Latest from Tom's Hardware in Maps

Google Maps With AR Rolls Out to Some Testers

Nathaniel Mott — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 17:26:02 +0000

(Image credit: Wall Street Journal)

Most people have experienced augmented reality (AR) on two very different ends of the spectrum. Many have played AR games on their phones, and some have used AR in professional settings, but there aren't that many options in between. Google's current testing of AR in Google Maps should help bridge that gap by offering an AR feature that can come in handy in everyday life.

Google announced the feature at its I/O developer conference in May 2018. Now, the company's finally released a trial version to select testers--read: members of the tech press, like the Wall Street Journal, who it wants to remind consumers that this feature will exist, and "Local Guides," a community of users who share tips, photos and new places on Google Maps. It's said to be about as good as you'd expect Google Maps in AR to be.

Here's how it works. People who search for walking directions in Google Maps will see a new "Start AR" option. The app will then ask them to look around with their phones, work to recognize some landmarks and then use AR to help navigate, by layering AR arrows and a map in front of what your phone's camera sees. It can also point out places of interest, like landmarks and restaurants.

That might not be as much fun as catching Pokemon in Pokemon Go, but it should be more useful. GPS is often spotty when it comes to walking directions because it can't quite figure out where you are with all the obstructions in the way. Combining that good-but-not-great data with landmarks might help.

Google is essentially laying the groundwork for a new method of navigation with this feature. It's not hard to imagine people constantly using Google Maps in AR, or at least a similar tool, every time they need to walk somewhere they don't know very well. Especially if AR glasses truly are the future. The Wall Street Journal claims that the feature may end up on AR smartglasses down the line.

Google hasn't announced a release date for the feature's debut to the general public.

Google Opens Up About Location Data Collection

Andrew E. Freedman — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 20:56:00 +0000

(Image credit: Ink Drop/Shutterstock.com)

In response to a report from the Associated Press, Google has changed the wording of a web page about Location History to reflect that it does collect data, even when that setting is disabled.

The page, which previously suggested that data would no longer be stored, now reads:

"This setting does not affect other location services on your device.” It also acknowledges that “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps.”

The AP's original investigation was published on Aug. 13, revealing that Google's applications still collect location data despite the setting, and cited security experts and lawmakers believing that Google was being disingenuous. Google pointed out data can still be deleted. To some, this re-wording will show the search giant to be more honest, but privacy practices in tech are likely to continue to stay in the public eye.

Google I/O 2018: What's New with Google Assistant, Android P, Maps and More

Mark Spoonauer — Tue, 08 May 2018 19:00:03 +0000

MOUNTAIN VIEW - Google CEO Sundar Pichai kicked off Google I/O 2018 with a nod to the Facebook controversy, but the event quickly segued to just how fricking smart its tools are becoming through AI machine learning.

The most amazing demo? Google Assistant carrying on a conversation on behalf of the user. But there's lots of compelling new features in Android P, as well, and it's available in beta today.

“There are very real and important being raised about the impact of the test advance and the role they’ll play in our lives,” said Pichai. “We feel a deep sense of responsibility to get this right.”

Google’s continued mission is to “solve problems for users around the world,” and there were many solutions on display, especially around Google Assistant.

Google Assistant: More Voices, Continued Conversations and More

Google Assistant is getting a more natural sounding voice, complete with pitch, pace and pauses. Actually, Assistant is getting six new voices (male and female). Even John Legend’s voice is coming to Google Assistant later this year.

Google can do all of this by extrapolating on a short recording session.

Google’s Scott Huffman talked about other advances in Google Assistant. One of the top new features is Continued Conversation, which will allow you to keep talking to the assistant without having to continually say “Hey, Google.”

You’ll also be able to perform Multiple Actions, which means you’ll be able to combine different requests into one. So, for example, you could turn on your popcorn maker and fire up the Warriors’ game on TV at the same time.

To help teach our children manners, Google is encouraging kids to say “Please,” and the Assistant is responding with positive reinforcement.

Google Smart Displays, which are similar to the Amazon Echo Show, will be on sale this July and will integrated with YouTube TV. You'll also be able to do video calls, preview your commute and more.

You won't have to purchase a Smart Display to get visual assistance, as Google Assistant on your phone will be able to do things like re-order your last order from Starbucks (you can confirm on the screen), as well as say "make it warmer" and then address the thermostat control right from the Google Assistant screen. In a way, Google Assistant is making standalone apps obsolete.

The most amazing demo was Google Duplex, which showed how Google Assistant could book a haircut for you by making the call and even answering the questions for you. The fact that Google Assistant could carry on a conversation for you is amazing.

Last but not least, Google Assistant is coming to Google Maps this summer.

Android P: Smarter AI, New Swipe UI

With Android P, the big focus (not surprisingly) is AI. Adaptive battery uses on-device machine learning, which tries to adapt to your usage patterns based on the apps you use and at what times of day.

Google is seeing a 30 percent reduction in CPU app wake-ups.

A new Adaptive Brightness setting adjusts the brightness based on your preferences. You’ll wind up making less manual adjustments.

The UI in Android P is getting more intelligent, too. Google is predicting actions, like calling a specific contact or starting a workout. And you’ll see these App Actions right on the home screen.

When you search for the new Avengers movie, you’ll see a suggestion action that will give you deep links to buy tickets in the Fandango app.

A new Android Slices feature brings bits of apps into your search results. So, for example, you’ll be able to order a ride from Lyft. An early access program is coming next month for developers.

Android P is getting an iPhone X-like interface, too. So, you can swipe up from the bottom of the display to see all of your open apps, and then you can swipe up again to see all of your apps. But it's not just a carbon copy of Apple. You'll see thumbnails of your favorite apps in the initial card view, as well as a Google search box.

With Android P, Google is also trying to save us from our phone addictions. Android P will show you how much time you’ve been spending on your device, as well was break down of how much you’re using each app.

The OS will also try to help you be more present with a new Do Not Disturb Mode. Just turn your phone over to engage it, so you won’t be pinged or vibrated. However, you’ll still be able to reached by Starred Contacts. Fade screen from grayscale at 10 pm, less engaging.

Android P Beta is available starting today on Google Pixel.

Google Maps

With the new Google Maps, Google is focusing on discovery. It will be recommending places to go like restaurants but in a way that leverages machine learning. You’ll see a Your Match score, which is based on places you’ve been to or others that you’ve rated. It’s like a more personalized Yelp.

If you long press on any place, you can add it to your short list and then share the list out with friends. Your friends an then vote in real-time, so there should be less copying and pasting.

These features are coming to Google Maps on Android and iOS later this summer.

Gmail and Google Photos: New Features on Way

Gmail is getting a new feature called Smart compose, which is rolling out to to all users this month. The idea is to auto-suggest phrases based on what you’re typing. So Gmail can automatically enter your address when you’re typing or other phrases based on context.

Google Photos is getting smarter as well. For example, the app can see when your friend Lisa is in a pic and suggest that you share it with her. And if you have a black and white photo, Google Photos can colorize it.

The coolest new feature coming to Google Maps appears when you’re navigating on foot. A new view shows your camera view so you’ll know whether you’re going in the right direction. You’ll even see ratings for businesses as you pan around in real time.

Google Lens: Copy and Paste Text From Real World?

In the next few weeks the Google Lens feature will get a lot brainier. For starters, it will be able to understand and recognize words.

You can copy and paste from then real world into your phone. Or you could see photos pop up of dishes and their ingredients that you’re looking at on a menu.

With Style Match, you can see a shirt or pants and Google will find something that looks the same or similar.

Google Lens is also getting more proactive, as it will just start looking for objects like books as you pan the camera around. If you point your phone at a poster of a music artist, you’ll see a YouTube video pop up.

Google News: Completely New Design

Google News is getting a major overhaul, and it will be available to everyone starting next week. The look and feel is more modern, and you can quickly catch up on headlines via a personalized feed of news. There's also bigger images and a better video experience.

Other features include Newscasts, which brings together everything from trailers to Tweets and quotes. You can also drill deeper on topics with Full coverage. The goal is to provide a real-time event understanding.

A new Newstand section will provide access to more than 1,000 titles. Subscribe with Google lets you use your Google account to access paid content across all of your devices. Google is working with 60 publishers and will be rolling out in the coming weeks.

Autos: Predicting Red Light Runners

Alphabet’s Waymo, which focuses on self-driving cars, showed off a new way to identify pedestrians through machine learning. More impressive, the company can predict when a car in front of you may run a red light and slow you down.

Waymo has driven more than 5 billion miles in simulation, so it’s getting better at helping navigate in all sorts of conditions, including snow storms.

Using AI for Good

Google has been opening AI centers around the world. Bringing expert diagnosis where doctors aren’t available. Eye scans, for example, can predict cardiovascular risk.

Google is also working to help doctors predict medical events. We can quantitative predict the chance of re-admission by looking at over 100,00 data points.

AI can also help with accessibility. Google showed a clip from ESPN’s First Take where it was able to separate speakers and silence the person talking over the other, so you’re better able to follow the conversation.

Google has also found a way for this who are disabled to communicate via Morse code, turning it into a digital voice. This is a bid upgrade for someone who used to have to use head gear.

This article originally appeared on Tom's Guide.

