Crave

Picasa makes it easy to geotag photos.

(Credit: Joshua Goldman/CNET)

Google's Picasa is an excellent photo organizer. One of my favorite features, though, is its capability to quickly geotag images--adding longitude and latitude to the photo's EXIF metadata--with little effort. Basically, it requires little more than selecting a photo or photos, clicking a couple of buttons in the interface, and the software handles the rest. Plus, you can use either Google Maps for tagging or place them on the Google Earth globe.

The biggest catch is, unless you noted it at the time, you have to remember approximately where you were when you took your photos. Once you've tagged all your old photos, it's easy enough with future photos to snap a shot of the nearest intersection or a nearby business to use as a reference later. Of course, this only really works if you're in an area with those things.

There are devices and software you can use to geotag your photos when you offload them to your computer. (I'm in the middle of testing a pretty good one right now.) Using Picasa is a little more time consuming, but it's free, easy, and kind of fun once you get rolling with it.

Geotagging photos the Google way (photos)

(Credit: Google)

One of the highlights of Android 2.0 has been the Google Maps Navigation app that delivers voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation on your phone for free. Until now, only Motorola Droid owners could take advantage of this sweet perk, but times they are a-changing.

On Monday, Google announced that its navigation app is now available for devices running Android 1.6 and higher, including the T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile MyTouch 3G. While still in beta, the app provides voice-guided directions between two points, traffic information, and business searches.

This release also includes a new Layers feature that lets you overlay more information on the map, such as transit lines and Wikipedia articles about places, but it does not support the "Navigate to" voice command feature found on Android 2.0, so you'll have to input all your destinations using your phone's keyboard.

Google Maps Navigation for Android 1.6 is now available for download from the Android Market. Unlike other navigation apps or location-based services from the likes of TomTom, Garmin, and TeleNav, you don't have to pay a one-time fee or monthly subscription to use Google Maps Navigation. All you need is a data connection and you're good to go.

You can control the iPhone's music playback within the Gokivo GPS app.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)

You have two main options when it comes to GPS apps for the iPhone: apps with offline maps and apps with online maps. Examples of apps with offline maps are the Navigon, the iGo My Way, TomTom, or the recently added Magellan RoadMate.

These apps are excellent for frequent users as they don't require a live data connection to work. All the maps are included with the app and downloaded to the phone. However, they tend to require gigabytes of storage space and take a long time to install. If you plan on going on a long road trip, they are good fits.

If you are a casual user, however, it's better to use an online GPS application. These applications are just a few megabytes in size and therefore take a few seconds to download to the phone via a 3G connection. This means you can immediately get one the moment you suddenly need turn-by-turn directions.

The first online GPS app for the iPhone is the AT&T Navigator, which works pretty well. Unfortunately, it's only available to AT&T customers and is rather expensive ($10 per month) for what it offers. The good news is, you now have other and more flexible choices.

(Credit: Flickr/IanPhilipMiller)

It's hard to believe that anyone would want to unsubscribe from The 404 Podcast, but we're here to say that the unspeakable act comes with a $250 termination fee, which actually ain't that bad considering Verizon recently doubled its early termination fees from $175 to $350. Verizon attempts to justify it by reducing the fee by $10 as each month of your contract passes, but we're not entirely convinced you're saving money. Case in point: if you buy a Droid with a two-year contract on Verizon but want to jump ship after a year, the penalty is still a rip-off at $230, which is already $80 more than what I paid to terminate my fee when I switched to AT&T for the iPhone three years ago. With a Verizon iPhone around the corner, we're hoping to finally have a way to escape AT&T's frustratingly spotty 3G service. Sing it with me..."We want prenup, we want prenup, YEAHHH."

