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Road test: TomTom U.S. & Canada GPS iPhone app

TomTom U.S. & Canada is the third full-feature turn-by-turn flat-fee navigation app with built-in maps in the App Store that covers the entire U.S. and Canada.

Like the first two apps, Navigon and iGo My Way, the TomTom app will turn your iPhone 3G or 3GS into a decently dependable driving navigator. However, like the other two, it's far from perfect.

The TomTom app took about 6 seconds to load on my iPhone 3GS, which is very fast (the other two apps took about 15 seconds), and displayed a very easy-to-use interface with big buttons. It also offers a quick and convenient way to enter an address or to find a point of interest (POI) from its very large database of POIs.

After almost a week of use, I found that both the map and POI database are slightly outdated. It once couldn't find an address and twice showed me POIs that were no longer in business. During this recession, however, it's not exactly the app that's to blame.

Good news is, like the Navigon after its first update, you can tap on a POI to dial it up, and I would highly recommend doing this before you decide to go there, just to make sure that it's still in business.

Similar to the Navigon, the TomTom can also pull addresses from the phone's contacts, which is a very convenient feature. However, while the Navigon is very good at reading contacts' addresses, the TomTom is very picky. It seems to only understand addresses that have a zip code. Take the zip code out and it will ask you to enter the address manually. This means more than 60 percent or so of the addresses in my contacts won't work. This is sort of strange, as the app won't require a zip code when you type in addresses manually.

The TomTom took very little time (a few seconds) to pick up a GPS signal on my iPhone 3GS, and its navigation was accurate enough. Once in a while it would probably lead you to a location that's slightly off from the actual address, but that happens with every GPS navigator I've used.

Of the three apps, the TomTom has the largest selection of voices, including many languages from English to Danish, Thai, and Chinese. With English alone, you'll find 11 different accents, both male and female. Still, like the other two apps, it doesn't have text-to-speech where it can read you the name of the street that you're supposed to turn onto.

The TomTom's map view, unfortunately, is not as good-looking as that of the Navigon or the iGo My Way.… Read more

So-so iPhone navigator

Gokivo seems to do it all: search for destinations, pair with Bluetooth, play iTunes songs and fade out and in when dictating directions, and deliver turn-by-turn navigation. In our road test, it just didn't perform all these functions uniformly well. The app possesses the navigation basics, plus those one or two surprises with iTunes and shaking the app to get alternative routes. You can switch between map, satellite, and hybrid view thanks to Google Maps, and can specify your route preference, like fastest, and variables to avoid, like carpool lanes. We like the address book tie-in to get directions … Read more

Road test: Gokivo iPhone navigation app

We expected a slew of turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps when Apple's iPhone 3.0 software emerged, and we'll get it--slowly. AT&T's Navigator app entered the App Store today, preceded almost a week ago by Gokivo. We're still waiting for TomTom's offering.

Gokivo is made by Networks in Motion, the same company behind AAA Mobile, Verizon's VZ Navigator, and AT&T's Yellowpages.com, so we expected a little sophistication. It has been in our testing queue since last Wednesday, but some technical difficulties impeded our progress. Mainly, a possessed in-app purchase … Read more

Failed to perform assigned tasks

Despite this program's eyesore of a user interface, we would have forgiven WakeupOnStandBy's design flaws if it had functioned properly. However, while it successfully woke up our computer, it failed to perform the tasks that we had programmed it to do at wake-up.

WakeupOnStandBy's user interface is crowded and seems as packed together as the app's name. All of the program's commands are squeezed into one small window. Though they are numbered, the details of each step lack any kind of flow. They are also very vague, so it's difficult to tell where to … Read more

Netflix's Blu-ray pricing: A boon for Blockbuster?

When Netflix announced on Monday that it has decided to raise the subscription prices for those receiving Blu-ray Disc titles--10 percent of its subscribers, according to the company--the predictable occurred: people lashed out, saying Netflix is gouging customers.

In case you missed it, the new fee structure tacks on $1 per tier of the plan you're on. So if you have a one-film-at-a-time plan (two-movie allowance per month), your monthly cost has risen from $4.99 to $5.99. If you want three films at a time (unlimited movie allowance per month), your cost has risen $4, from $16.99 to $20.99. Fees are up substantially on other plans too.

Predictably, many looked at the announcement as Netflix capitalizing on consumers. Those who are upset with the release say the increase is too high. And since Netflix doesn't need to pay for packaging, and it probably gets a discount on media, given the number of copies it needs, they believe that the company is gouging customers.

I contacted Netflix for comment regarding this contention. A representative responded to me within a few minutes. He said the cost of Blu-ray discs is 30 percent higher than that of DVDs, and more of the company's customers are switching to Blu-ray, generating higher operating expenses. A $1 additional charge for Blu-ray access on all plans wasn't cutting it any longer, he said.

The representative then directed me to the company's official blog post on the matter for more information. So after all that, we still don't know how much Netflix pays.

But regardless of the motives behind this deal or the fact that some people are upset, we can't look at Netflix pricing in a vacuum. Quite the contrary, we need to compare its pricing to the competition to determine if it's still the most affordable option on the market.

Much to my surprise, Netflix might have committed an incredible blunder that it needs to address immediately: Blockbuster brick-and-mortar stores now have the more affordable option for standard Blu-ray rentals.… Read more

Jailbroken iPhone Users Get Turn-By-Turn Voice Navigation

Every so often there is an app in the jailbroken market that reminds us about the limitations of the App Store. xGPS is one of those apps. It brings turn-by-turn navigation to jailbroken iPhones. This type of navigation is something that non-jailbroken iPhone users have been demanding for a long time.

We covered this topic several times in the past and even noted changes to the iPhone OS that could readily support turn-by-direction directions and outside vendor development of apps providing these kinds of directions here, here and here.

xGPS takes advantage of the iPhone access to Google's map … Read more

High-end LG fridge merges beauty with features

LG's Panorama 20.5 Cu. Ft. side-by-side refrigerator is a veteran slick model with a digital control center and energy-saving features.

This stainless steel LG offers many bells and whistles, including a door alarm, tilting drawers, and temperature customizing options. Like all of LG's freestanding refrigerators, this model is Energy Star qualified and retails for about $3,500.

This model has French doors, which puts the refrigerator at eye level. Inside the refrigerator, "multi-airflow" cooling vents on each shelf provide even cooling, while five digital sensors ensure your food is kept at the proper temperature. LED … Read more

SAP falls short of its goals for Business ByDesign

At SAP's Sapphire conference this week in Orlando, Fla., a question posed by one of my colleagues concerns the status of Business ByDesign, an on-demand suite of applications that has been in development for about five years.

Last week, it was announced that the product would take 12 to 18 months longer than the original target of 2010 to reach $1 billion in revenue and touch 10,000 customers in the mid-market globally.

ZDNet's Larry Dignan reports on a conversation with SAP co-CEO Leo Apotheker, who explained that Business ByDesign was delayed because the company wasn't able … Read more

Near-shoring open-source development to Latin America with North-by-South

Tristan Rhodes from the Ubuntu community sent me a link to a cool company called North-by-South. North-by-South is essentially an open-source software off-shoring firm with a twist: Instead of outsourcing to India or Eastern Europe (with the time zone problems that can arise), North-by-South instead works with talented open-source engineers in Latin America:

NXS gives businesses access to the top talent of Latin American open source programmers. Our network has all the skill sets needed to launch a software project into production from start to finish, located only 1-4 hours ahead of Pacific Standard time.… Read more