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Yahoo's San Francisco billboard closing up shop after more than a decade
Oh, 1999. Simpler times, those. IT departments were frantically prepping for Y2K, Jeff Bezos (or his head, at least) was named Time's "Person of the Year" and the tech bubble was getting ready to burst at the seams. That same year, the lights on Yahoo's "A nice place to stay on the internet" billboard turned on for the first time on the highway leading to the Bay Bridge. Those lights, which have seen their share of ups and downs for internet companies, will be turned off for the last time in the coming weeks. Clear Channel confirmed that there will, indeed, be vacancy in that space come next month.
Google Maps brings live traffic coverage to 13 European countries, makes work weeks even shorter
The next time you head out for a leisurely Sunday drive along the autobahn, you might wanna take a minute to consult Google Maps' live traffic feature, now available in Germany and 12 other nations across Europe. Announced earlier this week, the new addition offers regularly updated coverage of all highways and major thoroughfares in countries like Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while bringing more detailed street-level data to users in the UK. Europe's road warriors will also be able to use a legend to learn about traffic patterns at specific times or days of the week, making it even easier for you to micro-manage your summer getaway to the Swiss Alps. Learning how to fit all your luggage into the back of a Twingo, however, is another matter altogether.
AeroVironment to light up I-5 with EV chargers, add 'Oregon Trail' to the Green Highway
Retire your oxen and sell your wagon, the Oregon Trail just went electric. Okay, not the real, historic Oregon Trail, but a respectable 150-mile stretch of Interstate Five. The Oregon Department of Transportation is teaming up with AeroVironment to dot an undisclosed number of 480-volt Level 3 chargers between the California / Oregon state border and the Willamette Valley area as part the West Coast Green Highway initiative. The project aims to cover the entire I-5 corridor with electric vehicle chargers, spanning from the tip toe of the Golden State, all the way up to Washington's hat. Oregon's leg of the project should be ready for drivers this fall, making roadtrips to the Beaver State accessible to EV owners -- dysentery free. Hit the break for dry, but factual press release.
Jabra Freeway Bluetooth in-car speakerphone hands-on
Jabra was parading its Freeway in-car speakerphone last night at CTIA so we took a chance to watch the show. So what separates it from the myriad of like devices? Well, for one it sports 3 speakers for decent stereo audio quality -- for a change -- a couple mics to reduce ambient noise, a motion sensor that turns the set on automatically when you hop in the car, and voice control for just about every control on the device. Talk time is touted as 14 hours with 40 days standby time and retail pricing looks pinned at $129. Our demo included some music playback in a very noisy space, and while the high end sounded a bit harsh we were suitably impressed coming from a rather thin and light device. Follow on for a few more pics of the Jabra Freeway. %Gallery-119617%
Metropolis II: the kinetic sculpture built out of boy racer dreams (video)
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has got itself a new toy. Or, to be more precise, it's got itself a whole fleet of Hot Wheels mini speedsters, courtesy of one Chris Burden. He's the gent responsible for dreaming up Metropolis II, the above interwoven set of tracks and circuits, which is populated with 1,200 "custom designed" cars, 13 toy trains, and some assorted scenery built out of Lego, tiles, and wood blocks. We're not sure whether it's intended to represent the daily rat race we call modern life or if it's simply a boyish dream turned real -- decide for yourself after watching the video after the break.
Several ways to get Snow Leopard for free (plus a Freeway Express giveaway)
Softpress, developer of the popular Freeway Pro and Freeway Express web development applications, wants you to get Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard for free. Now through September 30, 2009, they're offering a free copy of Snow Leopard with every full-priced retail copy of Freeway Pro or Express purchased at the Apple Store, PowerMax, or The Mac Store. If you buy your copy of Freeway at the Apple Store (either the physical or online version), just fill out this online rebate form [link to form] by October 31, 2009 and Softpress will send you Snow Leopard for free. Purchases made through PowerMax or The Mac Store also qualify for the free Snow Leopard disk. For anyone who has been considering purchasing Freeway Pro or Freeway Express, this is a nice incentive to act now. PowerMax sells Freeway Pro for US$215.22 (MSRP US$249.00), so you're not only getting the application for almost US$35 off of the retail price, but also saving an additional US$29 on Snow Leopard. Softpress isn't the only company that wants you to upgrade to Snow Leopard for free. MyService will install a free retail copy of Snow Leopard with any MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air hard drive upgrade. You simply enter a special promo code when ordering your upgrade, and MyService installs Snow Leopard for free, migrates all of your data to the new drive, and sends you the retail copy. Softpress has graciously offered us two licenses for Freeway Express to give away. These licenses do not come with the free Snow Leopard deal, but with the money you save you'll be able to afford to purchase your own copy. Just leave a comment about Snow Leopard, the universe, or anything else (keep it clean...) to enter. Good luck! Here's the obligatory rules review to keep our lawyers happy: Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia, and to legal residents of Canada (excluding Quebec), who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment below listing your favorite freeway, parkway or other stretch of road. The comment must be left before August 28, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. Two winners will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: License code for one copy of Freeway Express (Value: US$79.00) Click Here for complete Official Rules. Be sure to keep reading TUAW during the Snow Leopard launch, as we're also planning on giving away some more goodies. You may already be a winner!
Freeway 5.2 available with new MobileSafari support
Softpress Systems has released Freeway 5.2, which includes new tools for building web pages for iPhone and iPod touch. Freeway is WYSIWYG website creation software that features a traditional, page-layout approach and omits the need to write any code (unless, you know, you really want to handcraft your HTML). New in version 5.2 is the ability to create iPhone home screen icons and custom links to iPhone applications like Mail, Phone, Maps, and YouTube. Also, Freeway helps prepare QuickTime videos for playback on iPhone under a variety of network conditions. Additionally, Softpress has published a best practices document for publishing web sites for the iPhone and iPod touch. The "Building websites for the iPhone with Freeway" document can be found on the Softpress website. The update is free for registered users of Freeway 5 or higher. For new users, it's available in two flavors: Freeway 5 Express ($79) and Freeway 5 Pro ($249). The differences between the two versions are available here.
Freeway 4 Express/Pro - a new take on web design
If you've been looking for a new take on web design apps with a new, unique UI, Freeway 4 Express and Pro might be right up your alley. Freeway 4 sports features like a new dynamic property inspector, a birds-eye site panel, "master pages" for site templates and repeating objects, rich media, actions for automating tasks with simple clicks such as creating button rollovers, .Mac uploading and a whole lot more. The $249 Pro version edges ahead of the $89 Express with features like a link map for site-wide link management, importing Illustrator and Photoshop content and enhanced graphic effects. Check out the full list of Pro-only features to see everything that the extra $160 gets you, or fill out a form (lame, I know) to pick up full-featured demos of either version of Express or any other Softpress Systems Ltd. products.
