Google Maps 4.0 OTA update available for Droid

11 02 2010

I got an Over the Air update this morning on my Droid for Google Maps. The new version is 4.0, just last week we got version 3.4 which added multi-touch.

3.4 to 4.0 sounds like a significant jump, however the only new feature I could find was an additional map layer that is integrated with Google s new social networking product, Buzz.

Multi-touch was a huge usability improvement and got no mention from Google, it was just slipped in. Clearly they are jazzed about buzz at Google. I’ve got one follower on Buzz and automatically was made follower of 12 others. Looks like Google are going after twitter with the way the Buzz network is setup. Is buzz a twitter killer? I don’t think so (just yet) because it integrates with Twitter, right now I view it more as a supplement to twitter and other social micro blogging. It maybe a freindfeed killer.

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Categories : Mobile, Opinion, Tech News

OpenDNS – Web-filtering for the enterprise. Really ?!?

7 02 2010

I was intrigued when invited to a webinar hosted by OpenDNS regarding their enterprise DNS offerings. I have been an OpenDNS user at my residence since 2006 when their service was first launched.

Traditionally OpenDNS has been targeted at the residential consumer, providing a more secure and  reliable DNS service than the consumers ISP bothered to be. You see, ISP’s make no money from DNS, its a sunken cost for them; so they put as little money into DNS as necessary to keep things running. Corporations pay considerably more for their internet service and have Service Level Agreements in place to ensure they get consistent an reliable service. So the same motivation to switch does not exist at the enterprise level. Additionally internal network infrastructure requires a local DNS service to be managed by the host company anyway, they often don’t need the technical help in managing connections to the public DNS infrastructure.

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Categories : Technical Product Reviews

Multi-Touch for the Droid Starts to Rollout!!!

6 02 2010

Google recently released a new version of Google Maps for the droid which supports multi-touch (aka pinch-zoom). Mutil-touch zooming is vastly superior to the Plus-Minus zooming previously available on Google Maps. This is a great feature upgrade.

The release of this feature has been done very quietly by Google, almost stealth like. I noticed this morning that an updated version of Google Maps was available. I performed the upgrade and it informed me of some new features. Oddly multi-touch is NOT listed as a new feature even though it is present.

The new Features listed for version 3.4.0. of Google Maps are :-

  • Starred Items synced with maps.
  • Search Suggestions from maps.
  • Night Mode for Navigation

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Categories : Opinion, Tech News