Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Google The Internet Businesses

Google Acquires Keyhole Corp. 245

Posted by timothy from the combine-with-maps-service-please dept.
telstar writes "As part of their ever-expanding online presence, Google has acquired online map provider Keyhole Corp.. Keyhole's technology allows users to perform virtual flyovers of satellite imagery of the earth's surface. The immediate impact of this acquisition is a price drop in Keyhole's service charge. Beyond that, Google does 'not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services.'"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Google Acquires Keyhole Corp. More

Google Acquires Keyhole Corp.

Comments Filter:

  • CYBERSTALK! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ayf6 ( 112477 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:24AM (#10643052) Homepage
    Now i can cyberstalk for real!
    • There are many more practical uses for this. My inside sources at Google (read: wild speculation) tell me that they're planning on extending their search technology beyond the web, and on to the planet Earth. Imagine:

      Google search: my car keys
      Google search: Weapons of Mass Destruction
      Google search: the dog

    • Re:CYBERSTALK! (Score:2, Interesting)

      by takeya ( 825259 )
      I belive Microsoft was developing some things with them for longhorn. I remember an informational video about longhorn/upcoming tech and there was one for small businesses that included collaboration software and keyhole/microsoft map software that would let you track and see the stats of members of a team.
  • $ whois gkeyhole.com

    Whois Server Version 1.3

    Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
    with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
    for detailed information.

    No match for "GKEYHOLE.COM".

  • What about Worldwind? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Nuskrad ( 740518 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:25AM (#10643063)
    You can get similar images from the NASA Worldwind software for free, although they need to fix their servers after the massive slashdotting they got.

    • Re:What about Worldwind? (Score:5, Informative)

      by cmallinson ( 538852 ) * <chris@nOspaM.mallinson.ca> on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:39AM (#10643312) Homepage
      You can get similar images from the NASA Worldwind software for free, although they need to fix their servers after the massive slashdotting they got.

      I've tried both services within the last week, and although I was impressed with NASA'a Worldwine, Keyhole 2 kicks its ass in a big way. The street name overlay and colour images make it so much easier to use.

    • Re:What about Worldwind? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Spy Hunter ( 317220 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:44AM (#10643397) Journal
      You can still use World Wind if you select TerraServer as your imagery source instead of NASA. It truly is an awesome program and everyone even remotely interested in this should check it out.

      World Wind is here [nasa.gov]. Just be sure to deselect "Landsat 7" from the toolbar (this uses NASA servers that are out of commission) and select "USGS-1m" instead for 1m resolution for the US. For some urban areas you can get much higher resolution and color by going into the "Layer Manager" under Images->High Resolution Terrain Mapped Imagery and selecting "USGS Urban Aera Ortho-Imagery". The topo maps are cool too.

  • Bad planning? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kalpol ( 714519 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:25AM (#10643068)
    So if they don't yet know how they're going to use it, why did they buy it? I hope Google isn't falling into the trap of buying up companies with cool ideas because they have lots of money burning holes in their pockets. That will lead to overexpansion, and with MS breathing down their necks, they can ill afford missteps in their corporate strategy.

    • Re:Bad planning? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Maybe they are saying one thing but meaning the other!!!!!!!!!! OMG111111111

    • Re:Bad planning? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:31AM (#10643163)
      Judging from the uptick [yahoo.com] this morning, investors either disagree or just don't care.... Long live the Internet bubble!

    • Re:Bad planning? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by B'Trey ( 111263 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:39AM (#10643308)
      Since when does "no announced plans" mean "... they don't know how they're going to use it...?"

      If MS IS breathing down their neck, do you think the wisest move would be to announce to the world exactly what their plans are?
    • Keyhole will be renamed "Google Keyhole [BETA]." The entire application will be rewritten in JavaScript and will only work with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox 1.1preview4b(v) with Google Keyhole [BETA] extension installed.

