<IT WORLD> Google maps out future By Martin J
Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - Search giant
Google intensified its rivalry with Apple this
week by upgrading its mapping services in
anticipation of the launch of a competing product
coming from the iPhone maker.
Google said
it would introduce 3D imagery of entire
metropolitan areas and enable Google Maps to run
on mobile devices in an offline mode when there is
no Internet connection.
Surveys show that
maps are among the most popular features on
smart-phones - over 95% of smart-phone owners use
them, and 80% of mobile apps have features or
capabilities that are keyed to the user's
location. For this reason, maps are considered a
future battleground in the war over smart-phone
users and software
developers who write apps
for them.
Google, at the moment, stands
alone with its mapping services, which come
pre-loaded on both Android and Apple handsets.
Apple however has been working on its own
mapping software to replace Google's on iPhones
and iPads. According to the Wall Street Journal,
Apple could preview the software, which is part of
its latest operating system, as early as next week
though no further information was available from
the notoriously secretive company.
Google
executives touted their long experience and
investment in mapping technology at a news
conference on Wednesday. Google Maps has a billion
monthly active users and the company has mapped
more than 42 million kilometers of roadways in 187
countries.
Efforts to beef up Google's
array of online applications continued as the
company announced that it will acquire
Quickoffice, an outfit that builds apps for
viewing Microsoft Office documents.
Quickoffice offers a similar service to
Google Docs, which is available on mobile devices
and desktop computers, the primary difference
being that it runs only on mobile platforms such
as Apple's iOS, Android, and Symbian, and is
better suited to Microsoft's file formats.
Quickoffice claims that its app has been
installed on over 300,000 devices, and Google
executives said it has an established track record
of enabling seamless interoperability with popular
file formats.
The move gives Google
another weapon in the battle with rival Microsoft
as more people move towards smart-phones and
tablets for productivity. The ultimate aim is to
wean people off Microsoft's Office suite and into
Google's own ecosystem. Google has yet to reveal
the cost of its latest acquisition, which brings
the total number of companies consumed by the
search giant to at least 140 since the beginning
of 2010.
Security Email security
tends to be one of the most vulnerable links in
the digital chain when it comes to the
dissemination of computer viruses and malware.
Google this week said it will alert its users when
it suspects that they may be the target of a
state-sponsored cyber-attack.
The company
did not reveal how or why it determines an attack
to be "state-sponsored" but their warning message,
which will appear the top of the Chrome browser or
Gmail account, is stark: "Warning: We believe
state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to
compromise your account or computer."
The
announcement comes just a week after web security
analysts discovered Flame, invasive data mining
malware that had been spying on computers in the
Middle East, predominantly Iran. It has been
widely speculated that the Flame malware was
sponsored by the same entity that commissioned the
Stuxnet worm which attacked Iranian centrifuges in
2010. (See Stuxnet
raises virus stakes, Asia Times Online,
October 2, 2010.)
Google stated that users
who get the warning haven't necessarily been
targeted by a government or rogue organization of
hackers, but they should update their software
patches, browsers and change their passwords as a
precaution.
Following in the footsteps of
Hotmail, Gmail already employs heavy spam
filtration which often results in the loss of
genuine messages. The new warning, although
necessary in today's digital world, raises the
questions of security and efficiency regarding
free cloud-based, advertising driven email
accounts that are now becoming the targets of
state sponsored cyber attacks.
Gaming The annual E3 video game
trade show kicked off this week in Los Angeles and
a number of big industry names turned up to
showcase their latest offerings along with the
usual sprinkling of booth babes and celebrities.
Among them was Nintendo, which plans to launch a
new console called the Wii U to claw back some of
the market share it has lost to Microsoft's Xbox
360 and cut price Sony consoles in recent years.
The Wii U will carry video content from
Netflix, Amazon.com, YouTube and Hulu, offer a
slew of new games, and will hit stores in time for
the US holiday season at the end of the year. The
Japanese gaming company left the audience hungry
for more information, though following its
presentation the biggest question concerned the
cost of the new console, which will enter a highly
competitive arena.
Nintendo is hoping to
rise to the challenge of appealing to both
hardcore gamers, who tend to prefer fast-paced,
graphic-intensive shooters, and families who
bought the original Wii for its quirky sports
games, plentiful titles for the kids, and of
course the ever-popular Super Mario series, which
will have a new edition on the Wii U.
Microsoft introduced a SmartGlass feature
for the Xbox 360, which allows users to interact
with the console and screen by using a tablet or
smart-phone, it will also display content relevant
information while users are watching TV or playing
a game. Sony's latest gadget, Wonderbook, uses
augmented reality to bring interactive story books
to life on the PlayStation.
Martin J
Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent
based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2012 Asia Times
Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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republishing.)
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