Google Buys TheDealMap for Location-Based Deals

Google has purchased TheDealMap, a location-based deals service that will almost certainly be integrated into Googe's recent Deals service.

TheDealMap, which happened to be one of PCMag.com's best Web sites of 2010, rounds up local deals via an online map, and also separates them out via category. Users can also find deals by brand or by city, as well as via categories such as "restaurants," "medical," and "food and drugs," among others.

Google recently launched its Google Offers program in Portland, Ore., and later moving to New York's Manhattan and the San Francisco Bay Area. Like Groupon and other daily deals sites, Google Offers focuses on offers in a specific region, generally offering users the right to purchase a deal coupon for 50 percent off or more.

To date, though, Google's Offers beta places deals in a generic region, such as New York's MidTown, or "Oakland/East Bay". With TheDealMap, deals can be found outside those regions, with a much more refined sense of location. Google's strength in its Maps offering, with its Google Places becoming more of a home for businesses.

And Groupon recently launched Groupon Now, which provides location-based deals with time constraints as well, one-upping its competition.

"We believe Google provides the ideal platform to help us accelerate our growth and fulfill our mission. We're passionate about helping people save money while having great local experiences, and in Google we've found the perfect partner that shares this passion, as well as our vision and strategy," the company said in a statement posted on its site. "We believe that joining Google will help us innovate in new and unexplored areas of commerce."

It's unclear, however, how long TheDealMap will exist as a service.

"For the time being, we will continue to support The Dealmap's core products and partner services. People will still be able to access local and daily deals through The Dealmap website, mobile apps, and daily email, and we'll continue supporting The Dealmap API and feeds for existing sourcing and distribution partners. As we're ready to share more about integration and transition plans, we'll update our partners and consumers on progress and any news."

TheDealMap claims that it has over 2 million users of its branded mobile, Web, social, and email products, and that over 1 million people have installed its iPhone and Android apps. The site also claims over 85 million visitors have accessed its DealExchange distribution network.

Upload Photos Directly From Your Mobile to Google Maps v5.8

Google has updated its popular Google Maps service to version 5.8 for Android-based mobile devices. Among the features that have been found interesting and very timely is the ability to upload photos directly from one’s phone. Users of the previous versions of Google Maps would know that this feature in the previous versions was conspicuous by its absence. With more and more people getting hooked onto social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or the latest, Google+, an integration, in the least hassling way possible can be an asset.

Upload images directly

According to an official blogpost, the update allows users to share their experience of a new place they just visited, or are at present, by simply clicking an image of it and sharing it right away. This will also help at times when the user wishes to see how a place is in terms of its appearance and its reviews and ratings. The photos one ends up contributing can be managed or deleted using one’s Picasa account. 

A word that best describes

Better enhancing this feature for Google Maps on mobile is the ‘descriptive terms’ feature, that adds short, precise descriptive tags to particular locations, to better describe them or associate them to the businesses there. Specific places ‘starred’ by you, can be accessed instantly too, using the My Places feature. The update also lets users add a certain location, if it currently does not exist and has the user wanting to ‘check-in’ to it. A user has to then click on the ‘Add Place’ option, and enter the relevant details like the name, and location of the place they want to add. Once done, although the place will not pop-up in the search options on Google Maps, it will be visible to those who wish to log in to it from Latitude.

Get your favorite hangout listed

Those keen on trying it need to have an Android OS 2.1+ device, and can download the update,here.

Street View: Google and Karnataka Govt. Discuss Future

It can be recalled that a while back, we had reported that one of Google’s immensely popular services, Street View faced a complete ban in the city of Bangalore, India. Citing security concerns, as one of the key issues that came in the way of Google’s Street View getting a go-ahead, the government added that the recent terror attacks in Mumbai had only made matters worse for Google.

Getting the Street View

According to a report in The Economic Times, a recent meet between the legal team from Google, that included Google's legal expert, Geetanjali Duggal and Venkatesh Hariharan, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs, in Bangalore and BJP’s media spokesperson, S. Prakash, as well as, the party’s lawmaker C.N. Ashwath Narayan, it was discussed that Street View was heavily violating security norms. However, Google’s representatives made attempts to convince the leaders that the Street View services would only display historical monuments and shopping complexes. Post the vicious attack on the nation’s financial capital; all metros including Bangalore were put on a high alert. In such a scenario giving out even the tiniest of details, let alone complete ‘Street View’ would be grave, the leaders added. 

The BJP government in Karnataka has asked Google to approach the Centre for further orders. According to BJP’s media spokesperson, S. Prakash, the Data Protection Act 2000 needed amendments keeping in mind technological advancements that have taken place, since its inception. Both parties are now looking at a third way, that of data protection. Although clashing on most grounds, both Google and the Karnataka government agreed that the entire mechanism needed serious monitoring. 

Google’s authorities now cite further discussions with local authorities as their next logical step. For the rest of us, it’s now a wait and watch game.

