New Editor/Dashboard Look in Blogger, Google Maps with GPS, Flash Earth, Drop.io, Jott.com Now Has RSS Feeds, No WAAS on New iPhone 3G?, Converting Raster to Vector

New Editor/Dashboard Look in Blogger



I like it; it's bigger, brighter, and more "Web 2.0" (despite my somewhat-dislike for this misnomer that has become such an established "format").  Or maybe this is just a function of the Blogger-in-Draft that I'm using?  Nonetheless, it works well.



I continue to try various stand-alone as well as hosted blogging solutions but Blogger always beats them all hands down.



The only thing I haven't liked about it so far is that it doesn't open a new window for image uploads.  With the previous you could still work on the blog while the photo was uploading, but with the relatively small photos and graphics I use on the blog it's a minor thing.  And it's made up for by the photos actually being inserted at the cursor instead of the top of the screen, as well as an easier drag'n'drop for them when repositioning.



Kudos to Blogger as always.

Google Maps with GPS



Here's an interesting application - Google Maps with GPS.  Basically it's a little program that connects to your GPS and loads up Google Maps (not Google Earth).  I couldn't get it to work with USB but it did work by using another program to emulate a serial port for USB.

  

It's very basic but does it's job, with logging and the ability to zoom and use all the regular features of Google Maps (for the most part).

Flash Earth



Here's a nice resource for sat/aerial/mapping, all in one spot.  This site, using Flash, allows you to access NASA, Open Layers, Microsoft Virtual Earth (both with and without labeling), Yahoo Maps (ever wonder how many hits Yahoo gets through Google searches?), and Ask.com Maps.



There's no specific function for saving them (like most sites) but the good ol' press-PRINT-SCREEN-key-and-paste-into-a-graphics app method works fine.



This site also has some other stuff like a Planetarium.

 

Drop.io



Drop.io - very cool site.  You can store pretty much anything at this site, privately and non-searchable.



You basically can give people the private address an no one else has access to it, though you can password it too if you like. Upload photos, videos, etc.  



And, one of the coolest things about it - you can send or receive your drops via the web, e-mail, voice, or even a fax.  You can even zip everything up in your drop and grab it in one piece.



Highly recommended.

Jott.com Now Has RSS Feeds



If you've ever used Jott - the free service that allows you to call it and say voice notes which are then converted to text and which you can text and/or e-mail to others (or yourself) - then you know how useful it can be and how well their voice-to-text recognition works.



Now they have added the ability to get any RSS feed via text-to speech.  



Sure, you can use your Internet-capable phone to read RSS feeds but it's nice to be able to hear them while you're doing something else, driving, using the computer, or whatever.  Works good if you don't use text messaging or the Internet via phone too - as it's free.  



You can even use it as a substitute for text messaging and such, there's a lot of potential.



All you do is call the Jott number, it recognizes your originating number and you say "Jott Feeds".  Once the voice menu is ready you tell it the name of the feed you previously set up through their website.  After a brief moment it starts reading the RSS feed off to you.  



I use it for quick weather forecasts, racing scores, world news, and even local news via the local news website's RSS feeds.  Very slick.

No WAAS on New iPhone 3G?



I've yet to get a straight answer.  Is the new iPhone;s GPS chip capable of WAAS?  And if not, why not?



I'm assuming since I can't find the info on it that it doesn't.  If not, it's a shame and would be hard to believe. 



It was developed by the FAA to help in increasing the accuracy of GPS for aviation navigation but now is on pretty much all GPS receivers.



The system consists of a number of ground-bases stations which broadcasts timing and location signals to a pair of sats, these are picked up by the WAAS-capable GPS along with the regular GPS satellite network and provides a hellofagood accuracy compared to without it.

 

Converting Raster to Vector 



I've been playing around with various programs for converting raster graphics to vector.  It's interesting, not only for my original purpose - converting aerial, photo, and topographic maps for use on my GPS - but also for the graphics-side of my business.



For use with GPS'es and GPSMapEdit for conversion I'm playing around with the command line BMAP2MP.  There's a few shareware or pay programs that work quite well but this one is free, but complicated to get a good result using the command line.  Still looking for the ultimate solution.



The best description of the process can be found here.  Though it doesn't go into the command line process, unfortunately.  Not for the casual user, or those used to GUI's...



It's hard for a computer to do it accurately in some cases.  If you have a background in electronics I might say it's somewhat similar to an analog-to-digital converter; but on a large scale.  



Meanwhile I continue to improve my personal map system for my GPS.  I'm working on adding a water layer, which can be turned on and off in the GPS.  Not sure how the overlays will handle it though.

Askablogr.com

Wow, two blog entries in one day, huh? Rollin' dirty today, that's for sure. Anyway, enough with my perusing the "Urban Dictionary"...

If you look off to the right you'll see a new applet. It's an applet from a website called Askablogr.com.

