TomTom listened to our concerns in the navigation app battlemodo , and has not only been dropping the price steadily since , but has just released update 1.3 for its iPhone app—which comes with live traffic updates aplenty. More??

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TomTom iPhone App Version 1.3 Adds HD Traffic Updates and Day/Night Mode [IPhone Apps]

Here lately, Navigon has been crushing it on the iPhone GPS front. Every couple of weeks, it seems that MobileNavigator is getting yet another fantastic update, all while TomTom’s lackluster offering hangs back in the land of complacency.

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TomTom iPhone app hits 1.3, gains real-time traffic and Google local search

TomTom have pimped up the ‘Ease’, so as to help it live up to the auspicious occasion of Valentine’s Day.

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Valentine’s special: Limited edition TomTom Ease

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies launched at the CES 2010 the world’s first personal hydrogen fuel station.
Today Horizon unveiled a new world’s first hydrogen fuel cell power system for hobby-grade radio controlled vehicles. The new H-Cell 2.0 is compatib…

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H-Cell 2.0 Hydrogen Fuel Cell System Launched by Horizon Fuel Cell

TomTom EASE 3.5-Inch Portable GPS on Sale at Amazon for $119.99.
Right out of the box the TomTom is ready to be turned on and go. Its entry-level car navigation solution that is not only easy to use but extremely portable and filled with the newest techn…

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TomTom EASE 3.5-Inch Portable GPS on Sale

Premiering at CES 2010 is the Kodak EasyShare Z981 with 26x zoom. The Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon optical zoom lens (35 mm equivalent: 26-676 mm) is even faster and closer to deliver crisp, steady shots for extraordinary creative performance. The fast (…

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Kodak EasyShare Z981 with 26x Zoom Is Available For Pre-Order

TomTom has unveiled its latest GPS solution for America called the TomTom Ease. The new device is portable, uses the Fold & Go Easy Port mount, and has text-to-speech for street names. The GPs device also has the EasyMenu with only two buttons on the s…

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TomTom Brings Ease GPS Device to America

Here is yet another daily deal promotion. This time Amazon offers 12 Days of Mobile Electronics Deals featuring a daily deal on a GPS, MP3 player and car electronics.

Today you can get the TomTom XXL 530S 5-inch GPS for $169.29.

The featured MP3 pla…

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Amazon 12 Days Of GPS, MP3 And Car Electronics Deals

If you’re in the hip-hop hustle then you’re in for a treat with the all new voice skin by TomTom that has none other than Snoop Dogg’s voice, guiding you as you make those tricky turns and drive through the dingy back-alleys of your suburban paradise. You’ve got to believe us when we say that this will be totally worth it because we have seen what the Homer Simpson voice did to us as we drove to Moe’s. And that too happened to be a TomTom offering.

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Snoop Dogg’s voice skin to grace TomTom GPS systems

We know, our GPS gift guide has already been erected, but if you’re in the unfortunate position of needing a high-end gift for someone who’ll actually be in San Juan del Sur over the holidays, there’s hardly a better option than this. The TomTom XXL 540S World Traveler Edition is exactly what you think it is: it’s an XXL 540S, but with maps for the United States, Canada and Europe (what — no Central America?). The 5-inch touchscreen is still there, as is the company’s IQ Routes, ‘Help Me!,’ an increased 4GB of storage, advanced lane guidance and 7 million points of interest. It’s expected to hit retail shelves in both the US and Canada early next month for $349.95 (US) / $399.95 (CAD).

TomTom XXL 540S World Traveler Edition: perfect for that dude you’re jealous of originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TomTom XXL 540S World Traveler Edition: perfect for that dude you’re jealous of

Even in a world full of racket, it seems that the squeaky wheel still gets the grease. In yet another blow to this whole “cloud” agenda, a vocal segment of Palm users began to notice that information transferred from their online Palm Profile was only a fraction of what it should have been. Today, both Palm and Sprint have issued a joint statement acknowledging the issue and promising to work much, much harder in order to avoid having something like this ruin your life once again. To quote:

“We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device.”

