Selwyn Uy Blog » Tech

Google Maps Now Indoors

selwynuy — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:28:25 +0000

Google has announced an exciting update to their Google Maps application. They now have the ability to map indoors. Check this quick video intro.

Google says its been able to fine tune the location based services it uses for mapping. Namely, GPS, Cell Towers, and WiFi Hotspots. Google claims they do not require the location to add any new hardware. Detailed floor plans automatically appear when they are available. You are highlighted with the familiar blue dot.

Comparison of Mall of America Before and After Google Maps Indoors

This is very exciting and the applications can be really useful:

Airports: Helps you find your gate, your check-in counter, and the snack bars
Schools: Helps you find your class
Malls: Never need to find the mall directory again, easier to find right parking near the entrance you want

Take a look at how it works for IKEA.

Initially, this is available for large airports and retailers in US and Japan. But if you are a business owner and is interested in getting your floorplan to Google, you can submit it to maps.google.com/floorplans

The app is also initially available for Web and Android only with no announcements yet if Google will let Apple have it.

List of Google Maps Indoors Floorplans

United States

Akron-Canton Airport (CAK)
Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL)
Boise International Airport (BOI)
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
George Bush Houston International Airport (IAH)
Indianapolis International Airport (IND)
Kansas City International Airport (MCI)
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL)
Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS)
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)
Portland International Airport (PDX)
San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
DDR Corp. shopping centers in Puerto Rico, including Plaza del Atlántico in Arecibo, Plaza del Sol in Bayamon, Plaza Rio Hondo in Bayamon, Plaza del Norte in Hatillo, Plaza Palma Real in Humacao and Senorial Plaza in Rio Piedras
Vallco Shopping mall in Cupertino, CA
Brixmor Property Group including Eagle Rock Plaza in Los Angeles, CA
Mall of America
Macy’s*
Bloomingdale’s*
Home Depot*
Ikea*

*Various locations

Japan

Narita International Airport
Haneda Airport, International Terminal
Haneda Airport, Domestic Terminal
JR East in Tokyo and Chiba (main stations)
Tokyu Corporation (main stations)
Tokyo Midtown
Daimaru
Matsuzakaya
Tokyu
Mitsukoshi
Takashimaya
Odakyu
Isetan
Keio
Matsuya
Seibu
Tobu
Printems Ginza
Marui
Marunouchi Building
Shin-Marunouchi Building
Marunouchi OAZO
Marunouchi BRICK SQUARE
TOKIA Tokyo Building
Shibuya 109
109 MEN’S
Miraikan
Roppongi Hills
Venus Fort
Tokyu Hands Ikebukuro
DECKS TOKYO BEACH
remy gotanda
LaLa port TOYOSU
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan)

Indoor Maps is available for your Android 2.2 or above device in Google Maps for mobile version 6.0 or above.

iOS 5 is out now! Complete Feature List

selwynuy — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:27:57 +0000



iOS 5 Software Update

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

Notifications
	◦	Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Center
	◦	New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
	◦	View notifications from lock screen
	◦	Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
iMessage
	◦	Send and receive unlimited text, photo, and video messages with other iOS 5 users
	◦	Track messages with delivery and read receipts
	◦	Group messaging and secure encryption
	◦	Works over cellular network and Wi-Fi*
Newsstand
	◦	Automatically organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
	◦	Displays the cover of the latest issue
	◦	Background downloads of new issues 
Reminders for managing to do lists
	◦	Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
	◦	Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
Built-in support for Twitter
	◦	Sign-in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
	◦	Add location to any tweet
	◦	View twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
Camera improvements for devices with cameras
	◦	Double click the home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
	◦	Volume Up button to take a picture
	◦	Optional grid lines to line up shots
	◦	Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
	◦	Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
	◦	Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock
Photo improvements for devices with cameras
	◦	Crop and rotate
	◦	Red eye removal
	◦	One tap enhance
	◦	Organize photos into albums
Mail improvements
	◦	Format text using bold, italic, or underlined fonts
	◦	Indentation control
	◦	Drag to rearrange names in address fields
	◦	Flag messages
	◦	Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
	◦	Customize mail alert sounds
	◦	S/MIME
Calendar improvements
	◦	Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
	◦	Tap to create an event
	◦	View and add event attachments
Game Center improvements
	◦	Use personal photos for your Game Center account
	◦	Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
	◦	Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
	◦	Discover new games with custom game recommendations
AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
Multitasking Gestures for iPad
	◦	Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
	◦	Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
	◦	Swipe left or right to switch between apps
On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
Software updates available over the air without tethering
iCloud support
	◦	iTunes in the Cloud
	◦	Photo Stream
	◦	Documents in the Cloud
	◦	Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
	◦	Backup
	◦	Contacts, Calendar, and Mail
	◦	Find My iPhone
Redesigned Music app for iPad
Hourly weather forecast
Real-time stock quotes
Wireless sync to iTunes
Keyboard improvements
	◦	Split keyboard for iPad
	◦	Improved autocorrection accuracy
	◦	Improved Chinese and Japanese input
	◦	New Emoji keyboard
	◦	Personal dictionary for autocorrection
	◦	Optionally create keyboard short cuts for frequently used words
Accessibility improvements
	◦	Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
	◦	Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
	◦	New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
	◦	Option to speak a selection of text
	◦	Custom element labeling for VoiceOver
Exchange ActiveSync improvements
	◦	Wirelessly sync tasks
	◦	Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
	◦	Improved offline support
	◦	Save a new contact from a GAL service
More than 1,500 new developer APIs
Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:
	•	iPhone 4S
	•	iPhone 4
	•	iPhone 3GS
	•	iPad 2
	•	iPad
	•	iPod touch (4th generation)
	•	iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable.

