Friday, May 2. 2008

Review: Google Earth powerful, though tricky to use, share

That's the title of Anick Jesdanun's review from the AP. Not only did he have a challenge getting his photos into Google Earth (that is on the map) but the recipients of his link of a journey in the souther hemisphere didn't fair as well as they might have in reviewing those photos.

As a nice complement to this review consider a poll at LifeHacker about Google Earth use.

I love that Google Earth (and friends) has raised the bar for providers and users. I simply don't use it.

What if Apple adds GPS to iPhone?

There's no official word from Apple about a GPS chip in the upcoming version, but one of the major location providers for the (jailbroken) phone, Navizon, is not worried if the addition should come to pass.

We think it will be good and bad for us," Navizon CEO Cyril Houri said in an interview Thursday. The bad means that many iPhone users won't think they can benefit from Navizon's cellular triangulation product, VirtualGPS. The good means that more users will understand the widespread benefits offered by positioning systems.

iPhone users hold 350,000 of Navizon's 600,000 users. No word on how many pay for the premium service ($24.95 adds better accuracy, route tracking and more, etc.).

- InformationWeek

GTA4 Google Map

I've been following some of the overlap between the worlds of gaming maps and real world maps. Today the big news in the gaming world is that there's a Google Maps version of the fictional Liberty City, home of the game Grand Theft Auto. That game's fourth edition was just released. The interactive map allows players to map out POIs and note their routes.

The one oddity in coverage of this map, hosted at IGN: many blogs explain that Google and IGN put the app together. There's no evidence of that; it seems IGN just used the API, like any other developer.

- Electric Pig.tv