MapQuest picks TomTom Maps to power iPhone and Android turn-by-turn navigation apps

MapQuest picks TomTom Maps to power iPhone and Android turnbyturn navigation apps

Still trying to figure out which way to turn when it comes to on-phone navigation? How's about a free option to ponder? MapQuest's gratis iPhone and Android programs are set to get a heck of a lot better, and soon. The company just announced that TomTom would become its maps provider, enabling it to provide coverage for more than 7.5 million miles of roads across North America. Interestingly, it seems that TomTom is finding new life after the death of the PND (personal navigation device) in software; just last month, Apple knighted TomTom to power its own internal Maps app, which is set to debut with iOS 6.

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MapQuest picks TomTom Maps to power iPhone and Android turn-by-turn navigation apps originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google brings five California-based US National Parks into Street View

Google brings five Californiabased US National Parks into Street View

Taking a virtual tour of the Amazon or Antarctica? Totally doable with Street View. But some of America's finest National Parks? Yeah, those have been a long time coming. Today, Google announced the inclusion of five California-based US National Parks in Street View, and for those who haven't had the opportunity (of a lifetime) to visit, they're absolutely worth a look. Starting at the top, Redwoods National Park provides a street level look at some of the world's most mysterious trees, while those looking for even more Treebeard-type characters can point their browser to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. Naturally, Yosemite and Joshua Tree (shown above) are included as well, and the 360-degree views Google's cadre of motorcars managed to capture really do a fairly astounding job at capturing the splendor. The toughest part? Knowing which one to traverse first.

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Google brings five California-based US National Parks into Street View originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Jul 2012 09:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s Brian McClendon: ‘committed’ to bringing all of Maps’ features to iOS, other platforms

Google's Peter Birch 'committed' to bringing all of Maps features to iOS, other platforms

There was a Google event today, but you'd hardly know it based on the Q&A session. Question and question was hurled at Brian McClendon -- Vice President of Engineering for Google Maps -- surrounding Apple. With discussion around Apple's desire to introduce a mapping system of its own in iOS 6 to unseat Google from its preloaded app selection, Peter fielded lots of inquiries on the matter. He did an admirable job of dodging the obviously asinine bits, but continued to impress upon the crowd that Google itself was "committed" to bringing all of the features in Maps -- 3D, offline, turn-by-turn, etc. -- to iOS and other platforms.

That was largely in response to a question as to why Google Maps Navigation for Android was so superior to Maps on iOS, but honestly, it's hard to know where the truth sits. We've heard that politics have kept the two sides from coming to terms, but it's pretty clear that Google's more than happy to bring its world-class mapping platform to other mobile operating systems... so long as terms are agreeable, naturally. The good news is that 3D maps will be coming to Android and iOS "in the coming weeks," which makes one wonder if iOS 6 will be available for some time. As for offline on iOS? Your guess is as good as ours, but it sure sounds as if the ball's in Apple's court. Can't we just all play nice, guys?

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Google's Brian McClendon: 'committed' to bringing all of Maps' features to iOS, other platforms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2012 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung expects to double Q1 profit versus last year, sends itself a love note

Samsung Q1 2012 earnings guidance
Sammy has issued guidance for its financial performance between January and March 2012, ahead of a fuller earnings report due later this month. In contrast to HTC's latest news, the Korean giant looks rosy enough -- it's predicting an operating profit of 5.8 trillion won ($5 billion), which is almost double the quarterly profit from last year. Overall revenues continued to grow steadily too, rising nearly 22 percent to 45 trillion won ($40 billion). We'll need to wait for more detail to see where the growth is coming from, but it'd be cheesily nice to think our affection for the Galaxy Note had something to do with it.

Continue reading Samsung expects to double Q1 profit versus last year, sends itself a love note

Samsung expects to double Q1 profit versus last year, sends itself a love note originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 05:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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