Google Increases Offline Functionality For Maps; Now Rolling Out On Android

Rexly Peñaflorida — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 20:45:00 +0000

At Google I/O earlier this year, additional improvements were shown for Google Maps, specifically focusing on additional offline capabilities. Six months later, the new features are finally rolling out on Android devices.

In the past, you could look at only a portion of the map without an online connection. Now, you can download large areas for offline use. An outlined square appears on the screen, and any portion of the map inside can be downloaded. Even in Offline Mode, you can still receive turn-by-turn directions, search for a destination, and find out more information about location such as ratings, contact information, and operating hours.

Obviously, downloading offline data for a large city as opposed to a few blocks can take up a significant amount of storage on your mobile device. By default, offline maps can only be downloaded through a Wi-Fi connection to reduce usage fees. The offline maps also automatically kick in when you move to an area where an online connection is spotty or nonexistent. When you return to an area with a strong connection, the app returns to its online state.

For now, the features will begin to appear on Android devices. The iOS version will also get the update at some point in the future, but Google hasn't specified an exact date.

______________________________________________________________________

Rexly Peñaflorida II is a Contributor at Tom’s Hardware. He writes news on tech and hardware, but mostly focuses on gaming news. As a Chicagoan, he believes that deep dish pizza is real pizza and ketchup should never be on hot dogs. Ever. Also, Portillo’s is amazing.

Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Report: Nokia To Sell HERE Maps, Apple May Be Favorite Bidder

Lucian Armasu — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 15:40:00 +0000

HERE Maps on iOS

Bloomberg reported that Nokia is auctioning its HERE Maps business and is expecting to get at least $3.2 billion for it. The main bidders seem to be Apple, Alibaba and Amazon.

Facebook, a group of German car makers, and a private-equity firm are also looking at the purchase. Nokia has also approached Baidu, Sirius XM Holdings and Harman International Industries for their interest. Suffice it to say that this should be one interesting auction, potentially landing Nokia a significantly larger sum than the asking price of $3.2 billion. However, it's unlikely that the money-losing maps business could get Nokia more than the $8.1 billion it initially paid for it back in 2007.

Nokia bought the NAVTEQ maps business just after the iPhone came out, at a time when it probably should have invested the money in catching up to Apple in touchscreen smartphones. It also didn't help that Nokia couldn't manage the business to a point where it was profitable and the company could get its acquisition money back.

According to Nokia's own financials, the HERE Maps assets were only worth $2.15 billion last year. The vision had sales of $980 million in 2014, but an operating loss of $1.34 billion.

Nokia recently signaled that it's going to focus much more on the networking side of its business with the $16.6 billion acquisition of Alcatel. However, there are some reports that the company is also going to come back to the smartphone market in 2016.

The most likely buyer of Nokia's maps service may be Apple, which was furiously criticized by many when it launched its own maps service back in 2011. The company launched a service that used aggregate data mostly from other providers, which ensured that the data wouldn't be of the same quality everywhere. In some cases, the data was completely wrong, leading people to wrong streets, bridges and so on.

Since then, Apple has improved its service, but it's arguably still incomplete compared to Google Maps. Right now, HERE Maps is seen as the most compelling competitor to Google Maps. That means that if Apple buys it, it could finally have a credible maps solution and brand.

One of the biggest advantages of HERE Maps compared to Google Maps is its ability to store maps of certain locations completely offline but still offer users navigational capabilities. Google Maps, on the other hand, can only cache certain map elements, and navigation doesn't work on them. All of this makes HERE maps significantly more compelling for traveling abroad, because you can download the maps ahead of time.

All of that said, Apple doesn't like to pay too much when acquiring companies. If Cupertino feels it has to overpay to get Nokia's maps division, it may back out, leaving the acquisition opportunity to Amazon, Facebook, Audi, Daimler or one of the two Chinese companies (Alibaba and Baidu). The initial bids from the companies are expected to be made by the end of this week.

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Canals of Venice Come to Street View

Daniel Starkey — Thu, 21 Nov 2013 16:32:00 +0000

Street View is one of the less useful products to come out of Google, but it's also home to a fascinating new form of people watching and exploration. After adding in sections of the Great Barrier Reef, the search giant's latest addition to the Trekker project is Venice.

Trekker is a new project using a large backpack equipped with 15 cameras to help it capture an insane amount of detail. Google employees take the backpack and walk (or swim) through places that can't accommodate cars. It's a laudable effort, and one I hope to see more of in the coming months.

Check out the results, here.

Google Maps Gets 360 View of London's River Thames

Jane McEntegart — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 10:00:00 +0000

The Port of London has announced that for the first time, 360 degree views of the River Thames are now available on Google Street View. Though it might not sound like that big of a deal, this actually marks the first European river to be included on Google Street View.

London's Port Authority actually approached Google about mapping the river and the search engine used a combination of its Google Trekker Camera and the PLA's hydrographic surveying vessel, the Yantlet. The Yantlet took Google's Trekker on a 30 mile trip up and down the river, from Woolwich to Reichmond.

"The Thames is the central tributary that Londoners like myself and tourists like to navigate by," said Google UK's Ed Parsons. "The river also offers some of the most scenic and iconic views of London from arguably the best vantage points the city has to offer, and we are thrilled to be able to work with the PLA to share this with users from around the world through Street View."

The news follows Google's decision to photograph Britain's canals with the Trekker backpack. The pack measures 4 feet tall and is fitted with a 15-angle lens camera that takes a photograph every 2.5 seconds. The Canada & River Trust got a loan of one of the Trekkers from Google and planned to spend a month walking the 40 pound Trekker over 100 miles to capture the canals for Street View.

You can check out the Thames on Street View here.

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Harry Potter's UK Diagon Alley Now On Google Street View

Jane McEntegart — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:30:00 +0000

If you grew up on the Harry Potter books (or even just read them to someone who did), the name Diagon Alley will no doubt ring a few bells. The fictional street is where Harry Potter and his friends go to buy their school supplies in the first book and it's a regular feature in all seven of the Harry Potter books.

Warner Bros. did an excellent job bringing our favourite Harry Potter locations to life, but you don't really get to see all the work the studio put in while watching the movies. The cameras move too fast to take in all of the detail and there are other things to pay attention to. Still, if you'd like a closer look at Diagon Alley, you can now explore it on your own time thanks to Google. The search giant has added the Warner Bros. set to Google Street View.

The official address for is "Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, Studio Tour Drive, Leavesden, Hertfordshire WD25 7LS," but you can find Diagon Alley through this direct link. Watch out for the scary figure in the shadows!

UK's ICO Demands Google Delete Street View Data

Jane McEntegart — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:00:00 +0000

The office of the UK's Information Commissioner has given Google just over a month to delete data it collected using its Street View cars. The ICO today announced that it had served the search giant with an enforcement notice over the collection of payload data by Google’s Street View cars in the UK.

Google revealed that it had unintentionally collected WiFi data from open routers using its Google Street View cars in May of 2010. Google said that the data was only discovered when the German Data Protection Authority asked to audit the WiFi data collected by the Google Street View team. Up until the time of the audit, Google had been under the impression that it was only collecting MAC addresses and SSID information. However, the audit showed that Google had been collected fragments of payload data from open WiFi networks.

"Today’s enforcement notice strengthens the action already taken by our office, placing a legal requirement on Google to delete the remaining payload data identified last year within the next 35 days and immediately inform the ICO if any further disks are found," said Stephen Eckersley, ICO's Head of Enforcement. "Failure to abide by the notice will be considered as contempt of court, which is a criminal offence."

Data collected by Google included emails and web addresses users were viewing. Several countries launched investigations into Google's mistake including the UK, Germany and Ireland. The ICO reopened its investigation into the Google Street View project in April last year. The ICO's investigation concluded that the collection of payload data by Google "was the result of procedural failings and a serious lack of management oversight including checks on the code." However, the UK regulator also conceded that the investigation found there was insufficient evidence to show that Google intended, on a corporate level, to collect personal data.

The enforcement notice issued to Google is date June 11, 2013, and demands the deletion of the Street View data in question. That gives Google until July 16 to delete everything.

Google Buys Waze for an Undisclosed Amount

Jane McEntegart — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:00:00 +0000

It seems Waze has finally found a suitor. The company, which has previously been rumored to be in discussions with both Apple and Facebook, has announced that it had been acquired by Google. The two companies shared the news via their respective blogs, with Google highlighting the acquisition as a way to fight traffic.

Google describes Waze as "a fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers." Indeed, with close to 50 million users, the Waze community isn't short on users. The service uses satellite signals from users' smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, offering community-edited maps, traffic jams, road hazards, accidents and even speed traps – all supplied by other drivers in real time. The free service also helps users find the cheapest, closest gas stations near their current location whether it's at home or out-of-town. Now all of that real-time data goodness belongs to Google.

According to Google, the Waze team will remain in Israel and operate separately for the time being. Google didn't really offer any other details on what the acquisition will mean for Google Maps. Last we heard, Waze would remain a standalone application but the app's most valuable data could be integrated with Google Maps.

Google also kept quiet about how much it paid for Waze, though rumors earlier this week indicated that the company was offering over a billion dollars. We'll keep you posted on that one.

Google to Buy Waze for Over a Billion Dollars?

