Google's legal department has another pressing case on its hands, this time courtesy of location-services provider Skyhook Wireless.

Google was sued in both federal and state court in Massachusetts Wednesday by Skyhook over patent infringement claims as well as what GigaOm called "business interference," according to its report. Skyhook is claiming that Google used its control over Android and Google Maps to bar Skyhook's mapping technology from Motorola's Android handsets in favor of the search company's own technology, and that Google's mapping technology violates four Skyhook patents.

Specifically, the complaint regarding business interference … Read more

Google's buying spree continued Monday with its purchase of Quicksee, a company blending home videos with geolocation services.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the deal would cost Google around $10 million. Quicksee allows users to upload videos they have shot of buildings or public places and tag them on Quicksee's site so that others can watch a video walk-through of the area shot on tap layered over a Google Maps implementation.

It's a natural fit for a number of Google projects, including Street View and business listings within Google … Read more

The official Google blog on Tuesday posted a link to an experimental music video for the Arcade Fire song "We Used To Wait" that shows off the capabilities of HTML5 with Google's Chrome browser.

I gave it a run earlier this afternoon. After I followed the instructions to close other applications and enter my home address, the video took about 15 seconds to start. My first impression was a flashback of visiting shady Web sites back in the days before pop-up blockers existed: a cascade of no fewer than eight browser windows opened, and trying to close … Read more

Looking for a food cart in Portland, Ore.? There's probably one right in front of you. But maybe there's one up the street that's better. Now you can find out such things with a new mapping layer from Microsoft for its Bing Maps service.

Having grown up in Portland, I can tell you that most locals know where the best carts are, along with the food item to get at those places. But one thing the locals won't always be able to tell you is the location of the traveling food carts--the ones that are not … Read more

In the physical world, people knowing they'll be judged on appearances often prefer to put their best foot forward.

But there's a direct analog of the real world taking shape inside thousands of Google computers, a collection that began with addresses and roads and that's extended to photos and 3D buildings. What do you do when it's time to spruce up for virtual visitors?

You can of course learn how to create 3D models and submit them to Google. But a New Zealand start-up is hoping you'll do the same thing most people do when … Read more

Facebook for Android updated to version 1.3.0 on Tuesday, and while we wouldn't say that it's as elegant and accessible as Facebook for iPhone, the Android version is absolutely improving.

A done-up interface greets you on boot-up, with seven icons for your news feed, profile, friends, photos, message in-box, events (like birthdays), and pending friend requests. The latter two are new additions and welcome ways to easily manage your Facebook account.

Below the icon dashboard is a photo reel that lets you swipe through thumbnails of friends' recently uploaded photos, although there's no context surrounding … Read more

Business-ratings app Yelp just got a massive dose of competition from a much larger source.

Google updated its Maps for Android (version 4.4) on Monday in the Android Market to make its Place Pages business listings more usable. In doing so, Google's solution for taking business listings mobile resembles Yelp's Android feature set more than it ever has before.

Once you install the update (and in our case, reboot your Android phone), you will see a new Places icon in your list of applications. Tapping the icon pulls up a finger-friendly interface with icons for seven categories … Read more

Driving greenly is one of those things that should be easy to do: treat the accelerator and brake pedals like eggshells and generally keep your speed under control. For drivers who need a little more help or motorists who are obsessed with eking every last mile out of a gallon of fuel, there will always be apps and gadgets that claim to boost your fuel economy. For example, the DriveGain app for iPhone aims to coach drivers toward higher MPGs with visual and audible prompts that encourage greener driving. The developers of this app go so far as to claim … Read more

There's a reason Google can shut down its Street View cars and still maintain a quality geolocation service on mobile devices: it's crowdsourcing the data.

Mobile-phone and some laptop users who use Google applications to get a fix on their position or share their location with friends are helping Google build out a database of Wi-Fi hot spots, the company confirmed Tuesday. Users generally understand when they are sharing their own location with Google or its partners, but they may not realize they are also helping Google match Wi-Fi hot-spot location data with GPS coordinates by transmitting the … Read more