Tag: san francisco

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Now you can help fund the future of distracted driving!

On By jamesinclair

Last week, I ran across an article at Engadget about a new crowd-funded product that the tech world is excited about. Thanks to the magic of cookies, the product has followed me to my Facebook timeline in the form of an ad, which reminded me to write this post.

They’re talking about Navdy, a product that makes you “feel like you’re driving in the future,” or at least a future where distracted driving is taken to new and exciting frontiers.

What the product does is project information from your phone onto your windshield. Some of that information is relevant to driving, such as map navigation, and possibly in the future parking information from SF Park. The rest? Not so much. Click to read more!

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Hyperloop proposal: Bad joke or attempt to sabotage California HSR project?

On By jamesinclair

Was Elon Musk’s s mega-announcement really just a last-ditch attempt to sabotage the California High Speed Rail (HSR) project, rather than a serious proposal to revolution travel? Something smells very fishy, so let’s take a look….

By now you’ve probably heard about Elon Musk’s widely publicized proposal to build a tube transit system that can get you from LA to San Francisco in 35 minutes.

I was excited to hear about the proposal, as there had been some hype attached to it.  Elon Musk is a serious guy – founder of Tesla, SpaceX and Pay-Pal – so when he says he has something big, it makes sense to listen. Click to read more!

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Citibike hits major snags – will it delay Chicago and SF launches?

On By jamesinclair

It’s been over a week since the nation’s largest bike-share system launched in New York City. That launch was accompanied by a very predictable stream of media – naysayers, doubters, and then the tabloids looking for trouble.

I predicted as much over a year ago when the system details were announced:

With bike share, New York has been following the exact same media
pattern we saw in Boston in 2009-2011. Boston, naturally, was mirrored
in London during the same period. Both of course were simple repeats of
what happened in Washington a year earlier.
…

It’ll never work! No one will ride them! Only tourists will use them! It
will be a boondoggle! There will be so many accidents, injuries or
deaths!! If people wanted to bike, they’d have their own! There will be
rampant vandalism! It’ll cost too much! Click to read more!

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Google bets on suburbs for new campus

On By jamesinclair

Late last week, Google hit the media circuit to preview their brand new mega-campus. 

Google Inc. is preparing to break ground on a 42-acre campus called
Bayview that promises to elevate the pampering of its hard-driving,
type-A workers to a whole new level.


This marks the first time Google has had the opportunity to build its
own campus from scratch rather than hollowing out the shells of
buildings once occupied by a tech giant of another era, Silicon
Graphics. The new campus is on the grounds of NASA’s Ames Research Center, which is next to the Googleplex.
LA Times 

Like Apple (building a massive “moon-base”), Google has decided that their new campus will be just as suburban as their existing “Googleplex”. Click to read more!

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Will Megabus serve Fresno this time?

On By jamesinclair

It’s been a badly kept secret, but Megabus is returning to California later this year. Megabus originally entered the California market in 2007, but left in mid 2008 due to poor ridership. Believe it or not, but Megabus served California before they began operations in the northeast corridor, which is now their strongest market.

Back in 2007, service was focused on LA, with routes to Vegas, San Francisco, Phoenix and San Diego. The Central Valley was not served, as the buses used I-5 to express between LA and the Bay Area. Megabus was unhappy with ridership, and took all their buses east. Click to read more!

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The safety magic of cable cars

On By jamesinclair

Jarrett Walker of Human Transit today posted about an aspect of the San Francisco cable car system that troubled him.

The gist of his post was about the way in which the cable cars do not have stations, but they stop in the middle of the road, and passengers cross an active lane of traffic to board. What’s even more interesting is that because of the hills, many of the “stops” are smack in the middle of an intersection.

Jarrett was concerned that during said stop, traffic on the road the cable car is using is given a green light, even though passengers are alighting in the middle of the lane. While state law makes it clear that passing a cable car when stopped is illegal, he is concerned about the mixed message the giant green signal gives. Click to read more!