GPS systems out there range anywhere from $70 to upwards of $400 depending on the feature sets included.

I recently took advantage of the fact that some of the low-end GPS systems on the market run on Windows CE. This leaves open the opportunity to hack the system, gain access to the Windows CE desktop, and from there, the sky’s limit.

The GPS system that I purchased is the Nextar X3-01, which is a portable 3.5″ screen unit that comes complete with car mounting kit and SD card slot (this is critical). You’ll most likely be able to find this kind of model in the bargain bin or at liquidation retailers. Online the prices range from $80 – $300, but you can probably find it at the low end of that range at some local store.

Sure, you won’t get the latest in GPS technology, but in my experience the results are very good and the connection to the GPS satellites is quite snappy, especially when mounted on your car’s dashboard with good line of sight to the sky. The other main challenge is the software. Typically the maps are a few years old and the navigation software is lacking features. This is where some ingenuity and willingness to void your warranty comes in (not a big loss since most of these end-of-line models only come with very short warranties).

Depending on the device you bought, chances are there’ll be instructions online as to how you can enter the Windows CE desktop, and once you’re there, you can install your own software. Pretty much anything goes, but of course your main objective will be to install more up-to-date, feature-rich GPS Navigation software. I decided on Nav N Go iGO 8 with maps that are less than 6 months old, a ton of great features, and the benefit of great customization tweaks online: Everything from custom themes to different vehicles to replace the boring arrow on the screen.

How much did that cost and didn’t it ruin the whole idea of a cheap GPS system? Well, use your Internet smarts and you’ll soon find out that it’s not so bad.

When it was all said and done, I had an $80 GPS running sophisticated navigation software, an image viewer, a media player (audio and video), a GPS Geocaching application (with support for waypoint files), and more. The main limitation to this Windows CE based marvel is that the system resets certain parts of its Flash memory on each reboot, which made it impossible (or at least too difficult for me to bother) to install things such as the Compact .Net Framework. We recently went on a trip to Vancouver and thanks to this GPS we did literally no planning at all, just punched in our destination and let it guide us. It was great!

GPS systems out there range anywhere from $70 to upwards of $400 depending on the feature sets included. I recently took advantage of the fact that some of the low-end GPS systems on the market run on Windows CE. This leaves open the opportunity to hack the system, gain access to the Windows CE desktop, and from there, the sky’s limit.

The GPS system that I purchased is the Nextar X3-01, which is a portable 3.5″ screen unit that comes complete with car mounting kit and SD card slot (this is critical). You’ll most likely be able to find this kind of model in the bargain bin or at liquidation retailers. Online the prices range from $80 – $300, but you can probably find it at the low end of that range at some local store.

Sure, you won’t get the latest in GPS technology, but in my experience the results are very good and the connection to the GPS satellites is quite snappy, especially when mounted on your car’s dashboard with good line of sight to the sky. The other main challenge is the software. Typically the maps are a few years old and the navigation software is lacking features. This is where some ingenuity and willingness to void your warranty comes in (not a big loss since most of these end-of-line models only come with very short warranties).

Depending on the device you bought, chances are there’ll be instructions online as to how you can enter the Windows CE desktop, and once you’re there, you can install your own software. Pretty much anything goes, but of course your main objective will be to install more up-to-date, feature-rich GPS Navigation software. I decided on Nav N Go iGO 8 with maps that are less than 6 months old, a ton of great features, and the benefit of great customization tweaks online: Everything from custom themes to different vehicles to replace the boring arrow on the screen.

How much did that cost and didn’t it ruin the whole idea of a cheap GPS system? Well, use your Internet smarts and you’ll soon find out that it’s not so bad.

When it was all said and done, I had an $80 GPS running sophisticated navigation software, an image viewer, a media player (audio and video), a GPS Geocaching application (with support for waypoint files), and more. The main limitation to this Windows CE based marvel is that the system resets certain parts of its Flash memory on each reboot, which made it impossible (or at least too difficult for me to bother) to install things such as the Compact .Net Framework. We recently went on a trip to Vancouver and thanks to this GPS we did literally no planning at all, just punched in our destination and let it guide us. It was great!

It’s not often that one gets to witness history this up close. Obama has just become the first African-American president of the US and I was here to see it all happen.

