Google opens up Talk

More on Google... remember Google Talk - a free and easy service for making voice calls and sending instant messages. It launched last year in "Beta" for google (gmail) users. Well now its open for all.. no google account required. Think Skype but for Google lovers but much more. This app is actually an excellent collaboration/communication tool for groups or co-workers, for example, send files from your chat window. See http://www.google.com/talk. Related to this, mobile Voip services are coming soon although most are waiting for Skype to come for mobile smartphones. Some alternatives are coming to our attention including the very cool Woize. Something to keep in mind when you plan on upgrading your next cell phone, look for a device that is WiFi enabled!

setup your own web server - late night reading

Ever wanted to run your own server or be your own ISP? This piece takes a close look at issues surrounding running a web server from a DSL or Cable Internet connection. Take a close look at the What you Need section... its pretty interesting... See http://www.diywebserver.com/

Google expands Transit

Familiar with Google transit yet? It's google's very own mashup that enables users to create, plan, and manage their own transit routes and trips. The service now boasts data from Tampa, honolulu, eugene, Portland, Pittsburgh, and seattle. Transit began testing the trip planner in Portland late last year and invited feedback from government agencies interested in being included. See google.com/transit - transit even boasts agoogle discussion group as well, see http://groups.google.com/group/googletransit

NGA to Remove Aeronautical Data from Public Access 1 October

This from the NGA PR people today... The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) will removeits Flight Information Publications (FLIP), the electronic Chart UpdatingManual (eCHUM) and Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIFTM)from public access on Oct. 1, 2006. NGA paper map products, to a scale of 1:250,000 to 1:5,000,000 will continueto be made available to the public through FAA sales. In addition, for aperiod of one year (Oct. 1, 2006-Oct. 1, 2007), NGA will distribute adigital product covering U.S. airspace, called U.S. Flight Information File(USFIF) through the Web. (Source: NGA)

Photos from Schiller's North, South, East, Westminster cartographic excursion

Thanks to Nikolas Schiller for keeping me informed about the interesting cartographic excursion that he put on this week. Schiller informed me that he has made available for viewing some photos from North, South, East, Westminster - see here - this event looked way cool and I can only wish that I could have spent the evening walking around the park checking out the displays... the cold beer afterwards looked good too!

More laptop battery recalls from Sony and Dell

Gee, more battery recalls.. wouldn't it be simpler to just replace all of them? Now it seems that Sony has launched a recall, and Dell has expanded their earlier battery recall. I'm hoping mine will make the list soon as I'd really like to grab a bettery unit... eventhough I elected to "upgrade" to a high power battery I still only seem to be able to get 3 hours at best out of this long-life unit... although, being able to cook bacon and eggs on the unit after it heats up is an added bonus ;0) See also www.dellbatteryprogram.com

ZoomIn takes aim at Google maps down under

Exploring Australia or finding places just got alot easier... ZoomIn lets you add your own places to the community map, create groups of places, upload photos and leave comments. Developers can work with ZoomIn technology in several different ways. ProjectX offers a mapping API, as well as an API to the ZoomIn site - quite cool! see http://zoomin.com.au

Event of interest - AJAX World

Some info about a little event you may not be familiar with... AJAXWorld Conference & Expo 2006 is being held October 2-4 in the Santa Clara Convention Center. There will be keynotes by the Father of the term "AJAX," Jesse James Garrett and by one of the leading exponents of "Web 2.0"-style business, Patrick Grady -- Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Rearden Commerce. Hear signature "Power Panels" discussing the disruptive potential of AJAX. More info can be found at http://www.ajaxworldconference.com

Canada to close national map office - Support Access to Maps for Canadians

A tip on this one comes to me via the GIS Coordinator from Carleton University Library. As of January 2007, Natural Resources Canada will discontinue the
printing of paper topographic maps and will close the Canada Map Office. Simply put, the government wants to get out of the business of producing maps. "This is not a minor policy amendment but a major change that has implications not just for map librarians but for the ordinary Canadian who is looking for a map for their cottage or who wants to go snowmobiling or hiking". How you can help: An independent website has been set up to lobby and inform Canadians. Support Access to Maps for Canadians www.mapsforcanadians.ca

topless sunbathers in Google Earth... come on, gimme a break!

Now the Sydney Morning Herald has reached rock bottom by trying to capture headlines and traffic by borrowing the keyword "google earth" in their latest ploy. In a rediculous article the paper is now "reporting" that google Earth users are now invading people's privacy and that nude sun bathers are now fearful of having their privacy intruded upon... come on man.. gimme a break and report some real news. Until Google Eath starts serving up sub centimeter imagery I'll likeley hold off trying to see my neighbor bathing by her pool. Add do that, Joe average still seems to thinnk that google Earth streams real-time or near real time images that are constantly updated by the "google Satellite"... amazing the ignorance that is out there surrounding this service. I'm not sure about you, but when I look at the images in question I can hardly even recognize that there's a human on that roof top let alone a nude person... LOL - the Sydney Herald should check out some local governments capturing high-res, low-altitude aerial imagery using the like of the Intergraph ZI Imaging DMC etc... now there's high-res imagery!

