Google Recognizes Palestine. With one small gesture, Google has made a big statement. On Thursday the Palestine News Network reported that Google.ps changed its title from "The Palestinian Territories" to "Palestine. " As Foreign Policy noted, this news comes less than a year after the United Nations first officially recognized the state of Palestine. "We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian Territories’ to ‘Palestine’ across our products. " Google spokesperson Nathan Tyler told The Huffington Post. "We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries. In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, ICANN, ISO and other international organizations,” Google generally hasn't shied away from expressing political views. the search giant supports marriage equality and even has a branch that specializes in social impact, Google.org.
(h/t Foreign Policy) Also on HuffPost: Apple, Google, Facebook Tell Supreme Court: Gay Marriage Is Good for Business | Wired Business. Image: Facebook The biggest tech companies in the world are standing up for same-sex marriage, but not just as a matter of fairness. Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft are just a few of hundreds of companies that have signed on to a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing that federal same-sex marriage restrictions hurt their businesses. In all, 278 companies joined to support the friend-of-the-court filing, among them some of the country’s biggest and most visible. Other tech companies listed as backers of the brief include Adobe, Cisco, eBay, Electronic Arts, Intel, Intuit, Oracle, Twitter and Zynga. And tech companies aren’t the only ones getting behind the push to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
All of the companies signed on to the filing are located or operate in states where same-sex marriages are legal or recognized, according to the brief. That morale, the brief goes on to argue, depends upon “a workplace ethos of transparent fairness.” Google Maps revamp promotes ads and personalises details. Google has unveiled a new version of its Maps web service, which it says has been "rebuilt from the ground up". The redesign aims to personalise the product, deciding what to label to best match each user's interests. It also features new icons highlighting businesses running ads and promotions, which overlay the map. This may make the maps more attractive to advertisers who have tended to focus on Google's main search page and rival platforms.
The development was announced at Google's I/O developers conference in San Francisco. Engaging ads Until now companies running pay-per-click marketing campaigns on Google's Maps service had their locations identified by a blue pin rather than the red marker used for other businesses. However, it was not always obvious what the pins referred to as users had to select them or cross-reference a list on the side of the screen to discover what organisation each represented. The firm said it hoped this would make the wider product "more engaging". Google Maps Overhauled With More Personal Results. As expected, Google today unveiled a revamped version of Maps at its I/O developer conference in San Francisco.
The updated Google Maps, a preview of which is rolling out to developers today, makes the search giant's mapping experience more personal. It incorporates the technology that powers Google Now into the Google Maps experience, "so it'll get better and better, the more that you use it," said Bernhard Seefeld, product management director for Google Maps. The Maps team, Seefeld said, had three goals with the update: creating a separate map for every single user; combining all of Google's mapping services - from satellite imagery to Street View to indoor photos; and making everything simpler and more powerful. As a result, "we went ahead and rebuilt Google maps from the ground up," he said. As some recent leaks suggested, the search box and its results are now layered on top of Google Maps. It's a "great way to explore new places," Seefeld said, just by clicking.
Introducing Google Places. Today the Local Business Center is becoming Google Places. Why? Millions of people use Google every day to find places in the real world, and we want to better connect Place Pages — the way that businesses are being found today — with the tool that enables business owners to manage their presence on Google. We launched Place Pages last September for more than 50 million places around the world to help people make more informed decisions about where to go, from restaurants and hotels to dry cleaners and bike shops, as well as non-business places like museums, schools and parks.
Place Pages connect people to information from the best sources across the web, displaying photos, reviews and essential facts, as well as real-time updates and offers from business owners. Google Places will continue to offer these same tools, but the new name will simplify the connection with Place Pages. This reflects our ongoing commitment to providing business owners with powerful yet easy-to-use tools. Google Maps Updated to Offer Faster, Personal Service. Google Inc. (GOOG) is overhauling its mapping service with quicker navigation, more personalized information and updated look and feel as the search provider keeps up pressure on Microsoft Corp.
(MSFT) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) The new service, which is still in preview mode, aims to put more information on the maps, eliminating extra clicks needed to dig up information on a business or seek the quickest route to a destination, according to Jonah Jones, lead designer at Google Maps. A central feature for smartphones, mapping applications have become a key tool for software and hardware makers seeking to attract more users. Apple introduced its own maps app in September to replace one that relied on Google’s data. “We’re making everything more integrated and easier to find and easier to use,” Jones said before Google’s annual developers conference in San Francisco, where the company unveiled the new service. “We really want to make the ad experience a positive one,” he said. New Version of Google Maps Leaked Online. According to images accidentally leaked online, the new version of Google Maps is set to introduce a number of new features. UPDATE: Google today officially unveiled a revamped Google Maps at I/O; check out all the details.
Original Story: Later today, Google will kick off its annual Google I/O conference, an event that often offers an sneak peek at the newest projects and experiments the company has in the works. Things got off to an early start last night, however, when what appears to be the next version of Google Maps leaked online. The launch screens for the new version of Google Maps appeared briefly, but have since been taken down. In addition to the automated location curation, the new maps also appears to add Google Flight Search into the traditional Google Maps product, allowing users to easily plan trips directly from the normal Google Maps screen rather than visiting a separate site.