Google's Acquisitions Continues

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/facebook-microsoft-and-more-the-companies/

New features in GOOGLE MAPS

Google Maps Labs is a testing ground for experimental features that aren't quite ready for primetime. They may change, break or disappear at any time.

If such a feature breaks, and you're having trouble loading Maps, use this escape hatch:http://maps.google.co.in/maps?ftr=0.

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  Distance Measurement Tool

  Adam S, Andrey S, James M, Seth L

  Measure the distance of a path on the Earth
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  Short URL

  Ben A, Holly D

  Shorten the Maps "Link" to be a more compact URL.
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  Show Me Here!

  Cornelius Q

  Adds an option to the context menu that lets you zoom directly to the maximum zoom level at the point under the cursor.
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  Drag 'n' Zoom

  Dave D

  Zooming in on a specific part of the map is now fast and easy. Simply click the Drag 'n' Zoom button, draw a box on the map and zoom! You're there!

Google is confused, says Microsoft CEO

Ballmer said that in the past few years, India has become significant for Microsoft because of the increase in PC usage in the country

Source : http://www.ciol.com/News/News/News-Reports/Google-is-confused-says-Microsoft-CEO/136869/0/

NEW  DELHI, INDIA: The tussle for claiming leadership in cloud computing space seems to be getting hotter day-by-day. Steve Ballmer, chief executive, Microsoft Corporation did not hesitate to call Google a confused company, of course indirectly, over its concept of Chrome operating system which will be offered for free to users over cloud computing environment.

“At the end of the day, an operating system runs on a piece of hardware. When you say 'operating system in the cloud', it means that the operating system in the device communicates well with the cloud. Today Windows 7 does that brilliantly,” said Ballmer.

Whether it is Internet Explorer or Windows Update Service, Windows is fairly grounded in that position, claimed the Microsoft CEO, who is in India to promote Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud services platform.

“With Internet Explorer 9, we are doing even more. Best of Windows and best of Internet are coming together in it. You mention one of our competitors. Well, it seems that they are a little confused. They have started saying that no box-based operating system needed. To move on, I can’t state the difference between the two myself,” said Ballmer when asked about Microsoft's plan to offer operating system on cloud like Google’s Chrome operating system.

He claimed that his company is clear on concepts and have been approached by numerous companies for its cloud services. “We are strong players and people are coming after us.”

Ballmer mentioned that in the past few years, India has become significant for Microsoft because of the increase in PC usage in the country and improved protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).

“India is among top 5 or 6 PC markets in the world. This is a great sign for us.

Secondly, the significance of this market has increased because of the IPR issue. We have two big giants - the US and China. In the US, IPR is highly protected, in China it is not so well but in India we have seen improvement,” said Ballmer.

Talking about the cloud services platform, Ballmer expressed confidence that India would be one of the major users of cloud computing services.

“India will not only see a surge in consumption of cloud services, driving growth in domestic IT usage, but companies all over the world will look at India to support their transition to cloud computing. Microsoft is committed to helping businesses both in India and across the world to maximize business value by leveraging the benefits that the cloud offers,” said the Microsoft CEO.

On this occasion, Ballmer also inaugurated NIIT’s new course curriculum which will be used to train 100,000 students on Windows Azure over the next three years.