Latest Gear Live Videos
HTC Touch Cruise Smartphone
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cameras, Smartphones, GPS, Handhelds, Software,
If you want more than basic GPS, the newly updated HTC Touch Cruise doesn’t simply give navigational directions, it allows you to take a picture while their Footprints software saves your location. You can then add your comments and audio. The phone also has a one-touch interface and lets you locate services and traffic tangling. This a great phone for geocachers and those who want to convince their friends that they actually saw Mt. Denali. Look for the unlocked Touch Cruise in the spring for about $500.00 to $600.00.
Read More 
| HTC
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Gnomedex 8.0: Search Life Meets Real Life with Danny Sullivan
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Business Tools, Features, Legal,
Danny Sullivan is the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land, here to talk about search. He talks about how we used to get info. That would be the library, friends, family, and encyclopedia (which weren’t written by everyone.) The search revolution started the information retrieval revolution, and the change from that is still underestimated. In 2000, a “Consumer Daily Question Study” was conducted, 74 people recorded all questions they sought answers to, and the majority of respondents used search engines to find the answer to their questions. Search engines were at 32%, while libraries were just 3%.
Today, 58% of people use the internet if they need an answer, while 53% turn to a professional.
Danny brought up a question - if you need the phone number of the Edgewater hotel next door, how would you find it? Most in audience would search Google, one or two would call 411, and less would use the Yellow Pages. 49% of internet users search every day. That is up 30% from 2006. Jumping off the web, location apps on the iPhone is also search, GPS is search, TV is search. These are all different ways that we are able to use search.
As more becomes searchable, and as serch becomes more used, we get collisions between real life and online life.
US Navy building in San Diego that no one really saw from the air until now, thanks to Google Maps. $600,000 will be spent to reshape the building due to concerns.
Google StreetView has some conflicts as well. There are positives and negatives, and Danny gives examples of both.
So what is the balance? Do we let anyone remove anything from Google and other search engines?
Danny is now calling people in the audience, whose phone numbers he pulled off of search. He then asked them about different things in their life that he was able to find using the Internet. Things like Amazon, Flickr, Google, microblogs, etc. It’s a valid point to show that you can get a lot of information about someone by just using Google. Aside from “personal” info on web, searches we make are personal. What about the issue where Viacom demanded all the searches done on YouTube in history from Google? Location apps are cool, though now more people know your location. Does Apple know all the places you go by way of your iPhone? Is there even a way to “clear” this data?
The conundrum now is that more is being made searchable, more people are searching and we’ve hardly figured out the issues.
Wikinear is Mobile Guide
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Google, GPS, Internet,
If you are unfamiliar with an area that you are trekking around, Wikinear is a new service that will tell you about its environs. Utilizing Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, APIs will find your location and display the 5 nearest interest points on a Google map courtesy of Wikipedia. The service is currently in beta, so you are required to sign up for Fire Eagle and there are only a limited amount of invitations available. Still, we like what we see since we love traveling, and hope that by the time it is officially open it will have more info for the rest of us.
Read More | Mashable
Free Directions by Cell Phone
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Misc. Tech, Transportation,
No need to invest in costly GPS if you are traveling to a major city. Dial Directions is a new free service that allows anyone to get anywhere with the use of voice commands. You simply dial “DIR-ECT-IONS” (347-328-4667) from your cell phone, giving your location and destination by address, building, intersection, or event. You then receive directions in text. If you are having your own party, you can post that on the service, too. Available in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Sacramento, San Diego and Washington, D.C. now, more will become available very soon. We would love it if the service could help us find a parking spot on our next jaunt to a Big City.
Read More | Dial Directions
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