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Nokia Here software to load offline map updates incrementally
When Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices and services business, it left the Here maps platform behind. However, that doesn't mean it's been abandoned. In fact, the Finnish company announced today that the mapping service will receive an update that'll allow for incremental updates to offline maps. This means that whenever there's an update to only a portion of a map, users can download just that part instead of the whole map all over again. This should hopefully lead to less data consumed and a faster upgrade overall. Nokia is rolling out the update starting today for all Windows Phone 8 devices that have the latest firmware. No word yet on whether Here will be updated for Android and iOS, but seeing as the company just signed over a huge part of their business to Microsoft, we're not surprised they're giving first dibs to the OS from Redmond.
Nokia reveals Here Auto connected car navigation system
Nokia's no newbie to navigation, but its latest product raises its involvement to the next level. The Here Auto connected car platform is comprised of an application that can be embedded to a vehicle's navigation system, a mobile app companion and a cloud service. Any in-car navigator with the Here Auto software can offer voice-guided navigation with or without a data connection, along with 2D, 3D and street-level satellite maps. You'll need internet access to tap into the cloud service for real-time data, including traffic and weather updates, but previously downloaded maps work just fine even when you're offline. The Auto Companion mobile app complements the software and the cloud service, giving you a way to pre-plan trips or find your car through a phone. Currently, it only works on Windows Phone devices, but Espoo's developing ones for iOS and Android. Nokia has partnered with Continental (the same parts supplier working with Google and IBM) to find carmakers willing to integrate Here Auto into their navigation systems. It might take a while before we see the system hit the market, but it'll be demonstrated at the International Motor Show in Germany on September 10th.
Daily Roundup: Xbox at Gamescom, Project Spark, Hot Watch hands-on, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Nokia Here research brings map data to life (video)
Nokia Here collection vehicles aren't the only way the Finnish giant is gathering data about our highways and city streets. The company's researchers are also using anonymous smartphone, PND and even CAN bus data to further our understanding of traffic flow and driver behavior in different conditions. Beyond improving maps and navigation, the goal is to make our roads better and cars smarter. We recently spoke with Nokia's Jane Macfarlane, Head of Research for Here, who shared how her team is bringing map data to life with the collaboration of opt-in smartphone users and fleet vehicle operators. Take a look at our gallery below and watch the video after the break.
Nokia Here collection vehicle v2.0 ride-along (video)
What do the Lumia 920, Surface Pro, Velodyne LIDAR, NovAtel GPS and Jetta TDI wagon all have in common? They're all essential parts of the next generation Nokia Here collection vehicle. When Here was announced last fall, we checked out v1.0 of the car which featured an elaborate but clunky set of sensors and cameras. That's also when Nokia announced it was acquiring Earthmine, a Berkeley-based 3D-mapping company. Nine months later, we're seeing the results of this collaboration with v2.0 of the collection vehicle. It's a simpler and more advanced setup which provides much improved image quality. Nokia recently invited us to take ride in a next generation Here car -- check out the gallery below then hit the break for our video and breakdown of the technology.
Nokia adds sight recognition to Here Maps for Windows Phone 8
Six months after promising to integrate sight recognition technology into its Here suite of apps, Nokia has finally updated Here Maps with LiveSight. The update is available today in the Windows Phone app store and requires Windows Phone 8. By tapping a button in HERE Maps, users can enter LiveSight mode, which will scan the surrounding area and pull up relevant information about nearby locations, like addresses, phone numbers and ratings. Lumia owners familiar with Nokia's City Lens app will recognize the virtual signs attached to buildings viewed through the camera display and the Here Maps version of LiveSight appears to have similar functionality -- including Here's strongest selling point, offline access. If you want to see LiveSight in action, you can watch Nokia's preview video after the break.