If you just couldn't wait for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to come out and modded your Xbox 360 to play a pirated version of the game, you might want to check the status of your Gamertag because you might be one of the 1 million players that Microsoft banned earlier this week. This week's release of the popular Call of Duty sequel caused a spike in players altering their consoles to play a bootleg version of the game, but many are unaware that Xbox 360s all contain "digital right management technologies designed to detect pirated software," says a report in InformationWeek. Unfortunately, once a Gamertag is banned, the person responsible is banished for life and must purchase a brand new console in order to reregister and play again. There's no doubt that Modern Warfare 2 is an amazing game, but it's worth it to keep your Xbox 360 clean and shell out the dough for the legit game. Piracy doesn't pay!

Comment with "Exit Strategy NYC" to win a free download!

(Credit: Exit Strategy NYC)

Finally, all our New York listeners should pay special attention to our next segment, because this new iPhone app could literally shave minutes off your commute time. I joke you not, any time saved on the subway is a blessing, so we're all very excited about Exit Strategy NYC, a mapping application that downloads an entire map of the city to your iPhone, so it works underground. It displays zoomable, scrollable, and interactive maps of the subway system as well, and even shows you which specific car to board so you'll exit exactly at the street level stairs.

The app is available on the iPhone App Store for $4.99, and it's well worth the purchase if you live in New York or plan to travel in the area. You can also download it for the BlackBerry, Android, and Amazon Kindle. The good folks at Exit Strategy were generous enough to give our listeners a handful of codes to download the app for free! All you have to do is comment on this blog with the words "EXIT STRATEGY" and you'll be automatically entered into the random lottery. We'll choose five winners over the weekend and send out the codes on Tuesday, so leave a comment now!

Also, don't forget that Tony Hawk will be on the show Monday to chat with us and do an in-studio demo of his latest video game, Tony Hawk Ride, so be sure to send in any questions to the404[at]cnet{dot}com and pick a few to ask. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Don't try this on game day, but the new Google Maps Navigation application will show you how to take a spin past Boston's Fenway Park.

(Credit: Google)

You can almost hear the portable navigation industry swearing already.

Google is announcing plans Wednesday to release a new Android application called Google Maps Navigation. When combined with a GPS-equipped mobile phone running Android 2.0, it provides turn-by-turn directions powered by Google Maps and a slick user interface that combines features such as voice recognition and Google Street View. Google Maps Navigation, like seemingly everything that emerges from Google, will be free.

"Mobile platforms--Android and others--are so powerful now that you can build client apps that can do magical things connected to the cloud," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt in a briefing for reporters at Google's headquarters on Tuesday.

The standard Google Maps Navigation view.

(Credit: Google)

Companies in the cell phone navigation industry have seen this day coming for quite some time. Right now, the beta application only works on phones that will use the Android 2.0 software, which is scheduled to be available very soon with the expected arrival of Motorola's Droid phone on Verizon's network.

Google's Vic Gundotra appeared to demonstrate the application on the Droid: he wouldn't confirm it, but it was a shiny black Android 2.0 phone running on Verizon's network and bearing Motorola's stamp, so we're probably not going too far out on a limb here. (Update, 7:24 a.m. PDT: Says Google's Wednesday morning press release: "The first phone to have Google Maps Navigation and Android 2.0 is the Droid from Verizon.")

However, Google is working with Apple on bringing it to the iPhone, and it's not ruling out licensing the software to makers of portable navigation devices used in cars throughout the world, said Gundotra, vice president of engineering at Google for mobile and developers. The process involving Apple is slightly different from the usual App Store submission process, because Maps is a built-in iPhone application, he said.

The application works like any navigation system that you may have used, but it combines Google Search and Google Maps functions that are normally only available on the desktop and brings them to the smartphone. Perhaps the most interesting and useful feature comes from Google Street View, allowing Google to provide a Street View image at every turn that the application suggests during your journey.

During a recent visit to a friend's house in backwoods Kentucky, I got lost while jogging on deserted country roads. I had my iPhone, luckily, but no good way to tell my buddy where I was so he could talk me back.

