trip

MARIN HEADLANDS, Calif.--This is very surreal.

I'm sitting on a bench on top of a cliff here, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and looking straight at the Golden Gate Bridge.

For the last 15 minutes, there has been a steady stream of sirens from emergency vehicles, and I can see that all traffic on the bridge is completely stopped. I Twittered what I was seeing, and almost immediately, one of my followers replied with details of what seems to be a multiple-vehicle accident blocking most of the lanes on the bridge.

Before this happened, I was planning on starting … Read more

I listened to two CDs for the first time last night, and while I'm very happy with both of them, the disparity in sound reminded me how much production can make or break a record.

The first one was Planet of Ice by Seattle band Minus the Bear. I've read good things about this band for years, but the descriptions of this 2007 album--it's apparently more progressive and "math"-y than their previous releases--finally got me to make the purchase.

Musically it's a fantastic achievement, one of the most progressive and interesting modern rock … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--One of the cool things about going on road trips for CNET News.com, as I've done in both 2006 and 2007, is that I get to test out a bunch of cool tech.

For the trip I'll be embarking on next month, that is very much the case, and one of the gadgets I've been looking to get going is the USB727 EVDO modem Verizon lent me for the trip.

The only problem has been that until today, I had been unable to get the modem to work properly. I had been told it was … Read more

Trip-hop heroes Portishead have linked up with Current TV for an exclusive 40-minute broadcast performance on April 11, 2008. The show includes eight songs from their highly anticipated new album, Third, and will air multiple times on the television channel (see showtimes below) over the following week. Fans without cable can stream it online from Current TV's Web site. The album hits stores in the U.S. on April 29.

For those who like their music one tasty bite at a time, you can listen to Third's first single, "Machine Gun" , right here on Download Music. … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--I just rolled off a JetBlue flight where half the passengers were typing on MacBooks and talking about last night's episode of Lost and the other half were wearing worn-out band T-shirts and combat boots. Incoming text messages from Twitter are making my cell phone buzz off the hook. I have this sudden craving for baby-back ribs and a giant margarita.

I guess it must be South by Southwest.

I'll be here through Tuesday night for South by Southwest Interactive, the digital-culture arm of the festival, and I'm pumped. Unlike my seasoned colleague Daniel Terdiman, I'… Read more

It's 35 degrees and windy in New York right now, but I have the good fortune to be packing up my bags and heading for Miami. No, it's not a vacation. I'm going to the Future of Web Apps conference, hosted by U.K.-based media and events firm Carsonified. I'll be there through Saturday.

Among the featured attractions at FOWA Miami are a wine tasting, an evening soiree at a South Beach nightclub, an afternoon "beach party," and a tug-of-war competition. Yeah, I'm pretty excited for that, even though I plan to … Read more

If you've ever been put in charge of a guys night out, there's a new app for you. Personally I just go out and see what happens, but I know people who like to make itineraries, and they need tools. Planjam is such a tool.

The easiest way to describe it is like the Yellow Pages combined with Tripit's itinerary planner. All you have to do to create a plan is plug in your ZIP code, and pick from a selection of landmarks, restaurants, and local attractions that have been categorized by what scene you're into. … Read more

The official kickoff to CES 2008 is still a few days away, but some companies are creating preshow buzz by making some early announcements, including Pharos. This morning the GPS manufacturer unveiled Pharos Trips & Pics, a geo-logger that brings GPS capabilities to your digital camera. Available later this month for $89.95, the kit includes a Pharos iGPS-500 receiver and a pocket-size battery unit that you take with you on your trip, allowing you to record such details as time, location, heading, and speed. You'll also be able to define how often you want the receiver to log … Read more

Dopplr, which I briefly mentioned making an appearance at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 conference back in late May, has opened up its doors today after being in private beta for the last seven months. The service is designed to let friends and other small groups share their travel plans with one another. In an ideal world, if all your friends used Dopplr, you'd be able to see when they're in town, or elsewhere to coordinate things like meet-ups or shared accommodations.

To get going with Dopplr, you simply need to plug in the dates and location of your next vacation or business trip. This information gets slotted onto your profile as a Dopplr trip, and assuming you've made friends on the service, they'll be allowed to see your schedule and visa versa. In order to add your buddies, you can invite them one at a time, or make use of your contact list from Gmail, Flickr, Twitter, or with an HCard microformat import.

Like Facebook's news feed, Dopplr keeps a running tab on your activity and that of your friends, so you can view it in one big stream. For those not inclined to check on the site every day, Dopplr is set up by default to send you weekly newsletters with your friends' latest trip additions and journal entries, along with a list of other Dopplr users who are visiting your home city. There's also a mobile version that gives you quick access to your slated trips, as well as the option to add a new one. In many ways, it's similar to the iPhone version of Google Calendar, albeit with a little less panache.

In many ways Dopplr attempts to solve a problem that could be managed with existing solutions given a little elbow grease on the part of users. For example, my family uses Google calendar, and we've got a separate calendar set up just for trips we want to share with one another. What sets Dopplr apart is its social side, which has a number of small conveniences thrown in for both privacy and keeping track of others. One of them is frequency, which shows you which of your friends visits a place the most. You can also see if you're visiting any of your friend's hometowns, and if they'll be there when you are--which can help you avoid those "oh no, we were in the same place and didn't meet up?" moments.

… Read more