Rafe's Blog

The need for speed

While I'm busy pimping my columns, here's another one that just posted: Silly Upgrades, my latest Works for Me column on CNET. There's a lot of reader feedback on it, which I like.  But I initially thought people hated this column, since I got some early emails on it telling me that my ideas about fast cars being wasteful were not welcomed. I'll say it to the world: First, it was a joke. Kind of. I love cars. One of the highlights of my life was being driven around Infineon raceway by Mario Andretti in a Porsche GT3. That taught me a thing or two about driving fast. 1: It's fun. 2: Dude, it's incredibly scary.

CircumNav vs. Inrix

My column on two very cool traffic/navigation startups is finally done. It's here (free registration required).

I've been covering startups since 1998. Only occasionally do I stumble across an idea that really gets me going. This concept -- new technologies that make it easier to navigate traffic congestion -- was one of those.  It's technologically interesting, the business models are still being formed, and the need for a solution is clear. Makes for a fun column (at least for me).

Plus, when I was a kid I loved building roads out of Hot Wheel tracks and wooden blocks. These companies kind of took me back to that.

Previous posts on the topic are here: CircumNav. Inrix.

Everybody talks about the traffic, but...

Speaking of tipsters, an email response to my post about CircumNav pointed me to Inrix, another startup taking on traffic. Inrix is also incredibly cool, and very different. So look for a Release 1.0 Rafe's Radar column on CircumNav and Inrix shortly.

To be honest, when I first started posting blog entries on topics I was writing full columns on, I was a bit afraid that the blog would steal my column's mojo. But I'm finding the reality is just the reverse -- I'm getting great feedback on projects I'm working on before they are due to my editors, leading to better columns (I think). It totally rocks. Dan Gillmor, you were right!

Very cool car tech startup

Circumnav Networks is one of the coolest startups I've seen in a long time. They are building a platform that collects speed and location data from cars, collates it, and then tells users the quickest route to their destination based on that data. The information should be much more granular than what Navteq can provide. And cars transmit this data to other cars opportunistically, using WiFi. It's very odd, very complex, and very interesting. I'll have a full Rafe's Radar writeup soon.

Big Brother in the back seat

Should the use of "black box" data that your car collects about you be inadmissible evidence in case of a crash?  Privacy laws are certainly tilting this way, but what can be against citizens in their cars is only part of the story. Employees driving buses and trucks are becoming increasingly monitored, in their vehicles and out. So if you're going to speed, make sure it's not on company time.

 

From my "Business Buzz" on CNET.com - work.cnet.com.

Microsoft steers Europeans in circles

I've said it before: Navigation software can be a businessperson's secret weapon.  As long as you're not trying to use Microsoft's MapPoint to plot a route from Heugesund and Trondheim in Norway. The two cities are about 325 miles apart as the crow flies -- but 1,685 miles according MapPoint, which routes you through the North Sea, overland via Germany, across the Baltic Sea, etc. So the question is: Is this a bug, or a threat aimed at snarling the EU as it thinks about "fining Microsoft into submission?"

Big Brother

What is "aggressive driver imaging?"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-17-aggressive-drivers_x.htm