First of all, I’ll have to apologize for not actually testing this application. But the description sounds so interesting that I figured I’ll share it now and test it later.

Trippr is about as simple as it gets; it takes your GPS location, sends that to Flickr, and displays photos with "geotagged" coordinates of the area you are in.

Essentially, it shows photos of interesting things around you. The photos could be something cool, but they could also just be of the local sewage treatment plant, so don’t hold me responsible for a wasted afternoon.

The (free) application is part of a challenge to develop 30 different programs in 30 days and can be found here.

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Clearly not wanting to be outdone by Microsoft, Google have now added voice search commands to Google Maps Mobile. It is currently only available on 3 Blackberry devices; the 8110, 8120, 8130. If you have one of those phones, and want to take it for a spin, point your mobile browser to m.google.com/maps.

Google maps voice search page

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Dash just released the first major update for their Express GPS unit. What may seem like a minor event, is actually quite impressive because it is the first over-the-air update on any GPS unit.

Usually an update requires you to download an update package, remove the unit from your car and plug it into your PC. But Dash Express users will get the update "pushed" to their unit as soon as they are in range of a suitable Wi-Fi connection.

In addition to some performance enhancements, the update adds several new features:

MyRoute – Maps and traditional GPS devices are great navigation tools, but they will never replace local street smarts. Drivers often know the best shortcuts to and from the places that they frequent, but what they really want to know is whether their route is the smartest route today based on current traffic data. Dash is the only GPS that learns routes automatically based on user behavior. With Dash’s new MyRoute feature, as drivers travel from one point to another, the device automatically learns their preferred route. The next time that they drive between the same origin and destination, the first route choice will be a MyRoute, complete with traffic-based arrival time data. Drivers can compare their MyRoute to the computed Dash routes, including traffic detours, and decide which one is optimal.

· Search Along Route – Finding whatever drivers need on the road using Yahoo! Local search just got even easier. With the new Search Along Route feature, Dash drivers can now search for virtually anything they need along their selected route, shortening diversions on the way to their destination. Want to grab a latte on the way to a meeting? Simply do a Yahoo! Local search for “Starbucks” and select “along route” to be presented with the stores that are most conveniently located. Results are displayed with the distance from the current location, the distance from the route and the direction of the destination relative to the selected route. 

· FasterFind – With FasterFind powered by SiRFInstantFix technology, Dash Express uses additional over-the-air GPS satellite position information to get a fast GPS fix so Dash drivers can be underway in seconds. Since the Dash Express is connected, the FasterFind file is automatically and wirelessly downloaded at regular intervals providing users with the most accurate GPS satellite position information available. There is no need to connect to a PC or wait to get a GPS fix. FasterFind not only helps drivers get a quick start every time the device is turned on, it also enables a fast GPS fix under difficult conditions such as beneath tree cover and near high-rise buildings.

The Dash Express is available for the new low price of just $299. A subscription to their service starts at $9.99 a month (on a 2 year prepaid plan) or $12.99 on their month-to-month plan. Each unit comes with 3 months free service.

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What is better than listening to the traffic on your radio? Actually seeing live video shots of that traffic! Mobiletraffic.tv have over 5000 global cameras in their database, and you can view them all using your desktop/laptop or portable device.

I found their search system to be a little flaky, results for Chicago only showed one highway in Minnesota, and there is no smart spelling correction on highway names/numbers, so you’ll need to enter it correctly to get a result (I-294 instead of I294 for example). Other than that I really like the ability to actually see traffic, instead of relying on colored lines on my GPS unit.

Using your PDA or smartphone, point your browser to www.mobiletraffic.tv/wap

Via: Berryreview.com

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WorldMate has been featured here on TravelTechTalk in the past, and has always been an impressive app, but now MobiMate have taken things to the next level with a new version of WorldMate Live.

