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videuhoh
Watch a Google Street View Car Hit a Bridge
Apparently Google's drivers sometimes forget they're driving around with pole-mounted cameras on their car roofs. More » -
google maps
Angry Mob Too Rich For Google Street View
It's not just philandering husbands who fear Google Street View's roving cameras; the residents of a wealthy British village have taken to the streets as well. Literally. More » -
google maps
Cheating Husband Said Caught Via Google Street View
A woman, checking out a female friend's house on Google Maps, was surprised to see her husband's Range Rover parked out front, complete with blingy hubcaps, reports The Sun. A divorce is underway.
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street view
Google Maps Loves Guns, Hates Bambi
What scrapes will those goofy Street View cars get into next? Google's roving panopticons ran over a baby deer and captured a guy toting a gun on the street. America, you are Google Maps! More » -
google maps
Cheney's Veil Lifted on Vice President's Residence
Hope and change has come to Google Maps. The official residence of the vice president, obscured until Dick Cheney's last days in office and residence, now shines in satellite sunlight. More » -
breakdowns
Google sends tourists looking for wrong subway line
As a stunt, Google has wrapped subway trains in New York City with ads for Google Maps. Inside, ads give specific directions to tourist landmarks like Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately, they misplace Grand Central Terminal by several blocks, directing people to subway lines which do not run through the station. A mistake we can see someone sitting in a cube in Mountain View making — but doesn't Google have a large New York office full of employees who might have been called on to vet the ads in their 20 percent time? -
facebook
Microsoft's Facebook millions paid back with Google election map
What does $240 million get you these days? That's what Microsoft invested in Facebook, but the software giant hasn't gotten much love in return. On election night, whose online maps did Facebook use? Google's. More » -
sequoia capital
Google Maps to wantrepreneurs: get lost
When Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted funding from Sequoia Capital in 1999, they had no problem finding its Sand Hill Road offices. A decade later, Google Maps doesn't seem to know where 3000 Sand Hill Road is, the swanky-office-park Mecca of venture capital firms, including Sequoia, which funded Cisco, Apple, and Yahoo, in addition to Google. Typing in Sequoia's address takes you to a highway surrounded by brown fields. The real location of the Sand Hill conclave is actually a few minutes northeast, surrounded by a lush golf course watered every day with the sweat and tears of entrepreneurs. So what? More » -
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your privacy is an illusion
LinkedIn shuttle throws employees' privacy under the bus
A correction on our previous post about LinkedIn's financial woes: Contrary to our tipster's assertions, plenty of LinkedIn employees use the company-provided shuttle bus from San Francisco to Mountain View. The bus even has its own Twitter account. That account is private — but it links to a public, annotated route map on Google Maps. CEO Dan Nye and marketing VP Patrick Crane, among others, have their home addresses listed. Other employees have left notes, in plain view, about their commuting preferences. "Your privacy is our top concern," LinkedIn's privacy policy states. But if the company is so slapdash about guarding its own employees, can it really be trusted to protect users? Here's an embedded version of the map: More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Uppity German town vows to block Google Street View
"You can see everything in those photos! That is opening house and home to criminals!" says Molfsee town councilman Reinhold Harwart, who plans to block Google Street View trucks by demanding they get local street vendor permits, then denying the permits. Peter Schaar, Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection (can we get one of those?) told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that putting photos of people's houses on the Internet "will not do." Google spokeswoman Kay Oberbeck retorted in yet another German newspaper, "We don't need [no stinking] permits." (Photo by DDP) -
your privacy is an illusion
Google Street View steers clear of Obama's neighborhood
Google has kept its camera-mounted Priuses away from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's Chicago house, a tipster notes — even the entire neighborhood. Start your vast left-wing conspiracy theories! Did Obama pull strings with Google to maintain his family's privacy? More » -
google maps
New evidence suggests Tumblr users exist outside of Brooklyn
David Karp's Tumblr, the New York-based blogging startup, rolled out a site redesign yesterday. One of the new features is a Google Map showing where Tumblr users are located. We weren't surprised to see the highest Tumblr densities are in Brooklyn and San Francisco — "sisters in idiosyncracy" dubbed Sanfrooklyn by the New York Times. We were shocked, however, to learn that there are actual Tumblr users in the rest of America — like say Kalamazoo, Michigan, for example. The cartographic evidence: More » -
google
How Street View will harsh on your Humboldt buzz
