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Google Maps now has walking directions along with driving directions. I tested it out with the walk I take every night after work to go home and it was pretty accurate. It said it should take 24 minutes to go from my office to Penn Station. It typically takes me 25 minutes. Right now, the walking directions are beta.

Technorati Tags: Google Maps

Since I got my iPhone last week, I have signed up for 3 new social networking services. Limbo, Loopt, and Whrrl are mobile social networking services that use your current location to show you where your friends are.
Limbo describes their services as:

Limbo amplifies your social life – giving you quick and easy access to more activities, people and places.

Loopt goes a little more in depth when explained their service.

Loopt shows users where friends are located and what they are doing via detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends connect on the fly and navigate their social lives by orienting them to people, places and events. Users can also share location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and blogs.

Whrrl’s description is similar to Loopt’s.

Whrrl is a location-based social utility that helps you answer questions like, “Where should we go for dinner tonight?” or, “What fun stuff can I do around here?”, whether you are in your home town or traveling. Whrrl organizes everything you and your friends know about people, places, and events and puts that information at your fingertips. You can use Whrrl on a Web browser, via SMS, or as an application on your mobile phone.

I’m still figuring out if I’ll use all three or if one of them does everything I would need.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Limbo, Loopt, Whrrl

I came across a service called Mail2Web that is a free alternative to the MobileMe service that Apple is selling for $100. Mail2Web is a free personal Microsoft Exchange 2003 account, and since the iPhone can connect to Microsoft Exchange, this allows email to be received almost instantaneously. The instructions on how to set this up are available from Lifehacker.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Mail2Web

I went to the AT&T store in the Bridgewater Commons mall yesterday at 6am to get in line for the iPhone 3G. I wound up being the 15th person in line and about 2 hours later, walked out there with a 16GB black iPhone. I played with it so much yesterday, the battery was almost dead by 6pm. I also downloaded and installed a few interesting apps to it like Phone Saber, which turns the iPhone into a light saber, Funambol, which is like Plaxo for the iPhone, and Rotary Dialer, which allows you to dial phone numbers as though you were using an old rotary style telephone.

Technorati Tags: 3G, Apple, AT&T, iPhone

Supercar Collectibles is trying to get a 1:18 scale version of the Briggs Chevelle made. The estimated price is $120. If you’re interested in one of these, please pre-order one by going to the Supercar Collectibles page for the model.

Technorati Tags: Briggs Chevrolet, Chevelle, Ray Allen, Supercar Collectibles, Truppi-Kling

After picking up a Nintendo Wii for a friend of mine’s daughter and playing it a couple of times, I decided to purchase one for myself. The only place that seems to have any is the Nintendo World store in New York. I set it up the other night, hooked it up to the Internet and started playing. I can purchase and download some original NES, SNES, Nintendo64 and Sega Genesis games. There are a few games I plan on buying and downloading (Super Mario Brothers 1-3, Super C, Legend of Zelda) but there are still others (Contra, Paperboy, Rampage, Duck Hunt, Spy Hunter) that I wish were available.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Wii

The iPhone3G has been announced. It will be released on July 11, 2008 in 25 countries and will be available eventually in 70 countries. The buttons on the side are now made of metal instead of plastic. The headphone jack is on the right side instead of the top and it’s no longer recessed. The iPhone now has true GPS built-in. It’s thinner than the current version and it will sell for $200 less than the current version. The $200 price drop is without the subsidy from AT&T originally believed to be available.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone

I’ve decided I’m going to start going green in order to help the environment. This won’t be easy since I’m into technology but it’s still a step in the right direction. After the failure that is Windows Vista, I am done with Microsoft products. I am currently running Windows XP on 2 of my computers. If I ever decide to get rid of Windows completely, I’ll replace it with Linux. I currently run Linux on 3 of my computers. I can download it legally for free from the Internet and burn it to one DVD. I don’t have to purchase a package where I’m going to throw out most of the packaging just to get to the install DVD.
I’ve also started printing straight to PDF, using Cute PDF Writer, to go as paperless as possible. All of my credit card bills, bank statements, and other financial documents are all done electronically. I do all of my bill paying online. This not only saves the paper used to make the checks and envelopes but also saves me time and money (no postage).
I’ve also signed up at Green Dimes to help stop junk mail for the next 5 years. When I signed up, I had the choice of getting $1 sent by postal mail (kinda goes against the idea of going green), plant a tree, or get a trial issue of a magazine about green living. I chose to have a tree planted. I also registered with the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service to opt-out of mail offers. I also signed up at OptOutPrescreen.org, which allows me to opt-out of credit card and insurance offers. All of these should reduce the amount of junk mail I receive considerably.
Once I get my own place where I get to make more decisions, I would do a few more things like composting, using solar energy for exterior lighting and opting to have the electricity come from renewable resources.

Technorati Tags: green

I donated blood a few weeks ago and one of the things they were able to perform on the blood sample was a cholesterol check. The check wasn’t done the typical (fasting) way. I had to eat before I gave blood otherwise I wouldn’t have been allowed to but I wanted to know roughly what my cholesterol level was. I got a letter from the NY Blood Bank over the weekend and I now know what my cholesterol level is/was - 214. Considering how close I am to 200, and that I had a toasted and buttered corn muffin for breakfast that morning, I interested to see if I can get below 200 if I do it the way it’s supposed to be tested.

Technorati Tags: cholesterol

There are numerous rumors today that the 3G version of Apple’s iPhone will be coming out on June 9th. They’re also saying that it will be curved more than the current model, have GPS built-in, have a front-facing camera along with the rear camera, and will be given a $200 price-break by AT&T. This means, if the newer iPhone is the same price and storage capacity as the original, a 8GB iPhone can be had for $199 and a 16GB iPhone would be $299. I’ve been looking forward to getting one to replace my aging Motorola RAZR.

Technorati Tags: Apple, AT&T, iPhone, Motorola, Razr