Slashgeo

All Points Blog links to a program to reduce insurance rates by allowing your driving kids to be tracked by GPS. From the site: "AIG Auto Insurance today announced the AIG Teen GPS Program for auto insurance policyholders with teen drivers. According to the National Highway Safety Administration (www.nhtsa.gov), auto accidents are the leading cause of death for 16 to 20 year-olds, with roughly 6,000 young lives lost annually. The program will initially be piloted in Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington, and uses GPS technology to allow parents of teen drivers to monitor the location of the teen’s car and driving. [...] Additionally, the AIG Teen GPS Program will automatically send the parent an e-email and/or text message if the teen’s car exceeds pre-defined speed limits or is driven too far from a pre-defined location (home, school, work, etc.)."

Dear readers, a small note to let you know Slashgeo geonews coverage should go back to full speed in the coming days/weeks. I was going to give a talk at a conference in San Diego this week, but a motorcycle accident last Friday modified the plans. I am very satisfied to find out many of the new Slashgeo editors, namely Colin, Lennox, Gene and Dan, took the opportunity to publish geonews in my absence. Thanks :-) That's how I hope Slashgeo will become, a site ran by the geospatial community for the geospatial community. I think we're in the right direction.

I won't provide much details on the accident itself because you're here to read about geonews, not my personal life. In short, I was extremely lucky, no permanent damage to my body (or my mind! ;-). Despite the title of this article, I was going slow (about 50km/h). After a few flips in the air, I ended up with four broken ribs, a fractured clavicle, a scapula in pieces and a lacerated spleen. Now back at home from the hospital, I expect it will require at least a few days before I resume contributing and feeding our readers with the regular geonews you've been used to. And I'm happy to confirm this recent dangerous experience has not reduced my will to spend precious time aggregating geonews for our community. It still makes me feel somehow useful. Cheers! Alex

Slashdot discusses a story named Honda makes motorcycle talk to oncoming cars. Their summary: "The system generates warnings to riders and drivers of other vehicles by continuous exchange of positioning data from satellite GPS sources. This is particularly relevant as road users approach intersections, alerting them to other vehicles that are potentially on a collision course, allowing avoidance manoeuvres."