Google's Street View drivers on contract have photographed more than just estates in Sonoma's wine country. They've also snapped shots of stretches of private roads in Humboldt County — nearly a quarter of a mile past "no trespassing" signs, according to one complainant. That particular area of California long ago cut down the profitably harvestable timber and has turned to cannabis cultivation. It provides the state, and the nation, with some of the most carefully bioengineered marijuana strains known to humanity. More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Google's camera trucks roll through 100 private drives in wine country
Ploddingly methodical reporters at the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa pored over Google Maps and found the company's camera-equipped trucks photographed more than 100 private roads in Sonoma County, snapping photos of "Private Road" and "No Trespassing" signs as they barged on past, shooting through secluded living-room windows hundreds of feet beyond property barriers. More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Online maps of Georgia handy for guerrilla warfare
Google Maps can't always remember where in the world war-torn Georgia is, but the Googlers behind it did not in fact hide road maps of the country — they were never there to begin with, according to product manager Dave Barth. However, satellite imagery from the region is, which might have proved useful to South Ossetian and Georgian troops. (Russia, which is supporting South Ossetia's independence, has its own network of spy satellites.) More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Google Street View catches house on fire
Google Street View's picture of a burning house on Eagle Point Drive in Sherwood, Arkansas, went viral over the weekend, prompting the solicitous censors of Mountain View to remove a 360-degree chunk of imagery from Google Maps. Google can erase the picture, but it can't erase this fact: The Google Street View car making the rounds in the neighborhood that day kept driving past the burning home, taking its assigned pictures. All of these images, like the one above, remain visible in Google Maps. -
great moments in journalism
Google News informs us that the Russians are invading the South
Did you know that Russian troops are thrusting into the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia? That's what readers will learn from a Google Maps graphic accompanying a news story about Russian incursions into Georgia — the nation-state in the Caucasus, not the Caucasian-pride-ridden state in the southern United States. Google's mixup will not help Yahoo Answers user Jessica B., who presciently asked, "i herd on the news that rusia has invaded but i dont see them no where wats going on." A screenshot of Google's erroneous invasion map: More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Privacy advocates nearly publish guide to carjacking Google executive
In a response to Google's recent assertion that "complete privacy does not exist," the National Legal and Policy Center released a step-by-step guide [PDF] to finding an unnamed "senior executive" from the company. While it doesn't reveal the home address, it does show a number of intersections where one might lie in wait to assault or kidnap said executive. Using Google Search, Maps and Street View, naturally. More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Google scoffs at notion that Street View is a Peeping Tom
"Complete privacy does not exist," says Google. This statement came in response to a lawsuit brought by a Pennsylvania couple that alleged a contractor for the search engine trespassed on private property to snap pictures of their home. Google's lawyers point out the plaintiffs could have used the company's tools to flag the photo, and that "similar photos of their home were already publicly available on the Internet," before sneering, "These ironies aside, Plaintiff's claims have no merit." More » -
commenter of the day
skwash
In a post about Google's agricultural-mapping expeditions, commenter skwash suggests that Google's snapping shots of business-free rural roads so it can create its own geographical database, shutting out map providers TeleAtlas and Nokia's Navteq: More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Google Street View turning into Google Farm View
If you moved out to the country for a little privacy, you may need to rethink your plans. Google's Street View camera-cars have roved far into the rural reaches of Sonoma County, more than an hour north of San Francisco. It's not clear what commercial purpose the photographs serve. Google's photographs of streetscapes in cities have a plausible commercial motive, showing storefronts to help searchers find local stores, a lucrative advertising market. But showing mile after mile of farmland? WIth this expansion of Street View, Google manages to seem at once creepy and wasteful. (Screenshot via Search Engine Land) -
retail
Downtown San Francisco no longer capable of supporting three Starbucks per intersection
Next year's Macworld may be the last chance to make a shamefaced Starbucks run to the mall-kiosk latte dispenser in the Metreon. Why did the Seattle coffee monoculturist give six months' notice of that coffee-bar's closure, and 599 others? Why, to retrain loyalists on other locations within footsteps. We already know that you drink only at establishments where the coffee pickers are unionized, graduate-degreed, and constantly hugged. And so do we. But here's our map of the remaining South of Market Starbucks — and all the Blue Bottle locations — anyway. Only to show to your sleep-addled board members when they visit for a meeting. More » -
