Google Maps Update

Google Maps for iOS and Android is getting a beefy update today, with features such as Uber integration, lane guidance, and improvements to offline maps, as well as more, making their way to both versions.

Uber integration: If you have the Uber app installed, pressing the “Get an Uber” option in Google Maps will show an estimated transportation time when looking for public transport or walking directions. While the integration is available “in some cities,” once you press the Uber option, it’ll take you to the Uber app. If, on the other hand, you prefer public transportation, Google Maps now shows over a million public transit stops.

Lane guidance: Google Maps also now shows you which lane to stay in or move to while driving. It will also show you alternate routes while you’re navigating. For now, the feature is only supported in the U.S. and parts of Canada and Japan. No word on when this feature will expand to other countries.

Easier offline saving: While offline support isn’t new for either the iOS or Android version of Google Maps, it has been improved with this latest update. Now, you can search a specific area, tap its place info sheet, and select “Save map to use offline.” You can also assign a custom map name, if you so desire. To access the saved map, you’ll have to sign in, tap the profile icon next to the search box, and scroll to see any saved maps you have.

Better browsing and train times: However, let’s not forget about the smaller features included in the update. You can now browse through restaurants, bars, and hotels by opening hours, rating, price, and more. When you search for directions to a specific location, if you plan on taking the train there, for example, you can now choose the time and day you want to leave. It will even show the last train that will depart for the night, if you plan on going out and about in the very early morning hours.

New Lenovo Chromebooks

Lenovo announced two consumer-grade clamshell Chromebook models today, each with an 11.6-in. display and running Intel Celeron processors. The Chromebooks go on sale this summer starting at $279.

The new N20p includes a touchscreen with a keyboard that can flex backwards by 300 degrees to convert the Chromebook from laptop mode to standing mode.

"Chromebooks have really taken off with those nice, low price points targeted toward education," Ashley Rodrigue, a Lenovo ambassador, said in an interview. Successful sales of earlier Lenovo clamshells with the Chrome OS prompted Lenovo to produce the new Chromebooks, which are even lower in price than some education models announced in January, and will probably attract some of the most price-conscious schools and consumers, she explained.

The N20 model, selling for $279 starting in July, has a traditional laptop design. The new N20p, selling for $329 starting in August, upgrades on the clamshell concept to include a touchscreen with a physical keyboard that can flex backwards by 300 degrees to convert the device from laptop mode to standing mode.

In standing mode, the N20p lets users watch videos or play games or browse with touch.

Each new Chromebook weighs less than 3 pounds and the 11.6-in. displays offer 1366 x 768-pixel screens.

Each model provides six to eight hours of battery life and will be powered by a Celeron processor, Rodrigue said. Also, each will come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, 16GB of internal storage and 100 GB of free cloud storage from Google.

Both Sides Won (and lost)

Apple and Samsung each won damages in the most recent round of their patent-infringement fight. But their victories, deemed modest by legal experts, may have come at a far greater cost, hurting the image and reputation of the world's leading makers of mobile devices.

An eight-person jury on Friday returned a mixed verdict in this year's Apple v. Samsung patent-infringement case over patents related to their smartphones and tablets. Samsung was found to have infringed three of Apple's five patents at issue and was ordered to pay $119.6 million, much less than the $2.2 billion sought by the maker of the iPhone. At the same time,

Apple was found to have infringed one of Samsung's two patents and ordered to pay $158,400. Samsung was asking for $6.2 million.

"You can look at this as both sides won or both sides lost," said Pierre R. Yanney, a patent attorney and partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. "Apple won on infringement but got one-tenth of what it wanted. Samsung lost on infringement but cut the damages down by 90 percent."

Happy Star Wars Day

May the 4th be with you on this annual Star Wars Day!!

Android Leads in Tablet Sales

Global tablet shipments in Q1 2014 reached 57.6 million units, up 19 percent from 48.3 million in Q1 2013. Breaking those numbers down, Android secured 65.8 percent global share, iOS grabbed 28.4 percent, and Windows secured 5.8 percent.

The latest figures are from Strategy Analytics, which says Google is making steady progress as it now commands two thirds of the tablet market share. Apple, meanwhile, has changed its product release cycle to the holiday timeframe, so iPad losing share is to be expected until the final months of the calendar year.

In short, the Android-iOS war is far from over, but ever since Google surpassed Apple, it doesn’t look likely to lose its lead. Yet much more interesting will be watching to see how Microsoft’s numbers change in the next few quarters.

Here’s what Strategy Analytics believes is likely:

There may be an uptick in Windows following Microsoft’s decision to offer Windows for free for sub 9-inch devices. We may see a new batch of 8-inch Windows based Tablets with reduced prices; they will still not be as inexpensive as Android, but it will enable them to be more competitive and appealing to a wider audience. The shortage of apps continues to be a problem, with seemingly little incentive for developers to work on the platform.

Frankly, we don’t think there will be much growth for Windows tablets in 2014. Microsoft is making another long-term play, and until the company’s Windows Phone and Windows RT strategy is solidified, most of the market won’t be considering anything aside from Android or iOS. Google’s and Apple’s duopoly is likely to continue for quite some time.

MSFT Now Loves Chromebooks

MSFT has conceded that Google's Chrome OS and the Chromebooks the operating system powers are capable of doing real work, a reversal of its "Scroogled" campaign that once blasted the laptops as worthless.

Almost as an afterthought, MSFT announced it was bringing its free Office Online apps -- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote -- to rival Google's Chrome Web store, the primary distribution channel for Chrome OS software.

MSFT released Word and PowerPoint to the store and said it will launch Excel Online shortly. It published OneNote on the store on Friday, April 11.

The move was largely symbolic: The Office Online apps have long been able to run within virtually any browser, including Chrome, the foundation of Chrome OS.

But by packaging the apps in .crx format and submitting them to the automated review run by Google, and thus publishing them to the Chrome Web Store, MSFT put its Office Online in front of Chrome and Chrome OS users and in a place they've been trained to look for Web apps.

It was also a repudiation of Scroogled, the name MSFT slapped on its attack ad-based campaigns that took shots at Google and its practices. Last November, MSFT targeted Chromebooks in an advertisement starring reality show "Pawn Stars" personalities who argued that the devices were not legitimate laptops.

Another MSFT Vulnerability

At 1PM Pacific time on Thursday, Microsoft will release an update to address the zero day vulnerability recently disclosed in all versions of Internet Explorer. The advance notification of the update lists Windows XP as among the affected platforms, indicating that it will be among the platforms patched, in spite of its support period ending weeks ago.

Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing stated "[T]he security of our products is something we take incredibly seriously. When we saw the first reports about this vulnerability we decided to fix it, fix it fast, and fix it for all our customers."

Users with Automatic Updates enabled do not have to do anything, although running Windows Update will apply the fix immediately.

In a blog entry, Hall explains Microsoft's approach, which mostly is to urge users to move on from Windows XP. The company decided to move quickly when they were made aware of this vulnerability and to patch Windows XP because of the proximity to its end of support period.

Further information on the update may be found at KB2964358. Among the advice there, IE will crash if you install the update on a Windows 7 system whch does not have KB2929437 installed.

If you use Windows Update these determinations and appropriate installations will be made automatically. Otherwise, follow the instructions in KB2964358.