No, I was not at some sort of election party. Yes, I am Canadian and damn proud of it. No, I’m not American and also damn proud of it. But when a momentous event like this takes places, it makes you feel good to be around to witness it. The technology involved in this year’s US election has made it incredibly easy to follow the election race. Twit, my favourite tech programming on the Internet broadcasted live, a discussion of not only the election but also how technology has made it possible to feel so involved, all from the comfort of my couch. And I never even scratched the surface of it all! If I were closer to the US elections, if I were an American citizen and were involved in voting, I would have sucked it all in. There’s a hidden side of me that tremendously enjoys politics, and who does it on a grander scheme than the Americans?

I’m glad the results came in the way they did. I hope this will put the Americans on a better path for the future and since so much of US policy affects or gets copied by our Canadian government, I am glad that at least there is now a US president that seems to have a better understanding of the things that matter to me. I did not get my wish in our latest Canadian election but I am hopeful for changes in the US that will eventually trickle down to us across the border.

Congratulations to Barack Obama and the American people for making the choice I would have made. I am proud to have lived during these exciting times.

It’s not often that one gets to witness history this up close. Obama has just become the first African-American president of the US and I was here to see it all happen.

No, I was not at some sort of election party. Yes, I am Canadian and damn proud of it. No, I’m not American and also damn proud of it. But when a momentous event like this takes places, it makes you feel good to be around to witness it. The technology involved in this year’s US election has made it incredibly easy to follow the election race. Twit, my favourite tech programming on the Internet broadcasted live, a discussion of not only the election but also how technology has made it possible to feel so involved, all from the comfort of my couch. And I never even scratched the surface of it all! If I were closer to the US elections, if I were an American citizen and were involved in voting, I would have sucked it all in. There’s a hidden side of me that tremendously enjoys politics, and who does it on a grander scheme than the Americans?

I’m glad the results came in the way they did. I hope this will put the Americans on a better path for the future and since so much of US policy affects or gets copied by our Canadian government, I am glad that at least there is now a US president that seems to have a better understanding of the things that matter to me. I did not get my wish in our latest Canadian election but I am hopeful for changes in the US that will eventually trickle down to us across the border.

Congratulations to Barack Obama and the American people for making the choice I would have made. I am proud to have lived during these exciting times.

Bet you do now…

What is a MyCast from Orb? Well they have a great description and many details on their website so I won’t go into the details. But let it suffice to say that with this software, running on my home PC, I can view all of my videos, podcasts, music files, photos, and anything that’s either a video, audio, or media file, from anywhere I can access the web.

This stuff even works on my Dell Axim pocket pc. It’s somehow amazing that I was able to walk around the office, watching “The Office” in the palm of my hand, knowing it was streaming via the wireless LAN and then via the Internet, all the way from my computer at home. The current version is a little buggy, it tends to crash but it does a great job when it’s running. Streaming quality is excellent, of course dependent on your network connection, and the new flash player allows for even more flexibility than before.

I would highly recommend this for anyone who is on the go a lot and just doesn’t have enough time at home to watch their media stored on their PC.

Bet you do now…

What is a MyCast from Orb? Well they have a great description and many details on their website so I won’t go into the details. But let it suffice to say that with this software, running on my home PC, I can view all of my videos, podcasts, music files, photos, and anything that’s either a video, audio, or media file, from anywhere I can access the web.

This stuff even works on my Dell Axim pocket pc. It’s somehow amazing that I was able to walk around the office, watching “The Office” in the palm of my hand, knowing it was streaming via the wireless LAN and then via the Internet, all the way from my computer at home. The current version is a little buggy, it tends to crash but it does a great job when it’s running. Streaming quality is excellent, of course dependent on your network connection, and the new flash player allows for even more flexibility than before.

I would highly recommend this for anyone who is on the go a lot and just doesn’t have enough time at home to watch their media stored on their PC.

No wonder it took 5 years for Windows Vista to be released…

No wonder it took 5 years for Windows Vista to be released…

I bet people will buy into this, too:

Claiming U.S. dollars used to purchase gasoline made from Middle East oil funds terrorism, a group called the Terror-Free Oil Initiative opened the nation’s first “terror-free” gas station.

By the way, later in the story it says that the first contributor of this group buys some of its oil from the same place that every other company does…

Oh and just to make another point… 80% of Americans didn’t buy or read a book last year. Sad.

