Waze realtime incident reports now appear in Google Maps for Apple's iOS

Crowd Sourced traffic data from Waze, a company that Google
acquired earlier this year, is now included in the official
Google Maps application for iPhone and iPad.

As reported by Apple Insider: The search giant announced on its official Lat Long blog on Tuesday that real time incident reports from Waze users will appear in the official Google Maps apps for both iOS and Android in the U.S. and U.K., as well as France, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Brazil, Panama, Peru, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Google has also updated the Waze app for iOS, as well as Android, to add Google Search functionality. Google's data now joins other search providers in being integrated into Waze.

Finally, Google also announced that the Waze Map Editor has been updated with Google Street View and satellite imagery. This will make it easier for users in the Waze community to correct map errors.

Google announced in June that it had acquired Waze, a popular cross-platform, crowd-sourced traffic and navigation service to bolster its own Google Maps. As of April, Waze had more than 40 million people actively using its service and contributing data.

The Waze iOS application was highlighted by Apple last year following the launch of iOS 6, when the company promoted alternative mapping applications and apologized for the substandard quality of its own Maps.

Mobile maps have become an increasingly heated space in the tech market, after Apple opted to ditch Google Maps and utilize its own data for the integrated iOS Maps application. But many users still view Apple's software as largely inferior to Google's, and Apple has responded with a number of its own key acquisitions.

Most notably, this year Apple purchased HopStop, a public transit and navigation data provider, as well as Locationary, a crowdsourced mapping data startup. The company has also been looking to improve its Maps team with a number of available positions for Maps experts.

Google, meanwhile, has been working to greater monetize users of its own mapping software on iOS, as the company rolled out new banner ads for the official Google Maps application earlier this month.

EOBRs Are now ELDs

An acronym transition and other things you
 should know about the pending rule mandating
electronic logging devices (ELDs).

As reported by Truckinginfo: Among the provisions of last year’s Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century transportation bill is language directing the Department of Transportation, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to implement a rule mandating electronic logging devices in all vehicles operated by drivers now required to keep paper logbooks.

In 2010, the FMCSA published a final rule requiring electronic on-board recorders, or EOBRs, for hours-of-service compliance for certain fleets. That rule, however, was vacated last year by a federal court ruling because the FMCSA did not consider the issue of driver harassment in developing the rule.

In response the FMCSA said it will prepare a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on EOBRs this fall that addresses the driver harassment issue and other items.

But they are no longer referred to as EOBRs in the rulemaking process, but as ELDs – electronic logging devices.

“EOBR is a general term we’ve used in the industry for these types of devices,” says Dave Kraft, director of industry affairs, Omnitracs. “Now we talk about electronic logging devices.” Kraft says the MAP-21 transportation bill referred to the devices as electronic logging devices and the FMCSA decided to use that term in its rulemaking. “They will be called ELDs in the regulatory environment, but if you still want to call it an EOBR, you can.”

Potential effects

In general, the industry supports the rule, according to Rob Abbott, vice president of safety policy for the American Trucking Associations. Speaking at an industry event in May, Abbott said there seems to be a clear correlation between safety and the use of the devices. It would also level the playing field between fleets that comply and those that don’t.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, however, doesn’t see such a clear-cut safety correlation. The association’s suit was what led to the previous rule being vacated, and it says in addition to the harassment issue, the government has not proven that the safety benefits will outweigh the costs.

ATA does have some concerns about the technical specifications and data transfer requirements.

EOBRs or ELDs now in use must adhere to the technical specifications contained in Part 395.15 of the HOS rules.

“Technically, today we are still subject to 395.15,” Kraft says. “All of the systems in the market today comply with that regulation.” The new rule will likely have similar technical specifications as the vacated rule (395.16) but with some changes.

Additional requirements in the new regulation may require some vendors to update their products to remain compliant. “Those new requirements are things that suppliers already have, by and large,” Kraft says. For example, the rule will probably require using GPS to record location, and most systems already do that.

“I think there will be some fundamental changes,” says Brian McLaughlin, president of PeopleNet. “But I think those vendors that have relatively open systems will be OK.”