Google Deploys Street View Cars in 'Earthquake-Hit' Japan

Four months ago, the world looked on helplessly, as one of the most technologically developed nations, Japan crumbled in front of an earthquake first, and the horrendous tsunami, that swelled later. Since then, the nation has been putting up a brave front, and has begun picking life from where it stopped on that fateful day. Those of you who followed our reports closely that time, would remember that Google had launched, the indispensable feature called ‘Person Finder’. The tool helped thousands of displaced people get to know the whereabouts of their relatives, family, and other acquaintances.

A quake hit stretch in Japan

Reports now point that one of Google’s most controversial and spoken about service, Street View has been deployed on Ground zero. Street View cars from Google have been plying on the earthquake ravaged streets of North Eastern Japan bringing in digital images of the affected areas using the nine cameras mounted on the car, which give out a 360-degree, panoramic view of the location. Google's popular service, although hit roadblocks in major nations, was welcomed with open arms in Japan.The mayor of Kesennuma, one of the cities in North Eastern Japan was particularly glad with the Google Street View cars plying around the city. In a statement,  he said that he was glad that they were here to record Kesennuma, and that he would want them to come back again, and record Kesennuma after it had restored itself to its original self.

Getting the Street View

The Street View technology, especially in Japan would track the extent of the damage, for starters, and would also gauge the progress in reconstruction. Google, had initially rubbed the Japanese the wrong way with the Street View technology. Privacy loving Japanese did not like it when Google's Street View cars started recording the most detailed images. They were allowed to proceed only when they reshot their entire sequence with less detailed images. Now, however, Google and several of its key features, like the above mentioned Person Finder, Street View and others like Google Maps have become indispensable to the lives of scores of Japanese, which most definitely is good news for Google.

Google Maps 5.7 Now Features ‘Labs’

Google Map’s swanky new update has made life just a little simpler in this metropolitan chaos we live in. Other than the new detailed transit routes, they’ve also introduced ‘Labs’, similar to the one in Gmail. This gives you access to some pretty nifty add-on features that extend the functionality of Google Maps. For now, we have just three to choose from, but I’m sure more are on their way.

No need for data roaming

To get started, head over to the Android Marketplace and update Google Maps. Once it’s done, open it up and go to Options>More>Labs. Here you can choose which lab you wish to enable. The first one called ‘Scale Bar’ shows distances in metric and imperial units and changes as you zoom in or out. ‘Measure’ allows you to gauge the distance between any two points that you select. But perhaps, the most exciting feature is the ‘Download Map Area’ lab. This lets you download the entire map of a particular area (only map tiles, no satellite and traffic info) in advance so when you arrive at your destination you don’t have to wait for it to load. This is brilliant since if you’re travelling to another state or country and don’t have data roaming, simply pre-load the map before your journey.

Once the map area has been loaded, you’ll see a square box to show you, which area is ready for viewing. This is currently only available for Android smartphones. iPhone users will have to wait for the next iOS release.

Hackers for Good Build Applications for Humanity

Google have recently announced that thousands of hackers gathered in more than 19 different global locations from Berlin to Nairobi, and Sydney to Sao Paulo. The Hackers for Good (as they are known) have participated in Google’s Random Acts of Kindness #3 by working with NGOs and government advisors to finish their applications for humanity.

Group Photo of the participants (Image Credit: Google)

This Google event has taken place in partnership with Microsoft, Yahoo!, Hewlett-Packard, NASA and the World Bank to form the Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) program that was started in 2009. The RHoK was started to build and support a community creating open source technology for crisis response and at RHoK #3, they expanded the mandate to include climate change. With RHoK #3 they announced that they are broadening the scope in the future to tackle any development challenges.

Google says that of the more than 75 solutions submitted for judging at this year’s global events and many are already on their way to making a difference around the world. They go on to say that the UN in association with the Columbian government is considering adopting the shelter management system developed at RHoK Bogota to aid the 3 million victims of winter flooding in South America. Of the nine hacks submitted for judging at RHoK Sao Paulo, two are already in use and two others may be further developed and incorporated into the restructuring of the National Weather Service. The document submitted by Google says that the winning application at RHoK Philadelphia, which was developed in response to a problem proposed by the World Bank Water group, is set for further development at the WaterHackathon, RHoK's first community-sponsored event, later this year.

The RHoK community

Three winners were selected at the RHoK Silicon Valley event at Google’s Mountain View campus. The first one was for SMS Person Finder which enables anyone with a phone to interact with Person Finder, a software application that Google built to help people connect with their loved ones following a disaster. The second one was the Hey Cycle which helps in making it easier for people to reuse and recycle items by setting up email alerts when free items that they’re looking for are entered on freecycle.org. And, the third one was for FoodMovr which helps in connecting people with excess food to others who need it through a simple live application.

Google says that they were proud to be one of the founding partners and ongoing sponsors of Random Hacks of Kindness and look forward to seeing these applications make a difference. To know more about Random Hacks of Kindness, log on to RHoK.org.