Jane McEntegart — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Last we heard, Facebook was thinking of buying GPS service Waze. Back in early may, word got out that the social networking giant was in talks to acquire Israeli start-up Waze Mobile for $800 million to $1 billion. Before that, Apple was rumored to be considering Waze for acquisition. In December of 2012, word on the street was that Apple could acquire Waze but these rumors were later branded completely fabricated. Now, it seems it's Google's turn for some Waze-related chatter.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is in talks to purchase Waze for over a billion dollars. The Journal cites a person familiar with the negotiations that says Google is looking to acquire Waze to boost its already strong position in the mapping market. Developed by Waze Mobile, the highly-popular Waze social GPS app features turn-by-turn navigation and is available on Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. It recently won the Best Overall Mobile App award at Mobile World Congress 2013, is completely free and boasts nearly 50 million users. Waze uses satellite signals from users' smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, offering community-edited maps, traffic jams, road hazards, accidents and even speed traps – all supplied by other drivers in real time. The free service also helps users find the cheapest, closest gas stations near their current location whether it's at home or out-of-town.

The Wall Street Journal says the Google acquisition deal could be announced as early as this week and that Waze would remain a standalone application. WSJ sources say the app's most valuable data could be integrated with Google Maps. No word from Google or Waze on the accuracy of the report but we'll keep you posted on any news of the deal.

Ireland, France, Others Get Bike Navigation in Google Maps

Jane McEntegart — Wed, 29 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Google has announced that it will bring biking navigation to several more countries in Europe. Launched last year in the UK, Australia, and a number of other countries, this week the company is launching navigation for cyclists in half a dozen more UK countries including Ireland.

Google has added information about bike trails, lanes and recommended roads directly to the map, working with partner organizations and adding bike paths through Google Mapmaker. When mapping out routes, Google Maps will estimate time for the route based on a number of variables including the type of road, terrain and turns.

"As the season of big bike races in Europe has started, why not check what route Google suggests for a historical stage of the Tour de France?" Google's Kai Hansen wrote on the Google blog, "Our bicycle route for the classic stage from Biarritz to Bordeaux navigates on 206 beautiful, often car-free kilometers close to the Atlantic Ocean, compared to the rather boring 206 kilometers on the N10/A63 which is suggested for cars."

Google's bike directions will be enabled for users in Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. It's already available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Google Maps Gets a Revamp That You'll Actually Notice

Marcus Yam — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Google today debuted a new version of maps that's a significant departure from the service we've become accustomed to over the last few years. Sure, there have been incremental improvements, but nothing that would make a user sit up and notice a major change. With the new Google Maps, people will definitely notice the updates.

Google promises that the new Maps will be a more personal and friendly experience. If you're logged into your Google account, Maps will better highlight your haunts and also where your friends frequent.

Maps will also suggest new places based on where you've been previously and places you've starred as favorites.

Navigation is also smarter. Google boasted during its keynote demo that its direction routing is more detailed and now better presents different travel options.

Selecting transit view shows all the different routes. This one makes Toronto's transit look much more impressive than it actually is.

Checking out Nintendo World store along with the MTA Subway.

San Francisco, where all the action is happening today.

Check out our other Google I/O coverage:

Live Blog: Tune in for Live Coverage of Google I/O 2013

Google Announces GS4 with Stock Android at Google I/O

Google Launches All Access Music Streaming Service

Google Intros Google Play Game Services at Google I/O

Google Maps Gets a Revamp You'll Actually Notice

China Launches its Own GPS

Wolfgang Gruener — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 03:00:00 +0000

There are currently 33 BeiDou satellites in orbit, but only six are active. The system will need 24 active satellites for a global coverage. The Chinese government said that it plans to have 5 geostationary orbit satellites and 30 non-geostationary orbit satellites operational by 2020, including performance enhancing devices.

According to Chinese officials, BeiDou has been developed to "maintain independence and keep the initiative in [China's] hands, keep open, compatible, stable and reliable on technology, offer global service, thereby accelerating the foundation of navigation satellite industrial chain, consummating the sustaining extending and guaranteeing system, expanding the range of application in the country's economic and social sector." Like GPS, BeiDou has been used by the military prior to its opening to the public.

China said that BeiDou currently provide positioning services to "most parts" of the Asia-Pacific region, "including continuous passive positioning, navigation and timing services."

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Report: Apple Has Fired Its Maps Man

Jane McEntegart — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:30:00 +0000

When iOS 6 launched, the reaction Apple's new Maps application was less than positive. To say the app had some issues would be something of an understatement. Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly apologized for the problems with Maps and even pointed iPhone users towards alternative services while Apple worked to make Maps better.

This week, word on the street is that senior manager Richard Williamson was let go in light of the Maps debacle. Bloomberg reports that Eddy Cue "pushed out maps supervisor Richard Williamson" soon after he took over the maps division last month. Bloomberg cites 'people familiar with the situation' in reporting the news, however, it has not yet been made public.

If true, Williamson isn't the only one to be shown the door after Maps' embarrassing debut. In October, Apple announced that Cue would oversee Siri and Maps as part of a new "online services" sector, which includes iTunes, iCloud and Apple's digital stores. At the same time, the company announced that iOS software chief Scott Forstall would leave the company in 2013. Though Apple never confirmed it, rumor had it that Forstall refused to sign a letter apologizing for the issues with Maps.

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U.S. Marine Walks 5,000 Miles with Google Maps

Zak Islam — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 07:30:00 +0000

With the help of Google Maps and Google Translate, Winston Fiore, a U.S. marine previously deployed to Senegal and Afghanistan, walked 5000 miles for charity.

Calling the journey his "Smile Trek," the inspiration for Fiore's journey came in 2007 when he witnessed "an incredible amount of poverty" while in Senegal. His walk was to raise money for the International Children's Surgical Foundation (ICSF), a nonprofit organization that provides free corrective surgery for kids in developing countries.

Fiore (seen on the left of the image), who completed his journey last week, has hiked through several regions during the past year, including Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Singapore.

While speaking in Singapore, which was his start and end point, Fiore said he didn't carry physical maps as he solely relied on Google Maps to aid his daily walking route.

Fiore also utilized Google Translate in order to communicate with locals, Google Latitude for keeping supporters/friends/family informed of his whereabouts, as well as MyTracks which records his speed, distance and locations visited.

Fiore spoke about a man suffering from a facial deformity known as Elephant Man Syndrome in Vietnam. Using Google Translate, he was able to communicate with the local and informed him about receiving facial reconstructive surgery at ICSF's medical mission situated nearby. Moreover, the app helped Fiore receive help when he was bitten by a stray dog in Thailand.

Non-Google services used by the marine were reading apps including Kindle and Audible. He also used Skype to keep in touch with family and friends. Much to his surprise, Fiore said he had a mobile internet connection during the majority of his walk, including 3G or GRPS/EDGE even if he was "standing in the middle of a rice paddy in Vietnam." When failing to obtain a signal for connection, he'd locate a cell tower after a few hours.

Batteries for his gadgets were recharged while he rested through a generator or a local household. He had taken a spare battery for his smartphone but wished he had began his journey with more.

He took an 11-inch MacBook Air and started his journey with a Samsung Infuse 4G. However, he found it difficult to obtain Asian SIM cards to work with on his device. He subsequently switched to a Galaxy Nexus, accompanied by the Galaxy Note 2.

Currently, Fiore has raised $67,649 out of a fundraising goal of $75,000.

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Google Streetview Gives a Look Into Google's Data Centers

Wolfgang Gruener — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 01:40:00 +0000

However, if you ever wanted to see who one of the company's facilities looks like, there is now a limited Streetview option to get a glimpse.

The 3D photography covers parts of Google's Lenoir Data Center about 70 miles northwest of Charlotte in North Carolina, which was built for about $600 million and opened in May 2008. There is also a guided YouTube tour and includes the networking room, the server room with Google's famous custom-designed servers and server racks, digital tape storage section, as well as cooling towers. Read more here.

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Tom's Guide: 12 Alternatives to Apple Maps

Jane McEntegart — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:00:00 +0000

It's not secret that the launch of Apple's own-brand mapping application hasn't exactly been smooth. Apple Maps has been marred with bugs and inaccuracies, and even Tim Cook recognizes that you might want to use something else while Apple works to iron out the creases. But what to use? Up until now, iPhone users have had Google Maps out of the box. Now that Apple Maps is less than satisfactory and a Google Maps for iOS 6 app doesn't yet exist, what are your options? Hit up Tom's Guide's '12 Alternatives to Apple Maps' and find out!

With image memes and screencaps lambasting Apple Maps spreading like wildfire, Apple's foray into the navigation apps market has been both a PR nightmare and a source of much amusement to netizens. We've even joined in the fun, highlighting a few visual glitches that tickled our funny bones in this story. In light of the torrent bad reviews and complaints, Apple's CEO Tim Cook issued a public apology for Apple Maps, promising to improve its quality and taking the unprecedented step of recommending products for iPhone owners to use in the mean time. These included Bing, Waze, and Mapquest. Just how good are these Apple Maps alternatives, and what other options are out there?12 Alternatives to Apple Maps

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Apple Was Aware Maps Sucked Before Launch

Zak Islam — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Apple was apparently aware of the problems with its maps application before its launch via the introduction of iOS 6, but still decided to release the app to iDevice users.

Numerous developers told Apple during June, the month the first developer beta of iOS 6 was released, that its new maps app had several problems. Speaking with CNET under the condition of anonymity, six developers said they gave warnings to the firm stressing the mapping solution wasn't delivering the best possible experience.

