I've got a Hotmail account. I got it some 15 years ago when I was going to travel overseas and planned to use it to keep in touch with my parents. It's basically my "personal" acount; I've got about four profesional acounts and try to keep them straight. And, no, I've not yet switched over like the rest of the planet, including my Dad, to gMail, for my personal account.

That's odd since for all other things I'm quite "Google-centric." That Google loyalty was driven home to me by a recent e-mail from Microsoft to that Hotmail account.

I was invited to join the Live Search Trial Program. Basically, the more I search using Live Search, the more points I earn toward stuff - t-shirts, Xboxes, etc. Hey, I'm all for free stuff - I test Reebok running gear in exchange for free tops and shorts. But, the more I considered the offer, the more I realized entering this program would be a burden.

I use search all the time; I suspect more than most people. I use it continuously in developing this blog and developing materials for Directions. I use it to check facts and sometimes, though not enough, to check spelling. I use it in my consulting work. And of course, I use it for personal things - like keeping track of my friends performance at marathons and finding local bike rides.

So, the thought of using anything other than my beloved and "has never let me down" Google toolbar would be like talking away my favorite tea that I drink everyday, or probiting me from running or listening to NPR. No, sorry Microsoft, you are asking too much of me. While I still use your free mail service, my search loyalty remains 100% with Google. Let someone else have the free stuff.

"President of society eager to shed light on geography trends"

I know they meant the president of "a" society, in fact, the president of the American Geographical Society, Jerry Dobson, but it could be misinterpretted. Dobson, now at Kansas, will speak at Illinois State University’s ongoing sesquicentennial celebration on "some of the trends in his profession."

- Pentagraph.com

"Are you lost? These 5 companies bet on it" is the title and included are Google, Nokia, SiRF, Broadcom, Motorola, Trimble, TomTom, Tele Atlas, Garmin... Ok, that's more than five...

Officially, TA will "endorse" the offer. TA shares are up to E31.75 (the bid is E30) suggesting to some Garmin may respond with a counter offer.

- BusinessWeek

The large screen shot which leads the article must be ArcGIS Explorer (but the caption doesn't say and the image is unreadable) but could very well be mistaken for Google Earth. This intro to the technology follows:

Once more associated with academic tools, the kind of information the public now associates with Google Earth or Yahoo Maps technology was touted as a powerful new tool for high-security events.

Dangermond is quoted as describing "geography as a new language...a new media" The "new" description is perhaps getting "old"? I'm not saying the geographic perspective is not valuable, but that its a bit past "new." In fact, per the media, it's become quite expected, used and applied in our daily lives.

Of note: the reporter speaks of a demo where "a tech wizard displayed a satellite image of the city of Denver in real time." (I suspect this means the "old" satellite image was brought up quickly.)

If you missed it, the difference between Google et al's solutions and ESRI, per Dangermond at this event, has to do with the data that goes into it. Atanas has an interesting take on that.

We asked: What is most likely to encourage you to participate in a geo-related survey? We had 40 respondents:

33% topic
20 % organization behind it
15% length
10% chance of winning a prize
10% receiving complemetary/discounted results from the survey
5% nothing would make me participate in such a survey
3% something else

Next up which is more effective: snail mail or e-mail solicitations? Vote on the lower right hand corner of our main page.