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Friday, May 06, 2011

Google Earth gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets, interior photos hit Google Maps next week

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/05/google-earth-gets-optimized-for-honeycomb-tablets-interior-phot/

There may have been a slight shortage of Honeycomb-optimized apps to go along with the first round of tablets, but things are now starting to pick up a bit, and Google has now filled in one more gap itself. It's just released a Honeycomb-optimized version of Google Earth, which brings with it support for fully textured 3D buildings that you can view from street level, as well as a new action bar on top that lets you jump between layers and other options. What's more, Google has also now announced that its new Business Photos feature for Google Maps (Places, specifically) will begin to roll out next week, offering what's effectively Street View for the inside of retailers and other buildings -- with the owner's permission, of course. Head on past the break for a demonstration of how it will work.

Continue reading Google Earth gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets, interior photos hit Google Maps next week

Google Earth gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets, interior photos hit Google Maps next week originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's entire line of active shutter glasses gets a price cut, more money for your popcorn

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/05/samsung-drops-prices-for-its-entire-line-of-3d-active-shutter-gl/

Following its pledge to make 3D TV experience more affordable, Samsung's just announced a price drop on the rest of its active shutter glasses lineup. As you probably already know, the entry-level SSG-3100GB went from $129.99 down to just $49.99 last month; and now we have the better-looking SSG-3300CR plus SSG-3300GR reduced by $50 down to $129.99, along with the swanky SSG-3700CR (pictured above) getting a $70 discount to just $149.99. Of course, these premium spectacles are still far from affordable compared to their passive counterparts, so it'll be interesting to see if Samsung's attempt to lure more 3D viewers will work at all. Ultimately though, we'd love to see other manufacturers follow suit -- bring on the 3D price war!

Samsung's entire line of active shutter glasses gets a price cut, more money for your popcorn originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 23:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, May 05, 2011

Poke Your head Inside Local Spots with Google Business Photos [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5799019/poke-your-head-inside-local-spots-with-google-business-photos

"Google Business Photos" sounds immensely boring, but, to the contrary, it'll be incredibly cool, once implemented next week. The idea: Street View for building interiors. So you can see just how divey that gross dive bar across the street is.

This makes sense—Bing's already beat Google to interior-peeking with Photosynth, which allows panoramic interior uploads to their own cartographic spread. [Google via Mashable]

RT @christianbusch - YouTube's amazing stats - over 700bn playbacks, over 2bn monetized views per week, etc (more) - http://bit.ly/kWIjxn

Mobile Ad Network Jumptap Closes $25 Million Funding Round

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/05/mobile-ad-network-jumptap-closes-25-million-funding-round/

As we reported a month ago, mobile ad network JumpTap has raised a round of new funding. The company confirmed this today, announcing a $25 million financing round from AllianceBernstein, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Summerhill Ventures, Valhalla Partners and WPP, as well as several new investors, who are not being disclosed. This brings the company’s funding to over $90 million.

JumpTap is one of the largest remaining independent mobile advertising networks, in addition to Millennial Media, 4INFO, InMobi and others (another remaining network Greystripe was just acquired). Jumptap's data-driven technology promises highly targeted advertising and the company partners with digital and media agencies, publishers, wireless carriers and brand advertisers to serve an array of mobile advertising solutions.

Despite the heated competition in the mobile advertising space, JumpTap appears to be growing, both in terms of reach and employees. JumpTap says its network now reaches 83 million consumers, which is a 30 percent increase from last year. And the network has partnered with more than 10,000 sites and apps; received over 10 billion ad requests in April, and has over a dozen patents related to mobile ad technologies.

The company added 35 employees since the beginning of 2011 from companies including Apple, IAC, Time Inc, and Maxus. JumpTap also recently landed a deal with Tokyo-based cyber communications (cci).

George Bell, CEO of Jumptap said this in a statement: "Our focus on leading mobile innovation through technology and services underscores our long-term vision and commitment to delivering the best solutions for advertisers and publishers…We are well positioned to capitalize on the momentum in the mobile marketplace and continue to see impressive growth across all measures."

The company says the new investment will be used towards product and technology development, and to hiring additional staff to support client demand.

JumpTap is one of the largest remaining independent mobile advertising networks, in addition to Millennial Media, Greystripe, InMobi and others. Jumptap's data-driven technology promises highly targeted advertising and the company partners with digital and media agencies, publishers, wireless carriers and brand advertisers to serve an array of mobile advertising solutions.