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Live Search Maps Enables Photosynth Search

The Live Search Maps team has made it easier for you to search for Photosynths. If you’re not familiar, Photosynth was launched earlier this year and users can take multiple photos of a location and have it mashed up into a 3D image.

Now, if you want to find Photosynths of a certain location, go to Live Search Maps and enter in the location you’re interested in. Once the results come up, look on the left hand sidebar for “Explore Collections” and click on it. Then look for a drop down menu next to the word “Show.” Select Photosynths and any submissions related to the area you’re searching will pop up.

Let’s explore.

Say you’re searching Live Search Maps for Boone, North Carolina. Look for “Explore Collections” on the left sidebar and click on it.

Next, select “Photosynth” from the drop down tab next to the word “Show.” Not all searches will yield Photosynths - only the ones where photosynths exist, of course.

A list of results for Photosynths will appear. Select the one that suits your fancy by clicking on “Click to Launch Photosynth Viewer.”

Then enjoy the lovely panorama of the Appalachian mountains - or wherever your map search takes you.

Big Winds Can Be Big Killers

A hurricane-driven storm surge can be as destructive and deadly as a major tsunami started by an undersea earthquake or exploding volcano. In fact, tropical cyclones — called hurricanes in the Atlan…
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big winds can be big killers

Election Tools from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL

I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that election day is next Tuesday. Whether you’re observing or you’re breaking out the campaign gear for some hardcore get out the vote effors this weekend, here are some tools to help you keep up with the news and your efforts:

Google Earth

You can download a KML file that lets you search results from past elections, since 1980. The data is broken down and can show you how different regions of the country voted - even by county. I used to work as a political consultant, and let me tell you - this kind of data is heavily relied on. It’s a bit of a late release for campaigns, who already have this data. But it’s great for political junkies.

Google News

Trying to remember what a candidate said on an issue? Just type their name into Google News. If Google has indexed a quote by that person, it will appear on top of the search results in the one box.

Google Mobile

Want to know your precinct location? The Google Mobile team has created a special tool just for that purpose. Go to m.google.com/elections on your mobile phone, type in your address and you’ll be directed to your precinct.

The tool did not point me to early voting locations, which in my state are not the same as Election Day precinct locations.

As cool as that is, always verify with your local elections office. Google even helps you do that. They have a box where you enter your state’s abbreviation, and it will pull up relevant links to voting information.

Yahoo Elections Hub and Political Dashboard

Yahoo makes the most of its successful portal platforms with its Elections Hub and Political Dashboard. The dashboard is a super slick map showing the latest poll results. Hopefully they update it with real time results on election night. I can totally see myself keeping the dashboard open while watching results come in on the tv.

Microsoft Live Search xRank

xRank, Live Search’s buzz tool, has a politician section. It’s no surprise that the Rep and Dem presidential and vice presidential candidates take the top 4 spots today. The rest of the top 20 is filled with senate and gubernatorial races, with Hillary Clinton and George Bush thrown in for good measure.

MSN Election Live Q&A

Q&A is Live Search’s answer product, and over at the MSN Election Guide, you can find the Election Live Q&A. It’s pretty straightforward. You can ask and answer questions about the election in real time.

AOL Elections Toolbar

AOL has a toolbar for IE and Firefox that can keep you up to date with election news. If you like to surf the net while watching TV - this could be an ideal toolbar for you come Tuesday night.

Well, hopefully that’s enough to keep you busy and up to date.

Got any tools to share? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Twitter as a Terrorist’s Tool

There was much buzz over the weekend about a military report suggesting the popular mass Instant Messaging tool Twitter could be used by terrorists. They cited as an example the protestors at the Republican National Convention using Twitter to inform about police actions and movement.

In that case, Twitter becomes a better counterterrorism tool than it does the next training exercise for Hamas and Al Quaida. Tweets are public and searchable which kind of kills (no pun intended) the element of surprise that terrorists crave.

In fact, Twitter has been a great source of information during earthquakes and other crisis. It’s far more likely that Twitter would be a great asset to emergency response agencies and law-abiding citizens during a terrorist attack than it would be an aid to the terrorists themselves.

Google Invests in Low-Cost Internet Connectivity for Developing Nations

Google has announced an investment in 03b Networks, whose goal it is to get internet connectivity to developing nations. Of course, the idea is that the internet will be high-speed and low-cost.

Google Product Manager Larry Alder explains why this is so difficult, but how it can be accomplished:

Most of today’s developed countries are linked by thousands of kilometers of submarine fiber optic cables to carry core Internet traffic. This is a very cost-effective solution, once the fiber is in place; but in many developing and remote areas, fiber isn’t available due to economic and sometimes political roadblocks. Though existing geo-synchronous satellites are able to reach theses areas, they provide slow Internet connectivity because of their distance from the Earth - and they’re expensive and often fully subscribed. O3b plans to deliver fiber-like Internet backhaul service using a constellation of medium-orbit satellites. This means data can be quickly transmitted to and from even the most remote locations such as inland Africa or small Pacific islands.

What do you think of this initiative? Will it work? Let us know your impressions in the comments.

