0 Search by Voice Comes to Google Maps 4.1 for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones

By Unknown | At 16.30 | Label : google maps , google maps for mobile , nokia , s60 , search by voice , Symbian , windows mobile | 0 Comments

We understand that typing on phones isn�t as easy or fast as talking into them. As a result, we�re big fans of letting you search in Google Maps for mobile in the most natural way possible -- with your voice! Not wanting the BlackBerry and Android folks to have all the fun, today we�re happy to announce Search by voice in Google Maps 4.1 on Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones.

Search by voice lets you easily search for anything by simply speaking your search terms instead of typing them. Just open Google Maps, press your phone�s �call� button, and clearly speak your search term like �Park Plaza.� Search by voice works with all the kinds of searches Google Maps for mobile already supports, including places, addresses (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway), specific businesses (The French Laundry), or types of businesses (sushi restaurants new york).

You may also notice a few other additions, including a redesigned settings page with Search by voice language choices. Choose your preferred language from the supported options, including multiple English accents and Mandarin Chinese. Also, if you find a problem with any information in Google Maps, you can use the �Report a problem� option to let us know.

To get started, install the latest version of Google Maps for mobile 4.1 for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 by going to m.google.com/maps in your phone�s standard web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile). This update is available in all the countries and languages where Google Maps for mobile is currently available.

Visit our Help Center to learn more or tell us your feedback and questions in our Help Forum. Give us suggestions and vote on other people�s on the Mobile Product Ideas page.

Posted by Yuliang Wang and Yifei Zhang, Software Engineers, Google Mobile Team

0 Google Mobile App for iPad now available in the App Store

By Unknown | At 11.30 | Label : google mobile app , iPad , iphone , ipod touch , my location , search by voice | 0 Comments

We�re pleased to announce that a new iPad-friendly version of Google Mobile App is now available in the App Store worldwide. By �iPad-friendly�, we mean that this new version has been designed to show neatly on the iPad�s screen, and that the usual features of Google Mobile App for iPhone, like search by voice and My Location, work well. From the Apps tab, you can also easily navigate to Google�s web-based apps, such as Gmail, which was recently optimized for iPad.

While this first version of Google Mobile App for iPad is essentially the same app we�ve built for iPhone, we�re working on improving Google Mobile App so that it takes advantage of iPad�s features. Stay tuned as we continue to make it and other Google products even better on this new type of device.

To download Google Mobile App to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch (requires OS 3.0 or higher), search for �Google Mobile App� in the App Store or just visit http://itunes.com/app/googlemobileapp.

Posted by Alastair Tse, Software Engineer

0 Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry adds Search by Voice, Google Buzz, Starring, Labs, and More

By Unknown | At 12.10 | Label : Blackberry , google buzz , google buzz for mobile , google maps , google maps for mobile , search by voice | 0 Comments

We�ve been rolling out new versions of Google Maps for mobile at a fast pace lately, and the first Google Maps for BlackBerry update of 2010 is a big one. For version 4.0, we�ve added new features to help you find places faster, post from those places with Google Buzz, star them for quick access, and more.

Search by voice
For starters, we�ve added Search by voice to all BlackBerry devices to save your overworked thumbs. Simply press and hold the green �call� button, speak your search, and see your results quickly appear without typing a single letter. Try it now for any search, like the name of my favorite hometown pizza place, �Punch Pizza in Minneapolis.� You can also search by voice for addresses like �802 Washington Avenue Southeast� or search for other another pizza place to try by speaking, �pizza restaurants.� Currently supported languages include multiple English accents and Mandarin Chinese.


Google Buzz
Google Buzz for mobile also makes its debut on BlackBerry phones in Google Maps 4.0 (see availability). Use the Google Buzz layer to see what�s going on around you or to post to the layer yourself. Check out the many ways to explore the Buzz layer in Google Maps for mobile, including sharing pictures, news, and more. From the Maps main menu, select Layers > Buzz to enable the layer; open the menu and select �Post Buzz� to add your own public post from a location or place.


