Remains of the Day: Google Maps 3D Landmarks Get a Makeover [For What It's Worth]

 Google's models get more curves, Virgin Mobile's data network goes dark, and LTE iPad owners may want to do without March Madness in the car.

Introducing More Detailed 3D Landmarks on Google Maps: Google updated more than 1000 Maps landmarks with more detailed 3D models to help travellers translate map data to their physical surroundings. [Google Lat Long Blog]Virgin Mobile USA Hit with 18 Hour Text and Data Outage: The company acknowledged the outage via their Facebook page and updated today with an apology, but no explanation. Sprint, who hosts Virgin's services on their network, had no similar problems. [Neowin]Video Speed Trap Lurks in New iPad: New iPad owners are burning through their mobile data plans just days or even hours after activating the devices, after watching a couple movies or ballgames. Video streams are tempting with the iPad's fast LTE networks and stunning display, but current data plans can't keep up. [Wall Street Journal]Citizen Cosponsor Project: Congressional Majority Leader Eric Cantor launched a Facebook app today to let the site's users comment on and symbolically cosponsor pending legislation. [Majority Leader]Current Google Wallet Customers Given $5 on Prepaid Cards for All the Provisioning Hassles: Google emailed Wallet users today that they can once again connect and refill Google Prepaid Cards, after a month of disabling and rearranging features to address security issues. Wallet users will find an extra $5 on their cards for the inconvenience. [The Verge]Three Major Online Dating Sites Agree to Screen for Predators: Match.com, eHarmony and Spark Networks reached a voluntary agreement with the California Attorney General to screen more actively for scams and sex offenders, while educating users and improving abuse report systems. [Mashable]

Remains of the Day: Google Finds Itself in More Hot Water [For What It's Worth]

Google is in trouble again, Verizon iPad works with an AT&T Micro-SIM, and custom content in Google Earth comes to mobile devices.

Google Faces New Federal Investigation Over Safari Hack [REPORT]: Already in the midst of a Federal Trade Commission antitrust investigation, Google is now facing a new probe via the European Commission, as well as the U.S. and federal authorities. This comes as a result of Google bypassing privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser that tracked users on both the desktop and iPhone versions of Safari. A Google representative has confirmed these probes do exist in a statement to the Wall Street Journal: "We will of course cooperate with any officials who have questions. But it's important to remember that we didn't anticipate this would happen, and we have been removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers." [Mashablel]New Verizon iPad Runs on AT&T 3G Networks With AT&T Micro-SIM: What do you get when you insert an AT&T micro-SIM card into a Verizon iPad? An iPad with a data plan! Today, user jsnuff1 confirmed on the Mac Rumors forums that he inserted his AT&T iPhone 4S SIM card into his Verizon iPad, and "the data worked." However, by going this route, your Verizon iPad will only be limited to non-LTE bands. [Mac Rumors]Access Custom Google Earth Content on Your Mobile Device: If you have been awaiting the day when you could view custom maps on your mobile device, now is the time for celebration. Today, Google has announced that Google Earth 6.2 for Android and iOS will support custom content (KMLs). In addition, Google has also released the Google Earth Gallery in the mobile app as well. [Google Lat Long Blog]Ready for Your New iPad: High-Res Readability: If you have become a fan of Readability, you will be glad to know that Readability for the new iPad is now available in the App Store. It features a high-resolution retina display that makes reading on the web a breeze. [Readability Blog]

Remains of the Day: Another Push Against Piracy [For What It's Worth]

RIAA CEO and Chairman claims that ISPs will start policing copyright this Summer, Google is in the works of "jump starting" its search formula, and Apple will give you credit for your old iPad.

