Technologizer

Is TomTom Toast?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Among the bevy of interesting things about Verizon’s Droid smartphone is Android 2.0’s new version of Google Maps, which includes full-blown turn-by-turn GPS navigation with spoken instructions–for free. Judging from the couple of trips around San Francisco it’s guided me on so far, it would be pretty darn appealing even if it wasn’t a freebie–the [...]

Google Maps Knows Where You Are

Thursday, July 9, 2009

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One of the nifty new features that debuted in Firefox 3.5 last week was support for the W3C Geolocation API Specification, a Web standard that can fake a GPS-like effect by using clues such as the Wi-Fi networks you’re near to figure out your location. The only problem was that the standard isn’t yet widely [...]

HP Unveils a Web-Connected Printer

Monday, June 22, 2009

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HP likes it when people print. And print. And print. And I’m at an event where the company just unveiled (literally!) the PhotoSmart Premium with Touchsmart Web, a new $399 inkjet all-in-one printer. It’s got a large color touchscreen and connects directly to the Web via Wi-Fi–so you print out stuff without ever touching your [...]

Swine Flu Takes to Google Maps

Monday, April 27, 2009

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Whether you’re nervous about a possible pandemic or just want to stay informed, some Google Maps mashups are making it easy to track the worldwide spread of swine influenza. My favorite, put together by Pittsburgh biomedical researcher Henry Niman, pinpoints the location of every case around the world, with colored markers denoting whether swine flu was [...]

UK Village Takes On Google Street View Car

Friday, April 3, 2009

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Here’s a way to let Google know you aren’t happy with their efforts to photograph your property: you try to stop them in their tracks. That’s what a bunch of residents in Broughton, Buckinghamshire, England did when they spotting one of Google’s trucks entering their neighboorhood. According to press reports from both the BBC and Sky [...]

Don’t Fear Pegman: New Google Maps Street View is a Winner

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

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McCracken’s Law of Software Mascots states definitively that they’re almost always a truly lousy idea. Most of the evidence has come in the form of grating, patronizing Microsoft characters, from Bob to Clippy to Rover, the miserable mutt who shows up in Windows XP’s search. So I was alarmed when I heard that Google Maps’ [...]