Google recently launched Street View for Google Maps, which integrates a street level view into the map. You can view some of the streets in San Francisco (click street view in the upper right hand modes).

The technology, which was an acquisition from Stanford, allows you to virtually drive down city streets. They apply blurs and 3D mapping to the images that makes for a seamless and smooth navigating experience.

Currently, they have good coverage of San Francisco, including most of the major streets in the entire SOMA district. This brings us one step closer to being able to virtually walk down any street in the US without the computer.

Now, if only they had a real time view so that I could figure out where all the empty parking spaces are next to my apartment before leaving work.

Yesterday night was the first NewTeeVee Pier Screenings. I got the chance to cover it as the official GigaOM photographer. The night turned out to be fabulous, and I got a lot of great shots in, including some long exposure photos like the one above. You can also view the whole set on Flickr.

Tomorrow is the first NewTeeVee Screenings hosted by the fine people at GigaOM. They’ll be showing and judging online videos on a massive 16 by 12 foot screen.

Here are more details:

The NewTeeVee and Metacafe Pier Screenings summer series will be a live extension of NewTeeVee.com, showcasing online video technology and content in an outdoor movie screening format. Community-chosen selections of the best web videos from the Pier Screenings website will be projected on a large screen on an outdoor pier in San Francisco.

The event includes judging by the audience, with commentary from our own American Idol panel of Nick Douglas of Look Shiny, Irina Slutsky of PodTech, and Jackson West of NewTeeVee. In addition, we’ll conduct an interview with a surprise guest who’s uniquely qualified in the area of episodic video success.

And yes, there will be popcorn and other movie-esque treats. It’s free to sign up, so what are you waiting for?

Today, Google announced a change to the Google Personalized Homepage. It’s now called iGoogle. Apparently, Googlers have been calling it that for a while.

In the end, not really exciting, but, I’m thrilled to finally know what that damned “ig” stands for in the url. Here’s to more useful Google gadgets being made.

Paul Graham has a great post up about investors in the startup world:

Because most investors are a different species of people from founders, it’s hard to know what they’re thinking. If you’re a hacker, the last time you had to deal with these guys was in high school. Maybe in college you walked past their fraternity on your way to the lab. But don’t underestimate them. They’re as expert in their world as you are in yours. What they’re good at is reading people, and making deals work to their advantage. Think twice before you try to beat them at that.

A good read for anyone remotely interested in seeking funding.

Photo: Scott Beale

justin.tv, who I met briefly at SFBeta, launched their site about a week ago. 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, we get an intimate view into Justin Kans’ life via his live streaming wearable camera. Call it what you want–Truman Show on steroids, ultra-voyeuristic, or just a waste of time. The truth is that he’s causing quite a bit of buzz here in the valley.

Justin.tv is significant for many reasons.

First, it represents the ultimate incarnation of social media. In the future, our life stream won’t be confined to non-live media like Flickr, del.icio.us, blogs, or even Twitter. Our stream will be richer, more immediate, and relevant. Justin.tv will be known as the first major foray into live vlogging.

Secondly, these guys aren’t just messing around. Justin.tv is probaby just a test bed to launch a service where anyone can stream their media (which UStream.tv is already doing). They’re gaining expertise in handling bandwidth and other technical issues with respect to streaming live video from a backpack around San Francisco.

And finally, Justin.tv has been drawing the whole web community together in a big meta social media frenzy.

They’re streaming social media. They’re deeply connected to the San Francisco web technology social networks. They’re creating a company. They’re interesting to watch for anyone in the community.

They’re doing a lot of things right.

The big question now is, how long will Justin be able to stand having his every move constantly streamed?

(This post also appears on Social Quirk)

Join us as Adriana Gascoigne tours the Meetro HQ in downtown SF, filled with fun, beer, and hackers.

Click To Play

Tour of Meetro HQ (5 minutes, direct download)

We got the chance to interview Guirec Courbon of Wengo. For those of who don’t know, Wengo let’s you sell your expertise through live conversations. They have nearly 2 million registered members, and are going strong.

Click To Play

Interview with Guirec Courbon of Wengo (5 minutes, direct download)

A few weeks ago, we went over to the Meetro headquarters and had a chat with Vinnie Lauria, the VP of Product Strategy. Meetro is a location aware IM service, and is growing in popularity with San Francisco and Chicago leading the way in terms of numbers.

In the interview, Adriana Gascoigne talks with Vinnie about the demographics, features, and inspiration behind Meetro.

 

Click To Play

Interview with Vinnie Lauria of Meetro (10 minutes, direct download)

I was doing a few searches on Google Maps today, and noticed that they’ve added sponsored locations on the maps. For example, I did a search on a cafe called The Toaster Oven Sandwich Shop in SF, and was presented its location, along with two locations for Williams-Sonoma stores complete with a custom icon on the map.

I’m sure there will be complaints from the contextual ad haters. But, local advertising is a natural addition for Google to make.