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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 (27), dortmund germany, Germany (7), google (174), google maps (21), Italy (7), nbsp (1,601), Read (1,390), South Africa (5), Venice (2), venice italy, View

  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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  Mom Forces Google to Blur Street View Pic of Her Son's Bum, Dooms His Viral Fame

  JP 11:05 am on July 3, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Blur Street, Claire Rowlands, daily mail (6), Google Street (13), Louis, nbsp (1,601), Read (1,390), sick to my stomach, son (4), tuchus, View

  Filed under: Google

  

  When Claire Rowlands searched Google Street View for her mother’s home, she expected to see her mom’s garden, car and front fence. One thing she didn’t expect was her 3-year-old son’s bare butt, but that’s exactly what Google’s camera-equipped car had captured, in all its glory. Although her son Louis’s frontal anatomy was blocked from view, the uncensored image of his heinie was enough to make mom raise hell.

  “I just felt sick to my stomach,” Rowlands told the Daily Mail, asserting she was primarily concerned that pedophiles might use the image of her son’s tuchus for devious purposes. Within an hour of receiving Rowlands’s complaint, Google promptly blurred the image, and apologized for its oversight of the hind sight.

  Continue reading Mom Forces Google to Blur Street View Pic of Her Son’s Bum, Dooms His Viral Fame

  Mom Forces Google to Blur Street View Pic of Her Son’s Bum, Dooms His Viral Fame originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 07:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Googlemobiles Are Scanning German Wi-Fi Networks

  JP 2:33 am on May 1, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Colonel Sanders, german news magazine, Germany (7), Google Street (13), google street view (8), Mac (36), media access control, nbsp (1,601), Peter Schaar, Read (1,390), Register, View

  Filed under: Google

  

  According to The Register, Google Street View cars in Germany have been scanning Wi-Fi networks and recording users’ Media Access Control (MAC) address, which are unique identifiers assigned to networks, without permission. The country’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Peter Schaar isn’t happy about it, either. “I am appalled… I call upon Google to delete previously unlawfully collected personal data on the wireless network immediately and stop the rides for Street View,” he told a German broadcaster. This isn’t the first time Street View has riled up some European folks with privacy concerns. But recording MAC addresses is a big deal, since a person’s identity could eventually be culled from this data by cross-referencing it with other data.

  However, German news magazine Spiegel reports that Google has been doing this since 2008. If that’s true, we wonder why nobody has said anything before now? The issue is that geolocation information is collected by myriad sources, from ISPs to cell providers, all hoping to map and track what Google calls “publicly broadcast information.” Obviously, a compromise will be reached between Google and the Germans’ desire for privacy. After all, Google agreed to blur faces a couple years back, even going as far as blurring Colonel Sanders’ face. [From: The Register, via: Google Blogoscoped]

  Googlemobiles Are Scanning German Wi-Fi Networks originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 24 Apr 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Milkman Blames Google Street View for Garage Burglary

  JP 10:40 am on April 17, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: garage (2), google (174), Google Street (13), google street view (8), Gordon Rayner, nbsp (1,601), open garage, Rayner, Read (1,390), View

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  Google’s Street View application has certainly captured bizarre people doing bizarre things. And it’s definitely come under fire from some who claim that it crosses a certain line of privacy. But could Street View really help criminals target their victims?

  Such is the claim made by 52-year-old Englishman Gordon Rayner, who says that Google’s Street View enticed a group of burglars to attack his home. According to the Telegraph, the depiction of Rayner’s house appears on Street View shows his garage door wide open and everything inside. Although the house’s windows and Rayner’s face are both blocked out on Google, he believes the search engine should’ve blacked out his open garage door, as well, calling it “an invitation for any criminal to take what they like.” The break-in happened on March 12, and resulted in Rayner’s bike getting swiped. The same burglars reportedly returned on two other nights, but were unsuccessful in sneaking into his garage.

  Continue reading Milkman Blames Google Street View for Garage Burglary

  Milkman Blames Google Street View for Garage Burglary originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Street View Awards Show Best of U.K. Without the Black Pudding

  JP 3:10 pm on March 9, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Awards, Britain (9), cobblestone road, Foodie Street, Google Street (13), google street view (8), High Street, Ian Addyman, Milsom Street, nbsp (1,601), Picturesque Street, Read (1,390), U.K. (35), U.K. Street, View, york (4)

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  They might not have as high a profile as the Oscars, but Britain’s first annual Google Street View Awards ceremony was held Monday. The Telegraph reports a panel of U.K. experts, selected by Google, and about 11,000 online participants voted a cobblestone road in York, called The Shambles, “Britain’s Most Picturesque Street.” “It has been the backdrop for many a jigsaw, chocolate box and railway poster and once you visit you will see why,” shop owner Ian Addyman told the Telegraph.

  The competition, intended to hype the many new locations added to the U.K. Street View, also included other award categories. Bath’s Milsom Street won for “Best Fashion” and Hampshire’s Stockbridge High Street came away with “Best Foodie Street.” In return, these winning walks get a ton of free publicity (which business owners must love), and will be highlighted on Street View with special guides and point-of-interest markers. Google hasn’t provided Street View links on the Awards announcement, but you can still browse the best of the digitized U.K. via the voting page. [From: Telegraph and Google]

  Gallery: The Shambles on Google Street View

  

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  Street View Awards Show Best of U.K. Without the Black Pudding originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Is Google Street View Taking Its Cameras Indoors?