      Slashdot will run at least four front-page stories on the subject (including "Google Acquires Keyhole Corp." and tomorrow's "Google Aquires Keyhole Corpany"). Comments will range from "This is cool" to "This sucks" to "Well it's BETA, what do you expect."

      Lather, rinse, repeat.

  • Neato (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jonny_eh ( 765306 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:25AM (#10643071)
    It'd be neat if they integrated this technology with the google local search. Imagine searching for a local business then getting to see it on a satellite map, cool.

    • Re:Neato (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MustardMan ( 52102 )
      If you do a name, location search on google, you can often get as your first result a phonebook entry listing their number, home address, etc. A few clicks away you can usually see a satellite picture of said address. It was pretty creepy to put in nothing but my father's name and town, and be a couple clicks away from a satellite image of his house.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:25AM (#10643072)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Googleing for people! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kenja ( 541830 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:26AM (#10643079)
    So once we get our government mandated RFID tag installed you'll be able to google for a person and see there location on a satellite map!

    This is of course..... not true.

  • Google Maps? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by CtrlPhreak ( 226872 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:27AM (#10643100) Homepage
    With its neverending quest to be able to search everything and anything, perhaphs you'll be able to search the surface of the earth for things in the future through google. Like mapquest but without needing an address, just a starting location then a google search for something as the destination. Come to think of it, that could be pretty cool. What else could they use this for? It can't just be another revenue stream for google can it?
    • With its neverending quest to be able to search everything and anything, perhaphs you'll be able to search the surface of the earth for things in the future through google.

      Like WMDs?

      Mr. Google please help find direction from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 ... to heu, North Korea?

    • Re:Google Maps? (Score:5, Funny)

      by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @12:09PM (#10643783)
      ...perhaphs you'll be able to search the surface of the earth for things in the future through google.

      Oooooh! Y'mean like "where will I be at 10:45am tomorrow"???

  • Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline, etc = in Trouble (Score:4, Funny)

    by Gary Destruction ( 683101 ) * on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:27AM (#10643102) Journal
    Not even William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy can save Priceline from this move. Not only will you be able to name your own price on hotels and airfare, you'll be able to take a virtual walk down the street to the hotel. And you'll see William Shatner inside fighting Leonard Nemoy to get his "job" back. Then google have Scotty beam them up.
  • And I probably dont have to build a dual proc box to run it.

  • Mission Statement (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheJavaGuy ( 725547 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:28AM (#10643113) Homepage
    This is very much in line with google's mission statement.
    Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

  • Google needs real competition (Score:5, Interesting)

    by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:28AM (#10643117) Journal
    I know that, like Apple, they're a darling of the slashdot crowd. But unlike Apple, they are rapidly approaching a sort of online monopoly that we haven't seen before.

    I don't care what they claim in their corporate mission statements. "Do no evil" my ass, I'm not stupid enough to take anything a bunch of suits say without a grain of salt. MSFT was an underdog with noble goals once upon a time.

    Google's growth worries me, the way they seek to be the worlds largest advertising company worries me.

    • As much a I don't want to don the tinfoil hat, I have to agree with you on this one. Google is starting to get its fingers into so many things, not unlike MSFT. Your post seems to point out the one startling difference... geeks don't despise Google. At least... not to my knowledge.

      Is it possible that Google is the "Good Guy" and trying to undermine all the "Bad Stuff" that MSFT does? Or is this just a clever ploy to get all the /.ers excited about Google only to find out they've been pulling the wool

      • Re:Google needs real competition (Score:4, Interesting)

        by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:38AM (#10643279) Journal
        Google's a corporation, corporations are neither good nor bad IMO, they're all alike, all about profit.

        Google seems to be seeking to own every service the internet provides. That's what worries me. What happens when mapquest and competing search engines dry up? Google could easily impose on every netizen a "google tax".

        Just because it's free now, doesn't mean they wouldn't exploit such a rich source of revenue, especially with no competition to undercut them.

