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DVice: Google has just released its free navigation software for mobile phones running Android 2.0, much to the chagrin of the big names in the GPS game.

While folks like Garmin and Magellan have plenty to fear, even companies that use an iPhone app have to be worried too, because this, like most things Google, is just so much cooler than anything out there.

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Garmin has tried to break out of the GPS-only world with its own phone partnership, but it seems to be way too little, too late in that market.

Magellan doesn’t even have a dog in the phone fight. Many companies are going the app route, but given the popularity of anything related to Google, it’s gonna be tough to compete.

One thing’s for sure: say “electronic maps” to anyone, and the first name they think of is the big G. While currently only available on the Android 2.0 system, Google has made it clear that it’s willing to play on the iPhone if Apple will allow it.

New smartphones have been announced by Motorola and Verizon that will be running Android 2.0 and Google Maps for Mobile, which the navigation service is a part of.

You have to wonder if anyone is going to buy a standalone GPS when so many navigation programs are available on phones?

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Electronista: Google today provided added details of the turn-by-turn mapping service found on the Motorola Droid.

Google Maps Navigation adds many of the features that would normally exist in a dedicated GPS unit, such as a bird’s-eye view and spoken directions, but takes advantage of Google’s existing Maps features.

Traffic is free in those areas where Google provides service, and Street View can show directions overlaid on top of in-location photos.

Search is naturally rolled into Navigation and lets drivers use voice or typed commands to navigate to a location by search criteria rather than a specific address.

Long-distance travelers can launch a search in mid-drive and find just the points of interest close to the already planned route.

Google Maps Navigation ships first on the Droid as a beta but will be available for all Android 2.0 devices.

The company also says it’s cooperating with Apple to bring the feature to the iPhone through its built-in Maps tool but hasn’t given a timetable for when it expects the feature to be ready.

The unveiling is a potential coup for Google. Although RIM’s BlackBerry line and most GPS-aware Nokia phones include company-made turn-by-turn apps, these either have limited functionality or require a paid subscription to work properly.

Google Maps requires an active Internet connection to download map data but is otherwise free to use where most stand-alone apps, including for the iPhone, often carry a significant initial fee and often charge extra for future map updates.

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BBC: A video-game that boasts rap artist Jay-Z amongst its advisors is hoping to capitalise on the popularity of music titles despite poor sales forecasts.

DJ Hero will be launched in the UK on Thursday and allows players to emulate their music-mixing idols. Its publishers hope it will emulate the success of Guitar Hero, the rock-based game that let users jam along to tracks using a guitar-shaped controller.

However, US games analysts believe the game will not sell as well as expected.

“We remain very cautious about the title’s prospects at launch,” Doug Creutz at analysts Cowen and Company said in a report.

“A survey of online retailers indicates a demand profile that is well below what we would have expected to see just a few days before launch for a title that was destined to be a big (or even modest) hit.”

The company has reduced its US sales estimates for the fourth quarter of the year from 1.6 million to 600,000 and its first year estimate from 2.5 million to 950,000.

“We still believe that DJ Hero will be an important part of Activision Blizzards music franchise strategy, but we think it may take a few versions of the game for it to reach its full market potential,” he wrote.

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BBC: A new mobile phone charger that will work with any handset has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body.

Industry body the GSMA says that 51,000 tonnes of redundant chargers are generated each year.

Currently most chargers are product or brand specific, so people tend to change them when they upgrade to a new phone. However, the new energy-efficient chargers can be kept for much longer.

The GSMA also estimates that they will reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 13.6m tonnes.

“This is a significant step in reducing the environmental impact of mobile charging,” said Malcolm Johnson, director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau.

“Universal chargers are a common-sense solution that I look forward to seeing in other areas.”

The charger has a micro-USB port at the connecting end, using similar technology to digital cameras. It is not compulsory for manufacturers to adopt the new chargers but the ITU says that some have already signed up to it.