RIAA chief: ISPs to Start Policing Copyright by July 12: Today, the RIAA CEO and Chairman Cary Sherman gave word that several ISPs such as Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon are in place to start policing a program that would target piracy. Every ISP that is taking part in the program would have their own plan that would essentially give users "warnings" when caught downloading and/or uploading copyrighted content. Every ISP would handle how they deal with pirating differently, with some ISPs throttling and others temporarily suspending web access. Interestingly enough, no ISP has stated they will ultimately "pull the plug" on a user's Internet connection no matter how many times they are caught pirating. [CNET]Google Gives Search a Refresh: Google is reshaping its web-search formula through a technology known as "semantic search." Through this technology, the search engine will match search queries with a database of millions upon millions of of "entities," (i.e. people, places, things, etc.) and will associate different words with one another. As Amit Singhal, a top Google search executive put it, Google search will appear much more like, "how humans understand the world." [The Wall Street Journal]Apple Will Give You Credit for Your Old iPad: If you are wanting to purchase the new iPad yet you do not want to spend the full amount during your purchase, you may want to think about trading your older model to Apple. Apple will calculate a price they will give to you, to which they will send you a Apple Gift Card that you can apply to the purchase of the new iPad. [Mashablel]Exclusive: Microsoft Office 15 Will Include Third-Party 'Agaves' Web Extensions: Get ready developers, as you are going to soon have the opportunity to create "Agaves" web extensions in Microsoft Office 15. In the latest edition of the Office suite, web developers will be able to create an area inside of an Office program that allows webpages to interact with documents and insert special features into the content of said document. The "Agaves" extensions will be downloadable via Microsoft's Office Marketplace. [The Verge]Making Our Ads Better For Everyone: Google is cracking down on companies that abuse its ad system by implementing new strategies and technologies that will keep "less than reputable" companies from posting ads that appear on Google and Google's partner sites. [Google]Evernote for iOS Update: iPad Retina Display Support, Better Editing, Suggested Note Titles, and More:Evernote isn't pulling any punches with its new iOS update. The popular app now features retina support for the iPad, improves text editing considerably, includes suggested note titles, and much more. [Evernote]More Retina Display Updates: If you are excited about the Retina display on the new iPad, then you will be glad to know that popular apps such as Kindle, flickr HD, and Skitch are being updated to take advantage of this special feature. [Macworld]

Remains of the Day: DVDs Imported to iTunes Now Stream to Your iDevices [For What It's Worth]

 Apple quietly moves your DVDs to the cloud, The Pirate Bay anticipates another raid, and Intuit finally makes Quicken 2007 Lion-compliant.

You Can Now Stream Many of Your DVDs From iTunes in the Cloud: iTunes Digital Copies of your DVDs and Blu-rays now get synced to your iTunes in the Cloud library for streaming, as long as the title is found in the iTunes store. [Gizmodo]Leaked: Police Plan to Raid The Pirate Bay: The Pirate Bay claims inside information about new warrants secretly issued in an ongoing investigation by Swedish authorities, but the site is confident it can weather any future raids. [TorrentFreak]Quicken 2007 and Lion Will Play Nice for $15: Intuit released Quicken for Lion this week, a long-awaited Mac update to their flagship financial software, supporting both OS X Lion's Intel architecture and files from past Quicken releases. [Macworld]Apple Shutting Down iWork.com on July 31 Amid Transition to iCloud: After languishing in beta for years, the service is being dropped in favor of iCloud syncing, with no word whether iWork's planned collaboration features will find their way into iCloud or some other product in the future. [Macrumors]Apple Pushing Back Initial iPad Orders in UK as Shipments to US Customers Begin: With launch inventory exhausted, pre-orders in the US should be arriving late next week, while several UK customers are reporting revised delivery dates early the following week. [Macrumors]Lenovo Recalls 160,000 PCs Due to Fire Risk: A fault in the power supplies of certain Lenovo M70z and M90z all-in-one PCs has been deemed a fire hazard by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, following a couple incidents of smoke or fire. [Neowin]Related Stories

Remains of the Day: Delayed Again, iPad? [For What It's Worth]

 You may not have your iPad by this time next week, Microsoft researchers create a way for your voice to speak multiple languages, and Google's attempt to thwart hackers blows up in their face.