Nokia rebrands Drive, Maps and Transit for Windows Phones: it's all about Here (video)
The jewels in Nokia's Windows Phone crown have been its Here location services -- anyone wanting them on Microsoft's platform has usually had to snap up a Lumia or make do with the Drive+ beta. Nokia is about to share that wealth, as it's bringing Drive, Maps and Transit to other Windows Phone devices under a new name. Don't switch your shopping plans to include an HTC 8X just yet, though. Apart from a lack of specific timing, Nokia is limiting the availability to certain regions, and it's promising that the "first and best" Here experience will remain on its own smartphones. We'll still take the leftovers if they give the overall platform a boost. If you'll recall, Nokia actually enabled its homegrown mapping arsenal to spread to other Windows Phone products some time back, but it's taking things to a new level with the Here platform underneath. Update: All three are available now in the Windows Phone Store at the source links.
Toyota signs deal to get Nokia's Here Local Search on its in-car navigation units from 2014
Nokia's position in the smartphone market may be precarious (if improving), but its Location and Commerce (read: mapping) division has developed quite the reputation. Toyota is the latest big car manufacturer to pay cash to get Nokia's Here Local Search installed on Mr. Toyoda's in-car infotainment units. The Japanese giant is planning to have the software baked into its vehicles in Europe, Russia and the Middle East by early 2014. At the same time, the duo have agreed to work together on how best they can develop Here's navigation potential even further.
Nokia's mapping app Here now available in iOS App Store
Last week, Nokia announced that it was bringing a mapping solution to iOS and now that app is available in the iOS App Store. Nokia Here is a free, universal app that's powered by Nokia's NAVTEQ mapping data. It includes a garden variety of views like map view, live traffic view, public transport line view and satellite view. It also supports offline maps, so you can still travel when you lose your data connection. For those who prefer to walk, it even has voice-guided walk navigation. You can download Nokia Here from the iOS App Store. Check it out and let us know what you think about this Apple Maps alternative in the comments.
Nokia Here collection vehicle hands-on (video)
After our interview with Peter Skillman last week we were given a brief tour of the Nokia Here collection vehicle, a bright blue Volkswagen Jetta Wagon specially outfitted with a smorgasbord of sensors. The main attraction is a retractable roof-mounted mast that collapses behind an aerodynamic fairing for stowage. From top to bottom, this mast features a military-grade GPS antenna, a 360-degree panorama camera in a white pod (which captures the spherical views you'll see in Nokia Here), a Velodyne LIDAR unit in a spinning silver cylinder (for 3D mapping), high-resolution signage cameras in a black box (for forwards and backward automatic feature extraction) and finally a wheel encoder to measure distance / velocity. Sadly the car was locked so we were unable to check out what's inside or go for a ride, but we're hoping to remedy this at some point in the future. Until then check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.%Gallery-170826%
Nokia announces Here, a new maps service coming to iOS
Apple's already had plenty of maps-related woes, and here comes what might be even more trouble. At an event in San Francisco, Nokia has announced a brand-new maps service called Here, and in addition to releasing across Nokia's usual platforms, the service also has an iOS app that's already been submitted to Apple and should be available soon. Nokia has also acquired a mapping company named Earthmine that specializes in street-level 3D mapping, so presumably it will be putting them to work on mapping out street locations all over the world for Here. There are also some big pushes to include user-submitted data (including a "Map Creator"), and Nokia will also provide live traffic information and directions (including for mass transit) as needed. The Next Web has a quick run through of Here, although it is not without its own flaws. There's an API for Android, providing a new mapping resource for developers, but the iOS app will actually be an HTML5-based app. Nokia has said its working with Mozilla to bring its maps to Firefox OS, but if you want to sample what is available now, you can check out Here.net in your browser right now. So here's a big push by Nokia on a market that even Apple has floundered in lately. This is a big bet, but it's possible that Nokia, of all companies, could end up filling in with a great maps solution where Apple's own system has had a few missteps. [via Engadget]
The Engadget Interview: Design Head Peter Skillman on Nokia Here
We just had the opportunity to sit down with Design Head Peter Skillman here in San Francisco and get the lowdown on all things Nokia Here. A lot has changed since we interviewed him at Nokia World last year, including the launch of Windows Phone 8 and new Lumia devices. We talked about what Nokia Here brings to the table including LiveSight (a whole suite of applications including Drive, Walk and Public Transportation), the here.com full 3D WebGL experience and the Earthmine acquisition. Still, it's the cross-platform aspects of Nokia Here -- Android, iOS and Firefox OS support -- that intrigued us the most, so we asked how this affects the company's Windows Phone strategy (if at all). Join us for the full interview above.
