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Free GPS-enabled mobile nav app from amAze
Although it really is not the first "free" mobile navigation app designed for J2ME-enabled, GPS-containing handsets, LocatioNet Systems is billing its 'amAze' product as such. AmAze (that's not a typo, heh) is apparently the first mapping, navigation and local search product specifically tailored to the UK. The app features standard location fare like satellite images, route planning and even weather forecasts. Topping it off is voice guidance via external Bluetooth GPS device or from your J2ME handset's built-in GPS. LocatioNet is able to give this app away free using ads integrated into the software itself, even going as far as displaying location-based ads derived from your exact location. Yes, something, somewhere will know you're next to that pizza joint and will send you "free slice" coupon or something. Hit up www.amazegps.com to download it if you're so inclined.
iPhone 101: Special Link Types
The iPhone offers three special kinds of links that receive special treatment. Each of these links can appear in Safari or in your mail. When clicked, they tell the iPhone to launch a specific application to handle them. The first, the mailto: link, you're probably already familiar with. It's just like the Web-based mailto: link that's been in use for the last decade. When clicked, it opens your iPhone's email application, creates a new message and addresses it to the target of the link, e.g. mailto:sjobs@apple.com. The second link is tel:. As you might guess, it opens the iPhone's calling application and calls the number used as the link's target. This allows Web developers to add "call us" links in their web page that, when tapped, actually place a call. The third kind involves Google Maps. Instead of opening Google Maps links in Safari, they automatically open in the iPhone Maps widget instead. It doesn't matter whether you click them in Safari or Mail. The iPhone recognizes the link and launches the Maps widget for viewing. Thanks iDan.
Google maps takes flight in Virgin America
As if you weren't already super into Google maps, now geek airline supreme Virgin America is getting Gmaps integrated into its Linux-based Red seatback system. As with other seatback GPS systems, users can see position, airspeed, and temperature, but we're stoked to finally get a flight ETA and some interactivity up in here. VA's implementation lets users have eight levels of zoom, as well as pan off the aircraft if they want to go exploring the city they just flew over. Plus, all the map data is cached on the plane's local network, so it'll be even faster than sitting across the street from Google HQ at a Starbucks in Mountain View.
iPhone Second Impressions: On activation, UI, EDGE and answering questions
Another quick round of first impression stuff that covers some user problems with activation, EDGE speeds, Google Maps and Mail. We're working on some more focused, in-depth posts that explore individual features in their entirety, such as Safari, the keyboard, Mail, etc. For now, let's get started with trying to solve some of these activation pains and go from there. Activation Readers at TUAW and across the web are reporting all sorts of activation problems, and I'm truly sorry to hear about it, but I might have some tips that could help get your iPhone on its feet. As I recall, iTunes gave me an error message during the activation process, but the iPhone still kicked me back out to the home screen once it was done, and I received the standard 'your phone is activated' email a couple minutes later. I immediately was able to receive a phone call, and SMS and make an outbound call. I was also an existing AT&T customer, so all I had to do was add the $20 iPhone Data Plan during the process. I'm not trying to brag here, just provide context; by my rough calculations, existing AT&T customers seem to be having less problems than those who are first signing up or porting over service, as those operations probably entail a bit more work in the back-end on AT&T's part. There are a couple tricks that might help here: First, some owners are reporting that simply soft resetting the iPhone (hold the power button at the top of the phone for a few seconds to receive the power off slider) and then booting it back up fixes the issue. Just for the heck of it, why not wait a few seconds or even up to a minute? It couldn't hurt, and it might work some network voodoo to wake AT&T up and get your iPhone rollin'. I honestly don't know about this one as it is simply an idea I had, but: if you have a second Mac or PC lying around with the latest iTunes 7.3 installed, you could try plugging it in to see if the activation process begins again. However, remember: this is just an idea I had, and I have no idea whether that will illicit any results or get your activation process even more borked up on AT&T's books. I honestly don't believe it could do any damage, but I certainly am no AT&T activations engineer either. This is another