News: Google exits the Smartphone Market

Just over 6 months after opening its online store for the Nexus One Google has sold the last ever Smartphone. They will still be available around the World as carrier branded devices, but ironically you will not be able to get a new one in the USA.

I remember being at CES in Las Vegas 3 years ago when everyone was talking about the "Google Phone" and how this was going to revolutionise the Smartphone market. Despite the rumours nothing was announced or was even hinted at that year, but still the speculation continued.

It was not until CES this year when all of a sudden Google announced the Nexus One (not at CES) and that it was available for delivery tomorrow. Needless to say a number of exhibitors flashed the plastic and true to their word the new Google Phones with OLED screens started to be seen on the show floor the next day. I got my first glimpse of one on the ALK stand where it was running a demo of Co-Pilot. It looked an amazing device.

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News: Trucker's SatNav Blamed for 10 Hour Road Closure

Yet another stranded lorry has been blamed on its driver placing too much faith in his satnav according to This is Somerset.

It appears that artic lorry driver Mike Shillabar, trusted the guidance his satnav gave him over a "No Large Vehicle" sign while approaching narrow Thrupe Lane in Croscombe, Somerset.

After attempting to back the 55 foot truck up, the hapless driver only managed to burn out his clutch.

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News: Lights, Camera, Inaction: Swindon, Oxfordshire and Now Derby

7 Red-Light Cameras, 72 Fixed Speed Cameras and 89 Mobile Camera Locations in Oxfordshire, which collectively detected around 75,000 motoring offences last year alone, will be decommissioned on the 1st August.

This is despite the Oxfordshire Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership's assertion that there has been a 36% long term reduction in the number of people being killed or seriously injured and serious crashes involving excessive speed in Thames Valley dropping by 58%.

The Partnership's communication manager, Dan Campsall, responded to a question about their decision from Mike Barrett of PocketGPSWorld. He said, "The effect of the funding reductions from Oxfordshire County Council means that from the end of the month operation of fixed, mobile & red light cameras will all cease in Oxfordshire only. The rest of the enforcement sites in Thames Valley will continue operation."

It will be interesting to see how long it'll be before the rest of the Thames Valley, indeed the country, bow to budgetary pressures.

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News: TomTom Reports Higher Second Quarter Profit

TomTom has posted a rise in its second-quarter net profit. Its profit for the last quarter rose 69% to EUR34 million from EUR20 million a year earlier.

The rise was attributed to cost cutting and lower financing costs. However, they did experience a 2% drop in group sales from EUR368 million a year ago to EUR362 million due to falling prices for its personal navigation devices (PNDs).

TomTom has also increased its market share in Europe from 44% to 49% and the US from 19% to 23%. However, this increase is within a PND market that is shrinking overall. The fierce competition from free satnav on smartphones will inevitably dilute this part of TomTom's market even further.

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News: TomTom update to V9 is broken. DO NOT UPDATE!!!

If you own a TomTom 540,740 or 940 live SatNav then please do not upgrade to the latest version of the application that TomTom Home will offer you. If you do then you will not have any Live services after the upgrade. Currently the only way to restore the live services is to drop back to the previous version of the software.

The quality standards that we were used to with TomTom seem to be slipping somewhat. It would seem like the latest version 9 software update is not compatible with a lot of TomTom hardware devices. In particular if you upgrade to V9 then you will lose all your TomTom Live services. This would appear to be as a result of issues with the SIM according to users on the site that have tried the update.

On contacting TomTom today a spokesperson stated: "We are aware of this issue and have put the following steps in place for our customers, whilst we work to provide a solution to resolve it…".

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News: Swindon speed Cam switch-off: 1 year on.

The BBC had an item on the breakfast news today following up on the switch off of Swindon's fixed speed cameras a year ago. Swindon council claim that the accident rate has not changed since the big switch off. A counsellor stated that the reduction of funding for speed cameras helped them focus funding towards accident prevention in infrastructure. This is in terms of flashing speed warning signage and physical features in the roads.

Typically opinions are very polarised on speed cameras.

The Tax Payers Alliance regards them as being a good source of revenue for the government where all profits from the camera go, not the local councils. The Tax Payers Alliance claims that the trend in the accident rate has not changed since the speed cameras were introduced in 1992. Prior to the introduction the accident rate was falling and this has not been accelerated by the introduction of camera enforcement of speed.

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News: Apple Antennagate - All Smartphones drop bars...

Last Friday saw a complete turnaround in the Media Farce surrounding the launch of the Apple iPhone 4. With a simple Press Conference Steve Jobs managed to turn a media witch hunt back into an Apple loving pack of lap-dogs. So how did they do this? By offering a complete recall of the "badly designed" new iPhone? By promising a Hardware Fix?

No! It was a simple press conference where Steve Jobs laid out the facts as Apple saw them, the admission "You know, we're not perfect. We know that, you know that. And phones aren't perfect either.", followed by an offer of a free bumper (protective case) for all iPhone 4 purchasers from launch up until the end of September. But what probably quietened them more than anything was the fact that Apple opened it's doors to their testing labs, a hitherto unheard of act. Previously the media have only been allowed into certain meeting rooms on the periphery of Apple's campus at Cupertino, on Friday they were allowed into the heart of the company that prizes itself on secrecy.


