There was a Google event today, but you’d hardly know it based on the Q&A session. Question and question was hurled at Brian McClendon — Vice President of Engineering for Google Maps — surrounding Apple. With discussion around Apple’s desire to introduce a mapping system of its own in iOS 6 to unseat Google from its preloaded app selection, Peter fielded lots of inquiries on the matter. He did an admirable job of dodging the obviously asinine bits, but continued to impress upon the crowd that Google itself was “committed” to bringing all of the features in Maps — 3D, offline, turn-by-turn, etc. — to iOS and other platforms.

That was largely in response to a question as to why Google Maps Navigation for Android was so superior to Maps on iOS, but honestly, it’s hard to know where the truth sits. We’ve heard that politics have kept the two sides from coming to terms, but it’s pretty clear that Google’s more than happy to bring its world-class mapping platform to other mobile operating systems… so long as terms are agreeable, naturally. The good news is that 3D maps will be coming to Android and iOS “in the coming weeks,” which makes one wonder if iOS 6 will be available for some time. As for offline on iOS? Your guess is as good as ours, but it sure sounds as if the ball’s in Apple’s court. Can’t we just all play nice, guys?

Relive the memories in our liveblog… right here!

Google’s Brian McClendon: ‘committed’ to bringing all of Maps’ features to iOS, other platforms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Offline mapping for Android phones, Street View for nature trails and 3D Google Earth maps are all improvements coming to Google Maps in the near future.

The three new features were unveiled by company executives at a press event at the company’s San Francisco offices.

Offline mapping will become a part of Google’s “own global base map” and offer hi-res navigation without needing a WiFI or 3G or 4G connection. To use the feature, users will have to select the area they plan to visit before going offline, then download the map to their device.

The familiar GPS tracking blue dot will still be there to help with navigation.

Street View for walkable locations will take the popula… Continue reading…

More About: apple, Google, google earth, Google Maps, iOS 6, street view, trending

Sure, Google Earth is a neat program to play around with and it’s easy to take for granted, but plenty of groups are taking advantage of the technology to help improve — and save — lives all over the world. One such organization is the HALO Trust, a group that’s dedicated to clearing war-riddled countries (such as Cambodia and Angola) of minefields. Taking advantage of Google Earth, the Trust has been able to survey land, validate data and produce maps for governments and other organizations, thus making a huge impact on people left impoverished as a result of these minefields. Check out the video below to learn more about the HALO Trust’s efforts, and head to the More Coverage links if you’re curious to see how this group is working with Google to make a difference.

Relive the memories in our liveblog… right here!

Continue reading Google Earth utilized by HALO Trust to clear minefields in Cambodia, Angola

Google Earth utilized by HALO Trust to clear minefields in Cambodia, Angola originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Google’s Street View will soon be expanding to even more places than it already covers. The company has today taken the wraps off a brand new capture tool it’s dubbed the Street View Trekker, which can be worn on a person’s back in order to map and photograph areas that are too difficult for even a bicycle or snowmobile to reach. Naturally, it’s Android-powered, and it packs two batteries that Google says will last a full day — although its 40-pound weight will likely necessitate a few breaks during that time. No word on when we’ll see the first results from it, but Google intends to take to National Parks, the Grand Canyon, castles, ruins, and more — even the ski slopes, as seen in another picture after the break.

Update: We just spoke with Luc Vincent more in-depth about the new backpack, and what we learned is after the break.

Continue reading Google shows off new backpack-worn Street View capture tool, may eventually rent them out

Google shows off new backpack-worn Street View capture tool, may eventually rent them out originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s Maps event has just given us a much-requested feature: true offline map support. Android users can soon opt to download full maps for given areas (instead of just caching routes) without needing a cellular or WiFi connection. It’s a big boon for those of us who have to travel abroad to unfamiliar cities, or just to areas where underground tunnels might cut off Internet access before GPS. Unfortunately, that’s all that Google was willing to share: Android phones and tablets will only be getting the upgrade sometime “soon.” Still, that’s one less advantage for Nokia Drive, and one more hurdle to jump for Apple at WWDC next week.

