Google Street View has been added to Hong Kong, China.  Google started taking pictures from their cars in November.  Chien Lee Fung, Google’s Engineering Director of the research & development center of Google Taiwan and Hong Kong said that the names of buildings will be in English and Chinese.  Users can also upload images and videos in Hong Kong. [Xinhuanet.com]

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) launched a new service that involves their Street View service. Google Street View now accepts user-generated photos to build a pseudo-3D panorama. This service is similar to Photosynth, a service launched by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in 2008. By allowing users to submit photos to Street View, it could give an additional perspective to different places. [GigaOM]

The European government recently brought an anti-trust case against Google and now they want them to delete the Google Street View service in Europe. Google Street View went live in the U.K. last year and allows map users to zoom in to the street level. One of the problems that people have with Street View is that some of the images that are captured by Street View may be incriminating.

Apparently the European Union believes that this is a “data-protection” issue. “I expect that all companies play according to the rules of the game,” stated EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.

What I like best about Google Street View is that the service has captured some of the funniest pictures that I’ve ever seen. Last month I put together a top 100 list of some of the best Google Street View pictures. Check ‘em out here.
[ComputerWorld]

Fiat’s $550 Million Plant In Mexico City

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Fiat plans to invest $550 million in a Chrysler plant outside of Mexico City to assemble Fiat 500 vehicles. The $550 million investment will be financed mostly by loans from Mexican development plants. [Edmunds]

Nissan Going To Have A Booth At Chicago Auto Show

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Even though Nissan skipped having a booth at the Detroit Auto Show, they will be attending the auto show in Chicago. Nissan will have about 1,000 on-site at the Chicago Auto Show which is about 300 more than what they showcased in Detroit. [EGMCarTech]

Navigon iPhone App Going Social

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Navigon has announced that they will be updating their iPhone GPS application to support social features. There will be in-app connections to Twitter and Facebook. There will also be Panorama View 3D views that is being powered by NASA data. [CNET]

Street View Snowmobile

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Google Street View is now being used on the snowy hills of Vancouver. Google was able to take pictures using a Google Street View snowmobile vehicle. Unfortunately, they captured a picture of someone sticking up their middle finger. The photo was taken at Whistler to prepare for the Winter Olympics. [Jalopnik]

BMW Sales Up 16.6%

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BMW has announced that they have seen a 16.6% increase in sales for the month of January. They sold about 82,120 vehicles across their BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce brand of cars. [BMWBlog]

Honda Recalls 378K Cars Over Airbags

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Honda is recalling 378,000 additional vehicles because of air bag issues. The force in which the air bag deploys might be too forceful and affects certain Honda cars. Last year Honda had to recall 440,000 vehicles for the same reason. Cars affected include 2001-2002 Accords, Civics, Odysseys and CR-Vs. And 2002 Acura TLs may also be affected. [NYT]

Google Street View is a feature within Google Maps and allows visitors to view maps at 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views. The service was launched on May 25, 2007 and is increasingly expanding to other cities. The countries that are currently supported on Street View include United States, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.

Here is a list of the Top 100 funny Google Street View images out there as of right now:

100. Woman adjusting her bra in the store reflection (status: Picture still remains [link])
Location: 432 N Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, CA, United States

99. There is a reason why I try not to eat at KFC that much any more (status: Picture still remains [link])
Location: 30 Cornmarket St, Oxford, England, United Kingdom

98. Biggest chicken I’ve ever seen (status: Picture still remains [link])
Location: 110 Holly St, Nampa, ID, United States

97. Who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS! (status: Picture still remains [link])
Location: Columbia Ave, West View, PA, United States

96. Man caught kissing a bird (status: Picture still remains [link])
Location: No. 48, Dà East Rd, Shihlin District Taipei City, Taiwan 111

95. Mystery of Sherlock Holmes’ location on Street View has been solved (status: Picture still remains [link])
Location: Trumpington St / Benet St / King’s Parade, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom

(more…)

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Street View has found some bizarre stuff as they roll around in the Google cars with the 360 degree cameras. This picture is probably the most disturbing I have seen. NY1 anchor Pat Kieman pointed out the Street View picture this morning. Google Street View has removed the picture shortly after. The picture was taken at the corner of 29th Street and Park Avenue in New York City.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Street View is one of the most popular, yet notorious services offered by the search engine company. Just yesterday I wrote about how a couple of dudes went on a Virtual Road Trip using the service. Pompeii, the town-city that lies in ruins but is a tourist attraction has landed on Google Street View. Pompeii was destroyed and buried by the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius across two days in 79 AD [Street View].

Marc Horowitz and Peter Baldes went on a Google Maps Road Trip. This was the first cross country virtual road trip which took about 9 days. Marc and Peter explored the country using Google Street View and they used the arrows to drive across the country without actually physically driving a car. Marc has done many social experiments in the past.

The trip started in Los Angeles and the final destination was Peter’s actual house in Richmond, Virginia. The whole trip was broadcast on UStream. Pete was on his iPhone and used all of his 4,000 rollover minutes. The trip was made as realistic as possible. For example if the pair arrived at a landmark, they would pull up a YouTube video about it.

When they would stop at a restaurant on the virtual map, they would actually run out to a local fast food place and grab actual food and bring up the background of the restaurant and talk. When they would stop to sleep, the pair would call up a hotel. Since the whole broadcast was live on UStream, there was a chat room where people would enter and give some suggestions of places to go. Essentially the pair picked up about 150 “virtual hitchhikers.” A lot of people spent the whole trip with them in the chat room.