Even if it makes them look a bit foolish.

We know that one thing is true about Google, they have the cloud computing thing handled. But we can now legitimately question their ability to handle all of the world’s information. Just look what they have done with New York City’s subway system.

You may have heard that Google is mapping the New York City Subway System. They rolled out a big campaign putting ads on the subway cars. I took the picture of the one below on my way home.

The Google Train by Doug Crets

They’ve messed up. Google hacks have learned the hard way by listing train lines for Grand Central Station that do not pass through the station.

Now, that’s embarassing, Information Barons!

It wasn’t Time Magazine or Newsweek. It was someone already working in the campaign. But really, it was all of us. The Obama campaign posted pictures of the night Barack Obama became the 44th president on Flickr, thereby not only honoring our nation’s first African-American president and a truly new direction for the United States, but I’m pretty sure it marks the first time any presidential campaign bypassed mainstream media to focus exclusively on a go-to channel to the public.

This magazine has virtually called the election for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, so what I am going to say here may seem counter-Obama. But, it has to be said.

While his margin of lead in the American race for president slips steadily from 8.0% over John McCain to about 6.0%, I’m beginning to wonder if Obama’s constant requests for “just $5″ and “one final push” of campaign fund-raising is beginning to drag on potential voters.

I’m taking a poll in the office later today to see what people think. Our office is a particularly pro-Obama space, even given the fact that we all work in finance. Which is another reason I don’t believe this hype that a likely Obama victory is what has sent down the stock markets these past few weeks.

Obama comes across as an inspiring leader. But here’s where his “linked-in” mentality to this young voting base gets on my nerves. Ever since I signed up on the Obama website to download his flashy iPhone app, I’ve been barraged with messages from Obama, from his wife Michelle, from Joe Biden, his senatorial and sartorial and foot-in-mouth vice president running mate.

Here is a sampling of a few of them.

Give me Money, or Give me Death

The Obama family and campaign is up in the polls, but I get this message on early this week. It’s from my man, Barack Obama, who sat down on Obama One, his presidential plane, kicked up his shoes and typed me out an email:

Douglas –

The next 6 days are going to be the toughest we’ve seen, and I need your support to reach as many voters as possible.

Donate $5 or more today to strengthen this movement for the final push.

This campaign is in your hands.

Thank you for everything you’re doing,

Barack

I wrote back.

O! How’s it going, man! Great thing you did there in Ohio recently. Love the way you are handling the Joe the Plumber thing. Sorry I can’t splash out anymore money on your campaign, but hang in there, man! I look forward to seeing you strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue in January! Good luck and keep up the good fight.

Your bud,

Douglas

I thought that would keep his spirits up. But then I get this other email 17 hours ago on Thursday, from Biden. It’s grim. Apparently, Obama did not take my friendly email very kindly. He’s brought out the big guns:

Douglas –

Last night, Barack took to the airwaves to make the case for real change. He used the time to tell the stories of ordinary people who need real solutions to their problems.

The presentation reached its finale with Barack addressing the nation live from Florida — I’ve included the video of that moment below.

But right now, I need to ask you for help.

We just learned that the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee had a $20 million cash advantage on October 15th. That means we can expect to see a fierce blitz of negativity in the final days — so-called “robocalls,” mail pieces, and TV ads filled with smears and false attacks.

He then asks for five bucks.

Joe,

Hey. Sorry I have not been in touch. In fact, have we ever met? I’m not sure. Anyway. I know things will look a little bleak for you around this time. What, with Joe the Plumber coming out and remarking about “Death to Israel…..” WTF???

But I gotta tell you. I have credit card debt, my man. I have to pay off a loan, as well. I just bought a new bed in February, and that is almost paid off. In fact, I’d feel better about the whole money situation if I actually had my own place. But I’m renting. You know how it is. Manhattan! Crazy elitist liberal blue state prices!!!!!! AWkward!

Anyway, gotta go. You’re a tough cookie, so I am sure you can pull through. Give my love to your wife. Wait, have I met your wife?

Best,

Douglas

Then Michelle Obama chimes in a few hours after Biden:

Douglas –

I know this campaign has asked a lot of you….

That’s why I’m asking you to dig deep and make one final donation to help get us across the finish line.

This is getting awkward.

Dear Michelle,

Hi! So good of you to write. Okay, this is going to be weird. I know that you are Barack’s right hand woman. I know he loves you. America loves you. You shop at J. Crew and everything.

