Blog of Andreas

I tried to find some information about the coming installment of wi-fi in my hometown Zug.

So I searched for "WLAN Stadt Zug", but only found the official postulate of the local party FDP. I was more than suprised to see no news-article from the local newspaper "Zuger Zeitung".

My parents said that they read something about wi-fi in the newspaper, so the article was in the newspaper but can not be found via Google. If they would publish a title and a teaser in the internet, maybe people below 40 would also get interested in reading local news.

Only those who pay $50 per year additionally to their yearly subscription can access the newspaper-archive by internet. But why should I pay if I don't get informed about interesting news-articles via a Google-Search?

Some time ago I received a parcel from Taiwan. A company called Mobile Action asked me if I wanted to write a blog-review about their new GPS-Logging solution.

They do not only sell the GPS-receiver (called i-gotU), they also provide a software (called @trip PC) to combine the pictures with the GPS-data and an online-platform (called @trip) to upload your GPS-tracks and pictures.

The i-gotU GPS-receiver is obviously smaller than the Garmin Etrex Vista (which I wrote an article about some time ago).



I took the i-gotU on a trip:


Here the advantages and drawbacks that I found using the i-gotU:

Advantages:

• The software automatically detects the i-gotU and you can import the GPS-data. The import of the photos from the camera also is a smooth process. The software automatically connects the GPS-data and the pictures and presents them on a Map. The whole process of importing GPS-Data, connecting it to the pictures and uploading it to the web is as easy as possible.
• It's fun to re-walk your trip via the PC-Software or in the web. Check out my test-track:
  http://www.a-trip.com/tracks/view/31639
  If you push play you can experience the way that I went.
• The i-gotU is small and water-resistant.
• You can directly upload photos to flickr or picasaweb while uploading your trip, which is great!
• It's cheap at about $60.

Drawbacks:

• The software only runs on Windows, so you need a PC or a virtual machine like VMWare or parallels. I used VMWare Fusion.
• There are only 2 LED-Lights to communicate the current status of the i-gotU, which is not really user-friendly. ("What is the meaning again of the red light on an d the blue light blinking?") Check out this short video:
  
• A big no-go: @trip Terms of Services refer to the privacy policy of Mobile Action, but there is no link to that privacy policy. Even on the homepage of @trip there is no link to the terms of service or a privacy policy. This definitely helps not to get trust into @trip.
  

You can buy the i-gotU on Amazon:
Tracker i-gotU GT-120

My master's thesis Ontology-Based Cultural Personalization in Mobile Applications is ready to download as a PDF.
For your convenience the bibtex for citation is available at the website of the University of Zurich.

If you would like to get a short overview about the thesis, you can check out the slides of a talk I did about my thesis:

I cleaned up my room and got rid of old technology.

I found a Microsoft HelpPoint in an electronic retailer "Fust" in Zug. Seems like the HelpPoint need some support itself. Isn't it ironic?