Internet

Street View lands on Google Maps Web app

Google has revved up its mobile Maps Web app through the addition of Street View.

As of today, users who launch Google's Maps site on their mobile device can see and navigate a Street View angle of different spots around the world.

Enabling Street View requires just a tap.

After launching the Maps app, enter the city, landmark, or other destination that you want to see. The site highlights the location and its surrounding area. Tap on the person icon that appears in the lower right corner. If the location is Street View-enabled, a separate tab opens in your … Read more

New York Times unveils Web app for iPad

The New York Times is testing the mobile waters with a new Web site optimized for the iPad.

Created using HTML5 and formatted for the iPad, the new mobile Web app is designed to supplement the paper's print edition and Web site. The app is available to subscribers of the Web site and to home delivery customers who link their accounts with one of the digital access options.

Unlike the Times Web site, which delivers stories in a traditional format, the app presents the news in a variety of different views.

The Trending section displays the top 25 trending … Read more

Gangnam Style video now the most 'liked' ever on YouTube

Gangnam Style is neither ganglike, nor Vietnamese.

It's more of a Korean Macarena for those who think cocktails should be green and jackets should be white.

And yet it has become immensely popular. It seems only some understand that it is meant to be just a little satirical.

Indeed The Verge breathlessly tells me that PSY's Gangnam Style video has become the most liked video ever on YouTube. Yes, ever. Yes, the most liked.

Not only has this video enjoyed almost 243 million views at the time of writing, but it has been adorned with more than 2.… Read more

Twitter revamps mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android

Users of the iPad, the iPhone, and Android devices will all spot a few changes the next time they fire up their Twitter app.

Unveiled today, Twitter's iPad app offers a new design that moves the Home, Connect, Discover, and Me categories to the left of the screen. You can now expand a tweet simply by tapping on it to quickly view its summary, and any linked photos or videos. Tapping on a link in a tweet smoothly opens it to reveal the linked Web page.

The Me page has adopted a slicker and cleaner look. The top of … Read more

Skype to adopt 'Metro' design, says report

Skype may be taking new look and feel cues from the Windows 8 interface formerly known as Metro.

New client versions of Skype are in the works with a few notable enhancements, The Verge reports. One such is a new UI that borrows from the Windows 8 interface. Skype is now testing this change, but could take it a few steps further in future releases, according to The Verge.

Also reportedly new to Skype: a video messaging feature that lets users send prerecorded videos, which their contacts can then view when they hop online.

In 2008, Microsoft beta tested a … Read more

GoDaddy offers users one month credit following service outage

GoDaddy customers are being given an apology and one month of free service after grappling with Monday's service snafu.

In an e-mail sent to GoDaddy users, the company's CEO Scott Wagner apologized for the outage that affected Web sites, e-mail availability, and other services.

"We let you down and we know it," the e-mail read. "We take our responsibilities -- and the trust you place in us -- very seriously. I cannot express how sorry I am to those of you who were inconvenienced."

To appease its customers, GoDaddy is kicking in a credit … Read more

ZeroUI promises hands-free 3D model creation

SAN FRANCISCO--Building 3D models should be something everyone can do. That's the pitch from ZeroUI, a Silicon Valley startup that has created a technology platform designed to let anyone create their own digital models, whether a robot, drum, table, or anything else.

The Cupertino, Calif., company is relying on gestural input technologies such as Microsoft's Kinect, and soon, Leap Motion's Leap controller, as well as systems built into some computers, to allow users to create their models with nothing but their hands.

The company's name comes from the fact that its system has an extremely minimal user interface. Rather than requiring users to understand the mathematics and physics of a model they might want to build, the ZeroUI system simply allows them to stand in front of the input camera and use intuitive hand gestures to craft their 3D model (see the video below). … Read more

The sad revenge of Kinki restaurateur after bad online reviews

People know how to upset people.

These days, perhaps the most natural method is to reach for one's laptop and say bad things about those people to all the world.

It is quite some power, one that was exercised to its fullest by one in Ottawa against another.

The first, Elayna Katz, posted two unhappy reviews of the Mambo Nuevo Latino restaurant. The Mambo's owner, Marisol Simoes, didn't react in an entirely sanguine manner.

As the Daily Mail tells it, Simoes decided to publicly besmirch Katz's sexual proclivities.

Why she went this route many might speculate. … Read more

Obama DNC speech triggers record 52,757 tweets per minute

President Barack Obama has set a new record, at least on Twitter.

The president's speech at the Democratic National Convention yesterday lit up the Twittersphere with 52,757 tweets per minute, a new record for the micro-blogging site, Twitter has revealed.

Overall, the DNC has generated heavy traffic on Twitter. From the starting festivities on Tuesday to the closing events last night, more than 9.5 million tweets about the convention have made the rounds. The final day saw around 4 million tweets alone, according to Twitter, many of them sent during Obama's speech.

The 4 million one-day … Read more

Play old-school Atari games in any HTML5 Web browser

Zap! Atari and Microsoft today launched Atari Arcade, an excellent example of how HTML5 can change the way we play video games.

The portal of retro entertainment -- primarily launched to celebrate Atari's 40th anniversary -- includes Asteroids, Centipede, Combat, Lunar Lander, Missile Command, Pong, Super Breakout, and Yars' Revenge. The best part? It's free, and doesn't require Flash, Java, or any other plug-in to play, running solely on HTML5.… Read more