News

• Google previews upcoming Maps features

  Google is adding a new level of personalization and a cleaner interface to its popular Maps product.

• Google Street View to map abandoned Fukushima town

  A small Japanese town, abandoned because of radiation concerns after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in 2011, is working with Google's map service to keep its memory alive.

• Tokyo launches trial NFC-based mobile guide service

  The Tokyo government has posted nearly 300 NFC location tags around the upscale Ginza shopping district and released an Android app to interact with them as part of an experiment to help guide shoppers.

• Nokia location technology will guide Toyota drivers

  Toyota Motor Europe will use Nokia's mapping technology in its next-generation navigation and infotainment systems.

• Google publishes detailed maps of North Korea

  Google has published detailed maps of North Korea, based on information entered by users via its online Map Maker tool.

• Apple must reassess location strategy after 'Maps stumble': Gartner

  As location becomes a critical part of mobile OS success, Apple has found itself in unfamiliar territory playing catch up to Google, according to Gartner.

• Australian police warn against using Apple Maps application

  Australian police are warning people not to rely on Apple's new mobile mapping application after several motorists ended up in a semi-arid national park where temperatures can reach 115F (46C) and there is no water supply.

• Google adds indoor maps for iPhone, iPad and other Web users

  Google has added indoor floor plans to the Web version of its Maps service, allowing any device with a browser to show the way in airports, rail stations, shopping malls and museums in nine countries.

• Google Maps app for Android adds indoor floorplans

  Disoriented at Minneapolis' Mall of America? Confused at Tokyo's Narita airport? Can't find the bathrooms at your local Ikea store? The Google Maps application for Android phones and tablets may offer some help.

• Finding yourself ... more iOS maps

  A while ago I got over-excited about maps on the iPad and promised more of the same in the future and now, the future has arrived.

• Researcher uses Google Earth to track India's nuclear program

  The Institute for Science and International Security in Washington has used imagery from Google Earth to arrive at the conclusion that India may be constructing a gas centrifuge plant for uranium enrichment for military purposes, reinforcing Indian fears that Google Earth can be misused to compromise national security.

• Google lets Wi-Fi hotspot owners opt out of location service

  Bowing to pressure from European privacy regulators, Google will soon allow owners of Wi-Fi access points to opt out of a Google service that allows smartphone owners to identify their location without using GPS (Global Positioning System), it said Tuesday.

• Google Maps adds voice search to Chrome Desktop

  If you talk to your desktop PC, it's probably for all the wrong reasons -- usually to hurl expletives at the machine for not working properly. Well, users of the desktop version of Google Chrome now have a more productive reason to get chatty with their computers. Google has added voice search for Google Maps to Chrome, offering users a (sometimes) faster way to get directions.

• After a frenetic London riot, a laptop is recovered

  When Greg Martin [cq] returned home last Wednesday morning after a night of intense rioting in London, his West End apartment had been ransacked.

• Londoners take to social media outlets during the riots

  The photograph shows a hooded young man looking toward the sky just after he apparently threw something. Close by, a Citroen compact car is completely engulfed in flames.