UMapper.com has designed a service that allows users to create games on a map using the Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google Earth, Yahoo!, CloudMade, and OpenStreetMap APIs. The USA Trivia Map game embedded below has a satellite map and users are asked to click on the state that they are asked within 15 seconds. The distance from the answer and the time it takes determines the number of points awarded.
The GeoDart feature on UMapper allows the games to be created. Give the game below a try. I found it to be pretty addictive.
AirTran Airways sent out a press release earlier this week that stated that by the start of this summer, they will become the world’s first major airlines to have WiFi built in to all of their planes. They will be utilizing Gogo technology for all of their 136 AirTran Boeing 737 and 717 aircraft.
The cost of using WiFi on the plane is about $12.95 for use of over three hours or $9.95 for less than three hours. Handheld devices will be able to get online with the WiFi connection for $7.95 regardless of the flight time length, but VoIP calling will most likely be blocked.
Semiconductor company Intel Corporation said earlier this week that they are planning to invest $12 million in a visual computing center in Europe. The Intel Visual Computing Institute will be located at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany. The $12 million investment will be made over the next 5 years.
The Intel lab in Germany will apply research to interactive computer graphics and will focus on natural user interfaces. There will be about a dozen researchers working at the facility through the University and Intel. Other employees that will work in the lab include those at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems along with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.
“Intel’s visual computing vision is to realize computer applications that look real, act real and feel real,” stated an Intel press release. “A key mission of the latest member of Intel Labs Europe is to contribute to the company’s tera-scale research program, which explores how multiple computing cores will be used to produce higher-performance computing and more life-like graphics.”
StockTwits is a service that is used to discuss stock trends through micro-blogging service Twitter. Recently StockTwits acquired Chart.ly, a stock chart service that tracks activity on StockTwits, making this acquisition sound ideal. When using Twitter, you can write about a stock, have it reported on StockTwits, and add a link to a stock chart using Chart.ly.
Howard Lindzon is the founder of StockTwits. Lindzon previously founded Wallstrip which was acquired by CBS. Chart.ly was started by Adarsh Pallian. StockTwits owns the code that Pallian wrote now. Pallian will remain with StockTwits to oversee the development of the website and help with advertising deals. Pallian had paid less than $10,000 for the development work and will split ad revenue on Chart.ly 50-50 with StockTwits.
When Pallian first started Chart.ly, he approached the StockTwits team to ask if he could create software for them. StockTwits decided against it since they were very busy already. StockTwits currently has 70,000 followers on Twitter. About 3,000 charts have been created on Chart.ly.
Netflix is the movie mail rental company that singlehandedly gave Blockbuster a run for its money. On May 7, Reed Hastings sold 10,000 shares of Netflix at a price of $42.52, instantly giving him access to $425,000. However he does not want all of that money.
Reed supports the Swedish government model where there is a “50% levy on the ultra-rich.” The “ultra-rich” includes “hedge fund managers, star athletes, stunning movie stars, venture capitalists, and the chief executives of private companies.”
“The president should take advantage of our success by using our outsized earnings to pay for the needs of our nation,” stated Hastings. “Please tax me more.” Netflix hit 10 million customers as of 3 months ago.
This is the first time that I’ve heard of a company suing Google on behalf of a bunch of other people and companies. FPX, LLC (also known as Firepond) is taking Google to court over their AdWords service. Firepond claims that selling keywords that Google does not have trademarks for on AdWords is a violation.
Below is an excerpt from the document filed against Google at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Marshall Division:
“Defendant Google sells search terms, including registered trademarks (including the Firepond Marks and the Class Marks) to advertisers who are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or authorized by the trademark owners. It is Google’s policy and practice to display the advertisements of those who buy the keywords on the top or right side of the first page of results when an Internet User uses the Google search engine to search for the trademark as a search term. It is Google’s policy that it will sell any trademark to any advertiser, regardless of whether the advertiser is affiliated with, sponsored by, or authorized by the trademark owner. Further, it is Google’s policy that it will not remove or disable any link to any advertisement, even after receiving actual notice that the advertisement is infringing a registered trademark, unless the advertisement actually uses the trademark in the text of the ad. If the trademark does not appear in the text of the ad, Google’s policy is that it will not remove or disable any link, even after receiving actual notice of infringement. Google’s policy and practice of selling registered trademarks as keywords and/or adwords to competitors of the trademark holders shall be referred to herein as the ‘Deceptive Trademark Practice.’”
If this class action lawsuit actually makes it to the court and FPX actually wins an injunction on behalf of everyone in Texas that owns a trademark word that can be bought on AdWords, that would be a huge problem for the search engine company. Fortunately for Google, they have a massive enough budget to handle such litigation.
The Princeton Review, Inc. (NASDAQ:REVU) has decided to get into the iPhone application market. Earlier this week, the tutoring company released an application called the SAT Vocab Challenge. The application tests users with the ability to comprehend 250 words, including The Princeton Review’s Hit Parade. The Hit Parade is a list of 100 words that often times appear on the SAT exam.
“Vocabulary building is one of the easiest, most effective ways to improve an SAT score, but it requires time and discipline on the part of the student,” stated The Princeton Review VP/Publisher Robert Franek. “The revolutionary iPhone and iPod touch have enabled us to strip away the typical barriers to study so students can carry hundreds of need-to-know words with them everywhere they go, and challenge themselves with fast-paced drills for a meaningful study session, whether they have five free minutes or an entire weekend.”
The Princeton Review was able to put together the application with the help of Modality. The SAT Vocab Challenge sells for $4.99 [iTunes link] and has features such as timed challenges to test users on a word’s connotations, synonyms, antonyms, and the definition. The performance of the student is tracked by the application and there is audio pronunciation of each word.
The hacker behind the infiltration of the Church of Scientology website has pleaded guilty. The man involved was a 19 year old in New Jersey. The attack was launched in January 2008 and he caused Scientology websites to go offline for a day.
Dmitriy Guzner is the name of the man behind the hack attacks. He pleaded guilty to the charges of computer hacking as he caused a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on the Scientology websites.
Guzner was part of an underground society of hackers known as Anonymous. Guzner himself was the main culprit behind the DDoS.
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