PayPal and Softbank announce new joint venture in Japan, mobile app
PayPal has joined forces with Softbank to bring its mobile payment system / digital wallet to Japan. PayPal Here uses an encrypted card reader -- like its BFF Square, and more recently, VeriFone -- to minimize users' cash dependency. There's also a redesigned app that makes it easier for customers to locate participating merchants while they're out and about. The $25 million joint venture targets small businesses, especially those using iPhones (though it also works just fine on Android), and will be made available to the Japanese masses over the next several weeks. We're sure the setup will be used exclusively by the forces of good to stimulate the local economy.
VeriFone outs Sail mobile payment system, gives Square the evil eye
VeriFone has decided that calling out claimed security holes and focusing on enterprise-level payment options aren't enough to take on Square. Sail goes more directly for Square's jugular, using its own plug-in dongle to handle major credit card payments in your local coffee shop or a mid-sized outlet. The VeriFone party trick comes through having multiple payment options, where shopkeeps can either choose to pay a flat 2.7 percent cut of every sale, or shell out a $10 monthly fee to lower the transactional take to 1.95 percent. Programming interfaces will let you hook in deals from social networks, too. And as you might expect, the company is still keen to tie Sail to its traditional payment systems, opening the door to NFC readers as well as other payment hardware that isn't quite as mobile. Stores with iPhones will be the only ones using the free Sail mobile apps and readers at first, but Android- and iPad-toting entrepreneurs will have their alternative to Square or PayPal Here as soon as the end of May.
PayPal Here mobile card reader: it's like Square, but with way more frozen accounts
Hear that? That's the sound of coins hitting the mental floor at a breakneck pace, and if PayPal's meteoric success is any indication of how it'll do in mobile... well, stockholders should be pleased. Nearly three years after first hearing of Jack Dorsey's Square (formerly 'Squirrel') project, the most hated division of eBay is coming out with a rival. President and CEO of eBay John Donahoe took the wraps off of the device at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco today, with an aim to bring PayPal to "merchants in the offline world." The plastic triangle module plays a familiar role: pop it into an iPhone, load up an app and swipe until you just can't sell anything else. We're hearing that PayPal will charge merchants 2.7 percent (just 0.05 percent less than Square), but further details -- and even the thing's name -- are still developing.As much as we jest about PayPal's polarizing nature, we've been victim to one too many unjustified account freezes to become overly joyous here, but we won't kvetch about a little competition. Here's hoping we see rates and fees on the decline thanks to another major player stepping up to bat, but something tells us those kinds of dreams are dreamt only by fools. That aside, the fact that famed designer Yves Behar (profiled here on The Engadget Show) and Fuseproject were tapped to engineer it gets a major thumbs-up from us.Update: Looks like it'll go by the name Here. PayPal Here. Moreover, the hardware and app will be gratis, and shipments will begin to go out in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and Australia today. Everyone else will need to sit tight for a few weeks, and we're still digging for information on compatibility beyond the iPhone.Update 2: Look like Android support will be here at launch, but iOS devices will need to run iOS 4.0 or higher.
TUAW Poll: What's the name of OS X 10.7?
Here at TUAW, we love possibilities. Yeah, we all know that Apple's new OS will be named something prosaic and big cat like OS X 10.7 Lion but until Apple actually makes its announcement, the waveform doesn't collapse. Possibilities still abound. TUAW spent this morning brainstorming alternatives to OS X Lion and puts them forth for your general consensus. Here's your opportunity to sound out with regard to OS naming. Whether there's anyone out there listening is another question; one that we will studiously avoid answering.[1] Vote for your favorite OS X name in our handy TUAW poll -- or add your own suggestions in the comments that follow. Sound out! It's your last chance before quantum happens. %Poll-54182% [1]TUAW is an unofficial weblog and has no association whatsoever with Apple. Your vote is for entertainment purposes only. Contact a professional to determine if public polling is right for you. In case of inadvertent product naming, discontinue polling immediately. Seek help in the event that this poll produces irritation, rashes, or irrational blog commenting syndrome.