Google Maps 5.7 Adds Public Transport Data to Directions

Google Maps is a handy utility on the web, but it’s even more handy on an Android phone when you’re out travelling to places you’ve never been to. Head to any densely populated city and try and figure your way around the lanes and finding the best bus and train routes can be a pain. Google has updated their Google Maps app to version 5.7. There have been additions made to the direction system. Now, you receive more accurate turn-by-turn information to your destination. What’s much more interesting is the addition of bus and train routes. It’s not just the details, but it’s how it adds this information to a route.

Local bus and train information added to Google Maps

For example, it’ll tell you to go walking to the closest station, catch a train to five stations away and then switch over to a bus. It has a fairly detailed database of all buses and trains. It also gives you an approximate time to destination using one of the public transporation options. In case of buses, the frequency is mentioned. In the case of trains, the actual train timings are mentioned. There’s also a total time taken to reach your destination present in the app. Anyone travelling in the city will find this handy. The only thing missing now is the amount of rush or traffic on a particular route at a given time.

Earth Farthest From Sun on Fourth of July -- Why So Hot

The sun sets over Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico on Wednesday.

Photograph by Eric Draper, Reuters

If the sun looks a little smaller than usual as you're barbecuing this Fourth of July, it's not your imagination: Earth will be farther from the sun on Monday than on any other day this year.
That's because the orbits of all the planets in our solar system—including Earth's—are not perfectly circular, a phenomenon that was first explained in mathematical detail by the 17th-century German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
Kepler "figured out the orbits of the planets were elliptical in shape and that the sun was offset from the center," explained Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.
Earth's elliptical orbit means there will be a point each year when the planet is closest to the sun, called perihelion, and a point when it is farthest away, known as aphelion.


On July 4 our planet will be at aphelion—94,511,923 miles (152,102,196 kilometers) from the sun. This year's perihelion was on January 3, when Earth was 92,955,807 miles (149,597,870 kilometers) from the sun.
On average, Earth is about three million miles—or about 3 percent—farther from the sun at aphelion than at perihelion.
As a result, the apparent size of the sun in the sky will be about 3 percent smaller, but you may not notice the difference without a telescope.
"It's probably not noticeable, but it's certainly measurable," Hammergren said.


Distance Won't Dampen Fourth of July Heat
So if Earth is at its maximum distance from the sun on the Fourth of July, why are those of us in the Northern Hemisphere sweltering in the heat of summer?
Because it's the tilt of the Earth and not our distance from the sun that determines the seasons, Hammergren said.
Earth's north-south axis is tilted by about 23.4 degrees, so during its orbit, the poles point in different directions from the sun.
By coincidence, Earth reaches aphelion when the North Pole is tilted more toward the sun than the South Pole.
"Because the Earth has a tilt, it means that in the summer months [the Northern Hemisphere] receives a longer duration of sunshine—so the day is longer and the night is shorter—but also the sunlight hits the ground more vertically," Hammergren said.
"Those two things together contribute to the difference in heating for the seasons."

Armchair astronaut discovers Mars 'space station' using Google earth

We have all heard of little green men from Mars.

But now an American 'armchair astronaut' claims to have discovered a mysterious structure on the surface of the red planet - by looking on Google earth.

David Martines, whose YouTube video of the 'station' has racked up over 200,000 hits so far, claims to have randomly uncovered the picture while scanning the surface of the planet one day.

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Uncovered: David Martines believes he has found a structure on the surface of Mars - by looking at Google Mars

The white dot in the centre of the screen has set the blogosphere alight with rumours of a secret base

Describing the 'structure' as a living quarters with red and blue stripes on it, to the untrained eye it looks nothing more than a white splodge on an otherwise unblemished red landscape.

He even lists the co-ordinates 49'19.73"N 29 33'06.53"W so others can go see the anomaly for themselves.

In a pre recorded 'fly by' video of the object, Mr Martines describes what he thinks the station might be.

He said: 'This is a video of something I discovered on Google Mars quite by accident.

'I call it Bio-station Alpha, because I'm just assuming that something lives in it or has lived in it.

NASA and Google have both yet to respond to the 'finding', circled here

'It's very unusual in that it's quite large, it's over 700 feet long and 150 feet wide, it looks like it's a cylinder or made up of cylinders.

The infamous 'Face on Mars' image from 1976 caused a huge stir when it was released

'It could be a power station or it could be a biological containment or it could be a glorified garage - hope it's not a weapon.

'Whoever put it up there had a purpose I'm sure. I couldn't imagine what the purpose was. I couldn't imagine why anybody would want to live on Mars.

'It could be a way station for weary space travellers. It could also belong to NASA, I don't know that they would admit that.

'I don't know if they could pull off such a project without all the people seeing all the material going up there. I sort of doubt NASA has anything to do with this.

'I don't know if NASA even knows about this.'

The 'discovery' is similar to that of the infamous 'face on Mars'

Uncovered by the Viking 1 probe in 1976, a quirk of geography threw shadows over a small hill on the Cydonia region of Mars, making the inanimate rock look like a carved face.

The picture was heralded as proof of an alien civilisation by some but was dismissed as a mere trick of the light by scientists at NASA.

MailOnline has tried to contact both NASA and Goggle for a response to the image, but neither has replied.