Google Maps has implemented a great new feature to customize your driving route after they give you directions. I’ve used this a couple times since it was rolled out with great luck. Basically, after you put in your start and end points they give you a route as a blue line on the map. Then you can click and drag any point on that route and move it to the route you really want to go. It is useful if you are picking something up along the way or just want to use a different road than they suggest (the “scenic” route for example).

It seemed to work great until tonight. I wanted to give someone not too familiar with the area easy directions into DC via Interstate 66. Google Maps refuses to give directions using I-66 inside of the Capital Beltway going eastbound. I even tried having my starting address as “I-66, Arlington” and the end address being Constitution Ave (which 66 runs directly into). The first thing Google does is exit 66 and take a much more confusing route. No matter how many stops I added, it refuses to use 66 eastbound inside the beltway. It had me literally driving in circles going in and out of DC because it would only drive West across the Roosevelt Bridge.

Anyone else run into this?

Google Talk thinks I’m sad. I’m not sure why, but it keeps telling people my status is “:(” while I’m chatting with them. My actual status doesn’t change, but mid-chat with people, it sends them my “updated” status and tells them it is “:(“. Kevin was the first to notice this strange happening and told me about it multiple times. Then today while I was one a different machine than usual, with a separately downloaded version of Google Talk, Dwayne pointed out my “emo filter” which had sent him my sad face status while mid-chat.

I have done a bit of googling…but have found nothing. In fact, searching for “:(“ turns up some rather…um…null results.

The could be related to having GMail open at the same time as GTalk because I almost always have them both open. This would be an easier problem to point to if I had the web based gtalk client enabled withing GMail, but I don’t. But still, it could be related. And why the frown face? What is GTalk so sad about?

Anyone else heard of this before?

And yes, I realize I told Kevin I was going to “blob” about this in the above screen shot. I just blobbed all over the place.

(screen shot courtesty of Kevin)

I have a Hotmail account which I use almost entirely for signing up for random crap online: message boards, giveaways, shady services….it is my spam repository for the most part. I don’t check it as regulary as I do my GMail account because usually, I am just mass deleting spam. I also use Firefox (2.0.0.4 at the moment). Recent reports say Firefox has a 25% market share which is pretty significant…I have been very frustrated lately just to open and read emails in Hotmail because everything has been painfully slow. It doesn’t matter what my connection speed is when I check it, the interface is always painfully slow to respond to the simplest requests.

I decided to test Hotmail in IE7 … works like a charm. WTF? Is this a Firefox issue or a hotmail issue. Given the fact that many other sites with similar AJAX-like functionality work great in Firefox, I’m going to guess it is a Hotmail issue. I have a couple options (unless someone has a tip on how to speed up Hotmail in Firefox):

• Stop using hotmail (I have too many accounts tied to this address to give it up and am too paranoid that someone from my past won’t have my new email)
• Use Hotmail in IE (never!)
• Revert to “Classic” Hotmail (very tempting and may happen…but why must I revert to an old version simply because Microsoft doesn’t optimize their software for multiple browsers?)
• Deal with and hope they fix the issue (not holding my breath)

This got me thinking, how long have I had my hotmail email address (which was also the first email address I ever had). http://account.live.com tells me I signed up October 14, 1996 (apparently Hotmail went live July 4, 1996). Anyone else remember when Microsoft didn’t own “HoTMaiL”?