Take your searches and starred places to go.
Just like in Google Maps on Android, the BlackBerry version now provides personalized search suggestions from your maps.google.com search history. If I previously searched for �Punch Pizza� at home, I can simply type �pun� into Maps on my phone to see �Punch Pizza� at the top of the suggested search terms. Make sure you�ve signed in to your Google Account (Menu > Sign In) and have Web History enabled for your account.

Signing in to your Google Account also synchronizes starred items between maps.google.com on your computer (My Maps > Starred items) and phone (Menu > Starred Items). I�ll do my heavy pizza research at home, star several pizzerias I want to try, and browse the list in Google Maps on my phone when I�m ready to eat.

Wait, there�s more!
Also check out other new features added with 4.0:

• Use Labs to try experimental features like the Scale Bar or Terrain layer (great for hiking enthusiasts!).
• See nearby businesses at an address or location by selecting a point from the map.
• Report a problem with the map data or a business listing.

To get started, install the latest version of Google Maps 4.0 for BlackBerry by going to m.google.com/maps in your BlackBerry�s Internet Browser. The update for BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrators and users, including support for BlackBerry OS 5.0 phones, is available here.

Visit our Help Center to learn more or tell us your feedback and questions in our Help Forum. Give us suggestions and vote on other people�s on the Mobile Product Ideas page!

Posted by Ole CaveLie, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Team

0 Mobile Search for a New Era: Voice, Location and Sight

By Unknown | At 11.30 | Label : google goggles , google maps for mobile , Google Mobile Search , google search , search by voice | 0 Comments

Editor's note: today Google held a launch event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Fresh off the stage, we've invited Vic to highlight the mobile team's announcements, and the unique set of technologies that make them possible. (All [video] links point to event footage that will be viewable later today.)

A New Era of Computing

Mobile devices straddle the intersection of three significant industry trends: computing (or Moore's Law), connectivity, and the cloud. Simply put:

• Phones get more powerful and less expensive all the time
• They're connected to the Internet more often, from more places; and
• They tap into computational power that's available in datacenters around the world

These "Cs" aren't new: we've discussed them in isolation for over 40 years. But today's smartphones -- for the first time -- combine all three into a personal, handheld experience. We've only begun to appreciate the impact of these converged devices, but we're pretty sure about one thing: we've moved past the PC-only era, into a world where search is forever changed.

Just think: with a sensor-rich phone that's connected to the cloud, users can now search by voice (using the microphone), by location (using GPS and the compass), and by sight (using the camera). And we're excited to share Google's early contributions to this new era of computing.

Search by Voice

We first launched search by voice about a year ago, enabling millions of users to speak to Google. And we're constantly reminded that the combination of a powerful device, an Internet connection, and datacenters in the cloud is what makes it work. After all:

• We first stream sound files to Google's datacenters in real-time
• We then convert utterances into phonemes, into words, into phrases; and
• We then compare phrases against Google's billions of daily queries to assign probability scores to all possible transcriptions; and
• We do all of this in the time it takes to speak a few words

Over the past 12 months we've introduced the product on many more devices, in more languages, with vastly improved accuracy rates. And today we're announcing that search by voice understands Japanese, joining English and Mandarin.

Looking ahead, we dream of combining voice recognition with our language translation infrastructure to provide in-conversation translation [video]-- a UN interpreter for everyone! And we're just getting started.

Search by Location

Your phone's location is usually your location: it's in your pocket, in your purse, or on your nightstand, and as a result it's more personal than any PC before it. This intimacy is what makes location-based services possible, and for its part, Google continues to invest in things like My Location, real-time traffic, and turn-by-turn navigation. Today we're tackling a question that's simple to ask, but surprisingly difficult to answer: "What's around here, anyway?"

