Google's mission to make the world's information universally accessible took
an incredibly ambitious turn in 2007
when they launched the Street View project to give users a glimpse into
what places all over the world actually look like at street level everywhere
from New Delhi to that Delhi down the
street. But how were they able to capture images from so many places? The
idea actually started out pretty simply. A special camera attached to the top of
a car and lots and lots and lots of
driving. Google initially worked with a company called Immersive Media to use a
12sided camera that could replace early clunky prototypes that looked something
like uh luggage sitting on a rack on top of your uncle's van. Shortly thereafter,
Google was able to create its own cameras, which look like small spheres
with lenses all over the outside, allowing Google to capture 360° views of
streets and landmarks as the vehicle was in motion. These cameras also contained
no moving parts to allow them to be more reliable out in the field, especially
important for driving through areas with extreme climate conditions. They also
feature lasers that scan the environment to create 3D models that allow people
using Street View to doubleclick on a spot that they want to see and have the
service show them that particular point accurately. After these cameras take
pictures of their surroundings, images from the individual lenses are stitched
together to create one continuous panoramic shot that you can scroll
around in easily in street view. While most shots come out looking decent, you
do occasionally see instances where the stitching didn't exactly work as
intended, which come out as street signs that are cut in half or even people that
appear to be missing arms or heads. Yikes. But despite the minor hiccups,
Street View continued to expand both its camera technology and its footprint
around the globe. Currently, Google not only has a standard fleet of cars to
capture street view images, but also a special backpack with a similar camera
attached to allow users to see views of hardto-reach places. A trolley that's
been used to provide looks inside places like museums and stadiums, tricycles for
narrow streets like you might find in Europe, and even snowmobiles that have
been used at the Winter Olympic Games. Partly due to the versatility of
Google's camera technology, they've been able to add more and more locations
around the Earth every year. And although the project started out just
covering major urban areas in the United States, Street View now has images of
public streets and roads in over 80 countries and dependencies and views of
landmarks in many, many more. Users are
now also able to submit their own panoramic shots, adding to Street View's
presence, especially in areas where Google hasn't taken their cameras yet.
Street View also now works with Google Cardboard, allowing you to experience
locations around the world in virtual reality with your smartphone. Not a bad
idea if you really wanted to see some far-off location, but uh can't afford to
get on a plane. But as useful as Street View has been, many have expressed
concerns over privacy. After all, the whole project is based around recording
everything that it can in public view.
Generally speaking, people have little to no legal expectation of privacy when
they're driving or walking on a public street. Although Google has had to
settle legal disputes in a few places over this issue, they've had a
long-standing policy of trying to blur things like faces or license plates that
its cameras capture, especially with Street View getting looks at uh people
engaged in some questionable activities.
But even with Google's attempts to at least somewhat protect the privacy of
the people its cameras see, I still wouldn't recommend, you know, being out
on your lawn nude sunbathing if you know that there's a street view car in the
neighborhood. Speaking of the neighborhood, fresh books, let's say,
for example, you cut lawns in the neighborhood or do yard work or you're a
plumber or you make small arts and crafts projects or you paint murals or
whatever else it is you do for your small business. Fresh Books is on a
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more stressed. No, that would be the opposite, less stressed with their easy
to use tool for crafting and sending professional invoices in seconds. And
that feels like a really old talking point because FreshBooks does so much
more than that. It allows you to track your expenses by taking pictures of your
receipts and it basically does the rest. It allows you to collect deposits from
customers, like if you're a painter, for example, and you need to purchase
material before you show up on the job site and you want to make sure you don't
get screwed over on something like that. It allows you to not only send the
invoices, but see if the customer has viewed it and request payment directly
through the app and just generally continues to improve over time. And the
best part about it is you can try FreshBooks for free for 30 days by going
to freshbooks.com/techquicki which is linked in the video description
and entering techquicky in the how did you hear about us section. Try it out.
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