McLaughlin also says the definition of tamper-proof will be a big issue. He says that definition might eliminate some cell phones or other devices that plug into the vehicles J-bus. We won’t know until the final rule is published.

Certification

Another key component of the new rule will be a requirement that ELD vendors have their products certified through a third-party. Currently, vendors self-certify that their products meet FMCSA requirements.

Current devices may need to be updated and certified
once the new rules are put into effect.

“We think certification of these devices can be a positive thing,” McLaughlin says. “Any time you have a mandate coming down on an industry, you get all kinds of new entrants and they all claim to be compliant. Unfortunately, the fleets take the responsibility to have a compliant system. If the system they deploy is actually not compliant, the fleet faces the consequences.”

Joel Beal, owner of JBA Telematics, says he is a “big proponent” of the FMCSA certifying vendors. “The fleet guy is the one who gets the ticket,” he says. “It’s unfair to mandate a device and not control the devices that come on the market.”

Christian Schenk, senior vice president product strategy and market growth, XRS, agrees that certification is good. “The automated logging is a bunch of software,” he says. “The key component is the company behind the device. The software is the easy part; the hard part is staying up on the regulations and changing rules.”

For example, the changes to the hours-of-service rules scheduled to go into effect this month regarding the restart of mandatory breaks cost EOBR vendors several millions of dollars and months of work to bring their systems up to date.

The mandate will bring a slew of new entrants, Schenk says. “They may know software, but will they know compliance?”

While most current vendors selling automated logging products support certification, the downside to third-party certification is how long such certification takes, McLaughlin notes. If certification gets bogged down, “it will slow down the innovation of the industry,” he says.

Data transfer

Another key issue is how the data is transferred from the device to law enforcement personnel during an inspection.

“First and foremost among the issues to work out: how do you transfer data to the roadside inspector,” McLaughlin says. Various means have been discussed: using the device’s screen, a wireless connection, a USB stick, or via the telematics provider, where the data would be transmitted to the provider’s server and then transferred to the enforcement agency’s system and then back down to the patrol car.

“That could be an area that either eliminates some systems or opens up the door for systems,” McLaughlin says. “I think data transfer will be an issue.”

Fred Fakkema, vice president product management, Zonar Systems, says that from the law enforcement side, “there’s a push to put a printer in the truck, but then you are back to paper, so that won’t work.”

Zonar, like other vendors, offers a tablet device that is detachable. The driver simply hands it out the window. “The data transfer could be done wireless, but not all inspectors have the technical capability for that,” he says.

Speaking at an industry event earlier this year, Steve Keppler, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, said law enforcement was generally supportive of ELDs, but “one of the things to keep in mind from the enforcement perspective is that agencies don’t have a lot of money around to buy the newest technologies” that would allow them to read or transfer data during a roadside inspection. The rule “needs to be able to account for the differing levels of technology in the field.”

Timeline

While the transportation bill called for a final rule by October of this year, it’s unlikely a final rule will be issued until sometime in 2014, according to many within the industry. Jack Van Steenburg, chief safety officer for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, speaking at an industry event in May, said that the rulemaking would be coming up in the fall.

At the same event, however, Annette Sandberg, CEO of TransSafe Consulting and former FMCSA administrator, said a final rule is doubtful before mid-2014. “This rule has been kind of hanging out there,” she said. The certification and driver harassment issues are holding it up.

Dave Kraft predicts that instead of publishing a final rule by the October deadline called for in MAP-21, the FMCSA will do a proposed rule. He expects a final rule won’t be published until late 2014.

Beyond the mandate

Many fleets have deployed onboard computer systems and automated logging applications for a number of years now. Quite a few are on their third or fourth generation system. But electronic logging capability is not the main reason fleets are making these investments.

“When people buy an onboard computer to put in their truck, the electronic log is just one piece of the value proposition,” explains Pete Allen, CEO of Cadec. They are also looking to improve fuel economy by measuring speeding, idling and mileage. They want to automate fuel tax reporting, and they want to improve productivity by sending route plans and dispatch directions to the vehicle and then comparing planned versus actual routes.