Update: We just followed up with Peter Birch following the keynote regarding version compatibility for offline and 3D Maps, and were told that Google “has nothing to announce at this time,” but will do so in the coming weeks. We prodded a bit to see if 2.x devices would be in the mix, and all we got was a non-confirming reply about an “assumption” that if Google Maps Navigation is supported, offline and 3D would be as well.

Relive the memories in our liveblog… right here!

Google Maps for Android gets offline support, ‘nothing to announce’ regarding version compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey! We’re here’s in Google’s digs in downtown San Francisco, supposedly to hear about some “next dimension” of Google Maps. Given the hubbub about Apple introducing a mapping alternative of its own next week at WWDC, you can practically feel the tension. Join us after the break as we cover it live!

Google’s ‘next dimension of Maps’ liveblog originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1. The Facebook Phone

A Facebook smartphone concept on Yanko Design — and created by designer Michal Bonikowski — gives us a look into what the device could potentially look like.

Image via Yanko Design

Click here to view this gallery.

If you believe the rumors, Facebook is working on its own smartphone, and has been doing so for years. Some suspect the company is already recruiting hardware engineers for a mobile device launch by next year.

Although it’s still uncertain if and when we will see a Facebook phone hit the market, a concept posted on Yanko Design — and created by designer Michal Bonikowski — gives us an idea of what the device could potentially look like.

Featuring a sleek case in Facebook’s signature blue, the device is made from metal and touts a 4.2-inch screen. It also features a 5-megapixel camera in the front and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. Bonikowski also included in his design a docking… Continue reading…

More About: Buffy, Facebook, Facebook Phone, Google, smartphones, Social Media, trending

1. from: OR to:

Use these shortcuts to specify where emails are coming from and going to. Just make sure there’s no space after the colon.
Example: from:peggy olson
Yield: Messages from Peggy Olson, which Don will likely ignore.

Click here to view this gallery.

Once you’ve used Gmail for awhile, hunting down a particular email can seem like a gnarly round of Where’s Waldo? — you know what you’re looking for, but finding it is another story entirely.

Labels and stars can sometimes do the trick; other times, you need something a little more, well, advanced. That’s where Gmail’s advanced search options come in. Check out these 10 tips for advanced Gmail search functions that’ll make hounding old emails a breeze. Mad Men fans, keep a look out for example searches that would come in handy at a modern-day Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

(You can also opt to click the small gray arrow on the right side of the search box for a drop-down list of ways… Continue reading…

More About: email, Feature, gmail, Google, trending

Sony has decided to join the web-based shopping party, launching an online reader store for its e-inked devices and companion apps. Any e-Books purchased will arrive ready-to-read on the Reader app or other suitably wireless device, with titles also working on any Adobe DRM-supported apps and devices. Sony’s Reader app has benefited from a UI redesign, the addition of a landscape view and improved stability. Hit up the source to grab the update — before your phone tells you to.

Continue reading Sony launches web store for e-Books, Android app also gets refresh

Sony launches web store for e-Books, Android app also gets refresh originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When NFL quarterback Tim Tebow got down on one knee in prayer after important victories, the Internet took notice. “Tebowing” — taking humorous photos in said pose and posting them on the web — became one of the biggest Internet memes of the year. Tebow talked about the phenomenon at the Hope for Children Gala in New York City Monday night.

“Let’s be honest, I’m not the first athlete to get on a knee and pray,” Tebow told Shira Lazar. “For some reason, it just caught on this year.”

Watch more videos from What’s Trending on Mashable

Lazar asked Tebow if he’s conscious of what the Internet says about him.

“I’m too busy to Google mysel… Continue reading…

More About: Entertainment, Google, memes, sports, tim tebow, whatstrending

To date, the term smartphone’s mostly been a misnomer for larger screen, albeit still dumb, handsets imbued with rich web browsing experiences. With the exception of the Galaxy S III’s SmartStay feature and the Droid RAZR, not many other high-end devices can lay claim to “intelligent,” user-adaptive behavior. Which is why our eyes are trained on this recently awarded Google patent that stands poised to turn future Android (we presume) devices into location-aware assistants. Originally submitted back in September of 2011, the USPTO filings describe a software-based profile alarm that seems eerily reminiscent of Motorola’s own Smart Actions — a fitting appropriation given the just wrapped acquisition. Using a combination of GPS and network address data, as well as prior travel habits, the system outlined in the docs would ping a user with tailored mobile profiles configured with contextually relevant settings, information and apps. Effectively, your phone would become the ultimate personal assistant, pandering to your on-the-go needs without the irritating need for praise and positive feedback. That’s if this software ever makes it out of Google’s IP stronghold and into the light of day.

