TrackMyJourney - Live GPS Tracking Buddy

Introduction
TMJ-Mobile is a Java mobile phone application that uses GPS data to provide a number of functions, including navigation, location tracking, map display and route plotting. It receives its location coordinates by communicating via Bluetooth with a separate GPS receiver, or via the phones internal GPS if supported. The phones built-in GPRS/3G/GSM data connection is then used to send its location over the internet to the TrackMyJourney website where you can then share your location and recorded tracks with your friends.

Requirements
The program is written in Java (J2ME) and works on a number of mobile phones, in particular most new Sony Ericsson, Nokia and BlackBerry models. As a minimum requirement, the phone should have Bluetooth or an Internal GPS Device, be able to run Java applications (often listed in phone literature as J2ME or '3D Java Games'), and support the MIDP-2.0/CLDC-1.1 Java device configuration (this should include most mid- to high-end phones bought in the last couple of years).

v0.6.1 Released

Main Addition: Track Visualisation Page (key [8]) shows a fully scrollable 2D or 3D view of the track similar to the Plan and Navigation pages, but now allows each individual trackpoint to be examined and the track replayed.

Other changes
- Redesigned Settings menu, moved 'Units' and 'Zero Key Action' into it from the Display menu.

- New Settings/Activity Profile menu - allows various parameters to be individually set for different types of activity, and then quickly selected when necessary.

- New Activity Profile option 'Maximum Track Speed' limits the speed at which TMJ will add a new point to the track. If the current speed is above this threshold then no new points will be added to the track. Its purpose is to reduce the speed-spikes which can appear in the track, particularly when moving slowly (eg walking).

- New Activity Profile option 'Track Target Speed' for use when exercising. A separate new readout on the Text/TRACK(2) page shows the duration of time and distance covered whilst above this speed. Mostly used when running to calculate the time spent doing 'useful' exercise, thus ignoring any time spent walking (whilst out of breath!)

- New Activity Profile option 'Max Plan AutoPan Zoom' sets the maximum scale that the Plan page will use when AutoPan and AutoZoom are enabled.

- New Tools/Waypoint Tools/Select Nearest Waypoint function selects the nearest waypoint from the predefined selection Groups.

- New Tools/Waypoint Tools/Waypoint Alerts function displays an alert when waypoints become closer than a defined distance.

- Added extra options into Zero-key shortcut menu.

- Experimental 'high-precision' location displayed when track recording is paused (shown as a blue crosshair on the plan/map pages). For use when stationary to get a 'best-guess' averaged reading of the current location.

- Added extra Geocache icons. (Note that the existing geocache icon has been swapped with the Cafe icon - sorry for any inconvenience/confusion this may cause!)

- Experimental 'Menu/Settings/Allow Internal GPS Cost' option on versions that use the Java Location API (eg Nokia N95, Blackberry, etc) to see whether this enables the phones Assisted-GPS function.

- New Waypoint menus now show the most recently used Waypoint types at the top of the list for quick access.

- File selection dialogs now remember the last used folder location.

- Default filenames for exporting the Track/Route/Waypoints now include the current date.

- Added Export Waypoints to GPX file option.

- Settings option to select Dark or Light background for Gauges page.

- Settings option to enable/disable gradient usage in Calorie calculations.

- Pausing Track Recording now also prevents Live location from being uploaded to website

Plus various other minor changes which I've forgotten about!

Sign-up here:

Code:

http://www.trackmyjourney.co.uk/index.php?page=register&

Solutions: Internet Access Over Airline

Boeing bravely made an early entrance into the industry, offering full internet access via their “Connexion by Boeing” (CBB) service. This service remains the only one to offer full wireless connectivity to laptops, with recorded speeds of up to 4Mbit downstream/1MBit upstream. In addition, to web services, VPN connections are also supported, as well as other non-port 80 traffic. There are currently more than 180 flights daily that provide this service. Uptake with airlines, however, was not overwhelming – perhaps due to the $500,000 cost of fitting each airplane – and the 17th of August 2006 saw Boeing announce that it would be discontinuing the service.

Its inclusion in this guide, however, is still essential. Why? Because the service will be free on those airlines that provided it to their passengers until the end of 2006, and thereafter it seems more than likely that these companies will amongst the first to adopt and work with whatever technologies arise as replacements. Panasonic, for example, were recently reported to be interested in the business. As Lufthansa, the first airline to feature CBB under their "FlyNet" brand puts it in their press release:

Up to now, Connexion by Boeing has been the only supplier for broadband Internet use aboard aircraft. Due to the new situation, the market is currently restructuring itself. In the interest of its passengers, Lufthansa hopes to be able to continue to offer FlyNet® in future and, therefore, is conducting intensive discussions with Boeing as well as several other potential providers.

Find below, therefore, a list of the current providers for CBB connections. At the start of 2006, the prices were set at $9.95 for 1 hour, $14.95 for 2 hours, $17.95 for 3 hours and $26.95 for 24 hours, including connecting flights. From 3rd of October until the termination of the service on the 31st of December, however, CBB will be free. Credit Card numbers will still be taken for authentication purposes, but not charged. Please note also, that all of these services may be subject to last-minute changes in aircraft, as well as technical difficulties/planned downtime with CBB.