“There is so much more to having an onboard computer fleet management system in the vehicle than just the EOBR, but for the trucking world, you got to have it to play in the business,” Allen says.

“In today’s market, without a mandate, nobody wants to buy a device that only does electronic logs,” says Eric Witty, HOS product manager, Omnitracs. “You don’t see people shopping for an electronic log system, you see them shopping for onboard systems to help manage their entire operation, and the electronic log is a part of that.”

At the same time, Witty says interest in automated logging applications has continued to rise. “Within our customer base, once CSA started two years ago, we started seeing more adoption of the electronic log applications, and that adoption has not stopped. A good percentage of new sales are also deploying the application.”

L.T. “Chip” Powell, director of U.S. operations for BlueTree Systems, also sees the growing trend toward adoption of electronic logging devices. “Private fleets have been using elogs for more than a decade,” he says. “The technology is widely deployed in many large and medium-sized for-hire fleets as well, but now, even smaller fleets understand the regulatory environment is going to take us in that direction and they are going to adopt it.”

As the mandate approaches, industry observers anticipate more single-function devices that only do HOS logging will come on the market, with a lower price than today’s full-fledged onboard computers.

But JBA Telematics’ Beal predicts most current vendors won’t rush into providing such devices. For one thing, he says prices have come down enough that smaller carriers or owner-operators may forgo the single-function route and adopt a more robust system in order to get the other benefits such systems provide.

“If I was running a fleet, there is no way I’d put a truck out on the road without a hardwired, fully-functioning telematics device.”

Zonar Systems’ Fakkema agrees: “There are so many more uses than just compliance with these devices.”

That doesn’t mean you want to just run out and buy a system willy-nilly, says BlueTree Systems’ Powell. Whether you have deployed such technology, are planning to or are waiting for the final rule, “at the end of the day, you want to think about the same things when deploying these systems. Number one they have to be reliable, you have to consider cost and then you have to look at installation and implementation.”

In other words, do your homework.

If You Remember 'Peak Oil' And 'Peak Wireless Spectrum,' You're Laughing Now

As reported by Forbes: What do the wireless radio spectrum and fossil fuels have in common? Both were repeatedly predicted to run out. But both have kept growing thanks to continuous innovation.

The Wireless Crisis that Never Happened
Technology Review noted in November 2012 that just two years earlier, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission chairman and AT&T executives saw a looming crisis: wireless was running out of spectrum. Examples included the servicing of sports events and stadium concerts where thousands of photos were being snapped, videos recorded, and emails/texts sent. But while the FCC and AT&T weren't looking, short-range Wi-Fi stations came to the rescue, operating in unlicensed parts of the radio spectrum. Wi-Fi enabled much of that traffic to move over high-capacity land lines, completely bypassing the precious wireless spectrum. Additionally coming to the rescue were smart new devices that sense available frequencies and shift between them to avoid interfering with other devices (see, for example, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_radio). AT&T now acknowledges that the crisis never happened.

Ironically, bandwidth scarcity is created – artificially – by the very FCC policies that were designed to efficiently allocate it. Airwaves reserved for TV stations and federal agencies still go unused, according to Tech Review. Fixed allocations cannot keep up with innovation, and no one can reliably predict in which directions and along what paths technology will evolve. According to a 2007 report of the International Telecommunication Union and the World Bank, “…past and current regulatory practices have delayed the introduction and growth of beneficial technologies and services or have artificially increased costs. As a result, there is a renewed emphasis on … more light-handed market-based regulation.” That’s good. Microsoft’s Spectrum Observatory monitors which frequencies are being wasted by such regulations. Among their goals is extending the success of unregulated short-range Wi-Fi to wider-area broadband parts of the spectrum.

From Massive Shortage to Oil Independence
Similarly, as recently as 2010, the U.S. military warned of massive oil shortages by 2015. The U.S. Joint Forces Command warned that “by 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day.”

Somehow their intelligence missed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling of shale, which in recent years have opened up many previously unprofitable oil and gas reserves. As a result, shale went from supplying 1% of U.S. natural gas in 2000 to 25% in 2011, according to the National Center for Public Policy Research. North Dakota has gone from being a minor producer of oil to second only to Texas, surpassing Alaska. The U.S. is now expected to halve its reliance on imported oil by the end of this decade and could end it completely by 2035, some analysts say.