Google patents location-based mobile alerts that know where you’re going to originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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June 6th has arrived, which means that participating ISPs, hardware manufacturers and search engines must stick to their word and permanently enable the IPv6 address system — not least as an encouragement for others to do the same. The ultimate purpose? To allow trillions of users to have their own IP address, instead of just a paltry few billion permitted by the IPv4 standard that continues to run in parallel. The risk? That the Internet collapses and we all get the day off work. Evidently that hasn’t happened, no doubt thanks to Google and others having tested the system during pilot programs, and indeed Vint Cerf’s explanatory video seems to be working fine after the break.

Continue reading IPv6 lands today, do you copy?

IPv6 lands today, do you copy? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 03:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well what do we have here? Yes, it’s the Orange San Diego we first saw at Mobile World Congress and it’s going on sale in the UK today for £200. This isn’t just yet another Android smartphone, but one of the first Medfield-based handsets on the market. We caught this pre-production unit chilling out at the Intel booth here at Computex 2012 and decided to go up close and personal. First impressions? It’s thin, light and feels great in the hand thanks to a pleasant soft-touch back. The Gigabyte-made device packs a 4-inch glass-capacitive 1024×600-pixel LCD (that’s 300dpi), an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage.

While the screen looks decent enough, it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of viewing angles. The phone features Android 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) and runs most apps from the Google Play store directly via an emulation layer. Performance matched prior benchmarks and was on-par with current mid-range ARM-based Android handsets — the experience was mostly smooth, but we noticed some lag when scrolling and zooming pages in the web browser. Battery life remains the major outstanding question when it comes to Medfield handsets, so expect more details once we have our very own review unit. In the meantime, check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.

Continue reading Orange San Diego Medfield phone: a closer look at Computex 2012 (update: video)

Orange San Diego Medfield phone: a closer look at Computex 2012 (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fallout from malware like Stuxnet and Flame might soon be rearing its head at a Google Plus page or Gmail inbox near you. A post on its online security blog states that Google will now issue warnings in the form of a strip placed just below the upper menu bar to users being targeted by suspected state-sponsored cyber attacks. Google stressed that such warnings don’t mean that its systems have been compromised but it does make it highly likely that the recipient may be the target of state-sponsored phishing or malware. How exactly does Google know this to be the case? The company declined to offer specifics, only saying that data from victim reports and its own analysis strongly point toward the involvement of states or state-sponsored groups. Google also didn’t mention how often it sees such malicious activity, though coverage of Stuxnet and Flame certainly has put a spotlight on cyber warfare involving nations. In the meantime, feel free to hit the source link below for Google’s tips on how to secure your account.

Google starts warning affected users about state-sponsored cyber attacks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No press release, no media alert, not even a splashy press conference with Adele blasting in the background. The only reason we know these two tablets exist is because we happened to catch them on display here at Computex. What we have here are the Acer Iconia Tab A210 and A110, presumably the successors to the 10-inch A200 and the 7-inch A100. Apart from a wholesale redesign, which we’ll walk you through after the break, both tablets have been upgraded to quad-core Tegra 3 processors and will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich. An Acer rep staffing the event said both are scheduled to go on sale sometime in Q3. No word on pricing or regional availability just yet, but if you accompany us past the break we’ve got impressions, two hands-on videos and a run-down of tentative specs.

Continue reading Acer shows off next-gen Iconia Tab A210 and A110 at Computex, we go hands-on (video)

Acer shows off next-gen Iconia Tab A210 and A110 at Computex, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 23:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Nexus line’s open secret is its most alluring, unadvertised feature: the ability to root. Easy access to those superuser privileges, however, comes with a high price of admission — namely, the loss of a warranty and the questionable stability of your device. Knowing that many an idle tinkerer has bricked his / her phone into a seemingly irrevocable death sleep, Google’s tossed the IMM76K factory images for VZW’s LTE variant up on its servers, rescuing ROM flashers with a stock Android 4.0.4 lifesaver. If you’ve been hanging your head in shame for unwittingly obliterating your handset, now would be a good time to hit up that source below and brush up on your command line skills.

