If you are fascinated by giant fiberglass Paul Bunyans, car Stonehenges, the world's largest musky, or UFOs (like the one in the photo located in Mars, Pennsylvania) you'll love the Roadside America iPhone app ($2.99 from the iTunes store). The Roadside America app is offered by the same people who create the popular books and website by the same name. The app includes more than 6,000 attractions gleaned from decades of research, including largest and smallest items, little museums, bizarre graves, funny statues, odd buildings and signs, mystery spots, and more. Find oddities near you, get directions, read reviews by other travelers, see photo galleries, and share your finds on Facebook or Twitter. A refreshing distraction from the summer travel treadmill. Image © Roadside America

Magellan has stepped up its car GPS game with the introduction of its new RoadMate 5175T-LM "Traveler" model, which has a slightly larger-than-typical 5-inch (diagonal) screen, and works in portrait or landscape modes. The RoadMate 5175T-LM also has a slim profile, and incorporates a WiFi-enabled web browser. The Traveler includes product lifetime free map updates and traffic detection and avoidance service. Besides providing web searches, the WiFi connection keeps the Traveler's software updated, as well. I've always appreciated Magellan's inclusion of the AAA TourBook and its well-researched recommendations into its GPS devices, and the new Traveler continues this tradition. Overall the Traveler is a nice, contemporary addition to the Magellan line. Image © Magellan

As a cycling enthusiast, I follow the Tour de France (which starts today) closely, and while reading up on this year's edition, I came across a number of media outlets and apps claiming "live GPS tracking" of all Tour de France riders as part of their coverage. Really? Providing that level of coverage would require every rider to have a GPS device on his body or bike that is capable of determining his coordinates and transmitting them at frequent intervals during the many long stages of Le Tour. An impressive technical feat, but do-able. But surely I would have heard the buzz about this new mandatory GPS receiver/transmitter for all Tour riders? A check with some Tour teams didn't turn up any evidence of such devices, and as it turns out, riders aren't GPS-tracked individually (although it's of course a cool idea).

NBC, which is providing in-depth online and TV coverage of the Tour this year, replied to my inquiry very promptly with this description of how rider locations are being tracked for coverage this year:

"1. The Tour de France Organization provides real-time coordinates for all riders and groups in the tour which is verified by all the support vehicles via relay signals - the relay system sits in all official vehicles, motorcycles, and support cars to ensure gaps between groups and riders is accurate minute-by-minute.

2. The relay system feeds data back to the official Tour de France servers that send the data out to media organizations worldwide in real-time.

3. The MapMyFitness servers integrate the data into our core mapping and elevation technology to visually plot riders location including breakaways, chase groups, key riders (i.e., the Yellow Jersey), favorite riders, and the peloton in real-time via our mobile and web platforms that are being delivered to NBC Sports.

4. MapMyFitness has integrated all of the rider profile data, team information, photos, and video using this core location data to bring a completely new experience to cycling fans in the U.S."

No doubt this system will provide us cycling fans with all we need to know about rider positions in real time, but it's not quite individual-rider-level GPS tracking. Image © Tour de France

Google has soft-launched a project (it's not available to everyone yet) called Google+ that is intended to finally integrate a suite of high-end social media features into the Google ecosystem. Google+ includes "Circles," which gives users much more control (compared to Facebook) over the number, types, and privacy settings for online social groups they form, as well as a nice drag-and-drop group-forming interface; "Sparks" for content-sharing; "Hangout" for online or face-to-face meeting; instant photo-upload and more. Several key Google+ features rely on GPS and location services. You may add your location (or not, as you choose) to every Google+ post. Photos and videos may be paired with location (if you wish) and stored, organized, and accessed by all of your devices from Google's cloud data service.

Google has been rightly criticized for rolling out social media tools (think Buzz) that were not ready for prime time, but based on what I've seen, Google+  is robust, and well-thought-out and executed, and will grow quickly. One of its strengths is that it improves on features that have long troubled Facebook users, such as control of multiple circles of friends and associates.  Image © Google