        It's not tinfoil hat time at all. It always worries me when a single entity gets so much control over a globally shared resource like the internet.
        • It may take a decade to surface, but I think it's self correcting: See Microsoft, Apple, and Linux.

          If Google really does have such a rich source of revenue, it makes lots of sense for a competitor to come up and try to take it from them. So the richer they get, the more likely someone will come to challenge them.

          Linux is of course slightly different because it wasn't born of profit, but born of the desire for a better product than Windows. Apple is a mix of both. We'll see what happens in the next 10 year

        • Re:Google needs real competition (Score:5, Insightful)

          by drakaan ( 688386 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:54AM (#10643579) Homepage Journal

          And here's why that won't wash.

          They have no competition at their current price point. Once you charge for a service, all of us non-subscribing, cheap-ass, "I'll just do it myself...better"-type geeks will do an end-run around you and give a better offering away for free.

          Linux was first (and pretty much ignored for 10 years), then Microsoft said "hey, if we give away a browser for free, we can kick Netscape's ass!", then Netscape went and open-sourced and gave us Mozilla, which we can run on Linux...etc, etc, etc. Free (as in beer) usually wins. Free (as in freedom) is a no-brainer.

          Google's rise to it's current status has a lot to do with the geeks that work at Google, and the geeks that are in charge of Google, so the odds of nefarious plot hatching there are (IMHO) somewhat lower than at MS. They built their business on advertising revenue, rather than liscensing madness, so aside from doing a good job and getting people to look at their ads, they don't have much to push...certainly not in the form of subscriptions (well, maybe a charge for ad-free searching).

          Right now, the good thing is that Google is scaring the crap out of Microsoft, and may (eventually) force a change in their revenue model. Short term: Google is still good. Long term: Even if Google forgets how to be good, they won't get away with it...geeks are fickle.

    • Re:Google needs real competition (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Jeff DeMaagd ( 2015 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:46AM (#10643434) Homepage Journal
      Yahoo alread does a large part of what Google is doing. Google is hardly the only source of any particular service that I am aware of, and it isn't like an operating system lock-in that I can't switch and the others don't have 100% of the software I need, I can pick and choose where to go for every particular service Google offers.
    • MSFT was an underdog with noble goals once upon a time.

      Can you give me a single noble goal MSFT ever had?

      • Re:Google needs real competition (Score:5, Insightful)

        by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:57AM (#10643619) Journal
        To make personal computing available and affordable to the masses? That was basically their original "mission statement", and was noble enough at a time when computing was basically the domain of the rich.

        Would I have ever owned a C64 for under $1000 bucks (at launch) if not in part for it's built-in BASIC interpreter by Micro Soft of Palo Alto?
      • A computer on every desk?

        Neal Stephenson, in his essay "In the Beginning...Was the Command Line" makes an interesting point that without Microsoft, there wouldn't have been cheep, commodity computers because there would never have been a market for the personal computer.

        Not saying that Microsoft is good, only that they opened the world of cheep computing to the general public.
        • Not saying that Microsoft is good, only that they opened the world of cheep [sic] computing to the general public.

          This is, of course, complete nonsense. There were dozens of computer companies competing in the 8-bit market (C/PM) and that competition pushed prices down. MS took off when the IBM PC came on the scene, and IBM could just have easily chosen CP/M-86 (or even the UCSD P-System) as the default operating system.

          Plus the killer app for PCs was VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet), which first appea
          • True, but none of them took off. Computers only became affordable to most people when there was a large enough market created. Its an economy of scale thing, once production reaches a certain level, things become cheeper to make as fixed costs are spread out over many units.

            With the introduction of Windows, a GUI based operating system that could be installed on non-apple computers, people could start using computers with out lots of training.

            I think the issue that you see if a cause/effect thing. I maint
    • So start using another search engine, there are plenty out there. Invariably someone somewhere will design a better search algorythm and couple that with a simple / clean design and Google will join the ranks of hip search engines past.
    • "Google's growth worries me, the way they seek to be the worlds largest advertising company worries me."

