Google Brings Polar Bears to Streetview--Google

Google’s “streetview” feature is incredibly popular and has really begun to capture most of the world so users can see almost anywhere they want in just an instant. This week, however, Google added some unique and exciting areas to streetview that are truly breathtaking.

Specifically, Google added a series of locations throughout the tundra so users can explore the cold north. Of course while doing this work Google also captured some polar bears in the natural habitat, which was the real goal here. Polar bears are quickly losing their habitat due to climate change and Google, along with an eco group, wanted to showcase this with some fantastic pictures of the animals.

There are hundreds of great pictures of the bears in the natural habitat, and Google officially launched them today as part of International Polar Bear day. This is just another case of Google working with a great non-profit organization to raise awareness and help spread the word about this issue. The pictures are fantastic and will do a lot to raise awareness, plus it is just really cool being able to see something like this. Google is planning to continue working with groups such as this for charity programs in the future, which is absolutely great news.

Google Planning to Expand Fiber Network

Currently Google Fiber is only available in very select markets in the United States and while they’ve been a pretty big success Google has been a little slow to branch out any beyond those areas. Fortunately this week Google announced that they’re now officially considering adding numerous large metropolitan areas to their Google Fiber coverage map, which would be great for any and all of the cities involved.

Google Fiber brought hundreds of businesses to the Kansas City area when it first went live and many analysts feel that the result will be the same in any other new cities. Google is reportedly considering 9 major metropolitan areas as well as the surrounding cities, although it is still unclear when Google will actually choose where to expand to next. Either way this is good news because Google is doing a great job at driving competition in the otherwise stale internet provider market. Google has the opportunity to bring something new and fresh to the market which is otherwise unchanging in the United States. Numerous technology analysts feel that this could be exactly what the country needs, especially since two of the largest cable internet providers are now going through a merger.

Google Sends Support Message Via Doodle

Recently Google has been doing more and more with their homepage doodle and today is one of the more inspiring doodle’s they have had. Today’s Google doodle was created to show support and encouragement for the Winter Olympic athletes while also showing support for the gay community as a whole. Leading up to the beginning of the Winter Olympics there have been numerous clashes and comments about gay athletes and the community and this is Google’s way of getting the message of support out to the world.

Essentially Google’s hope with this doodle was to raise awareness and show support for a group of athletes that have been getting little support in Sochi. Russia’ Vladamir Putin has been openly opposed to gay athletes and while he has changed his public stance it was still a major source of outrage. Google and other groups are working hard to bring equality to the games and they’re hopeful that the message behind today’s Google doodle will bring awareness to the discrimination that was ongoing.

Check out the doodle on Google’s homepage today and see the message for yourself. It is an inspiring and important message and Google is doing a great job at promoting equality even when others fight against it.

Today Google announced a new policy that will likely become one of the largest anti-piracy functions they’ve ever gone through. Piracy is alive and well online for any number of reasons and currently most if not all piracy websites are thriving by showing substantial advertisements through Google Adsense and other advertising systems. These advertisements are literally the only reason these websites can stay alive and now Google is going to be doing everything they can to put a stop to that.

Starting today Google Adsense will no longer be allowing their advertisements to be displayed on any website that provides pirated material or any website that links to such a website. This is a huge step in the right direction and the US Government is very happy to hear that Google is taking such a step forward. Google is not the only company making this step either, multiple other advertising agencies have agreed to do the same thanks to Google’s support. By cutting off advertising revenue Google and others are hopeful that they’ll eventually be able to put a stop to piracy websites or at least make it much harder for them to operate. This is great news because it should definitely lead to a significant reduction in piracy and that is great news for everyone.

Ever since iOS 6 came out users have been complaining about the horrible issues plaguing Apple’s new map system. Google has been working on making Google Maps available for iOS 6 for quite some time now and this week it finally has happened.

This week Google officially got the approval for Google Maps to be available in the Apple App Store so that iPhone and iPad users everywhere can now start using Google Maps as an alternative to Apple Maps. This is great news because nearly everyone agrees that Apple Maps has been filled with issues ever since it came out. Thousands of people have even reported getting completely lost while following Apple Maps so this will definitely make a big difference for anyone that depends on an iPhone for navigation and directions.

Downloading Google Maps is still completely free and takes just a matter of seconds from the App Store. The app is available right now and Google is already working on additional upgrades and changes so that Google Maps will continue to improve and get better as time goes by, making it the absolute best map system available for iOS 6.