"During the beta period I filed bug reports with Apple's Radar system (notorious for being ignored), posted on the forums several times, and e-mailed multiple people within Apple's MapKit team to voice our concerns," one developer said.

"I posted at least one doomsayer rant after each (developer) beta, and I wasn’t alone," another developer stated. "The mood amongst the developers seemed to be that the maps were so shockingly bad that reporting individual problems was futile. What was needed wasn't so much an interface for reporting a single point as incorrect, but for selecting an entire region and saying 'all of this — it's wrong.'"

Apple ignoring the concerns from developers and releasing its shoddy app without implementing any worthwhile improvements definitely backfired. The firm experienced a high level of criticism from iDevice owners, which eventually led to Apple CEO Tim Cook issuing an open letter apologizing for the app's flaws. They've since been on the lookout for ex-Google developers to aid them in fixing the maps app, which has shown slight signs of improvement.

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Whoops! 20 Of The Funniest Fails From Apple's iOS Maps App

Matthias Wellendorf — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 06:00:01 +0000

Antarctica, The Home Of Berlin

When people look for Berlin, they usually mean Germany's capital city. However, Apple Maps sends you to Antarctica instead. Admittedly, there’s a mountain called Berlin in Antarctica, but only Apple knows why that's the default in its mapping software.

Earth: The Biggest Chessboard Ever

Apple Maps can take a while to load textures. Meanwhile, a generic picture is displayed for parts of the map that haven’t loaded yet. This can make three-quarters of the Earth look like a black and white chessboard.

A Bridge Becomes A Mountain

This picture is a good example of the many problems Apple Maps has with displaying terrain in 3D. We're supposed to be looking at a bridge across a river. Apple Maps turns the bridge into a mountain. The technology Apple acquired from C3 Technologies seems to have an especially difficult time with structures spanning obstacles.

Lego Trees

Displaying landscape elements in 3D also seems to challenge Apple Maps. This is a view of the most famous Apple Store in the world, which is situated on an intersection in New York City. The store is correctly rendered as big glass cube. But it's probably safe to assume that the trees around the intersection aren't supposed to look like green Lego pieces.

A Dent In The Map

Sometimes it seems like the correct 3D representation of certain areas is more a matter of chance than anything else, particularly when you see a map that simply looks absurd for no discernible reason. This example shows the Islington Subway Station in Toronto. We’ll probably never know why it's a huge hill, instead.

A Gas Station For Your Flying Car

Apple thoughtfully marks points of interest like shopping centers, schools, restaurants, and gas stations with small symbols. In the middle of Houston, Texas, the company's servers seem to have mistaken rooftops for gas stations, which are handily located 40 stories off the ground for your flying car. Or maybe Apple just knows that everything's bigger in Texas?

The Golden Gate Bridge: Taking The Scenic Route

We’ve already seen that Apple Maps has trouble with streets going over bridges, and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is another example of this. The road goes over the bridge as it should, but it does so by going all the way up to the top of the bridge’s suspension towers. At least the view should be spectacular from up there. The road then continues across the bridge after a small gap.

Protection From Prying Eyes

Sometimes Apple Maps just can't focus in when loading maps at all. This is the small town of Coniston in northern England. The street names are placed correctly, but otherwise all we get is a huge mess of pixels. So what’s going on in Coniston? We might never know.

A Black Hole In New York City

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City didn’t escape the bugs with Apple's Flyover feature, either. It’s not that it isn’t displayed correctly; rather, it vanished altogether. All we get is a black line going through the river, cutting out a part of the map completely. You can work around this by reverting back to flat satellite images, of course, but we think this is more entertaining.

Are We There Yet?

Google Maps sometimes has problems finding the most efficient route to your destination. But even if it takes you the long way, at least it gets you there. Apple Maps has you driving around the neighborhood in circles, and it doesn’t manage to get you all the way to where you want to go, which was only about a mile away in this case.

Close, But No...Apple

Sometimes, you might spontaneously feel the need to buy an Apple product. Apple Maps has you covered by displaying every last Apple Store there is. Then again, it looks like displaying them in the right places is beyond this application's scope. Here, Apple Maps confuses the address and ends up on a different street.

The Largest Shadow In The World

The Burj Khalifa, or Burj Dubai, is the tallest building in the world, and has been since 2008. Apple Maps' 3D display function should be a great way to see just how imposing of a structure it is. But the Burj Khalifa is flat in Apple Maps. Instead, we get our sense of the building's 828 m height from its shadow on the ground.

Why The Chicken Crossed The Road

Apple Maps' 3D display looks really nice, when it actually works. In this example from London, England, the difference between "working as intended" and "whoops" is as clear as two sides of the road. On one side, the buildings are flat, and on the other, they're rendered properly in 3D.

We Have A Bit Of A Wait Tonight

If you’re trying to find the closest restaurant, then maybe Apple Maps is not the way to go. In this example, the restaurant is in the middle of a construction site.

Rome In North Korea

Similar to Google Maps, Apple Maps lets you enter the name of a country, a city, or an address. Then, it shows you that location on a map. If you’re looking for Rome, Italy in Apple Maps, you’re presented with a much more adventurous suggestion: Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital city.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

If you want to travel from San Francisco, California, to Sausalito, California, separated only by the San Francisco Bay, you’d expect to do so via the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito is just on the other side of it, after all. Apple knows the value of a good look at Alcatraz, though, and has you take a ferry across the bay instead.

Up And Down

If you thought that we ran out of examples where Apple struggled with bridges in 3D, you were wrong. We present to you the Severn Bridge (or Apple Maps' version of it, anyway), connecting Monmouthshire in South East Wales and South Gloucestershire in South West England. We’re puzzled by the waves in the landmark, particularly when the bridge's shadow is displayed correctly.

A City In The Sky

It looks like the city of Sundsvall, Sweden, has so much bad weather that Apple just couldn’t get a clear view of it from a satellite. No problem for Apple! The roads are just placed on top of the clouds. What lies underneath is up to your imagination.

Film Noire

Are you a film noire fan? Then Apple Maps' view of the Malaysian state of Terengganu is for you. Not only is the state displayed with so little detail that it’s hard to make out, but it’s also in black and white. It looks like the image might have been taken 60 years ago. Apple Maps could use some updated pictures.

Just Not Getting There

We already know that bridges aren't Apple Maps' strong suit, so what better way to beat a dead horse than show what happens when you try to have a look at multiple overpasses in the same shot? It looks like an earthquake had its way with this busy intersection of interchanges. It's hard to even make out the streets through the waves and edges.

Apple Reportedly Asking Retail Staff for Help Fixing Maps

Jane McEntegart — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Apple's iOS 6 differs from previous iterations of the operating system in that it's the first version to ship with Apple's own mapping solution as opposed to Google's Google Maps. However, the release of Apple Maps hasn't exactly been smooth sailing. The company has since apologized for the bumpy start and says it's working on getting all the bugs and errors ironed out. It seems part of that plan involves Apple retail staff.

MacRumors reports that Apple is piloting a program that will see the company use its retail store employees aid in the improvement of Apple Maps. Word on the street is that staff at participating stores will manually submit corrections for their own areas.

"Details on the initiative remain unclear, but multiple sources have indicated that participating stores will dedicate 40 hours of staff time per week, distributed among a number of employees, to manually examine Apple's mapping data in their areas and submit corrections and improvements," writes MacRumors' Eric Slivka.

However, it's not just retail employees that have been tasked with fixing Apple Maps' problems. Last week, word got out that Apple's hoping to hire as many ex-Google Maps developers as possible. A source with connections from both teams told TechCrunch that Apple is aggressively trying to recruit software engineers that previously worked on the Google Maps application.

Last week, in an apology letter to users, CEO Tim Cook advised that people use alternative mapping applications, such as Bing Maps, or the web-based Google Maps, while things get straightened out with Apple Maps.

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Motorola Ad Pokes Fun at Apple's Maps Problems

Jane McEntegart — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:30:00 +0000

This week, Motorola has taken a leaf out of Samsung's book and released an image openly mocking Apple. While Samsung prefers make fun of the iPhone 5 and Apple fans that line up for the company's newest devices, Motorola is taking aim at Apple's brand new mapping application that comes bundled with iOS 6.

Cupertino hasn't had an easy time with Apple Maps. The replacement for Google Maps, the application isn't exactly bug free. Yesterday, Motorola released the following image via its Twitter account. "Google Maps reports live traffic to be as helpful as possible so you don't feel #iLost planning your trip," the accompanying tweet read.

Motorola isn't alone in taking a shot at Apple Maps. A London Underground worker last week made headlines with his sign offering iOS 6 users local area maps. Apple has released a statement regarding the issues with Maps. Speaking to All Things D, the company explained that it will take time for Maps to improve

"We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover and Siri integration, and free turn by turn navigation," Apple told All Things D. "We launched this new map service knowing that it is a major initiative and we are just getting started with it. We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a crowd-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get. We're also working with developers to integrate some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS Maps. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better."

Google's Eric Schmidt this morning quashed rumors that his company had a version of Google Maps for iOS 6 ready to be approved, telling Reuters, "We have not done anything yet."

