What, no hybrids for Google camera cars?
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Blog: Gizmodo reports that Google has fleet of camera cars to take photos for Google Maps street view and they are Chevy Cobalt's
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Science & environment: The technology could prove a greener way to power cars - if only it could get research funding here
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We won't call it a racket, but megapixels are no longer an accurate gauge of a camera's quality. By SeÃ¡n Captain from Wired Test.
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Is another hybrid in Ford Motor Co.&#39;s future? The automaker is hinting at its possible powertrain plans with the Mercury Meta One, a concept vehicle debuting at January&#39;s North
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Blog: You can't fit an SLR replacement in your jeans pocket, but some small cameras such as the Ricoh GX-100 and Canon PowerShot G series are steps in the right direction.
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The Zeo runs purely on batteries. It's a direction the other big automakers are not so keen about.
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An enclosed hybrid cycle could get up to 150 mpg, according to electric vehicle maker Zap, and the company will consider an all-electric version if interest is high. Lots more good stuff from the
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(InfoWorld) - Google is coming for you. In fact, Google's minions are driving Chevy Cobalts with roof-mounted 360-degree digital cameras, and they want to take your picture. Smile! You're on Googlecam. In an unprecedented campaign, Google is enhancing its Google Maps service with a new Street View feature that allows you to view crisp, navigable photos of roads in nine major cities across the United States, including San Francisco, New York, San Diego, and Denver. (To see the full list, go to maps.google.com and click the Street View link on the upper-right corner.) Once you zoom in close enough, you can click the Street View link and look around the location, or click an arrow to see the next Street View photo. To snap the pictures, Google mounted digital cameras on the roof of passenger cars -- reportedly Chevy Cobalts, according to the tech blog Gizmodo -- and drove around San Francisco and San Diego. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company partnered with Immersive Media for the underlying photo technology and has worked with third-party firms for street-level photography for the additional cities outside of California. Only San Francisco and San Diego use high-resolution street-level images, however. Other cities use lower-res captures. Street View could be a boon for "landmark drivers" who prefer driving instructions such as "Turn left at the large brick church, and drive until you get to the pizza place on the corner" as opposed to "Meet me at Second Street and Fourth Avenue." It certainly reveals how far Google will go to prove its mapping prowess -- and, incidentally, attract users to more localized advertising. According to Greg Sterling at Sterling Market Intelligence in Oakland, Calif., Google has a Business Referral Representative program that sets a precedent for localized involvement. That program involves Google representatives providing local business information and photos to Google for a fee. Sterling said that precedent for collecting local information and photos is being continued with the Street View program. Street View is "about creating more utility for consumers, which in turn will lead indirectly to ad revenue over the longer term. Google has long focused on small businesses and local users, so this is just trying to take those efforts to the next level," Sterling said. Still, regardless of whether Street View is purely a mapping enhancement or a new play for ad revenue, there is tough competition from Microsoft and others. There are also some nagging privacy issues to deal with, plus the sheer magnitude of the project. The story so far ... Of course, Street View is not a new idea. Amazon.com tried a 360-degree street-view mapping feature in its A9 service that it subsequently abandoned. Microsoft has provided a Bird's Eye View feature in Live Virtual Earth that allows you to zoom in on a location, albeit not quite to the street level. (There is a preview of Microsoft's "street side" technology that does allow you to see street-level views, but only for portions of Seattle and through a rather clunky interface.) Another competitor, EveryScape.com in Waltham, Mass., has mapped out the Union Square section of San Francisco with 360-degree street-level views and plans to "virtualize" four more cities this year. Users can sign up to become "scape" artists who drive city streets with roof-mounted cameras. There's a strong user-participation angle, but EveryScape doesn't have Google's funding or advertising incentive. Street View is an audacious project that, according Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch in Darien, Conn., will likely expand to every major American city and even to higher-population rural areas. "Google is adding cool and interesting features to their mapping service as a way to enhance their core services and generate new revenue," he said. While Google has no set plans to update street-level photos on a regular