Filed under: Macworld, Software, Deals, App Store
HearPlanet free for a little while longer
Just a reminder as Macworld Expo heads into the home stretch, the iPhone/iPod touch travel application HearPlanet is available for free this week only.
HearPlanet turns your iPhone into a travel guide, with audio tours of over 230,000 locations. Normally, HearPlanet is $3.99, but it's free during Macworld. You can get it in the App Store.
The company's party bus has been a fixture outside Moscone Center, and will be outside TUAW's Tweetup at the Thirsty Bear at 6 p.m. Stop by and say hi to them (and us too) as we celebrate another Macworld Expo and toast the (hopeful) future of the show..
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Terry Reinert said 10:54PM on 1-08-2009
I'll tell you what... I checked out this application and it is pretty awesome. I reviewed it on my blog from a photographers standpoint. It is really going to rock on photowalks and whenever I am traveling to places I have never been before. Thanks for the heads up!
Link to my review: http://www.tkrphoto.com/2009/01/hearplanet-application/
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Stefan Bethke said 10:09AM on 1-09-2009
As far as I can tell, it just reads out (using speech sythesis) Wikipedia articles. Wikipedia is credited nowhere in the app, which is definitly against the rules.
I would like to have a decent Wikipedia reader, and if it could do geolocation and read articles out that would be fantastic. But they way these guys have set it up, it's just a sham.
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Ron said 12:05PM on 1-09-2009
Normally, I don't complain very much about a free app, but this one has had way too much promotion to get away with exaggerated claims! It seems like they are trying to promote themselves to the top of the free apps list just in time to switch to a paid app.
Somebody's got friends to help them promote this app, getting so much press and reviews, yet the description of it does not match its functionality!
It merely lists Wikipedia articles for things in your vicinity (in my case, it listed things many kilometres from where I was standing).
A true walking tour guide would have to know (down to a small area) where you are walking, and describe things as you pass them. This app doesn't have this type of information in it, if it's relying on an encyclopedia for its information.
It would have to have a completely different architecture to actually be a walking tour or photo tour guide.
Even the reviewer above (an admitted friend of the developer) stated it would help you when you "knew that you were looking at something important but had no freaking clue as to what it was?"
Sorry to say, but this program will not do that. It has no way of knowing what you are looking at... only that you are in the vicinity of something described in Wikipedia! Apparently, there is no credit to Wikipedia anywhere which is against their usage policies.
It has potential and has some great ideas behind the concept of a walking tour guide, or photo shoot guide, but unfortunately, the execution does not match the intent.
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Greg May said 2:57PM on 1-09-2009
First off, the application is pretty good! There are some bugs of course, but the app is free, and easy to use, and runs cleanly. It's also quite small of a download, less than 1 MB!
In addition, there are credits to Wikipedia on the articles, at least the ones that I've seen. And the reader is pretty good- the voice is easy on the ears.
Chris said 12:32AM on 1-10-2009
Every article I looked at very clearly credited Wikipedia as the source, except a few I found around San Francisco that were credited to HearPlanet and which featured real human tour guides.
Also - the Macworld audio tour guide they were promoting (search HearPlanet for "Macworld") featured a lot of event and party hosts speaking about their parties.
Pretty cool stuff.
- Chris
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Sam Edwards said 8:11PM on 1-10-2009
I believe I saw credit given to Wikipedia at the end of the text when I scrolled. There's even a link to the article and GNU license. I also saw places that had different credits at the bottom from a travel company.
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