      You don't have to worry unless Google starts telling advertisers that they are forbidden from advertising anywhere else if they want their ads to appear on Google.

      You don't have to worry unless Google buys the other search engines and then shuts them down.

      You don't have to worry unless, after shutting down the other search engines, Google Search only allows you to get Internet search results by using G
    • Forgive me, but Microsoft was NEVER an underdog with noble goals. An underdog maybe, but one that was more than willing to use every dirty trick, legal, ethical, or not, to get where it is now.

      Even a cursory examination of the history of MSFT is enough to see that.

      It is not a condition of becoming a large powerful company that one becomes 'evil'. There are many corps out there that are big and powerful and still manage to be good 'citizens' rather robber barons. It's all in the culture your upper manageme

  • Sweet! (Score:4, Informative)

    by shdragon ( 1797 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:28AM (#10643119) Homepage Journal
    I have a subscription for Keyhole. It was $35 for a year subscription, so a drop in price is welcome. The max speed I've EVER gotten off their server is 36k. Lag is especially horrible during the day. Hopefully this will mean an increase in speed & responsiveness.
    • If the most you've ever gotten is 36k, the reason is that your network connection is poor.

      Their networks are fiber connected at the core on a high-performance ring from Neopolitan Networks, so there is no shortage of capacity on their end. That network can handle an order of magnitude more bandwidth than is used to drive Keyhole without even breaking a sweat. I'm also on Neopolitan's network, and Keyhole performance is great. I suspect the bottleneck is closer to your end.

      • I've noticed data downloading in V2 was noticeably slower than previous versions. Anywhere high-res used to come up in secnds and now the "Streaming.." status is getting as irritating as Real's "Buffering.."

      • Re:Network performance (Score:3, Insightful)

        by shdragon ( 1797 )
        You mean you have better network performance being on the same provider as Keyhole? Gee, imagine that. My average speed to the rest of the world hovers around 300KB/s. My original comment was meant to be critical of their database, not necessarily their pipeline. Serving a multi TB database of image data to a large number of people is bound to cause slowdowns during "peak" hours. However, there are *many* posts in the keyhole forums regarding average speeds of around 40K/s which suggests either capping or d
        • Probably server overload then. They have multiple servers, and I imagine the load is not distributed evenly depending on the kind of customer you are. My original point, was more that there was no way they were network limited. Disk I/O might be another matter altogether depending on what systems you are connected to.

  • I can see it now... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Saint Aardvark ( 159009 ) * on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:30AM (#10643136) Homepage Journal
    Millions of queries out of Maryland...

    http://maps.google.com/q=nuclear+OR+Cbiological+OR +chemical+weapons+-usa+-china%+-uk&sourceid=mozill a-search

  • Smart move by Google.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:30AM (#10643141) Journal
    Rest assured, Google has thought ahead. They do have geocoder type apps in the works and this is just a logical acquisition to make, ESPECIALLY when you're flush with cash (Don't forget their stock price has really climbed). After all, if you're going to use Google Local then you might want to provide a map.
    • After all, if you're going to use Google Local then you might want to provide a map.

      A satellite photo != a map; it's much, much harder to read, although cuter.
    • Nit. A company does not make money when its share price goes up. Only the people selling the shares.

      Of course,it's possible they have unsold shares lying about that they could sell, but they'd make money on that regardless of the change in price. It's just a question of how much.

      They are, of course, flush with cash from their IPO.

  • Google + Maps = goodness (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xThinkx ( 680615 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:31AM (#10643161) Homepage

    I can definitely see use for this, imagine googling your intended location "Jim's Steakhouse"

    Not only could google give you the directions, but a map, a menu, and an aerial photo. Sometimes aerial photos are AMAZINGLY helpful. You can see tons of things not on maps such as:

    • Where there's nearby parking (lots)
    • How many lanes on the hiway (turn lanes too)
    • Color of the building/surroundings, which really helps if you've never been there before
    • Nearby landmarks (streams, forests, trees, big buildings)
    I for one welcome our new google overlords.
  • id really like to see google put out a whereis.com-like service, except on a global scale. It'd really help out tourists and your average lost person.