Some of the new features include:

• A new Outlook plugin for seamless itinerary exports to the online WorldMate Live service
• One-click forwarding of itineraries through email
• Connections feature that shows the location of (approved) friends and colleagues and their itinerary.
• Automatic synchronization of all itineraries onto your mobile device (Blackberry and Windows Smartphone)
• Realtime delay and flight status notifications

I’ll try and get a full review of this posted next week, but in the meantime, why not take it for a spin yourself. The basic application is free and the "gold" version (which adds flight schedules, notifications and customer support) is $9.95 a month (or $99.95 a year).

Product page: WorldMate Live

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This looks like a really nifty application; combine the GPS in your Blackberry with real time traffic information, and some smart thinking, and you get an application that can tell you the best time to leave so you can make your appointment.

• get “when to leave alerts” aware of real-time traffic
• see the optimum (fastest) route avoiding congestion
• confirm on-route you will arrive on-schedule
• store customized locations
• check daily commute for accidents and construction
• all automated on your blackberry® for the most convenient and accurate advanced traveler information solution ever.

The application is still in beta, but you can give them your email address and they’ll invite you as soon as possible.

Product page: Proxpro Prompt via Berryreview

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Perhaps the most frustrating part of putting together a complex travel itinerary is keeping track of all the pieces.  On an upcoming trip to Turkey and the UK I’ve got one airline reservation with five flights, at least three hotel reservations (not all are booked yet), two different car reservations and probably a few other things, too.  Getting a coherent single itinerary out of that mess has always required an afternoon of cutting and pasting together something in email to try to consolidate all the information.  It was functional but never looked particularly good.

Enter the Itinerator.  The Itinerator is the name that a new website, TripIt.com, has given to their engine behind their service.  The concept is ridiculously simple.  You forward all the confirmation emails that you receive from the various sources to their engine and the Itinerator consolidates them into a single master itinerary for you.  As you add more reservations you simply forward those emails to the generic address that they use and it continues to add the information to the existing itinerary.  I did a quick test with an email from Continental detailing the five flights on four different airlines and a second email from Hilton for one of the hotel reservations on my upcoming trip.  TripIt was able to put together all the details, including maps of the places where I had stopovers (but not connections!), historical weather details for each location each day (it is predicting sunny in London, which I find hard to believe) and check-in and check-out information for the hotel, including the confirmation number, address, phone number and room type.  In short, everything that I would’ve normally spent hours cobbling together on my own comes up with minimal effort and it looks a ton better. The image above is one day from the sample they show on their site.

Should you have reservations from companies it doesn’t support you can manually add the details to the master itinerary.  There are a bunch of other cool options it seems to have, including export to your calendar of choice (Outlook, iCal and Google) and access via a mobile device. I’ve only spent a short amount of time playing with it so far this morning, but I can see a long and mutually beneficial relationship developing very quickly with this one. 

This site definitely wins my cool travel site of the week award.  Thanks to Matt E. for sharing it with me!

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For those who love Farecast, a website that is supposed to help you predict whether the fare you’re paying is the lowest or not, but hate Microsoft, life just got a bit more difficult.  Microsoft snapped up the small company earlier this month in an apparent effort to get expand their penetration into the travel business.  This should either ensure that Farecast sticks around for a while since it now has a big company behind it, or the technology will end up integrated into some Microsoft proprietary solution meaning you can only use it if you buy from them.  I hope it is the former.

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Note to bus driver: 9′ - 11′ = -2′ (amazingly nobody was hurt).

Source: Engadget

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My deal of the day today is a product that comes with my personal seal of approval (it’s the same system I carry along with me).

The Navigon 5100 dropped to just $239 on Amazon.com. What makes this deal more impressive than most other navigation systems is the included FREE lifetime traffic subscription AND the built in Zagat points of interest database.

It’s the perfect size, not too big, not too small. It comes with the most impressive window mount of any GPS unit I’ve ever had AND the built in "reality view" lane assist is brilliant when you are driving on roads you are not familiar with. Of course, once the Navigon 8100 is here I’ll probably switch, but till then I’m relying on my 5100 to get me from A to Z.

Purchase link: Amazon.com

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