Sure they've all got a commercial interest, but they're not all the same. Apple provides Maps on the iPhone purely as a feature. Up to now it's simply been supplying Google maps. But that;s going to change to their own maps because they can't be dependant on one of their biggest competitors any more.

So Apple's commercial interest is simply to sell more devices. So it doesn't matter to them whether you cache the data on your phone or stream it constantly. In fact they'll save money on bandwidth the more you do cache it.

Apple have no motivation to give their maps to anyone who's not on an Apple device. There will be no battle between Apple and Google for total user count. It's irrelevant to Apple. All thats relevant is their hardware sales. And to a much lesser extent App Store app sales.

Why? That indicates to me you have a crap mobile phone navigation system. With my dedicated Garmin sat-nav I've never felt the desire to do any pre-planning on a PC. I have a sat-nav to do navigation more efficiently, not to make extra tasks before I travel.

No reason at all they won't have it on Macs. It's a pretty likely feature for Mountain Lion. But they have no motivation whatsoever to let non-Apple users have access to them.

Apple have no motivation to compete on map numbers per se. Maps for them is just a feature to sell hardware. They will of course give iOS developers an API. And they will of course not allow their maps to be used in any way on anything other than an Apple device. Overall map usage numbers are irrelevant. Only Apple hardware and App Store app sales matter to them.

An advantage in what way? What is it that the companies providing mapping want? Maps is not a symmetrical platform war.

Google uses mapping to advertise. The more users they have on any platform the better for them.

Apple just wants to sell more hardware. Maps is a good old fashioned feature. They will have a motivation to deny their maps to people without Apple hardware. Apple do have an advertising platform (iAd), but it's very much a sideline compared with the main business of selling hardware. And it's Apple only anyway.

Apple's doing it's own maps because they can't rely any longer on the map service being supplied by one of their biggest competitors. They have no motivation to have the most users for them, other than because those people have bought Apple devices.

Two-step authentication is a good option. It wouldn't do exactly what you want, because you'd need to keep using it after you got back (Internet cafe sniffers and the like would get your main password), but if you just turn it on and leave it on, it would keep you safe. On the computers you use regularly you can click the "remember verification" checkbox when you use it, so you'll only get prompted once per month for a one-time password, so in practice you don't have to do the second step very often -- except when using random machines while traveling.

For OTPs, there are multiple choices. The most convenient is a smartphone OTP app. If you don't have a smartphone, you can also have Google send you OTPs when you need them via SMS. For those times when you don't have service (e.g. international travel), carry a piece of paper in your wallet with a list of one-time passwords, crossing them off as you use them. If you get low on backup OTPs, use one to log in and then get some more.

Don't forget to thank a veteran.

Note: No I'm not criticizing the US military, or veterans. I'm a veteran. My point is that military forces do not provide "freedom", that must come from internal political and judicial processes, which must in turn arise from the desires and actions of the citizenry at large. Military forces just make it possible for us to do whatever we're going to do free of external coercion. What we choose to do, though, can go either way.

Sorry for the semi-OT post. It just struck a chord, in light of the recent holiday and the flurry of "thank a veteran" messages it always spawns.

But... 30-somethings are young'uns.