Hasta La Gadget!

While the world waits with bated breath for TomTom to make good on its promise of providing a bona fide GPS application for iPhone OS 3.0, Navigon is stepping in with every intention of stealing the aforementioned firm’s thunder. Sure, AT&T has issued its own subscription app that dings you $9.95 per month, and we’ve also seen a few dedicated GPS apps surface from both Sygic and XRoad, but this is definitely the first on-board iPhone nav solution from what we’d call a “major” GPS company. Available starting today in the App Store, the 1.29GB MobileNavigator program contains comprehensive NAVTEQ maps of North America, and if you’re interested in Europe, Navigon’s app for that side of the pond was released around a month ago. Click on for a few of our thoughts.

Continue reading Navigon brings MobileNavigator to iPhone’s App Store, we go hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Software

Navigon brings MobileNavigator to iPhone’s App Store, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Death is a certainty and as inescapable as the people who will prey on your grief. The new Pocket Cemetery App on iTunes lets you create virtual tombstones for “dead relatives, friends, pets, or celebrities” that you can decorate with bitmapped flower images. You can even use the on-screen QWERTY to tap out and “send” a little prayer. As Wayne Perry describes it, Pocket Cemetery is “like having a little virtual heaven in the palm of your hand.” Unfortunately, heaven will cost $2.99 and there won’t be any connectivity — this App runs isolated on your iPhone without any means to share your memorial, prayers, or grieving. But hey, maybe we’re alone in our criticism; Pocket Cemetery already has a first “user review” rating it 5 out of 5 stars by a first time reviewer just 1-hour after launch. Impressive.

P.S. Don’t just stop at the video above, Wayne’s generated a different pitch on his YouTube channel capitalizing on the deaths of Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, and Farrah Fawcett. Elvis too, even though we know he’s just in hiding.

Video: Pocket Cemetery iPhone App preys on grief, sends prayers to Flash memory originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to make the wild and not-entirely-wondrous world of printers exciting for the first time in decades, HP has just unveiled the “world’s first web-connected printer.” If you’re wondering how it plans on accomplishing such an impossible mission, let us just say this: the Photosmart Premium is going the way of the widget. Up on the 4.33-inch front panel is Touchsmart Web, a touchscreen interface with several bundled, online apps to accommodate usual paper-friendly tasks such as printing Google maps, tickets from Fandango, coupons, recipes, Sudoku, etc. There’s even a full-on HD Apps Studio just in case downloading new apps on one’s printer really becomes the new hotness. The API’s being made open for the entire realm of developers, but we have to wonder what kind of interest we’ll see here. Pricing is set for $399, and if you’re thinking “why not just buy a cheap netbook and plug it into my current model” we hear ya, but we get the impression this is aimed squarely at another crowd. Lots more details are just past the break.

Update: We just had a chance to try the printer / Touchsmart for ourselves. First off, surprise, the screen is capacitive touch, and it works well — but only one finger at a time. We asked a rep about multitouch and were told that while technically feasible, it’s not gonna be supported at this time. The widgets are created with a combination of HTML5 and Java, and much to our surprise, video streaming has been implemented. The Monsters vs. Aliens trailer we saw was decent resolution, but really, it’s not a place where we need pristine quality. More screens in the gallery below.

Continue reading HP unveils Photosmart Premium with Touchsmart Web: “world’s first web-connected printer”

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals

HP unveils Photosmart Premium with Touchsmart Web: “world’s first web-connected printer” originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The launch of the Ovi Store is just around the bend and, according to reports, Nokia is looking to blow things out a little better than Google, which launched its Android Market with a paltry 50 selections. Nokia is said to have over 20,000 “items” ready for download when things go live, a number that compares quite favorably to the 40,000 apps Apple currently offers through its App Store. However, what remains to be seen is exactly what an “item” is defined as. We’re sure that count includes custom apps and WidSets, and there’s talk about N-Gage games finding inclusion as well. However, video and music downloads seem to be counted and we’d guess ringtones too. So, how many actual applications will it have at launch? That remains to be seen.

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia’s Ovi Store said to be launching with 20,000 ‘items,’ unknown number of apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 May 2009 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s something that should help Trent reach a level of moderate contentment. Although we already knew that Apple was expanding its parental controls with iPhone OS 3.0 into the realm of TV shows, movies and App Store apps, a report today about the rejection of Makayama’s Newspaper(s) app provides a good example at the ramifications of such alterations. According to iLounge, it was rejected due to a picture of a topless woman under the section for UK-based tabloid The Sun. The accompanying letter suggested a resubmission once 3.0 (and subsequently the parental controls) go public, which we take to mean that the questionable content will suddenly be okay for the App Store once it’s behind the appropriate age gate. We won’t know for sure until everything falls into place, but sounds like this is one part of the submission approval process that’ll soon end up much less frustrating for developers.

[Via 9 to 5 Mac]

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone OS 3.0’s parental controls to assuage some app submission woes? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 May 2009 20:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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