iPad Shipping Time Now 2 to 3 Weeks: If you pre-ordered Apple's new iPad, then you may have to wait longer than you anticipated. While Apple initially stated those pre-ordering the new iPad would receive it on March 16 (only to have it bumped up to March 19 soon after the announcement of the new iPad on March 7), it seems as if you will have to wait even longer. According to Apple's website, the estimated shipping time is approximately "2-3 weeks." [Mashable]Software Translates Your Voice into Another Language: The researchers over at Microsoft have developed software that is able to learn the sound of your voice, then use your voice to speak another language. In theory, if you ever wanted to communicate with someone who speaks Chinese but you do not, all you would have to do is use this software and they would hear your voice speaking fluent Chinese. [Technology Review]Google's Trap for Chrome Exploit Writers Leads to Crashes for Users: In hopes that contestants at this year's Pwn2Own contest would not use a Flash exploit to hack Chrome, Google restricted the allowed size of Flash JIT (just-in-time) pages to a value that these types of exploits would exceed. However, it caused an array of problems Google did not anticipate, such as interfering with Flash games such as Sims Social and applications such as Audiotool and Paychex Online. [Computer World]AT&T to Expand LTE Network to Cleveland, New Orleans and Others: AT&T is expected to release LTE in twelve new cities in the next few months. AT&T users that live in cities such as Staten Island, St. Louis, Naples, FL, Bryan-College Station, TX and more will all have the ability to use the LTE network. [TUAW]Dropbox's URL Shortener Abused by Spammers: Those pesky spammers are always finding new ways to sell you questionable products you do not need, and the newest way they are trying to spam you is via Dropbox's URL shortener. Since Dropbox contains a public folder that allows anyone to create a link to view a particular file in the folder, spammers are sending shortened URLs to images that contain a spam page along with a link to the website selling the product displayed in the image. How prevalent is this method of spam? According to Nick Johnston, a senior software engineer at Symantec, they saw, "…over 1,200 unique Dropbox URLs being used in spam over a 48-hour period. We have informed Dropbox, providing them with the full list of URLs." [Macworld]

Title image remixed from "Ersler Dmitry" (Shutterstock).

Remains of the Day: Rough Seas for The Pirate Bay? [For What It's Worth]

A new Pirate Bay investigation looks to be underway, early birds will get the iPad first on Friday morning, and the popular mobile browser Dolphin arrives on the Blackberry Playbook.

Domain Registrar Confirms New Pirate Bay Investigation: It seems a new investigation is underway in an attempt to shut down the popular file-sharing site. Confirmed by The Pirate Bay's hosting company Binero, they have stated that they have received a letter from police instructing them to reveal personal details regarding the individuals that registered The Pirate Bay domain name. However, Binero says they are not giving up information without a warrant, stating, "We will not share any information about our customers until there is a court order, or when a prosecutor can refer to an applicable law. In this case, we have answered the questions with information that's already available through Whois services." [Torrent Freak]New iPad to go on Sale at 8 a.m. Friday: If you want to purchase the new iPad from your favorite retailer this Friday, you will have to get up extra (or not sleep at all) if you want to purchase one, as it will go on sale at 8 a.m. local time. [Macworld]Dolphin Browser now Available for BlackBerry Playbook: One of our favorite mobile browsers, Dolphin, is now available for the BlackBerry Playbook. [Dolphin]Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich Updates: HTC has announced plans for releasing Ice Cream Sandwich to several of their devices. In a blog post, HTC reveals a list of devices that will receive ICS in the near future. For the moment, HTC is releasing Android 4.0 for the HTC Sensation and HTC Sensation XE, with more updates to follow. While there isn't a strict schedule stating when devices will start to receive ICS, HTC does stress that the timeframe for receiving Ice Cream Sandwich for your device depends on your location (and of course, which device you are using). [HTC]Austin's Other Event: A Class Action, Mobile App Privacy Lawsuit Filed Against Facebook, Twitter, Apple, 15 Others: Three Austin law firms are out to make a huge splash this week, and the timing could not have been better. Edwards Law, Carl F. Schwenker, and the Jordan Law Firm announced in the middle of SXSW this week that they are filing a class action lawsuit against 18 companies behind some of today's most popular mobile apps, including Twitter, Facebook, Path, and Yelp!. The reasoning? Because the firms believe these companies are taking data from users without their permission, and that the personal data is not theirs to take without the consent of the user. [TechCrunch]Google+ Updated with Photo Album Organizer, Batch Delete and Sorting Functionality in Tow: Google released several new photo-organizing features for their social network, Google+. [Engadget]

Title image remixed from "Dwight Smith" (Shutterstock).

