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  Google Unveils Voice Actions and Chrome to Phone, Skips Video Calls

  JP 8:10 pm on August 12, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Android (10), google (193), google maps, microphone icon, performance gaps, Voice (5)

  Filed under: Car Tech, Cell Phones, Google

  

  It was shockingly last minute, but Google decided to organize a little press conference today. On the menu were a pair of new features for Android that close a few of the remaining performance gaps between iOS and Google’s mobile OS. Although there was no mention of video chat (as many speculated), and although we were denied a peak at the next generation of Android (dubbed Gingerbread), we did get two genuinely useful tools for enhancing your Android experience.

  Voice Actions is a voice control application for Android devices running 2.2 (Froyo). The ability to initiate some functions with nothing but the power of your voice is one of the few features iOS could claim that Android lacked. But, rather than simply match Apple’s offering and move on, the Voice Actions feature delivers far more flexibility. Simply tap the microphone icon on the search widget, and you can tell the phone to play music, call a contact, or navigate to a destination using Google Maps Navigation. But those are the simpler actions. You can also send e-mails and text messages by speaking a contact’s name, and then dictating the message you want to send. If you want to call a business, just say its name, and let Google find the number for you. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

  Continue reading Google Unveils Voice Actions and Chrome to Phone, Skips Video Calls

  Google Unveils Voice Actions and Chrome to Phone, Skips Video Calls originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Google's 'Open Spot' App Shares Open Parking Spots, Awards Much-Needed Karma

  JP 1:47 am on July 17, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Brooklyn (7), concrete jungles, cutthroat atmosphere, google maps, Karma, nbsp (1,691), open (2), Read (1,473), spot (2)

  Filed under: Car Tech, Cell Phones, Google

  

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  When it comes to finding prime parking spots in the middle of dense, concrete jungles, even the most mild-mannered of drivers can revert to their more primitive, animalistic roots. As summer road warriors jockey with each other for curbside position, tempers flare, heart rates rise, and torrents of expletives gush out of driver-side windows. That inherently cutthroat atmosphere, however, may be softening up a bit, thanks to Google.

  The company has just released a new app called ‘Open Spot,’ which takes a page from Brooklyn’s ‘Roadify‘ and allows smartphone users to instantly notify other drivers when they’re vacating their parking spaces. Once an open spot is marked, other users can pinpoint it on Google Maps, and can hunt for any other tagged vacancies within the area, as well. As Google explains, ‘Open Spot’ is geared toward helping drivers “save time, save gas, and reduce pollution.” The competitive altruist can even accrue so-called ‘karma points’ every time he or she shares a spot, effectively giving self-righteous do-gooders an easy way to quantify their goodwill.

  Continue reading Google’s ‘Open Spot’ App Shares Open Parking Spots, Awards Much-Needed Karma

  Google’s ‘Open Spot’ App Shares Open Parking Spots, Awards Much-Needed Karma originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Jeremy Wood's GPS Art Map: the Cartography of Experience

  JP 1:46 am on July 12, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: art (6), Art Map, cartography, experience (2), google maps, Jeremy Wood, Mark Velasquez, nbsp (1,691), New York (34), Read (1,473), university of warwick, Wood

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  Have you all been watching ‘Work of Art,’ Bravo’s latest horrible venture into competitive reality programming? The show — which pits artists of varying skill, experience and taste against one another for a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum — asked the contestants this week to make an artwork based on their experience visiting an Audi showroom. (We’re just going to gloss over how ridiculous that is for the sake of this piece.) Anyway, photographer Mark Velasquez decided to paint an overhead map of New York, which came across as a poor Mondrian rip-off, and which the judges rightfully dubbed “hotel art.” What does this all mean in the context of this post? Well, it got us thinking about the function of maps as art objects.

  Artist Jeremy Wood is similarly drawn to cartography, a discipline which is nearly extinct thanks to satellite technology and Google Maps. Wood decided to employ a GPS device as he spent 17 days walking 238 miles of unmapped land around the University of Warwick (eschewing both roads and paths). The result — called ‘Traverse Me’ — was a tangled abstraction of Wood’s singular sojourn, pictured above.