theory that I haven't seen tested or mentioned anywhere, so take this one with a grain of salt as well: If you're an existing AT&T customer with a SIM card in your current (or - hopefully - soon to be replaced) phone, you could try swapping out the iPhone's SIM card as outlined in the iPhone User Guide (not included with the phone itself). Simply open that in Preview and search for SIM; your first result should be a guide for removing the SIM card and inserting a new one. Then plug your iPhone back into iTunes to see if a new activation process can begin. Again: this is just a theory; I haven't tested or heard anyone try this as a solution for activation problems. Update: More readers are reporting that turning off your old phone before activating the iPhone might help with activation issues. While this tip won't do you any good if you're already caught in the limbo of AT&T's activation system, it might help if my idea of re-trying activation with a different computer is worth anything. EDGE It's surprisingly fast. The best speed test I've found so far for Safari on the iPhone is dslreports.com/mspeed, offering a really scaled down page with a few download size options and no-nonsense results. I'm getting, on average, about 150 kbit/sec downloads on my phone. In light of the drawbacks of EDGE's (traditional) speed, the only reason that makes sense as to why Apple and AT&T didn't make some massive announcement of a network upgrade is that they're getting hammered this weekend with iPhone activations and people tinkering around with surfing via EDGE. If they're going to announce this at all, waiting until maybe sometime next week makes sense as the iPhone storm might be dissipating to more manageable levels where most users will see this increased speed across the country. Of course, this is just speculation on my part, but the tests don't lie: users across the nation are reporting that EDGE has upgraded from its previous 20 kbits/sec speed to anywhere from 100k - 200 kbits/sec. This is great (unofficial) news. Call me crazy, but I think YouTube is serving up different movies based on whether you are viewing via Wi-Fi or EDGE. I've watched three separate videos via both wireless methods, one of them user generated with crummy equipment to start with, and I swear I see a higher quality version over Wi-Fi than when watching with EDGE. Whether this means there are literally two separate files encoded at different qualities or if YouTube is working some streaming + compression magic I have no idea, but I would love to hear other iPhone users chime in on this one. Google Maps usually impresses me with its speed when viewing satellite images over EDGE. Simply viewing the standard map and searching for a location is almost always snappy over EDGE (sometimes there seems to be a delay, but not often), and even downloading satellite imagery is usable. Google Maps This was probably demoed and I just don't remember, but I'm talking to enough iPhone owners who didn't know this that I felt it warranted a mention: you can pinch to zoom in and out of either Google Maps views. This is fantastic. Traffic reports are usually pretty snappy, again even over EDGE. The Bookmarks feature of Google Maps (accessible by the blue book in the address bar) is a great way to save frequently used routes and quickly get at the addresses of contacts. At first I was slightly disappointed that I can't hook the iPhone's Google Maps up to my actual Google Account, but after exploring that Bookmarks feature, I deem it a non-issue, at least for me. Mail, selecting and deleting items Some readers are asking about doing operations like deleting more than one Mail message at a time. While you can slide your finger across any single message to invoke that red delete button for just that message, hitting the Edit button at the top of any message list will invoke red buttons to the left of every message in the list. While this isn't exactly the same as holding the Command key on a Mac, selecting a bunch of messages and hitting the delete key once to trash them all, this is the quickest way I can find to perform large deleting operations. This seems to be the UI for any situation where you have a list of items that can be deleted; there's no way to select a few of them at random and hit one delete key - instead, you enable a 'delete mode' which makes it easier to delete more than one message, but still one at a time. I'm slightly disappointed at the lack of the 'One Inbox to Rule Them All' like Mail in Mac OS X has; if you have more than one account synched to the iPhone, you have to drill down into each account's inbox to view any new messages, drill back out to the accounts list and then drill back into a new account and inbox to view that account's new messages. It's clunky, but it's also becoming inspiration for me to consolidate email accounts. That's about it for now. Like I said, stay tuned for those more in-depth posts on individual features, but in the meantime, I hope everyone's activation problems can get solved soon.