Remains of the Day: Mozilla Reminds Us that Do Not Track Was Their Idea [For What It's Worth]

Mozilla asks Obama and Google, "What took you so long?" Circles come to Google Voice, and Bing's Linked Pages may not be great for search.

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Remains of the Day: Your Photos Are Not Safe on an Android Device Either [For What It's Worth]

Android devices have the same security flaw as iOS devices, law enforcement does not need a warrant to search your phone, and AT&T clears up the confusion regarding what an unlimited data plan really means.

Et Tu, Google? Android Apps Can Also Secretly Copy Photos: Your photos are not safe on your Android device either. According to Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer of Lookout, "We can confirm that there is no special permission required for an app to read pictures. This is based on Lookout's findings on all devices we've tested." In fact, the only permission an app needs to access your stored photos are privileges to access the Internet. Currently, it is unknown whether any apps are abusing this privilege or not. [The New York Times]Court: Warrantless Cell Phone Searches Legal: If you think your local law enforcement needs a warrant to search your cell phone, think again. This decision was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeal for the 7th Circuit in a case in which prosecutors used evidence found in a defendant's cell phone. The defendant's defense attorney appealed the use of the evidence, stating police should have issued a search warrant before the search. Ultimately, the judge panel concluded a search warrant was unneeded, stating, "It's not even clear that we need a rule of law specific to cell phones or other computers. If police are entitled to open a pocket diary to copy the owner's address, they should be entitled to turn on a cell phone to learn its number." [CNET]AT&T Sets Clearer Limits on ‘Unlimited' Plans: For those that have been wondering what exactly AT&T limits in their unlimited data plan, wonder no more. Today, AT&T cleared up the confusion by stating that if you have a third-generation smartphone, you are given approximately three gigabytes of bandwidth per month. If you go over this amount, you become a candidate for throttling. Additionally, if you have a newer smartphone that connects with AT&T's 4G LTE network, you are given five gigabytes per month before throttling may begin. [The New York Times]OnLive Brings Windows Desktops in Cloud to Android: Android users who are jealous of OnLive Desktop for iOS do not have to remain jealous any longer, as the app is available in the Android Market as of today. Android users who have either a tablet and/or smartphone can use the app, making running instances of Windows 7 via the web simple, no matter if you users on a wireless connection or even a mobile broadband connection. [GigaOM]Chrome to be Deployed on State Department Computers Worldwide: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked a simple question: "What can be done about Internet Explorer's slow update process?" What was the answer she received? Use Google Chrome, and that's exactly what the Department of State is doing. As a result of Google's exciting news, they are expected to release a blog post that will detail their arrangement with the Department of State. [Geek]
Title image remixed from Oleksiy Mark (Shutterstock).Related Stories

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Fifty years on, Glenn's flight remains a giant leap

John Glenn, the enduring face of America's early space program, blasted off and into history 50 years ago today, kicking off NASA's bid to catch up with the Russians in the Cold War space race.

John Glenn climbs into the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule on Feb. 20, 1962, to await launch on America's first orbital spaceflight.

(Credit: NASA)

Seconds away from liftoff, astronaut John Glenn monitored the instruments in his cramped Mercury capsule, listening intently as fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter called out milestones in the final moments of a tense countdown.

Earlier attempts to launch Glenn on America's first orbital spaceflight had been scrubbed by technical snags and bad weather. But this time around, the Atlas rocket, the Friendship 7 capsule, and the weather cooperated, clearing the way for the long-awaited, high-stakes attempt to reach orbit.

