Track Anything Anytime with This With GPS Locator and App

The Garmin Tracker, along with the Garmin GTU 10, allows you to keep track of your kids and pets with real-time GPS tracking, navigation, and interactivity. However, though the app is free, the $200 device with service will cost you.

Garmin Tracker, released for iOS and Android, works by communicating through AT&T’s network with the tracking device. It lets you see what you’re keeping track of via your typical smartphone map app, giving you turn-by-turn directions to your precious whatevers should they be lost, in trouble, stolen, or in need of a ride. And with the bonus geofencing feature, you can create boundaries on the map for what you’re keeping an eye on, letting you know when those boundaries are crossed with a notification email. And that $200 are only for the first year. After that, you’ll need to pay $50 for every year you use the service.

Imagery from the landslides in Brazil

Back in mid-January, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and other areas of Brazil expereinced devastating mudslides as the result of nearly 10 inches of rain in a single day. The landslides are reported to have killed nearly 1000 people, and have left at least 8,700 homeless. Since then, NASA has been attempting to capture fresh imagery of the area but has been unable to due to satellite imagery’s biggest nemesis — clouds.

The situation is similar to the flooding in Pakistan last year; Google wanted to provide imagery of the area to assist those that were trying to help, but they were unable to get any for quite a while due to persistent cloud cover.

Fortunately, clouds broke a few days ago and NASA’s EO-1 satellite was able to capture some remarkable images of the area.

brazil.jpg

They’ve also provided a KML file with imagery of the mudslides, for those that wish to view the imagery inside of Google Earth.

UPDATE: After we published this post, DigitalGlobe sent us a great PDF they put together showing before/after shots of some of the affected areas. Download the PDF here.

Saudi Arabian developers and entrepreneurs, are you ready?

“I was living in a dark room full of stuff and Google turned the lights on for me”, one participant said. Some 97% of those who attended G-days last year in Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan expressed similar sentiments.

Building on this success, Google will host another G-day event in Saudi Arabia, dubbed “G-Saudi Arabia“, which will take place on March 19th and 20th. Google engineers will be on hand to give lectures and meet informally. The first day will be dedicated to academics and developers, both novice and advanced ; the second day targets entrepreneurs and professionals who want to learn about AdWords, Google Apps and other projects. Since space is limited, please apply now.

Since holding G-Egypt and G-Jordan, we’ve analyzed the feedback from participants to improve the upcoming events. We received more than 3,000 comments. Here is a representative sampling:

  • Content: “I learned a great about what Google does and I left with a great admiration to this Google. I admire their interest in Egypt and the region and I see Google as a being a catalyst for many things to happen in this region. The Google culture, positive approach, and excitement about innovation is infectious.”
  • Googlers & interaction with them: “The best thing I enjoyed was actually talking and chatting with the Googlers, in between sessions and asking them questions. Everyone was extremely helpful and doing their best to answer my questions.”
  • Organisation: “The event was awesome… I cannot believe that I attended an event like that in Egypt.”
  • Atmosphere & chill-out zones: “Giving the spirit of Google, I felt as I’m at Google headquarters.”
  • Choice of venue & food: “the Google cupcakes were amazing!”
  • Coding competition: “I think the best part by far, for me, was the coding competition.”
  • Time management: “Speeches were running and ending on time”

The negative feedback also were appreciated. Some said we need to slow up coding sessions and give more concrete examples. Some want additional technical content. Others suggested separating beginners from advanced developers. And others asked for longer breaks to mingle. We’ll put these suggestions into the upcoming G-Saudi Arabia agenda.

In order to encourage Saudis to participate, take a look at a selection of the pictures from our Egyptian and Jordanian events. Keep sending the comments and above all keep sending any cool applications you develop on Google technologies. We look forward to resuming our dialogue with Arab developers and entrepreneurs.