I bet people will buy into this, too:

Claiming U.S. dollars used to purchase gasoline made from Middle East oil funds terrorism, a group called the Terror-Free Oil Initiative opened the nation’s first “terror-free” gas station.

By the way, later in the story it says that the first contributor of this group buys some of its oil from the same place that every other company does…

Oh and just to make another point… 80% of Americans didn’t buy or read a book last year. Sad.

I’ve always loved these commercials that Apple started but these parody ones are even better. Check out Paul Thurrott’s blog for more.

I’ve always loved these commercials that Apple started but these parody ones are even better. Check out Paul Thurrott’s blog for more.

Screw all the other ones (Fuck Steve Jobs too – hate that guy) but I do want this…

Capping literally years of speculation on perhaps the most intensely followed unconfirmed product in Apple’s history — and that’s saying a lot — the iPhone has been announced today. Yeah, we said it: “iPhone,” the name the entire free world had all but unanimously christened it from the time it’d been nothing more than a twinkle in Stevie J’s eye (comments, Cisco?). Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that’s frickin’ thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the sensor when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quadband GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email.

More Images | Official Website

Screw all the other ones (Fuck Steve Jobs too – hate that guy) but I do want this…

Capping literally years of speculation on perhaps the most intensely followed unconfirmed product in Apple’s history — and that’s saying a lot — the iPhone has been announced today. Yeah, we said it: “iPhone,” the name the entire free world had all but unanimously christened it from the time it’d been nothing more than a twinkle in Stevie J’s eye (comments, Cisco?). Sweet, glorious specs of the 11.6 millimeter device (that’s frickin’ thin, by the way) include a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the sensor when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, 8 GB of storage, Bluetooth with EDR, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quadband GSM radio with EDGE. Perhaps most amazingly, though, it somehow runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, and Safari, and iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out of the gate. A partnership with Yahoo will allow all iPhone customers to hook up with free push IMAP email.

More Images | Official Website

“One of the lawyers involved in defending cases brought against people by the RIAA claims that if the music industry wins a crucial case, the Internet will have to be switched off.” Right, how far up his own backside is he if he thinks that’s possible?!?

read more | digg story

“One of the lawyers involved in defending cases brought against people by the RIAA claims that if the music industry wins a crucial case, the Internet will have to be switched off.” Right, how far up his own backside is he if he thinks that’s possible?!?

read more | digg story

This is just too cool…

You might have to click below in the white where it said “Loading…” to start the video…

This is just too cool…

You might have to click below in the white where it said “Loading…” to start the video…

On the internet, a little mystery can go a long way.

“Six weeks ago, a man living in Germany and calling himself KenGrok, announced a fascinating discovery on a Google Earth Community forum.

Poring over satellite images of China on the free Google Earth service, he came across a strange plot of land – approximately 900 metres by 700 metres, about the size of six Sydney Cricket Grounds.”

read more | digg story

On the internet, a little mystery can go a long way.

“Six weeks ago, a man living in Germany and calling himself KenGrok, announced a fascinating discovery on a Google Earth Community forum.

Poring over satellite images of China on the free Google Earth service, he came across a strange plot of land – approximately 900 metres by 700 metres, about the size of six Sydney Cricket Grounds.”

read more | digg story

My buddy Paul just alerted to this site called Digg View that gives a very nice summary of the top stories on Digg. I tend to look at what’s happening on Digg a few times a day, usually when I’m bored. This page now gives me a quick overview of anything that I may be interested in. Good stuff!

Web 2.0

In this short by Dan Harmon, Computerman (Jack Black), a half-man, half-machine in white underwear, saves his master from anal rape at the hands of the FBI through the power of the Internet. Funny

My buddy Paul just alerted to this site called Digg View that gives a very nice summary of the top stories on Digg. I tend to look at what’s happening on Digg a few times a day, usually when I’m bored. This page now gives me a quick overview of anything that I may be interested in. Good stuff!