Millions across the nation and around the world hung on every word from mission control, gathered around black-and-white television sets and radios. Daily activity virtually ground to a halt while the drama played out in Florida.

In a blockhouse near the launchpad, legendary test conductor Thomas "T.J." O'Malley pushed a button to start the final launch sequence, saying softly "Good Lord ride all the way."

Carpenter famously added "Godspeed, John Glenn," and counted down the final 10 seconds while the nation held its collective breath.

"...five, four, three, two, one, zero," Carpenter said as the Atlas rocket, its main engine roaring and belching a brilliant plume of fiery exhaust, climbed away from Cape Canaveral.

"Roger, the clock is operating, we're under way!" Glenn called out, his heart rate climbing to a relatively modest 110 beats per minute.

It was 9:47 a.m., Feb. 20, 1962--50 years ago today--and America had a new hero.

Mercury Atlas 6 blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

(Credit: NASA)

The Soviet Union had shocked the world on Oct. 4, 1957, when it successfully launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite. The Russians followed that triumph by launching Yuri Gagarin into orbit on April 12, 1961, the first human in space.

Under enormous pressure to catch up with the Russians on the high frontier, NASA launched Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961, and Virgil "Gus" Grissom on July 21. But both of those flights aboard modest Redstone rockets were suborbital, up-and-down missions lasting about 15 minutes each.

Capitalizing on their role as the early leader in what came to be known as the "space race," the Soviets launched cosmonaut Gherman Titov just a few weeks later on a 17-orbit mission that dwarfed NASA's accomplishments to that point.

"They beat us out. They gave us a double whammy," Carpenter said, recalling Glenn's flight 50 years after the fact. "Not only did they get the honor of the first man in space, but they sent him...into orbital flight. That was a double whammy for them. Who knew that better than Al Shepard? He was very disappointed that Yuri robbed him of the first-man-in-space title.... That only inspired all of us here to do better work."

Enter John Glenn and Mercury Atlas 6.

The clean-cut Marine Corps test pilot, veteran of 59 combat missions in World War 2 and 63 during the Korean War, was selected by NASA as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts.

While many at the time believed Shepard's selection to fly the first suborbital mission put him at the top of the astronaut hierarchy, it was Glenn who ultimately became the enduring face of America's space program, riding the Atlas rocket into American history.

"We needed someone to symbolize that we weren't going to stay behind in space," said John Logsdon, a space policy analyst and an expert on the U.S. space program. "This was after a very bad '61 with the threat of war over Berlin and Kennedy's administration slow getting started and the country's mood was not great.

"Glenn, I think, radiated a sense of competence and, if you want, 'American-ness' that made him kind of ideally suited for the role of the first U.S. person to go into orbit. He carried it off with such style, a combination of humility and grace."

The Atlas rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile, had its share of problems during testing, which added drama to Glenn's flight. Glenn laughed when asked recently whether he was nervous about riding it for the first time.

"I think the first 18 or 20 Atlases that fired, I think they had a 45 percent failure rate, that's the figure I remember," he said. "The first time they took us (the Mercury 7 astronauts) down there to see a booster launch, we'd never seen a launch, and they took us down for a night launch and the thing blew at high Q at 27,000 feet right over our heads. It looked like an atomic bomb going off.

"Anyway, they came back and improved the whole thing and had several straight successes and had the problems worked out before I got on the thing. But it was something we were very concerned about at the time."

John Glenn, wearing a Mercury spacesuit, awaits launch.

(Credit: NASA)

As it turned out, Glenn's Atlas performed flawlessly, boosting his Friendship 7 capsule to 17,500 mph in about 5 minutes and 20 seconds. When the capsule separated from the rocket, it was programmed to immediately turn around, putting its heat shield forward, in case of a problem that might force an emergency re-entry.

"Zero G and I feel fine," Glenn, now weightless, reported from orbit. "Capsule is turning around. Oh, that view is tremendous!"

Glenn's memory of that day remains razor-sharp, telling CBS News in an interview that "it seems more like a couple of weeks ago to me, because that fight was pretty well indelibly impressed on my memory back in that time."

