Trekker,Twitter, Google Sees Payoff From Its iPhone Strategy: Report

Google「街景背包」將來台 走訪山林小徑 【2013/6/10 22:18】

Google「街景背包」（Trekker）即將來台，員工背上這款巨型攝影背包，上山下海、走訪各種交通工具難行的地點，藉以擴大街景地圖資料。（法新社）

〔本報訊〕在路上看到Google「街景車」不稀奇，看到「街景背包」才真正令人驚訝！Google宣布，以人力背負的「街景背包」（Trekker）即將來台，未來將深入拍攝台灣特殊的峽谷、野生生態、叢林等景致。

　Google拍攝全球各地街景，皆仰賴「街景車」走訪大街小巷，但像峽谷、高山、叢林等特殊地形，「街景車」就不便深入行駛，因此，Google推出了「街景背包」，員工背上這款巨型攝影背包，上山下海、走訪各種交通工具難行的地點，藉以擴大街景地圖資料。

　目前，「街景背包」已拍攝過知名的美國大峽谷、厄瓜多加拉巴哥群島、日本屋久杉森林等，讓網友可在電腦上飽覽這些特殊景點風光。

　Google宣佈「街景背包」也將來台，深入台灣的鄉間或崎嶇難行的景點，所有影像經過先進的臉部模糊技術處理後，才上傳到 Google地圖的資料庫，以確保個人隱私，未來民眾將能在電腦前一覽台灣百岳、鄉間小路的美麗風光。

科技公司曾配合政府情報工作
CLAIRE CAIN MILLER





谷歌、微軟、雅虎和Facebook等硅谷高科技公司雖然很不高興，但還是盡量配合了美國政府收集用戶信息的工作。Twitter抵制了政府的「不合法」要求。

奧巴馬為美國政府監控網絡辯護



Google Close to Acquiring a Rival in Maps
By VINDU GOEL and CLAIRE CAIN MILLER 3:53 PM ET





The search giant, already a power in maps, is expected to pay more than $1 billion for Waze.

Google Sees Payoff From Its iPhone Strategy: Report

By Amir Efrati

Google GOOG +1.19%’s effort to develop smartphone apps for Apple AAPL -0.66%’s iPhone and iPad appears to be paying off.
According to Onavo, which develops apps that are installed on several million iPhones, 69% of those iPhone owners used a Google-made app in May, up from 32% in August of last year. By comparison Facebook FB +4.46% has long been used by about 80% of iPhone owners that have installed Onavo apps.
The top Google apps at the end of May were YouTube, which was used by 49.5% of Onavo’s iPhone owners; Google Maps, used by 32%; and Google Search, used by 15.9%; and Google’s Chrome Web browser, used by 17.6%, up from 7.9% in August of last year.
Google also has another dozen or so downloadable apps for the iPhone, including Gmail and the Google Drive file-storage service.
Google Drive has climbed quickly in usage among iPhone users since its launch last year, and in May was used 4.1% of iPhone users, up from 0.8% in August of last year, according to Onavo.
Meanwhile, Google is nearing a deal to purchase navigation and traffic app Waze for more than $1 billion, said a person familiar with the matter.
Google “very consciously made an investment in the quality of the iPhone apps, and their content ultimately is the one that wins,” said Onavo CEO Guy Rosen.
Onavo is the company behind “Onavo Insights,” which sells app-usage data to software developers, financial organizations and others. The usage data comes from Onavo’s free apps, which help protect iPhone owners from malicious Web content and extend mobile-data plans.
The apps made by Onavo, which was founded three years ago and is based in Palo Alto, Calif., are used in 50 countries and are strongest in the U.S., U.K. and other part of western Europe, Rosen said.
A Google spokesman declined to comment. An Apple spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Onavo data doesn’t include usage of Google’s top service on the iPhone: its revenue-generating search engine, which is embedded in the iPhone’s Safari Web browser. Apple is trying to lessen its device owners’ reliance on Google Search by pushing its Siri voice-activated search service.
Onavo also won’t provide data on the usage of Apple Maps and other apps made by Apple, so it’s tough to say how well-used Google’s apps are compared to Apple’s.
For Google, a strong presence on the iPhone means it can generate more revenue and maintain a tight connection to Web users who increasingly are using all manner of smartphones and tablets to access information, navigate and make purchase decisions.
Google also develops the Android mobile-operating system that powers smartphones and tablets that compete with Apple’s iPhones and iPads, and Google hopes that consumers’ allegiance to its apps might also help convince them to buy Android devices in the future, said people familiar with Google’s strategy.
There is other evidence that Google’s iPhone app strategy is working. Apple in the beginning of May published a list of the all-time most-downloaded apps on the iPhone and iPad, though it didn’t provide data on how many people actually used the apps on a regular basis. Among the most popular free iPhone apps on that list at the time, Google placed four in the top 25: YouTube, which launched in September; Google Search, Google Earth and Google Maps, which was released just six months earlier.
The surge of Google app usage comes after Apple last year stopped preloading Google Maps and YouTube on its devices amid a long-running dispute between the companies over the apps, which were developed by Apple using Google’s data.
Google subsequently launched downloadable Google Maps and YouTube apps to great fanfare. Unlike the previous Apple-made version of Google Maps and YouTube, the new apps generate revenue for Google.
The company, which generates almost all of its revenue from selling ads on websites and mobile apps, has said its mobile-advertising sales on YouTube have tripled over the past six months, aided in part by the new YouTube app.
Google executives have long said the company will endeavor to make its services available on Apple devices. Most recently, Google released the Google Hangouts messaging app for Apple devices and also said it hoped to make its Google Play Music app available to iPhone users within a few weeks.







Apple Unveils New Look for Mobile Devices
By BRIAN X. CHEN 3:19 PM ET


The company introduced a redesign of iOS, its mobile software system, as well as upgrades for some Macs.
85 Comments
Highlights From Apple's Developers Conference 3:13 PM ET

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