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Showing posts from October, 2009

Taranova Timeshare...scam?

I'm trying to figure this out for a couple I know where the husband died. The husband bought a Taranova timeshare that finishes in the 2040's, which would have made the couple over a hundred years old. The widow didn't have any interest in the timeshare. The whole thing reads like a scam to me as there doesn't seem to be any easy way out, and they continue to demand fees of the widow. Is anyone more familiar with what these things are, why anyone would ever want one, and how a widow could get out of it?

Google, Android 2.0 sticks fork in GPS devices?

Interesting that ZDNet Larry Dignan is suggesting that Android phones will mark the end of traditional GPS devices. Android is a mobile operating system, and I don't see why traditional GPS hardware can't eventually become Android devices without the phone. I guess I see value in separating the hardware feature of a wide variety of devices we may want from a more open operating system that could run on this hardware. I was thinking of purchasing a Neo FreeRunner phone running Openmoko instead of a GPS device, and depending on when I decide to purchase I may end up with an phone (with GPS, media playing capabilities, etc) running Android as a different option.

There's a Google API for that...err..soon.

I have a small project that keeps dragging me deeper into Google API's which seem like they will do what I want, but not quite yet. The latest was to find Google Apps Script , only to find out the preview has ended . I've asked when this will be available (See also: BLOG posting ) for http://spreadsheets.google.com , and haven't yet seen any replies. Here is the scenario. The final output is a Google map that will show up on a website. That part of the Google Maps API I seem to have figured out. As inputs there is a Google Map that has farms, restaurants, and other locations pinpointed and labeled with a ID. That ID corresponds to a row of information that is currently held in a spreadsheet. What I want to do is mash together the Map information (KML output from Google Maps) with the spreadsheet information such that I have lat and long columns filled in. It is trivial to upload this spreadsheet to Google Docs, and the person maintaining the information has already