Real-time traffic returns to Google Maps directions

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Rosa Golijan

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Athima Chansanchai

When you're on your way somewhere, you probably want to know how long it's going to take to get there, and now Google Maps incorporates real-time traffic conditions in its directions to help factor that in.

As posted on the Google Lat Long Blog, typing in a starting point and a destination will give users an estimated time with current traffic conditions -- a valuable tool for those on the go who don't want to waste valuable gas idling in traffic.?

You could already view a layer of live traffic on routes, but this added bit of information now gets crunched when calculating routes.?

If that sounds familiar, it's because Google Maps used to show estimates of trip times based on traffic. But users found it wasn't always the most accurate gauge of real conditions, so?the feature went away last year. Now it's back, and it's supposed to be better because it's constantly being refreshed.

Where does the fresh data come from? Android users. Those who have their location services enabled (i.e., those who have no problem with being tracked, albeit anonymously) and have opted to use the My Location feature on Google Maps for mobile?contribute to the traffic info:

When we combine your speed with the speed of other phones on the road, across thousands of phones moving around a city at any given time, we can get a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions. We continuously combine this data and send it back to you for free in the Google Maps traffic layers. It takes almost zero effort on your part ? just turn on Google Maps for mobile before starting your car ? and the more people that participate, the better the resulting traffic reports get for everybody.

This new feature comes with other changes to Google Maps, notably?Street View, which has exploded?all over the world, with new images for international voyeurs to feast their eyes on in Thailand, the Amazon, Poland and Japan, where the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

Check out Technolog on?Facebook, and on Twitter, follow?Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the?Google+?stream.

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Home Improvement | Getting rid of gophers in the garden, and other ...

Operating in the Orange County, Riverside and Los Angeles areas Wheelers pest control is expert at Gopher Control as one of the many species of pests it specializes in eliminating from their client's homes. Gophers are a particularly nasty infestation to have as they are burrowing rodents that live of the roots and tubers they encounter while burrowing.

It is always best to get rid of them when they first appear as if a colony, later to become a gopher town was to develop you might se your, and your neighbor's gardens becoming a desert as the plants die off.

Some information concerning gophers; there are over 100 different species in the United States. All of them have similar characteristics in that they are burrowing animals. They are a rodent and one animal can make an area of up to 2000 square foot into as desert by eating all the roots in its continual tunneling just below the surface. They live for up to three years and are active that whole time.

The most common garden pest is actually the pocket gopher which is a long sleek animal weighing about half a pound and can be as big as 15 inches long in the body, it also has a tail which adds another 7inches. However in California the most common are about half that size and usually stay underground although may sometimes be seen on the edge of their burrow or pushing dirt out. They may also be seen migrating to a new area.

You will know that you have one when little mounds of fresh earth start to get pushed up all over your garden. As soon as you see this it is the time to call in the gopher control people. It is always easier to deal with it when there is only one or two tunnels and it is just starting to dig itself in. If you leave it will not go away and will spread as it, and later they steadily destroy you garden by eating the plants from beneath. Just one gopher can create 5 or six mounds in a day.

There are a few common ways to control gophers; by trapping, baiting or gassing. In order to trap a gopher probe is used to locate the main burrow and then the traps are set in the tunnels leading to the burrow. Normally bait is not necessary but there are occasions when a bated trap is more effective.

Another method is fumigation. But this method is not very effective as the gopher rapidly closes the tunnel behind it if it detects smoke or gas. As professional pest controllers however Wheelers has access to Aluminium phosphide which has been found to be effective.

Gophers are just one of the many pests that are part of the professional expertise of this pest control company. So if you are having any sort of out of the ordinary pest problem consider calling in the experts at eliminating many form of household problems.

About Author Sylvia Lambert : Gopher" target="_blank">http://www.wheelerspc.com/index.php/gophers'>Gopher Control is just one of the many pests that are specialties of this Orange County firm

Article Source:?http://www.bharatbhasha.net
Article Url: http://www.bharatbhasha.net/home_improvement.php/363488

Article Added on Saturday, March 31, 2012
LD

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Online Video Marketing For Small Business - Video Production ...

It seems like video is taking over the internet! That's a good thing if we know how to use it. Bad, if we do not. Most small business owners, do not have the time to research all there is to know about local web video marketing; we have a business to run! In this short report (the first in a series of three), we will try to explain how local businesses should produce video for our internet marketing plan. Look for a second issue which talks about the many ways to distribute online video. Finally, we will discuss how local business owners can promote video as a vital part of an overall local internet marketing plan.