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Google's Schmidt: We Don't Have a Google Maps for iOS 6

Jane McEntegart — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Since Apple's iOS 6 launched last Wednesday, the company has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism for its new Maps application. The Cupertino-based company announced in June that it would part ways with Google and no longer offer the search giant's mapping application on Apple mobile devices. However, many users are dissatisfied with the Apple alternative. What's more, there are rumors that Google is preparing its own Maps app for iOS 6.

Speaking to a group of reporters at the Japanese launch of the Nexus 7, Google's Eric Schmidt implied that the company hasn't got a Google Maps for iOS 6. Reuters cites Schmidt as saying, "We have not done anything yet." The executive chairman added that any decision about a Google Maps for iOS 6 entering the app store would be Apple's alone. He also told reporters that he feels Apple should have kept Google Maps, but that it wasn't Google's decision to make.

"We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know?" he's quoted as saying. "What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's their call."

Apple's iOS 6 is now on 100 million devices. Speaking last week about the bugs in Maps, Apple said time and use would improve the app.

"We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it," the company told AllThingsD last week. "Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get."

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Apple Acknowledges iOS 6 Maps Failure, Hiring New Devs

Tuan Mai — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Last week, just a few days prior to the official iPhone 5 release date, Apple released its iOS 6 into the wild, bringing with it a highly criticized maps application. When the company initially announced it would drop Google Maps and YouTube from iOS 6, users were concerned Apple's replacement maps application wouldn't compare to Google's refined app. Unfortunately for them, their worst fears came true.

While the app does work, it is plagued with poor directions, erroneous map data, strange visual glitches and a lack of a Street View-like feature. It didn't take long before parody twitter accounts and dedicated tumblr blogs were made to poke fun at Apple's lackluster app. In response to the criticism, Apple told AllthingsD "We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better."

Apparently, the company wasn't lying and has been actively trying to recruit new developers for its maps application. According to multiple new job listings on Apple's corporate page, the company is seeking several software engineers to help improve the overall maps experience. Though we'd agree building a maps application from the ground up is no easy task, it is still surprising to see Apple's maps application launch with so many obvious flaws.

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Google Rumored to Have iOS 6 Maps App Ready to Go

Jane McEntegart — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:40:00 +0000

Earlier this year, at WWDC, Apple revealed that it would say goodbye to Google Maps with iOS 6 and instead turn to its own proprietary mapping solution for mobile users. However, as people upgraded to iOS 6 this week, the buggy nature of Apple's own mapping application has come to light. So what now? Apple has said things will get better with time, but fresh rumors say Google may come to the rescue with its own app.

The Guardian cites sources that say Google is preparing a Google Maps app for iOS 6. These sources say the app will "appear in time" in the App Store. Reporting this news yesterday afternoon, 9to5 Mac said it had heard that an updated iOS 6 version of the Google Maps.app had been submitted to Apple for approval.

Google hasn't confirmed or denied rumors that it is developing (or has submitted) a Maps app for iOS 6, but Apple journalist Jim Dalrymple over at The Loop says it isn't true. In a post titled, 'On the rumor that Google has submitted an iOS 6 Maps app and Apple is sitting on it,' Dalrymple simply writes, 'Nope.'

If Google does have a Maps application pending, it's likely Apple won't approve it because it duplicates a function already available via iOS. However, we imagine there are plenty of iOS 6 users hoping these rumors are true and eager to bring Google Maps back to iOS.

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Nestle to Find UK Customers via GPS Chips in Candy Bars

Jane McEntegart — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Nestle UK has announced a new marketing campaign aimed at customers in the United Kingdom. The new campaign will will see the company launch a contest that will involve tracking down winners via GPS chips included in winning bars of chocolate.

Dubbed "We Will Find You," PSFK reports that the creepily-named campaign will involve six KitKat 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, Aero Peppermint Medium, or Yorkie bars. The site writes that these bars look like normal bars but are fitted with GPS trackers. Each of these six trackers will be activated when the wrapper is opened. This will page the prize team, whose job it is to locate the winner within 24 hours. What happens when the team finds the person? They'll give them a check for ten grand. Yep. That's ten grand sterling by the way, which by today's conversion rates equates to just over $16,200.

Nestle is running a two-week poster campaign to support the promotion that will see 3,000 NFC- or QR-equipped posters distributed around the country. Smartphone users can use these to check how many GPS chocolate bars are still in the wild as well as enter a smaller contest to win £10. According to PSFK, Nestle believes the new campaign will be particularly appealing to men.

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Google: We Really Didn't Delete All Street View Data

Kevin Parrish — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:14:00 +0000

Reuters reports that Google has admitted it hasn't deleted all of the personal information Street View cars started collecting back in May 2010. Google must now supply the information to Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to see what action needs to be taken against the search engine giant.

In November 2010, Google promised that it would delete all personal data its Street View cars collected while mapping out the streets of more than 30 countries. It was discovered that Google was "accidentally" obtaining information like email addresses, passwords, MAC addresses and more from unsecured Wi-Fi networks they detected in the process.

After a thorough investigation, Google was forced to change the way its Street View cars mapped neighborhoods, and agreed to delete all personal data by December 2010. But according to a letter from Google posted on the ICO website, the search engine giant still possesses some of that sensitive data.

"In recent months, Google has been reviewing its handling of Street View disks and undertaking a comprehensive manual review of our Street View disk inventory," wrote Google Global Privacy Counsel member Peter Fleischer in a letter to the ICO (pdf). "That review involves the physical inspection and re-scanning of thousands of disks. In conducting that review, we have determined that we continue to have payload data from the UK and other countries. We are in the process of notifying the relevant authorities in those countries."

Fleischer said that Google wanted to delete the remaining data, but wanted the ICO's instructions on how to proceed. "We are prepared to arrange for you to review this data, or to destroy it," the letter said. "Google remains committed to working with the ICO on this matter."

The ICO doesn't seem impressed with the new discovery, saying that the information should never have been collected in the first place. Even more, the company’s failure to secure its deletion as promised is cause for concern.

"Our response, which has already been issued (pdf), makes clear that Google must supply the data to the ICO immediately, so that we can subject it to forensic analysis before deciding on the necessary course of action," an ICO spokesperson said. "We are also in touch with other data protection authorities in the EU and elsewhere through the Article 29 Working Party and the GPEN network to coordinate the response to this development."

Back in April, Google was fined $25,000 by the FCC for "deliberately impeding and delaying" its investigation into Street View data collection. Then in June, Britain's Information Commissioner said that the FCC inquiry had thrown up new issues that needed to be addressed. As for the ICO, it has the power to impose fines of up to roughly $780,000 USD.

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Google Maps Takes Indoor Mapping Project to the UK

Jane McEntegart — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Google Maps has become a massively useful tool for when we're visiting new cities, driving through an unfamiliar part of town or trying to find the nearest subway station. However, the tool has always been more of an outdoors thing. Sure, it can tell you where you are on the streets of London or how to get to Westfield Shopping Centre, but you're on your own if you plan to spend the day shopping there. At least, until today, you were.

Back in December of last year, Google launched Google Maps 6.0 for Android, which brought indoor maps to shopping malls and airports in the United States. Now UK users of the application are getting the same treatment, Google today announced.

"You'll no longer need to feel clueless when you're at the railway station, trying to figure out where to buy a coffee before you rush to catch your train from platform 11; nor will you feel embarrassed about asking for the lingerie section when you're in the department store - because you'll have all the answers in the palm of your hand," Google's Razia Ahamed writes.

Ahamed says Google has partnered with more than 40 venues in the UK, including train stations to art galleries, department stores and sporting venues, but any business can upload their maps for future inclusions so expect that number to grow. The project also includes several airports around the UK, including London City airport, London Stansted airport, London Luton Airport, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Birmingham.

Check the full list below:

British Museum
National Maritime Museum
Harrods
National Theater
Victoria Albert Museum
Museum of London
Natural History Museum
Courtauld Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
Victoria Station
Euston Station
Kings Cross Station
Waterloo Station
London Bridge Station
Fenchurch Street Station
Cannon Street Station
Paddington Station
Charing Cross Station
O2 Arena
Wembley Stadium
BFI Southbank
Barbican
Ricoh Arena
Somerset House
John Lewis*
Debenhams*
Selfridges*
House of Fraser*
One New Change Shopping Mall
Calbot Circus Shopping Center
Liverpool Street Station
St Pancras International
Peter Jones - Sloan Sq.

*Some locations

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Prime Time For WebGL: Google Maps Gets an Upgrade

Douglas Perry — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Starting today, there is a popular application available in WebGL - Google maps - and there are a few things you can do now with Chrome that you can't do with IE.

To activate Google Maps in WebGL, open Google Maps and check an option to "try something new" on the left bottom of the screen. I only noticed this note when I opened Maps with Chrome, but Firefox should prompt you as well, according to Google (for some reason, I could not get Firefox to run the Maps WebGL version). If you are using IE, you won't be able to try WebGL Maps, because there is no support for WebGL in IE.

Once activated, you can see WebGL in action in the 45-degree angled view, for example when you view the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. There is a new feature to rotate the view, which can be accessed right above the Streetview figure. Rotating is still limited to four views, but the animation now makes changing views appear much smoother. You can also enable Streetview, which is now support natively and not via plug-in. The rotate feature also works in Streetview.