censorship
5 sights the U.S. government won't let Google show you
So much for indexing all the world's information: There are at least 51 places you can't see on Google Maps. One of them is the entire country of Bahrain. Allegedly, the Bahrain's Ministry of Information blocked Google Maps from its citizens because it didn't want the local poors to see the private jets and residences of the Gulf statelet's riches. This got us wondering what sights our government has blocked citizens from viewing. We list five, below. More » -
acquisitions
Marissa Mayer, Google's "high priestess of simplicity," tells Yelp about her $300 highlights
The email-newsletter headline had my business-minded editor all hot and bothered: "Yelp Goes to Google!" But no, this wasn't an oh-so-logical tuck-in acquisition of the local reviews site by the search giant. Instead, it was a sitdown with Marissa Mayer. In the interview, Mayer reveals her usual spreadsheet array of girly affectations: cupcakes! Manolos! highlights! I'm miffed about the highlights, because we have the same stylist, and as Mayer gushes like the best ladymag ingenue, "I hesitate to even say anything because she's so good and I'd hate for it to be harder for me to get an appointment." Still, cute to see her getting cozy with the review website, since if Google did take the plunge and acquire Yelp, it'd be Mayer, VP of Stuff People Actually Use, who'd make the call. -
confirmed
Apple replaces .Mac with MobileMe
At Steve Jobs's WWDC Keynote, Gizmodo is reporting that Apple has replaced .Mac, its computer-centric set of Web services, with MobileMe, an online suite of email, photos, and file storage. It's designed to keep iPhones, PCs, and Macs in sync — hence the need for a new name. Other than that, little has changed: The service still costs $99 a year — some rumors had it going free — and Apple is still designing the Web software itself, without help from a partner like Google. (Google Maps is now built into Apple's address book, however.) (Photo by Gizmodo) -
search
Google getting into sports?
Watch out, ESPN.com: Google's after your fans. Derrick Eckhardt, a writer at fantasy-sports news site RotoNation, noticed that Google's serving up sports scores to mobile users. Eckhardt's sources tell him that Google has been looking at the sports market for a year, and greenlit a secret project to enter the sports-information business last November. There's no Google Sports portal, and no sign of the effort on Google's regular Web search. Should the likes of ESPN and Yahoo Sports be worried? Google Finance has yet to make a dent in Yahoo Finance. But remember how Google used to point users who typed in street addresses to Yahoo Maps? After Google created its own maps site, the links to Yahoo Maps swiftly disappeared. (Photo by Derrick Eckhardt) -
google maps
The Town That Was Too Good For Google Maps
The town of North Oaks, Minnesota told Google Maps to get out of its nice quiet community this January, says the Star-Tribune, and Google removed the whole town from its "Street View" service. The private community, a suburb of St. Paul, is 92% white with an average income of $75,000. Of course, if the poors wanted privacy, they wouldn't get it. More » -
pic of the day
Google Maps Catches Chicago Kid About To Shoot Someone
Spotted on Google Maps: a kid pointing a gun at a younger kid. (Okay, it's probably a toy gun.) What is it about Chicago? We've already seen a drug deal on the South Side and a girl flashing the camera in Homewood.
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your privacy is an illusion
EU warns Google to respect privacy laws with Street View
After reports of Google Street View vehicle sightings on the continent, an EU spokesperson reminded Google to respect local privacy laws. "Taking pictures on a street isn't in itself a problem but taking pictures anywhere can be." Maybe Google's advanced horse-recognition technology will mollify concerns? [CIO] -
pic of the day
Girl Flashes Google Mapmakers' Cameras
An Illinois girl exposes her breasts to one of those creepy camera-bearing vans that make the "streetview" panoramas for Google Maps. -
your privacy is an illusion
Google blurs Street View faces, including a horse's
Google published updated Street View photographs for Manhattan this week. The changes include sharper images, an ability to look upward at the island's skyscrapers and, in an effort to satisfy nervous -nelly privacy advocates, blurred faces. Including one belonging to a publicity-shy relative of Mr. Ed, starring in his latest off-Broadway role. -
don't be evil
Italians mistake Google Street View car for prowling Gestapo
A former neo-Facist, Gianni Alemanno, is the new mayor of Rome. He got the job promising to bulldoze homeless encampments, deport foreign criminals and install surveillance cameras, all in an effort to be tough of crime. So it isn't surprising to read reports that when Google's black Street View car, with its 360-degree camera mounted on top, came rolling down Viale Trastevere in Rome, citizens on the street immediately fled as though it were a horde of brick-wielding blackshirts chanting Me ne frego! -
your privacy is an illusion
Google Street View catches kid crashing bike
Google's Street View trucks don't stop for anyone, or anything. The proof? An unsuspecting Cleveland resident is caught in an embarrassing tumble on a bicycle by Google's all-seeing eye. Doesn't seem like the driver bothered to stop and help, which is in keeping with the hyperefficiency demanded by their overlords in Mountain View. In the future, all our fails will belong to Google. -
