Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Software : Nokia Here maps app hits iOS

Software : Nokia Here maps app hits iOS

Nokia Here maps app hits iOS

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Nokia Here maps app hits iOS

Nokia hopes to beat Apple at its own shaky mapping game with the Nokia Here maps app hitting iOS today.

You'll be able to get the free Here app on iPhones, iPads and iPod touches running iOS 4.3 and above.

Approving Nokia's app may have been a hard pill for Apple to swallow, given that it has had a few, er, teething problems with its own iOS Maps App.

Here, there, everywhere

The headline features of Nokia Here are offline map caching, a pretty darn good sat-nav option and integrated reviews from tourist guides like Time Out and Lonely Planet.

You'll also be able to save places of particular interest to you and restore them on Nokia Here on other devices and platforms, provided you're logged in.

For now, that means you'll need a Windows Phone device or to use the maps in-browser; however Nokia Here will be hitting Android in the months to come.

Nokia has bragged of its long and illustrious history of cartographical prowess and we're certainly impressed with Here when compared to There – and by There we mean Apple's iOS Maps.

But Nokia will have a bigger challenge on its hands when the more powerful Google Maps for iOS finally hits the App Store – that's expected to land at some point in the next few months.

Google Music library aided by pan-European deal with publishers

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Google Music library aided by pan-European deal with publishers

Google has signed a deal with an alliance of European music publishers to boost its Play Music library by 5.5m tracks.

The accord with Armonia, the group which represents the combined interests Spanish, Italian and French publishers, will see artists like Lady Gaga and Rihannah added to the Google Music library in 35 countries.

Google's agreement with Armonia, which includes the Universal Music catalogue, was essential in allowing Google to roll out its Play Music download store in Europe last week.

It means that the company was not required to negotiate country-by-country licensing agreements with publishers as rivals Amazon and Apple have.

Ongoing reform

Google will still be required to pay similar licensing fees to Apple and Amazon, but this new deal looks to have dramatically sped up it's ability to get its European service out of the door.

"Armonia is a welcome development in the ongoing reform of pan-territorial licensing in Europe in helping to simplify and speed-up the music-licensing process, which is crucial in fostering ongoing rapid innovation by digital music service providers," said Sami Valkonen, Google's head of music licensing.

Armonia, and similar pacts between publishers, will undoubtedly make it easier for established names and digital music-based start-ups to bring their services to more territories.

Firefox update brings browser to nearly 250 million more Android phones

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Firefox update brings browser to nearly 250 million more Android phones

Starting Monday, the Firefox browser will be compatible with quite a few more Android smartphones.

With this most recent update, Mozilla has included support for ARMv6 processors, which the developer claims are found in more than half of the existing 500 million Android phones on the market.

Previously, Firefox for Android was only compatible with devices running Android 2.2, and utilizing an ARMv7 processor.

Consumers with phones like the HTC ChaCha and Samsung Galaxy Ace can now look forward to using the latest iteration of the third-party web browser.

More accessible

While adding support for Firefox to some 250 million more smartphones will help Mozilla grow its brand, that's not the only high point of the latest update.

Mozilla will also introduce TalkBack integration, which will allow Android users with visual impairments to browse the web with the screen reading technology with no extra configurations necessary.

New Android accessibility features like Explore by Touch and Gesture Navigation are also instantly compatible with Firefox thanks to this new update.

All of these upgrades work in concert to make browsing easier for the visually impaired by incorporating speech output, sounds and vibrations.

The latest version of Firefox for Android is available on the Google Play store.
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