Digital Week in Review: Google Street View of Brazil, iWatch October Release, and Twitter Acquires Namo Media

In this week’s Digital Week in Review: Google adds street view imagery of Brazil in honor of World Cup, iWatch slated for release in October 2014, and Twitter acquires Namo Media.

Google Street View Imagery for World Cup in Brazil

The 2014 soccer World Cup in Brazil will take place in a week and Google has launched street view images for all of the 12 World Cup stadiums in Brazil. Google says they hope to create “a digital legacy of the 2014 tournament for years to come” and also has included imagery of other famous sites like Iguacu National Park and St Michael of the Missions.

This new addition of Google street view in honor of the games will include images from “hundreds of interesting sites across Brazil”. Google has also released imagery from other South and Central American Countries such as Peru, Chile, Columbia and Mexico.

iWatch Expected To Be Released in October

A Japanese newspaper Nikkei, is reporting that the iWatch has a targeted ship date of October 2014, and will include a curved OLED screen, health tracking functions, and an iOS 8 operating system.  With the iPhone 6 release date slated for September, the timing seems to be carefully planned since you will have to have an iPhone with iOS 8 installed to have the smart watch really be functional. Apple is rumored to be working with Nike on the device. Expected price point of the iWatch is rumored to be within the $200-250 price range.

iWatch will have capabilities to monitor health issues like sleep activity, calorie consumption, glucose levels, and blood oxygen levels.

 Twitter Buys Namo Media

Twitter has just acquired mobile native ad startup Namo Media for approximately 50 million dollars. Namo Media integrates ad content with the website where the ads are being viewed, with interests focused mostly on mobile. The San Francisco based startup has already been backed by number of investors including Google Ventures, Betaworks, Trinity Ventures, and Sasa Ventures to name a few.

Twitter said in its last earnings report that it now has almost 200 million mobile users, with 78% accessing the app from a mobile device, causing 75% of its ad revenue to come from mobile.

Both the founder Nassar Stoertz and co-founder Tural Badirkanli of Namo are former Google employees with experience in the Google Wallet department and Admob.

To read more about Namo Media and Twitter click here.