Automated Parallel Parking is Here!

selwynuy — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:00:13 +0000

I just recently came across this. Apparently Ford has a feature called Park Assist that lets your car park itself. Perfect for everyone that has a hard time doing parallel parking. Then again, should you be driving if you cannot learn to parallel park?

THE AD

IN ACTION

Technology Usage in Education [INFOGRAPHIC]

selwynuy — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:16:34 +0000

Not so long ago did we experience education where technology is not as it is today. My early years in education did not even have the Internet. Times have surely changed since then as proven by a research done by onlineeducation.net. It seems though while Google may have made homeworks easier, the ability to easier connect with teachers and fellow students as well as the aid of devices and media have made education much accessible and better.

Google+ (Google Plus) Invite and First Look

selwynuy — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:47:16 +0000

Google+ is out for a few weeks now and I recently had my chance to get an invite and do a quick review. Google+ is the newest social networking platform launched by Google after a few failed projects with Google Wave and Google Buzz. This new platform seems to hold more water and promise but the question remains if people will be making the switch from Facebook.

The way Google is launching this new platform is like what they did with gmail— via invites from people you know. Once you are invited, you can invite other people too. So whoever wants an invite, just leave a comment with your email and I will send you one.

There are 3 new things that makes Google+ significantly different from Facebook:

Circles
Hangouts
Sparks

I’ll get to each one later with more detail. Here is the welcome screen after your initial account sign-up. (Click on image to enlarge)

Its a great page to start with and it tells you quickly what the 3 new things are.

CIRCLES

It lets you group your social networking contacts. The idea is you may have a group of friends from work, your family, and maybe your gym buddies. Your friends may not be interested in your family photo and your mom may not be interested in the latest protein shake flavors. Circles lets you group people into “circles” and whenever you share something, you can define to share it to only a specific circle, multiple, or all. This way, your shares are relevant to the people you are sharing with. A contact may belong in one or as many circles as you group them in and all your circles are private. People will know that you added them to a circle but they are never told what the label is.

Here is a quick video by Google:

Here is the interface of how you can manage your circles.

HANGOUTS

This feature is very interesting. It lets you create an online “hangout” where people and contacts can just drop in. Using webcam and mics, you can just discover who among your friends has a hangout and just drop in to chat. Its very cool as you never know who is around and lets you meet and talk to people who you might not otherwise. Say your high school buddies have all grown up, gotten married, and now lives in different part of the globe. Hangout lets you casually create rooms where you could just chat casually without the frills of setting up a web conference or anything tedious as that. It worked right into your social network. Pretty cool.

Here is the Google video:

SPARKS

Sparks is a customized newstream, by choosing topics, browsing posts, Google+ identifies the topics you may be interested in and then searches what other people with the same interest found appealing and showing them to you. Its a fun way to discover. Just like you have your own assistant that knows what you love and care about and lets the content come to you.

