Use Taxihack on your way home tonight

The NYC Econ Dev Office held a contest to back the best city-based “apps” that make use of open APIs local gov. has made available to developers, and announced the winners a few days ago:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/psfk/feed/~3/IU3FEAPO2Z0/new-york-city-names-winners-of-apps-contest.html

 

My favorite of the four winners is Taxihack, which uses open Taxi Commission data to associate Yelp-style comments to each driver medallion. The “app” is actually neither an app nor an m-site, but a smartphone optimized web site that posts user comments in real time and stores them in a searchable db.  “Comment Live on NYC Taxis” via email or Twitter to benefit other readers, OR search on your taxi’s medallion to get the driver’s history, experience and vehicle, e.g.:

 

 

Recent Comments

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TwittsMcGee @taxihack 4N94 best cab ever! He just picked me up in a blizzard and let me ask some freezing old dude if he wanted to share taxis with me.

about 3 hours ago about Taxi 4N94

 

 

Big Apple Ed looks like a me-too effort.  Insideschools.org is much better.