maps

Analysts: Google Maps wins, rivals 'stagnate'

Google Maps has expanded its lead in features in the last year, a move that will help the company vanquish rival services in mobile search, Cowen and Co. analysts said Monday.

"Since our initial survey in July 2007, innovation at (AOL's) MapQuest and Yahoo Maps has stagnated," and although Microsoft has improved Live Search Maps, it remains the least popular of the four top services, said analysts Jim Friedland and Kevin Kopelman. "Yahoo and MapQuest do not have the resources to keep pace and are forced to aggressively monetize a declining franchise in the maps segment.&… Read more

Google Maps groks New York public transit

It's too late to use it to get to T-Mobile's launch of the first phone using Google's Android operating system, but Google Maps now offers the ability to navigate using New York City's public transit system.

The online map service now has data from New York's Metropolitan Transit Agency, one of the largest, most complicated, and most widely used transportation systems. It includes data from buses and subways, the Long Island Rail Road, the Long Island Bus, the Metro-North Railroad, and the MTA Bus Company. And it connects to regional systems, including New Jersey Transit'… Read more

First Look video: Google's new BlackBerry app

If you missed last week's news about Google's feature-honing update for its native BlackBerry app, here's your chance to see it in action.

As part of a few well-appointed changes, the new Google Mobile App for BlackBerry does away with its predecessor's penchant for hogging space on the home screen and has rearranged its resources to pack a greater wallop with search. Tune into the video to see what we mean.

TwitterKeys replaces your keyboard with a bookmarklet

I've been a long-time Windows user, and one of the many remaining traces of the old days lies deep within the accessories menu. I speak, of course, of the character map, something I rarely pull up except to find things like ? and the occasional ?. Apparently one of the hot trends on Twitter is adding some of these barely-used symbols to your Tweets, or it's at least enough of a trend for two guys over at The Next Web blog to create their own bookmarklet to avoid having to open up the character map, or learn the keyboard shortcuts … Read more

Google Street View goes mobile

Street View endows Google Maps with a driver's-eye view of the world, and now people actually on the street will be able to use it, too.

The company announced a new version of its Google Maps for Mobile software that includes support for Street View, as well as walking directions and reviews of businesses. Google said the new version is faster too.

The new features work on BlackBerrys with color screens and on mobile devices with Java abilities. Sorry, iPhone users. Visiting the Google site with an iPhone produces this message: "Sorry, Google Maps does not work on … Read more

Firefox add-on maps the sites you visit

Last May, I described the CallingID add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser. It lets users see at a glance the address or location of the server hosting the site their visiting, and it even offers a color-coded security rating.

Unfortunately, the add-on doesn't work with Firefox 3, and the vendor's site doesn't offer any information on or help with this problem.

While looking for a solution to the CallingID glitch, I discovered Shazou, a Firefox add-on created by Chuck Durham at Seisan that goes one step further by showing the location of the site's server on … Read more

BigStage launches, lets you face off with Mr. T

Like Slinkies and Silly Putty originating from flubbed technology, some of the cooler Web services have originated from tech originally intended for government agencies.

BigStage is definitely one of those services. It uses three photos of your face to map your features onto a virtual head using technology developed for the CIA. Your magic head is rendered into various scenes from popular movies, television shows, and digital shorts--including clips from The A-Team. You can then send those clips to your friends, parents, and relatives to be thoroughly confused and/or entertained by your shenanigans.

The service was originally demoed at both CES … Read more

Google to buy GeoEye satellite imagery

Google has signed a deal under which GeoEye will supply the search giant with imagery from a satellite due to launch in coming days, the companies said.

Under the deal, Google is the exclusive online mapping site that may use the imagery, said Mark Brender, vice president of corporate communications and marketing. Google uses satellite imagery in its Google Maps and Google Earth product.

And as a little icing on the cake, Google's logo is on the side of the rocket set to launch the 4,300-pound satellite in six days from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Terms … Read more

Google Earth shows cows point north

My grandparents in England had cows on their farm so I've always had a lot of affection for them, and was delighted to read this story from the Los Angeles Times indicating a "hidden cow power." Turns out cows may have internal compasses much like birds and bees do for orienting themselves to magnetic north.

Using satellite images on Google Earth, German scientists were able to see that all over the planet, cows stand with their bodies pointing to magnetic north.

Studying photographs of 8,510 cattle in 308 herds from around the world, zoologists Sabine Begall … Read more