Comments on: No cigar

By: Denver

Denver — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 22:57:14 +0000

So, did you actually use this device and software? How do I know I can trust this review?

By: TXBueller

TXBueller — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 17:37:26 +0000

I’v been using TrafficMap (http://www.embience.com/product_showarea.htm – 1st Item) for about a year now on my Motorola v710 Cell Phone. It does the map thing which is even less usefull on a cellphone screen, but the killer part is the text based incident list. Before I hit the major highway I just scroll through the incident list and plan my route accordingly.

Now I just check the traffic on my phone and then listen to podcasts during my drive instead of the 70/30 blend of commercials to content on morning radio while I wait for a traffic report that may or may not be right or be in-time for me to change my route.

By: Amrit Hallan

Amrit Hallan — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:27:41 +0000

Makes me wonder how dumb companies can be. Only this morning I was discussing with my wife an ideal way to do market research, pin-point a necessity, see if people are ready to pay for a solution, and then provide the solution at a price that people are more than eager to pay. That can certainly be a hit.

By: Big Casino

Big Casino — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:19:42 +0000

Get a CB. You can get the king that just have a powerful magnet to attach to the roof of your car. You hear instant traffic info from truckers and other motorists. Cheaper that a web device. Wide selection.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 16:08:14 +0000

Try traffic.com – they might be what you are looking for

By: Kaos

Kaos — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 15:45:59 +0000

I get the impression you are a fan of Sirius, I suggest you look at XM. They have traffic info for many major cities in the US updated frequently. Love the new look on the site, much easier to read.

By: Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 14:03:20 +0000

RightNo1: You bet, I have a whole complex file in my head of alternative routes. I’ve been known to take a longcut through the port of Newark. Yes, I want warnings specific and quick and useful.
Joe: A colleague once said that he followed a simple rule: By the time he heard it on 101.5, the problem was long gone and so h e want to wherever they said the problem was. Not a bad rule.
Shadow Traffic is what we have but there are better ways to capture the wisdom of the commuters….

By: Joe Malchow

Joe Malchow — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 13:26:17 +0000

What’s the matter Jeff, my station (NJ1015) not good enough for ya?

-joe

By: RightNumberOne

RightNumberOne — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:48:25 +0000

Jez Jeff,

Come onnnnnn. Do you really need your phone to tell you traffic sucks? How many times have you DEVIATED from your route anyway, KNOWING traffic sucks? I’d bet not very often.

But I know why you are REALLY mad and it doesn’t have anything to do with the traffic.

You are frustrated NOT that Treo’s traffic app sucks, but that TREO created an EXPECTATION for you that their product cannot ever possibly meet. No device with a 2-inch screen can perform to such an expectation.

They are stupid not because they designed a poor app … but because they EVEN ATTEMPTED to do it, thus creating an environment where the ONLY POSSIBLE OUTCOME was customer dissatisfaction (i.e., failure).

The people who they designed this for are the type of people who brag that their phone can show them when traffic sucks as a way of impressing other, poorer, people; but who don’t actually ever USE the thing. It was designed for them and the marketing guys at Treo, who are the only ones who could ever have any possible use for such a “feature.”

What YOU want is a high-resolution 10″ heads-up display IN YOUR AUTOMOBILE … connected via a high-speed always on wireless connection that is operated by an On-Star type service and paid for as part of your car note. Such a system would have a browser with a cookie that contained YOUR SPECIFIC route and would only bother to show you those road conditions and suggest to you when you should go to your pre-selected alternate route before you ever started on your journey.

Sorry … I haven’t gotten around to starting that business yet. (Too busy explaining to people why creating UNMEETABLE EXPECTATIONS is the worst sin a business can make.)

By: John

John — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 05:40:42 +0000

I know this device is being sold in the Los Angeles and Seattle areas to guide people through traffic in those cities. As a stand-alone device, I would guess it's interface is more functional in real-time situations than one hooked up to a Treo LCD display, but someone who actually has bought and used the thing would be a better person to judge whether or not that's true.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 04:36:39 +0000

I get where you’re wanting to go, but surely in the meantime (and it’s going to be a substantial meantime) you tune in the 880CBS traffic on the 8s and the 1010Wins on the 11s — and call them on what you see as well, yes?