With Google Maps launching as a standalone app last fall, and Apple’s own Maps app getting progressively better, you probably aren’t in the market for an alternative GPS application. But we’re going to tell you about one anyway.
ForeverMap2, a maps app that uses OpenStreetMaps tech, has finally landed on iOS. Its claim to fame is its advanced compression technology, which allows it to serve up offline maps without taking up much space on your device… Read More
Celebrating its fourth anniversary, the location-based social networking service Foursquare today pushed a major new version of its mobile app, bringing out new features that tap over 3.5 billion check-ins users have made on the service thus far. “With the new Foursquare 6.0, we’re crunching all our data to show the best of what’s nearby, anywhere in the world, the second you open up the app,” the team wrote in a blog post Wednesday. Here’s what’s new… Read More
Big news out of Cupertino this evening. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has acquired indoor mobile location positioning firm WiFiSLAM, in a deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million.
Apple has confirmed the acquisition of the company, which possesses proprietary technology that allows mobile apps to detect a smartphone user’s location inside of buildings using preexisting ambient Wi-Fi signals… Read More
Apple Tuesday was issued an interesting patent that could relate to recent headlines about a device known as the iWatch. The patent approved by the United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) describes an “accessory device” that could receive GPS data from your iPhone. For some time, speculation has surrounded Apple was working on a wristwatch device that can communicate with your smartphone or iPad.
According to the patent, location data could be transmitted either wirelessly or through a hard connection, displaying either a map with navigation or simply points of interest. The technology permits either data to be sent from the iPhone to an accessory device, from the accessory device to the iPhone or to whichever device is deemed most accurate… Read More
One of my favorite jailbreak tweaks, AssistantLove, just received an update for iOS 6 compatibility. AssistantLove was featured in our top jailbreak tweaks of 2012 list, and would have been added to my “perfect iPhone” feature, if it had iOS 6 compatibility at the time.
If you’re a Spotify user like I am, then you will really appreciate what AssistantLove brings to the table. Along with allowing you to integrate GPS apps with Siri, and launch apps using shortcut names, AssistantLove meshes Siri with Spotify. This means that you pretty much search for any song or artist you can think of using your voice. Read More
It seems like criticism for Apple’s Maps app has died down in recent months. What was once the favorite topic of critics and naysayers has been replaced with talk of iPhone 5 part order cuts and the company’s floundering stock.
But that doesn’t mean that the Maps app is up to snuff yet, and Apple knows it. That’s why it’s been working hard to improve the software and, according to new job listings, is making a major hiring push for its Maps team… Read More
Apple has taken a lot of heat over its new Maps application in iOS 6. Users have complained that it’s inaccurate, buggy, and doesn’t have anywhere near the international support that Google Maps has.
Well it looks like Apple has made some progress on the latter front. Last night, reports started coming in that the Cupertino company has activated turn-by-turn voice navigation for its Maps app in Australia… Read More
Hot on the heels of last week’s screen rotation lawsuit comes another infringement claim aimed at Apple. NovelPoint Tracking, which fits the usual patent troll description, filed a lawsuit against the Cupertino company yesterday in the troll-friendly Texas Eastern District Court regarding its location-based patent…
Consumer Reports, an influential U.S. magazine published monthly since 1936 by Consumers Union, gave Apple’s iPhone 5 a thumbs-up recently but initially slammed iOS 6 Maps navigation (“we were disappointed”). Melted bridges aside, the publication known for its reviews and comparisons of popular products took both Apple Maps and Google Maps for a spin, concluding that Apple’s offering is “certainly more favorable than comments and articles that we’ve been reading online”… Read More
Not all of today’s news centers on Apple’s much-awaited next-gen iPhone. The iPod touch, seen as the ‘gateway drug’ for the iPhone, is also expected to debut with a wider palette of colors, global positioning and a better camera. Indeed, one analyst is calling the 2012 iPod touch the “biggest upgrade ever.”
