Monday, October 27. 2008

Another Mobile Apps Contest, Same Old Same Old

The contest in question was for RIM's Blackberry and the three winners take home a $150,000 (each so far as I can tell). Your Communication News hits the nail on the head in commenting on the apps which are in short: local search for entertainment, music player with social network, and e-mail me with the name of the song on the radio.

But judging by the winners, which all fall into the category of music and entertainment, it is either getting increasingly difficult to get developers attention, or $150,000 is simply not enough to get more than a copycat of something already out there.

In other NIM news, the company will open a Blackberry App store in March.

Map Misuse

No, alas I don't have a story of people using maps for the wrong purpose, rather of a journalist using the term map inappropriately. Perhaps it was an editor? The article in PC World carefully details the recent deals between Google and Microsoft and DigitalGlobe and GeoEye. It explains the details of the satellites and their resolutions and notes how imagery can provide different information than computer generated maps. Then comes the "misuse:"

As a result, it will "take some time," admitted a Google spokeswoman, before the new GeoEye maps begin trickling into Google Earth. In the meantime, Google will continue to use DigitalGlobe maps -- the same maps Microsoft now has access -- for many parts of the world.

Even when the GeoEye maps become available, Google won't be able to display them at their maximum resolution because of U.S. security rules governing satellite photos. Rather, Google will have to ratchet the resolution down to 1.6 meters per pixel.

I've contacted the editor to see if this can get clarified.

Newspaper Endorsement Map

Infochimps pulled together a map of newspaper endorsements for the presidential candidates along with some analysis. I went looking for such a map after hearing about the endorsements on On the Media.