Here’s a very interesting social network for cellphones.  Basically with Trapster, users can easily notify the locations of speed traps at the push of a button.  You can download their software which works on most blackberries and PDAs to be alerted and also alert drivers about speed traps.

Good idea?

Yes, this might have a good long term potential sorta like GasBuddy.com

It all started, of course, with the radar guns used by police officers to detect speeders. Then came radar detectors used by motorists who wanted to skedaddle faster than posted speed limits. Then police began using laser units which are more effective and more accurate than radar guns and so on and so on.

Now, the latest “upgrade” in this ongoing game of high-tech one-upmanship: Trapster. Trapster is a service developed and run by Pete Tenereillo of Carlsbad, Calif., and is essentially a cell-phone social network that allows motorists to hook up with one another for the purpose of issuing real-time alerts about the location of speed traps.

Trapster works like this: Go to the Web site, and sign up for a free membership. Then download the Trapster software to your cell phone or PDA. Tenereillo said that most current-generation cell phones, Blackberries and other PDA’s can accommodate the Trapster software.

Then, you’re ready to hit the road. And once you’re tooling down the highway, if you spot a state trooper or city cop lying in wait with a radar gun or laser unit, you just need to punch in “pound one” on your cell phone — or dial a toll-free number. Other users are then alerted on their cell phones or PDA when they approach the same speed trap.

via aol

In a recent article by BusinessWeek, the writer claims that real threat to Google could be mobile phones. Due to the smaller sized screens, Google possibly be facing a lot less advertising space.

This is true if everyone started Googling on their cellphones but I see that is unlikely within the next 5 to 10 years.

Although mobile devices have proven to be more efficient and pretty much everywhere in Asia, the U.S. still has a long way to go because the telecommunication companies don’t want to sell new technology. The biggest scandal in the U.S. is that Sprint, AT&T, and all the other cellular providers are still behind in speed compared to the rest of the world.

In Korea, they’ve had Wi-Max, broadband internet about the speed of Cable DSL here for last 2 years or so. In the U.S., Sprint expects to roll out Wi-Max maybe end of this year, and that’s still a “maybe”.

For U.S. telecommunication companies, they make far more money by selling consumers outdated 3G phones. Why sell new tech when you got $500 million inventory of outdated phones?

So, in final words, no. Google will never have to face any real threat from mobile phones. Instead, they will probably get bigger with viral spread of their new open-source Linux-based mobile operating system, the Android.

With capabilities similar or better than the iPhone, Google’s Anroid will be able to convince the world to use their phone. As for ads? Maybe they will give out free Google phones that have ads on them.

Thanks to Josh for tipping me on this article.