These game-changing innovations in radio spectrum capacity and oil and natural gas production have occurred in relatively unregulated segments of their respective industries. In the case of wireless, as mentioned above, the innovations are in unlicensed parts of the spectrum and in the devices themselves. In oil and gas, fracking is regulated more by the states, less by the Environmental Protection Agency. Individual states can be sensitive to intra-state variations in geology and hydrology of shale formations, in contrast to EPA one-size-fits-all regulations.

Trust in Freedom
FCC predictions about wireless and U.S. military predictions about fossil fuels went wrong very quickly. Both organizations flinched. They lost faith in free markets to broadcast demand and create incentives through rising and falling prices; and in free people to respond to those incentives to address shortage and scarcity. Julian Simon recognized this responsiveness in his 1981 book, The Ultimate Resource, which refers to human ingenuity to explore, discover, recycle, economize, and develop substitutes. Two new books update these ideas. The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet, by Ramez Naam, is more intimate, polished, and carefully reasoned. Infinite Progress: How the Internet and Technology Will End Ignorance, Disease, Poverty, Hunger and War, by Byron Reese, is the faster, lighter, more dramatic read. Both books chronicle advances in quality of life that only free people can produce.

Be wary of predictions about complex systems such as technology and natural resources. Trust in innovation and free markets.

Children and Smartphones: What's the Right Age?

As reported by Laptop: One of the biggest and most divisive debates among parents of young children and preteens deals with the age at which children should be allowed to have their own smartphone. The advent of kid-friendly apps and the ability to watch streaming videos in the palm of your hand have made the decision even more difficult for parents.

A recent survey conducted by mobile service provider Zact found that 56 percent of children ages 10 to 13 have a smartphone, while a shockingly high 25 percent of children ages 2 to 5 have a smartphone. But should children so young have access to their own handsets? And what is an appropriate age to own a smartphone?

We spoke with experts in the fields of child psychology and technology to help you decide when to finally cave and get your kid a smartphone.

How will the phone be used?
So, you’re sitting around the dinner table, and your 10-year-old brings up the subject of getting her own iPhone. Your immediate response may be to shut her down, deciding that she is too young for a handset, without giving it a second thought. But before you say no, you should question why she wants a smartphone in the first place.

“The real question is, ‘What is the phone for?’, not [at] what age the child should be using it,” said Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center. Rutledge — who focuses on the impact of media, social media and new technologies on children — recommends that parents look at the smartphone discussion from a practical standpoint.

“If the child is very active in team sports and there are a lot of logistics or emergencies, that is a very good reason to have a smartphone,” Rutledge said.

Of course, your son or daughter may simply want a smartphone for its social benefits. Rutledge said that at the fourth- or fifth-grade level, children today will start running into classmates who have their own smartphones. The desire to run in similar social circles as their classmates could make your children ask for their own smartphones.

The educational possibilities a smartphone presents should also play a role in any parent’s decision-making process. Proof of this educational potential exists in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store, which offer apps that can help teach children everything from basic language-arts skills to calculus.

Emotional maturity required
The consensus among experts in the field of child psychology and development is that there is no universal age at which a child is ready for a smartphone. Rutledge noted that introducing your child to mobile technology at a young age will provide them with the kind of solid foundation they need to function in the increasingly digital world. However, she pointed out that parents should be attuned to their children’s emotional and physical maturity before handing them a smartphone.

“There are kids that work the phone very easily and some that it is going to be a frustrating experience,” she said. If a child becomes frustrated with technology at an early age, they may develop an aversion to it that can stick with them for quite some time.

Dr. Sherry Turkle, a professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Sociology of Science, is a specialist on the psychological impact of computers and technology on children. She doesn’t believe there’s anything wrong with smartphones per se, but they can take away from the kind of face-to-face interaction children need to develop emotionally.

“Conversation with others is where children learn to have conversations with themselves,” Turkle said. “For kids growing up, that is the bedrock of development.”

