Google Street View trikes arrived in South Africa in November last year, when they started collecting imagery of historic landmarks, heritage sites, scenic panoramas and sports venues around the country. South African Tourism compiled a list of 20 special locations on which the public voted. As a result, Google’s Street View team has been visiting the places that the South African public really wanted them to cover, everywhere from Soweto to Kruger National Park, and from Blyde River Canyon to the Kirstenbosch Gardens.

The Google trikers have been met with excitement from those they’ve crossed paths with along the way, including tourists who’ve said how useful they’ve found Street View for planning their holidays elsewhere. Street View is not always the first thing that comes to mind when seeing the Trikes though…in fact, in Kirstenbosch Gardens, a group of schoolchildren were convinced that the Trikers were actually ice-cream men!

More Google maps news

Starting today, the millions of Google Docs users creating and sharing online documents and spreadsheets can now upload and share any type of file, making it easier to access content on the go.

Google Docs lets people create, edit and collaboratively share personal and business-related content online. Users can access files uploaded to Google Docs from any browser, anywhere in the world. Combined with shared folders and multiple file import and export, it is easy to use Google Docs to collaborate and share files with coworkers, teammates, and friends. Now, instead of emailing attachments to oneself or colleagues for “back-up”, Google Docs users can upload content to a shared folder and access content from any computer.

Users can utilise 1GB of storage for free, with additional paid storage available. Files up to 250 MB each can be uploaded in their native formats (uncheck the “convert” option while uploading). Although only Google Docs formats can be edited in the cloud, most common filetypes are viewable with the Google Docs viewer, and all can be shared and accessed from any connection and at any time.

2009 has been a year of change in South Africa and Google has shown that people having been using Google Search to keep abreast of the most interesting news and trends as well as their favourite websites. As part of its year-end Zeitgeist trends results, which monitors search trends around the world, Google has released results of what South Africans have been searching for this year in the categories of politics, sport, celebrities and recession related queries.

In the political arena, some of the most popular searches included firebrand ANC Youth League President, Julius Malema, who pipped Helen Zille of the Democratic Alliance and Mvume Dandala of COPE as the third most searched for politician. Despite having a high volume of searches to his name, the Youth League president had to make way for his seniors, Jacob Zuma and Nelson Mandela who demonstrated their staying power by leading the rankings.

Former Springbok Joost van de Westhuizen had us all scrambling for our keyboards and heading for the Google search box when he released his biography. Joost’s relatively late entry into the gossip columns meant he was no match for perennial celebrity, DJ Sbu from youth radio station YFM who led the ‘most for searched for celebrity’ category. He was followed by socialite Khanyisile Mbau. Benoni-girl done good, Charlize Theron, was not to be outdone coming a close third in the rankings. Read the rest of this entry »

Since launching Street View cars in South Africa in September this year, Google has heard from people around the country that they’d like us to include even more images of South Africa’s amazing attractions in Street View and put its famous landmarks on the map.

That’s why we’re giving people a sneak preview of our latest groundbreaking invention – the Google Trike. This mechanical masterpiece comprises 3 bicycle wheels, a mounted Street View camera and a specially decorated box containing image-collecting gadgets. It also comes with a very athletic cyclist in customised Google apparel. The Trikes are not only a low-emission means of collating street-level imagery, as we are currently doing with the Street View Toyota Prius cars, but they also help Google collect imagery in places inaccessible by cars.

We can also reveal that we’re polling the South African public to vote for their special spots, such as historic landmarks and popular tourist destinations that the Trikes might visit. Google has teamed up with South African Tourism, with its unrivalled knowledge of South Africa’s tourist treasures, to compile a list of 20 exciting locations around the country, for which the public can vote and choose the top 3 locations that the Trikes will visit first.

Roshene Singh from South African Tourism said, “We have been only too happy to join forces with Google for its Street View initiative in South Africa, to bring our country’s remarkable diversity to the world in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. The new Trikes that are arriving shortly will help to showcase even more of South Africa’s unique travel offering, and we look forward to enthusiastic voting from the public”.

Do you want to see one of the World Cup stadiums on Street View? Or perhaps the Apartheid Museum, Kruger National Park or the Valley of the Zulu Kings? You can vote via an online form, which is available in five languages, at www.google.co.za/trike and also from your mobile phones at www.google.co.za/mobile/trike. As we only collect images from public roads, we have been working closely with the relevant organizations to collect images of privately-owned locations.

