I really can't see any reason for google to maintain two different nav applications. I expect waze to vanish within the next 12 months.

I've been using Waze for ages and have an older iPhone so can't use apple's built-in nav. I use a combination of google maps and waze. Waze's navigation is sometimes a bit quirky and I've noticed that google's routing is better (also offers walking and cycling routing). Searching in google maps is far superior to Waze, though for some reason they *still* can't search your contacts on your phone!

The actual UI in waze is much better than google though. For some reason, google maps nav always seems to lag about 50m behind where I actually am (which means I've missed a few turnings a couple of times) whereas waze is spot on. Also, Waze is the only nav app I've ever used that zooms out enough. When coming off a motorway, it will be zoomed out enough for you to see the next turning so you know whether to be in the left/right lane of the slip road. All other maps don't zoom out far enough to show you this so you have to guess and switch at the last minute when you get close enough to the roundabout to see where you are going next.

I really hope that google doesn't kill the waze app after 'integrating' it into google maps.

'UTC' isn't French. The french version is TUC: Temps Universel Coordonné. UTC is a compromise between the English (CUT) and French (TUC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time#Abbreviation

I live about 15 miles inland, so raising seas will actually increase my house value because I'll then be able to sell it as having a sea-view! /sarcasm

There's a difference between coming out of an ice-age (a natural process over tens of thousands of years) and global warming, where there is a noticeable change in temperature/ice-caps over a period of years/decades.
And it's trolls like you spreading FUD that don't help matters.

"This system is the true key to Amazon.com's success in online retail". That, and not paying any tax.

OK, since you're a bit thick, I'll explain it to you slowly.
It was a joke. Of course gi.ga is under the same TLD as me.ga. That's part of why it was funny.

I know that he is trying to sound extreme and provocative, but for Gabon to shut-down a domain name of a yet-to-be-launched service that has only said that it plans to store things online is very-much a Witchhunt. Nothing is really known about me.ga and so the only reason they have to shut it down is because it's a 'successor' to megaupload and they have a vendetta against Kim Dotcom.

http://gi.ga/

Unfortunately not. The old maps app (iOS 5 and below) whilst using images and data from google was actually written by Apple, not Google.

Given Android will now (I think - I've got an iPhone so can't be sure.... ssshhhhhhhh! Don't tell anyone) tell you what permissions the app will access, why isn't there the ability to just configure android to refuse to pass those details on to the app at the OS level?

I know I'm going into dangerous territory here by praising Facebook for their security (ssshhhhh!!!!) but when you add 'apps' to facebook, it will tell you what it is wanting to access but facebook gives you the ability to deny access to this information from the app. I would have thought it shouldn't be too hard for android to do this at the API level (and just return null or 'denied' or something) so that you can still pick which flashlight app you want to use, but tell the OS not to pass your address book onto it even if the app wants your details

So some guy that I've never heard of got fired for the maps mess. It still hasn't made my maps app any better.

And stuff like this is why I'm bored with Americans and their petty squabbles. You have absolutely amazing feats of engineering with which you have accomplished utterly awe-inspiring things, yet you chose to spend most of your time squabbling over whether one group of millions of people should be coloured red or blue based on whether a slim majority voted for PersonA or PersonB in a hugely over-inflated popularity contest and the benefits that come with this apparent colouring.

I'm sure you'll have some clever rebuttal, but I'll say it right here: I won't be bothered to read them.

Enterprise is a huge part of the history of human science an exploration. Damage to it is news. I bet you'd complain that it was a slow news day if a major storm blew through Paris and water damaged the Mona Lisa too, eh?

Yet people still buy it. Who are to/he/I to say that it's excessive? People are willing to pay the 3x markup to Apple for what they are offering. Why do you think that private transaction between two parties has anything to do with you?