So many of us are overwhelmed at the thought of using video to promote our business. Usually, the first things we think of are the cheesy commercials local furniture stores use. We sure do not want to portray our business like that, but we cannot help wondering what kind of crazy traffic they get with those silly ads. Then, we think about the production end and the costs the small business owner must incur. On top of that, the cost of actually airing those commercials have got to be insane. Because most small business owners know we do not have a budget to support those costs, we just disregard the whole idea. Many never even investigate using TV as an ad medium. I was one of the fortunate few who did.

What I found was that these local divisions of the major networks will shoot the video for us for free if we spend the money on the ads. They are done on a very tight budget using old cameras and intern crews. Which, unfortunately, is why they are so cheesy. Then, they will "guarantee" our ad being shown during certain parts of the day. What they do not tell us is that sometimes they will run very close to each other and even back-to-back in some cases. Oh, and they are expensive! No thanks. Some of us know that using TV to promote our business just won't produce the results that we need. Besides, who knows if the people watching those commercials on TV are part of our target audience?

Almost automatically, when we think of video, we think about TV, right? Well, that is changing. Very quickly, in fact. Statistics are showing that people are starting to spend more time online (maybe with the TV on in the background...). Furthermore, over 50% of internet traffic is now video being streamed over the internet. Savvy local business owners will take advantage of online video marketing to promote their business online. Just how to do it is the question. We want several things from our marketing efforts: ease of use, low cost, and most of all, measurable results. We want people walking through the door. We know that marketing, in its purest form is really just generating traffic to our business. Sure, there are other things we need to always be thinking about to keep our business running (this is why we need it to be easy); but if we have no traffic, we have no business! Money is always running away from our business, so we need it to be cost effective, as well. Finally, we need to see that what we are doing is working and paying for itself. How can we get on the internet gravy train using web video?

Let's talk about video production. We need to start with the end result in mind before we start. When people find our video online, it needs to look and sound professional. It also needs to be engaging so that people actually watch it.

There are many tools you will need to produce a professional video. Do not fall into the trap of using commercially available video cameras or computer microphones. Although the web is very forgiving, we do not want a video that screams, "We made this from scratch!" As local business owners, we should should agree that the first thing we want to accomplish with our video is having people watch it through its entirety. If we are considering local web video marketing, we need to splurge a buy professional equipment or hire video professionals. Our audience will be sure to "click" off of our video very quickly if it looks like an amateur shoot.

• Essential Tool #1 - Video Camera Consider a camera with three color chips. These are called 3CCD cameras. The important thing about having a 3CCD camera is the colors it can represent. We don't want to look like we shoot the video in a basement or backyard even though we may have. An HD camera should be at the core of our equipment only because when we resize our video for the web, we want it to still look crisp and clean.
• Essential Tool #2 - Tripod This is important because a tell-tale sign of amateur video is shaky video. Be sure to research other basics of video shooting like framing, depth-of-field, and camera angles so that the final product looks good.
• Essential Tool #3 - Microphone Sound is the most overlooked aspect of video. It is not logical to think of the way a video sounds while we are watching it; but if your sound is sub-par, it will be very distracting to the final product. We suggest using a lavaliere microphone because it is the most versatile while providing very professional sound. Please pay attention to the "levels" and always monitor your sound during a video shoot.
• Essential Tool #4 - Editing Software Want to cut out the junk and keep the good stuff? Need to put some parts of the video before others for it to make logical sense? Video won't upload to the web because that site doesn't like your format? Choose an editing software that can handle all of these things efficiently. We suggest Final Cut Pro for the Mac and Adobe Premiere Pro for the PC. You will find that these pieces of software will do everything you need and more.

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An Open Letter To the 5 Million Confused People Who Bought a Samsung Galaxy Note [Rant]

"Bro, it's so big." That's an actual thing I heard from an actual person. The man was a personal trainer at my gym, the "it" was a Galaxy Note mutant phone. He clenched the massive thing in his iron grip. More »

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I have a phone that works just fine... why Unified Communications ...

For more than a decade, manufacturers such as Cisco Systems and value added resellers have been encouraging customers to move away from a traditional land line to a VoIP solution and in the last few years to a Unified Communications solution all with the promise of increased productivity and reduced costs. It wasn?t just lip service! Chadwick Martin Bailey on behalf of Cisco conducted research that identified six proven Unified Communications Application Benefits. You?ll be amazed at the findings.

