Google will start its controversial Street View service with its navigable 360-degree photo maps in 20 cities in Germany this year, the Californian company has announced. This service integrated into Google Maps will give users the opportunity to explore cities virtually, to retrieve local directions, to find a new apartment, house or property, or to check the maps and photos for vacation planning. At the beginning, Google Street will be available in Germany for these cities: Berlin, Bielefeld, Bochum, Bonn, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfort/Main, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Wuppertal. But unlike in the United States and in 22 other countries around the world, some people in Germany see Street View as an interference with their privacy in an unacceptable way. Some do also think that Google Street View with its detailed street level maps may have potential applications for thieves or terrorists. The strange thing is: According to Google, Germans have already become loyal users of the Street View service.

It really surprised me: My article about how I got mobile Internet access via UMTS in Denmark during my last vacations in April attracted interest of many readers. Since in that article I only described one prepaid plan (“Bredband-2-GO-Cash”) for surfing the web over the mobile network of Danish operator TDC, this time I will offer some kind of overview of several prepaid price plans for mobile Internet access in Denmark. The following prepaid starter packages of TDC, 3.dk and One Mobile can be bought by any visitor in Denmark taking his or her notebook or netbook with him or her at the operators’ stores, at supermarkets or at gas station.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa has finally kicked off. Soccer fans in Germany can watch the games on TV at home, on big screen in a pub or via live stream on the web. In this overview you will find all the information you need to watch the World Cup matches live in Germany: Public and commercial broadcasting stations covering the tournament, providers selling web and TV sticks to PC and laptop users, web radio stations with live coverage and podcasts as well as locations of public showings in Berlin and Hamburg.

Soccer fans traveling to South Africa for watching the games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup should leave the SIM cards of their regular mobile phone provider at home - because of high roaming charges for outgoing and incoming calls as well as for mobile data services. At teltarif.de we have found out: Subscribers of a cell phone plan of one of the German operators Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, E-Plus or Germany pay as much as € 2.55 per minute when calling their family back at home from South Africa. For incoming calls in South Africa German operators charge up to € 2.00 per minute. A less expensive way to keep in touch with family and friends at home while visiting South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup from June, 11th to July, 11th is to buy a prepaid SIM card of a South African provider.

Operator O2 Germany provides the personal navigation and mapping service Telmap to its customers. Effective immediately, the application is preinstalled on many new GPS-enabled mobile phones such as Motorola Milestone, HTC Touch HD2, Samsung Galaxy or Sony Ericsson W995. Customers who are already using GPS-enabled smartphones can download the Telmap client directly to their phones at http://wap.telmap.com/o2de/. O2 Germany offers the Telmap navigation service to its customers for free, regardless of whether they have a prepaid price plan or a fixed-term agreement. The only fees are for the mobile data transmission.

The iPhone App by Berlin recommendation platform Townster is available for free and does two things for users: It helps them find the good places to eat and drink in Berlin, and it includes a game that should make going out even more fun. Via GPS, the app lists restaurants, cafés, fast food joints, bars, and pubs in the users’ immediate surroundings and shows them on a map, including location details and user reviews.

Because of high data roaming charges it is not advisable to use an UMTS surf stick with a German SIM card in Denmark. And don’t count on finding an internet café in one of the small villages along the North Sea coast. Therefore, it is probably best to consider buying a prepaid SIM card (with or without an UMTS surf stick) of a Danish provider. In a mobile phone shop of operator TDC, I have bought a prepaid starter package called “Bredband-2-GO-Cash” including a SIM card, the UMTS surf stick Huawei E1550 USB and credit for accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS over a period of one week. Purchase price: DKK 290.00 which is around EUR 35.00. Internet access for one day costs DKK 39.00, for one week DKK 129.00, or for one month DKK 299.00.

Mobile phone provider O2 Germany is changing its mobile data roaming tariffs: As of tomorrow, April 19th, o2 customers pay EUR 0.05 (instead of EUR 0.07) per 10 kB when accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS in another European country. This means, for each megabyte transferred over the mobile network subscribers are charged EUR 5.12. However, O2 Germany also limits the maximum costs of its customers for mobile data roaming in another European country to EUR 59.50.

Because of high roaming charges, prepaid SIM cards of domestic providers are a good choice when making mobile phone calls in another country. Usually, these prepaid price plans come without any minimum term or any monthly fee and users are only charged when actually making a phone call. Thus, tourists, travelers, au-pairs or exchange students can even take the prepaid SIM card back home and use it again when visiting the country next time. When being in Germany, there is a broad range of prepaid price plans offering low rates for mobile phone calls within Germany and for international mobile phone calls. However, some of them require a minimum turnover by the customer.

Car navigation specialist TomTom now offers prepaid cards for its Live services on portable navigation devices (PNDs). After a free three month trial period users can choose to buy a prepaid Live services card for six months (EUR 59.95) or for twelve months (EUR 99.95). Alternatively, users can book an ongoing subscription via TomTom Home desktop software for EUR 9.95 per month which can be canceled with an one month’s notice. With TomTom Live services latest traffic information (HD Traffic), weather forecasts, fuel prices, safety alerts and information about local shops and business found by way of Google search are sent directly to the SIM card in a compatible navigation device.