[LINK] 'creepy' Google

[thoughtmaybe.com]

> Just imagine, Google could get creepier and use its cars to collect all
> sorts of information and sell leads -- roofs that need fixing, homes 
> without
> solar panels, hedges that need trimming, gardens that need fertiliser, 
> homes
> running WiFi 11A (hence ripe for an upsell), potholes in roads, etc etc.
> Ash

Not a far thought I'd say and I'd imagine they may be interested in 
collecting and monetising such data at some point in the future -- they 
already take 3D mappings of buildings and have patented a method of 
idientifying and automatically 're-rendering' billboards and other 'real 
world ad spaces' from Street View photographs to turn them into Google web 
ads...

See abstract: 
http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220100004995%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20100004995&RS=DN/20100004995