platforms and their APIs demonstrates how quickly cloud services can be used to integrate traditional agencies like the Red Cross.

Given the frequency of natural disasters and the uncertainty around climate change the world has an opportunity to rollout a global 911 service that could benefit us all.

(from readwriteweb. Image credit: visualpanic. Mission 4636 diagram kindly supplied by Josh Nesbit)

Sensors to Help You Get Fit – From Nike, Adidas & Others

One of the trends we’re exploring this year is how the Internet is being integrated into everyday objects. Called the Internet of Things, it’s seeping into some massive consumer industries. One of them is fitness. Many of you have heard of the Nike+ running shoes, which sends running data to your iPod via a sensor.

Adidas recently joined the race to connect your running gear to the Internet, with its miCoach system. There is also the Wii Fit and innovative Web fitness services like NordicTrack’s iFit.
Keep up, because tracking your fitness progress on the Internet – via sensors attached to your body or workout gear – is going to become very popular.

A recent USA Today article notes the increasing usage of Web-enabled products that help you monitor your workouts and give you real-time coaching. The Nike+ shoes and iPod system is one of the market leaders.
The Nike+ shoes come with a sensor that tracks your run, then sends the data to your iPod. It even has its own social network. And what Web product circa 2010 doesn’t come with a Twitter and Facebook connection? Sure enough, the Nike+ can automatically tweet.

Meanwhile the Adidas miCoach PACER is a running pacer device that retails for $140. The bundle includes a Heart Rate Monitor and a “Stride Sensor” – a battery-operated sensor that fits into your shoe.
The miCoach Pacer can also verbally coach the runner during their run, “to ensure that they are staying within their targeted heart rate zone.”
There’s an accompanying website, where users can create training plans, set goals and monitor their progress.
Let us know if you currently use an Internet-connected fitness system, especially if it makes use of sensors.

(from readwriteweb)

WordPress 2 app for iPhone

The new version of WordPress for iPhone just arrived in the App Store (iTunes link). While the first version was already quite usable, this update brings a number of new features and usability enhancements to the WordPress experience on the iPhone. The new interface makes it easier to switch between comments, posts and pages. The comments interface now also displays Gravatars. Throughout the app, the WordPress team has tweaked the interface and it’s now easier to manage your blog from the iPhone.

Features

The new version also now automatically saves posts and restores them if the network connection is lost during the publishing process.

Just like the first version, WordPress for iPhone 2 is an open-source program.

It’s important to note that this new version will not appear as an update to the old version. Instead, users will have to install a new app, which can run side-by-side with the older version.

The new version, of course, still offers the same basic feature set as the earlier version. These include support for multiple blogs, photo uploads and post previews, as well as full support for tags, categories and password protected posts.

Blogging on the iPhone

There can be little doubt that the iPhone – or any mobile phone for that matter – isn’t the ideal platform for writing long, thoughtful blog posts. Maybe that’s why WordPress for iPhone 2 puts more emphasis on comment moderation than the first version.

For a quick blog post on the road, though, the app is perfectly adequate, especially if you just want to upload a few pictures. It’s not as easy to use as the more specialized PicPosterous or Pixelpipe but WordPress for iPhone 2 is a far more flexible application and WordPress has a different user in mind for this app.

Again, remember that it is not an update. It is free but you should search for wordpress 2.