It seems like every day, I get to learn about some new technology that has the possibility to reshape how I see the world, work with data, or get something done much more easily. As a web developer, I’m very familiar with geofences and have applied them in working applications, but I wanted to introduce the concept to those of you who are unfamiliar with it.
What Is A Geofence?
Wikipedia has this to say about geofences:
A Geofence is a virtual perimeter on a geographic area using a location-based service, so that when the geofencing device enters or exits the area a notification is generated. The notification can contain information about the location of the device and might be sent to a mobile telephone or an email account.
Although I think they’re pretty close, I’d like to add that a geofence is really just the area that is defined for a notification trigger (or other event) and the notification isn’t exactly part of the geofence. As an example, you might have a device in your car that is linked to a service and that service has a geofence (that you defined) around your neighborhood. On your way to work the service detects that you’ve exited the geofence (your neighborhood), and shuts off specific devices in your home through a home automation system. When you re-enter the geofence after work, it sends a text message to your wife that reads, “Honey, I’m (almost) home!” or turns on your laptop.
Practical Uses For Geofences
I know the above example may seem a little Jetsons-like, but the technology is actually here today and already in use.
One real-world example is the annual Iron Dog® snowmobile race in Alaska. It wasn’t long after the race began that the first team entered a checkpoint and like many other people, I received a text message on my phone letting me know about it. Making this happen was software developed by Ontec Technologies, the company that has provided real-time tracking and mapping of each racer for the past few years. In the software, every checkpoint was defined as a geofence and each racer was outfitted with hardware from Applied Satellite Engineering that sent data over the Iridium satellite network to Ontec where it gets mapped and triggers alerts for geofences. In this example, friends, families, and fans were able to know very rapidly as their racer hit each checkpoint.
The article, Searching for Real Estate Made Easy: Geo-Fences Plus Mobile Phones from SoftwareAdvice.com describes, in detail, a scenario in which a young couple on a leisurely stroll is alerted that they’re near a home for sale that they may like. It seems the couple’s tech-savvy realtor entered their search criteria and cell phone number into a system that has geofences around properties and when their phone’s GPS location entered the geofence, it triggered an alert. The story is just a made-up scenario, but the reality of such a service is just over the horizon. We already have the technology in the phones and all it will take is for someone to build an app for the iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile 7 and the web service to pair it with.
The practical uses for geofences are numerous and I’m certain we’ll see them in use more and more. Imagine an alert on your phone when your young child wanders off your property, or a friend is near the coffee house you’re sitting at. A system that turns on a couple lights when I get within 50 yards of my house is entirely possible right now with a little hardware and some programming.
Possible problems
Any really good technology that makes use of your personal location information brings with it concerns about misuse of that information. However, if used with consent and in the proper applications with these concerns in mind, the advantages far outweigh the unlikely possibilities of misuse.
If you could geofences for anything, what would it be?
Unaware of what would be announced, I stayed up late for the Nokia virtual press event I was invited to check out. While it wasn’t some hot new Nokia handset as I had hoped, it was still pretty cool news.
I was greeted with a video from Anssi Vanjoki (Markets) who announced that Nokia will now provide their OVI maps for free… forever. How’s that for a nice bold statement. That’s a great thing for you Nokia users, but what about me? OVI Maps is a product for the desktop, too.
The picture above shows OVI Maps in it’s 3D view displaying the Eiffel Tour, which I thought was pretty cool, but there’s a lot more to the maps than some 3D tricks. At first glance, it seems they’ve really set out to compete with Bing and Google in the map and mobile navigation space. Now I just need another Nokia phone to play with so I can really give it a spin.
I’d love to hear opinions from any of you Nokia users.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of 123 Media Max. All opinions are 100% mine.
I love watching movies. I have a ton of DVDs and I’m pretty careful about how I treat them. Still, I’ve backed some of my movies up in the past with other software, so I am not unfamiliar with how it’s done. I was given the opportunity, today, to review some software that not only copies DVDs, but is also a Blu-Ray Copy Breakthrough. I don’t have a Blue-Ray player (although I should by now), but I wanted to give it a try anyway, so I did.
Why Should I Back Up My Movies?
Like CDs, DVDs are prone to getting scratched up. All it takes is for you to have a movie night and leave one out while swapping movies because the case wasn’t immediately available. The probability of scratched DVDs and Blue-Ray movies increases exponentially with each child you have in the house. At $15, $20, or more per DVD and Blue-Ray disc, it’s a good idea to back them up.
Copy and Burn Blue-Ray and DVD Movies
The core functionality of 123 Media Max is copying movies, so right after installing, I threw in my Napoleon Dynamite DVD and fired up the software. After choosing to copy a DVD straight, it prompted me for the media I wanted to copy, including my DVD in the list. The selection box was a little small, but I chose my DVD and it told me that my DVD may have copyright protection on it and asked if I wanted to look for a plugin that would get past it. I opted to look and seconds later, I was downloading Boooya to get around the copy encryption. After another quick install, I was copying.
In software I tried in the past, I had to run a tray application (all the time) before I even thought about backing up a DVD. Then I would run a second application to do all the work. I like that this uses a plugin that loads only when needed. After about 20 minutes, the DVD data was copied and I swapped the DVD for a blank DVD to write to.
After about 40-50 minutes total, I had installed both the application and the plugin, copied the DVD, and burned it to a blank disc. This was also faster than software I had tried previously and easier, too. I tried my new backup and before I knew it, that goofy 80’s kid was distracting me from my review.