Other than that, there is no other benefit; I could not quite confirm Google's claim of higher image quality. If you are taking MapsGL out for a spin, be sure to view Google's guided tour, which provides a quick overview of the features and how they can be controlled. What struck me, was that, in direct comparison with IE and the non-WebGL version of Maps, there is really not that much of a difference. Sure, the adjusted 45-degree view isn't animated, but IE9 is, at least on my PC, the far better browser to use maps. Dragging and zooming maps is much smoother in Microsoft's browser than in the WebGL version of Maps in Chrome.

MapsGL, as Google calls, is nice to have, but it's not a must have that will scare Microsoft enough to convince the company to build WebGL into IE.

Apple May Ditch Google Maps

Marcus Yam — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Apple is typically a company that likes to control everything surrounding its products by putting everything within its own ecosystem. It’s a little strange, then, that Apple products have to rely on Google Maps for certain key functions.

For one, the iPhone's Maps app relies entirely on Google's data set and service. Without Google Maps, the iPhone Maps app from Apple is nothing. Apple also uses Google Maps for the geolocation feature for tagged photos in iPhoto.

Apple seems like it's gearing up to cut the cord, as it's now uncovered that the Cupertino computer company has purchased Placebase, a company that specialized in customized mapping. Placebase's former CEO now indicates on LinkedIn that he is part of the Geo Team at Apple. A former CTO of Placebase is also working at Apple now, according to Computerworld.

Although Google is typically the company that plays well with others, the search giant's CEO Eric Schmidt stepped down from Apple's board of directors due to the two companies competing on more fronts. With Android vs. iPhone, Chrome vs. Safari, and soon Chrome OS vs. Mac OS X, there was growing overlap in what Google could do for Apple.

While we doubt that Apple will launch a web-based Google Maps-like service, it's now only natural to expect that with an in-house mapping technology, Apple will eventually transition away from Google. Only time will tell if Apple's product will be able to best Google's mapping proficiency.

This Week's Hot News: March 2nd to 6th, 2009

Jane McEntegart — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Secret British Nuclear Base Appears on Google Earth

Google Earth recently picked up on something solid and unquestionable (as opposed to Atlantis), however the structure it uncovered could lead to hard times for the British government. A close-up aerial view of Faslane, Scotland reveals the UK's secret Trident-armed nuclear submarine base, and even provides the longitude and latitude coordinates for all terrorists to enjoy and plummet with mortar attacks.

The images generated by the free Google Earth software (also available on iPhone and iPod Touch) even shows two Vanguard Class submarines, each capable of carrying 16 nuclear missiles. That aside the program illustrates the Trident Special Area located just ten miles away, the facility where the naval base's nuclear warheads are stored. As if that weren’t enough, the satellite images can also be used to locate the nuclear crisis HQ in Northwood, North London, the SAS training facility in Hereford, and MI6's London offices.

Asus Lamborghini Notebook With 1 TB SSD

Asus this week unveil its stylish new Lamborghini-inspired VX5 notebook, featuring a 1 TB solid state drive (SSD). The new Asus Lamborghini VX5 made an appearance at CeBIT 2009 this week, which housed what Asus claimed as the world's largest density SSD currently available. Although not specified, the included SSD might be the new 1 TB SSD from Puresilicon, which was announced earlier this year and flaunted a blazingly fast sustained read and write speed of 240 MB/sec. and 215 MB/sec, respectively.

Under the hood, the VX5 notebook is powered by an Intel Core 2 Quad processor and comes with 4 GB of DDR3 memory and dedicated Nvidia Geforce GT 130M graphics with 1 GB of GDDR3 VRAM. For added performance, the notebook also features a TwinTurbo mode that can increase CPU and GPU speed with the press of a button. Also included in the VX5 notebook is a Blu-ray disc combo drive, a 2.0-megapixel webcam, a slew of useful ports and Windows Vista Ultimate.

China's First Lunar Probe Collides With Moon

China’s first lunar probe, The Chang'e 1, Sunday crashed into the moon in what Beijing is calling a “controlled crash.” China Daily reports that the satellite hit the moon's surface at 16:13 Beijing time and was under the remote control of two stations in Qingda, eastern China, and Kashgar in the northwest of the country.

Named after a Chinese moon goddess, the Chang'e 1 took off on October 24, 2007 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and spent 494 days in space. Sunday’s collision marks the end of a 16-month moon-mapping mission. The landing is part of China’s plan to land a vehicle on the moon to collect mineral samples in 2012.

First Core i7 Laptop Has One Hour Battery Life

At the beginning of February Computer company, Eurocom proudly displayed the specs for the upcoming D900F PHANTOM i7: a laptop with Intel’s Core i7. While the spec sheet listed everything under the sun, it left out the one thing that people was asking about the most: how long will this thing even last before I have to plug it in? Not long, apparently.

The company issued a press release and oddly enough, it sort of sounds pleased about the fact that it can make the 12 cell battery last for an hour. The Core i7 and 8 MB of L2 aside, the D900F packs 8 GB of DDR3 and up to 1.5 TB of storage. It weighs 11.9 lbs of bulk which actually doesn’t matter because you’re not likely to be lugging this around for long. While it’s more than likely going to give you back problems and you’ll be charging it all the time, this will at least be the most compact Core i7 box on the market. Expected to ship sometime in April, no word on pricing yet.

Microsoft: Xbox 360 Red Rings Are Behind Us

Microsoft has said the latest hardware revision for the Xbox 360, code named Jasper, shipped late 2008, is expected to be the most reliable and cool-running Xbox 360 yet thanks to its 65 nm CPU and GPU. “We're seeing great performance of the current systems, so we're really happy with the way they've been performing,” said Xbox 360 product manager Aaron Greenberg to Edge. “From friends that have had [repairs] done as of late, I can tell you from our own internal staff that we're seeing very strong performance from a quality standpoint.”

Greenberg said that those who send in their consoles for repair could get an improved system shipped back. "We've improved that [repair] process. … What we do in general, the way that it works, is that they will fix it with the latest [hardware] improvements that we've applied [to current Xbox 360s]. Obviously we're continuously improving the technology inside the box, not to get too technical. So they'll apply that when they make the increments to your system.”

OCZ's New Blazing Fast 1TB Z SSD Drive

OCZ was demonstrating its new Z Drive with 1 TB of storage at CeBIT 2009 this week. The new drive is a storage device that connects to an x8 PCIe slot and offers 1 terabyte of storage capacity. The Z Drive is about the same size a dual-slot graphics card, so its not exactly small, but the device is stated to offer maximum read and write speeds of up to 600 MB/sec. and 500 MB/sec., respectively. According to the demo OCZ had on display at CeBIT though, the Z Drive was actually showing minimum and maximum read speeds of 654 MB/sec. and 712 MB/sec., respectively. Incredible.

iPod, iPhones Banned in Bill Gates' Family

In an interview with Vogue magazine, the wife of the former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates detailed a few of the things that were not allowed in the house and it seems Apple products are among them. Despite the fact that Melinda said that she sometimes gets a little iPhone envy when he sees his friends playing with one, the ex-Microsoft employee told Vogue that their children are not allowed iPhones nor iPods.

Check out the excerpt from Vogue: “Still, being a Microsoft child does carry unusual burdens. “There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household,” Gates tells me. “But iPods and iPhones are two things we don’t get for our kids.” (…) Still, Gates acknowledges the inevitable lure of forbidden fruit. “Every now and then I look at my friends and say, ‘Ooh, I wouldn’t mind having that iPhone.’”

Deal: Pickup Core i7's for Less than Core 2's

Browsing through online retailers for the latest prices on CPUs, we came across some good prices on the latest AMD and Intel offerings. For example, a quick run over to PriceGrabber looking for Core i7 CPUs, lands us with some attractive figures. You can pick up a quad core Intel Core i7 920 for around $$279 but buying a quad core Core 2 Q9650 will set you back $324.99 at the same retailer.

Likewise, you can also pick up an AMD Phenom II X4 940 quad core for less than $235. These days, there's a lot more accountable for processor performance than just GHz ratings.

Nero Adds CUDA to Accelerate Video Encoding

Nero will soon support GPU-accelerated video encoding in its Nero Move it software. During CeBIT 2009 this week, Nero announced that it will be providing a free update for users of Move it, which will add support for Nvidia's CUDA architecture. The addition of the CUDA technology will give systems that are equipped with a modern Nvidia GPU a massive boost in the speed of which the software performs video encoding.

According to Nero, a task such as transcoding a high-definition video to an iPod compatible format will go from taking hours, down to taking just minutes. Better yet, Nero states that there should be an even greater time savings seen when high-definition content is created using the H.264 video compression format standard. With a growing number of digicams now supporting HD video recording, often in crazy non-standard formats, being able to quickly convert such HD video clips to a useful standard format would be great.

Uninvited Teens Splash In Pools Found On Google Earth

Humphrey Cheung — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0000

London (England) - Some enterprising British teens are using Google Earth to find the nearest refreshing pool to cool off from the summer heat. The teens scour the top-down views in the program and use social networking websites to set up ’dipping sessions’ after finding a suitable location.

Police say the teens use sites like Facebook and Bebo to organize the meetings and that up to 16 people may have trespassed onto two pools in a recent incident near Bournemouth England.