  Continue reading Jeremy Wood’s GPS Art Map: the Cartography of Experience

  Jeremy Wood’s GPS Art Map: the Cartography of Experience originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Now Google Can Spy on You at an Angle: 45-Degree View Released

  JP 1:45 am on July 12, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: California (30), dortmund germany, Germany (8), google (193), google maps, Italy (7), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), South Africa (5), Venice (2), venice italy, View (17)

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  Google has now announced that you can use its services to get a sideways view of the world. A few months back, Google released its 45-degree aerial photographs to developers, and has since incorporated the perspective into its beta testing ground, Google Maps Labs. Now the images are available for all users, but they only cover a handful of areas: some parts of California; South Africa; Venice, Italy; and Dortmund, Germany. Hooray for the Google panopticon!

  What does this mean for your weekend? Why, absolutely nothing. In fact, we can’t really see what’s different from when Google Maps merged its data with Google Earth. We guess the pictures are a little higher-res? Even more reason to cover up your naked child. [From: ReadWriteWeb]

  Now Google Can Spy on You at an Angle: 45-Degree View Released originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Gmail and Buzz Now Embed Google Maps, For Cartography in Conversations

  JP 12:15 am on June 9, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: buzz box, Gmail (18), google (193), google apps (4), google maps, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Read Write (4)

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  We love the various features that the Google Apps labs add to our favorite Web tools. The latest one, which can be found in the labs settings in Gmail, automatically embeds a map in your e-mails and Buzz messages, if they contain a recognizable real-world address. Until now, checking an address in Google Maps required copying the address, opening maps, pasting it in the search box and hitting enter. Granted, not a ton of work, but the Google Maps preview function saves you the time and effort.

  You’ll notice a set of links at the bottom of any mail with an address: one that opens the preview within the e-mail, and another that opens the map in a new window. In Buzz, pasting a Google Maps link in your Buzz box (or whatever you want to call it) automatically generates an image preview of the location on a map. Pretty sweet. Check it out by clicking on the little green beaker in the upper right-hand corner of Gmail to edit your labs settings. [From: Gmail Blog, via: Read Write Web]

  Gmail and Buzz Now Embed Google Maps, For Cartography in Conversations originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Google Admits to Snooping on Personal Data via Street View Cars

  JP 2:03 am on May 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Alan Eustace, chevy chase, Eustace, Fletch Lives, google (193), google maps, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), Street (7)

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  Chevy Chase may not have been a big enough man to admit to his own wrongdoing in ‘Fletch Lives,’ but Google, apparently, is. On Friday, Google engineering chief Alan Eustace admitted that, for the past three years, his company has been unknowingly collecting personal data sent over open Wi-Fi networks. The admission, as the New York Times reports, came as a response to a recent inquiry from a German data protection agency, which requested permission to audit the Wi-Fi information that Google collects to put together its Street View feature on Google Maps. In a post published two weeks ago, the company insisted that, although it collects certain kinds of data to identify Wi-Fi networks around the world, it has never compiled any private information sent across those networks. After the German audit prompted Google to reexamine its data-mining practices, though, company engineers realized that they were mistaken, and had in fact been collecting so-called “payload data” from individuals sending information across password-unprotected networks.

  Eustace blamed the inadvertent data collection on a programming error committed in 2006, and tried to reassure users that Google has “never used that data in any Google products.” Eustace also pointed out that the company’s constantly moving Street View vehicles change Wi-Fi channels so frequently, that they were only able to pick up bits and pieces of information as they were passing by open networks. For the time being, Google will not launch any more camera-equipped Street View cars, and will reportedly work with investigators to delete the private data as soon as possible.

  Continue reading Google Admits to Snooping on Personal Data via Street View Cars

  Google Admits to Snooping on Personal Data via Street View Cars originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 17 May 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  BlackBerry Google Maps Upgrade Brings Search by Voice, Buzz

  JP 1:49 am on April 11, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: google labs (3), google maps, google web

  Filed under: BlackBerry, Google, Web, BlackBerry 101

  

  The Google Maps mobile app for BlackBerry has just gotten a major upgrade with the introduction of Google Maps 4.0, ratcheting the BlackBerry app up to the level of Google Maps’ iPhone and Android offering. One of the major additions to the app is the search by voice feature, which, as Google explains, should “save your overworked thumbs.” Instead of tapping away in search of a location, BlackBerry users can now simply hold down the green “call” button and speak into the receiver. The aural search claims to accommodate various English accents, as well as Mandarin Chinese.