Turn your smartphone into an iPhone-wannabe
Stuck with your current smartphone for the remainder of your service contract? Tied in with business? Just can't wait 'til June 29th to get some of that iPhone-y goodness? No worries: Andy Ihnatko has you covered. In his Thursday column for the Chicago (go Cubs!) Sun-Times, Andy lists numerous ways to turn your multi-touchless Phone of Yesteryear into a genuine 'iFaux.' Included in the list are apps like Pocket Tunes (music app), Pocket Player (video app), Opera Mini (browser app), Google Maps (uh, map app), and a swanky service called SimulScribe that gives you a psuedo-Visual Voicemail feature, sending your voicemails to you as text (plus an audio attachment) via e-mail.Check the fully skinny, and enjoy Andy's trademark humor, in his full article on the Sun-Times site.
Google maps for mobile gets GPS
Google Maps' capability for the mobile environment won us over a long time ago. Alas, it was just a matter of time before GPS integration was unveiled in Google Maps for Mobile. That day recently arrived, and Google's mobile maps software will now use the GPS capability of many newer handsets (with GPS carrier support) to pinpoint your location and make directions and navigation just that much nicer. Right now, handset compatibility is a little hit-n-miss (with carriers too), but that is sure to change soon. We do know that AT&T's BlackBerry 8800 works as well as most Helio models. For Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile handsets, you'll have to keep checking to see when your day in the sun comes. Our conclusion? Free Google Maps with GPS support is, well, very nice.[Via The Boy Genius Report]
Google to license Stanford's Stanley tech, enhance maps
Although Google Maps might have been called out by name as the best in "Lazy Sunday" (double true), Microsoft's been gaining ground of late by adding lots of trick features to its own mapping site, particularly some nifty simulated 3D views. Well, Google is never one to lie back and take it from the Redmond crew, so it's struck a deal with Stanford to license the sensing technology behind 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge winner Stanley to improve their maps. Stanley, as you probably remember, was a robotic Volkswagen Touareg put together by the Stanford Racing Team that zipped across the Mojave Desert for 10 hours without any human input, winning the Grand Challenge by a hair. Now that same tech will reportedly be used to scan building faces and improve the 3D portions of Google Maps and Google Earth. Details of the deal and how it will be implemented are due to be announced during the Where 2.0 conference on May 29 and 30 -- here's hoping it involves the phrase "army of robotic Google cars." [Via I4U News]
Listz - a powerful organizer with rich media, iPod exporting and more
Getting organized is all the rage lately, what with an endless sea of GTD apps, todo Dashboard widgets and Growl alarm systems. There is certainly something to be said about making a list and checking it twice - especially when your list offers Google Maps in a mouseover popup window, a Dashboard widget, individual alarms, syncing across Macs, iPod exporting and much, much more. Listz is just such an app, and it is absolutely slammed with features. It even offers backup burning to disc, tabbed lists, extensive styling options, drag and drop support, categorizing list items, and support for printing lists if you aren't bringing your little white or black (or green, or red...) sidekick. But all this functionality comes at a price that is likely to appeal only to the power list'ers in the crowd: Listz sells for $39.95. It isn't the cheapest organization app I've ever seen, but it very well might be one of - if not the - most functional, especially with those slick rich media mouse-over popups. The only way to tell for sure, of course, is to download a demo for yourself and try it out.
Sprint unhappy about Mobile GMaps usage on its phones
If you've used Mobile GMaps on your J2ME-capable handset, you probably love the GPS integration this third-party program has with Google Maps. With gpsOne being built into most Sprint handsets these days, customers of that carrier get a cool mapping and navigation service -- of sorts -- for free. But Sprint doesn't like this and is threatening legal action against the maker of Mobile GMaps unless the company removes or obfuscates the GPS tracking functionality. Is this another example of not letting the customer do what they want with the handset that was purchased along with the data package being paid for? We hope not, but this reported action (for possible revenue protection?) smacks of having no legal basis.