  JP 12:53 am on February 10, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: America (15), But Street, candy shop, google (174), Google Street (13), google street view (8), nbsp (1,601), New York City (7), Read (1,390), Store (7), View

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

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  Google Street View can take you down almost any street in America, and through just about every major city worldwide. But Street View stops right where its name implies — in the street. That might be changing though, if a source that e-mailed the blog, Search Engine Land, is to be believed.

  New York City nut and candy shop, Oh Nuts, e-mailed Search Engine Land claiming a representative from Google came in and took photos of the store and its products for a new feature tentatively called Google Store Views. The store provided images from the security camera showing a person moving around the shop taking photos with a tripod, but all that proves is that someone was moving a camera around the store.

  Continue reading Is Google Street View Taking Its Cameras Indoors?

  Is Google Street View Taking Its Cameras Indoors? originally appeared on Switched on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Street View Snowmobile Gives Vantage From Olympic Mountain (Sadly Not Mount Olympus)

  JP 10:05 pm on February 9, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 2010 winter olympic games, Dave Murray, downhill slope, Google Street (13), Mount Olympus, nbsp (1,601), Olympic Mountain, Read (1,390), The Street (2), Vancouver (6), vantage, View, whistler blackcomb mountains, Winter Olympic (4)

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  Admittedly, we’re not exactly thrilled about the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. We don’t even understand the rules of half the events. But leave it to Google to make the games (or at least the location) a little more exciting.

  To do this, some enterprising engineers and camera operators are taking Google Street View to new heights — literally. According to the Official Google Blog, you can now view shots from vantage points in the Whistler Blackcomb mountains — some of them as high as 7,000 feet. The Street View team rigged a camera to a snowmobile and zipped around many of the runs that will host Olympic events — like the Dave Murray downhill slope. These really are some breathtaking shots, and shots that many of us would never see if it weren’t for Street View. Plus, Google captured some new aerial images of the Vancouver-Whistler area.

  Continue reading Street View Snowmobile Gives Vantage From Olympic Mountain (Sadly Not Mount Olympus)

  Street View Snowmobile Gives Vantage From Olympic Mountain (Sadly Not Mount Olympus) originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Street View Catches Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne on Front Lawn... in Bathtub

  JP 12:52 am on January 26, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bathtub, google maps street view, Google Street (13), google street view (8), Lawn, nbsp (1,601), Oklahoma City, Read (1,390), singer wayne coyne, View, Wayne Coyne

  Filed under: Celebrities, Google, Web

  

  Some blogs may file Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne’s Google Street View bathtub romp under ‘News of the Weird.’ But not us. To us, the headline ‘Street View Images Show Coyne Sitting in Bathtub on Front Lawn’ is about as shocking as ‘Street View Images Show Grand Canyon Being Really Huge.’ Either way, in the above image and on Google Maps, in a clawfoot bathtub, in front of Coyne’s Oklahoma City abode is a pasty, shirtless, pixelated figure with a woolly beard and shock of dark hair. And since, surely, no fan or friend of the party-prog rocker has an undersunned complexion, a woolly beard, or dark hair (and also, we may add, camps on Coyne’s lawn), it must be him. Or it might not. Regardless, though, we’re pleased, because a fan, or maybe a member, of the Flaming Lips has taken a bath. Now that’s something to write about. [From: NME and Google Maps]

  Street View Catches Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on Front Lawn… in Bathtub originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Musician Follows Google Street View in Search of Fame

  JP 8:55 pm on December 11, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Canada (8), google (174), Google Street (13), google street view (8), Heagy, Nate, nbsp (1,601), Read (1,390), saskatoon canada, View

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  When a band engages in viral marketing, it usually wants to make sure the plan is well thought out, and the gimmick is highly visible. But not Nate Heagy, of Fear Salesman, an industrial tinged, pop-rock group from Saskatoon, Canada, who decided that the best way to draw attention to his band was to simply pop up on Google Street View.

  Heagy told the CBC in an interview, “When Google announced that Street View was coming to Saskatoon, a light bulb went on… I figured Saskatoon’s not that big, I could probably find the Google car if I really wanted to.” So Heagy drove around with sign in the back off his car waiting for the day he encountered the Google mobile.

  Continue reading Musician Follows Google Street View in Search of Fame

  Musician Follows Google Street View in Search of Fame originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  Google Street View: The Movie, A Buddy Comedy

  JP 8:00 pm on October 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: America (15), beard growth, college humor (2), Evan, Google Street (13), Mike, nbsp (1,601), Read (1,390), strangers in a car, Street (5), View

  Filed under: Google, Web

  

  Google has photographed nearly every street in America, and it’s working on expanding Street View to the rest of the planet. Ever wonder how Google put together this impressive and intrusive feature for Maps? Well College Humor would like to imagine it started with two pasty, humanoid blobs hired by Google to take a road trip across the entire country.

  Minus the Gumby like appearance (and bizarrely slow beard growth) of the characters, we hope that if Google had actually tossed two complete strangers in a car together and asked them to take the world’s longest road trip and photograph every single street, they would have been smart enough to turn it into a reality show. Fox or ABC would gobble that crap up.

  The highlight for us? When Evan cries and pleads to stop as Mike drives past his mother on the street. Mike’s one word reply: “Google…” Watch the video below. [From: College Humor]

  Continue reading Google Street View: The Movie, A Buddy Comedy

  Google Street View: The Movie, A Buddy Comedy originally appeared on Switched on Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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