Google

[BostonUrbEx]

Damn, Google is going to run our lives soon. Today Google has bought Motorola.

So, Google is currently a:
Advertising agency (Google Analytics)
Book sharing website (Google Books)
Cell phone manufacturer (Droid)
Cell phone provider (Motorola)
Email service (GMail)
File host (Google Docs)
Mapping and directions service (Google Maps)
News proxy (Google News)
Operating system (?)
Search engine (Google)
Social network (Google+)
Third party wireless payment system (like PayPal) (Google Wallet)
Translator (Google Translate)
Video host (YouTube)
Web browser (Chrome)

And more...

 

[datadyne007]

You forgot GoogleTV

Also:
Why The Google-Motorola Deal is About More than Mobile Phones

With its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, Google has shown that it is ready to take its investment in mobile to the next level. It’s important to remember, however, that Motorola Mobility does more than just make smartphones.

Ostensibly, Google’s decision to purchase Motorola has as much to do with increasing its patent portfolio as it is about getting into the hardware market, with Google already committing to running Motorola as a separate business. Still, we find it hard to believe that Google will just ignore the opportunity to potentially better couple its Android operating system with Motorola-produced tablets or smartphones.
Google-Motorola Could Give Google TV a Fighting Chance

Motorola is one of the biggest players in the set-top box space, and cable companies lease its cable boxes, DVR and IPTV components to customers. While we think it’s unlikely that Google will make any major changes to this existing business, owning Motorola means that Google TV has a potential distribution strategy.

To date, Google TV has been a colossal failure for not only Google, but for the companies that have partnered with Google to bring out Google TV hardware.

Google TV has failed, in part, because the product isn’t very good and because it doesn’t offer significant value to the customer. However, even if the Google TV product was great, it would still have a hard time achieving widespread adoption in the consumer marketplace, simply because as Steve Jobs has noted, selling consumers another box is hard.

However, what prevents Motorola from offering a Google TV-enabled set-top box option to its cable customers? Making a product available doesn’t guarantee that anyone will buy it, but the better integration of Android and the Google backing could lead to more robust, higher quality Android-powered connected TV options for cable providers that are increasingly looking to edge out subscription streaming services in order to retain customers.
A Manufacturing Spin Out?

We agree with Saul Hansell in believing that within the decade — if not much sooner — Google will likely spin-out Motorola’s manufacturing business. As Hansell says, “It’s just not what [Google does], and it’s not what they need in the long run.”

The impact that the manufacturing business could have on Google’s financial reporting could be a distraction.
Nokia and RIM Ripe for the Picking

Of course, other players in the device space may feel the most immediate impact from the Google-Motorola deal.

Shares in Nokia and RIM jumped in the wake of the Google-Motorola announcement, as the market saw beleaguered mobile giants as ripe acquisition targets for companies like Microsoft. Nokia has already tied its future fortunes to Microsoft’s Windows Phone ship, why not just complete the deal and be done with it?

Assuming the Google-Motorola deal sails through without any regulatory hurdles, it could open to door for an acquisition of either Nokia or RIM.

http://mashable.com/2011/08/15/google-motorola-google-tv/

Just took a glance over at my Comcast box: Motorola.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

I guess this shall be the "all things Google" thread.


Today (AFAIK) Google added 45-degree aerials of the Boston area to Google Maps. It's like Bing's "Bird's Eye View", but better.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

Awesome! It's not perfect; the buildings all look distorted like a cartoon version of the city (which is really fun actually).

 

[JohnAKeith]

I am not sure whether this expanded Google Maps functionality is available only on Android phones or on Google Maps. I checked Google Maps for Boston City Hall and it does appear to have a floor plan, but only for level 3?

Anyone used this to map out a public building or museum?

The MFA is not included, but Children's Museum is, apparently.

Updated Google Map Service Offers Museum Floor Plans
By LARRY ROHTER, NEW YORK TIMES

Google has updated its browser-based map service to include a new feature that should help visitors to museums navigate the sometimes-confusing maze of wings and galleries they often confront. The amplified service, announced on Wednesday, incorporates floor plans from dozens of museums and libraries in nine countries, including more than 30 in the United States.

The primary purpose of the new feature, which has been available for some time on Android-based devices, seems to be to allow users to see the layouts of indoor public gathering places like shopping malls, airports, train stations and convention centers. But some leading cultural institutions have also been listed, and the expanded service also contains an invitation to museums and libraries that wish to be included to upload their floor plans themselves.

In the United States, museums that are already listed in the service range from the American Museum of Natural History in New York to the Art Institute in Chicago and Freer Gallery of Art in Washington. Abroad, the cultural institutions whose floor plans are now available through browser-based service include the British Museum and the Barbican in London, the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen and the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Japan. A more detailed list is here.

 

[Ron Newman]

The place I'd most want to see this in Boston is the Prudential-Copley Place mall-office-hotel-convention center complex.

 

[Commuting Boston Student]

The place I'd most want to see this in Boston is the Prudential-Copley Place mall-office-hotel-convention center complex.

Check out Wifarer. The Prudential Center (and only the Prudential Center) is one of the first adopters of this technology, which is still in beta.

It's a pretty exciting system, actually - it uses Wifi signals in-venue to triangulate your exact position based on what networks are around you. Unfortunately, I don't predict that they'll ever see widespread use - considering that Wifarer went out of its way to thumb its nose at Google.

Of course, there’s nothing to prevent a Google, Bing or Micello from trying to map your Wifarer customers’ venues as well and offer their own competing location-based services. But Wifarer is providing means for its customers to protect their turf. Stanger said it has developed software that will disrupt the Wi-Fi fingerprints that other mapping companies use to determine location, making accurate coordinate readings impossible. Very sneaky.

Naturally, that's a two way street, which means we're going to end up with a mess of five or six different IPS standards, all of which make it impossible for any other IPS to work in that venue.