Newer images of iPhone spotted -- with new features?
It looks as if the Google Maps app inside the upcoming Apple iPhone may have gotten a few more useful icons according to recent reports. The"up/down arrows" and "front-facing car" icons in the above image lead us to think that the Google Maps demo by Steve Jobs back during January's iPhone announcement wasn't totally showing the app's capabilities at that time (nor should it have been). Do the arrows signify "directions" and the car icon "traffic?" That sounds plausible to us. Google Maps may be the iPhone's built-in complete navigation solution if this is true. After all, looking at map and satellite images is nice and handy, but a complete navigation solution would be even better to those who plunk down serious cash for the iPhone.
Germans send data straight from Google Maps to BMWs
Navigation systems have revolutionized the way we get from A to B -- a huge step up from crusty fold-out maps and a "good sense of direction." It's going to get even better now that Google Maps and BMW have joined forces to streamline the data entry process. Instead of printing out or writing down an address to re-enter in the car, the information is sent directly from your computer to your navigation system. German drivers with Drive Assist-equipped BMWs can send any Google Maps Deutschland business listing straight to their cars, either to contact the business once inside, or to set it as a destination. Honestly, it's about friggin' time online maps and automakers made this connection, and we're glad that Google appears ready and eager to expand this service. Check out the video of how it works after the jump. [Via Navigadget, thanks Tim]
Eric Schmidt says Apple and Google working together on new projects, don't read too much into it
Man, this one is feeding right into some fanboy's sick fantasy: when asked at a conference on Monday about a potential Google + Apple tablet device, Google CEO Eric Schmidt did confirm that the two companies are working together on "many more" new projects and left it at that. It's tempting to want to read a lot into that, too bad that "working together" doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. Especially since "working together" could mean anything from the Google Maps app that comes pre-installed on the iPhone (which also happens to be already available for lots of other phones as well) to more deeply integrating Google into Safari, with some sort of hardware device being a longshot. Besides, isn't Google working on a phone of its own?[Thanks, Will Arnold]
Meander Over Your Digital Maps
Meander, which has just hit version 1.5, is an interesting little application that lets you mark out routes on digital maps. For example, you can download maps from Google Maps or Yahoo Maps (though you're not limited to these) and then plot your own route rather than depending on the automated routing (particularly useful when you're on foot or bike). The main interface window is a translucent "Acetate", which you position over a map in a browser window (or even a PDF). You then click the snapshot button to capture the map, and draw your route. By positioning a movable scaling bar over the map scale, Meander will be able to calculate the total distance of your route, or merely the distance between any two points on the map. With Meander it's very easy to calculate distances for walking or to plot particular routes on a map which you can then save as an image file or print out. New in version 1.5 are image attachments for your route, a journal feature, and more.Meander is $19.99 and a demo is available.[Via MacMinute]
Google Maps mobile phone integration sooner than you think
One of the things that had us sitting at the edge of our seats during the iPhone introduction was Google Maps integration. Now Mad4 Mobile Phones reports that the Vodafone may scoop Apple on the phone front. According to the article, their mobile version of Google Maps (available as a Java download) will offer "easy to use maps and listings of local restaurants as well as other attractions and services." Yes, but will you be able to pinch the displays to zoom them? I think not. Clearly Google has made a big commitment to mobile information access and the iPhone, as well as Vodafone, are just part of the big picture. Windows Mobile and PalmOS users can already use Google Maps on their mobile device, as you can see at the bottom of the Google Maps Mobile page.
