Hasta La Gadget!

No iffy third-party apps, no feature phone mobile version, Google’s web-based Map service is back on Windows Phone devices. We just went down to the Nokia bus here at CES to give it a try, and it’s working as you might expect. While the smartphone screen isn’t the best place for a desktop map site, pinch to zoom and scrolling worked and we were able to hunt down places of interest. The more mobile-centric Google Places also reappeared ready for use, if you prefer your maps ready for vertical displays.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia, Google

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While Google’s offered free WiFi access in NYC subways from time to time, it’s apparently now set to help get a permanent solution live in a Manhattan neighborhood. There are no details regarding a time-frame, but the company’s linked up with the Chelsea Improvement Company to provide the access in Southwest Chelsea. Aside from the perks of pro bono interwebs for all, the initiative will serve to provide internet to likes of low-income and student housing in the locale — though, it seems a natural undertaking given Google’s office in the area. At the very least, it’s another nice chip toward municipal WiFi in the Big Apple. Full presser after the break.

Continue reading Google to help set up free WiFi blanket in NYC’s Southwest Chelsea neighborhood

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: Yahoo! News, BGR

Eric Schmidt, Google’s Executive Chairman, is on a mysterious trip to North Korea together with former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. The reason for their visit remains unclear, but Richardson says that the trip is “private” and “humanitarian.” But a new report from the Associated Press paints a much clearer picture. According to the distinguished publication, Schmidt visited Kim Il Sung University and took a look at how its students use information online. Joining them are Schmidt’s daughter, Sophie, and Google Ideas director Jared Cohen.  (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Facebook Teases Media With Invites To “See What We’re Building” Event Next Week, Target Launches Year-Round Price Match Of Online Retailers,

Radioline TV interface – please note that this might not be the final interface that will be displayed in various TVs

[CES 2013] Radioline is the new kid on the block in the online radio world and today, the radio aggregator announced that it will be in connected TVs, via a partnership with Mstar and in the car, via a partnership with Parrot.

Launched in October 2012 for iOS, Radioline is an iPhone application that aggregates over 25,000 radio stations and 11,000 podcasts. The application is the consumer facing product of the company which also operates a cloud-based mobile internet radio portal solution and provides MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) and Service Providers with its white labeled technology.

I have tried Radioline briefly when it was released and the experience was good. I could find rapidly  any radio I wanted, including the European ones. Its vintage look, reminiscent of the golden age of radio, is a great differentiator from similar services such as TuneIn or Stitcher.  In case you own an Asteroid from Parrot, you will also be able to try Radioline yourself in your car.
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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: One in five U.S. households have Internet-enabled TVs [Research], Opera TV Store brings a unified app store experience across all TV-platforms,

While most of us think of the web browser landscape as a fierce battle between Google, Microsoft and Mozilla, the situation was very different a decade ago. Internet Explorer still dominated the market, Firefox’s precursor Phoenix was months away and Chrome wasn’t even a twinkle in Google’s eye. That makes today’s 10th anniversary of Apple’s Safari a significant milestone: the public beta released on January 7th, 2003 represented the first major new competitor to Internet Explorer in years, especially for the initial Mac users who hadn’t seen many alternatives. The desktop browser has just a small slice of the market today, but it arguably played an important part in shaping the current market. Safari launched the first practical instance of the now-ubiquitous, KHTML-based WebKit rendering engine that made iOS stand out in 2007 and whose variants power some competing browsers, including Chrome.

As project originator Don Melton notes, however, Safari came close to having a different name at one stage. Among other suggestions, the late Steve Jobs was intrigued by the name “Freedom” and spent substantial time exploring its prospects before dropping it and ultimately settling on the Safari label. Such naming debates are common in technology, but they show just how important it was for Apple to make a good first impression; given that Safari is still in healthy use today, we’d say the deliberation paid off.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Apple

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Source: Don Melton