Computer giant Google last week launched Street View – a map innovation allowing millions from all over the world to take virtual stroll up your street. But, as ANDREW DAGNELL finds out, some people might be surprised by what they see… The picture is just one of a number of amusing, embarrassing and candid shots captured by Google Street View – the new service which allows users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 British towns and cities, including Cardiff, Barry and Penarth. A couple of window cleaners are also photographed while working in the Canton area. Leisurely leaning against a wall, it’s not clear whether the pair are taking a well-earned rest after working tirelessly for hours on end, or simply skiving off work. The 23 other cities covered by the all-seeing Google Street View programme include London, Belfast, Southampton, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Oxford. And Google eventually plans to have the whole of the UK covered by its 360-degree imaging.
Camp Verde man plunges 18 feet: A man was taken to a trauma center Wednesday afternoon after falling 15 to 18 feet from a ladder. The man was washing windows at a house on Grippen Lane off Quarterhorse Lane in Camp Verde. Camp Verde Fire District spokeswoman Barbara Rice says the unidentified patient suffered traumatic injuries to the lower extremities and possibly other injuries. The injured window washer said he apparently lost his footing before falling. He was flown by medical helicopter to Flagstaff Medical Center.
Ex-window cleaner sells Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire, for £4.75m: Grantley Hall, a 160-room historic pile in North Yorkshire, is on the market for £4.75 million. Derek Pearson, the owner, is relinquishing his dream of turning the late 17th-century mansion into the epitome of the dream family home and relocating to Portugal. The coal miner-turned-property developer and businessmen acquired Grantley Hall just four years ago, paying £3million to North Yorkshire County Council. The estate was being used as an adult education centre, but the authority was unable to make the venture pay. Pearson's working life began with 11 years down the pit at Grimethorpe Colliery - whose band starred in the film Brassed Off - before he discovered a talent for property development, buying a house for £1,000 and selling it for £11,000. “When I was a boy I did a paper round, a window-cleaning round and brought in people's coal. I never had a day off in 30 years and would collapse on the bed after a 16-hour shift.” His property business led him to accumulate a number of building plots on the edge of Yorkshire towns such as Doncaster and Skipton. After selling Grantley, he plans to keep a pied-à-terre in the area and to build a villa in Portugal.
YouTube Gives Twitter Love: Google sprinkled a few extra features on YouTube last night, in a spring cleaning effort to catch up with the ever-popular Twitter. Viewers can now post a video they like on Twitter and users got a few tweaks when managing their content. Everybody is integrating Twitter functionality these days, as the microblogging platform gains more user traction. The most prominent example is Facebook, which redesigned its whole news feed to accommodate the need for real-time updates. And now it's YouTube's turn, but with not so much glory.
Police warn of bogus window cleaner in Okus Road area of Swindon: A BOGUS window cleaner is being sought by police. Swindon police Inspector Bill Giles said the officers had received a complaint about a man in the Okus Road area who told a resident on Wednesday that he had taken over rounds for the previous window cleaner. Although the bogus cleaner got into the woman’s house nothing appears to have been stolen. However, yesterday the original cleaner turned up at the house and said that he had heard about the scam from his other customers. It appears the bogus cleaner is seeking funds for jobs yet to be completed from unsuspecting residents. Anyone with information should call police on 0845 4087000 or Crimestoppers on 0800555111.
ACTOR Dieter Brummer has taken that old showbiz saying of "don't give up your day job" literally. After returning from a 10-year break to play a copper in Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities, the former Home & Away stud has returned to being a "construction maintenance worker", aka window-washer. The occasional actor says he doesn't mind his blue-collar "plan B". "The good part about it is I don't have to deal with people too much," Brummer said. "If I was pulling beers I would have to put up with guys saying: 'Oh you're pulling beers now and you used to be in Underbelly.'"
John Abbott of Whitney Stained Glass Studio Inc. in Cleveland works on renovating one of the 14 panels taken from the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on Public Square. The window work is part of a $2 million project that is nearing a midpoint. One of the panels that is nearly completed is behind Abbott. "The cleaning and repairing really brings the windows back to life, back to the way they would have looked then," said studio employee David Smith who spends about 60 hours on each window.
STUDENT-STAINED GLASS: The residents of Commons 5210 keep a fairly clean house, but they have made it clear: They are not washing any windows. In fall 2007, Gail Baltazar and her roommates upstairs in 5310 painted their sorority letters on their third-story bay window. Soon after, Ari Berkowicz and his roommates followed suit, painting the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet on their window in 5210, 4-feet tall and visible from Van Munching Hall, two parking lots away. But now South Campus Commons says that if the residents of 5210 do not wash their windows, someone else will. After almost two years of inspections with nothing said about the windows, Commons management pulled an abrupt about-face, demanding the residents clean the windows, a makeshift landmark for students navigating campus, by March 27.
If the residents fail to comply, Commons management will charge the residents and send housekeepers to clean the windows, according to an e-mail sent to Berkowicz by Paris Rossiter, the Commons assistant director of operations. Berkowicz said he was told the charge was about $40, split between the four roommates. Baltazar and her roommates wiped their third-floor windows Monday afternoon, saying it was not worth the fight because only two of the current occupants are in the sorority and Baltazar is graduating in May. "Honestly, I'm moving out. I was just like, 'OK, we'll wash it.' If I were staying, we'd definitely fight it," Baltazar said. But Berkowicz and the rest of Room 5210 are not about to give in. "We'd obviously be more understanding if it was something offensive, something more than three letters on a window," Berkowicz said. "It's the Hebrew equivalent of A-B-C."
Support small local businesses: I would like to stress the importance of supporting locally owned businesses in this economically challenging time. Local businesses are run by individuals who are struggling each day, just as you and I are. They are not backed by large corporations, and they make just enough to keep their doors open. We own a local window-cleaning company and know the challenges of keeping 25 people employed. Buying your cup of coffee from a local coffee shop might just be enough for her to keep her doors open. Thinking that your purchase just might make a difference is a good way to decide where to spend your hard-earned dollars.
Finally, to give users the same view Tom Cruise had in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, the team used window cleaner baskets to hang from the outside of the building on the 80th floor. Buffeted by winds that usually gust up to 40 miles per hour, the Street View team captured stunning exterior views that bring home exactly how amazing the mapping tool can be for those looking for a little virtual adventure on the other side of the world. You can see some behind-the-scenes footage of the mapping expedition in the video above, and you can start exploring the Burj-Khalifa yourself on Google Maps.
