One of the things I like about Google is their ingenuity and the fact that they are always one step ahead of the competition. If you don’t agree with me then that’s fine, but just look at their search engine as an example. Or how about their street maps? Before Google unleashed their mighty street-mapping teams we had the standard map systems, which were good and all, but now we have the satellite aerial views, which in my opinion go a step beyond the standard maps of yesterday. Have you ever used the Google maps to find directions somewhere? How about looking at those aerial images they got? You can even look at your own house from high above. It’s a very cool concept and one that I have enjoyed since Google first started it. Of course a little ingenuity and advancement is not without its problems. It would appear that the United States Military has a completely different opinion of the Google street maps than I do. The word is out that the Pentagon has banned the Google street-mapping teams from taking photographs inside of military bases after it was discovered that Google published street images on their site showing aerial views of Fort Sam Houston military base in Texas. Now Google did remove the images at the U.S. Military’s request and it was reported by the Google street-mapping teams that they were granted permission on the base as they were capturing the images around San Antonio, where the base is located. Google admits that it was clearly a misunderstanding between both parties.

This wouldn’t be the first time that the Google Street View team has found itself in a controversial situation. There have been reports of the team capturing images of people in compromising situations, to include sunbathing women, men about to enter into strip clubs and motorists being given a ticket by the “boys in blue”. However, in this case, the Dept. of Defense stated that the images compromised the base security. U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, was quoted as saying that the images of the base showed the location of guards, details about barrier operation and building portals.

Now, what I don’t understand is that if the Google Street View team was able to capture images of the inside of a military base, then I believe anybody could do the exact same thing. It is definitely possible and shows a vulnerability to our military we weren’t aware of. In fact, the military needs to thank Google for showing them their own vulnerabilities. What do you think? Please leave a comment and speak out.

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I’m really having a hard time understanding why Nokia and other handset manufacturers don’t inform us via press releases about the new colors of their devices. In my eyes that’s an additional media coverage they would get. Not that we’re not publishing it anyway, it’s just that would make our lives much easier.

Anyway, the Nokia N82 has been spotted in titanium white color. Actually, it’s just the light titanium colored back of the device that is different from the original N82. It’s available now for all our readers that live in Singapore and are using Singtel’s services…

[Via: Cell Addict Blog]

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“Using mobile phones in water”- Do not think I have gone nuts. Looking at the inability to use mobile phones in water, some Britain scientists have devised a solution. The solution is a protective layer called the Ion Mask that adheres to a mobile device using some plasma and electrically charged gas. This layer has such chemical properties that allow the repulsion of oil and water. The Ion Mask got its evolution at the Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down, Wiltshire. It was formulated to repel toxic vapors and liquids like chemical or biological weapons from soldier’s uniforms. If this technology works, it will greatly help. You will not even lose your cell phone when it falls in bathtub or toilet.

Via:Coolest Gadget

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Since it’s debut in June of this year Apple has sold over 5 million iPhones, it is quite an amazing acheivement being that Apple is totally new to the cell phone industry and being able to shake it up and make such a massive impact in such a shot amount of time in the industry is a phenomenal effort. Apple is one of the most dynamic and smartest companies in the world (Not just in the tech industry, but all industries), they make it in our TOP 5 Most Dynamic Mobile Tech Companies of 2007:

1. Samsung Electronics - (Every gadget you can image, growing fast in the cell phone sector)
2. Apple Inc - (Business of The Year, Announced one of greatest innovations of all time for a 2nd time in the form of iPhone, better Macs, opening heaps of branded stores and doing smart long term business deals with major wireless providers around the world.)
3. Google -(Dominating Ad sector, Youtube, Future Andriod, All worldwide search engines growing fast in mobile sector, doubleclick, spectrum? and completely dominates the top 100 sites in the world list.)
4. Microsoft - (suit settled, could dominate video games sector soon, new vista, office and more great software, wm 6.0, more great software, making bold moves in cell phone sector and zune, facebook, looking into buying top sites. Unlike Yahoo, Microsoft has taken it up to Apple and Googles challenges this year and in 2008 look for a good year from them.)
5.Research in Motion (Blackberry, Worldwide deals, great looking phones, great operating system, easy to use products, less competition from palm)

Hopefully look for a comeback from Palm and Motorola in 2008.

Thru : MobileWhack

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