Turkle believes that when people are capable of enjoying solitude, they put themselves in line for healthy interpersonal relationships down the road. Smartphones, she said, negatively impact people’s ability to be alone, as they will constantly try to contact someone when they are alone.

“Children must learn to be comfortable in their own company without having to retreat into a telephone or a game,” Turkle stressed. “These days, the minute people are alone, if only for a few minutes, they reach for a phone.”

Helping or hurting development?
Rutledge indicated that there is no evidence to suggest that smartphones impact children’s social development. There have, though, been studies that point to excessive screen time as being problematic, she said.

“There is also evidence that technology can provide very effective learning experiences, especially when children don’t have other types of positive cognitive and emotional stimulation,” Rutledge said. “This was the logic behind the development of ‘Sesame Street.’”

Michael Moyer, a father of one, said he tries to keep his iPhone in his pocket while he’s around his 2-year-old son. However, Moyer also admitted to using his handset as a distraction tool during particularly stressful situations. “We will give a phone to him in the waiting rooms of doctors’ offices, for instance; he’s scared of the doctor’s office,” he said.

Still, Moyer, who said he’d like to wait until his son is 6 or 7 years old before giving him a handset of his own, is skeptical of a smartphone’s ability to serve as a learning tool.

“Kids are wired to learn from other humans, not from animated displays,” Moyer said.

Middle school as middle ground
A former member of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Communications and Media, Dr. Kathleen Clarke-Pearson believes children entering middle school are at the point in their lives when they are becoming more independent. A smartphone, she contends, can ensure that distance doesn’t become too great.

“The cellphone provides access to parents and children,” said Clarke-Pearson, of the Chapel Hill North Medical Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. “It creates an opportunity for more communication, because the kids text the mother, saying, ‘I’m feeling sick,’ or ‘I’m feeling bullied’ or ‘The coach canceled practice, and I need a ride home.’”

“It’s part and parcel of this day and age,” Clarke-Pearson said. “It’s just part of the life of a middle schooler to have a cellphone.”

On the other hand, the experts we spoke with don’t condone giving a smartphone to a child younger than sixth grade. In fact, Clarke-Pearson told us it’s “not reasonable, sensible or developmentally appropriate” for children younger than that age to have a smartphone.

Turkle doesn’t have any specific guidelines, but she also urges parents to be cautious and use good discretion. “I don’t think there is a magic point, a ‘right’ age. But this is something that should be postponed as long as possible,” Turkle said.

Parents may be tempted to simply say “no” and not even discuss the subject with their child, but that tactic probably won’t work, Rutledge said. “Denying access not only doesn’t work, but it makes the activities more desirable,” she said.

Safety Precautions
Although there is clearly no firm answer as to when a child should get his or her first smartphone, experts agree that safety is paramount when a child does eventually get one.

A mother herself, Rutledge stresses that parents should have a conversation with their children outlining exactly what they will be doing with their phone.

“No child should use a smartphone or the Internet without being prepared with an understanding of the potential issues of privacy, permanence, searchability and netiquette,” Rutledge said.

“Look at it like a car: It can be very useful and very dangerous,” she added. “You don’t just throw them the keys; you teach them driving strategies and show them how to use it.

Rutledge said parents should create a contract with their children to discuss what the phone is for (and what it’s not for) and come to an agreement. Kids should also understand the implications of oversharing online. “There is no such thing as ‘private’ on the Internet,” she said.

To help prevent their children from sharing private information online, parents should implement parental controls on their children’s handsets. All of the major carriers offer parental controls that not only prevent children from visiting inappropriate sites, but can also keep them from sending texts or making calls to untrusted numbers.

Verizon’s FamilyBase service ($5 per month for up to 10 lines), which launched in July, allows parents to monitor the activity of each device on their account, set usage limits and block contacts they don’t want their children to call or text. AT&T’s Smart Limits for Wireless ($4.99 per month) and T-Mobile’s Family Allowance ($4.99 per month for as many lines as there are on the account) and MobileLife, offer similar features. Sprint’s Guardian ($9.99 per month for up to five lines) software offers all of the aforementioned benefits, while also helping to ensure teens don’t use their handsets while driving.

