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Fire up the popular Rocket Taxi app on your iPhone, and it uses GPS or WiFi to find your location and list nearby taxi companies. This is handy when you’re in someone else’s house and need a ride (especially if you’ve had a few), or in some other semi-remote area where cabs are not roaming the streets.
Feature Suggestion: Automatically call the nearest cab company. That would be a logical next step.
Download it now and then check it out the next time you need a lift!
I often grow weary of a new site or app that seems a little too similar to existing services, but with a different color and logo. And I have to be honest, that’s exactly what crossed my mind when I heard about a new location bookmarking service called LifeTack.
It’s been a pleasant surprise to see how and why people might use this service. To get an idea of what locations people might bookmark, check out their public tacks.
We at MobileMammoth love it for the mobile version, of course, which has been optimized for mobile devices, and requires a free account to access. When you think about it, accessing this information from a mobile phone can be of much greater value than sitting at home or at the office.
I am sure there are similar sites out there, and certainly tools like Google Maps can implement this functionality fairly quickly (if they haven’t already). But if LifeTack continues to focus on one thing and manage to do it better than anyone else, there are a lot of reasons to give this site a try.
Now go set a few LifeTacks and see what you think!
Washington DC officials are estimating somewhere between two and five million visitors downtown on January 20 for the Inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. If you will be one of the lucky millions, you will need some help navigating around the closed streets, the parade route, the party scene, and the general chaos. Available today for the iPhone, the app will soon be available for the Blackberry and Android platforms.
The free application was developed in a very tight timeframe in partnership between Point About, Qorvis Communications and Patton Boggs, along with restaurant data provided by Zagat. You can read much more about it here, or simply click the iTunes button below to download it free from iTunes.
DC will be an absolute nightmare, even if you know your way around the city. Being part of history will be worth it I’m sure — but do yourself a favor and download the app now. If it can’t help you get a good view of Obama, at the very least you will be able to find a good restaurant.
I recently ran across a handy little mobile traffic application that’s available as an iPhone app, a BlackBerry app, a mobile website suitable for most web-enabled phones, and even on its own hand-held device.
Traffic Gauge prides itself on displaying accurate, reliable traffic conditions in real-time. Originally developed on it’s own mobile device, the application is now available as an iPhone or BlackBerry app, and via a mobile website.
Cities Covered
Traffic Gauge currently provides traffic conditions for the following cities:
* Atlanta
* Chicago
* Denver
* Detroit
* Houston
* Los Angeles
* Louisville
* Milwaukee
* Minneapolis
* Orange County/Inland Empire
* Phoenix
* Portland
* Raleigh/Durham
* Sacramento
* Salt Lake City
* San Antonio
* San Diego
* San Fernando
* San Francisco Bay Area
* Seattle
Pricing
The application is available starting at $1.99/month for a 1-year plan, and a bit more for the 6-month or 3-month plans ($2.99/month and $3.99/month, respectively).
Our View
TrafficGauge can find itself a niche among those who drive frequently and where every minute on the road costs money. And the company certainly made a wise choice in moving beyond its own hand-held device, what with the mobile phone and GPS already taking up valuable dashboard real estate.
That said, there are too many solid competitors that are catching on in the mainstream for TrafficGauge to be a large success. For example, traffic conditions are becoming yet another feature on GPS devices. There are several traffic applications that utilize the Google Maps API, and which are getting better every week. In our view, it will be an uphill battle for TrafficGauge to remain relevant among mainstream users, as the exploding arena of mobile apps has creative developers leveraging free resources such as Google Maps.
For More Information
Be sure to read the details regarding device compatibility and the latest list of cities from their website below.
If you are a frequent traveler and use a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device, then you’ll want to check out today’s mobile application.
“Wait a minute!”, you might be thinking. “Didn’t you just profile a mobile website that essentially does the same thing?” The answer is yes, we did. About two weeks ago, we profiled TripIt Mobile. And since some people much prefer mobile apps they can download once and run anytime, we’re showing you this one too.
Today’s mobile application is called WorldMate, which is much like having a travel agent on your phone, without the steep commissions. Once you install the mobile app, you can plan, manage, and book travel from wherever you are.
The most intriguing feature is the ability to take a flight confirmation email, forward it to a worldmate address, and it automatically generates an itinerary for you. WorldMate also lets you share your travel plans with your contacts, and provides alerts when something changes.
There is a free version as well as a premium version of WorldMate. Have a go at it!
TripIt is a very convenient service that truly makes your travel experience a whole lot easier. It takes a little bit to register your information the first time, but once that is done it’s very easy to add trips and itineraries for future travel.
Of course TripIt now has a mobile service that is clearly very appropriate for their users on the go. Here’s how they put it:
With TripIt you have ALL your travel plans in one place, so it’s easy to use your favorite mobile device to look up a flight number, check a hotel address, get driving directions or access any information from your TripIt itinerary.
If you live in Washington DC, or are visiting the nation’s capital for any length of time, you’ll want to know where to catch the nearest Metro station (DC’s version of the subway).
Now you can do that straight from your iPhone or other mobile device, thanks to the good folks at Meenster. This simple, but useful mobile website allows users to view Metro station address information, including a link to the location on Google Maps.
Users simply select the Metro line they’ll be riding on, then click on any station to view the street address. One suggestion we have is to let users select their destination (by landmark, address, etc.), then have the tool display the closest Metro Station. I’d imagine that type of functionality is on their list somewhere, so we’ll have to keep an eye on it.
What about your city? Do you know of any mobile websites focused on public transit in your area? If so, go ahead and share your insight in a comment.
These are heady times for Boston sports fans. The Celtics NBA Championship last night, combined with the Red Sox World Series win last Fall, and an almost-perfect NFL season by the Patriots, has provided an unbelievable run of success for Boston fans.
The good folks at Boston.com have come through as well, providing a mobile version of their website covering all things Boston. Bostonians can now read all about their successes wherever they are, and no doubt brag about it to whomever they’re with.
Oh and by the way, a quick gander at the sports section shows that a Red Sox rookie pitched a no-hitter today in his second major league start. What is going on? There must be something in the water in Beantown.
Traveling overseas can be overwhelming. Take some of the language burden off by adding this handy mobile website to your favorites before making the trip.
PocketSchool provides quick access to the most common phrases and situations that arise when traveling overseas, including greetings, shopping, getting around, and of course, eating. The phrases are organized into various lessons.
What impressed me the most was the ability to listen to the audio (via an .mp3 file) of the phrase, which is incredibly important if you want people to actually understand you. So far, the mobile website includes phrases in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
Google is making it just a bit easier to avoid the $4+ gas prices these days. Google Maps for Mobile now provides local transit directions. Find out how in the video below:
Washington DC officials are estimating somewhere between two and five million visitors downtown on January 20 for the Inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. If you will be one of the lucky millions, you will need some help navigating around the closed streets, the parade route, the party scene, and the general chaos. Available today for the iPhone, the app will soon be available for the Blackberry and Android platforms. 