But I can’t give you any money. Yes, I’m sorry. No, it’s really unfortunate. I wish I could just call you up and tell you, give you some words of encouragement. I know you only raised US$150 million in September and you really need to spend a lot of money to convince old people in Florida that Barack is not a Muslim, or a terrorist sympathizer, but maybe you should have planned that out better.

As I told Joe earlier today, and I don’t even know Joe, right, I don’t have the cash! I have to actually go on a trip to Europe later this year, because that’s where my family is from and nobody in my immediate family has ever been to the old country. I’m sorry. I just can’t afford it.

Best,

Douglas

I’m going to go check my email now.

I feel like the guy at lunch whose friends never bring their lunch money, and I’m always having to “dig deep into my pockets” to find some extra change for a shake or french fries. Dude, at some point, you have to say enough is enough!

photo credit: surface to air

It’s not often that you run into one of the real reasons they call New York the concrete jungle. It’s raccoons. There are many of them out and about in the trash cans of Brooklyn. But our fair blogger, who goes by the moniker Cleopatra Jones, has spotted one in Manhattan.

The young woman, who according to her blog has lived previously in Hong Kong and is trying to be the next sex blogger du jour, has posted her first coon sighting on her blog, The Permanent New Girl. You can access the raccoon at this link.

It’s a dramatic photo of a raccoon scaling scaffolding. I say there are more dramatic and interesting things to spot with your camera. I have posted some of my own iPhone captures below. They detail the true jungle nature of Manhattan, a city that thrives on insanity, capitalism, real human urges and the marginalia of daily life.

Manhattan is its own mania, a creative spirit that is not so much about the infrastructure of the city. One can deny the grand architecture and at street level see how art, music, grafitti, the musings of the creative mind all create this city. The city is flow. It is the spirit of imagination and when you walk in its streets, you need only lift up the mobile camera and the portal of its consciousness is open.

Camera and New York City multi-spirit fecundity is enthrall.

A Regina Spektor poster

Crazy Jesus Propaganda

Sweet grafitti

The trick is making the buttons big enough to push with their trunks! But seriously folks, mobile technology is providing new ways to help protect both elephants and the farmers who often get raided by the hungry pachyderms: [via mobile tech today]

The text message from the elephant flashed across Ranger Richard Lesowapir’s screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.

The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers’ crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.

Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as “near threatened” in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Ranger are also now tracking the elephants using Google Earth software, mapping migration paths and even preventing poaching. But the biggest bonus so far has been the drop in crop raiding.

Do you plan on visiting the United States soon? Perhaps to buy that luxury home that has depreciated in value, or to take the kids to Disneyland? Perhaps you would like to buy Disneyland? Everything is for sale here, please look around, enjoy. Let me know if you need something!

Actually, if you are coming to America, you will find that some of our subway systems, especially the New York Metro Transit Authority are very hard to figure out if you are a first time visitor. The subway stations have very little clear signage and virtually no electronic signboards indicating train times or direction.

iTrans

That’s why you need an iPhone and iTrans, which can be found at the Apple Apps Store. This handy application works for seven subway systems and gives you instant access to schedules, routes, station stops and more.

Instead of getting lost in the Big Apple, you can thank Big Apple for bringing you an application that will get you to brunch with your purse-buying, Euro-spending friends five minutes faster.

Charged is now on Brightkite, one of the latest (and probably the best so far) of location-based social networking powered by your mobile. Our profile page is here.

Unlike so many of the services, Brightkite isn’t tied to the US, which means here in Hong Kong you can check-in from your mobile (via mobile email) and post pictures and notes from where you are.

Best yet, you can see all the other Brightkite users that have signed in (if they chose to do so publicly) near your. Select from various proximeites from 20 meters out to 4km.

The service is supported by the ever useful Google maps, and lets you set all sorts of regular places you visit with perfect accuracy. Then when you find yourself where you want your friends (or the whole world) to know about, you simply check in with a quick note.

Brightkite also allows you to mashup your social network with Google Earth with an overlay (a .kml file).

Complete with feeds, SMS alerts (US only — crap!) and all the trappings of web 2.0, Brightkite is flying high.

