Maps

If you think Bluetooth is a rare dental condition and an app is what you eat before the entree, you might not be a candidate for today's high-tech, whiz-bang smart phones. Instead, you might be happier with a mobile phone geared toward seniors. Those phones typically don't have Web-surfing capability, GPS maps and video games. Instead they have large buttons, oversized digital readouts and hearing-aid compatibility, along with a relatively simple calling plan. Although senior-friendly phones aren't new, their lower prices and variety are. A recent price skirmish among wireless companies means seniors can get an easy-to-use cellphone and cheap service to go with it, said Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy for the independent and nonprofit Alliance for Generational Equity.

The MapMyFitness universe wants users to take a hike and give its new design and functionality a workout. And maybe you'll get to be king of the hill. The hiking, biking, fitness, running and walking tracking site and community is beta testing three new features: updated routes, personal challenges and courses. They let you check up on details around your run, walk or ride, check in on well-trod paths and check out how you're doing on your path to fitness.

Tens of thousands of homeowners in Southern California are being forced to buy costly flood insurance because new maps issued by a federal agency say they live in a high-risk flood area. The federal government has informed property owners in more than 150 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties about the new requirement. Most live near rivers and creeks, below dams or in low- lying areas that are at greater risk of flooding than previously believed, according to maps developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

All you need in your pocket or purse to find a hot restaurant. Name: Chef's Feed Available for: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; Android coming soon. What it does: Profiles award-winning chefs and their favorite dishes at specific restaurants in certain cities. From there, you can map the restaurant, add it to your profile and itinerary, rate the dish and tell your friends about it using Twitter or Facebook. Cost: Free. What's hot: This app is becoming a better tool for business travelers.

Some transit advocates attend meetings. Others write letters. Some even picket outside subway stations. Numan Parada makes maps. At a time when a subway-to-the-sea along Wilshire Boulevard is still far from a reality, he is plotting it on a map anyway. With the click of a mouse, he puts a notch next to the Getty Center on the rail line he envisions branching off Wilshire Boulevard to follow the 405 Freeway corridor to the San Fernando Valley. "That's a good place for a station," he said.

The U.S. State Department issued a new state-by-state warning for travelers to Mexico that details the more violent areas of the country but also points out popular places such as Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City where travel advisories aren't in effect. The warning announced Wednesday gives specific cities and states, with a map of the country, where gun battles and drug trafficking violence are likely to occur. Mexican tourism has been under a cloud for the last six years since gruesome killings related to drug cartels scared off visitors to many parts of the country.

In the quiet San Dimas office park that is longtime Rep. David Dreier's local headquarters, the Republican's staff members gamely tried to ignore the headlines from Sacramento. It was business as usual in the stately suite despite just-released maps of proposed new electoral districts. Dreier was in Kyrgyzstan, a staffer said, leading a bipartisan delegation. But southwest of San Dimas, in El Monte — part of the proposed new district that includes Dreier's San Dimas home — the commenting on the Citizens Redistricting Commission's maps had already begun.

Two independent research teams have used a new method to develop the first detailed maps of the places where DNA is likely to be reshuffled in the genomes of African Americans, creating a tool that will help find genes that cause disease, scientists reported Wednesday. The new maps pinpoint thousands of "hot spots" on chromosomes where recombination — a gene-swapping process that is crucial to creating genetic diversity but is sometimes linked to disease — is likely to occur.

Proposed political maps released today could shake up theCalifornia congressional delegation, creating new risks for a number of longtime and influential Democrats and Republicans in the state’s delegation. The draft redistricting plan, released by a voter-approved citizens’ commission, dramatically reconfigures the political boundaries of districts represented by prominent politicians such as Republican David Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee. David Wasserman, House editor of the Cook Political Report, said the maps could boost the Democrats’ numbers in the state’s 53-member House delegation by four seats, identifying as among the biggest losers in the remapping proposals Dreier, of San Dimas, and fellow Republicans Elton Gallegly of Simi Valley, Gary Miller of Diamond Bar and either Brian Bilbray of Carlsbad or Jeff Denham of Atwater.

Maps are more than a means for locating places throughout the world. Meteorologists use maps in forecasting weather and geologists use them in predicting earthquakes. There are skills that can help you become a more effective map reader. Explore the world through map-making or cartography by using the direct links on The Times' Launch Point Web site: http://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ Here are the best sites for getting your schoolwork done or for just having fun.