  Also featured in 4.0 is Google Buzz for mobile, which allows users to share pictures and reviews, and to scope out what’s going on within range of a given location. As long as you have Web history enabled on your Google account, you can also take advantage of the app’s personalized search suggestions based on all your previous searches. Once you’re signed in to your Google account, the app will automatically synchronize all the starred locations saved on your computer with your BlackBerry, as well. BlackBerry hiking enthusiasts can now take advantage of Google Labs’ Terrain layer, while BlackBerry convenience enthusiasts can scan through nearby businesses by simply selecting any random point on the map. To install the upgrade, open your BlackBerry’s Internet browser, and go to m.google.com/maps. [From: GoogleMobile, via: Mashable and MobileBurn]

  BlackBerry Google Maps Upgrade Brings Search by Voice, Buzz originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  'Tweet Your Location' From Twitter Next Move in Location-Based Blogging

  JP 12:48 am on March 12, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: application program interface, google maps, mapping option, nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), tweet (27), Twitter (176)

  Filed under: Web, Social Networking

  

  Like moths drawn to a flame, the titans of the social networking world have all begun implementing various location-based features into their platforms. Now, following the recent news of Facebook’s upcoming location-based status updates, Twitter has officially thrown its hat in the ring by allowing users to “Tweet With Your Location.”

  While developers have long been able to tweet their locations with the Twitter API (Application Program Interface), it now seems that the option has been introduced to all members of the Twittersphere. As TheNextWeb reports, the feature allows your followers to pinpoint the precise location from which you tweet, with the help of Google Maps. Should you choose to enable it, a little pin will pop up underneath your tweets, as well as beneath those in your stream. When you click on the pin, a small Google Maps window will pop up alongside the text, mapping out exactly where the tweet was first posted. A few users actually spotted the tweet-mapping option on Tuesday before Twitter decided to suddenly take it down. Yesterday, though, the company appeared to have rolled it out officially — just in time, not coincidentally, for the SXSW festival, and all the location-based hype that’s been building up around it.

  Continue reading ‘Tweet Your Location’ From Twitter Next Move in Location-Based Blogging

  ‘Tweet Your Location’ From Twitter Next Move in Location-Based Blogging originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Topeka, Kansas Becomes 'Google, Kansas' for a Month

  JP 12:51 am on March 8, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Bill Bunten (2), City (8), fiber optics network, google (193), google maps, Jackie Williams, Kansas (3), nbsp (1,691), Read (1,473), San Francisco (15), Topeka (2), topeka capital journal

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

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  If you search for “Google” on Google Maps, you’ll find a lot of dots around San Francisco and other parts of the world. You won’t, however, find many in Kansas. All that’s about to change, though, thanks to a radical move from one Kansan mayor.

  Bill Bunten, the mayor of Topeka, Kansas, has signed a proclamation that officially changes the city’s name to Google… for the month of March, at least. As the Topeka Capital-Journal reports, the zany move comes as part of the city’s campaign to convince Google to conduct its new, super fast fiber-optics network there. City party pooper attorney Jackie Williams tried raining on Bunten’s parade by pointing out that Topeka legally can’t change its name on a temporary basis. After seeing the crestfallen looks on the council members’ faces, though, he acknowledged that there’s technically no problem with Bunten asking for the city to be referred to as Google. Party on.

  Continue reading Topeka, Kansas Becomes ‘Google, Kansas’ for a Month

  Topeka, Kansas Becomes ‘Google, Kansas’ for a Month originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Animated Car Chase Injects Google Maps Images With Adrenaline

  JP 12:51 am on March 8, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Car (5), Claude Lelouch, google (193), google maps, Jonathan Milott, nbsp (1,691), O.J. Simpson, Paris (4), Read (1,473), San Francisco (15)

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  We often click around Google Maps imagining how it would be to drive through San Francisco like ‘Bullit,’ or through Paris like Claude Lelouch in ‘C’était un Rendezvous.’ Directors Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion get us one step closer with their animated high-speed car chase video (after the break) “filmed” from the perspective of Google’s satellite view.

  For you gamers, the clip may touch upon distant memories of the old ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video game, which was shown from a similar aerial perspective. After watching it, we can say it’s definitely more exciting than the O.J. Simpson car chase video. The car slides around turns, crashes through police road blocks, and swerves through traffic.

  Continue reading Animated Car Chase Injects Google Maps Images With Adrenaline

  Animated Car Chase Injects Google Maps Images With Adrenaline originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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