hiking

I know there are many in the tech world who believe people just shouldn't be trusted. Or listened to. Or even believed.

So it may be heartening to these defenders of our cyberfuture that there is yet another piece of evidence suggesting people aren't quite as clever as they think they are.

The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics decided to test a very simple form of human judgment: the ability to know where you're going when you're hiking.

You see, many intrepid humans believe it is enough for them to follow the sun, the moon, … Read more

RunKeeper Free is a no-cost but still full-featured version of RunKeeper Pro, a fitness app that helps runners (and even hikers and cyclists and the like) track the speed, pace, distance, and location of their workouts. The app has a streamlined, two-button interface--Stop/Start and Pause--and a large display that shows time elapsed, current speed, pace per mile (or kilometer), distance traveled, and GPS strength. What makes RunKeeper Free so useful--and motivating--is its ability to track the history of your runs, showing a quick list of the date, start time, duration, and distance covered for all your runs, and even … Read more

Music subscription service eMusic has always puzzled me. While it was the first site to offer DRM-free downloads, I never downloaded enough music to justify paying even the lowest subscription rate. The fact that it makes you navigate a long sign-up screen and enter a credit card number before showing you the song selection and other features of the site--even if you just want a free trial--drives me nuts. But despite my skepticism, the site has some big fans among voracious consumers of indie music.

Judging from the angry comments on the site's message board, some of those … Read more

GameHike is a system optimization tool that aims to improve your system's speed and performance. Not only does it lack important features and information, but it's also the exact same program as two others, PCHeal and PCMedik. For the most part, only the name changes, and each program offers only an overly basic approach to optimization.

The program's user interface is way too simple for what it sets out to do. It requires simply selecting your operating system and processor types from drop-down menus. A slide bar lets you adjust the repair settings. The repair settings on … Read more

If you run the dryer in the daytime and live in California, expect to pay for the privilege in the future.

Peter Darbee, CEO Pacific Gas & Electric, said the utility is currently running a smart meter trial at 25,000 homes and one of the goals is to figure out how to price peak power. Electricity demand is highest in the afternoon and PG&E is trying to figure out much the utility will have to charge for the power to curb demand. By curbing demand, PG&E can cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and, possibly, … Read more

There are several very interesting location-recording Web sites right now, like Platial, 43 Places, Wayfaring and Flagr. They all record locations and let you tell a story about them. EveryTrail, a new site in early development, adds a wrinkle: It will record your path between waypoints, not just the stops you make.

Why would you want this? To record a favorite hike or bike ride, perhaps. This site lets you share your route with others, for those trips where the point is the traveling.

EveryTrail requires that you have a way to record your movements, of course. You'll need … Read more