Autodesk launches Labs

this new developer focused portal from Autodesk offers users a site that provides free, early access to prototypes, experimental and beta applications and technologies. Several beta applications are available immediately: a public beta trial of Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD-based applications; a translator for sharing AutoCAD DWG and Bentley MicroStation 2D V8 DGN files; a Web client for viewing DWF files without downloading any software; a utility for storing a copy of vaulted data: and a technology preview that allows users to convert non-native 3D parts into fully featured Inventor parts. Best of all, users do not have to be Autodesk customers to try the technology at Autodesk Labs. See http://labs.autodesk.com/ or the PR here

Nokia launches next generation of Symbian S60 smartphones

Today in New York Nokia launched the next generation of S60 (series 60) smartphones including the way cool Nokia N95 - an all-in-one multimedia computer with a pioneering 2-way slide concept, integrated GPS functionality, a 5 megapixel camera and support for high-speed mobile networks. Truly a converged device, this unit will definitely make people wonder why they are lugging around MP3 players, cameras, and even notebooks along with their cell phone. No doubt a big price tag will come with the unit but the functionality will offset any heart ache associated with the price. Notto be forgotte, Nokia also introduced a symbian OS device focused on the US-based user, the Nokia N75. This smartphone will be ready to buy this Christmas and has been optimized for the North American user and hopes to be Nokia's solution to bring S60 to the masses in North America.. stay tuned on that one. Finally, Nokia also revealed a linup of Music-focused smartphones (Nokia N7o, n73, n91) , designed to provide fast and simple access to the functionality that people need to enjoy music from their mobile device - synch, one button play, music management, and loads of storage (ie. 8 GB) - the N91 is even USB 2 enabled.. nice!

AnyGeo RSS feed back up!

WEll, this Beta testing of the new blogger functionality has some pittfalls... the joy of being a guinnea pig! Anyway, I think i have the RSS functionality back in order and feedburner is also working again. During the migration to Blooger Beta things got a bit mangled and the old RSS feed broke. the "old" link to blogger RSS feeds at http://gisuser.blogspot.com/atom.xml no longer works, however, the new feed can be found at Feedburner - see http://feeds.feedburner.com/Anygeo-AnythingGeospatial - anyone else having problems with this, i suggest you go login to Feedburner and recreate your RSS feed burn... this seems to be the only fix and there's nothing within your Blogger control panel that will help.

Jason's Random Notes from the FME user conference - day 2

More random notes from last week's FME user conference are now available from Jason's weblog... nice job again Jason! No need to apologize for anyone about the delay in posting... in my opinion "real-time" blog postings from any event are highly over-rated! There's this mentality out there that everyone wants to be first in posting about anything.. sure it may get you some traffic but unless you have something to say then what's the big hurry? Also, unless you have amazing resources at your disposal then I've always found that your time at any event is best spent listening, learning, and schmoozing! You pay allot of $$ to attend events so you need to focus on the task at hand. If you happen to have a notebook and reliable WI-FI then blog away - to date I've found that O'reilly events are about the only ones where I can really do this well and efficiently (mostly since everyone else is doing it too!)... otherwise, summarizing events when you have some time is typically the safest solution. If you have to decide between having a couple of drinks with some new friends at an event or running away to go post to your blog, shmoozing with colleagues is definitely the choice you should make. Keep up the great work Jason and enjoy the celeb status ;0)  See http://www.jasonbirch.com/nodes/2006/09/25/36/fme-uc-day-two-or-two-days-late-and-several-dollars-short/

Joopz free web texting puts your PC in touch with mobiles via SMS

A mobile tip -- Joopz "web texting" service enables free two-way text messaging. Ever need to send a text message to someone but you don't have that functionality on your device? Here's another solution to consider. The new service allows users to send and receive messages to individuals and groups, while enabling recipients to respond directly to the originating PC, Mac, PDA or mobile phone and to group member mobile phones. Joopz web texts can be sent from any web-enabled device worldwide to any U.S. or Canadian mobile phone. See http://www.joopz.com

finally, add posts to Digg and Del.icio.us is enabled - a tip for adding this to your Blogger beta blogs

A little Sunday evening searching around and I now have the DiggIt and add to Del.icio.us functionality on the blogs.. woohoo. I have to say it was a snap although the fact that I'm now using blogger beta was a slight challenge. Thanks to this great tip from Hackosphere I simply grabbed the code that I needed and voila.. 2 minutes later we have lift off! The hacker has generously provided tips and the code needed to add this functionality to blogger beta blogs. Thos of you that have vanilla blogger blogs and want to add this functionality to your blog you can get the code here. Finally... if you don't know what Digg or Del.icio.us is then you better do some research! Try clicking the diggIt or add to Del.icio.us hyperlink below this post and check it out...

the podlounge - find/add podcasts and now the mobile lounge

Looking for podcasts? Loads of our readers are interested in podcasts, podcasting, vodcast etc... If you author podcasts or simply have so much time on your hand that you like to listen to them when you have a spare minute then http://www.thepodlounge.com/ is a fine resource for you to bookmark. The portal has recently expanded their offerings with a mobile service designed with users of the way cool Nokia N93 device in mind - PodLounge Mobile for mobile or cell phone users. Usinng the service users can now access music as well as over 31,000 podcasts from their phones, anytime, anywhere. Simply point your phone's web browser to http://mobile.thepodlounge.com/ - oh, and a shameless plug... for Geospatial podcasts see our resource here

Autodesk University discount

Autodesk University #14, taking place later this year (November) in Las Vegas is offering people a savings of $500. AU is a fabulous educational event put on by Autodesk and is a must attend for any Autodesk solution provider, power user, or person thinking about using their solutions. See http://www.autodesk.com/au

Zillow continues to add punch to offerings

Zillow has a number of great new features... most recently with the addition of "enhanced" heatmaps. The feature now has even more functionality allowing you to easily move around a city, compare cities within a state, or pan out to see the entire country. Not sure what you can afford to pay for heat? This should help. Other additions to the Zillow offering just in past week or so include support for the Safari web browser, a more open database where home owners can add personalized information to their listings (like updates and improvements), and myZillow... a personalized home page of sorts where you can keep tabs on teh value and value trends for multiple properties... keep tabs on the rise and fall of home prices for your entire family here. See www.zillow.comm for more.