Between this mess and the T-Mobile fiasco, we’re pretty certain we’re being forced to stay on the manual backup bandwagon for the foreseeable future.

[Thanks, Mike]

Palm and Sprint issue statement acknowledging Profile backup issue originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm and Sprint issue statement acknowledging Profile backup issue

If you’re looking for a premium sat-nav to smooth the way to your destination, check out the TomTom GO 950 LIVE.

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TomTom GO 950 LIVE Sat-Nav

If you’re looking for a premium sat-nav to smooth the way to your destination, check out the TomTom GO 950 LIVE.

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TomTom GO 950 LIVE Sat-Nav

Wacom adds touch capabilities and a few other improvements to its popular Bamboo range.

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Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch Graphics Tablet

Today, as soon as Google showed off its beta GPS navigator, the stocks of Garmin, TomTom and other companies in that industry fell into the toilet. It’s hard to compete with free Google apps, but that’s not why they’re screwed…

TomTom owns Tele Atlas, who drives the roads of the world in order to make maps, and until recently was a major map provider for Google. Nokia owns the only major competitor, Navteq, who has also provided maps for Google. Look at Google Maps now, though, and you’ll see that the entire US bears just one single copyright: Google’s.

Street View wasn’t just a neat way to get imagery to accompany the data already found in Google Maps. As it happens, it was a way to drive the same roads that were already in Google Maps, tracing them with Google’s own road teams, and—through efficiency and brute force—do away with those costly map licenses. Google has mapped the US, and will surely map the rest of the world soon enough.

This is just a timely example of Google’s monstrous growth, and the destruction it causes. Any business that trades in data or packages it for public consumption may one day face the same issues. It’s not just whether or not to compete with the behemoth, but even whether or not to go into business with it. In either case, there is a chance of being destroyed.

Garmin might have a long-standing relationship with Navteq, but they don’t own any maps. How can they compete with a free Google app when they still have to pay? (Worse, Garmin is still stuck in the hardware business, where profits are extra thin.) TomTom owns the maps, but charges $100 for their own app because they also make money licensing maps to car makers, competing GPS makers and web services—like Google. Before, Google was a fat revenue source for TomTom; now Google is a sprightly competitor.

If a unique supply of data was the only thing keeping TomTom and others on the Google chuck wagon, who will be next to fall off?

I was always afraid of spiders growing up, not because of the eight legs or the umpteen eyes, but because of the way they kill their prey. They get them in a nice convenient position, then they use their venom to hollow out their victim’s insides, until they’re just dead-eyed shells. To be killed in such a manner is my worst nightmare; perhaps I should ask TomTom how it feels.

I am a fan of Google products, and a daily user of them. This is not an attack of Google’s business practices, but an explanation of the sort of destructive innovation that has made them so huge so fast. (It’s also a warning to consider carefully any entities that gets this strong, especially if you plan on going into business with one.) Though predecessors like Microsoft experienced similar explosive growth, and grew a similar sudden global dependence, we’ve never seen the likes of Google. The GPS business isn’t the only one that will be consumed by its mighty maw before it’s had its run.

We’ve already seen the devaluation of the office apps that make Microsoft rich; we’ve already seen how Google’s experiences with Apple and others helped it create telecommunications platforms (both mobile with Android and completely virtual with Google Voice) that threaten its former partners’ existence; we’ve already seen how Google converts photos, videos, news wire stories and other former commodities into freebies by smashing the false notion of scarcity that “service” providers had literally banked on.

So who is next? What other hallowed brands will go the way of Garmin and TomTom? Corbis and Getty? Reuters and AP? Warner and Disney?

This is a tale already told, bound to be told again, but the fundamentals are worth studying—even if we use Google Docs spreadsheets to do it. I have never spoken with a spider, but I am certain they’re not evil, despite what fantasy lore tells us. They’re just doing what comes naturally, and doing a hell of a job.

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Google and the Deadly Power of Data [Comment]