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News: Skobbler launches free sat nav for Google Android phones

Skobbler added a new Free Navigation application for the Android platform today. In an interesting turn of events from just over a year ago when Skobbler won the prestigious Navteq LBS Challenge Award with their SatNav application they have parted ways and have adopted the new kid on the block Open Street Maps as the mapping provider.

Skobbler was the first independent company to produce a Free Turn by Turn navigation application which has been a run away success on the iPhone. With 'sales' of 82,000 apps in just four weeks the take up has been amazing.

Obviously nothing comes for free and there is a price to be paid for everything. In Skobbler's case it is funded from advertising. Adverts are displayed in locations that do not interfere with the prime purpose of navigation such as at the end of routing. This lack of revenue will also have a price, maybe in the amount of development effort that can be allocated to improving the application.

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News: Arizona Turns Off State Level Speed Cameras

The Telegraph has reported that Arizona, the first to deploy speed cameras across a whole state, has scrapped its speed camera programme.

The decision was based on a mix of privacy concerns ("the intrusive nature of the system" was cited) and widespread public anger surrounding the belief that the cameras were primarily revenue generators and had little to do with safety. This is despite the Department of Public Safety claim of a resultant 19 per cent drop in fatal collisions on highways.

Only 16 per cent of those ticketed by the cameras actually paid up, but the cash-strapped state still managed to generate £50 million in revenue from the scheme.

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News: Average Speed Camera changes on the M25


Take care on the M25 this weekend. The roadworks are moving towards junction 29, the A127, the cameras are currently in place but inactive. The indications are that they will be activated over the weekend on the 17th July.

With this in mind we have taken the decision to activate the new cameras in the databases at 50 MPH in anticipation that come Saturday this will be the case. Make sure that your device is up to date!

When these cameras become active the entire stretch of the M25 between the A127 and M11 will be monitored by average speed cameras in both directions.

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News: Collins Atlases Updates With Pocket GPS's SpeedCam Locations

We are delighted to announce that Collins has chosen PocketGPSWorld.com's gold standard speed camera locations for inclusion in their excellent atlases for yet another year.

They have just published the new editions of their popular Collins Road Atlas Britain Range, featuring the very latest road and detail changes for 2011 which include fully updated fixed speed camera sites with average speed camera locations. All speed cameras show the speed limit.

You may have noticed that Collins is not the only major brand to use our speed camera locations. We are extremely proud that most of the top road atlas brands such as A-Z, Michelin and Phillips carry the PocketGPSWorld.com name on their latest front covers.

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News: Google Introduces Polite Parking App

Google Marketplace has launched Open Spot, a free parking application for Android (requires Android 2.0) in the US, Canada and the Netherlands. It works by letting people who are leaving parking spots tip off other users who are searching for parking.

Using GPS and Google Maps the app shows unclaimed spaces as red dots - and just before you drive off, you mark that space on the map. 'Karma points' are earned for each spot and the more spaces you point out, the more Karma Points are earned.

Points don't make prizes, all you'll get in return is a sense of pride in helping your fellow motorist. Google anticipate that will be more than enough to make this project successful.

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News: £87m a year from Speedcams but do they increase casualties?

Figures obtained through freedom of information requests by pressure groups the TaxPayers' Alliance and the Drivers' Alliance show the amount collected in UK speeding and red light offences caught on speed cameras in the financial period 2008-09 was £87,368,227.

This figure also includes fines from magistrates’ courts for speeding offences and neglect of traffic directions in 2008. "Neglect of traffic directions" offences caught on cameras often include red light and lane offences, though no breakdown is calculated by the Ministry of Justice or other authorities.

Top 10 areas with highest speeding fines caught on speed cameras in the UK are:

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News: Speedcam to net £1.3m a year - and it's not about safety

A controversial speed camera site in Poole, Dorset has been catching 1,800 motorists every month, that is a total income of over £1.3m a year.

The speed camera on Holes Bay road was one of the Monitron red-light cameras converted into dual purpose red-light/speed enforcement cameras last year as we forewarned here.

The speed camera is cynically placed at a spot where the dual-carriageway speed limit reduces to 30mph and has been installed despite official accident figures that show there have been no fatalities in over 10 years.

Perhaps we can now ask that they stop calling them 'Safety Cameras' and admit that they are, as many of us suspect, simply another income stream.

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News: Galileo finances could result in more delays

Europe's Gailileo satellite navigation network could suffer further delays as funding shortfalls take effect.

Beset by delays and infighting over the mounting costs, Galileo was originally projected to be operational by 2013 but this target will not now be met.

Although the first operational fleet of 18 vehicles is still on target for 2014, with the original £2billion already spent on the validation test vehicles the full fleet of 30 satellites is still a very long way off with future budgets for the purchase of the full fleet now in jeopardy.

With Galileo funded by EU member states, who are already struggling to find cuts in their budgets, it is difficult to see where the European Commission expects to find the extra funding.

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