And it’s one, two, three strikes you are out

With the ever anticipated opening day of the baseball season here, there is no doubt there would be an app to track the teams, the players and their stats. Whether you are looking for today’s info, yesterday’s results or bone up on stats from past games there is an app.

Check out the link below to find the 10 essential mobile apps for baseball fans and see if you can find your favorite.

http://mashable.com/2011/03/31/baseball-apps-mobile/

Here is a look at one that is available.

I KNOW YOU!!!

What if you were sitting in a bar and someone snaps a picture of you on their cell phone. Then they use a phone app that matches your face with your name. It not only identifies who you are, but possibly where you live and your phone number. CNN reported that Google is developing just such a facial-recognition mobile app and is working on privacy issues. However, Google responds that it's not working on an application that would allow users to identify others by snapping a picture of their face with a cell phone camera, despite a high-profile report that one is on the way. I guess time will tell, but is does not sound too farfetched to me however scary it maybe.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-20049319-2.html#ixzz1IOU4joxm

Is Parking at a Premium in Your Town?

Ever wish you could find a place to park in a busy city without driving aimlessly around to find a garage with available spots.  Well a new app presently in the works may be your answer.  Parking  In Motion will tell you where you're most likely to actually find a parking place once you're at your destination. This mobile app, in its early stages now, is mostly a directory of parking lots and garages. Eventually, the app will do much more, according to co-founder Sam Friedman, he explains.  First, it will show which lots or garages are full. This information can't come from users--it'd be too late to be useful. Parking In Motion is instead working with garage operators to collect this data on a broader scale. If Friedman can succeed with this implementation, he hopes to work with parking meter companies to implement available street parking as well. Sound to me like a very useful, however ambitious endeavor.

Show me the Money: Credit-Card Smartphones Pose New Risk

Security experts are asking,  “Are smartphones smart enough to be credit cards, and perhaps even more?” Smartphones are already commonly used to manage some financial tasks, such as online banking. But companies such as Google, Apple, Samsung and Nokia aim to cut out credit cards and cash entirely by making phones that can handle in-store purchases. Such “wallet” phones are common in parts of Asia. Security analysts believe their arrival in the U.S. market, expected in the next few years, could open up new avenues for fraud. However, some Experts have claimed that it is a safer method of payment than the traditional card, ”Because “it’s contact-less there’s a perception people can grab it from thin air, but it’s actually more sophisticated technology than credit cards with a magnetic stripe, making it more difficult to steal a consumer’s payment information,” said Nick Holland, a mobile-transaction analyst at Yankee Group.

Take a look at the articles and see what you think…

http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-179225.html

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/dialing-for-dollars-credit-card-smartphones-pose-new-risks-0474/

No Money, No Debit Card, No Problem Another meaning for the somewhat obsolete term Pay Phone

In some countries, people paying for things with their smartphone. How you may ask? Well when they go to the vending machines or store counter in some countries, all the buyer has to do is swipe their phone to pay. Although not available here in the United States yet several companies are have plans in the works.  AT&T and Verizon are looking to work together to adapt to the market for smartphones that can operate as a credit card.

                                                    

Techno-phone: Google has teamed up with Citigroup and Mastercard to develop to mobile payment system specifically for the Android phone

Instead holding up checkout queues as customers rifle through their purses to find the right card, they will simply swipe the phone past an electronic reader to pay

I hate to be skeptical, but I am still concerned about security, as well some people getting into some serious debt…..

Follow the link to read more…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371244/Google-plans-payment-turns-smartphones-credit-cards.html

Google’s People Finder Lends a Helping Hand

Prem Ramaswami, a Google project manage said, "The New York Times, CNN, all these news agencies had their own private databases of missing persons information and there was the U.S. Department of State and a bunch of governmental organizations that had their own databases of information too,"  Ramaswami explains "What we were able to do was create a hub for all of that information, and it was built completely open source and it was basically, anyone who wanted to help out at Google, that could help out at Google, was pretty much able to help out. It was a massive effort. Thousands of records were uploaded on day one as a massive tsunami followed the catastrophic quake. Weeks later, with a resulting nuclear plant crisis still unfolding, Google Person Finder is tracking about 607,000 records, a testament to just how far-reaching the natural disasters have been for Japan.

Here is the link for the complete story     http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/

Here is the link to access the Google People Finder website:

 Person Finder: 2011 Japan Earthquake

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Please Turn off all your Electronic Equipment

The above headline is a familiar announcement to all that have taken a trip on an airplane. But what is going on in the cockpit by the pilots may be of interest. Apple’s iPad is making its way into some cockpits. The device won approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to display navigational charts for some charter pilots, according to a story published by Bloomberg’s  Sonja Elmquist. The decision covers iPads used by Executive Jet Management, a unit of Warren Buffett’s NetJets, and it paves the way for pilots at other airlines to seek authorization to use the device, reports Elmquist.  However, all passengers are required to have their cell phones and internet devices off during flight. Reason being is that those devices can cause interference with the airplane's controls. So may that change in the near future as well? It was surely make a lot of passengers happy.