Here is the video:

Google+ is similar to facebook in so many ways, here is your user dashboard after you login. It feels very comfortable right off the bat and there is the thing you need to get a good grasp on is circles and how the privacy of sharing is done in context. You choose what circles you want to share to and the privacy is built in right there.

Here’s a screen.

CONCLUSION

There you have it, at first glance, Google+ seems promising. Its fresh, new, and very user friendly. However, for a social platform to take off, there has to be people using it. It remains to be seen if people will be switching from Facebook just like they did from Friendster to Facebook.

Most of my contacts in Google+ are my tech friends who are early adopters and somehow mostly male. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is a good time to try, just leave a comment on this post with your email and I can send an invite your way. Cheers, thanks for reading.

Social Marketing, Why You Should Do It

selwynuy — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:28:20 +0000

It is no secret that at least half of the people you know are users of one social network or more. In the last 2 years, there has never been a more profound development in technology in bridging people together. People are social animals by nature and the need to interact is what it is all about. Deep down, no one likes to be always alone.

Social media now lets people connect and share their lives. The beauty and power of this is control and exclusivity. You have the power to be as open or as private as you want to be. You choose what content you want to share and who you want to share it to. You also control who you want to know more about.

For marketers, it has long been the norm that advertising and communication is targeted at a demographic or social profile but never has it be as easy as to interact on a personal level. The social media opens up possibilities that is not available before. So before I go further, I would like to share a chart to you made by FredCavazza.net

If you realize, social networking is not just Facebook. Sure most people are on-board the social networking wagon today because of Facebook and Twitter. Mind you they are indeed at the forefront but the scope is much more than that. Games have their own online ecosystem in MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games. Blogs has their own niche and readers, YouTube channels has made instant amateur celebrities, the list goes on.

So definitely, as a marketer, you cannot afford to not be involved as you competitors will be. The question is, where and how? Its all too many, its all too new. That is what I often hear from my friends and my clients.

So, to keep my article at reasonable length, I will just tell you ‘why you should do it’ and save the ‘how’ for another article.

1. Its not just about friends. This is one of the common misconceptions marketers make. They think social media is just about connecting with friends, sharing photos and making comments about each other. Yes, it is about that, but it is so much more.

Research has shown that people will like and follow a brand on social media for several reasons:

To show their support for a brand
To find out about the latest promotions
To get exclusivity
To get customer service (though this is mostly bottom of the list since most will use email, then the phone, and save social media for last resort)

Given that people will be willing to follow your brand, shouldn’t it be your duty as a good marketer to give them something worthy of their attention?

2. To get found, to get viewed, and to get heard. Since it has been established that almost everyone interacts online in one social media or another, it is where people are when they are online. Not exactly all the time but very likely, a person will check his Facebook, Twitter, Forum, Blog, or others at least once a week. Probably more than that. If they are there, you should be there as well. Its the perfect opportunity to let them know you exist, and that you have something they could be interested in.

The key though is content. Social Marketing is not about SPAM. It is not about unsolicited messages. Remember, people have control and they can just as easily kick you out. It is very important to always give good content. Ask yourself this, is my content going to be interesting? Is my content going to be of value? Your content should be something you would be willing and wanting to get yourself at the minimum.

3. Build relationships. Foster brand loyalty. When customers voluntarily like your brand on a social media platform, they are already giving you a chance to build a relationship. If you take care of that relationship, you have a genuine opportunity to become a ‘friend’ of that customer and not just a cold-hearted corporation. You can interact with them on a conversational level, share content that will be valued. Do all this, and in return, you will gain brand loyalty.

Simply put, Social Marketing is here to stay, its a great tool to build your brand. If you do not start getting on it, your competitors will. Can you afford not to?

2010 iPod Lineups

selwynuy — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:56:47 +0000

Apple as announced their biggest update yet to the new iPod lineup of products. This year, there are major updates to the 3 iPods, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, and the iPod Touch. Let’s get right down to business shall we and see what they are all about.

The new 2010 iPod Shuffle

Key Points:

Combined use of buttons and voice makes this the easiest iPod to use for quick music control. Buttons to control your music and a voice to tell you what song or playlist is playing.
Smallest form factor with built-in clip makes it the best iPod for mobility. Clip it anywhere and you are good to go.
Cheap. $49 for 2GB makes this very economical. You do not need to worry about carrying expensive hardware when you are out running, at the gym, or when travelling.