Verizon Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0.4 factory images now available on Google’s servers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The transit of Venus is well underway, and we’ve found the best way to watch — with astronomers and amateur stargazers, in a Google+ Hangout (embedded above).

The Hangout is being led by Frasier Cain, veteran publisher of the website Universe Today. Joining Cain are special guests such as astronomer Pamela Gay and Philip Plait, author of the “Bad Astronomy” bog for Discover magazine.

SEE ALSO: Transit of Venus: Share Your Photos with Mashable

Can’t watch just yet? Fear not — it takes tiny Venus so long to cross in front of the sun that this Hangout is set to be an epic eight-hour marathon. That’s why it’s good to watch with friends — and why it’s a perfect showcase for Googl… Continue reading…

More About: astronomy, Google, google plus hangouts, space

The transit of Venus is well underway, and we’ve found the best way to watch — with astronomers and amateur stargazers, in a Google+ Hangout (embedded above).

The Hangout is being led by Frasier Cain, veteran publisher of the website Universe Today. Joining Cain are special guests such as astronomer Pamela Gay and Philip Plait, author of the “Bad Astronomy” bog for Discover magazine.

SEE ALSO: Transit of Venus: Share Your Photos with Mashable

Can’t watch just yet? Fear not — it takes tiny Venus so long to cross in front of the sun that this Hangout is set to be an epic eight-hour marathon. That’s why it’s good to watch with friends — and why it’s a perfect showcase for Googl… Continue reading…

More About: astronomy, Google, google plus hangouts, space

The tales of Apple possibly dumping Google Maps as the backend for iOS 6′s Maps app are gathering steam, but we’re now learning just how much forethought may have gone into the split. According to the WSJ‘s favorite tipsters, “people familiar with the matter,” Apple isn’t just hoping to spurn Android — it’s reacting to push-back it got years earlier. Google supposedly delayed Street View, and blocked Google Maps Navigation outright, as it wasn’t getting the limelight for branding and couldn’t push in social tracking services that tend to make a privacy-sensitive Apple jittery, like Latitude. The August 2009 buyout of Placebase was ground zero for Apple’s shift, which saw subsequent deals for Poly9 and C3 Technologies flesh out the project.

As for the end results? They supposedly include turn-by-turn navigation that mimics an “in-car GPS device,” and regular mapping should now be free to integrate with other apps: Calendar might warn you if a traffic jam on Interstate 280 will affect that appointment at 1 Infinite Loop, as an example. We might not have long to wait for the truth behind the new tips and earlier leaked shots, as the contacts believe Apple could show its Maps overhaul when WWDC starts next week.

Apple possibly held back by Google for years on iOS’ Maps features, might bring turn-by-turn nav to WWDC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google has acquired QuickOffice, maker of mobile productivity software. The company’s software will be integrated into Google Apps, enhancing their functionality and compatibility.

In a blog post, Google says it decided to buy QuickOffice because it has an established track record of enabling interoperability of popular file formats. One of QuickOffice’s most powerful features is its ability to open and create documents in a number of formats, especially Microsoft Office apps, and making them accessible from all kinds of devices via the cloud.

Google says it’s going to bring QuickOffice’s “powerful technology” to Google Apps. It was probably also attracted to the service’s strong user… Continue reading…

1. Compose

Press Shift + C to compose a new message in a new window.

Click here to view this gallery.

Email is a necessary evil. Luckily, Gmail offers a series of keyboard shortcuts to help tame the beast.

We’ve rounded up 10 of the most useful Gmail shortcuts to help streamline your email activity. Move through Gmail using keyboard tricks instead of using your mouse for every last function — what a time-waste.

Before testing out these shortcuts, make sure you’ve enabled them in your Gmail settings. Head to Settings > General > Keyboard Shortcuts to turn the feature on.

SEE ALSO: 11 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Gmail’s New Interface

How else have you personalized your Gmail experience to increase productivity? Share your tips in the comments below.

Thumbnail image cour… Continue reading…