Stephen Newton, head of Google South Africa, said, “Street View has been a hit for tourism around the world, and now we want to make it even better for showing off South Africa’s history, nature and culture. The Trikes are designed to go down footpaths and tracks to collect images of areas of natural beauty or tourist sites. The Trikes will be here in South Africa for just a short time so in order to pick the very best spots, we’re asking the public to get involved and tell us where they want us to go. We want it to be a really fun, new aspect of the website – depending on what the public vote for, users will be able to virtually tour historical monuments or scenic locations before visiting – or check out which side of a football stadium they need to be on before leaving the house.”

Due to operational factors such as light levels and the weather (and what could be a pretty tired cyclist), the Trikes will only be in South Africa for a limited time during the summer. Images collected by the Trikes will be processed and carefully stitched together, a technological process that can take several months. They will be made available at a later date in Street View on Google Maps.

About Street View in South Africa

Street View is a hugely popular feature of Google Maps which is already available in more than 100 metropolitan areas around the world. We launched Street View driving in South Africa on the 1st of September 2009. The launch of the product is expected in 2010.

In countries where Street View is available, you can access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps, or by dragging the orange “Pegman” icon on the left-hand side of the map onto a blue highlighted street. You can check out a restaurant before arriving, make travel plans, arrange meeting points, get a helping hand with geography homework, or just explore and get to know your town better.

As well as its consumer appeal, South African businesses will also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site for free, helping them to promote a chain of hotels or increase awareness of a local library or restaurant.

As of today, new detailed maps of many South African cities and towns, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and East London, are accessible on Google Maps through any web browser or via Google Maps for Mobile on data enabled handsets. Although already available in South Africa, the map data has been improved dramatically and is now available with additional features. In addition to searching online Maps, Google Maps users will now be able to find businesses and check driving directions. Businesses will be able to add their own business listings for free via Google Maps Local Business Centre.

The map data includes a substantial amount of user generated content provided via Google Map Maker as well as thousands of business listings for South African cities. The new maps also include ‘My Maps’ and hotspots of a number of South African artists and experts such as music favourites Freshlyground and Thandiswa Mazwai, and designer Desre Buirski.

Google Maps in South Africa can be viewed in several ways. The “Map” button shows the traditional map view, ideal for finding an address or planning directions between points A and B. To explore in more detail users can choose the “Satellite” button, which includes satellite and aerial photographs. The “Terrain” view shows the physical geography of a place (such as hills and mountains). This button is a great choice if you’re heading out into the countryside.

Stephen Newton, country manager for Google South Africa said:
“Google Maps is an valuable addition to the list of products that we’re launching specifically for South Africans, given the market’s importance to us. Google Maps isn’t only about searchable, digitized maps helping you to find a local place, service or product. Our goal with Maps is to make information with a geographical dimension available to everyone and to allow users to update the maps and develop on top of them. We believe more accurate, representative local information can greatly improve the breadth of information available about a given area and in turn can bolster tourism and business investment.”

Google Maps in your pocket

Information on streets, addresses and local businesses and services will now be accessible via your mobile phone when you’re on the road or in areas you don’t know. Google Maps for Mobile can be downloaded for free. With this tool, users will be able to access detailed maps of South Africa and the world whilst on the go.

Shaun Kirk, Head of Marketing, Samsung Mobile, said, “Samsung is delighted to be partnering with Google to bring Google Maps for Mobile to South Africans. It means you can literally carry your city around in your pocket, and access information at any time you like, be it about businesses, restaurants or other services, whilst you’re on the road or in an unfamiliar area.”

Also commenting on Google Maps for Mobile, Romeo Kumalo, Executive Director: Commercial of Vodacom South Africa, said, “Being able to access Google Maps for Mobile is a great step forward, not only for finding your way around and organising your day-to-day life, but also for businesses to take advantage of the opportunities to showcase themselves to mobile users in time for 2010″.

The book sales business is getting tougher and tougher with Amazon accusing Google of trying to gain monopoly. But funny thing, Amazon fails to look into their own yard.

The guys who have been busy selling online books at a loss just to gain market share — which is something that will not happen forever — are now accusing other companies for wrong intention. However, it’s interesting why the whole fuss since Google caters to out-of-print books and doesn’t constitute a threat as of now.