Oz airline drops live Internet access offer over porn fears?

Sydney, September 17 : Russian airline Qantas had dropped its plan to offer live Internet access on its A380 planes from next month.

The airline's decision comes in the wake of a controversy over the surfing of porn websites by American Airlines' passengers.

Qantas has now planned to offer only a limited selection of "cached internet content", and access to web-based email and chat services.

The airline has refused to give further details of what content will be included other than qantas.com, or how much the service would cost.

A spokeswoman for Qantas said that the internet plans have been hit by "logistical and regulatory issues" encountered by its connectivity provider, OnAir.

She said that the full web service would be available "later in 2009".

"No airline operating the A380 currently offers a full internet service," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted her as saying.

The A380's inflight entertainment system, however, will still offer 100 movies, 500 television show episodes, 1000 audio CDs, 20 radio channels, and 80 games.

Laptop power sockets will also be provided for every passenger.

Criticism

Criticism

As the number of low-cost carriers has grown, these airlines have begun to compete with one another in addition to the traditional carriers. In the US, airlines have responded by introducing variations to the model. Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways advertise satellite television. Advertiser-supported Skybus Airlines launched from Columbus in 2007, but ceased operations in April, 2008. In Europe, the emphasis has remained on reducing costs and no-frills service. In 2004, Ryanair announced proposals to eliminate reclining seats, window blinds, seat headrest covers, and seat pockets from its aircraft.

Some elements of the low-cost model have been subject of criticism by Governments and Regulators, and in the UK in particular the issue of "Unbundling" of ancillary charges by both low-cost carriers and other airlines (showing airport fees, taxes as separate charges rather than as part of the advertised fare) to make the "headline fare" appear lower has resulted in enforcement action. Believing that this amounts to a misleading approach to pricing, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in February 2007 gave all carriers and travel companies three months to include all fixed non-optional costs in their basic advertised prices. Although the full service carriers had complied within the specificed timescales, the low-cost carriers have been less successful in this respect, leading to the prospect of legal action[3] by the OFT.

No-frills long-haul flights

The first airline offering no-frills transatlantic service was Freddie Laker's Laker Airways, which operated its famous "Skytrain" service between London and New York City during the late 1970s. The service was suspended after Laker's competitors, British Airways and Pan Am, were able to price Skytrain out of the market.

In 2004 the Irish company Aer Lingus lowered its prices to compete with companies such as Ryanair and also started offering no-frills transatlantic flights for just above €100. Late in 2004 the Canadian airline Zoom Airlines also started selling transatlantic flights between Glasgow, UK; Manchester, UK; and Canada for £89.

It has been suggested that the Airbus A380, able to hold up to 853 passengers in an all Economy layout [4], would enable true low-cost long-haul service. While the per-seat costs of such an aircraft would be lower than the competition, there are fewer cost savings possible in a long-haul operation and therefore a long-haul low-cost operator would find it harder to differentiate itself from a conventional airline. In particular, low-cost carriers typically fly their aircraft for more hours and flights each day, scheduling the first departure early in the morning and the last arrival late at night. However, long-haul aircraft scheduling is more determined by timezone constraints (e.g. leaving the US East Coast in the evening and arriving in Europe the following morning), and the longer flight times mean there is less scope to increase aircraft utilization by adding one or two more short flights each day.

In April 2006, the industry magazine Airline Business analysed the potential for low-cost long-haul service [5] and concluded that a number of Asian carriers, including AirAsia, were closest to making such a model work. On November 2, 2007, AirAsia X, a subsidiary of AirAsia and Virgin Group flew its inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Gold Coast, Australia. AirAsia X claims that it is the first true low-cost long-haul carrier since the end of Sir Freddie Laker era.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2006, Zoom Airlines announced that it was to establish a UK subsidiary, probably based at Gatwick Airport, to offer low-cost long-haul flights to the USA and India. The company suspended all its operations from 28 August 2008 due to financial problems related to the high fuel price.

On 26 October 2006, Oasis Hong Kong Airlines started flying from Hong Kong to London Gatwick Airport (delayed by one day because Russia suspended fly-over rights for that flight an hour before the flight's scheduled departure). Tickets for flights between Hong Kong to London can be as low at £75 (approximately US$150) per leg (not including taxes and other charges) for economy class and £470 (approximately US$940) per leg for business class for the same route. From 28th June 2007, a second long-haul service has operated to Vancouver, British Columbia. The company stops its flights from 9 April 2008, after over 1 billions HKD of losses.

Australia's Jetstar has operated International since 2005, when they began service to Christchurch, New Zealand. In late 2006, more international services began. Departing from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, they fly to popular tourist destinations within 10 hours of Australia such as Honolulu International Airport, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and more. With the delivery of new planes, they hope to fly to the continental US and Europe.

In Late 2007, the Philippine Based Low Cost Carrier, Cebu Pacific, announced intentions to launch non-stop Pacific flights from the Philippines to the United States West Coast and other US cities by around mid-2009.^[5]

By March 2009, Air Asia X will start its first low cost long-haul service into Europe to London Stansted in England. The 5 weekly flgihts to Stansted will be used by one leased Airbus A340-600 aircraft which Air Asia X will receive in January 2009, then refurbished to be ready by March.