BlueNosedDog

Google signed a five-year deal with Tele Atlas to keep getting the map data that helps power Google Maps. The deal extends to Google Earth and mobile apps, and covers 200 countries.

Google also gets map data from Navteq, which is being bought by Nokia for $8 billion. Tele Atlas is owned by Dutch GPS-maker TomTom.

Up until now, the deal between Google Maps and its data providers has been a one-way street. Google licenses the underlying map data that forms the basis for Google Maps. Once it’s up there, anyone on the Web can enhance the maps, correct faulty data, or add their own. But up until now, Tele Atlas did not benefit from those edits. As part of the new pact, Tele Atlas will have access to edits made by the Google Maps community to update the underlying maps. (The company already collects similar corrections from the Map Share feature in the 20 million TomTom GPS car navigation systems out there).

Once Nokia completes its acquisition of Navteq, it too will collect data from consumers to improve its maps. But it will tap into their cell phones.

It is almost a wiki approach to making better maps (presumably with more controls). How soon before other providers of real-world data catch on that sometimes the best source of data are the users themselves?

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There’s been a fair amount of complaining about the pricing of the new iPhone 3G over the last few weeks. While plenty of people were initially enamored by the cheaper price for the actual phone in the US (and in some other countries), this subsidized low price often hid higher service fees (with a locked contract) that came with it. However, it appears that the folks at Rogers Communication up in Canada really went overboard in its service pricing: offering very expensive service fees that have excessively limited data amounts (and no unlimited data offering). Users also get less talk time. Basically, these service plans make the iPhone a hell of a lot less appealing — but since Rogers is the only carrier offering the iPhone in Canada, it feels it can get away with such high prices. But, the impressive thing is that people are trying to fight back, putting together a petition against Rogers’ decision. While online petitions are notorious for their ineffectiveness, this one seems to be getting an awful lot of attention — creating a ton of negative publicity for Rogers. If the company has any sense of the harm negative publicity can do, perhaps it will rethink its pricing strategy.

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While the original Rock Band is still going strong, Harmonix is already looking towards the next bit of kit that it hopes will be cluttering your place, with it now getting official with Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This time around, it seems the Xbox 360 will be getting a jump on things with a launch in September, with the PS3 version set to follow “later in the year.” Both of those will, naturally, be coming with all new instruments, including the tasty Fender Stratocaster pictured above, but you will be able to use your current gear if you want to spare the extra clutter and save a few bucks. What’s more, you’ll also be able to carry over all your current downloaded content and, as IGN reports, you’ll even be able to download and play new tracks on Rock Band 1 once Rock Band 2 is out. Of course, Harmonix is saving most of the details for E3 next month, but you can find a few more tidbits in IGN’s interview with Harmonix’s Dan Teasdale available here.

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You may have noticed, and I do apologise for the lack notice, but I am nearing the end of the first week of a two week holiday my family has taken me on. I have found myself in the lucky position to have a two week holiday to Devon for myself, my wife and child being paid for by someone else. Fantastic.

This left me in a bit of a predicament though, I myself only had limited notice of the holiday, so packing space came at a premium. What do you pack for a two week vacation when you’re a tech head like me? Say, as was the case with me, you can only take 5 items, what would you take?

Obviously the circumstances dictate what you take, well I’ll lay out the basics of mine and we’ll see if I took the best things :)

I’d be traveling with my Wife and Child, my sister-in-law her husband and their two children (both younger than two years) and my parents-in-law. The three family units, as it were, would travel separately but would all meet up sooner or later (later in our case) at the destination four hours away. We would be driving, there is no internet access at the destination, and mobile coverage is best described as “sketchy”.

Now that you have the scenario, I’l present my 5 chosen tech items in no particular order.

1. Xbox 360. The majority of games I have for this are what I classify as “jump-in” games, where you can just open up and play for 20 minutes and then put away. Obviously for this trip, GTA IV would be left behind, but I have bought PES 2008, Project Gotham Racing 4, Guitar Hero 3 (Sans Guitar as I don’t own one) and a couple of other arcade titles. This seems to have been a bit of a success so far, the games have gone down a treat between the four of us (the grand parents and young children can’t work it) with the girls enjoying Guitar Hero over everything else. It has certainly helped wile away the evenings when the pub hasn’t been calling too loudly. An added bonus is the fact it plays DVD’s, as the house we’ve rented doesn’t have a dvd player.

2. Laptop. When you own a Dell XPS M1710, you don’t leave it anywhere. Even less so when you have the entire Valve back catalogue alongside your I.D. one. Doom 3 has never been so good - however, trials 2 has been a surprising success again falling into the “jump-in” category that becomes priceless when waiting for the in-laws to find two pairs of shoes for their children.

3. Camera. Now many would have forgotten to mention this, but it is a holiday after all. Nothing more exciting than a Fuji Finepix of some description (I’m sure someone can tell me if I remember to post a snap to accompany this post - may not turn out to be a Fuji at all, I’ve been to the pub) but partnering this with the laptop has been a joy, giving us the ability to rejoice at the memories less than 6 hours old. It has been absolutely amazing to look back at pictures taken on the same day, almost as fun as the nightly game of cluedo.