Additional Features
123 Media Max has, so far, proven to be better than the software I tried in the past, but here’s where it slaps that other software around and makes it cry uncle (well, almost). After you’re done backing up all your movies, you can get more out of the purchase price by converting videos from one format to another and even downloading and converting videos from the Internet. In about two minutes, I told 123 Media Max I wanted to find video online, searched (within the program) for the Tron trailer, found it on MetaCafe, and downloaded and converted it to an AVI on my drive. The only problem I had was that it didn’t find videos on YouTube that I know exist. Hopefully that will be fixed in another version, but it’s pretty cool even without YouTube. Although I haven’t tried it, 123 Media Max also boasts the ability to convert from DVR and TIVO files as well, which I think is a great feature for anyone with one of these devices.
Conclusions
This software should copy your Blue-Ray movies while maintaining the great quality. In my tests, it performed great and did more than expected. If you don’t want to worry about losing your Blue-Ray or DVD collection, or find that they often get scratched up, 123 Media Max is a good investment for your collection at just under $70.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Springpad. All opinions are 100% mine.
Yesterday, I came across yet another social media site, but it’s more like a portal or maybe it’s a social media portal.. with apps… and a Digg-like ranking system.
What is Springpad?
Springpad was built to “help you get things done and share your knowledge”. From an end user view point, it’s a social media portal with built-in applications and data management. Really, though, I think this site becomes what you need depending on how you use it but the same flexibility that makes this site so full-featured also requires a small amount of experimentation if you want to get the most from it.
Features
For the most part, use of the site involves sharing, which is why I call it a social media portal. It utilizes a system in which you add something and people who also like it can “Spring” it up. What makes this site unique is that you enter specific types of items rather than just a link to something. Some things that can be entered are albums, movies, books, products, restaurants, recipes, etc. Anything you add can be locked down as private, left public, or shared via other social media like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc. Some other things that can be added that I didn’t expect are lists, tables (data), files, alarms, lists, and coupons. Throw everything in your calendar, add a recipe and then shop from the shopping list it creates for you, or just share thoughts on you favorite restaurant, movie, or wine. Most stuff you’d want to share is covered. The easiest way to add an item if you’re already staring at it on a remote site is to click the Springpad Clipper browser button. If, for example, you happen to be viewing a funny video on YouTube, just hit the Spring It! button and a dialog pops up to allow for the addition of this video to your feed.
Besides collecting, Springpad has many apps to help you plan for the Holidays like a budget tracker, a gift wish-list app, and a party planner. You can also easily keep track of who sent you Christmas cards.
Christmas cards haven’t been all that hard to manage on my own, but the budget tracker, gift wish, and party planner are useful additions.
Open Development
What’s better than full-featured? Open (and easy) development.
Start with the Notebook App. You can add your own tabs & choose what types of items are on each tab. Also, you can add a Filter Box & change between expanded & collapsed views. Just click on the wrench to find most of these settings. Soon, we will allow users to publish their Apps to the public directory – stay tuned!
This is a feature of the site I really want to play around with more as I continue to use the site and explore.
What’s missing
When I signed up, I wasn’t asked for a username. I was able to later change my username from my settings panel, but I think this should be offered up front. The only other concern I had was that this site has so many options that I could imagine it becoming overwhelming if to some people. It is pretty intuitive, but there’s so much to take in. If you get overwhelmed with all the features, just pick one for the day and try the next one tomorrow.
Conclusions
Despite having to spend a little time to learn how some of it worked, I had my Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook accounts dialed in within about a minute and the user experience is about as smooth as can be with this many features. It’s another player in a crowded game, but Springpad brought its fastball and came to play. In my current interaction with the site, it seems like it needs more people playing along, still, to offer the kind of value that convinces people to keep it as their homepage, but I don’t think I’ll have to wait to long to see that happen. Get your free Springpad here.. When you sign up, add me.
Every once in a while I get an odd feeling about something I’ve been asked to review. In this case, it was an application for the iPhone that promises to calm down your pet with music. Could this really work? I reviewed it and I’ve got your answer.
About The Application
The application is called Pet Acoustics and you can get it for $1.99 in the iPhone app store. According to the site…
Pet Acoustics music has been specifically designed for the hearing sensitivities of your pet, both in frequency, volume and rhythm to calm and soothe your pet anytime, anywhere.
About The Cat
I have three cats. One is very timid, one is right in the middle, and then there’s Chaplin, pictured above. He loves when people pet him any second he can get it. It’s adorable, but then it seems like every night at 2 AM he’s tearing through the house like a crazy cat. I haven’t clocked him, but I think he’s part cheetah. As much as I love all my cats, he drives me crazy sometimes, so any way to calm him is welcome.
The Results
My first reaction was to be skeptical. In fact, I waited to try it until a time when my cat was really ripping around the house. This happened the other night. Chaplin was running around the house like his tail was on fire, so I broke out the iPhone, turned the volume all the way up, loaded the Pet Acoustics app, and stood in his path with the phone. He stopped long enough to hear it and looked interested, so I put the phone on the floor and stepped away. The picture at the top of this review was taken 5 minutes later and he remained there, listening to the music, for nearly an hour. He has his quiet moments, but to see him go from sixty to zero that fast was a great surprise.
Was this a coincidence? I had to question it, and in the interest of providing a complete review, I decided to wait and try it again. Tonight, he was full speed again and this time, I just started the app, turned up the volume, and tossed the phone to the carpet. Once again, he slowed down and then sat, listening to the music. Two for two… looking pretty good.
Conclusion
Two bucks to get my cat to calm down in an instant? There’s no question that this app is worth the cost. I can’t say how well it works or doesn’t work for other pets like your dog or horse (yeah, they’ve got your horse covered), but if you have a cat like mine, search for “pet acoustics” in your iPhone and buy it.
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