basis, according to Google Maps product manager Stephen Chau, it does have policies for updating aerial shots on a regular basis that could set a precedent for Street View updates. Google fandom reaches new heights Google is immensely popular, of course, but Street View seems to have attracted an unprecedented level of interest, some of it perhaps even slightly obsessive. One Wired blog allowed users to submit odd Street View sightings, including a man being arrested and another urinating at a roadside. Other sites, such as Street View Gallery and Street View Spy, also allow users to post strange Street View sightings. There's even a Cafe Press T-shirt for those who don't want to be photographed. Google's Chau said the company encourages user participation, but only through the My Maps feature. "We get offers from people to drive the [camera] cars almost every day," he said. For users who want to participate through the My Maps feature, they can geo-tag their photos (adding location data) and post them in public forums. For example, after the bridge collapse in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, users posted photos of the fallen bridge and aftermath. Why the fandom? For photographer Charles Bandes in Boston, it's the community aspect -- the fact that a large company might be visiting. "I am fascinated by the idea that Google is taking snapshots of my community, and the idea that they might actually take a photo of me if they make a map of my neighborhood is even better." For Bandes and others, it's an opportunity to meet Google face-to-face. Meanwhile, from Google's standpoint, camaraderie with users could help them capture out-of-the-way locations. "I think user participation would be a great idea as Google simply can't do the level of coverage required alone," adds Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group in San Jose, Calif. Right-to-privacy controversy Yet, the idea of photographing the entire United States one street at a time is a monumental undertaking, even for Google. It's also controversial, especially for privacy-rights advocates. For example, BoingBoing users argue that it's wrong to take photos in public places and use them for commercial gain, that it's "creepy" for cars to be prowling city streets, and that -- if the government were monitoring the public with photographs on public streets, there would be more of an outcry. Tom Austin, a Gartner analyst covering Google, said that anyone can take photos in public places, but the privacy issue could become a problem when Google expands to foreign countries where photographing people on public streets requires a signed waiver. Google's Chau did say that the company filters out some photographs that might be perceived as inappropriate and that individuals can request that the company remove specific photographs. That kind of user-specific filtering could be a death blow to Street View, however, once it expands to hundreds of U.S. cities, because monitoring such a vast library would be nearly impossible. Whether the local advertising monetization works or the privacy issues persist, or whether many more metropolitan areas become "Google-ized" this year are all interesting questions waiting to be answered.
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Diving with a digicam Review How do you sell a seven-megapixel camera when so many rivals are doing the same? You can't rely on the usual features - big LCD, anti-blur tech, slimline metal casing, etc - because everyone else has those too. No, you need something a little different, and in Casio's case that means offering your latest compact camera with an optional underwater kit.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Bringing together existing technologies can often make a new product more useful, as can be seen with a few of the gadgets coming out of East Asia this month. Casio Computer has added a YouTube function to its newest digital still camera, so you can just shoot, connect and click to upload video to the popular Web site, while Sony's PSP is getting a mobile digital TV tuner. The month has also seen some playfulness in the MP3 space. Reigncom of South Korea's iRiver now has a Mickey Mouse-styled MP3 player, although its sale will be limited due to a marketing agreement with Disney. Meanwhile Japan's Sony has pimped out its E-series Walkman with crystals. Casio YouTube digital still camera Casio has the first digital cameras with a video mode optimized for YouTube. CalledÂ the Exilim EX-S880 and EX-Z77, the cameras will be released worldwide starting in the U.S. in August, followed by Europe and Asia soon after. So how do you get a clip onto YouTube? First, you shoot a video in the YouTube mode then slip the camera into a dock. This automatically starts a video management application on your PC (Windows XP SP2, 2000 SP4 and Vista only) and grabs the movie files. The application can be set up with a YouTube account, default title name and other settings, so getting the video online involves simply clicking the upload button. Alternatively, you can enter information specific to the clips and then upload them. It's very easy. The EX-S880 can take 8.1 megapixel images, has a 3X optical zoom and will cost about $300. Samsung's RDS music player It's difficult to differentiate MP3 players these days. They're all small and often have similar screens and are compatible with the same handful of formats. But along