4. Mobile phone. I’ve never got on with my mobile phone (cell phone for those across various types of water). The N95 has been nothing to me but a brick - its clunky interface, diabolical battery life and tendency to try and charge you for every piece of kit which may be semi useful. My biggest gripe is the GPS, which not only covers all of the above, but also takes over 20 minutes to come up with a current location - thank god for my navman. All this said however, I don’t think I’d still be sane without it this holiday. Plugged into my laptop with nothing more than a USB cable (standard size, woohoo) and into the wall to provide it with enough juice to turn on, it has been my only source of internet for the entire first week. Unfortunately for me though, Devon isn’t leading the curve when it comes to mobile technology, and the little village I’m in has patchy cell coverage with no 3G. So I’m stuck browsing at 7 KB/s which is not so fun. *This explains lack of posting, but you guys can fill in for me if you want for free, the best of which will get the chance to earn their own ad revenue.

5. Sat Nav. As previously mentioned, the in-built GPS in my phone is rubbish, GPS doesn’t count if you have to pay for mapping separately in my book, so a dedicated unit is a must. My Nav-Man has performed admirably so far, it’s three years old now, its nothing special and is certainly not worth several lines of blog, but without it I’d be lost - literally - so next vacation you take, don’t forget the sat-nav.

I’d be interested to hear what you guys (and gals) would take as your 5 items, you can post in the comments, or link to your own blog should you come up with a mammoth post like the above. Either way, your feedback is very much appreciated.

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A government-sponsored report has cautioned UK telecoms operators against the deployment of next generation access networks in the short term.

Super-fast connections could provide “significant social and economic value” in the long term, exceeding the estimated £16bn cost of developing the networks, according to research for the Broadband Stakeholder Group.

However, BSG chairman Kip Meek said: “Regarding the timing of deployment, the report suggests that, in the short term, there are unlikely to be significant costs associated with delayed deployment and that there may actually be significant value in waiting.”

NGA networks are generally defined as offering downstream speeds of around 100Mbps. They will combine different technologies, including wireless, but will largely rely on the laying of new fibre-optic cable.

In other countries such as the US, NGA is being rolled out rapidly and used to provide super-fast broadband and high-capacity television services to millions of homes.

Meek said waiting to learn more about technologies, deployment techniques, commercial models and regulation from the experience of other countries will make the UK’s eventual deployment more efficient.

“However it should be noted that waiting does not imply doing nothing and there could be significant costs if deployment was delayed in the long term (5-10 years) and takes place significantly later than in other countries,” he added.

Chief executive Antony Walker added: “It is tempting to jump in feet-first but it matters more to do this right than to do it now… On the other hand, the UK can’t wait too long. If widespread network deployment didn’t happen in the medium term (perhaps three to five years), then this report suggests that the UK could be losing out.”

The BSG, which held its Beyond Pipe Dreams conference yesterday, opposes a wide-scale government intervention to speed developing of next-generation broadband. However, it said some public measures are likely to be needed in future if the technology is to be made widely available.

“Communities and individuals that remain beyond the reach of commercial deployment in the long term will be disadvantaged,” said the BSG. “Close attention must therefore be paid to the emergence of a new digital divide.”

The Ofcom Consumer Panel, which advises the regulator on consumers’ interest, was also a partner in the conference.

Anna Bradley, the group’s newly-appointed chairman, favoured “making the economic case for commercial roll out” along with planned intervention to bring NGA to “all corners of the UK”.

She said: “If we are imaginative and utilise a mix of private and public business models, we could ensure the current digital divide is addressed and not deepened; giving those consumers currently excluded from first generation broadband the potential to leapfrog this technology and move straight to next generation.”

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Sky, Virgin Media and web TV service Joost have submitted concerns about Project Kangaroo to the Office of Fair Trading.

The firms say the in-development video-on-demand service could dominate the market and stifle competition.

The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are collaborating on an application which would be commercial and funded by adverts and download fees. The OFT is reviewing the plans and has invited comments from other companies.

Graham McWilliam, Sky’s group director of corporate affairs, said: “The shareholders of Kangaroo must not be allowed to leverage their unique position in television, built on public subsidy, into the on-demand space.

“We would be particularly concerned if their content was not made available on similar terms to competing services, or if Kangaroo were to benefit from free cross-promotion on public service channels.”

A spokesman for Virgin Media, which offers the BBC’s free iPlayer VOD service to its cable TV customers, added: “We’ve made clear to the OFT that we think the proposed merger raises some significant questions.”

Mike Volpi, chief executive of British-based web television service Joost, revealed that the company had unsuccessfully sought to carry content from the three Kangaroo partners.

“We have asked many times,” he said. “In the case of the commercial players, negotiations have broken down over price. In the case of the BBC it’s just been a flat-out no.

“When you have a situation where so much good content ends up being potentially exclusive through a single distribution channel, it makes it very difficult for any player outside of those three to be competitive in the UK market.”

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In 2003 The Beeb announced plans to create a digital archive of all it’s programming. Now that the technology is in pace, presumably iPlayer, Auntie has started the task of uploading 81 years of broadcasts for viewing.

The Director of BBC Vision, Jana Bennett, confirms “Eventually we will add our programme back catalogue to produce pages for programming stretching back over nearly 80 years - featuring all the information we have on the richest TV and radio archive in the world.”

The first task will be for them to create dedicated landing pages for the most popular programming, to provide information on the show and also its individual episodes, and then comes the mammoth task of uploading all the shows.

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