Suppose you're early to pickup your child from school, or your drive to dinner was quicker than expected, or you've just checked into a new hotel. Chances are you've got time to kill, but you don't want to spend it entering addresses, sifting through POI categories, or even typing a search. Instead you just want stuff nearby, whatever that might be. Your location is your query, and we hear you loud and clear.

Today we're announcing "What's Nearby" for Google Maps on Android 1.6+ devices, available as an update from Android Market. To use the feature just long press anywhere on the map, and we'll return a list of the 10 closest places, including restaurants, shops and other points of interest. It's a simple answer to a simple question, finally. (And if you visit google.com from your iPhone or Android device in a few weeks, clicking "Near me now" will deliver the same experience [video].)

Of course our future plans include more than just nearby places. In the new year we'll begin showing local product inventory in search results [video]; and Google Suggest will even include location-specific search terms [video]. All thanks to powerful, Internet-enabled mobile devices.

Search by Sight

When you connect your phone's camera to datacenters in the cloud, it becomes an eye to see and search with. It sees the world like you do, but it simultaneously taps the world's info in ways that you can't. And this makes it a perfect answering machine for your visual questions.

Perhaps you're vacationing in a foreign country, and you want to learn more about the monument in your field of view. Maybe you're visiting a modern art museum, and you want to know who painted the work in front of you. Or maybe you want wine tasting notes for the Cabernet sitting on the dinner table. In every example, the query you care about isn't a text string, or a location -- it's whatever you're looking at. And today we're announcing a Labs product for Android 1.6+ devices that lets users search by sight: Google Goggles.



In a nutshell, Goggles lets users search for objects using images rather than words. Simply take a picture with your phone's camera, and if we recognize the item, Goggles returns relevant search results. Right now Goggles identifies landmarks, works of art, and products (among other things), and in all cases its ability to "see further" is rooted in powerful computing, pervasive connectivity, and the cloud:

• We first send the user's image to Google's datacenters
• We then create signatures of objects in the image using computer vision algorithms
• We then compare signatures against all other known items in our image recognition databases; and
• We then figure out how many matches exist; and
• We then return one or more search results, based on available meta data and ranking signals; and
• We do all of this in just a few seconds

Now, with all this talk of algorithms, image corpora and meta data, you may be wondering, "Why is Goggles in Labs?" The answer -- as you might guess -- lies in both the nascence of the technology, and the scope of our ambitions.

Computer vision, like all of Google's extra-sensory efforts, is still in its infancy. Today Goggles recognizes certain images in certain categories, but our goal is to return high quality results for any image. Today you frame and snap a photo to get results, but one day visual search will be as natural as pointing a finger -- like a mouse for the real world. Either way we've got plenty of work to do, so please download Goggles from Android Market and help us get started.

The Beginning of the Beginning

All of today's mobile announcements -- from Japanese Voice Search to a new version of Maps to Google Goggles -- are just early examples of what's possible when you pair sensor-rich devices with resources in the cloud. After all: we've only recently entered this new era, and we'll have more questions than answers for the foreseeable future. But something has changed. Computing has changed. And the possibilities inspire us.

Posted by Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Engineering

0 Google Search by voice travels the world, finds Nokia, learns Chinese

By Unknown | At 07.55 | Label : google mobile app , nokia , s60 , search by voice , voice search | 0 Comments

(cross-posted with Official Google Blog)

Google Search by voice has grown up quickly. Some might say that search by voice has matured from a toddler to a tween. It's certainly been traveling across the English-speaking world and getting better at understanding a range of accents, from the US, UK, India, and Australia. Today it's taking another big step � we're happy to announce that Google search by voice is available for Nokia S60 phones, and now understands Mandarin Chinese.

Nokia S60 phones are popular around the world. If you have an Nseries or Eseries phone such as the N95 or E71, you're using S60. Many of these phones have 12-digit keypads � good for making calls, but not so easy when you need to type a few words. Many of you have asked if we could build our search by voice feature for these phones, and we've been working on this feature for a while.

