streetview

Google offers up Art Project for art lovers

Google Street View is going indoors.

Starting today, folks can explore 17 museums around the world using Google's Street View technology, the search giant announced in a blog post. Dubbed Art Project, the initiative lets users view artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the National Gallery in London, and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, among others.

When users choose a museum, they can opt to walk through its many halls, or learn more about a particular piece of art with an information pane to the right of the program'… Read more

Google the vote

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Google launches search tools to help Americans vote

Sophos unveils free antivirus software for Mac users

T-Mobile announces a $10 Android phone

Hotmail now works with other e-mail accounts, even Gmail

Google blurs images of homes and faces in Germany on Street View maps

Ubisoft's Michael Jackson Experience game will come with a free sparkly glove if you preorder the Wii version

Martha Stewart launches an iPad app to help you make the best holiday cookies on the block

Buzz Out Loud 1266: It's not the porn, it's you (podcast)

If you find that your employees are goofing off watching porn at work instead of working, does it make logical sense that you should get rid of the porn, or the employee? Exactly. Of course, the government doesn't see it that way, but they're the ones who encoded their like, 900-word mission statement into the U.S. CyberCommand shield. Sigh.

High-fashion Versace phone

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Versace Unique is not an iPhone killer. Or an Evo killer. Or whatever phone du jour we want to kill at the moment.

Why are these high-fashion phones still around? Who uses them? I've never once seen one in the wild. Only once have I ever even heard of one in the wild and that was when my friend Adam Curry said that he was going to buy his teenage daughter a Samsung Armani. He hardly counts. He is a high-profile guy. Mere mortals do not … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1119: Do we want Google knowing every site we visit?

Google is offering a public DNS service (DNS is the address book for Internet domains) that will resolve the domain names you type into a Web browser to servers you want to visit. But that could really give Google a complete picture of who you are. Do you want that? We also chat about the World Cup coming in 3D and the effects of BitLocker encryption being broken.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1119

Google Public DNS service not ideal for everyone http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/12/google-public-dns-service-not-ideal-for-everyone.ars … Read more

Webware Radar: Get 5,000 music tracks for free

The Free Music Archive, an organization created by WFMU, a "freeform" radio station, has officially launched into beta. So far, the site has 5,000 tracks that users can download for free. According to the site's founders, the Free Music Archive is aimed at becoming a repository of tracks, remixes, and music clips for personal consumption. Any of the songs can be added to podcasts, video shows, or a playlist. No licensing fees or royalties will be charged. The organization hopes that through free downloads, more people will buy an artist's full album. Along with a … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 870: Baba-boo! Scareware!

On today's show, we discover that "scareware" is a thing (that never should have been) and that you can tell a bad business idea by the bad name. Also, PlayStation Home comes out (in beta) after a year and a half in development, and it seems kind of lame, and we talk about the few folks making money in TTT (These Troubled Times).

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 870

PlayStation Home opens its doors http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7777122.stm http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_SONY_PLAYSTATION_VIRTUAL_WORLD?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-12-11-07-55-27… Read more

Google Street View: The musical extravaganza

Earlier this year artists Robin Hewlett and Ben Kinsley teamed up with Google to create what might be the oddest thing caught on Street View, Google Maps' virtual man-on-the-street service. Hewlett and Kinsley managed to get a large group of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, locals together to participate in a variety of activities on-camera, including organized jogging, a sword fight, and a parade--complete with band instruments and uniforms. All the while Google's Street View car captured every moment.

The result is a few square blocks of the zaniness that will be forever preserved for others to see--that is, until Google … Read more

Are Google's StreetView drivers humans or robots?

Bill's friend, the one with whom he was going on a motorbike holiday in Tasmania, suddenly died. Bill, being upset and Australian, went out and got drunk.

A cab dropped him off back at his house. But he collapsed before he could get to his front door.

So along came a friendly Google StreetView camera car. The Australian version of the service was to be launched August 4. So the Googler had a lot of filming to do.

He shot the prostrate Bill who was lying on his back, his feet sticking out into the road.

This was a … Read more

How to put blinders on Google Street View

Google Maps Street View (more coverage) is about the coolest mapping application I've ever seen. And the creepiest. On it, you can see people walking into adult bookstores (and you thought Google only tracked your porn habits online), license plates on cars parked in driveways, and women inadvertently (presumably) flashing their underwear at the Google cameras.

But there's a way for users to block Street View images. Just as governments have asked Google to blur the overhead images of Google Maps, you can ask Google to censor street-level photos. It's easy: just click on "Street View … Read more