Read more ... This is London

Company To Release High-resolution Wind Map Of The US

Humphrey Cheung — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:10:00 +0000

Los Angeles (CA) - AWS Truewind will release a 200-meter resolution wind map of the United States. The 9 million square kilometer map is the highest resolution map ever created of the US, according to the company and will be released on June 1st. Unfortunately you’ll need to purchase access to the Truewind online app windNavigator to see the full-resolution map.

China Wags Finger At "illegal" Online Maps

Humphrey Cheung — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:20:00 +0000

Beijing (China) - The Chinese government is chastising several online providers, including Google maps, for providing "illegal" satellite imagery of the country and neighboring islands. Min Yiren, the deputy director of China’s State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM), says as many as 10,000 online maps are illegal and publish sensitive information or incorrectly depict national borders.

"Some websites publish sensitive or confidential geographical information, which might leak state secrets and threaten national security," Yiren said.

The SBSM and eight other departments are currently examining thousands of online maps and the government is threatening to shut down or block any sites which do not make the "required corrections".

While China is apparently miffed at the disclosure of its secret (well not any more) submarine base near Hainan, the country is also concerned about online map providers labeling Taiwan as a separate country. In addition, China wants several disputed island chains including the South China Islands, Diaoyu Islands and Chiwei Island to be labeled as belonging to China. The islands are currently claimed by several countries including Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Japan.

China certainly has the power to shut down servers in the country, its can only block access - through the Chinese firewall - to foreign providers.

Google Earth Banned From US Military Bases

Humphrey Cheung — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:12:39 +0000

Mountain View (CA) - Google has been banned from surveying US military bases after it took street-level photographs of a Texas army base. The Department of Defense believes the photographs could compromise security and has ordered base commanders to prohibit Google Earth teams from driving their picture taking vehicles onto military property.

The order was issued by Gene Renuart, an Air Force General and head of the US Northern Command. According to Google the Earth teams accidentally asked for access to Fort Sam Houston which is not in Google's policy. The team was given permission to take photographs and then published the information online.

General Renuart says the photos depict guard and barrier locations along with exact building entry and exit points. Google spokesman Larry Yu has apologized for the mistake and the company has taken the offending photos offline.

Some people have been concerned about Google's street-level pictures and say the images can intrude on privacy. Several websites generate decent traffic by finding and posting the most interesting photos. Here's one we found after 30 seconds of searching. A giant void in the middle of San Francisco.

European GPS Competitor Galileo To Be Demonstrated At CeBit

Wolfgang Gruener — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:43:24 +0000

Thalwil (Switzerland) - U-Blox, a Switzerland-based developer of GPS receivers, said that it has developed one of the first Galileo tracking devices.

The company said that it will be demonstrating its U-Blox 5 chip, a device that combines A-GPS and Galileo receiver capabilities, at CeBit, which will open its doors on March 4. The company claims that the hybrid chip in fact is able to simultaneoulsy track GPS and Galileo satellites to calculate its position. Especially the addition of Galileo will provide "better coverage, higher positioning accuracy, better multipath mitigation as well as higher overall reliability and availability," the company said.

Additionally, U-Blox claims that the chip is the fastest positioning engine made to date, with "time-to-first-fix" of about 1 second. The GPS-only U-Blox 5 is available now.

Unfortunately, it will take some time until we can take advantage of Galileo's capabilities: The system is still being built up and all 30 satellites are expected to be operational not before 2013.

GPS Helps Recover Baby Jesus

Humphrey Cheung — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 03:03:56 +0000

Wellington (FL) - A GPS tracking device has helped police catch a thief that snatched up a porcelain baby Jesus from a neighborhood Nativity scene. Police have arrested 18-year-old Danielle Santino for grand theft.

Workers at the Wellington Community Center installed the GPS tracking device back on December 3rd after the city's director community services read about a rash of stolen statues at other scenes. Workers couldn't find the statue on December 27th and then, through the help of the online GPS tracking site, discovered the statue had moved at 10 PM on the 26th.

Police didn't have to go far to arrest the thief because the GPS data showed the statue was in a house across the street. Santino has admitted to the theft and is now in jail on $3500 bail.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the Community Center values the statue at $800 and the GPS device at $400.

Russia's GPS Going Global In 2009

Rick C. Hodgin — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:40:47 +0000

Moscow (Russia) - The last three satellites for a soviet GPS network named GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) were launched without incident yesterday in an improved Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. The three satellites complete the system which will be fully operational in 2009, providing world-wide GPS access to GLONASS devices.

Russia's full fleet of satellites include 29 separate points for GLONASS. Today there are only 15 satellites operating, but these provide full navigation in all parts of Russia and some surrounding countries.

Like the U.S. GPS system, the idea for GLONASS began in the 1970s. When the Russian economy collapsed in the 1990s, funding was stripped and the project's uncertain future was left hanging in the balance. A reinvigorated Russia under Vladimir Putin, however, has seen a significant infusion of cash and the program is now well funded.

The program will be fully operational in 2009 and will offer an alternative to GPS users who don't want to rely on American technology, or trickery. The early American GPS system was programmed to generate false data by the receiver. This error was called "Selective Availability" and would result in GPS coordinates that were a few hundred meters off of true coordinates. This slight error was programmed into the satellites so that, without a compensating device capable of correcting for the error (typically a military device), the GPS would produce false data that was not accurate or reliable for a given spot. Selective availability was turned off in 2000, following a 1996 executive order mandating that users receive a non-degraded signal globally. The feature still exists and/ can be re-enabled at any time.

Read more ... Russian News & Information Agency.

Berlin in 3D in Google Earth

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:49:37 +0000

Berlin (Germany) - Hamburg, Germany, announced a few weeks ago that it planned to become the first 3D city for Google Earth, but Germany's capital has won the race in the end: The city today published a plug-in for Google Earth that includes more than 44,000 buildings in 3D.

The detail level of the buildings integrated with the plug-in varies from very simple, one-color layouts that are known from many US cities to stunning detail that allows users to even enter buildings and take a look around inside.

According to the City of Berlin, the software delivers about 500 buildings with detailed imagery, 40 in "high" detail and five buildings that have added interior detail. These include the Reichstag government building, Berlin's new main train station, the DZ Bank building, the Sony Center and the Olympic Stadium.

City officials said that pictures of 800 different facades were taken, which are randomly distributed across buildings that are shown with little detail. In a press release, the admits that this process will not show an exact image of all buildings, but it claims that it is enough to give an impression and actually comes "close" to reality.

The KMZ file offered free of charge by the city triggers a massive data download to Google Earth that can take several minutes. The high detail of the buildings, especially inside, also reveals the limitations of the current navigation tools in Earth. 3D cities as granular as Berlin may require much finer navigation capabilities than available today.

A slideshow of Berlin in 3D is posted on our TG Daily beta site.

View environmental hotspots with Google Earth

Humphrey Cheung — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 00:37:45 +0000

Mountain View (CA) - With the increased interest in global warming and environmental issues, Google and the United Nations are reminding people that environmental hotspots can be viewed inside of the free Google Earth program. Back in September the UN struck a deal with Google to allow picture overlays which show drastic changes in terrain, vegetation and sea levels in environmental problem areas. Now the United Nations is seeking similar graphics help from other companies like Microsoft and Oracle.

Last September Google Earth users could start viewing locations that were originally only shown in the United Nations Environment Programme book "Atlas of Our Changing World". If you have Google Earth installed, you can turn on the pictures by going to "Layers" then "Primary Database" and "Featured Content". Click on the "UNEP: Atlas of Our Changing Environment" checkbox you'll see blue and black boxes dotting problem areas around the globe.

You can bring up additional information and overlay pictures by clicking on the boxes. Most areas show stages of environment damage that can be viewed in stages with satellite pictures that range from a few years to a couple decades old.

Among some of the more notable hotspots are Isahaya Bay in Japan and Mount Paektusan in North Korea. The Japanese reclaimed farmland by blocking off the bay and filling in the marshlands with sand. Google Earth shows the dramatic before and after pictures. The pictures for Mount Paektusan show extreme deforestation in the area, especially on the North Korean side.

Google Earth Shows Environmental Hotspots

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 00:08:03 +0000

To view the environment hotspots in Google Earth, you first must go to layers and and "Featured Content". Then click on UNEP: Atlas of Our Changing Environment.

To view the environment hotspots in Google Earth, you first must go to layers and and "Featured Content". Then click on UNEP : Atlas of Our Changing Environment.

Zoom out and you should see the hotspots highlight with a black and blue box. You can click on the box to get more info about the location. You can also overlay old map data to see environmental changes.

Zoom out and you should see the hotspots highlight with a black and blue box. You can click on the box to get more info about the location. You can also overlay old map data to see environmental changes.

Florida Everglades today

1973 Florida Everglades. Quite a bit more green in this picture!

1973 Florida Everglades. Quite a bit more green in this picture !

Three Gorges Dam today

1987 picture of the Three Gorges Dam. Just like in the Everglades picture, there is much more vegatation in the historical picture.

Present day Thon Buri Thailand. The light blue colored waters signify huge shrimp and fish farms.

1973 Thon Buri

The highest point in Korea is Mount Paektusan. It's a dormant volcano and borders both China and North Korea. The area shows tremendous deforestation, especially on the North Korean side.

The highest point in Korea is Mount Paektusan. It’s a dormant volcano and borders both China and North Korea. The area shows tremendous deforestation, especially on the North Korean side.