Despite the fire and thunder associated with rocket launches, Glenn said the Atlas was "very gentle" at first because the thrust of the booster barely exceeded its weight. But as the propellants were consumed and the rocket got lighter, it steadily accelerated, pushing Glenn into his contoured seat with nearly eight times the normal force of gravity on the way to orbit.

"When I hit orbit up there, I said, I think it was 'zero G and I feel fine.' I think the next thing I said was 'that view is tremendous!' ... It was right after detachment from the booster, from the Atlas, that I turned around and it went immediately into retro attitude, which was nose down a little bit looking back along the flight path. I could look back clear across Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico, and it was beautiful. I couldn't believe the view."

Other than a relatively minor but persistent attitude control problem that prompted Glenn to fly the capsule manually, Friendship 7 performed smoothly as it raced around the planet, giving the astronaut spectacular views of the Earth below. He even enjoyed a salute from the residents of Perth, Australia, who turned on their lights as the capsule passed over.

But at the start of his second orbit, telemetry from a sensor indicated the spacecraft's heat shield was not locked in place. If the telemetry was correct, the straps holding the capsule's braking rockets in place were all that stood between Glenn and a fiery death during re-entry.

Glenn was not immediately told about the concern, an omission he believes was a mistake.

"There was some little chatter back and forth about did I hear any bumping on the spacecraft and things like that," Glenn recalled. "I know they were concerned they were going to rattle your cage up there and lead you to do something wrong. The best safety thing I thought was to give the astronaut every bit of information at the earliest possible time."

The shuttle Discovery takes off in 1998 carrying John Glenn on a second trip to orbit. At age 77, he becomes the oldest astronaut in space.

(Credit: NASA)

Asked if he realized what was going on at the time, Glenn said "there was only one thing they could be talking about. And so I knew, but it was a little irksome they didn't just come out and tell me until later, just before retro fire."

After completing three orbits, Glenn headed back to Earth. He was told not to jettison the retro rockets in hopes the straps holding them in place would secure the heat shield, if it was loose, during the critical early moments of re-entry.

Approaching the West Coast of the United States, Glenn fired Friendship 7's three braking rockets one at a time and began his descent to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

Flying manually to maintain stability, Glenn could see flaming debris flying past his window.

No one, Glenn included, knew whether the debris was the remnants of his retro rockets burning off or the heat shield itself.

"Seven, this is Cape," Mission Control radioed. "What's your general condition? Are you feeling pretty well?"

"My condition is good," Glenn replied to everyone's relief, "but that was a real fireball. Boy. I had great chunks of that retropack breaking off all the way through."

Glenn returned to a hero's welcome, meeting with President Kennedy at the White House and enjoying a ticker-tape parade in New York. The Mercury program ran its course and NASA transitioned to two-man Gemini spacecraft to perfect orbital rendezvous techniques before pressing ahead with the Apollo moon program.

Glenn wanted to fly again, but NASA management would not assign him to a flight. In 1965, Glenn got tired of waiting and resigned from NASA.

"I didn't know until many years later, when a biography of JFK came out, that he apparently had indicated to NASA that he'd just as soon I wasn't used again, at least not right away," Glenn told reporters at a news briefing February 17. "I don't know what his motivations were.... There had been so much national attention on us at that time that I suppose it could have been bad if something had happened on a second flight."

After a stint in private industry, Glenn went on to a distinguished career in the U.S. Senate and in the mid 1990s lobbied for a flight aboard the space shuttle. Then NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin ultimately gave his blessing and Glenn, then 77, blasted off a second time in October 1998 aboard the shuttle Discovery.

Despite the bigger windows on the shuttle, it was his first view of Earth during his four-hour 55-minute flight aboard Friendship 7 that remains the most vivid memory.

"Oh, I think, yeah, that was the one that was a shock," he said. "It wasn't so much the type of window you were looking out of, which was bigger, of course, on the shuttle, but it was the view you were looking out at. The first time you see that, it's sort of breathtaking."

Corrected at 5:30 a.m. PST: Correcting mission duration.

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