trip

Ever heard of Google's GPS-tracking app called My Tracks? What about its bucket-list-like service called Schemer? In fact, you may be surprised to know that Google has actually developed several dozen Android apps, many of which you've never heard of. Here, we take a look at four such titles that are all incredibly interesting and can be surprisingly useful.

My Tracks A great tool for outdoors enthusiasts, My Tracks records your path, speed, distance, and even elevation while you walk, run, bike, or do anything else that a GPS signal can follow. Visually, the app is a snoozer, … Read more

By now most everyone knows about Apple's deficient Maps app in iOS 6 -- particularly those who counted on the former Google-powered app for public transit directions. Apple CEO Tim Cook publically apologized for the Maps app and said the company is working to make the app better. But in the meantime, if you need public transit directions, you're going to have to rely on third-party apps from the App Store.

Before you start sifting through hundreds of transit apps, I put together this collection so you can get the help you need right away. It's important … Read more

Returning to my hotel in Las Vegas one night this summer, I discovered that the parking garage was completely full. Not sure what else to do -- and with time running out before a show I had tickets to -- I drove my BMW 650i Coupe up to the hotel's valet. "That's a really nice car," the guy said. "Do you mind if we keep it out in front?"

He was right. The 650i -- which I was road-testing as part of Road Trip 2012 -- is a really nice car, and now I … Read more

Tracking your car's trip data can be fun and interesting, but not all cars come with an advanced trip computer. Using your Android phone's GPS sensor, SpeedView can act as a speedometer with some additional data functions.

The main screen of SpeedView displays a linear compass at the top, an analog speedometer, trip information and a speed graph. You can tap on the analog speedometer to switch to the numeric speedometer, while tapping on the trip data allows you to choose which information you want to display. You can choose between time, average speed, maximum speed, elevation, and … Read more

SAN DIEGO -- For hundreds of thousands of passionate panda watchers, the birth at the San Diego Zoo today of a new panda cub is an event well worth celebrating, especially given that the mother is probably the second-oldest known panda ever to successfully deliver. And thanks to some high-tech imaging, the zoo was able to monitor the pregnancy every step of the way.

For weeks, the panda team at the zoo here has been on tenterhooks, hoping against hope that the 20-year-old mother, Bai Yun, would carry to term what they were nearly certain was a healthy cub. But … Read more

MOJAVE DESERT, Calif.--It's hard to imagine a more complete -- and impressive -- collection of aviation facilities and aircraft anywhere on the planet than the one in this vast, arid, wide-open wasteland northeast of Los Angeles.

Thanks to its endless amounts of dry, flat terrain, useless to most people, and the fact that there are only a few ways in -- vital for security -- the Mojave is, and has long been, the beating heart of the aviation world. It's here that Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier. And where Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne ushered in … Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Walking through gallery after gallery of classical European paintings, sculptures, and other antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum here, it's easy to get lost in the history and beauty of the often centuries-old art. Especially if you're toting today's latest mobile technology.

Home to some of the most celebrated European artwork in the world -- and one of the most visited museums in the United States -- the Getty has also become one of the museums most devoted to adopting technology aimed at enhancing guests' experience, as well as at using high-tech tools … Read more