Microsoft eyes day when camera phones aid map searches
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REDMOND, Washington  - Lost in Seattle with  nothing but a camera phone? Just snap a picture of a nearby  building, send off the photo to a database and soon you'll get  back a map and information about where you are.
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Free Nokia Maps software has an updated interface, refined search, and other improvements.
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In an effort to show wide support for its newest Windows Mobile operating system, Microsoft Corp. is highlighting several announcements from handset makers on Monday at 3GSM in Barcelona.
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Microsoft is releasing a new application for delivering &quot;snippets&quot; of data to Windows Mobile devices, one of several announcements planned for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.Microsoft plans to announce that it will offer software for Windows Mobile users based on MSN Direct, a service it developed to deliver data snippets to watches. The new application displays small bits of information like weather, stocks and news on the home screen of the phone. &quot;This is an innovative take on how to get information in a glanceable way on handsets,&quot; said Brian Arbogast, vice president of mobile services at Microsoft.Windows Mobile users can download the application, which will initially be offered as a beta.Microsoft and its competitors Yahoo and Google are jockeying for lead position in the mobile market. Each is working to draw mobile users to their services in hopes of ultimately establishing a revenue stream from mobile advertising. So far, the market is relatively open.Microsoft also said it is offering a new software development kit that will give developers access to additional Microsoft mobile services protocols. With the new tools, Microsoft&#39;s software vendor partners will be able to build richer clients that access additional Windows Live for mobile capabilities. For example, a developer could make an application that lets a user click to record a voice clip and send it to an MSN Messenger buddy, even if the sender is using a Windows Mobile phone and the recipient has a Nokia S60 phone.&quot;These are rich and fun and engaging features in Messenger that we had on some of our top-end platforms that are now opened up through this protocol,&quot; said Arbogast.Microsoft also introduced a new program, Windows Live @mobile, aimed at making it easier for operators to quickly begin offering Windows Live and MSN mobile services across their device portfolios.While Windows Mobile has been seen primarily as a product for business users, Microsoft is increasingly trying to push it into the consumer market. &quot;This is about us really extending our focus to be, instead of predominantly on the work part of life, to be about delivering phones for your entire life,&quot; said Arbogast.Microsoft also recently hired a new marketing executive tasked with positioning Windows Mobile to appeal more to consumers.Still, Microsoft isn&#39;t shifting away from its business customer focus. It is stepping up its efforts to sell mobile products to small businesses. Through a new partnership, Brightstar and TechData will sell Windows Mobile phones to small and medium businesses in Europe. The companies will offer a portfolio of products and services to customers, including servers, devices, services and support.In the U.S., Microsoft said that Cbeyond, a provider of communications services for small businesses, will offer a new hosted Exchange e-mail service that supports mobile devices for small and medium businesses.
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Device will capture high-resolution still images and video--and it still makes phone calls.
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Attaching location data to images enables new ways to search photos, give slide shows or be a virtual tourist. For now, early adopters only need apply.Photos: A look at geotagging technology
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(InfoWorld) - Nokia Corp. has added new features to its mobile mapping application, with a revamped user interface and a status indicator to alert users when they're connected to a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. The new version of Nokia Maps is free and became available for download on Tuesday. Other improvements include a more refined "nearby" search feature, which scouts out preprogrammed points of interest on the maps based on where the user is located. Basic route planning is free, although users may incur data transfer fees from their carriers. Other navigation upgrades are available for a fee. Nokia charges for a voice-guided navigation feature as well as other city and travel guides. Guides contain information on local cafes, music and clothing stores, museums and Wi-Fi hotspots, Nokia said. Nokia is offering a three-day trial for some of the advanced navigation features. Nokia said map data will be available for 150 countries by the end of 2007, with 50 of those able to use the application's navigation feature. Nokia has published a list of countries for which a navigation license is sold. Also improved is the PC Map Loader application, which lets users load maps onto their devices from their home computers before needing a map on the road. That function is now 10 times faster. PC Map Loader is also a free download. The mapping application,Â launched in February, is compatible with devices running on Symbian Series 60 second and third edition operating systems. Â
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Microsoft is working on a variety of innovative photo projects, ranging from experiments with its 3D maps offering to massive panoramic photos.
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Adding location data to images is a pain right now, but geotagging is worth it, and it'll get easier. Here are my warnings and a wish list.
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Microsoft has teamed up with Intermap to give its 3-D maps in Great Britain a more realistic look through the use of the company's elevation data. Maps are also in the works for Western Europe and the continental US.
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Updated Windows Live Search Maps features a 3D map of New York, with other cities to follow.
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Microsoft said it had agreed to acquire MultiMap, an online map service based in London, in an attempt to compete more effectively with the search services of Google.
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Camera phones have been a huge success, leading research analysts to predict that vendors will be releasing more sophisticated devices to entice people to upgrade.
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U.S. mobile phone users might not have to stop and ask for directions as often thanks to a new service from MapQuest.com that sends color maps and directions to their phones.
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U.S. software giant Microsoft  is  aiming to get its audio and video software into mobile phones  before it is beaten to the 650-million-handsets-a-year market  by rivals like Apple.
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By Elise Ackerman, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  May 30--"Google wants you" to help it win the mapping war, John Hanke, the director of Google Earth and Google Maps, told a crowd of location-obsessed technologists Tuesday at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose.
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Search engine's traffic-update feature is woven into its map service -- any time you look up an address or driving directions, you can get a reality check by just clicking.-The Washington Post