Google Adds Places Layer to Google Earth; Talks Mapping and Georgian Conflict

Google has added a “Places” Layer to Google Earth. Content from Wikipedia, Panaramio, YouTube and the Google Earth community have been wrapped up into a “single, multifaceted layer.”

The Places layer is found in the Geographic Web layers section on Google Earth.

Meanwhile, Google is also addressing the difficulty of mapping in tumultuous regions of the earth, such as the countries along the southern Russian border that were previously states in the former Soviet Union.

Google says they haven’t been confident in the data culled thus far, so they’ve been waiting until they have more comprehensive data for the region. While some have pondered whether or not that data was previously there and now removed as a result of the conflict in Georgia, Google assures users that the data was never there in the first place.

Planet Google - Everything You Always Wanted to Know

There’s one book every search engine marketer will be reading this fall:

Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know.

Based on unprecedented access he received to the “Googleplex,” New York Times columnist Randall Stross takes readers deep inside Google. His revelations demystify the strategy behind the company’s recent flurry of bold moves, all driven by the pursuit of a business plan unlike any other: to become the indispensable gatekeeper of all the world’s information, the one-stop destination for all our information needs.

Will Google succeed? And what are the implications of a single company commanding so much information and knowing so much about us?

As ambitious as Google’s goal is, with 68 percent of all Web searches (and growing), profits that are the envy of the business world, and a surplus of talent, the company is, Stross shows, well along the way to fulfilling its ambition, becoming as dominant a force on the Web as Microsoft became on the PC.

Google isn’t just a superior search service anymore. In recent years it has launched a dizzying array of new services and advanced into whole new businesses, from the introductions of its controversial Book Search and the irresistible Google Earth, to bidding for a slice of the wireless-phone spectrum and nonchalantly purchasing YouTube for $1.65 billion.

Google has also taken direct aim at Microsoft’s core business, offering free e-mail and software from word processing to spreadsheets and calendars, pushing a transformative — and highly disruptive — concept known as “cloud computing.” According to this plan, users will increasingly store all of their data on Google’s massive servers — a network of a million computers that amounts to the world’s largest supercomputer, with unlimited capacity to house all the information Google seeks.

The more offerings Google adds, and the more ubiquitous a presence it becomes, the more dependent its users become on its services and the more information they contribute to its uniquely comprehensive collection of data.

Will Google stay true to its famous “Don’t Be Evil” mantra, using its power in its customers’ best interests?

mInfo Chosen as Official Mobile Search Provider for Beijing Olympics

The Beijing Olympic Committee has chosen mInfo as the official search provider for the mobile version of the 2008 Olympics web site. mInfo currently provides mobile search services to 600 million wireless subscribers in China. Pull-advertising is also a major mobile offering of the Shanghai-based company.

“mInfo is extremely honored to have been chosen by BOCOG to take on the important responsibility of powering search for the official mobile site of the 2008 Olympics,” said mInfo CEO Alvin Wang Graylin. “We are proud to be able to contribute to this historic event. The release of this service is particularly satisfying to mInfo, as our Chengdu development team was the core group behind its development, and had to overcome extraordinary challenges to release the service on time, given the devastation caused by the recent earthquakes in the region.”

Google Maps Inks 5 Year Deal with Tele Atlas

Google Maps has signed a five year agreement with Netherlands-based digital mapping company, Tele Atlas. Google will now have access to Tele Atlas’ content for over 200 countries for current and future projects, including Google Earth and mobile applications.

“Google’s innovation and leadership is undisputed, and we are proud to have the opportunity to be the map foundation for one of the world’s most progressive web companies,” said Bill Henry, CEO of Tele Atlas. “This agreement is important too because it gives us access to input from a significant online community of map users, whose feedback can help us keep our maps fresh and accurate.”

“Geospatial data enhances global search significantly by organizing data and delivering results based on location,” said John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Google Maps. “Tele Atlas’ map quality and the company’s innovative approach to business were the key drivers for our decision.”

Human Flesh Search Engines in China

In China, online vigilantes, or “netizens,” use the Internet as a “human flesh search engine” to find and punish people who publish material they consider inappropriate.

“Human Flesh Search Engine” is an imprecise translation of “ren’rou sou’suo,” which can be translated as “human-assisted search engine.” In China, though, the Internet is searched by people to hunt down other people and conduct muckraking campaigns.

A mob of Chinese ‘netizens’ tracked down and punished a 21-year old video blogger whose clip they deemed unpatriotic.

Gao Qianhi, a 21-year old Chinese woman, recently posted an online video of herself complaining about the huge amount of TV coverage of the southwest China earthquakes: “You guys, if you’re hit by the rubble, just go suffer by yourself quietly.”

Hours later, intimate details about Ms. Qianhi’s life were spread across the Internet.

With internet mobbing, the victim’s personal information is published to a broad audience, along with derogatory comments and death threats.

While Internet mobbing occurs in other countries, the movement appears to be particularly powerful in China because large-scale human flesh search engines are unique to are made easy by ubiquitous manpower and China’s ingrained tradition of ‘people’s war’ dating back to Mao, along with a justice system that’s less than perfect.

Hat tip to search engine Finding Dulcinea for uncovering this terrific story.

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