More Rumors: Stunning Features for Google Earth!

Here are some words: 'social network' and 'Google Earth'. We all know their meaning but what do they have in common? Well, nothing I would say. While a social network is a web service which puts you in touch with other Internet users, Google Earth is a downloadable application that provides detailed satellite imagery with almost any area of the world. 'So what's the deal?' you should ask. Recently, the students from the Arizona State University were invited to take part in a special survey which gives them the chance to become the tester of a new product prepared by a major Internet company. There are only a few details but the questions included in the questionnaire make us think that it is about Google.

"ASU has been uniquely chosen by a major Internet company to be a beta-tester school for a new product that will be publicly launched later this year. This is a truly unique opportunity for you to test-drive the software and provide feedback, which will be used to continuously refine the product before its launch. ASU is the only school picked to participate in this collaborative development process," the email sent to the students of the university states.

But what's more important is the questions included in the survey which ask the users if they have a Gmail account and if they are willing to register for one. Ionut Alex Chitu discovered even more signs that could show us the questionnaire is concerning the Mountain View super giant Google.

"Arizona State University has a very close relation with Google: it's one of the first large universities in the US that uses Google Apps, the site search is powered by Google Search Appliance, the university uses Google Maps and the ASU campuses already have 3D models in... Google Earth. But there's actually more than this: the university offered photos for the Google Mars project, Google employees serve as guest speakers or adjunct lecturers at ASU and Google has an office on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University," he wrote.