I am going to take Josh Bancroft’s awesome idea to do link blog/commentary on my blog, and I think the symbol he found is awesome, I think we should make it a standard! ☍ This is a Linky - stevienova.com.
Who knows - maybe this weird thing will catch on? I’ve adopted the name “linky” from Steve. That’s what I’m calling these things from now on (I’ve named their category accordingly).
Google Code Blog: Zoho Mail goes offline with Gears
Cool for Zoho Mail users, but when the heck are we going to see Gears offline functionality for Google’s own Gmail and Google Calendar?

Mobile Speed Trap App, Trapster, Now Available For iPhone - ReadWriteWeb
Very clever free app that relies on lots of people using it (you can use it via the web, and some other GPS and mobile devices - it’s not iPhone-only) to report when they see a speed or red light camera, or a police speed trap, or place where they hide. Has all the usual iPhone features (gets your location on the map automatically via GPS, etc.). It can alert you if you pass within a user-defined distance of any reported traps. The data was kind of stale in my area (only 4 items shown, two of which are static red light cameras), but it’s a very cool idea, and the app is executed well. Sarah Perez says in the RWW article linked above that the “live” reports go stale and drop off of the map after a couple of hours, which is a nice way to know that the reports you’re seeing are recent and accurate.
One thing that annoyed me: when I try to drag the map with my finger, like in Google Maps, it doesn’t drag, but instead thinks I want to drop a pushpin to report a speed trap/camera.
As to the legality of the app? Interesting question. I think it’s legal. Speeding, or otherwise violating the law, of course, is illegal, and I’m not encouraging it. But if you want to know what’s going on around you, traffic-enforcement wise, this is a slick way to do it.
For quite a while, I’ve been posting a few “newsworthy” items per day, with some of my commentary, over at my linkblog - http://linkblog.joshbancroft.com. Sort of a “let me be a clipping service and filter for you”. The items get piped to other locations, according to Josh’s Greater Unified Internet Tubes Theory, like FriendFeed, my friends on Google Reader, etc.
Like Twitter, and other places I write, I’ve felt that it’s sort of taken away from how much I write here on my blog. You may have noticed. I only post here now about once a week, but I’m writing like mad elsewhere. The problem is, not many people are visiting my linkblog, or subscribing to its feed. So I’m going to try a change.
I’m going to start posting those “interesting item with a little bit of analysis/commentary from Josh” items here on my blog, instead of on my linkblog. I’ll still drop occasional stuff - mostly “drive by” links without commentary. But if you’re subscribed there, you’ll want to make sure to subscribe here, at my blog feed, too.
Let me know if you have any thoughts. Hopefully this will make things simpler and more interesting! 