comes Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s U3 with a feature not often seen: RDS (radio data system). It's used on many FM radio stations in Europe and sends the station name, details about the song playing and other useful information alongside the signal. The U3 will display this on its 4-line OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen. The U3 is about the same size as a pack of chewing gum and has its own USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector, so it doesn't need a cable to connect to a PC. It will be available in black, white, blue, pink and green, and in three capacities: 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB. It's available globally for $79, $99, and $149. Sony's PSP with digital TV Sony is bringing mobile digital TV to its PlayStation Portable. The plug-in tuner works with Japan's "OneSeg" format mobile TV broadcasts, which delivers a QVGA (320 pixel by 240 pixel) resolution video signal that can be processed easily by portable gadgets. The new PSP also features a video-out connector so it will be possible to hook up the device to a TV to watch programs, although as the same channels are available on conventional TV at higher quality there would be little to gain. It will cost Â¥6,980 ($57.38). OneSeg-format broadcasting is used only in Japan, so the tuner isn't compatible with the formats used in other countries. Fujitsu slim and waterproof phone With cellphones getting so light and slim it's easy to wade into the sea at the beach and forget your handset is still in your pocket. The usual result is a dead phone. But users of Fujitsu's new F704i don't have to worry. The handset, which will be on sale in Japan just in time for the summer, is waterproof. It's a WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) handset with 3G roaming and will be available in Japan only through NTT DoCoMo. It's a shame the camera offers only 1.3 megapixels or it would be even more useful for holiday beach snaps. IRiver Mickey Mouse MP3 player IRiver's Mickey Mouse MP3 player is too cute to pass over. The player, which packs 1GB of memory, is a small round ball with two smaller round balls attached to the top as ears, so that in silhouette it looks like the DisneyÂ cartoon character. The right ear twists to advance or back-up a song and the left ear is the volume control. There's an on-off button on one side and a small LED (light emitting diode) lamp on the other side that glows green or red to indicate whether that player is on or off. Models come in black, white, blue, pink and silver. It will initially be available in South Korea and Hong Kong for about $50. LG HSDPA Cellphones LG ElectronicsÂ is releasing a fewÂ new phonesÂ with support for HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) wireless data connections. The LG-KH1400 marries the HSDPA networking with digital mobile TV reception. The display can be twisted horizontally to watch shows, and there's a video output socket to feed the picture to a bigger screen. The handset also has a 2-megapixel camera. Another phone, the LG-SH130, is a more basic slider model that brings fast data transfer and global roaming without the bells and whistles of the KH1400. Both are available in South Korea only. Sony's 'bling' Walkman Sony is adding a touch of bling to its Walkman line with a set of E-series devices decked-out with a generous sprinkling of crystals. The music players, which were launched in a more bland plastic case earlier this year, will be available in September through a link with Tokyo's Abiste costume jewelry store. They'll cost between Â¥15,800 for the 1GB version and Â¥24,800 for the 4GB version and be available only in Japan. Â
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Hybrid engines manufactured by General Motors Corp. will be used to power some buses in California&#39;s Yosemite National Park -- a move aimed at curbing emissions in the pristine reserve.
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Lenses for Nikon SLRs with small-frame sensors also work on the company's new full-frame D3. Too bad Canon didn't take the same approach to compatibility.
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Google said Tuesday it is getting in on the development of electric vehicles, awarding $1 million in grants and inviting applicants to bid for another $10 million in funding to develop plug-in hybrid electric vehicles capable of getting 70 to 100 miles per gallon.
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IBM rolls out a new version of its database software aimed at users of Linux and Unix. Also: Toyota and Nissan join to standardize car electronics & hellip;. Nokia launches three new camera phones & hellip;. and more.
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Is another hybrid in Ford Motor Co.&#39;s future? The automaker is hinting at its possible powertrain plans with the Mercury Meta One, a concept vehicle debuting at January&#39;s North American International Auto Show in downtown Detroit.
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BEIJING, Dec. 14 -- General Motors and DaimlerChrysler will jointly develop a gasoline-electric powered car to match Toyota and Honda in so-called hybrid vehicles that save fuel and cut emissions.
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Toyota rules out producing hybrid diesel electric cars, even though they could help reduce emissions.