Bottom Line
Child-psychology experts don’t have anything against smartphones. In fact, they say these devices can be useful learning tools and can help parents stay in touch with their children. As kids approach middle school, most parents should feel comfortable giving Junior a device of his own, provided he demonstrates the necessary emotional maturity.

However, parents should sit down with their kids and teach them how to responsibly use their devices. Specifically, Clarke-Pearson said parents should discuss the dangers of sexting and sending photos of themselves, as well as how to act as good digital citizens.

Remember: Children will learn digital behavior by watching you. “If you don’t want your kid overusing their phones, honor the boundaries you want them to follow, Rutledge said. “Don’t bring your smartphone to the dinner table, don’t text while you drive and don’t ignore them while using the Internet.”   

Maryland schoolteacher creates art with GPS while bicycling

As reported by Watertown Daily Times: A Canton Maryland native has discovered a new hobby by drawing illustrations on city maps with his bicycle.

In search of a creative way to exercise, Michael J. Wallace, an eighth-grade science teacher at Gilman School in Baltimore, started sketching pictures on city maps, using the streets and roadways as boundaries for his art.  “I started doing this four years ago,” he said. “It began as me trying to spell my name. I wanted to see if it was possible to spell ‘Wally’ across the streets of Baltimore.”

Mr. Wallace then uses his sketched images as a bicycle route for him to track with a GPS system while riding.

“What I’ll do is print out a map of the area I’m going to try to create in,” he said. “Once I have something I really like, I’ll look at it in satellite view to confirm that a pathway even exists in the places I’m trying to go.”
After determining his ride plan, Mr. Wallace said, he rides his bicycle “like a giant Etch-a-Sketch,” mapping out his drawing through a GPS on his phone.

After each trek, the GPS shows him where in the city his workout took him, which appears on screen as the shapes of animals, fishermen, roller coasters or whatever else his drawing was. He then saves the image and downloads the picture he’s created.

“It’s a perfect fit for me, blending creativity with technology and exercise,” he said.

Mr. Wallace said he graduated from Canton High School in 1990, and after years of college, graduate school and teaching middle school science in North Carolina, he went to Baltimore, where he’s been for the past 11 years.

Although most of his 250 illustrations were created in Baltimore, Mr. Wallace mapped out five different illustrations here in his hometown, including images of a shark, a rat, a dog, the digits 13617 and the word “Bears.”

He also created an illustration in Baltimore of an owl in honor of one of his favorite places in his hometown, the Hoot Owl, 40 Park St. He also tracked an image of a train that he named the Hoot Owl Express.

Mr. Wallace said that he’s not always sure how long the rides will take him, especially the bigger routes.
His longest route left him with the image of a spider web across the city of Baltimore. The 44.69-mile route took him nine hours to complete. Some of his drawings take him through parks and tennis courts that sometimes have fences. To ensure the picture turns out, he said, he puts his phone through the fence, throws his bike over, jumps the fence and continues on his way.

Mr. Wallace said he is very careful to avoid private property while on his routes.
“The other day I went through a market in Baltimore where I had to lock up my bike, run my phone through the market, hide it on the other side, run back through the market, unlock my bike, ride all the way around the market, pick my phone up and that kept the line straight,” he said.

Mr. Wallace said although he was not the first person to use this technique as a form of exercise, he encourages others to be inspired by the illustrations he’s created and create their own.

“I disclose the entire process on my website, so anybody else can do it,” he said. “I encourage other people to try it because it’s a great form of exercise.”

Personal jet-pack gets flight permit for manned test in New Zealand

As reported by AFP: The New Zealand developers of a personalized jet-pack said Tuesday that aviation regulators have issued the device with a flying permit, allowing for manned test flights.

Martin Aircraft chief executive Peter Coker said the certification was a significant milestone in the development of the jet-pack, which the company hopes to begin selling next year.

"For us it's a very important step because it moves it out of what I call a dream into something which I believe we're now in a position to commercialize and take forward very quickly," Coker told AFP.
The jet-pack is the brainchild of inventor Glenn Martin, who began working on it in his Christchurch garage more than 30 years ago.