Ever since iOS 5 came out for the iPhone users have been complaining about the integrated Apple Maps system. There are a number of issues and bugs that Apple is still working on but the good news is that Apple is apparently planning to approve Google Maps for the iPhone as well. This means that iPhone users will still get to choose between the two competing systems.

Google Maps is still in development for iOS 5, but Google was originally very concerned that Apple most likely would not approve the app. Now that Apple announced there will likely be no issues Google is expected to continue work on the iOS app. No word on when it will actually be available but millions of iPhone users are waiting anxiously for a better map solution.

Apple maps is one of the biggest complaints for iOS 5, so it is definitely a big deal that Google has decided to continue developing for iOS 5. It is only a matter of time before the app is finished but up until this week there was no guarantee that it would ever actually be approved for iPhone use. Fortunately Apple came to the conclusion that it will likely be acceptable which has been very well received by iPhone users.

Renewable energy is a huge focus right now and unfortunately many companies have been avoiding it due to cost, difficulty, or other reasons. Until major corporations begin to embrace these technologies they will never become truly widespread, but the good news is that Google has finally taken the plunge this week.

This week Google announced that they have reached a deal to use the power generated at an Oklahoma wind farm to power one of Google’s largest data centers. The data center is located in Pryor Oklahoma and Google believes that the power generated at the wind farm will be more than enough to completely operate the data center. Google has been using wind power in multiple locations but none of the projects have been nearly as big as this one, so it is absolutely great news.

Most analysts feel that Google’s success with wind power will likely encourage other companies to at least look at and consider renewable energy. There is a pretty high cost to initially get into renewable energy but Google is expected to prove that it is actually fairly simple to save money as well as the environment with renewable green energy sources. Google is expected to continue working with renewable energy companies so hopefully in the future nearly all of Google’s data centers will be completely green.

Censorship has been around forever and now that newer and more robust forms of communication are available many countries and governments are being forced to work even harder to enforce censorship. Obviously censoring the internet has become a big deal for some countries and while they are able to effectively sensor some information they are unable to do so without the help of sites like Google.

The good news is that this week Google reported seeing a very significant increase in the number of censorship requests they’ve received and still continued to ignore them. Google has always been a supporter of providing information without censorship and they have once again continued to do just that. Despite the fact that Google is now receiving thousands of censorship requests from hundreds of countries, governments, and government agencies but is still remaining open and transparent for the world to view is absolutely great news.

The minute a major website like Google begins to play into world censorship is the minute the internet will lose its information and communication methods. Google has made it clear that they will continue to share the information to the world and will continue to fight against censorship which is absolutely amazing news for anyone and everyone online. Google will likely keep getting censorship requests, but at this time it doesn’t look like they’re going to do anything of the sort.

Android OS is available on thousands of different phones around the world. Ranging anywhere from the ultra cheap to the incredibly expensive they do in fact come in almost any shape or size. Fortunately now Boeing is going to step up and fill a void that nobody really knew about, the ultra secure smartphone world.

Boeing, the company known for defense products and aircraft, is now stepping up to create the most secure Android phone on the market. According to Boeing the phone should be available in the next 6 months, but don’t be surprised if you never see it on shelves. As with any secure device, it will only be available to certain companies or users and it will be very expensive. Boeing is however hoping to make this the most inexpensive phone in the secure world which shouldn’t be too difficult since current options cost around $10,000.

The good news is that this will in fact bring security to the smartphone world. Security has been lacking for quite some time and if this development works as planned the technology will eventually trickle down to consumer grade phones. Security has been lacking in Android phones for quite some time so this is a much needed improvement for many users. It is unclear when or where this technology will be implemented for average users but the fact that it is becoming a very real possibility is absolutely amazing news.

Blind Man Drives Thanks to Google

It is not every day that we find a story as heartwarming as this. Thanks to advanced technology and research from Google and others a blind man was sent on the ride of his life today as he was able to successfully drive a car all by himself for the first time. Of course he was not technically driving, Google’s autonomous car was, but it is still an incredible story none the less.

Google has been developing this program for quite some time and today they decided to change a man’s life with it. Steve Mahan is legally blind and today he was given the opportunity to drive Google’s car. Thanks to the incredibly advanced technology of the autonomous car Google did change this man’s life in a number of ways. Google has not made this technology publicly available for obvious reasons, but the ongoing testing will likely prove that the technology is in fact very effective. Google has never really made it clear just how awesome this technology is and given that it works for a blind man it is pretty clear just how amazing this will be. Self driving cars have been in the future for such a long time that many people believed it would never be a reality but now Google is beginning to prove that it is going to happen. This is amazing news in every way because it means that the future is quickly approaching and Google is leading the way.