Install the gem

$ wget http://www.moostrax.com/static/MoosTrax-0.1.gem
$ sudo gem install MoosTrax-0.1.gem

Try out this demo script

make sure to fill your API_KEY in.

require 'rubygems'
require 'moostrax'
require 'time'
 
def get_local_date(date_str)
    Time.parse(date_str + ' UTC').getlocal.asctime
end
 
mt = MoosTrax.new('API_KEY')
 
begin
    devices = mt.devices
    devices.each do |device|
        info = mt.device_info(device)
        puts "Device ID: #{info['device_id']}\n"
        puts "Device Name: #{info['device_name']}\n"
        puts "Last Contact: #{get_local_date(info['last_contact'])}\n"
        puts "Date Added: #{get_local_date(info['date_added'])}\n"
 
        location = mt.location(device)
 
        puts "Most Recent Location: #{location['latitude']}, #{location['longitude']} #{get_local_date(location['date'])}\r\n"
 
        history = mt.history(device, Time.now-86400, Time.now)
        puts "Number of location updates in past 24 hours: #{history.length}\r\n"
 
        puts "First Location in History: #{history[0]['latitude']}, #{history[0]['longitude']}\r\n" if history.length >=1
 
        puts '------------------------------------------------------'
    end
 
rescue MoosTrax::APIError => e
    puts "Unable to access MoosTrax: #{e.message}"
end

For more information, check out the Developer API Wiki.

If you are interested, please e-mail moostraxsupport@gmail.com

Also, the first version of the Android client is finished. It is now available on the Android market. You must have a MoosTrax account to use the application though. E-mail moostraxsupport@gmail.com for more information. Final screenshots below.

I am a frequent user of aggregated, community news sites such as slashdot, digg, and reddit. Unfortunately, I find myself skipping many of the “top articles” on these news sites, experiencing difficulty in finding articles with substance. Of course it is the community that chooses these stories, so I think it is safe to say they are to blame. They won’t admit to that though, because who doesn’t like to see the following as a top story. The wonderful thing about digg also, is the digging of comments. A plus or a minus. Its nice to see that the 3rd most dugg comment on that article is:

Photoshop>Filter>Fractal

OMG SO CREATIVE.

Well, I guess that may be funny to some people. Maybe just not me. Also, commenting on an article showing a Fractal Kitty Pic just doesn’t seem very constructive.

Now, it could very well be possible that I just view the internet and use it much differently than most. Fundamentally, I use it for communication and finding/sharing information. Of course there are many other uses as well, such as entertainment, but I don’t frequent the internet for that. There is actually a very large group of people who use it strictly for entertainment…YouTubers, anyone?

To be honest, I can’t fault anyone for why they use the internet. I personally just get very frustrated when having to continually keep my bullshit meter active. Luckily when I search google I can sift through the results with ease, being pretty accurate at determining the relevance and worthiness of a result.

More information, more people, which has to mean, more BS.

To put it in perspective, I feel that the internet used to be the place where I could escape the amount of BS in my real world interactions. It was a place where people took the time to articulate a thought and contribute constructively to the world. Maybe this was because you had to exercise some intelligence to navigate a computer, get online, and find a place to discuss something before you could post.

I could talk about this topic for quite a while, but I think I would end up on some sort of ramble or tangent, so I won’t continue to bore anyone.

In conclusion, all that I can do is share my opinion, and hope that a few people change their old ways of making their wonderful, pointless, space wasting contributions.

And to end this, I’d like to just say how funny it is to me when I meet someone in my day to day life interactions who thinks they know something about computers. They will tell me about some software and how they think it works, with an infinite confidence, while I smile and know that they have no idea what they are talking about. And sometimes, for those cocky bastards, I will shove it in their face and bring their ego back down in check .

http://twitter.com/xoclipse

Update 12/23/08 7:30 PM EST:
I just checked the status of the migration and its really close(hopefully in the next few hours!).

Update 12/23/08 10:30 PM EST:
I’m still waiting…I’m going to check in the morning…

The developer API for MoosTrax is now available for use.

You can get your devices, device info, current location, and history.

Please see the reference here: http://moostrax.com/help/wiki/Developer_About

I have been working on a brand new site, MoosTrax.com, which will resume the tracking services previously offered by BlackBerryTracker. This site should be a little more user friendly, and much more stable, as I’m aware that quite a few people were having issues with the BlackBerryTracker site.

Currently, the new site has Live Tracking, History, and a Facebook Application. I will probably have GeoFences, which will be slightly different than how they were on BlackBerryTracker, up in about a week.

The Developer API should be also available by the end of this weekend.

The Facebook Application is all new as well, and integrates much better with the new Facebook design. Check it out here.

A new client for the BlackBerry was designed from the ground up, and should be much more stable and better battery life than the older BlackBerryTracker client.

You can check out the site at:

http://moostrax.com