Posts Tagged ‘Windows’
Locationgate: Apple and Google Know Where You’ve Been
4 May. 2011 | Author: 
Oh boy…it’s not really that much of a surprise, right? But the outrage is still quite prevalent. At a conference in the USA, IT specialists revealed that iPhones and iPads with UMTS interface save the locations of their users using mobile networks. What really gets the blood boiling is that this data is not encrypted and can be viewed by just about anyone with the help of some special software. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blogroll, World Wide Web, Discussion, Localization technology | 
Tags: Apple, Datenschutz, Google, GPS-Ortung, iPhone, Windows | 
No Comments »
“You’ve Got Mail“: Sounds that Revolutionized Two Decades
Okay, so it doesn’t directly have anything to do with the local search theme, but we’ve just fallen in love with this article form Mashable. It lists typical sounds that are embedded in the minds of the children of the digital generation – from AOL’s “You’ve Got Mail”, the Nokia ringtone, to even the start up melody for Windows. Not only can you hear the sounds, but you can also hear the designated designer for each of them was inspired. Who could have thought that there are people that are living off their work creating the Intel jingle? It’s only logical that the Finnish are also involved in this…Here’s the article. Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »
Live Search Maps: New RoutePlanner functionality
Recently the German edition of the Microsoft local search service, Live Search Maps, allows direct access to route planning from the map view.
Toni Pelg, a Business Manager at Microsoft, detailed this development in the Windows Live Blog.
To activate the Route Planner from within the maps, one uses a right-click (Control+click for Mac) with the mouse, on the desired start location on the map, and then selects in the resulting Pop-up menu “Route from…” [de=Route von]. At this point, the Route Planner opens within the browser window, with the selected location registering automatically as the start point. The destination is selected similarly. Alternatively, one is able to manually enter the destination in the Destination field. After clicking the “RoutePlan” button, the desired routing is generated.
This new feature also functions in all view types – map, aerial, hybrid and “bird’s eye view.”
Live Search Maps: another update
The German-version of the local search engine Live Search Maps, operated by Microsoft, has recently been pepped up with several improvements.
These new features are described by Toni Pelg, a Business Manager at Microsoft, in a post on Windows Live Blog.
The search results – generated by suchen.de – are now sorted according to the distance from the entered location. Additionally, duplicate results have been reduced significantly. These measures should increase the search speed and the overview clarity.
Not only the search performance has been improved, but also the content has been updated and tweaked. Users are now able to find more German towns and cities, using the Bird’s Eye view [de=Vogelperspektive). Pelg listed the newly updated locations as including Düsseldorf, Essen, Koblenz, Neuwied, Neuss, Detmold, Gütersloh, Gummersbach, Nordhorn and Paderborn.
The most extensive improvements concern the Route Planner. One can now link directly to this page, and use the facility without entering start and finish locations, according to Pelg. This allows the Route Planner results to be added to bookmarks/favorites. Website operators are now also able to embed the results in their web pages. Further it is also possible to print out the generated route plan, by selecting the printer icon (in the menu bar, on the right) and then decide whether to choose the instructions in Text form, Map form or both of these for the printed output.