Mount Paektusan in 1977

Japan's Isahaya Bay. Japan reclaimed land by blocking off part of the bay and filling in the marsh with sand. Notice the green farmland.

Japan’s Isahaya Bay. Japan reclaimed land by blocking off part of the bay and filling in the marsh with sand. Notice the green farmland.

1993 view of the Bay before the reclaimation project.

Hamburg to become first 3D city in Google Earth

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 21:01:11 +0000

Hamburg (Germany) - Google announced that will integrate "hundreds" of 3D buildings of Hamburg, Germany into its application "Earth." According to a report published by Spiegel Online, the models will find their way into the software "within a few days" and make Hamburg Google's first 3D city.

Spokesperson Stefan Keuchel told the publication that the company plans "to create the ultimate 3D globe" which will allow people to go on interactive journeys through cities. The geographic data will be tied to local search data, which for example, will display restaurants in a street, according to Spiegel.

During a presentation, Google showed the new feature in virtual flights over Hamburg, but Spiegel noted that 3D comes with a downside: the additional data requires additional data and even with broadband connections there will be a delay "of a few seconds" until the 3D environment can be displayed.

Last week, Google released the final version of Google Earth 4, which came with numerous new 3D objects in various cities around the world.

Google releases Earth 4 final

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:22:37 +0000

Mountain View (CA) - Google has released a new version of what is the firm's most prominent applications next to its core search engine. Earth 4 features hundreds of new 3D buildings that were created either by Google employees or by users around the world with Google's SketchUp application.

In a rather rare event, another Google application has made it out of Beta. Earth is now available as a 14.3 MB download and adds more structures in 3D. That applies to enhanced 3D terrain as well as more buildings that grow from a third dimension in your imagination into often realistic illustrations in many locations around the world.

Google uses pixel as well as vector graphics to integrate 3D models into Earth. Realism reaches from stunningly detailed skyscrapers on which you can read the company label to rather rough vector 3D models that more or less give users an idea of the height of a building, but are otherwise reminiscent of graphics in the average mid-90s video game. That, of course, is because even Google's quickly growing workforce probably doesn't have enough resources to rebuild every structure on the globe in software; instead, the company asks its users to submit "super models" of buildings that have been created using Google's SketchUp application. A variation in detail is an obvious result.

You can look through our slide show to see the detail of certain selected 3D objects in Google Earth 4.

Another result of the addition of 3D is an increase in load time of surface data. If activated, "3D Warehouse" data increased the load time of data by up to a factor of five on our computers.

CES 2007: TomTom to offer portable GPS device to the automotive industry

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:11:30 +0000

Las Vegas (NV) - Pre-installed navigation systems in automobiles do not only have the disadvantage that they are significantly more expensive than most after-market systems, they are also, well, stationary which limits their use.

TomTom said that it will be marketing a GPS navigation system to the automotive industry, which can be embedded into the dash, but also comes with the capability to be removed by users of the system. According to the company, the new device, scheduled to be available this summer, can be coupled with a radio, infotainment head unit, or built directly into the dashboard.

The manufacturer said that the navigation device will provide full audio integration with other components of the car, playing CDs and MP3s in Hi-Fi stereo quality, and will be compatible with spoken instructions and phone calls via the car's speakers.

Pricing of the system has not been announced.

Google Earth 4

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:07:57 +0000

The final version of Earth 4 has been enhanced with hundreds of new 3D models, such as the World Financial center in New York, next to Ground Zero.

In some places, the photography and rendering is detailed enough to actually read the name of the buildings. This is a view of downtown Los Angeles.

The Golden Gate is now available in 3D as well. But, on a closer look, ...

... you can see the overlay that can't quite match the satellite data. But, no question about it. The combination of vector and pixel data is impressive - much like a mid-90s video game.

... you can see the overlay that can’t quite match the satellite data. But, no question about it. The combination of vector and pixel data is impressive - much like a mid-90s video game.

San Francisco downtown with the Transamerica building.

Chicago downtown with the Sears Tower (left), the John Hancock building (in the back) and the Aon Center (far right).

Going around the world: Our favorite - the Eiffel Tower in Paris, ...

Going around the world : Our favorite - the Eiffel Tower in Paris, ...

... the Colosseum in Rome, ...

... and the Pyramids in Gizeh, Egypt.

Detail isn't that great everywhere. This example is the Olympic Stadium in Munich, home of the 1972 Olympic Games.

Detail isn’t that great everywhere. This example is the Olympic Stadium in Munich, home of the 1972 Olympic Games.

Another example in Germany: The Reichstag building, home of the German government.

Another example in Germany : The Reichstag building, home of the German government.

On the other side of the globe: While the 3D structure of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China is rather rough, Google managed to get a picture of Mao Zedong on it.

On the other side of the globe : While the 3D structure of the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, China is rather rough, Google managed to get a picture of Mao Zedong on it.

So far, the rendering of another favorite is not available yet: The Hoover Dam still looks a bit distorted. Do we sound demanding?

So far, the rendering of another favorite is not available yet : The Hoover Dam still looks a bit distorted. Do we sound demanding ?

Snow plows get salted with GPS systems

Mark Raby — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 23:59:06 +0000

Indianapolis (IN) - As the country gears for Winter, states vulnerable for snowstorms are preparing for the next few months with heaters, snow plows, and local news tickers to show school closings. At least one of these is about to get easier in Indiana, as the state rolls out snow plows equipped with GPS systems.

"It all just helps us make decisions on how to send which truck where," says Public Works Assistant Director Pat Holdsworth, commenting on an $800,000 project to install more technology into state snow plows, salt trucks, and garbage trucks, which includes installing GPS devices into the vehicles.

Built-in GPS helps both the drivers and dispatchers of the trucks. Those who brave the streets to clear the snow are able to know for sure if they're on the right path, and the ones back in the office can see on one screen where the dispatched units are currently working.

Furthering the advancements to the state's department of transportation, salt trucks have also been improved with a salt spreader sensor, which will allow for more efficient dispersion of the salt, according to department representatives. Those overlooking the operation can even keep tabs on this too, and tell the drivers if they're wasting too much salt.

The test will be to see if these fancy new gadgets actually help improve the overall flow of transportation throughout the state once the snowy season is in full swing.

Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D Screenshots

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 02:12:50 +0000

Atlanta, CNN Center

Las Vegas, Las Vegas Hilton hotel

Ney York, Met Life building

Seattle, Space Needle

Los Angeles, Staples Convention center

Google Earth integrates election info in U.S. map

Mark Raby — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 20:48:18 +0000

Mountain View (CA) - Adding to Google's slate of filters and views for its widely-used Google Earth software, the Internet giant today unveiled the 2006 Google Earth Election Guide. The add-on allows users to view the entire country with district separation lines and embedded information about candidates running for Congress in each district.

With the new filters, the center of each district appears as a red, white, and blue button, that, when clicked on, brings up the entire list of people running for senator or as a member of the House of Representatives.

From there, links are listed by each candidate's name to open up a Web browser that shows either a Google Web search, image search, or news search for that candidate. Google says every major candidate in the country's 435 Congressional districts is included.

Additionally, when users click on any district, there are links to that state's official voter registration page as well as a link to the Federal Election Commission's site on campaign finance reports and data.

This comprehensive guide comes as we face an election year that's on an enormously more digital scale than any previous major election, with candidates tapping into YouTube and MySpace for campaign coverage, as well as a high rollout of touch-screen and digital voting machines to many districts for the first time since the 2004 Presidential election.

According to Google, the Google Earth software has been downloaded over 100 million times since its launch just over a year ago, and it has seen significant use in high-profile areas, such as CNN and other TV programming in the US, as well an internationally, like on Channel 9 News in Australia. With the election guide, millions of US citizens have a resource available to give them instant information that most would never otherwise search for.

Google Earth integrates election info to US map

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 03:08:00 +0000

Simply by clicking on the red, white, and blue star associated with a district, like the 8th district in the crucial swing state of Ohio, users can see all candidates running for Congress in that district.

Simply by clicking on the red, white, and blue star associated with a district, like the 8th district in the crucial swing state of Ohio, users can see all candidates running for Congress in that district.

Zoom in far enough, and the district lines for every state are shown, like New York in this picture.

With the single click of a button, users can bring up a Google Image search of any candidate on the selected district's ticket, like incumbent Senator Nancy Pelosi of California.

With the single click of a button, users can bring up a Google Image search of any candidate on the selected district’s ticket, like incumbent Senator Nancy Pelosi of California.

Users can also bring up Google News searches of any candidate. In this image, news is shown about Senator "Macaca" himself, George Allen.

From the click of any district within a state, users are provided with a link to that state's official voter registration page.

From the click of any district within a state, users are provided with a link to that state’s official voter registration page.

Also available from any district information page is a link to the Federal Election Commission's reports on campaign finance.

Also available from any district information page is a link to the Federal Election Commission’s reports on campaign finance.

Goggles - A Google Maps Flight Simulator

The Editors of Tom's Hardware — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:07:51 +0000

The Goggles homepage contains a Flash-based flight simulator based on Google maps. Players can pick from four starting locations.

A cartoonish airplane is overlayed on the maps. Players control the plane with arrow keys and can speed up and slow down with the A and Z keys. But that's not all...

A cartoonish airplane is overlayed on the maps. Players control the plane with arrow keys and can speed up and slow down with the A and Z keys. But that’s not all...