The compact form factor makes it very easy to carry and bring anywhere. It comes in colorful options as well so there is sure to be a color that fits your personality. The low price tag also means its not a difficult decision to buy and its a great gift to give this coming holiday.

The new iPod Nano

Key Points:

Multi-Touch. The new Nano features multi-touch screen with roughly the space to put 4 app icons.
Genius playlist is included in the software for great playlist creation.
Photos. It has support for photos but I don’t think the small screen size is optimal for it. The iPod Touch seems more suited.
FM Radio. The iPod Nano also features ‘Live Pause’. This lets you pause radio in real time and lets you resume playback up to 15 minutes back.
Fitness. It has a built-in Pedometer that can track your every step. The pedometer can be used as a stand-alone feature or can be improved with the use of a Nike Sport Kit and by syncing your data with a free account on Nike+ website.
It can double as a watch. Just not a very good one. No water resistance and no shock resistance makes this a poor watch but man, how awesome would you look.

Now its just a matter of time before apple puts in a camera and FaceTime for you to become the next Dick Tracy.

The new iPod Touch

Key Points:

FaceTime is apple’s video calling over Wi-Fi. The new iPod Touch comes with a front facing camera that lets you use FaceTime to do video calls with other new iPod Touch users and iPhone4 users.
Retina display. This is the highest resolution screen on an iPod ever. This new technology was first used in the iPhone 4. It allows for more awesome graphics and sharper text.
HD video recording. The back camera features 720p HD recording.
Game Center. Its a social networking app that lets you see what your friends are playing and vice-versa. It lets you create your own circle of gaming friends or it can help you find strangers to play a game with when your friends are not around. Gaming will no longer be a lonely affair.
A4 chip. It uses the latest processor which is also the same one used to power the iPhone 4. This allows apps to run smoother and faster and makes room for new apps that could not work on the old processors.
Lighter, slimmer and longer battery life. It is now rated for 40 hours of audio or 7 hours of video on a full charge cycle.

Mosquito-killing Laser Turret

selwynuy — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 00:48:14 +0000

I have just recently stumbled upon an interesting piece of technology in development. Its the Deathstar for mosquitos!

Its developed by an invention company called Intellectual Ventures. The objective of the project is to help kill malaria mosquitoes in third-world countries. The device is made up of basic electronic components sourced from everyday electronic items it seems.

Here is a nifty video demonstration. Not e the blue flashes on the mosquitoes wings are it being hit by the laser. This video is a fraction of a second of what happens during a zap. Once this technology becomes commercialized, bug zapper or laser turret? Hmm… Laser Turret please!

Video Magazine and Digital Publishing on the iPad

selwynuy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:43:40 +0000

With Apple’s latest upcoming product, the iPad, there is now a whole new world of possibilities in the publishing business. The iPad will have an online bookstore much like the appstore built-in. You will be able to purchase novels, subscribe to your favorite newspaper and magazines.

The promise of this new medium is that with a larger high quality display, it is the best browsing and reading experience ever. It also opens up new possibilities to traditional print where options were never possible before. You can now incorporate video right into the content. For example, instead of reading the great sports play made by your football team, why not see that clip right there? Instead of reading the captions of a speech, why not see the video of the speech itself?

I for one is definitely excited on the possibilities this can bring. Leading the pack already is VIV Publishing. They are a publishing company that is all digital. Here is a preview of their work and how they plan to change the game in publishing.

VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread on the iPad

VIV Mag Digital Motion Cover for the iPad

New York Times Demo on the iPad

With the iPad priced at $499 on the entry level model, it becomes quite possible to get this device on the hands of many people. Exciting times ahead boys and girls!

Courier: Microsoft’s New Tablet

selwynuy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:09 +0000

Hmm.. It certainly does seem to be like a Microsoft week. Here is yet another post related to them. Make no mistake, while Microsoft is a great company, I am no fanboy. I like Apple’s products as well as Microsoft’s. I just share what I find interesting as it happens. So here you go..

image courtesy of gizmodo

While people have been waiting and excited about Apple’s rumored tablet, the fruity company has yet to disclose anything official. Microsoft in the meantime has announced their working development. The Courier is a dual 7-inch screen multi-touch. The screen interface can be controlled by finger swipes and can be written into with a stylus pen. The full story can be found on gizmodo which were given the exclusive. Watch this video: