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Feed Engadget: The Engadget Interview: Jocelyn Vigreux, President of TomTom USA (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Features, GPS, Interviews

GPS is becoming ever more prevalent in our lives -- the cost of a handheld unit has plummeted in recent years, more and more cellphones are coming with GPS built-in, and millions and millions of new cars ship with integrated nav units. So it seemed like a good time to sit down with Jocelyn Vigreux, the president of TomTom USA. He chatted with us about the company's recently-introduced MapShare feature, the new TomTom GO 720, and whether or not standalone GPS devices have a future.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with me this afternoon. Tell me about MapShare.

Well, MapShare is a technology that TomTom is introducing that allows TomTom users to dynamically change map attributes directly on their device. There are five or six things that you can do right now. One is to offer block-by-block traffic directions for a given street; it's also possible to reverse traffic direction for a given street., change the name of a street, edit POI's by changing their position, changing their names, or changing a phone number.

This is something that's looking at navigation from just a step ahead. It's kind of Navigation 2.0. It is really empowering to users to create better maps. The second part of this, which brings all the power to this feature, is being able to not only share this with the community of TomTom users out there -- so I will be sharing my changes, I will be sharing what I have done on my device -- but I'll also be able to take advantage of what the rest of the community all around the world has done.

Continue reading The Engadget Interview: Jocelyn Vigreux, President of TomTom USA

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Games

Submission + - Xbox 360 Failure Rate Way Higher Than Expected

Submitted by maeveth
maeveth writes: Xbox 360. Most successful console of this generation, if you judge by number of units sold worldwide and number of available games and exclusives. That said, though, it's looking like it might also be the least reliable console of its generation as well. Microsoft says the failure rate is 3-5%. However, a DailyTech poll of retailers that sell the Xbox 360 and with it an option to purchase an extended warranty shows the real figures might be closer to 30-33%. (Compare that with the Nintendo Wii, which the same retailers gave a failure rate of less than 1%.) Hey, Redmond, you listening to this?
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - It Costs $220 to Make an iPhone (businessweek.com)

Submitted by
Bomarc
Bomarc writes: " BuinessWeek says that "An analysis from teardown firm Portelligent estimates that the new smartphone costs Apple a mere $220 to make" and "Portelligent estimates that the cost of the materials used in the iPhone add up to about $200 for the 4-gigabyte version, which sells for $499 and about $220 for the 8-gigabyte version, which sells for $599""
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Second Life Seeks Sensitive Data About Residents

Submitted by deviantphil
deviantphil writes: Linden Labs, the company that runs Second Life, is seeking to roll out a new age verification mechanism which among others things may require residents to turn over their Social Security Number, government ID, or other sensitive personally identifying data in order to access content which is "explicitly sexual or excessively violent in nature". This would be equivalent to requiring a person to give out their Social Security Number before purchasing a game rated "M".

Comment Re:Uhh (Score 2, Interesting) 20

by Shinsei (#19006551) Attached to: THQ and Big Huge Games Team For RPG
With a slight chance of sounding on the offside here, I'd like to point out the fact that Bethesda did a good job with Oblivion if the user mods made the game more enjoyable. I am one of them who enjoyed Oblivion with user mods a lot more than the vanilla game myself, and I thought it was great after you got some modifications to the various game systems!

When you consider how many people play games now compared to how many people played games in the time of old Daggerfall, it sort of makes sense that user modifications of the games are very important to the game developers now. A game that is developed with options for advanced user modding will necessarily have a larger audience than the ones without user modding. Some people even buy games just because they are moddable - ie. they find the art of modding the games more fun than playing the game itself.

So - I'd say Oblivion was not at all the great disappointment many people try to point it out as. :-)

Feed Prenatal Nicotine Exposure Can Lead To Cardiac Function Reprogramming In Adult O (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
A new study using laboratory rats provides strong evidence that the effects of maternal smoking during the prenatal period of life can lead to cardiac vascular dysfunction beyond the formative years -- and into adulthood. What's more, the effect of nicotine shows a gender dichotomy with females being more susceptible than males.

Feed RFID-tracking Segways unleashed on hoi polloi (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed
'Mobility platforms' to menace mankind

Come the Rise of The Machines, our mechanised overlords are going to need ways to track their subjected population, and what better way than using RFID-reader-equipped Segways to roam city streets logging the chips embedded in every slave human.
Google

Submission + - Google Sends Disgruntled Blogger Superman Cape

Submitted by
rulesaremyenemy
rulesaremyenemy writes: "Google's sense of humor strikes once again:

"While at SXSW, I tried out the new Google Transit service. I was far away from the hotel and wanted to find an efficient way to get back. Well, Google got me close, then expected me to cross an eight-lane highway on foot. Um, no. I had to explore for a long time to find a way to get across the damn thing and back to my hotel. I bitched at my blog.
Today, I got a package from Google at my workplace. At first, I saw the hand-written "Google" return address and thought "anthrax", but figured, what the hell. I ripped it open. I was treated to the single greatest customer service experience I had ever had. Enclosed was a hand-written note from Joe Hughes at Google. The note said:

Dear Superman, Reading your blog post about Google Transit at SXSW made us wonder if you were losing your powers — I mean, how hard could it be to leap over a simple 8-lane highway intersection, man of steel? We've enclosed a new cape — hopefully it will help you find your powers again.
...seriously, though, Adam, we're sorry that Google Transit sent you on such an expedition, and we wanted to let you know that we've since improved our routing, so that it returns more plausible walking sections at the start & end of transit routes.

Cheers, Joe Hughes Google Transit"

(Picture of the Cape and Letter on Flickr)"

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