street view

Google puts businesses' interiors inside search results

Google is making it even easier to take a virtual visit to business interiors without leaving home.

Launched in September, Google Business Photos presented Google Maps users with 360-degree panoramas of the inside of businesses, a handy tool for scoping out the interior of a business before going there in person. However, the images were often hard to find.

Starting today, the Web giant began posting the photos to its Web search results page, presenting them along with the business results that appear to the right of requested results. As with the maps product, a simple click on the "… Read more

Getting to know Google Maps on iOS

Google Maps is back on iOS, but this time as a standalone app. You'll find it doesn't look like it did on iOS 5, due to Google having complete freedom with the user interface and design. As such, using Google Maps on iOS is going to feel a bit familiar, yet like a completely new experience.

To install Google Maps on iOS, you'll need to be using an iPhone (3GS and newer), iPod Touch (fourth and fifth gen) or an iPad running at least iOS 5.1. If you're using one of the above devices, download Google Maps for iOSRead more

Instagram-Twitter feud fudges photos

Wednesday's CNET Update won't cut you off:

Instagram and Twitter aren't playing nice, and it's annoying users. As the two services compete in the photo-sharing space, Instagram stopped supporting a key Twitter feature that helps display media inside a tweet. The casual user won't notice anything different on the Twitter website. But on Twitter's mobile app, you will notice that Instagram photos are no longer properly formatted to fit.

Why would Instagram spoil the appearance of photos shared on Twitter? Because Facebook-owned Instagram is growing its website and wants you to stay on its … Read more

Google's Street View to come to Wii U in January

Google's Street View application is making its way to the Nintendo Wii U starting next month.

Nintendo today announced the Street View app on its Twitter account. The company also posted a video on its Web page, showing Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata using the application with the GamePad.

Upon loading up Street View, users will be able to pan around its images by holding the GamePad and moving it around. Tapping on the display allows users to move back and forth. The Street View app can be used solely on the GamePad, but users can also look at the … Read more

See the world by way of an Instagram and Google Street View mashup

If you are looking for a fun way to kill some time online, then I would direct your attention to a project from the School of Communications and Information at Rutgers University. Dubbed The Beat, it takes Instagram photos that users have added to their Photo Map and combines them with their Google Street View location.

You can view different collections of photos by searching via hash tag. Plug a hash tag in the search box and if it returns any results, they will display below in a slideshow. You can mouse around on the Street View image to explore … Read more

Upload a Photo Sphere to Google Maps using Android Jelly Bean

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean includes a new camera feature called Photo Sphere. With the feature, users can take 360-degree panoramic photos in just a few minutes. Creating a sphere is easy: launch the camera app and select the Photo Sphere icon. Your Android device will show you where to point the camera, you hold still for a few seconds and then you move on to the next mark, or dot. It essentially translates into a game of connect the dots, where a photo is taken at each dot. Once you're done, your phone will stitch the photos together … Read more

Get Google Maps Street View for your Android phone

Street View for Google Maps brings Google's incredible Street View feature to your smartphone's Google Maps app. Like the regular version, it lets you take a virtual stroll down a large (and ever-growing) database of the world's streets. You can turn around, change directions, and zoom in, all while viewing high-resolution images of the actual buildings, trees, and street scenes you'd see if you were there in person. But the Android app is actually easier to use than the desktop software.

Street View doesn't have its own icon but is integrated with Google Maps. To … Read more

The 404 1,157: Where we live in a van down by the river (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Anthropologist says Apple is definitely a religion.

- Google brings Street View to the Grand Canyon.

- Apple now owns the trademark to The Beatles' Apple Corps Logo.

- What I learned while live-tweeting a friend's funeral.

Video voice mail: Mossimo has a positive update on a previous video voice mail.… Read more

Google brings Street View to the Grand Canyon

Soon enough, visitors to the Grand Canyon will be able to get an early look at what awaits them, courtesy of Google Maps.

Google published a blog post today highlighting the maps team's current trip to Arizona, which marks the first time the company is using its "Trekker" camera system. … Read more

Google tries wowing the world with a look at its data centers

Google only rarely gives outsiders a look at its data centers, but today it's trying to make up for lost time with a large online photo gallery and Street View tour of the computing hardware.

The company launched a new site, "Where the Internet Lives" with a lot of eye candy for people who enjoy racks of computer gear, raised-floor ventilation systems, multicolored cables, and massive air-conditioning chillers. Urs Hoelzle, Google's senior vice president for technical infrastructure, announced the site in a blog post today.

It's short on details for those who want to eye Google's servers up close, … Read more