Well it looks like Amazon (which is currently the largest seller of books online) is trying to cement their rank into the e-book industry, too — the only problem is that their Kindle is not yet popular — so the only solution was to play the smart game of pointing the finger at someone else.

You know Amazon, as much as we like you, we’re not dumb and we can figure out what you’re up to in the back.

[via AuthorsGuild]

Google has announced that street view’s latest destination will be South Africa. Soon, Toyota Prius models mounted with cameras will start their journey across cities of South Africa, taking pictures along the way. Cities to be included in the Google Maps Street View are Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Durban.

Google’s Street View is a very popular service that currently includes a number of major metropolitan areas across the globe, where cars fit with directional cameras did the job of capturing the 360 degrees view from the street. In some locations, Google also used a trike to capture images, though it is not immediately clear if they will be used in South Africa as well.

Where available, Street View can be accessed by zooming-in to the lowest level, or by using the “Pegman” icon on a highlighted street. Also, roaming about in the environmentally friendly hybrid Prius helps to give Google’s image a boost, while bringing good PR for the Prius as well. Once the images have been collected, they go through a process of being “stitched” together, and may only be available on street view after several months.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Google and supplying our fuel efficient and environmental friendly Prius for this groundbreaking project in South Africa. South Africans and international visitors alike will benefit tremendously from Street View, which is both fun and practical. We hope that people across South Africa’s major cities keep their eyes peeled for the Street View cars, and feel part of a major new initiative,” said Toyota’s Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Andrew Kirby.

Nimbuzz, the mobile social messaging application for cellphone is ready for a download on an Android OS with a number of rocking features that have the capability to make Nimbuzz one of the most admired message applications out there. That happens after the Symbian version, the iPhone VoIP app and the TG01 version.

It comes with a smart buddy list layout which displays the avatar and presence information in one in combination with community and resource information.

Another great feature is a time sensitive user interface where a light touch will open your buddy’s profile and a stronger touch will instantly begin a new chat.

There are home screen notifications which make you aware of any activities (incoming chats for instance) while Nimbuzz runs in the background. Just in case you wish to switch between 2G, 3G and WiFi networks, there is an auto-reconnect feature that makes things easier for you.

Since the Android users are getting a chance to use Nimbuzz for the very first time they get a unique opportunity where only Nimbuzz integrates Skype IM and local social networks such as Hyves in the Netherlands.

Looks like a nice thing to play with, eh? It’s free to download at the Android Marketplace.

Full press release after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

Google has acquired On2 Technologies in a stock for stock transaction which will see each outstanding share of On2 common stock being converted into $0.60 worth of Google class A common stock.

The overall acquisition cost for Google is $106 million and Google has taken this step to thoroughly use On2 futuristic video compression techniques for its own expansion. YouTube currently lacks ways that could assist High-Definition HD Video conversions and compressions, which means that the deal is much needed considering the bright future Google sees for their service.

The deal is expected to close by the fourth-quarter of this year and the investors look already pleased as the On2 stock closed 62% over the premium at the close of yesterday.

Google is certainly feeling the pressure with its contemporaries expanding its domains and this deal will have surely relaxed the nerves a bit. Now it can further evolve the immensely successful YouTube to newer heights.

[via TechCrunch]

Microsoft and Google always try to get the better of each other with launches and campaigns brought forward with a targeted motive. Google Search was targeted with the Microsoft Yahoo amalgamation, Google targeted the Internet Explorer with Chrome and now it intends to challenge the might of the Microsoft Office with its ‘Going Google’ Campaign.

This campaign wants to inspire people to use or rather switch to the Google Applications. For that purpose Google came up with a series of advertisements that will tell you how and why around 3,000 organizations are signing up to use Google Apps each day. Advertisements that will show on billboards on four major U.S. highways for a month.

The environmental aspect will also be taken care of as the vinyl used for creating these messages will be recycled or reused into either computer bags or shopping bags.

The 2010 version of the Microsoft Office is already in the ranks and Google wants to give it their best shot to curtail the sales of the upcoming version and that is why it is busy telling people ‘why it is better than the Office’.

Other promotional platforms will include Twitter and there is also ‘spread the word’ campaign in place.

[via TechCrunch]