Posts Tagged ‘biking’

DriveSafely. Just say no to TWD.

Friday, November 6th, 2009

In a recent AAA survey, 21% of respondents admitted to texting while driving (TWD). Even California’s first lady can’t resist the urge to use her mobile phone while driving. It’s also tempting to read your emails and texts while at the wheel. To reduce my chances of an unfortunate incident, I installed DriveSafe.ly from BlackBerry App World on my BlackBerry Curve.

drivesafely

DriveSafe.ly automatically reads your messages to you as they arrive. You just turn it on when you get in the car or even when you are about to go for a long bike ride and you’re good to go.

DriveSafe.ly will automatically respond to your messages for you, but you can turn this feature off easily by clicking on Advanced Setting. Then you can respond personally when you arrive safely at your destination. The free version will read up to 25 words of each message and DriveSafe.ly Pro will read a maximum of 500 words plus give you a choice of speakers.

If you’re one of the tempted, download DriveSafe.ly today. Keep your eyes on the road. Your fellow drivers will thank you.

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How To Start a Critical Mass Bike Ride: My BlackBerry Curve Photo

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

There are a lot of things we can do to help the environment and one of the funnest is to bike more. I use my car a lot (too much), but I also take the bus to work and, increasingly, I’m biking more, too.

I hadn’t biked in a few years until the annual Bike To Work day here in San Francisco and there was no looking back. Many of us bike alone, but we don’t have to–there are countless others that love to bike, too, and it’s a great way to meet fellow progressives.

There’s an awesome biking event in San Francisco every month called Critical Mass and I took this photo above with my BlackBerry Curve at the August bike ride. Literally hundreds of bikers gather downtown at Embarcadero and take off for a big ride around the city. It’s like a party on wheels.

critical-mass-photo1

Do you have Critical Mass biking events in your town or city? If not, you should start one! Here are some suggestions on how to do that: http://critical-mass.info/howto/
And if you’ve taken Critical Mass photos with your own cell phone, please send us them–we’d love to share.

Happy Biking, Progressives!

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GPSed: Cool GPS Tracking App for BlackBerry

Friday, July 31st, 2009

BlackBerry Maps and Google Maps are great for driving directions and figuring out where you are, but how about an application that shows you where you have been and how long it took you to get there?  Try GPSed.  It is a free app that you can download to your BlackBerry or Motorola Q PDA.
There are a ton of cool applications for this app:

  • Bike computer – record your distance, time, average speed, maximum speed
  • Pedometer – distance, time, average speed, maximum speed
  • Route mapper – record your route and export it to Google Maps so you can remember if for next time, share it with friends
  • Vacation updates – show friends where you are in your trip, upload photos, share info via Facebook
  • Compass


After you set up an account, you will be able to save and share your tracks (i.e., trips) online.  Here is a sample online track of my commute from the Caltrain station to our office.

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I installed the software to my desktop and then used BlackBerry Desktop Manager to get it to my device.  I did have some significant periods of waiting before the install worked, but it got there eventually.  To use, launch the application, then choose New Track to begin tracking.  Choose Stop Track when you are done.  You will then have the option of uploading your track to the Internet.
A Pro version of the software is available for $9.99. It offers an “SOS button” for instant position alerts over SMS or email.

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