Technology Vessel

In addition to looking for critical information on Google, more than half of Internet users were also seeking information about themselves in the search engine service. That is one of the results of a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project of 2253 people in the country, Uncle Sam’s on August 18 and September 14, 2009.

The survey showed 57 percent of adults in the U.S. like to do a search on Google or commonly referred to googling himself. This amount is increased compared with the year 2006 amounted to 47 percent new.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I had the opportunity to pitch in TZ50west nePanasonic Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoots, the TZ50 Wi-Fi ($ 449) and touch screen decorated FX500 ($ 399). We take our own units ready soon, but meanwhile, here are some first impressions:

DMC-TZ50

As noted earlier, the TZ50 is integrated 802.11b / g Wi-Fi, integration with Google Picasa, and work at places like T-Mobile HotSpot. (Bonus: Comes with one year of free service.) Much to the embarrassment of my guests today, took several attempts to successfully download the photo, and when he did took a few minutes. To be fair, even if we were in a hotel with a T-Mobile HotSpot, we are not in the same room as your router. Otherwise, there is much to like about the first Wi-Fi camera from Panasonic:

* Unlike EyeFi that automatically downloads all your photos at once, the Panasonic interface lets you cherry pick your albums that you take Google’s Picasa.
* While the main attraction of having a Wi-Fi camera is that you can upload photos on the fly, you can also use Panasonic interface to display your Picasa album when you’re away from your computer.
* The camera is an excellent power management, uses less than one watt when Wi-Fi is active, which means you can download images and still take about 300 photos before the battery offers.

DMC-FX500

What I like the camera screen from Panasonic is the first contact coPanasonic FX500mpany obviously not brought a touch interface just to be fashionable. They seem to have learned from other companies, including small icons allow ourselves unnecessarily spice to the screen with the relatively large size fingers. In addition to a pen, the FX500 has a panel of buttons on the right side of the LCD screen as a device without touching, you can always return to the traditional input button if you feel frustrated. (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300 will not give users this option.)

But they have not yet learned the best part (they have buttons next to a touch screen, after all, not long ago). Panasonic FX500 screenAlthough capacitive touch not touch the touch screen is more intuitive than the cameras of the other touch screen, where all you can do is press the icons as if “they were the buttons. Here you can adjust the focus by dragging your finger a slide on the screen (remember to unlock the iPhone). Better yet, when you’re in playback mode, you can click a photo in which you want to enlarge and drag your finger to move the image. If only I could slip through images that I can on the iPhone.

It is too early to say I’m impressed, but I know I’m excited about the idea more concrete time with these new models. Stay tuned for full reviews.

For most people, the holidays mean travel. If out of state, could be through the city. On the river, through forests, to understand how the song goes. Many people also have this relative or friend who always gets lost, you can not follow directions, or leaves the country generally. Sometimes a parent or friend us.

Do you lose more when the grandmother’s house you go with a GPS navigator. These devices will give practical turn by turn directions, maps, easy to read, and often suggest restaurants, service stations and stops along the road. The best browsers to provide more information and assistance, so that your trip is as easy as possible.

Ditch the paper Atlas and misleading Google Maps and get directions or a GPS navigator for this season. Click here for our library.

Recently we praised the fast TomTom, iPhone intuitive, which makes the phone a step beyond the integration of Google Maps, making it a GPS device (for mounting on the dashboard, even). Now, MapQuest is also its implementation Navigator for the iPhone. Its interface is so smooth and full of features, you will not get the iPhone out of the box, although the subscription model may turn some buyers away.

Interface and functionality

MapQuest application can do many things: to give driving directions, local search (MapQuest has more than 16 million points of interest), using the iPhone GPS to establish a baseline, and even street names, which complained TomTom that the application can not do. Users also can choose between 2D and 3D.

One of the things that sold me is the carousel of interest that covers the bottom of the display. The icon-based menu navigation allows access to common categories of destinations, such as airports. This is the nice interface, with faster access to things people are interested in who sold me my memory in my hands.

Price and Availability

As I said, the application is a subscription service. Whereas the implementation costs TomTom nonrecurring charge of $ 99.99 (the car mount sold separately), MapQuest application costs $ 3.99 a month, $ 9.99 for three months and $ 29.99 per year. Is this a good deal? Depends on how you look. It is true that the subscription model means you are paying, but in a head to head with the implementation of TomTom at least, you should use more than two years to coincide with the investment of one hundred dollars.

What application wins? What should we wait until the hands of MapQuest application in a long-term situation of the real world. Until then, color us curious. Explore more screens after the jump.

Today, Google announced the latest version of Google Maps for mobile version 3.0. The most attractive feature of the update is called Latitude and allows you to locate your friends on Google Maps, from your cell phone. Works with most phones BlackBerry, iPhone, Java enabled phones, Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile 5.0 + smartphones. You can also keep an eye on your friends to join iGoogle.

To start, just had to install the new version of Google Maps. Then click the menu button and select the latitude. In this menu, Äôll be able to see your friends and add new ones. Automatically pull contacts from your Gmail account and you can select the friends you want to see Ehud on a map. A tab allows you to share the privacy of their location manually, moved constantly, or hide it completely. Of the friends who had to approve and set their privacy settings.

When your friends will approve, Äôll see in Google Maps, each represented by a small square with a friend preset icon. If you pass the square, you can also see the updated status. We really want to be closely integrated with Google Talk, a simple, John ÄúMessage button, the African Union, for example, would be useful. Google could even add an icon green, red or gray that represents whether the user was online. We hope this will be added in a future update.

Read the rest of this entry »

TomTom GO 740 Live announced this morning a personal navigation device TomTom IQ Routes AA offers later, with real-time traffic without RSS feeds, local search, and more. We were pleased to get their hands on the device the night before, and Aore Äôve happy with what I have seen so far.

The 740 GB Live measures 3.4 x 5 x 0.9 inches and weighs just 7.9 oz. It has a 4.3-inch 480 x 272 pixel resolution touch screen, 2 GB of internal memory and Bluetooth for hands free calling. Its built-in support from the SIM card and a GPRS modem to maintain the updates, but more importantly for Google search and data traffic.

TomTom IQ Routes AOS automatically calculates the fastest route based on time of day, Aore behavior. This information is drawn from a database of historical data travel over the past two years to 1.8 trillion miles across the road. TomTom told us that usually means that if you take Aore Main Street every day on his way to work, but always flooded in the movement of SOA to 8 hours, the unit automatically shuts off the road you want to avoid traffic.

Thanks to its receptor GPRS, the device can capture traffic in real time every 2 to 5 minutes on your journey. It then offers another way to save time. TomTom offers this service free for the first year, but Hasn, Aot yet announced the subscription price will follow.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, Verizon has begun to deliver its software update scheduled for Motorola Droid ($ 49.99), having the popular phone, the Android operating system Android AA to 2.01 to 2.1 The latest version of Google, AM OS. If you have a droid and a refuge, Aot received your update, however, you can know how to update manually.

We Äôve few days with the update and I can say that really adds value to what already was one of the most Android phones. If you’re on the fence about getting a droid, these new features is placed on top.

Read the rest of this entry »