Mapping

Tellme tells you where, free of charge

Tellme Networks, which Microsoft is acquiring, today is scheduled to launch a free service that allows people to get directory listings on their phone by voice or text message. The service is designed to enable Tellme users to call 1-800-555-TELL (8355) and say "business search" to get a business listing or to search for a category like "cafes."

People can also send a text message to TELLM (83556) with a request such as "Starbucks San Francisco" and get a text message back with listings and map links. Tellme also offers a software download for … Read more

Wikisky: for keyboard astronomers

Over on our sister blog Crave, we post about the occasional stargazing gadget for amateur astronomers. But if you aren't willing to shell out the cash for a pricey telescope, night sky projector, or home planetarium, never fear--that's where the wonderful world of free webware comes in. Wikisky was described by the Wired Science blog as "Google Earth for space," which is essentially an apt description. You can use Wikisky (which isn't actually a wiki, for the record) to view and navigate the entire night sky either as a graphical representation, or in legit photographs … Read more

Google intros Maps mashups for dummies

If you're like me, you've enjoyed the map mashup phenomenon from the sidelines, due to a personal lack of coding skills. But now anyone and their mother can make mashups with a new Google tool, "My Maps." It's a new feature in Google's Maps service that lets anyone create customizable maps using a simple drag-and-drop interface. (See News.com story and slide show.)

My Maps offers a plethora of marker icons and colors to choose from and they are inserted onto the map by dragging and dropping. It's easy to include photos and … Read more

Combine maps and spreadsheets with Google's new mashup tool

Have you ever wanted to create your own Google map? Maybe a top 10 list, or some of your favorite eateries. There are ways to do this with Ning and Yelp, but what if you really wanted to make changes later down the road and have those updates pushed out to anyone viewing your map immediately? Google has put together an experimental wizard for creating your own Google Maps mashup using data from Google Spreadsheets. The tool uses APIs from both Google Maps and Google Spreadsheets, but you won't have to know a lick of code, or anything super … Read more

Ratatattle keeps tabs on your city's rodent-infested restaurants

Here in NYC, we've been hearing a lot about rat problems in restaurants. That's a problem that the guys behind Ratatattle are trying to combat; they've created a real-time Google Maps mashup that lets users report on which dining establishments in their cities have had issues with rodents recently. It's completely user-generated: if you happen to see a rat, just head to Ratatattle, hit the "tattle" button, and you'll get a series of prompts for entering the dining venue, number of rats, size of rats, and whether or not they were anywhere near … Read more

Happy hour 2.0: Mashups get smashed

"Nerds!" --Ogre, Revenge of the Nerds

Since the dawn of time (or at least the 1980s), avid computer users have been ridiculed for lacking social skills and an ability to party.

But anyone who has seen the documentary Real Genius or seen the schools featured on this list of top college pranks knows otherwise.

Nerds do party. They just party efficiently. That's why these drink-deal locators exist: to help us find cheap drinks between here and the nearest library.

Nationwide sites

UnThirsty: This is a Google Maps mashup that lets you search for happy hours, food specials, … Read more

New Zooomr to permit photo sales--once debugged

The Zooomr photo-sharing site plans major changes, including the ability to let members sell their photos, but the upgrade process has been rocky.

Photo-sharing sites have added features such as tagging, commentary, ranking and printing. But adding the ability to sell photos injects a little profit motive in the business as well. It also puts the site in more direct competition with stock-photo sales sites such as Getty Images subsidiary iStockphoto.

Zooomr will keep 10 percent of revenue from photo sales, the company said on its blog, letting users keep 90 percent. For comparison, iStockphoto keeps 80 percent, unless users … Read more

Rent out your closet with Store At My House

Everybody's got junk and often not enough room to stow it. When Public Storage is a little out of your price range, there's Store At My House, a new service that matches people who need to store stuff with those who have space for it. You can register to rent out your attic, an extra room, or even a parking space. Entries are displayed on a Google map, and you can sort through listings on a sidebar for whatever type of space is needed. If it's not there, there's a request form for others browse and … Read more

WHERE: widgets for your phone

With the release of Apple's iPhone just a few months away, we're already seeing phone companies scramble to to keep customers by adding value to their phones and services. WHERE, from start-up uLocate, is no different, providing a bevy of GPS-enabled widgets for mobile phones while managing to use a drag-and-drop Web interface. Subscription to and use of the widgets requires a monthly fee of $2.99. For now, the service works with only six of Sprint's handsets, though about a dozen more are being added next Monday.

The widgets range from weather information providers to locators … Read more