Microsoft offers browser-viewable 3D maps
88808
Blog: Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D renderings of famous landmarks can be seen from the Web browser, including Firefox
430359
LicenseWise and Windows Vista Hardware Assessment help users navigate Microsoft offerings.
641636
Critical bug-fixes ship for Internet Explorer, DirectX, and Windows Media Format technology.
674441
Google and Microsoft are battling anew for online travelers with rival Internet mapping services that provide vivid real-world views of major US cities.
180711
By Jeff Smith  Terrific navigational device or over the edge?  That's a question many are asking about Google Inc.'s newest map feature, Street View, which offers panoramic images of Denver's downtown streets and those of four other cities.
345902
Microsoft has bought Caligari, a developer of 3D modeling software, in a move that could help enrich the graphics experience in Microsoft&#39;s Virtual Earth mapping system.Caligari started making 3D modeling and animation software for the Amiga computer in the mid-1980s. Its signature tool, called trueSpace, has a user interface that makes it easy to build complex 3D animations, according to an entry on the Virtual Earth blog on Wednesday announcing the acquisition.Caligari has offices in Mountain View, California, and Slovakia. Its development team will work with the Virtual Earth group, and Caligari&#39;s &quot;tightly knit community of beta testers&quot; will stay the same, said Roman Ormandy, founder and CEO of Caligari, in a blog posting. He said the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft.&quot;Now we will have more resources to rely on, larger market to consider and I hope more fun doing that,&quot; he wrote.Microsoft was not available for additional comment.In December, Microsoft bought Multimap, which also became a wholly owned subsidiary and works with the Virtual Earth and Search groups. Multimap develops online mapping services. At the time of that acquisition, Microsoft said the buy would help it expand its online services offerings to consumers and businesses.Virtual Earth&#39;s 3D version, currently in beta, lets users zoom in and out of 3D maps of cities and natural areas. It is similar to Google&#39;s Google Earth product.
427932
Microsoft on Thursday pushed its biggest update to Virtual Earth in the history of the mapping service, adding 26 terabytes of 3-D and birds-eye imagery. A large amount of the data is for a new feature the company calls "hill shaded," which displays the topography of a location.
231732
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.
323647
(InfoWorld) - Nokia will give away mapping software to its customers as well as users of Window Mobile devices. Phones based on Linux and older Nokia and MicrosoftÂ devices will be supported in the future, the Finnish mobile phone maker said Thursday. Mobile users can download the Smart2go maps that cover 150 countries and include 15 million points of interest, such as restaurants and accommodation. Users can store the map data on a memory card in the handset. The data can be downloaded over the air or via a connection to a PC. Users of phones with GPS (global positioning service) or with an external GPS module can subscribe to a turn-by-turn navigation service. Subscriptions come in a variety of packages so customers can pay for a week's worth of navigation services for use while on holiday. Prices vary based on the user's location but as an example, a one-week subscription for navigation services in Germany costs â¬6.49 ($8.43), one month is â¬7.99 and one year is â¬59.99. Nokia is trying to compete with the personal navigation device market but hopes to gain an edge in offering a different pricing model. While standalone navigation device makers typically charge users for the hardware and the maps up front, Nokia is giving the maps away and charging for the navigation services as users need it. In January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,Â Nokia announcedÂ that it would start giving away maps to Nokia customers and offering a paid navigation service. Thursday's announcement includes compatibility with non-Nokia devices, details the pricing and sets the date -- Saturday -- when the free maps will become available. Nokia has begun focusing heavily on the location market. The Smart2go application comes from Gate5, the mapping and routing company thatÂ Nokia boughtÂ last year. In addition, Nokia last yearÂ acquired the exclusive rightsÂ to license and sublicense 700 GPS patents owned by Trimble Navigation. At the time, Nokia said that essentially every company offering a mobile navigation service would have to license the patents. Nokia introduced another free offering on Thursday, this one only for certain Nokia phones. Users of 16 Nokia devices, which include the N95, N93, N71, N62 and N60, can download a free application that lets them search for content on their handsets. Users can search for information in calendar entries, SMS messages and multimedia files. Â
465822
Blog: Microsoft's Photosynth technology for stitching 2D images into a 3D realm will illustrate the How We Built Britain Web site.
184669
Yahoo Maps gets a great new upgrade that helps users reroute their driving directions.
548113
Microsoft-endorsed Open XML Translator project releases downloadable ODF converter.
746436
Microsoft is showing off futuristic technologies this week, including a service that uses a camera phone to pinpoint your location.
68910
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. bills the latest twist on its online maps as &quot;Street View,&quot; but it looks a bit like &quot;Candid Camera&quot; as you cruise through the panorama of pictures that captured fleeting moments in neighborhoods scattered across the country.
494009
The Weather Channel Interactive today launched a new tool that uses Microsoft Virtual Earth to let users collect weather information down to the street level.
131097
Details of a new Microsoft Web analytics tool are available online.
76786
Alternative browser will be available on portable devices running Microsoft's OS.