Web 2.0

In this short by Dan Harmon, Computerman (Jack Black), a half-man, half-machine in white underwear, saves his master from anal rape at the hands of the FBI through the power of the Internet. Funny

Ever needed to bookmark a specific piece of text on a website? This is really cool: “Enter a quote and the URL of a page containing the quote and get a link that highlights the quote you entered – and never expires!”

http://deepquote.net

Ever needed to bookmark a specific piece of text on a website? This is really cool: “Enter a quote and the URL of a page containing the quote and get a link that highlights the quote you entered – and never expires!”

http://deepquote.net

Last night I received my long awaited Google Analytics invitation. The free service describes itself as

Introducing Google Analytics. Sophisticated. Easy. Free.

Get Your Invitation »

Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You’ll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.

From my quick look at the data, which contains barely a few hours of activity, it will be very useful to future decisions about my websites. The Site Overlay feature is particularly cool and will graphically highlight your most clicked links.

Some screenshots below.

Last night I received my long awaited Google Analytics invitation. The free service describes itself as

Introducing Google Analytics. Sophisticated. Easy. Free.

Get Your Invitation »

Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You’ll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.

From my quick look at the data, which contains barely a few hours of activity, it will be very useful to future decisions about my websites. The Site Overlay feature is particularly cool and will graphically highlight your most clicked links.

Some screenshots below.

PayPal has launched its mobile payment platform, called, of course, PayPal Mobile.

You need to register a phone and create a PIN. PayPal uses an automated system to call you on the phone and verify the PIN, and the phone is then usable.

To send a person to person payment, you either text the payment amount and recipient’s phone number to PayPal, or call a toll free number and follow the directions.

PayPal has launched its mobile payment platform, called, of course, PayPal Mobile.

You need to register a phone and create a PIN. PayPal uses an automated system to call you on the phone and verify the PIN, and the phone is then usable.

To send a person to person payment, you either text the payment amount and recipient’s phone number to PayPal, or call a toll free number and follow the directions.

Google is not satisfied with just indexing this Earth we live on. Not only do they map our lovely little planet using Google Maps, but they have also mapped the Moon and Mars! It’s pretty neat; the moon map marks the landings that we’ve done in the past, and Mars is mapped out using Infrared. Images below.

Google is not satisfied with just indexing this Earth we live on. Not only do they map our lovely little planet using Google Maps, but they have also mapped the Moon and Mars! It’s pretty neat; the moon map marks the landings that we’ve done in the past, and Mars is mapped out using Infrared. Images below.

John C. Dvorak has a new talkshow on Digital Life TV entitled “Cranky Geeks”.

The format should be familiar — John’s the host, and with three additional cranky guests, they debate the technology issues of the day.

Check out the pilot episode here.

John C. Dvorak has a new talkshow on Digital Life TV entitled “Cranky Geeks”.

The format should be familiar — John’s the host, and with three additional cranky guests, they debate the technology issues of the day.

Check out the pilot episode here.

I thought I was done with these Ajax start pages. I was sure that Netvibes was what I was going to stick with. Well, then someone posted a comment that changed things. Enter Pageflakes. Same ideas as the other ones, little prettier, more features, and the ability to create your own flakes (widgets). Screenshots below:

We’ve all seen the use of avatars used in forums all over the place. It’s a neat way to distinguishing yourself from others. Gravatar, which stands for Globally Recognized Avatar, is a free service where you can sign up and upload an avatar image for yourself. This image will show up on any sites that are Gravatar enabled.

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

And guess what? I just did that on this blog. If you look at the comments, you’ll now see the avatar images next to posters. If you don’t have an avatar, I suggesting signing up for one. It’s easy and it’ll certainly look better than a blank image, no?

Related Links:

• http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Gravatars
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_virtual_reality
• http://www.gravatar.com/about.php

I thought I was done with these Ajax start pages. I was sure that Netvibes was what I was going to stick with. Well, then someone posted a comment that changed things. Enter Pageflakes. Same ideas as the other ones, little prettier, more features, and the ability to create your own flakes (widgets). Screenshots below:

We’ve all seen the use of avatars used in forums all over the place. It’s a neat way to distinguishing yourself from others. Gravatar, which stands for Globally Recognized Avatar, is a free service where you can sign up and upload an avatar image for yourself. This image will show up on any sites that are Gravatar enabled.

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an 80×80 pixel avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

And guess what? I just did that on this blog. If you look at the comments, you’ll now see the avatar images next to posters. If you don’t have an avatar, I suggesting signing up for one. It’s easy and it’ll certainly look better than a blank image, no?

