Google Earth, the popular mapping service, has been optimised for Android Honeycomb devices. A 3D mapping software has especially been optimised for Honeycomb, which means for the first time buildings could be viewed in three dimensions on Android tablets as well.
Peter Birch, a Google product manager, wrote in a blog post, “When we launched Google Earth in 2005, most of us were still using flip phones. At the time, the thought of being able to cart around 197 million square miles of Earth in your pocket was still a distant dream. Last year, that dream came to fruition for Android users when we released Google Earth for Android.”

He added, “We’ve added support for fully textured 3-D buildings, so your tour through the streets of Manhattan will look more realistic than ever. There’s also a new action bar up top, enabling easier access to search, the option to ‘fly to your location’ and layers such as Places, Panoramio photos, Wikipedia and 3-D buildings.”

The blog post likens the movement from smartphone to the tablets to watching a movie in theatre to IMAX theatre.
Surprisingly, the iPad version of Google Earth was available for the users earlier whereas the Honeycomb version has been launched now.

Most smartphone users are concerned about privacy while using mobile applications, a survey has found.

Facebook and Apple have recently faced privacy related issues for sharing user data. This may have LED to heightened privacy concerns amongst smartphone users. According to the survey conducted by a private consultancy, TRUSTe, 38 per cent of smartphone users termed privacy as their “number one concern” when using mobile applications, with “nearly all” respondents stating that they want “more transparency and control over what personal information is collected and how it is shared.”

Only 38 per cent of respondents feel confident that mobile apps will protect their privacy, while 25 per cent believe that their App store stocks apps that safeguard their personal information.

But if we look at the top 340 free applications, only 19 per cent have a link to a privacy policy, which clearly demonstrates that people don’t really have control and there is no transparency as far as privacy is concerned.

These concerns are also having a real effect on application use. Some 40 per cent of those surveyed do not use mobile applications or mobile websites that ask for or use their personal information, while 38 per cent state that they do not access their online accounts via mobile devices at all.

Fran Maier, president and executive chair of TRUSTe says, “This survey makes it crystal clear that privacy concerns are a huge stumbling block to consumer usage of applications and websites on smartphones.”

The online survey of 1,000 users in the USA, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that other areas of worry included security (26 per cent), identity tracking (19 per cent) and sharing information “with or without permission” (14 per cent).

According to the poll, 85 per cent of customers want to “opt in” or “opt out” of targeted mobile advertisements, with 74 per cent stating that they do not like the idea of being tracked by advertisers.

Lack of consumer confidence can be judged by the fact that only 36 per cent of customers feel they have a choice regarding the collection and use of their location information; while less than one third of respondents said that their smartphone alerts them when location information is being gathered, a complaint that is significantly more common among iPhone users.

In India, however, the situation might be somewhat different as consumers here are not very concerned about their privacy yet, although awareness about it is gradually increasing.

Google Maps, a free navigation service on Android, has added Search History functionality in a bid to give users an enriching experience. Along with that, now all the places of interest marked on Google Maps come with added information detailing the areas.

Google Maps has recently added a host of other functionalities such as Latitude information and Turn by Turn navigation.

The beta version of Google Maps has also come up with a Destination Not There feature that allows users to report issues with the navigation system. This will help other users and will also help Google to give more accurate navigation in future.

Other functionality like Latitude, 3 Dimensional View and Hotspots will continue to be part of Google Maps.

There is no news on the offline version of Google Maps that, like Nokia Ovi maps, would allow users to browse navigation without having an active internet connection.

The Reserve Bank of India has increased the maximum amount that you can store in your m-wallet (mobile wallet) to Rs 50,000 from current Rs 5,000. It has also relaxed the daily transaction limit for this growing segment.

Through a notification, RBI has announced the move attributing it to “the potential of such mobile-based prepaid instruments for promoting non-cash based transactions and the interest evinced by non-bank (like Mobile operators) entities in promoting these products”.
The success of the m-wallet system in the country can be judged by the fact that of the 39 banks, that were granted approval for mobile banking, 34 banks have launched the mobile banking services.

On an average, 6.8 lakh transactions amounting to 61 crore in a month are settled through this channel.

RBI has also relaxed the daily limit of transaction without the need for end to end Encryption from current Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. What this basically means is that it will become easier to transfer up to Rs 5,000 daily through your m-wallet account.

The move has come after intense lobbying from banks and other stakeholders like mobile operators, who argued that Rs 5,000 transaction limit is too little to let the m-wallet system grow.

Leading mobile operators Bharti airtel and Vodafone had tied up with SBI and ICICI Bank respectively to offer such facilities to their subscribers. However, only Airtel has so far launched an m-wallet that too in Delhi NCR only. After this relation it is expected that the launches will happen sooner. Idea cellular has also launched an m-wallet service in partnership with Axis bank.