    Of course, that's prolly what GPS is for.
  • why use keyhole when NASA has a FREE and open source solution, which looks very similar WorldWind [nasa.gov]

    of course it only runs on windows... Open Source.Net

    it may not be as geared toward streetmaps, but I have found it useful for finding back roads and stuff.
    • Well, how about because Keyhole is so much better that to call WorldWind better makes it clear you don't know what you are talking about? I think it is great that NASA has made WorldWind available and I hope it improves but there are at least three components to consider. The database of images requires a significant effort to acquire, organize, and host. Since satellite photos are only a fraction of what Keyhole offers (for higher resolution areas there are arial photos also) that is a significant challeng

  • They should buy anything they can. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ggruschow ( 78300 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:43AM (#10643373)
    Who cares if it's irrelevant to their business?

    Buying other companies is a way good way to sell your overvalued stock without notifying everyone that you think that the current price is a great sale.

    They have a Trailing P/E of 225 [yahoo.com]. That means their stock is trading for way way more than they're making. Compare it to someone like Amazon with ~1/5th of that, or GE with ~1/10th of that. Even their forward P/E (what they think they'll make in the future vs what their presently worth) is double Amazon's and triple GE's.

  • I seem to remember Mpaquest offering this sort of service for free a few years back. Anybody know what became of it? I remember getting an arial view of my apartment in Sunnyvale as well as a map to it.
    • I was just looking for it and the only trace left appears to be this page [mapquest.com] which links to regular maps, not aerial photos.

      Looks like they quietly got rid of it, which is a shame because it was really accurate.

  • Could be the Show of the Century (Score:5, Interesting)

    by serutan ( 259622 ) <snoopdoug AT geekazon DOT com> on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:44AM (#10643410) Homepage
    Google seems like a volcano about to erupt. Or maybe a sleeping tiger waking up. Whatever their plans are, I'm sure we will be in for quite a few changes in how we use the web, as well as and an entertaining show as the Empire panics and responds.

    I repeat my earlier speculation that if Google releases its own Linux distro, with a custom desktop, integrated office suite and web functionality, they could end up Owning The World. Then maybe the sun would shine and the birds would sing, or would we all start hating Google and feeling sorry for MS?
    • Then maybe the sun would shine and the birds would sing, or would we all start hating Google and feeling sorry for MS?

      The latter. Look at how the slashdot crowd sees IBM as the "good guys" these days. They have the longest history of evil-doing in the computing world. I remember quite clearly the geek community cheering MS for sticking it to IBM, and crushing OS/2 before it could even leave the gate.

      Now that IBM seeks to exploit, err "embrace" linux, we act like they're being run by Care Bears or som
    • if it is linux wouldn't be too hard for anyone to modify the source code would it?
    • It's always cool to hate things which are massively popular :)
    • They're certainly in the right position to do it, but they need to smarten up FAST. All of their various products are related in theory, but from a technical perspective, there's no integration yet. There's no reason GMail and blogger aren't fully integrated yet, and no reason why Google Desktop Search can't include GMail and My Google News results.

      I know it takes time to integrate Picasa to Blogger to Google Desktop Search to GMail, but they need to hurry - Google has been successful because Yahoo and M
  • I have no doubt that they will be looking to replace their current links to yahoo maps and mapquest when doing an address search.

    I look forward to see if they can improve online map services and reduce the costs. The competition in email services has already forced others to improve. I would expect more of the same from google, which is a good thing.
  • ... Beyond that, Google does 'not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services.'"

    This sounds a little scary. I hope they have some unannounced plans. I'd hate to think they're just blowing their cash pile on neat stuff, with no clue what they're going to do with it all.