Inspired by childhood television shows such as "Thunderbirds" and "Lost in Space", Martin set out in the early 1980s to create a jet-pack suitable for everyday use by ordinary people with no specialist pilot training.

His jet-pack consists of a pair of cylinders containing propulsion fans attached to a free-standing carbon-fiber frame.

The pilot backs into the frame, straps himself in and controls the wingless jet-pack with two joysticks.
While the jet-pack's concept is simple enough -- Time magazine likened it to two enormous leaf blowers welded together -- fine-tuning it into an aircraft that is safe and easy to use has been a lengthy process.

Coker said the latest prototype, the P12, incorporated huge design improvements over earlier versions.

"Changing the position of the jet-pack's ducts has resulted in a quantum leap in performance over the previous prototype, especially in terms of the aircraft's maneuverability," he said.

Coker said a specialized version of the jet-pack designed for the military and "first responder" emergency crews such as firefighters should be ready for delivery by mid-2014.

A simpler model aimed at the general public is expected to be on the market in 2015.
The price of your own personal flying machine is estimated at US$150,000-250,000, although Coker said the cost was likely to come down over time.

It comes with a rocket-propelled parachute if anything goes wrong.

In May 2011, a remote control Martin jet-pack carrying a dummy pilot soared 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) above the South Island's Canterbury Plains as its creator watched anxiously from a helicopter hovering nearby.

The New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority said the jet-pack had now been issued with an experimental flight permit for development test flying, which allows someone to pilot the aircraft.

It said the test flights would be subject to strict safety requirements, with flights not allowed any higher than 20 feet (six meters) above the ground or 25 feet above water.

The flights are also limited to test areas over uninhabited land.

Vector Capital Sells Teletrac

Vector Capital recently sold Teletrac to Danaher Corp: a
multinational company headquartered in Washington DC.

Business Wire: Vector Capital has sold Teletrac Inc., a leading GPS tracking and fleet management software company, to Danaher Corporation. Teletrac provides a comprehensive cloud-based software as a service ("SaaS") platform to fleet operators. Teletrac's global network tracks more than 200k vehicles across 87 countries allowing fleet owners and managers to drive operational efficiency across their fleets.

Commenting on the transaction, Tony Eales, CEO of Teletrac, said: "Teletrac has established itself as the market leader in GPS tracking and fleet management software. Vector Capital has been a great partner in transforming Teletrac into a world class SaaS business through thoughtful investments to accelerate our product roadmap and go-to-market platform. As we look forward, Danaher is an ideal partner for our next phase of growth and for the long-term. We will enjoy the support of a global organization with a long track record of building market leading and operationally excellent brands. We believe this transaction will benefit our employees and customers, and will allow us to continue our long-term focus on service enhancement, innovative product development, and expanded market reach."

David Fishman, a Managing Director at Vector Capital, agreed, "We have had a very successful investment in Teletrac and partnership with the management team. We are pleased to have selected a buyer for Teletrac that will continue to invest in the company, its employees, and its products to further grow the business. Teletrac is the most recent example in Vector's long history of partnering with management to realize significant value by growing and significantly transforming technology companies."

About Teletrac Inc.
Teletrac is a leading fleet management software company headquartered in Southern California. Providing a comprehensive cloud-based SaaS platform, Teletrac currently helps automate more than 200k vehicles across 87 countries in all industries. With over 500 global employees, Teletrac focuses on providing advanced GPS asset location, diagnostics, fuel efficiency, safety, compliance, scorecarding and business intelligence in a single powerful web interface. Learn more at www.teletrac.com.

About Vector Capital
Vector Capital is a leading global private equity firm specializing in transformational investments in established technology businesses. Vector identifies and pursues these complex investments in both the private and public markets. Vector actively partners with management teams to devise and execute new financial and business strategies that materially improve the competitive standing of these businesses and enhance their value for employees, customers and shareholders. Among Vector's notable investments are Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Cambium Networks, Certara, Corel, Gerber Technologies, RAE Systems, Register.com, SafeNet, Technicolor, Tidel, WatchGuard Technologies, and WinZip.