GPS

Waze navigation app updated with text-to-speech, commuting widget

Waze, one of our favorite free GPS apps for Android and iOS, gets a version 2.4 update today that adds text-to-speech guidance, a commuting widget for the Android app, and a host of smaller improvements.

The biggest change is the addition of a text-to-speech (TTS) engine powered by Nuance that adds spoken street, exit, and highway names to its turn-by-turn directions. Users will also receive spoken alerts as they approach road hazards reported by other Waze users. TTS is currently only available to Android and iOS users in the U.S. and Canada, though there are plans to roll … Read more

Shuttle Atlantis' final flight

Google shuts down Google Labs for greater company focus, Darth Vader makes it to Garmin GPS devices, and the space shuttle Atlantis touches down, marking the end of NASA's shuttle program.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Space Shuttle Atlantis ends final flight

Darth Vader voice comes to Garmin GPS

Google shuts down Labs

Make multiple calls in Gmail

CBS TV shows hit Amazon Instant Video

Use your iPhone to find or track bike routes

Summer is in full bloom and the Tour de France is in full swing, which makes July a great month for biking. I try to get on my bike once a week during the warmer New England months and have long pined for a Garmin GPS unit to track my ride. How long is my usual loop on the road when the trails are still too soft and wet for mountain biking? Do my times improve over the course of a summer? And more importantly, how do I keep getting turned around in the woods--where am I taking a wrong turn?

Unfortunately, I have felt the answers to those questions weren't worth the hundreds of dollars required for a pricey Garmin GPS. Thankfully, I recently discovered a free iPhone app, iMapMyRide, which provides basic GPS information. The free version is supported by ads and devours battery life, but you can't beat the data for the cost. And on the MapMyRide site, you can find other bikers' routes near where you live.

… Read more

LightSquared CEO upbeat at one-year milestone

LightSquared Chief Executive Sanjiv Ahuja is trying to have his cake and eat it too. Literally.

Ahuja and his management team will celebrate his upstart company's first anniversary on Thursday with cake and ice cream--a tradition from his days running France Telecom's wireless giant Orange.

The milestone comes as LightSquared has quelled some doubts about the validity of its planned 4G network through a few customer wins and a round of financing. But it continues to face resistance from the traditional telecommunications giants, as well as the GPS industry, which has loudly expressed its concern that LightSquared's … Read more

How to download Google Maps data to your mobile device

Google Maps makes it easy to get from place to place, even when those places change on the fly. If you're on the road, though, your connectivity may be spotty at best, so it's a good idea to take along a backup. Up until now, our best option was hard to fold and harder to manipulate while moving at high velocity, but now it's easy to download all the map data you need onto your mobile device. Here's how to do it: 

First you need to enable the function. Go to Maps on your device, … Read more

Court: It's OK to use GPS to track cheating spouse

Your spouse has been working late in the office. You fear it might be the office cupboard.

Your spouse suddenly has a friend who needs a lot of comfort after a bereavement. You suspect the comfort might have slipped beyond the cuddle.

So, please, get yourself a GPS and track that spouse wherever he or she may roam.

This is not merely my suggestion for your peace of mind. It is that of a New Jersey court that decided that following your husband or wife is not an invasion of privacy. It's more of a loving gesture of concern. (… Read more

The 404 856: Where we have liftoff (podcast)

We all watched NASA's final space shuttle launch this morning before heading into the studio, and by "we" I mean Wilson and me, because as usual, Jeff couldn't care less. Nevertheless, we're still excited about Atlantis and spend part of the first half of the show watching videos and talking about the official Atlantis fanfare written by Emmy-nominated composer Bear McCreary and produced by actor Seth Green!

We're also mourning the death of Sony MiniDiscs, checking out a new way networks are handling product placements, and singing a brand new Tang That Tune!

The 404 Digest for Episode 856

Atlantis launch a bittersweet end for space shuttle. Fanfare for final NASA shuttle mission. Sony to kill the MiniDisc Walkman in September. TV networks inserting ads and product placements in show reruns. Kidrobot launches Street Fighter toys. The missing person living in Savannah.

Episode 856 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

LightSquared tries to appease GPS opponents

LightSquared said today it has launched a program focused on smaller communities with the intent of preventing any interference between GPS systems and its planned wireless network, another move to placate opponents of the rollout.

LightSquared, which is building a 4G network and will offer services to other companies on a wholesale basis, said it has started the Empower Rural America Initiative. The group will work with small communities on the GPS issue, help develop filters that would prevent interference, address concerns from those small towns, and help widen the adoption of broadband service.

LightSquared, which is owned by Philip … Read more

Waze to provide traffic data during LA Carmageddon

Crowdsourcing meets broadcast during the July 15th weekend closure of the Los Angeles' 405 freeway, an event that has been dubbed the "Carmageddon" and is expected to cause traffic issues for as many as 500,000 drivers. Social traffic and navigation app Waze has announced a partnership with KABC-TV in Los Angeles to provide live maps, feedback of incidents, and traffic flow for the station's broadcasts.… Read more