When Dean Lombardi landed his first job in the front office with an NHL franchise, he didn't purchase a house by one of the 10,000-plus lakes in Minnesota or dabble in the rental apartment market. This was the home address for a newly minted assistant general manager for six months: Met Center, Bloomington, Minn. The office of North Stars GM Jack Ferreira. "He had it made," said Ferreira, who is now a special assistant to Lombardi in Los Angeles. "There was a sofa in my office.

It is of course no coincidence that President Obama's first two campaign rallies were in Ohio and Virginia this past weekend. In Ohio, you have the quadrennial bellwether, one of the most fiercely contested states in recent presidential history, and one that has voted for the winning candidate in every election since 1964. And in Virginia, you have what could be the decisive state in 2012, one that had been a traditional Republican stronghold until Obama turned it blue in 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO - It looks likeGoogle Inc.won't be able to put the Street View privacy scandal in its rear-view mirror any time soon. A newly unredacted report from federal investigators and fresh information about the engineer behind the data collecting software are casting doubt on Google's assurances that it did not realize that its street-mapping cars were snatching personal data from Wi-Fi networks used by millions of unsuspecting households....

If you've perused the selection of apps available for Windows Phone, you might have noticed that some of the greatest hits for iPhone and Android users aren't there -- yet. But that appears to be shifting somewhat. Some, like MapMyFitness, are slowly dipping a toe in Microsoft's mobile waters. Two MapMyFitness apps -- the original offerings of MapMapRun and MapMyRide -- are now available as free apps in the marketplace. "We think that there will continue to be competition across the operating systems, and Microsoft is certainly a big player," said Robin Thurston, co-founder and chief product officer for MapMyFitness.

Google Inc.is facing a $25,000 fine for impeding a Federal Communications Commission investigation into the tech giant's data-collection practices. The world's largest Internet search engine came under fire two years ago when it was revealed that its popular but controversial street-mapping program - in which Google's cars snap photos of homes, intersections and other neighborhood features - was also picking up sensitive information from home wireless networks, including emails, passwords and Internet usage history.

Scientists have published a new map of gene variations that influence the risk for various brain diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer's. More than 200 researchers involved in Project ENIGMA (for Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) pored over thousands of MRI images and DNA screens from 21,151 healthy people. They looked for specific, heritable gene variations that appeared to cause disease. They sought out gene variants associated with reduced brain size, which is a marker for Alzheimer's disease and dementia, as well as mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The Department of Energy's Wind Powering America program has released new maps of wind energy potential in the U.S. The maps, the first new ones in 19 years, are meant to serve as a resource for policymakers, state and local governments and anyone looking to invest in wind power sites or anyone trying to determine the best potential locations. The maps are based on data gathered in 2010 and show average annual wind speeds at a height of 80 meters above the ground. Some of the information is fairly well know, such as the fact that the best states for wind energy are found along the north central tier of the country, the Great Plains, and in states farther south, such as Oklahoma and Texas.

The first map to name America as a continent will be put on display in July at the Library of Congress, in Washington, D.C., which has finally collected $10 million needed for its purchase. This is the only known copy to survive of the 1,000 printed from 12 wood blocks. German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller, who created the map in 1507 as part of a project begun in St. Die, France, named the continent after the Venetian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

EVENTS Inspired by the pollution-fighting Ciclovías of Bogota, Colombia, from some 30 years ago, L.A.'s fourth annual CicLAvia creates a new vision of our city, one where bicycles fill major thoroughfares in and around downtown instead of cars. This year is the biggest event yet, with 10 miles of streets closed to only bike and pedestrian traffic. It's difficult to decide which is the best part, the exercise from spending a day cycling without fear of traffic, the sense of community from seeing how different a city looks when viewed up close or some intoxicating combination of both that makes this vision seem like it could be more than just an annual reality.

The Angels and Minnesota Twins played a three-game series this week in Minneapolis over a span of four days. And there wasn't a rainout. The games were scheduled on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for what might be called weather insurance; for teams located east of the Rocky Mountains, Major League Baseball tries to build in off days after home openers just in case the first game is postponed because of rain. That insurance date is just one square in the Rubik's Cube that is MLB's annual schedule, a mosaic of dates and locations spelling out where each of the sport's 30 teams plays its 162 games — 81 at home and 81 on the road.