Google Street View Demystified

Ever wonder how that wonderful Street View technology worked? Here is the secret compliments of Google Japan...enjoy!



Note: Found via Gizmodo

Facebook Considers Panic Button

The BBC is reporting that Facebook exec's are in discussion with Britain's Home Secretary Alan Johnson regarding the Facebook luring and murder of a British teen by a known paedophile. "I emphasised that including the Ceop abuse reporting button on their site has the potential to transform child protection - and that the company should put this above all other considerations," said Johnson.

Facebook exec's say they are considering the option of a Panic Button but also defend their current measures saying:

"This innovative system has been developed by analysing millions of reports submitted over the years and testing ways to continually improve our system. 

"The system effectively handles all manner of potential abuse we see on the site, ranging from the common minor breaking of the rules, such as embarrassing pictures, to the extremely rare serious matters that are quickly escalated to law enforcement."

I like the idea as long as it is used as intended. Education is also a powerful tool.

Study Expects Mobile App Boom... Realy?

I don't think you have to be a genius to predict that mobile app development is going through the roof! It does however take some amount of thought to predict the magnitude of the explosive growth, but on the other hand the study quoted here was commissioned by an app store so take these numbers with a grain of salt...

According to the BBC:

"A study done for Getjar, the world's second biggest app store, said the market will grow to $17.5bn (£12bn) in the next two years. 

The study claimed downloads would climb from 7bn last year to 50bn by 2012 - a 92% year-on-year increase."

Big numbers!!!

Twitter Upgrades But No Monetization Plans Revealed

The hype around an announcement by Twitter founder Ev Williams at South by South West (SxSW) was that the company was going to announce it's plans for monetizing it's service but well all was said and done the actual announcement was viewed as underwhelming, with some attendees bailing before the key-note address was over.

"What Mr. Williams did announce is a Twitter expansion called @Anywhere. It allows users to log into other websites using their Twitter accounts, so they can tweet a link to something interesting without having to actually go to the Twitter site. Those third-party sites will highlight names and businesses that use Twitter and, when the mouse scrolls over them, a window pops up showing the user's account and latest activity there.

“Imagine being able to follow a New York Times journalist directly from her byline, tweet about a video without leaving YouTube, and discover new Twitter accounts while visiting the Yahoo! home page,” the blog post announcing the change said."

As an avid user and Twitter fanboy, I don't really care how they make money as long as they are able to keep the doors open without selling their souls and invading my screen space.

Source: CBC

Sony Takes On Wii With Motion Controller Of It's Own

Sony announced today the introduction of PlayStation Move, a motion sensing controller reminiscent of the Nintendo Wii's nunchuk or the handle of a light saber without the cool glowing laser part. Sony isn't hiding the fact that they have Nintendo in their sights either "The migration path from the Wii household to the PlayStation 3 household is a pretty natural path, partly because of the experience that you can get on the PlayStation Move, but also because of the content that we find on PlayStation 3," says Peter Dille, senior vice-president of marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment.

The PlayStation Move is set to debut this fall and the precise price has not been released but it is thought that a bundle including one controller and PlayStation Eye will retail for under $100.

Read more: CBC Technology

YuuGuu Screensharing Via Instant Messenger

Running a little behind this morning so I thought I'd simply share with you an interesting take on screensharing for collaborative working online. YuuGuu is different from services that you may be familiar with such as GoToMeeting and WebEx, in that the work is done for you via your instant messenger client. No software to download, and support is given for all of the major IM platforms such as Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and GTalk. Have a look at a more detailed description by WebWorkerDaily.

iPad Delayed Slightly In US, 9 Other Countries Will Get Theirs In Late April

The Wi-Fi version of the iPad will be released in the U.S. on April 3rd with the 3G version coming later in the month according Apple. "Both versions will be available in late April in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K., Apple said in a statement. The device will be available in other countries later this year, the company said."

The device ranges from $499 to $829 U.S. depending on the model chosen but outside of the U.S. prices will be announced in April closer to the launch dates.

"The tablet can run all iPhone apps and boasts up to 10 hours of video battery life. Apple also announced Friday that the iPad will include 12 new apps designed for the device's larger screen."

Source: CBC

Canadian Budget Promises Innovation Money For Research With Profit Potential

The Canadian government's budget for 2010 includes $200 million in funding for practical research. "The federal government plans to boost Canadian productivity by increasing investments in scientific research and innovation – measures that in the long term are intended to drag Canada out of its pool of red ink." says the Globe and Mail. “These investments will help create clusters of great new jobs on the frontiers of knowledge,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told the House of Commons.

Claiming a victory in the budget is the Association of Canadian Community Colleges after a $30 million was directed at research conducted in community colleges, “This is a real recognition of the work we do.” said James Knight, association's president.

Good news! 

Apple Sues HTC Over Smartphone Related Patents

It seems as though the competition is heating up in the smartphone market in more ways than one! Apple has decided to confront HTC in the courts with claims of patent infringement on more than 20 of it's patents related to user interface and hardware.

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. “We’ve decided to do something about it.” 

For it's part HTC spokeswoman Linda Mills said “HTC values patent rights and their enforcement but is also committed to defending its own technology innovations,”

It was bound to happen sooner or later, HTC and Android based phones are starting to make a dent in the market place...

 

Source: Globe and Mail

Sony Urges PlayStation 3 Owners Not To Play Online

Owners of the older generation PlayStation 3 game systems are being warned by Sony not to play online until a coding error in the clock functionality of the system, similar to the Y2K bug, is fixed. Errors began being reported recently that resulted in the system date being reset to Jan. 1, 2000. Using the systems online could cause errors, make it impossible to record gaming achievements or restoring some data, cause an error message saying the user has been logged out of the online game network, and result in game trophies to disappear. The error does not occur in the newer slim version of the PlayStation 3 that began shipping in September '09.

Source: CBC