Google Maps for now available on Windows Mobile devices
Users of BlackBerry and Palm devices have been enjoying getting detailed directions, traffic, and information through Google Maps, and now the software is being extended to another platform, Windows Mobile. Users can now visit the Google's mobile site and download the CAB file required for installation. Now only if we were able to get high speed data on our BlackBerry Pearl we wouldn't be so jealous. [Thanks, Sunny]
Google barred from Sydney flyover for Australia Day festivities
It looks like Microsoft is teh win in this little arms race down under. Both companies planned elaborate flyovers on January 26th, Australia Day, which encouraged people to get creative and get noticed by aerial photographs being snapped, which would later be integrated into the respective companies' mapping software. However, while Google managed to take in a good bit of Australia's scenery, their Aero Commander wasn't allowed to fly over Sydney due to some no-fly zone restrictions. Microsoft's higher-flying plane was able to scan the city and scoop up the festivities, including grabbing some shots of an official event at Centennial Park where Aussies formed themselves into a map of Australia. Some of the disappointed include a company that had spent more than AU$10,000 on a hugemongous sign, and an environmental group that trotted out 200 supporters to form a slogan on a local beach. The change of plans was due to winds which required planes to take off from Sydney Airport in a direction that would've messed with Google's flight path.[Via El Reg]
Nike + iPod + Google Maps = Runometer
Here's something I've been wishing the Nikeplus.com site to implement itself: integration with Google Maps. Not ones to wait around for giant companies to switch on niche features, a small software company by the name of Gordian Labs has created the Runometer, a not-quite-even-beta mashup that lets you view and compare your Nike+ running data, as well as plot out your runs on Google Maps. By providing software and/or instructions for Mac OS X, Windows and even Linux, Nike+ owners can upload their run data, sketches of their routes or even GPS data for the ultimate in geek running goodness. A handy how-to guide is provided to help you get on your feet, but you'd better get moving - Runometer users have already ran over 1000 miles and plotted 284 routes![via Engadget]
Google, Microsoft set to snap aerial photographs on Australia Day
If you were forced to be photographed by airplanes soaring over your homeland in a jovial time of celebration, would you rather Gates & Co. have the negatives, or the future dominator of planet Earth? Aussies will have the option to make their choice on January 26th, as both Microsoft and Google have separately announced flyovers to occur on Australia Day in which high-resolution photographs will be snapped. Microsoft's motive is one with cultural and artsy underpinnings, as the company hopes to arrange individuals in order to form objects, scenes, and colored patterns from above, while Google seeks to cover more of the country for use in Google Maps and is encouraging individuals to distinguish themselves to get a free ride right into its mapping software. So if you're a Down Under native, or you just so happen to be hanging out in Centennial or Moore Park on Friday morning, toss up an Engadget poster, will ya?
See where MGS soldiers are hiding
As you can see from the map above, Hideo Kojima's plan to launch a secret army in Japan is working quite well. A new service uses Google Maps to show you the points of interest you'll want to hit in order to recruit new characters via Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops' unique and innovative GPS mode. Although an English language version of this service is supposedly "coming soon," I wouldn't be surprised if it never saw the light of day: certainly, it would be a far more demanding undertaking to travel across the entirity of America in order to unlock as many characters as possible.Of course, the true Metal Gear fans have already started their cross-country trek.[Via Pocket Gamer]See also:Unlock all of MGS:PO's unique characters
Wii 'acquaintances' made easy with Google Maps
MapWii.com is a Wii-inspired application of Google Maps that makes locating and making potential Wii friends manageable. Even better, MapWii has been designed for Wii's Opera browser. To join, you'll have to give up your friend code, nickname, city, country, and zip (all additional information is optional).The database is limited in its current state, both in number of registrants and scope. You may find yourself with a Wii full of friends, but it's impossible to know which ones will stick without much trial and error. In this case, real-world location isn't as important as play-style or genre preference. A few more fields of required data and MapWii could go a long way toward hastening the 'matchmaking' process.See also: Web sites step up to connect Wii owners