2008 bmw x6
BMW Assist, Google Maps Introduce "MyInfo" Service For New Big-Ass X6
BMW's teaming up with everyone's favorite mapping monopoly, Google Maps, to bring a new addition to the BMW Assist Safety Plan. It's called "MyInfo," and it's a service which, in addition to sounding hip and techie-cool through deletion of the spaces in the name, will allow BMW Assist subscribers to send business locations, street addresses and their associated phone numbers to their car via some magical connection between the two companies databases. Look at it kind of like a way to use their ConnectedDrive feature from your home. You may already have intimate knowledge of what that's like if you've ever opened up a browser and spent any time at Google's "Local Search" page. The MyInfo system will be available in the BMW X5, X6, 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7 Series, effective with Model Year 2009, but for 2008 will only be available in the new big-reared 2008 BMW X6 — which, as you can see through the link, we've already had the privilege of road-testing. Starting four days ago, in 2008 X6 "Sports Activity Coupes" equipped with the BMW Assist and Bluetooth systems, customers will be able to call the phone numbers received with their Bluetooth connected mobile phone or, if their BMW is equipped with a navigation system, immediately start route guidance by a simple push of a button. Not to shabby a plan if you ask us. But BMW isn't the first to offer space-deleting net-based navigation connectivity. [Jalopnik] -
your privacy is an illusion
Google Street View rolls into your driveway
They haven't filed a lawsuit yet, like their neighbors the Borings, but the McKees' privacy was seemingly violated by a Google Street View car that drove up their driveway, snapping pictures all the way. Janet and George McKee live in the only home on Goldenbrook Lane, a gravel path that leads directly to their driveway — where the property line is. The Google car drove up Goldenbrook and continued all the way up their driveway to the front of the McKee's three-car garage and basketball hoop. Whoops. The Smoking Gun found and contacted the McKees, who said they found the pictures "creepy." Google claims "it takes images from public streets and only shows photos of locations that are in full view". Well, most of the time. See the full collection of images after the jump. Worst position in Google's legal department right now: Google Maps counsel. More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Couple sues Google over Street View pics of their house
This is the view that Aaron and Christine Boring don't want you to see. The couple — who live at 1567 Oakridge Lane, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, PA 15237, USA, according to their court filing — are suing Google over the company's "Street View" feature, which takes road-level pictures of neighborhoods for their mapping service. Among the complaints, the Borings — their actual name — accuse Google of an "intentional and/or grossly reckless invasion" of their privacy. More pics after the jump. More » -
your privacy is an illusion
Google Street View rival exposes Marissa Mayer's posh pad
Even after a recent update, Google Street View's little yellow man wouldn't venture down Google VP Marissa Mayer's expensive alley. But MapJack's "Jack" mascot knows such privacy is an illusion. The rival to Google's 3D mapping service happily goes down Marissa Mayer's residential street. Below, see the street San Francisco cupcake delivery boys know so well. More » -
perks
Google updates Street View in San Francisco, leaves Marissa Mayer's pad off the grid
We thought maybe Google barred its little yellow Street View man from Marissa Mayer's road by accident. But, as the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." Google Earth Blog reports that Google has updated its Street View feature with new maps throughout flyover country, as well as enhancements in the Bay Area. But did the camera trucks visit Mayer's little corner of Stevenson Street? See for yourself, below. More » -
google maps
A Drug Deal Caught From Every Angle
For the "streetview" feature of Google Maps, the search engine's agents tour around city neighborhoods in a discreet van. Sometimes they catch more than just identifiable landmarks. Here, on a notorious drug trafficking corner on the South Side of Chicago, Google shows what looks very much like a transaction between a black man in long shorts and a baseball cap, and a sedan, numberplate clearly visible. And, because the map-makers take panoramic photographs as they drive around, one can see the exchange from at least half a dozen angles, as the van approaches, and then looks back. Amazing. This scene has been floating around the web the last few days, but we've pulled together nine shots from different angles, or close-ups, from Google's map site. Enlarged versions are after the jump. (Incidentally, movie-makers have developed thrillers around clues buried in soundtracks (Blow Out) or videotape (Black Rain, for example). I'm waiting for the first mystery in which the clues are sprinkled across Google Maps, Flickr and all the other web sites on which we inadvertently appear.) More » -
great moments in marketing
Find "Teh Market" on Google Maps
A straight shot down Shoreline boulevard from the Googleplex in Mountain View: Teh Market. I can see the engineers gleefully heading there to grab Mountain Dew and Doritos before their next LAN party.






