According to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the most noticeable change will be an expanded choice of colors beyond the current black or white. Read More
For all the talk about Apple’s cutting-edge Maps in iOS 6 with fantastic Flyover three-dimensional view, many people – yours truly included – are dissapointed over the absence of street-level photography in iOS 6 Maps (prior iOS Maps versions had Street View, courtesy of Google). Enter Navigon’s premium turn-by-turn GPS app that just got updated with Google Street View, plus a couple other nice features… Read More
Apple really stick it to Google with jaw-dropping 3D Maps and full turn-by-turn navigation in iOS 6. However, those headline features won’t be supported on hardware released prior to 2011. In other words, you’ll need at least A5-enabled iOS devices to enjoy Flyovers and turn-by-turn navigation.
This means either the latest iPhone 4S model or the second- or third-generation iPad. So, did Apple just pull a Siri, all over again? Read More
Thanks to my years in wireless sales, I can honestly say I’ve tried out more than my fair share of smartphones. The carrier I worked for made us try a new handset every 90 days to ensure that we were all well-versed in our craft.
But out of all of the devices I played with and carried, none were able to woo me away from the iPhone. In fact, the only non-iOS feature that I have ever really lusted after was Android’s ability to give audible turn-by-turn directions… Read More
TheNextWeb points to an interesting new application called Space-time. The software allows you to see the location of almost anyone, regardless of their device, as long as they have a smartphone with a GPS locator.
Of course, the iPhone already has a friend-tracking solution in Find My Friends. But it only works if you are trying to locate a person using an iOS device with the app installed. Space-time is much more universal… Read More
Earlier today we brought you a report on AssistantLove — the new jailbreak tweak that allows you to play Spotify songs via Siri.
The tweak also has the ability to search and get directions and routes for 3rd party GPS apps, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get that working in my initial demo.
Now, with the help of the excellent free GPS app Waze, I can demo the integrated GPS navigation using Siri. I’m happy to report that it performs just as expected… Read More
If you know me, you know I’ve been waiting on a way to integrate Spotify with Siri’s voice search for a long time.
I’m happy to say that it’s finally here. AssistantLove can launch your favorite songs on Spotify via Siri, theoretically giving you a seemingly infinite library of songs right at the command of your voice.
Not only that, but AssistantLove features GPS app integration with TomTom, Navigon, and other popular GPS apps, and that’s not all… Read More
Israeli startup Waze has released an update for its iOS GPS navigation app, adding hands-free crowd sourcing to its arsenal.
There are already plenty of GPS navigation apps on the App Store with TomTom being one of our favorites, but Waze is a little bit different in that it uses crowd sourcing as a means of measuring traffic congestion and accidents. The reliance on humans reporting such issues is both its strong and its weak point.
While the use of real people to build a map of what is really going on should make for a more accurate navigational experience, it also means that the service just plain fails to work if people don’t take the time to check in. This latest update should help alleviate that particular issue… Read More
The location-based aspect of the Reminders app is convenient but limited. As of now, all you can really do is setup reminders based on your current location or the contents of your Contacts app.
With MapReminders, you can peruse an entire map to setup reminders for certain locations easily. Check out our video walkthrough of this upcoming jailbreak tweak… Read More
Want to travel across the globe without leaving the confines of your humble abode? If so, then look no further than LocationHolic, a location-spoofing jailbreak tweak for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
LocationHolic works by essentially overriding your device’s location data with a location of your choosing. Choosing the location is as simple as searching or even placing a pin on a map. It really doesn’t get any simpler than LocationHolic, as you’ll see in our video walkthrough… Read More
Aside from small additions like displaying alternate routes and the Show Traffic option, the Maps application received little attention from Apple during the recent iOS update. Some pundits expected the app to at least receive turn-by-turn directions.
But a revamped Maps app might still be in Apple’s plans. 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple has just quietly acquired “mind-blowing 3D mapping company” C3 Technologies, and that the Cupertino company is looking to take iOS maps to the next level… Read More
