Fitbit Public Preview adds food & water logging, more as app redesign comes to free users
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Chromecast is now making its way to Malaysia
Google Malaysia has today announced on Google+ that Chromecast, the Mountain View company’s famed $30 HDMI streaming stick, is now making its way to the Southeast Asian country.
Chromecast comes to Malaysia!
From today, Chromecast will be available for MYR170…
From today you will be able to pick up a Chromecast from select Maxis stores, and it will be available from Maxis stores nationally from May 5th. (http://goo.gl/GdtkPF)
The device is already available today in “select” Maxis stores, and will be coming to all stores nationally as of May 5th. You can also find the device to purchase from the Maxis website starting today.
Android Lollipop for Galaxy S5 now hitting Russia and Malaysia
The update to Android 5.0 for the Galaxy S5 has been slowly rolling out across a variety of not-United-States countries over the last month, starting with Poland and then more recently making its way to Spain. Now, preceding what will soon be the software update’s widespread availability, devices in Russia and Malaysia are being offered (via SamMobile) some Lollipop goodness.
Latest Street View imagery spans Mason & Grand Ledge, Michigan, to Argentina & Malaysia
Google Street View cars have been busy, adding Mason and Grand Ledge in the U.S., expanding coverage of Malaysia and adding in Argentina, reports the Google Earth Blog – the Grand Ledge Opera House shown above. This follows Google adding Cambodia and Indonesia last month.
Google has already added historical Street View links to a few locations in Argentina, the dates indicating that Google has been collecting the imagery for around a year.
Google’s Street View cars are doing more than taking photos these days, the company using some of them to detect methane leaks from corroded pipes, landfill sites and other sources. The company’s more notorious form of data-collection – wifi sniffing – resulted in a $7M settlement, the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting its attempt to appeal the lawsuit.
Google Maps rolls out Map Maker & Report a Problem features to Taiwan, Russia and Malaysia
In a blog post today detailing its Ground Truth data collection program for Google Maps, Google announced some new features rolling out to users in Taiwan, Russia and Malaysia. As part of the Ground Truth program rolling out to 5 new countries today, Google is also making its Google Map Maker and Report a Problem features available for users in Taiwan, Russia, and Malaysia to contribute:
Today, we’ve reached our 50th Ground Truth country with the addition of five new countries: Taiwan, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, and the last regions of Russia. We’re also rolling out Google Map Maker and Report a Problem—our crowdsourcing map tools—to Taiwan, Russia and Malaysia, giving anyone in those locations the ability to share and contribute their local knowledge directly to Google Maps.
Google also notes that it will be publishing more articles over the next week sharing more details of how its Ground Truth program and Map Maker work to let others contribute to improving Google Maps.
Google Maps adds StreetView in Cambodia & Indonesia, navigation in Panama
Google has announced that its Google Maps StreetView feature is now available for users in Cambodia and Indonesia.
Full support for StreetView across Cambodia comes following the launch of a StreetView tour for the thousand-year-old temples at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia in April. Google has put together a collection of imagery from Cambodia you can check out on its Views website.
Another Maps improvement rolling out today is support for navigation in Panama, as noted by AndroidPolice. Google also confirmed the roll out by adding Panama to the list of supported countries for navigation on its website.
The new features are available in the latest version of Google Maps for Android on Google Play.
Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi more than doubles sales as it begins international expansion
Samsung, HTC and Motorola are likely to be looking a little nervously over their shoulders as Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi more than doubled its year-on-year sales. The company announced (via TNW) that it sold 26.1M phones in the first half of this year, more than it sold in the whole of 2013.
These are impressive sales for a company which sold its first smartphone just three years ago, and whose sales were initially limited to China. Its growth has been fuelled by expansion into Singapore, Malaysia, India and the Philipines, with the company now eyeing up Latin America as its next market …
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Google Maps rolls out new imagery for famous mountains including Kilimanjaro & Everest
Google announced today on its Official Blog some that it began rolling out some new enhancements for Google Maps with the addition of famous mountains such Kilimanjaro in Africa and the Everest Base Camp in Asia. Imagery for other mountain peaks is included in today’s update, including: the tallest mountain in Europe; Mount Elbrus located in Russia; as well as the highest in the Western and Southern Hemispheres, Argentina’s Aconcagua.
These mountains belong to the group of peaks known as the Seven Summits—the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. While there’s nothing quite like standing on the mountain, with Google Maps you can instantly transport yourself to the top of these peaks and enjoy the sights without all of the avalanches, rock slides, crevasses, and dangers from altitude and weather that mountaineers face. This imagery was collected with a simple lightweight tripod and digital camera with a fisheye lens—equipment typically used for our Business Photos program.
Google also shared a detailed post on its Lat Long blog that details the process of collecting imagery for today’s update.