Google Earth lands for iPhone, Netflix testing Mac streaming

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Google on Monday launched a version of Google Earth as a native application for iPhone and iPod touch owners. Meanwhile, Netflix said it has begun testing its second-gen Generation Media Player, which will stream movies to Intel Macs.



Google Earth



Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch is a native application (Free, App Store), that lets "you to fly to the far reaches of the world from the palm of your hand."



The software is based on the same 3D immersive world of Google Earth for Macs and Windows PCs that has seen over 400 million unique downloads since its launch back in 2005.



"Not only is having Google Earth on your iPhone convenient, but the touch interface is a very natural way to interact with the Earth," Peter Birch, product manager for Google Earth, wrote on the company's mobile blog. "Just swipe your finger across the screen and you fly to the other side of the globe; tilt your phone and your view tilts as well."



The app also includes a built-in search and supports pinch to zoom in or out, and double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out. It also integrates a "My Location" feature, which "can fly to where you are in the real world on your phone." In addition, Google says it's included over eight million Panoramio photos, which are geo-located photos of places that you can view from your iPhone.



A video demonstrating the software can be seen below:







Netflix



Meanwhile, MacNN reports that Netflix is launching Mac support for internet streaming movies utilizing Microsoft's Silverlight, a web-browser plug-in that features animation and audio-video capabilities similar to Adobe's Flash software.



Availability will reportedly start with a small number of subscribers, expanding to all subscribers by year's end. Silverlight features cross-platform and cross-browser support, as well as Play Ready DRM, a pivotal factor in Netflix being able to stream copy-write-protected content to subscribers on both Macs and PCs.



Mac-based customers and Firefox users on both platforms were key to Netflix adopting Silverlight. Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said, "Members who enjoy watching movies and TV episodes... that can be instantly streamed at Netflix will be thrilled with this next generation improvement of access and quality, on a broader range of platforms, including Intel Macs and Firefox."



The supporting Silverlight player will work only on Intel-based Macs, which currently account for roughly three-fourths of Mac units operated by Netflix subscribers. Streaming will work in either Safari or Firefox.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    Cool and about freaking time!!! Sweet streaming movies!!!
  • Reply 2 of 22
    dimmokdimmok Posts: 359member
    Google Earth on my iPhone...wow I just scorched my shorts.
  • Reply 3 of 22
    virgil-tb2virgil-tb2 Posts: 1,416member
    Google Earth doesn't seem to work very well for me. It crashes, but also seems to be unable to do a proper search, it keeps trying to find locations on the other side of the planet... "near me" and failing (duh).



    Probably opening day jitters though, I'm sure it will be a welcome addition and as well done as all the other Google apps.
  • Reply 4 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Netflix



    Meanwhile, MacNN reports that Netflix is launching Mac support for internet streaming movies utilizing Microsoft's Silverlight, a web-browser plug-in that features animation and audio-video capabilities similar to Adobe's Flash software.





    Oh my. And if a new MacMini hits the scene maybe my home theater gets a massive upgrade in 2009. Goodbye fledgling AppleTV......
  • Reply 5 of 22
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Hmm... Google Earth + 3g + bye-bye-bandwidth and you'll have a whole new breed of whiners.



    I'm sure AT&T is a little nervous about a few million of their subscribers hitting GoogleEarth all at once.



    Let the finger-pointing begin!
  • Reply 6 of 22
    It looks great, but it's too choppy right now to really be of any use. I'll stick to Google Maps until they clean this version up.
  • Reply 7 of 22
    "Googlearth" works great on the touch so far...



    And I'm pretty happy Netflix is making some progress, but... Silverlight? I'll wait and see.
  • Reply 8 of 22
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    It's about time on the Netflix downloads! I was beginning to feel left behind by them.



    Not that they have much to download anyway.
  • Reply 9 of 22
    I'm using Google Earth now...what's the purpose of this app?
  • Reply 10 of 22
    I don't have an Intel Mac so I still can't view Netflix movies through my Mac which is absurd! How hard is it to develop for the G5!?
  • Reply 11 of 22
    mcarlingmcarling Posts: 1,106member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Obi-Wan Kubrick View Post


    I don't have an Intel Mac so I still can't view Netflix movies through my Mac which is absurd! How hard is it to develop for the G5!?



    Generally, no one develops new software for platforms that are no longer in production.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    It is interesting to see how companies are using the tilt sensors in applications - that video segment on seeing the geo-tagged photos was stunning.
  • Reply 13 of 22
    Did anyone else notice that the guy in the video demonstrating the google earth app didn't blink once in the first 20 seconds of the clip?



    Creepy
  • Reply 14 of 22
    Unless this requires Leopard, AppleTV Netflix support should not be too far behind (albeit from "hackers")
  • Reply 15 of 22
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Not terribly happy to have to install Silverlight to get it going, I guess it's better than running Parallels to do it. That said, my current HTPC is a PMG5, so neither is an option for that machine.
  • Reply 16 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ZagMac View Post


    Oh my. And if a new MacMini hits the scene maybe my home theater gets a massive upgrade in 2009. Goodbye fledgling AppleTV......



    Apple TV plus ATVFlash (which I expect will support this) looks pretty sweet.

    http://atvflash.com/
  • Reply 17 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    And I'm pretty happy Netflix is making some progress, but... Silverlight? I'll wait and see.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    Not terribly happy to have to install Silverlight to get it going, I guess it's better than running Parallels to do it.



    What have people got against Silverlight? From a development perspective I curse every time I have make changes to the part of our product written in flash, as the development environment is so poor. But with Silverlight its the complete opposite, being able to just link buttons to normal .NET functions is a dream and saves so much time.



    So I would say its brilliant news there using Silverlight, the more sites that force users to download it the better. That way people can choose what they want to develop in rather than just having to go with flash as its whats installed on most peoples machines.
  • Reply 18 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by timgriff84 View Post


    From a development perspective I curse every time I have make changes to the part of our product written in flash, as the development environment is so poor.



    That's because you should be using Flex, not Flash. Flex is for software developers as Flash is for designers. Flex is a much more robust and widely used equivalent to silverlight. For a comparison of Flex vs. Silverlight capable clients visit:



    http://riastats.com
  • Reply 19 of 22
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wildag View Post


    That's because you should be using Flex, not Flash. Flex is for software developers as Flash is for designers. Flex is a much more robust and widely used equivalent to silverlight. For a comparison of Flex vs. Silverlight capable clients visit:



    http://riastats.com



    All that says is the installed base is bigger. Has nothing to do with the development environment. Adobe has a huge head start. That does not mean there is no room for another solution. This will only make them both stronger. This is a good thing and give developers options. I have been developing in Silverlight for almost a year now. I find it very easy to create many different types of apps. Netflix has made a wise decision.
  • Reply 20 of 22
    Google earth keeps crashing for me.
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