Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Wow, imagine that...privacy issues once again being raised in regard to Google. Shocker. The latest is in reference to issues with the Chrome browser and is addressed in the company’s blog.

The latest word of the day is “anonymize”. That’s apparently what Google plans to do to get rid of user tracks. The Google blog referenced both their Suggest application as well as their sparkly new (cough cough) browser Chrome. Suggest is featured in Google Search, Toolbar, the iPhone...and obviously Chrome. It works like predictive texting.  You start to type in a word...it suggests what you might mean to say. Like....you start to type in “stre”, and it might suggest “street view” or “utter lack of privacy” or “you only need to sign off 3,793 papers to get your face off our program”, or “made by the ultimate rulers of all”. I’m just suggesting anyway.

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So you’re trying to explain to your girlfriend which nifty little gadgets are on your wish list for your birthday. She’s confused, well, probably because you have twenty of them and many sound very similar, but that’s beside the point. Problem solved. Now you can simply direct her to the Screen2 website and show her exactly what you are talking about. She can see in real time exactly what you are looking at on your screen. Pretty cool eh? What makes it even better is that absolutely no downloads or installation are required to run the program, so there are no worries of any invasive viruses attacking your system from a third-party site.  The only thing you have to do is make sure to allow pop-ups and cookies while you are on the Screen2 site. (delete ‘em later)

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Apparently in their spare time, Microsoft employees still work on techie projects. These projects are called “Community prototypes.” The first such prototype, from Office Labs, is called Speed Launch. This program allows users to download the program and utilize it to work as a quick-start activation program.

It works with any file, website or program.  Users simply drag what they want to add to the program to the Speed Launch “Bull’s Eye” to create a shortcut, and name it. Then, whenever they want to access a shortcut, simply press Windows-C and type the shortcut name...and voila!  There you go.  You are also able to use the program to open multiple items with the same name. Simply give the items the same name in the “naming stage” of the process, and when prompted to replace or merge the files, select merge.  That way, when you select that file name from the bull’s eye, any files given that name will open for you.

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TeleNav has confirmed they will be on the iPhone 3G using the GPS radio for turn by turn navigation in 3D.  This comes as interesting news for a couple of reasons.  One is Job’s statement that the GPS radio was not strong enough for turn by turn directions and two that Tom-Tom was the front runner in navigation partners.

“According to Apple, the iPhone’s G.P.S. antenna is much too small to emulate the turn-by-turn navigation of a G.P.S. unit for a vehicle, for example.” -David Pogue

Um, OK, so it is strong enough for TeleNav?  Anyone else confused?  More as it develops.

Also, I have a suspicion Gizmodo got the new slightly wrong: I believe the app will be available through the App store but you’ll still be charged a monthly access fee from TeleNav.  This has been their business model and I don’t see them going for a one time application fee.  You?

Company site [TeleNav]

Google has just made available version 2.2 of its useful Google Maps for mobile application. Adding to the previously introduced public transportation for San Francisco is a new feature which lets users get transit directions all in the same place, similar to the web-based Google Maps. It has even expanded its coverage to include Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver as well as over 40 other cities across the US.

Additionally, version 2.2 lets users find the last transit trips of the day in covered cities. This comes in handy for users who rely on public transit, since they can easily schedule their activities at night. Likewise, users can also view earlier trips made by public transit. Even more useful is Google Maps for mobile’s My Location feature which lets users set the start point of their local trips.

Google Maps for mobile version 2.2 works best with Blackberry devices and other Java-based phones. In fact, it features faster searching capabilities and star rating features for business establishments.

You can download this mobile application by pointing your mobile phone’s browser to http://www.google.com/gmm.

Via [Google Mobile Blog]

Remember that GPS navigation application that Nokia was touting during the Mobile World Congress earlier this year? Well, Nokia has just released it officially. Nokia Maps 2.0 is a nifty application made specifically for Series 60 mobile handsets that include all N-series and E-series models as well as some high-end 6000 series models.

This useful application will give users access to free downloadable maps of around 200 countries. It’s got street by street and city to city routes, various perspectives of different maps and even gives out some multimedia city guides which is available as a premium upgrade.

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N-Gage First Access, the testing ground for the pre-release version of the N-Gage application where users can try and buy N-Gage games and provide feedback about them is ending its beta on March 27, 2008. Although there was no word yet on the exact date of the official launch of the final version of N-Gage application, the N-Gage site mentions it will be happening in the next few weeks.

Related to this announcement, the official N-Gage blog has issued some reminders for those who participated in the N-Gage First Access run.

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AT&T is following the footsteps of Google and Apple, opening a new segment for the market of those with disabilities. AT&T is trying to open up their information to developers and allow them to create applications and systems for users who have disabilities. This method is called Universal Design, and a small range of applications has already been created based on this method to assist those users who are disabled or handicapped.

These Universal Design based application includes Mobile speak or voice command, a screen reader with Braille to help those who are blind, and Mobile Magnifier, a magnification application that supports low and high-resolution screens for those who have difficulties in reading.

Although there’s a lot of hi-end technologies that already assist a lot people in need, AT&T hopes that with this method, it’ll help develop additional tools that will offer further assistance. With this commitment of AT&T, there will hopefully be a brighter ‘tech’ future for those in need.

Via [SMS Text News]