Six Unified Communications Application Benefits:

1. Presense, IM, Clients
   Unified Communications solutions integrate VoIP capabilities with presence indicators that show user availability and the best way to be contacted to facilitate faster decision making. Instant Messaging provides quick real-time communications that can be easily escalated to group chats or web conferences if necessary. Research shows that 49% of user organizations saved up to 20 minutes per employee daily by reaching workers on the first try. 54% of user organizations saved up to 20 minutes per employee daily by escalating IM chats into phone calls. 50% of user organizations saved up to 20 minutes per employee daily by escalating IM chats into Web conferences.
2. Telepresence
   A telepresence solution provides an in-person experience with reduced travel costs and increased frequency of face-to-face meetings with customers, employees or prospects. Chadwick Martin Bailey found that 46% of user organizations realized travel savings of more than 5 days per employee annually. 68% of user organizations reported productivity improvements between geographically-dispersed functional groups.
3. Unified Messaging
   Unified messaging speeds up user productivity by enabling users to check voicemail messages from their inbox, via their desktop, or from their mobile device. Speech-activated tools allow workers to organize messages and quickly respond to messages. 50% of user organizations saved up to 20 minutes per employee daily from more efficient message management.
4. Conferencing & Collaboration
   Conferencing and collaboration tools such as Cisco?s WebEx provide a virtual meeting space to conduct client meetings, team brainstorming sessions, demonstrations, and more. Collaborating and sharing content and video at the same time enables a highly engaging meeting or event. Over 75% of user organizations experience improved productivity of employees across geographically-dispersed locations due to voice and video conferencing. 64% of user organizations experienced reduced travel costs of over 10%.
5. Mobile Communications
   The workforce is becoming increasingly mobile with telecommuters, sales people who are in the field and executives with demanding travel schedules. Mobility allows these remote workers reliable and secure access to company resources wherever they are located. Features such as single number reach streamline communications by giving callers one number to dial and by redirecting incoming calls to multiple phones. Research showed that 33% of user organizations saved 11 to 20 minutes per employee daily from corporate director access, click-to-dial, presence and visual voicemail on mobile devices. 67% of user organizations reported increased mobile worker productivity and faster problem resolution. 40% of user organizations indicated 11 to 30 minutes saved per employee daily with single business phone number voicemail regardless of device.
6. Contact Centers
   Contact centers when integrated with your phone system and business process can be powerful tools for call routing, contact management, email management, call recording and quality control. 41% of user organizations reported contact center upgrades lead to a 6 to 10% increase in first call resolution. 33% of user organizations reported contact center upgrades decreased average call response times by 11 to 25%.

A Unified Communications solution has the power to transform communication and improve business with improved productivity therefore reduced costs. By removing location barriers, reducing phone tag to reach subject matter experts and by increasing the number and quality of communication tools, businesses have so much more than a telephone. They have a communication solution to power their business.

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Cruise ship drifting after fire off Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) ? A cruise ship with about 1,000 people on board was drifting in waters south of the Philippines after a fire disabled its engines, the Philippine coast guard said Saturday. Five crew members were injured.

The fire on the Azamara Quest started late Friday, a day after the ship left Manila for Sandakan, Malaysia, and was immediately put out, said coast guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Algier Ricafrente. He said there were no other details about the incident.

The ship was carrying 590 passengers and 411 crew members, he said.

The ship's operator, Azamara Club Cruises, said in a statement that no passengers were injured in the fire, which was in one of the ship's engine rooms and was immediately extinguished. But five crew members suffered smoke inhalation, including one who was seriously injured and needed hospital care.

Azamara Club Cruises is part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which has been hit by accidents this year that have undermined its operations, including a cruise ship that capsized off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.

Two Philippine coast guard vessels and a patrol boat were expected to reach the Azamara Quest late Saturday to offer assistance, Ricafrente said. The vessel was about 139 kilometers (75 nautical miles) southwest of the Philippines' Tubbataha Reef when the coast guard received the report of the fire early Saturday from a local ferry and a towage company in Manila.

There was no direct contact with the ship's crew, Ricafrente said, adding that the coast guard would investigate why Philippine authorities did not receive any distress call during the fire.

The cruise company's statement said the ship was running on emergency power in "calm seas" near Indonesia's Borneo Island.

Engineers have restored power to one of the ship's engines to re-establish air conditioning, running water, plumbing, refrigeration and food preparation, the company said.

"While the ship does not have propulsion capabilities at this time, it is in the process of being repaired," it said.

The company said the rest of the ship's voyage would be canceled.

The vessel left Hong Kong on Monday for what was supposed to be a 17-day cruise. The ship was scheduled to make port calls in Manila and Sandakan, as well as several stops in Indonesia, before arriving in Singapore on April 12.

It was the latest blow for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. In January, 32 people died when the Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized off the western coast of Italy. A month later, a fire on the Costra Allegra left that ship without power and adrift in waters known to be prowled by pirates in the Indian Ocean for three days.

___

Online: http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/about-azamara/travel-alerts

Associated Press

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