mapping

There are many ways of discovering just how bad the flu is in your area. You and all your friends and co-workers could get sick. You could hear about it on the local news. Or you could check Esri's social-media flu map tracking tweets, YouTube videos, and Flickr photos having to do with Flu Invasion 2013.

The nice part of the Esri map is you can check it from the sterile safety of your own home where you've locked yourself up in a hermetically sealed environment with weeks worth of Spam and Top Ramen to tide you over until flu season subsides.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- OK Cupid launches Crazy Blind Date.

- Delta's new iPad app shows off the world below your plane.

- MoviePass is the Netflix of movie theaters.

- Developer canned for outsourcing his job to China so he could surf Reddit.… Read more

Google faces regular challenges as it maps the globe, from privacy lawsuits in Germany to the technical difficulties of mapping underwater. To that list of woes we may now add another: People think it killed a donkey in Botswana.

Recently, it seems, the company began fielding complaints from members of the public and the news media about Street View imagery that appeared to show a donkey in the Kweneng region of Botswana lying prostrate in the wake of a Street View vehicle. CNET's Chris Matyszczyk wrote last night asking for proof the animal survived.

"Because of the way … Read more

As it said it would, Google has removed a redirect that prevented Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps via the mobile version of Internet Explorer and that instead sent them to Google.com.

The redirect generated headlines last week, with various news outlets suggesting that it was not about poor functionality on the part of mobile IE (as Google maintained) but was more about competitive behavior on the part of Google that ironically was beginning to resemble past behavior by Microsoft.

Google, of course, just dodged an antitrust bullet from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and it continues to face an investigation by the European Union.… Read more

Apple's attempt at creating its own mapping app didn't start out on the right foot and could certainly use a bit more tweaking, but, thankfully, Google has stepped in to provide frustrated users with an iPhone version of its popular mapping service.

Google Maps for iOS first asks you to sign in to save your favorite places and to access past searches. You can opt to skip that step, however. The main screen is stripped down so that you can get a full view of the map. A search bar resides at the top, and you can tap … Read more

What's a new year without a new Microsoft road map?

The latest comes from Microsoft itself. It's from a Software Assurance renewal document, a download link to which a tipster of mine sent me. It looks like it's a real Microsoft-authored document, from what I can tell, and seems to date back to mid-2012.

On first glance, there's nothing very surprising in the document or timelines included in it. All the usual suspects are there: Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, Office 15 (Office 2013), Visual Studio 11 (Visual Studio 2012), etc. A number … Read more

Apple has no plans to acquire Waze, a maker of social-navigation apps, despite earlier reports suggesting a deal was in the works, CNET has learned.

A source familiar with Apple's thinking has told CNET that reports that Waze would be acquired by the iPhone maker are completely "fabricated." The person told CNET that Apple has no plans to acquire Waze, and discussions are currently not being held between the companies.

Yesterday, TechCrunch cited its own sources, who claimed to have knowledge of negotiations between the companies. Those sources told TechCrunch that Waze was hoping to net $750 … Read more

Update 10:51 a.m. PT: A source has confirmed to CNET that Apple has no plans to acquire Waze. Click here to read the full story.

Apple and social-navigation app maker Waze might soon come to terms on a lucrative deal for the startup.

The iPhone maker is in talks to acquire Waze, TechCrunch is reporting today, citing sources who claim to have knowledge of the negotiations. Those sources say that Waze is looking to net $750 million in the deal, but Apple is so far only willing to offer $400 million in cash and an additional $100 million … Read more

Google is aiming to harness people's motivation to carry out their New Year's resolutions and then use that to help others achieve their goals. Be it lose weight, make more money, learn a new language, or travel more, users can see what people around the world are striving for on Google's new interactive resolution map.

"Research shows that you're more likely to achieve your resolutions if you write them down and have support," Google's Associate Product Marketing Manager Liz Wessel wrote in a blog post yesterday. "Try sharing your goals with communities … Read more