Google — GPS Obsessed

Google’s Checking You Out From 423 Miles Away (GeoEye-1)

by Justin

While most of today’s privacy concerns revolve around personal information on both the internet and mobile devices, you now have another privacy concern thanks to the launch of the GeoEye-1 satellite on Saturday.

The satellite is part of the NextView program, a national security initiative focused on collecting satellite information launched by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. So far this doesn’t sound particularly threatening; the US military already has plenty of satellites circling the Earth that can focus on the most subtle facial features.

What will be threatening to some however, is that Google has exclusive rights to the satellite imagery for both Google Maps and Google Earth. In fact, the GeoEye-1 can clearly see images as small as 16 inches in length, and in near-perfect color thanks to the high-res imaging technology used. Thankfully, Google won’t have access to the highest of high-res pictures, but if you’re in the habit of doing publicly inappropriate things, now might be the time to rethink your behavioural strategy.

Moving at 4.5 miles per second 423 miles above our planet, the GeoEye-1 will take both black-and-white and color images, the first of which will be available sometime this fall.

via cnet

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September 8, 2008 1 Comment

Is Android Delayed Until 2009 Because Google Plans To Acquire Sprint?

by Justin

Rumors are flying once again about another Google Android delay. This time Barron’s Tech Trader Daily is reporting that the HTC’s Android handset, probably the first one to market, will be delayed until sometime in the first quarter of 2009. This information was apparently gleamed from “contacts” of Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research who told him that HTC is having troubles implementing the Android feature set on its phones and is demanding guaranteed minimum revenues from Google, indicating the company is worried about a possible lack of demand. Complicating the issue further is the abundance of other mobile operating systems in the game which already attract huge numbers of developers. This is just a rumor though; a CNET email to Google was returned with the reply “we remain on schedule to deliver the first Android-based handset this year and we’re very excited to see the momentum continuing to build behind the Android platform among carriers, handset manufacturers, developers and consumers.”

Just days ago HTC said that their Android based handset was on route to a 4th quarter release this year, so why such a change in less than a week we’re not sure, but if the latest delay rumor is true we think their might be more to the story than hardware implementation problems.

[Read more →]

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August 8, 2008 3 Comments

Mike Arrington Brings Back The Google Gphone, But Does The Gphone Really Make Strategic Sense?

by Justin

Sprint Handset Designed By Ammunition Group

It’s absolutely no surprise to me that Google’s previously rumored Gphone has found itself to be at the center of more rumors now that Apple 3G iPhone has hit shelves causing all kinds of waves in the mobile marketplace. Techcrunch is reporting that even though Google themselves killed rumors of the supposed Gphone near the end of last year with the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and the Android OS and a denial of any upcoming mobile phone release this year, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin apparently made some predictive statements regarding the possibility of Google’s own branded mobile phone at a press conference a couple of days back. Not only is this possibly quite significant, but Techcrunch has also caught wind of another rumor that San Francisco-based Ammunition Design Group which has previously worked with mobile companies such as Palm may be working with Google on a possible Gphone design. Apparently this rumor comes from a reliable source, so we’ll keep you updated as we find out more.

In the meantime though, Mike Arrington and his crew have had some opposition in the form of the phandroid blog. One phandroid writer says while Techcrunch tends to be a reliable source of information, it would make no sense for Google to release their own phone as it would end up competing directly with members of the Open Handset Alliance. phandroid says this would be a stupid move because it would effectively kill any hope of the Android operating system succeeding. By referring to a Google-branded mobile device, phandroid says Google’s co-founders are simply referring to any mobile device running on Android. Definitely a valid point here, but would Arrington really report something he didn’t think with almost absolute surety, was true?