Related Links:

• http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Gravatars
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_virtual_reality
• http://www.gravatar.com/about.php

Ok, ok, I’ve been obsessed with these Ajax powered start pages. But I think this one’s a keeper. If for nothing more than a new RSS feed reader. Netvibes has all the common features, RSS reader, to-do lists, weather widget, email checker, and more. They’ve also planned a number of nice features for the future. The layout is not as customizable as Protopage for example, but it’s more stable and reliable. Who knew the French could pull something like this off! Check it out, I highly recommend it.

Ok, ok, I’ve been obsessed with these Ajax powered start pages. But I think this one’s a keeper. If for nothing more than a new RSS feed reader. Netvibes has all the common features, RSS reader, to-do lists, weather widget, email checker, and more. They’ve also planned a number of nice features for the future. The layout is not as customizable as Protopage for example, but it’s more stable and reliable. Who knew the French could pull something like this off! Check it out, I highly recommend it.

Yesterday I blogged about Goowy. While it’s a pretty neat service it’s still a bit too buggy for everyday use. At least for me. So I decided to check out Protopage. This is another Ajax powered customizable personal homepage. It seems a little bit more stable and faster. It’s free, so it’s worth a try. See my screenshot below.

Yesterday I blogged about Goowy. While it’s a pretty neat service it’s still a bit too buggy for everyday use. At least for me. So I decided to check out Protopage. This is another Ajax powered customizable personal homepage. It seems a little bit more stable and faster. It’s free, so it’s worth a try. See my screenshot below.

Goowy is something I just heard about in the latest Inside the Net podcast.

goowy (re) is a rich experience site which helps you manage your digital lifestyle. We provide you with a fresh and powerful environment for managing your webmail, contacts, calendar, rss, widgets (search, bookmarks, photos, weather, stocks, quotes, scores, etc.), and fun flash games.

It’s really quite cool. The first thing I did was import my gmail emails into my goowy account. Now, I’ll continue to receive them at gmail but will use goowy to read and write them. The other nice thing it does is that it also acts as an RSS feed reader. Here’s a screenshot of the web-based version of it. Give it a try, it’s pretty useful.Web 2.0

Goowy is something I just heard about in the latest Inside the Net podcast.

goowy (re) is a rich experience site which helps you manage your digital lifestyle. We provide you with a fresh and powerful environment for managing your webmail, contacts, calendar, rss, widgets (search, bookmarks, photos, weather, stocks, quotes, scores, etc.), and fun flash games.

It’s really quite cool. The first thing I did was import my gmail emails into my goowy account. Now, I’ll continue to receive them at gmail but will use goowy to read and write them. The other nice thing it does is that it also acts as an RSS feed reader. Here’s a screenshot of the web-based version of it. Give it a try, it’s pretty useful.Web 2.0

Clusty the Clustering Engine

Google has been in the news a lot recently, both being accused of producing mediocre, constantly beta, products (see Google Video), and folding to pressure by governments. While they’re fighting the US government to not release search results, they are complying with censorship rules imposed by the Chinese government. Whether you like Google or not, here’s an alternative search engine that I really like:

Clusty is a metasearch engine developed by Vivísimo which offers clusters of results. Clusty adds new features and a new interface to the previous Vivisimo clustering web metasearch. Different tabs also offer metasearches for news, jobs in partnership with Indeed, U.S. government info, pet owner info and blogs. Special tabs can be added to search eBay, Wikipedia, or Slashdot. Customized tabs allow users to select sources for their own metasearch to create personalized tabs.

Newsvine – Get Smarter Here

Newsvine is essentially a social news website. But it’s different from other sites like Digg in that it actually involves news that you would read in the newspaper or see on the evening news. The service is still in a closed beta but here’s a quote from its welcome page:

If you’re just into reading, you’ll find thousands of Associated Press articles posted and indexed faster than any site on the web. If you’d like to discuss the news, you’ll find places to chat and comment within every article. If you’d like to write your own column – and collect ad revenue from it – Newsvine will publish it for you.

Now, their private beta works on a system of invititations. Every user lucky enough to get in, gets to invite 20 other people. Lucky me, I have a few invitations left. If you’d like one, comment on this post, making sure you leave a working email address.