The new version of Google Mobile App places a shortcut to Google search on your Nokia phone's home screen, allowing you to search using your voice or by typing. You can search for anything � from "movie times", to "fish 'n chips", to "masala dosa." It doesn't matter if you're in London or Bangalore: we'll use your location to give you nearby results. And Google Mobile App shows search results in the application, so you don't have to wait for a web browser to launch to get an answer.

Although it has taken a little while to get this release ready, we have been planning the launch for some time as you can see from this footage from the archives.



Up until now voice search has only been available in English, but the new version of Google Mobile App for Nokia S60 devices works for Mandarin speakers, too. We're really proud of the work we've done with Mandarin speech recognition, both because it's the most spoken language in the world, and because of the engineering challenge. To get Mandarin speech recognition to work, we had to learn a lot about this fascinating language � the differences between traditional and simplified Chinese, its tonal characteristics, automatic segmentation of text into words, pinyin representations of Chinese characters, sandhi rules, the different accents and languages in China, unicode representations of Chinese character sets...the list goes on and on.

Mandarin speakers can now search by voice for complex queries like ?????????? (which translates to "water-boiled fish near Tsinghua University"). Although this only works on the Nokia S60 at the moment, we're working on adding support for Mandarin speech recognition to our products on other mobile platforms, such as Android and iPhone. And bear in mind that this is a first version of our system in Mandarin, and it might not be as polished as our English version. For example, if you have a strong southern Chinese accent, it might not work as well as for people with a Beijing accent. However, our system will improve over time, so please give it a try!


Google Mobile App in Mandarin Chinese

Note that the application is for version 3 of Nokia S60 - more recent phones running version 5 (touch screen) are not yet supported.

To download the new version of Google Mobile App on your Nokia S60 phone, visit m.google.com from your phone's browser. For questions and support, visit our Help Forum.

Posted by Elke Michlmayr, Software Engineer

0 Search by voice and transit directions come to Google Maps on Android

By Unknown | At 16.23 | Label : Android , google latitude , google maps , search by voice , transit | 0 Comments

Today we're releasing an upgrade to Google Maps for Android-powered phones. We've added a whole host of new features and fixed a few issues with Google Latitude.

You can now search Google Maps for Android using your voice, making it easier than ever to look up places while on the go. Whether you're searching for an address, a business, or nearby windsurfing spots, just speak your query and Google Maps will find it. Our voice recognition engine currently understands English in American, Australian, and British accents. After you search, you'll see a map of places. To help you decide where to go, we've improved our business listings to include content such as store hours, prices, ratings, and reviews.

We also added transit and walking directions to Google Maps for Android. You can now get directions using public transportation in over 250 cities, including New York City and San Francisco. If you're looking for the best route on foot, use walking directions to take advantage of pedestrian-only pathways and to avoid one-way restrictions - just in time for summer!

Google Maps for Android includes some big improvements to Google Latitude. We fixed an issue that caused background location updates to periodically stop for some of you. Now, once you select "Detect your location" from the Latitude privacy menu, your location will continue to update as long as your phone is on.

You may also notice a new experimental feature called Updates that lets you communicate with friends and post messages. Start Latitude and click the "Updates" tab to shout out updates at friends when they're at interesting locations, start a conversation when you're at your favorite restaurant, or just add more details to your Latitude location for your friends to see. Your friends will also need to download this new version of Google Maps for Android in order to use this experimental Updates feature -- they will not get your messages otherwise.

Unlike past Android software updates for the T-Mobile G1 or HTC Magic, the new Google Maps release won't be automatically pushed to your phone over the next few days. Instead, the upgrade is available for download in the Android Market. Just search for "Google Maps" and install today.

UPDATE: For those of you looking for Street View in Google Maps on Android, you'll find that we've integrated it more tightly with the rest of the app. Street View is no longer its own map mode. You can now check out Street View directly from any search result where imagery is available. You can also long-press any point on the map, in map view or satellite view, and you'll see a Street View thumbnail wherever imagery is available.

By Ole CaveLie and Chandan Pitta, Software Engineers