Interesting concept. Ever wanted to contact a blogger but didn't want to leave a comment? Or want to give your visitors and readers a better way to respond? Or maybe a bit more privacy to respond? And much more.

Should work fine on a regular website also, and some of the social networking services.

Yea, take a look at the beta of this applet, give it a try. I think we're going to see some pretty good stuff being added and right now it's quite useful as-is.

Good stuff there, super Geekalicious.

Internet Rumors, Upper NY Modified Garmin Maps, Scheduled Blog Entries, Mobiola Web Camera 3 - Use Your Cameraphone as a Webcam

Internet Rumors

Ever play that game in elementary school where the teacher tells one kid something and that kid tells someone else, and it goes around the room until each student has told someone else?

It's an exercise to show how rumors and fact can be readily distorted, at least it's supposed to be. Whether it gets through the little minds of an elementary student is debatable. But it did with me.

When I went to elementary school the "Internet" wasn't called the Internet and your average everyday person didn't even have a computer. Such a short time and we've come so far from those primitive times that were only a short time ago.

And we've come to far with the rumor mongering and the distortion of fact. Something that would have taken take weeks, months, or years to circulate a few decades ago can now be spread within hours. And it can become established as a "fact" in the same amount of time.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from a relative. It was one that has been circulating for quite some time and purports to show a sunset and a moon crescent at the North Pole. The moon is gigantic; and the crescent itself even has a bit of a pixel mismatch. The angular degree of the sun and moon are incorrect also. The scene is, to me, obviously a photorealistic rendering.

Yet, it's been spread around the Internet as real. It's been forwarded, copied, re-copied and even shown on news programs, and worse yet on astronomy websites. Not to mention many photography and art and graphic-oriented sites, and such.

Despite a Snopes reference to it and the artist's own explanation of what the picture was created to be, as well as his attempts to get the word out that it was his and just an art piece - it still continues to spread and pop-up.

It's viral because it's so good, even though it's not real. There's no stopping it, and it will probably be spread around as real for years to come.

Same thing happened this winter with some photos from south of us. These photos were of the tremendous snowfall south of here, and some of the photos even seemed to be from years ago. The person who posted them posted them on a blog as being from Watertown. As in 'look at how much snow Watertown has gotten'. We didn't get as much snow as was shown, even near that much - obviously the pictures weren't from here.

It wasn't long before this was picked up by other bloggers, websites, even news websites. It was presented as fact with comments like "Look how much snow we get in Watertown" (even though that person might really be in Watertown and knew we didn't get that much).

For awhile there I saw it everywhere.

The same thing is happening with Obama. I'm no big fan of the guy (though he's better then the alternative, gah), but a large numbers of things are being distorted and spread as fact - which is wrong. And of course a number of the things are deliberately being done by his detractors.

I know from first-hand experience how easy it is for someone who has an ax to grind with you to spread crap, cultivate it, let it grow and expand to ruin your reputation, even encompassing people who know you well.

In other words - it's easy to stain someone's reputation or cause anything you wish to be accepted as fact if you put some work into it, but it's very hard to reverse it. And humans being the way they are; wired for first impressions - it's sometimes impossible.

Upper NY Modified Garmin Maps

I've finally started to upload some of my modified maps for Garmin eTrex series GPS's (and maybe other Garmins).

These are MUCH better then the ones that come on the unit. Though they are far from complete right now.

These have detailed road maps for Jefferson County, Lowville, Syracuse, Ogdensburg, Gouverneur, Fulton, and the city of Oswego. And surroundign area. The cities and areas are searchable. If you want routable ones you will find the .img file included int eh zip, which you can re-compile to be routable, I believe.

I will be updating them with GPS POI's and maybe even topography. But for now - here's the file. It's called 'upperny.zip' and should contain all the files needed. Of course, standard disclaimers apply - use at your own risk, no guarantees, pay attention to your driving if using in a car, etc.

To use create a directory in your Garmin directory called 'upperny", unzip this file into it, and click the 'upperny.reg' file. Allow it to update your registry.

Once you have done this load Mapsource and you shoul dbe able to access the new Upper NY map.

I'm pretty new to map-making in general, map-converting, and creating custom maps that are uploadable to GPS'es, so please let me know if it works (I've tried installing the map on a few other computers and it seems to work fine - once it's in Mapsource you're fine, just upload it normally to your GPS).

New Blogger Feature out of Draft Now - Scheduled Blog Entries

Now you can write blog entries and schedule them to be posted at a certain time in Blogger.com. Real nice, there's been a few times when I've wanted to do that.

Mobiola Web Camera 3 - Use Your Cameraphone as a Webcam

Guess it had to happen. There's software for using your camcorder, digital camera, and other photo devices as a webcam. Now Mobiola lets you use your cameraphone as a webcam.

It works through Bluetooth, WIFI, or USB (depending on what your phone is equipped with, of course). Could be good potential for use in the poor man's spy equipment chest...