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Google Calendar adds schedules from new sources

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google-maps-new.jpgGoogle added a new Google Calendars gallery to help keep your Google Calendar from being just about work, said a Google software engineer on the company’s blog today. These offerings, like much of Google, are free for the taking.

The gallery includes schedules from various sources for the lighter side of life that you can easily add to your Google Calendar. Examples of these new Google Calendar add-ins include Disney (special events at Disneyland), Netflix (new movies available on DVD, Wcities (events in cities across North America), NBA (basketball team schedules), Atlantic Records (musical artist concert schedules) and TLC (viewing schedule of new show on the TLC Channel).

Google is not the first to offer these types of add-ins to online calendars. Yahoo, for example, lets you track through its online calendar sporting team schedules across multiple sports as well as holidays from around the globe.

Originally posted on June 7, 2007 @ 1:36 pm

JetBlue, Google team for in-flight tracking

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jetblue.jpgJetBlue Airways announced a deal with Google to put Google Maps as a real-time tracking channel on the airline’s seatback televisions. It was not announced when Google Maps would begin appearing on JetBlue flights.

Google Maps will appear as a GPS-enabled moving maps feature. Fliers will be able to track their in-flight status on-screen as they soar along at 35,000 feet. JetBlue and Google are not leaving people on the ground out of the loop either. An online offering lets anyone track live flights using Google Maps, including the flight’s estimated departure and arrival times.

To celebrate this new partnership the two companies are hosting a photo contest between now and September 3. Photos taken from the window of any JetBlue flight can be submitted along with information to help identify the photo’s location, etc. JetBlue will post customer photos to a Google Maps mash-up, where customers can vote on their favorite shots at the end of the summer. Based on customer votes, the top 10 photographers will receive roundtrip travel for two to any of the airline’s 54 destinations.

Originally posted on June 7, 2007 @ 1:15 pm

Akamai offers to help you visualize real-time Internet performance

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akami-real-time.jpgYou’ve probably asked yourself at least once “why is the f’ing Internet so slow?” One way you may be able to get some answer going forward is Akamai Technologies’ new “Visualizing the Internet” tools.

These Visualizing the Internet tools, unveiled by Akamai today, let you see how healthy the Internet currently is. Akamai draws upon information from over 25,000 servers in more than 750 cities that are used by content providers to provide visual data of why some Web traffic may be slow, infected, or simply non-existent.

Three tools make up Akamai’s offering. A real-time web monitor “identifies the global regions with the greatest attack traffic, cities with the slowest Web connections (latency), and geographic areas with the most Web traffic (traffic density).” Network performance comparision “illustrates how Akamai identifies the fastest and most reliable path available between an Akamai edge server and an enterprise’s origin data center to retrieve dynamic content.”

The final tool, visualizing Akamai, “provides insight into the world’s online behavior at any given moment including how much rich media is on the move, the sheer volume of data being requested, the number and concentration of worldwide visitors, and average connection speeds worldwide.” This data is drawn upon the fact, Akamai said, that at times it handles 20 percent of the world’s total Web traffic.

Originally posted on June 7, 2007 @ 3:01 pm

Historical Wrecks explores shipwrecks of past generations

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historical-wrecks.jpgDeep Blue Marine, a marine salvage company specializing in recovery of “important treasures and artifacts worldwide,” launched a new Web site/blog detailing information about historical wrecks. The site is being promoted as a tool for students, teachers, historians and the curious alike.

Historical Wrecks, setup for the recording of historical information with regards to ship wrecks and recoveries, right now holds information on a variety of wrecks around the world. Particular areas of geographic coverage include Florida and different parts of the Caribbean.

Deep Blue Marine said Historical Wrecks will eventually contain wreck information such as manifests, passenger lists, survivor lists, last sightings and recoveries. Readers are able to submit additional information they may feel fits a particular wreck and, if validated by the company, will appear on the site. Users will also be able to interact with one another through posts.

Originally posted on June 7, 2007 @ 12:50 pm

Filed Under: Web

Microsoft, BBC use 3-D imaging on historic sites

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Microsoft today unveiled a partnership with the BBC to showcase online three-dimensional photographic representations of historic sites throughout the United Kingdom. The online show is designed to run in conjunction with the BBC’s How We Built Britian television series.

Microsoft’s Live Labs, using its Photosynth 3-D imaging technology, will let viewers explore representations of Ely Cathedral, Burghley House, the Royal Crescent, Bath, the Scottish Parliament buildings and Blackpool Tower Ballroom. The BBC, during the broadcast of the series, will collect fresh images from tourists visiting the sites. The synths will then be updated with a selection of these photos.

The idea behind the integration of the photos is to contrast how people interacted with the locations in the past and present. Those who view the Photosynth pictures will be able to “explore a building, zooming in to see the smallest decorative detail, or zooming out and panning through 360 degrees to place the building in a wider context.”

bbc-photosynth.jpg

Originally posted on June 6, 2007 @ 5:09 pm