  • On this map... (Score:5, Funny)

    by jaguar5150 ( 822144 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:51AM (#10643519)
    "X" Marks the gSpot

  • Message from above (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Well, if any of you Earthlings can use the combined might of Google and Keyhole to find any signs of intelligent life on Earth, please contact our Mothership, because we've given up looking.

    Sincerely,
    The Greys.

  • I saw this coming (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lou2ser ( 458778 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @11:54AM (#10643583)
    Some people have been playing around with Google's SMS Service http://www.google.com/sms/ [google.com] and have found if you SMS "Directions" to 46645 you get a reply back "Looking for driving directions? Unfortunately this feature is not yet supported."

    Another undocumented feature is for flight times. Try SMSing flight WN 764 and you get the same reply.

    This post was inspired by http://www.engadget.com/entry/8423209320818510/ [engadget.com]
  • Add this map stuff to the SMS search [slashdot.org] and I can find my p0rn for *REAL* anywhere!

    Search Results for "XXX teens"

    XXX Teens
    Red Light Street 69 3rd floor Cached Map Link ;)
  • In related technology, there is a very cool piece of software out there (free download) called Usa Photo Maps [jdmcox.com] - This allows you to use Microsoft's terraserver photo maps as a base for your GPS tracks and numerous other GPS functions. Very cool for overlaying your tracks after a day of hiking or skiing, or even just out driving. Downsides are that it's windows only, and terraserver data is very old.

  • Picture this...you enter someone's name into google. Right now, you can most likely determine their address and phone number, which is already kind of invasive to their privacy, but no more so than a phone book.

    With the new technology, you could search on google, and then get a 3m resolution picture of the persons house and property. This would certainly make it easy to stalk someone (or plan some sort of assault on the house, T.P., burglary etc). What possible use could google have for this?

    Keyhole is
  • When I need to drive somewhere I haven't been before I fly over the route using Keyhole and note landmarks, buildings, etc. that a map just won't give you.

    I used this to get from Pheonix airport to the site of the legal conference I went to last August in no time.

    I hope they keep up their "Where in the World" contest, I'm four for four.
  • Mapquest with downloadable video directions?

  • Imagine this: (Score:2, Funny)

    by rmmeyer ( 84419 )
    OK, so we start with a wearable computer. Stuff an NVidia in it. Get a chord type keyboard that's wearable. Display in glasses or the cool new lasers that draw on your retina. GPS jacked into computer. Keyhole maps.

    I can finally type 'whereami' and find out!

    This is all doable with current technology...

    If only it worked in Linux...

  • Now maybe they'll fix the copy protection (Score:4, Informative)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Wednesday October 27, 2004 @01:25PM (#10644825) Homepage
    If you try to upgrade from a 30-day demo version of Keyhole to a pay version by uninstalling the demo, buying a real, but different, version, and installing, you end up in a copy protection hell. Somewhere, Keyhole has stored that you've previously had a demo version, and the real version doesn't deal with that properly.

    Never did get it working on that machine; had to get a refund from Keyhole.

  • This looks like an interesting product. What I would finder even better is to have Celestia [sourceforge.net] be able to do something like this. That would mean you could navigate around space and then zoom into ground level detail.
  • Just to say that looking at the system requirements [keyhole.com], Windows needed. Sorry no Linux or MacOS X support :( Shame I would have been a little more tempted otherwise.

    On the subject, does anyone know of good GIS software (open source or commercial) for either MacOS X or Linux? At the moment all the ones I have seen are for MS-Widnows and I can't seem to find any affordable maps, that I could eventually write a program for.
  • Now all they need is a good off-shore data haven for the GMail cache, and they've got a good do-it-yourself spy service.

    How much for the latest Area 51 pics?

  • Since no-one else made the Google-text messaging connection yet, I'll weigh in with my own wild speculation:

    Since lots of phones can receive MMS messages these days, Google is going to provide geographic information along with your Google Local queries. And driving directions, too.

Slashdot Top Deals

I judge a religion as being good or bad based on whether its adherents become better people as a result of practicing it. - Joe Mullally, computer salesman

Close