Jan Chiphase, Nokia’s mobile trendhunter, paints an eerie picture of a future where sharing your location information will be just another accepted aspect of owning a mobile device [via Jan Chipchase - Future Perfect Archives]

And so now we’re moving with pin point precision into a world of shared location information. The global momentum of the mobile two-dot-oh social sharing services is on the cusp of kicking-in. For a short while my local small, happily anonymous bar in a desire to retain a degree of anonymity will probably have a ‘please turn off your location information’ sign. But it won’t make a difference – if the shared trajectories of me and my close friends doesn’t tell the tale; then that geo-tagged photo taken by your tech-unsavvy friend in the corner will. Bless her for all her good intentions, her desire to capture her vision of you and share with the world. And therein lies the rub – because any decision to opt out is not simply an issue of whether to opt out of the technology, but ultimately one of whether to opt out of society. The same goes for every technological advance from relying on modern cartography to carrying a mobile phone.

Spurred on by the promise of open platforms – software developers are exploring, inventing and rapidly re-inventing the new world. Compared to current real world practices the results are often more crude – not surprising given the diversity of social norms framing billions of personal preferences and trillions of contexts. In this time of rapid change – the one thing we don’t yet share is an acceptable notion of what is OK to share.

According to a recent report released by SITA (The Air Transport Industry Tech Gurus), ‘digital travellers’ will have on-demand access to a range of mobile enabled services, giving passengers, for the first time, a proactive role in their travel experience while on the move.

Potential areas where mobiles will make a difference to tomorrow’s traveller:

• Mobile phones could hold all your travel documents, including an e-passport (we’re already seeing this happen in Japan with the use of FeliCa handsets)
• Mobile alerts could help avoid travel stress points:
  • Spend less time queuing
  • Receive a timely reminder that the aircraft is boarding, with directions to the gate
  • Avoid waiting at the carousel for late bags
• Have immediate access to applications that allow you to change your travel itinerary wherever you are

But not everyone is in love with this idea. The trade-off (yes, there always seems to be a catch) is that you lose your privacy. According to The Register:

Airline travel is set to get even more unpleasant, as hapless airline passengers face being hounded through airports by online advertisers as well as security, customs and perfume touting duty free sales staff.

The tracking idea could be done in conjunction with the network operators, in much the same way commercial tracking happens now. At present customers receive an SMS asking them if they’re OK with the idea, and if they don’t say no then the third party (in this case the airport) gains access to instant information about the location of the phone, and hence that of the user. That generally gives rough information, though the density of cells within an airport should give locations within a hundred meters or so.

Would you like a more “always-on & on-the-go” airport experience? Even at the expense of your privacy?

If you are lucky enough to be on holiday and looking for a party in San Francisco this summer, and you are a Blackberry user, then you will have a direct line on all the hottest spots thanks to Citysense:

Citysense was built to show you where the action is, right now.

Using a billion points of GPS and WiFi positioning data from the last few years – plus real-time feeds – Citysense sees S.F. from above and puts the top live hotspots in your hand. You don’t even need to sign up, just go to citysense.com on your BlackBerry, download, and open.

What’s at hotspot #1?

Click over to Yelp or Google and find out what’s going on at the #1 hotspot: Bars? Clubs? Restaurants? Then check out what’s at #2. All with one-handed navigation: no typing needed.

Show me where the unusually high activity is

Even if you’re a local, Citysense can give you the live details you need. When the Mission or Soma is busier than normal – you’ll know immediately.

We can’t wait until this service finds it way to the great cities of the world. It’s the creation of Columbia University computer science professor Tony Jebara instantly shows people where the hottest clubs or hangouts are, in real time. [via Columbia News and Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends]

Jebara’s creation, Citysense, uses advanced machine learning techniques to number crunch vast amounts of data emanating from thousands of cell-phones, GPS-equipped cabs and other data devices to paint live pictures of where people are gathering. Fed to websites such as Google or Yelp, the data reveals what’s happening at any location.

Translation: if you have a Blackberry, you have instant 411 on where the cool folks are. Or, are not. (An IPhone version is coming). The technology can also show if your favorite commute route is backed up and possibly offer alternative ones. Other applications abound.

And what’s next? “When you use Citysense, the application learns about the kinds of places you like to go from GPS – without ever sharing that information. In its next release, Citysense will not only tell you where everyone is right now, but where everyone like YOU is right now.

The application will compare your history and preferences with those of other users, and show you where you’re most likely to find people with similar tastes at that moment. So each person’s nightlife map will look a little different, and will display a unique top hotspot list. Cool, huh? That’s why we save your location when you use Citysense: to remember what you like. Of course, you don’t have to keep a personalized nightlife profile. You can delete your data from our system anytime you want. You created your data: you own it.”

What do you think? Would you use a service like this? Wouldn’t everybody? Would the “hottest parties” become overcrowded?