What I needed was Glympse, a fantastic new app that shares your location via e-mail, text message, and/or Twitter--and does so for a set amount of time.

Tapping Google Maps, Glympse quickly zeroes in on your current location, then gives you the option of sending it to one or more e-mail addresses and/or phone numbers. If you elect to link your Twitter account, you can just type in "Twitter" in the To field.

From there you choose a duration: anywhere from 0 minutes (meaning Glympse sends your current location and that's it) to four hours. For anything higher than zero, the recipient can track your movement in real-time, in Google Maps, for the designated period.

Recipients don't need to sign up for anything or install any software; they just click a link.

(Credit: Screenshot by Matt Hickey)

For most people, Sir-Mix-A-Lot is synonymous with his hit "Baby Got Back." But for his real fans, or fans of early hip-hop in general, the greatest song Mix ever did was "My Posse's On Broadway," an homage to my home neighborhood in Seattle. It's a detailed step-by-step trek with Mix and his posse as they hit up local landmarks like Dick's Burgers and generally have a good time.

It's a great, fun song, and Google Maps user Adam Cohn has done fans a favor by making a map of Seattle that details every stop along the way. This is one of the most fun things I've seen in Google Maps in a long time.

An image of the map is above, but for a more interactive version you can check out Cohn's map for yourself. To make it more fun, below is the video for the single so you can follow along while you follow along. Try not to get the song stuck in your head.

I think its safe to assume that the new XL 340S Live will look something like the standard 340S.

(Credit: CNET)

Don't you just love trickle-down? TomTom's Live connected service--which helped the GO 740 Live to win our coveted Editors' Choice award--is making its way down the product lineup to the XL series in the TomTom XL 340S Live.

We've already taken a look at the TomTom XL 340S (sans Live) and, as one might expect, all of the IQ Routes, TomTom MapShare, graphic lane guidance, and text-to-speech tech can still be found in the new model.

However, the addition of the Live connection brings fuel price updates, local Google Search, weather forecasts, and a feature called QuickGPS Fix--which supposedly speeds up satellite location, presumably through some sort of cellular triangulation.

AT&T will be providing the wireless data that powers TomTom's Live Service.

"With the new TomTom XL 340S LIVE, we are bringing unrivaled quality and truly connected navigation to the mass market," said Jocelyn Vigreux, president of TomTom Inc. "Now backed by the strength of AT&T's network, we're giving drivers the very best foundation on which to enjoy a range of useful, real time services."

The TomTom XL 340S Live will be available in retailers across the United States and will be priced at $299.95, which includes three months of Live Services. After that period, the LIVE services subscription is $9.95 per month.

(Credit: DVDTown)

Plenty of news to talk about, but first we recap our weekends. We all used the holiday weekend differently: Jeff sailed a boat (in the sun!) on the Potomac river; Wilson became the only Asian Agent Double Oh Nothing for Her Majesty's Secret Service, and I had the unfortunate experience of actually laboring at work on Labor Day. Hear all the juicy details on the first half of the show.

Next up, we talk about Google's latest product, a version of the popular Monopoly real estate game that uses Google Maps as a giant playing board! Turns out that this isn't the first role-playing game to incorporate the popular online mapping Web site: users found a way to play RISK using Google Maps when it first debuted in 2005!

(Credit: Film.com)

Speaking of things to come, we always like taking a look into the future, so this week in time travel, we bring you Boondock Saints 2! Every male born after the year 1970 should be well aware of the original Boondock Saints, which featured two brothers on a mission to cleanse their city of scumbags--classic story, but something about the theatrical gunfights and archetypal characters made it into a cult classic. We're excited about the new one, even though it doesn't feature Willem Dafoe.

Finally, in typical Monday show fashion, we delve off into a trip down memory lane and rediscover our love for Beavis and Butthead, who recently made a short comeback to promote Mike Judge's latest film "Extract." Surprise! Wilson hates it. All that and more on today's episode of The 404!