“We are planning to launch the universal charger internationally during the first half of 2010,” Aldo Liguori, spokesperson for Sony Ericsson told the BBC. “We will roll it out with new products as they launch.”

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iPodNN: TomTom changed its usual formula with the launch of an installable in-dash GPS unit. The GO I-90 occupies two DIN slots in any car and provides a large touchscreen with both TomTom’s staple GPS as well as media features the company normally has no reason to use.

Owners of iPods can plug the Apple devices into a USB port to both play and charge their devices; the unit also has generic MP3 player support and its own FM radio tuner. GPS features aren’t extensive but do bring Map Share for community-created data, an emergency mode, speed camera alerts, as well as a unique use of the car’s radio antenna to improve reception for Traffic Message Channel (TMC) updates.

Bluetooth is present for hands-free calling. The GO I-90 is shipping to Europe first for €599 and will be ready by December.

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Electronista: The European Commission today reached a roundtable agreement with several music stores and labels to ensure more widely distributed music for the continent.

Apple, Amazon, BEUC, EMI, Nokia, PRS for Music, SACEM, STIM, and Universal now say they will work with the Commission to desegregate music licensing in European Union countries and have labels produce licenses that work across multiple if not all member states.

They will also more freely exchange information so that companies can get rights outside of a musician’s home country.

The group promises a roadmap but hasn’t provide specific timelines for the changes. A deal follows legal pressure from the Commission on the music industry to provide fairer competition.

Online stores and labels have been accused of unfair catalog availability as the lack of widespread distribution often leaves smaller countries with poor selections in iTunes; Amazon has yet to offer its MP3 store outside of the US.

Apple has routinely shifted the blame to labels as many of these don’t or can’t license music in certain areas. Many licensing firms, like SACEM in France, often have a majority or exclusive right to license music and are sometimes unable or unwilling to license music from other nation

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NaviGadget: This one was shot in Singapore. Now you know how Google Street View gets its images where cars can’t get to.

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Forbes: It’s official. There is no recession at Apple. The iPhone maker shocked investors Monday, reporting a fourth-quarter earnings leap of more than 47% from the year-ago quarter.

Apple shares rose $11.65, or 6.14%, to $201.51 in after-hours trading. The result: There’s no need to sell cheap notebooks. Layoffs are wholly unnecessary. If the company has any plans to replace the water coolers at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters with large vats of Dom Perignon, it should go right ahead.

Apple reported net income of $1.7 billion, or $1.82 per share, for its most recent quarter, compared to net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.26 per share, during the corresponding year-ago period.

Analysts had expected Apple to report net income of $1.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.

Sales also exceeded expectations: Apple posted revenues of $9.9 billion compared with $7.9 billion for the year-ago quarter. Analysts had expected sales of $9.2 billion. Apple’s gross margin soared to 36.6% from 34.7% during the year-ago quarter.

The results look even better, however, when adjusting for the effects of the subscription-accounting method used for Apple’s iPhone and AppleTV businesses. Eliminate subscription accounting, and Apple would have reported $2.85 billion in earnings and $12.25 billion in sales.

The only dark spot was Apple’s iPod line. The company sold 3.05 million Macintosh computers, up 17% over the year-ago quarter. It sold 7.5 million iPhones, up 7% from the year-ago period. IPod sales fell 8% to 10.2 million units. When you’re selling nearly 8 million iPhones a quarter–which double as iPods in a pinch–it doesn’t really matter.

So how will Apple do next quarter? Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer may have some ideas. We’re not even going to report his notoriously conservative earnings guidance, however, because even many bulls didn’t see this one coming.

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Engadget: Hitachi’s face-recognizing, power-saving plasma may have been the outfit’s show-stopper at CEATEC, but this little bugger here showed some pretty fantastic potential as well.

The 10-inch 3D display, more formally known as the Full Parallax 3D TV, one-upped most every other 3D display at the show thanks to its ability to showcase dimensions sans any glasses.

Unfortunately, the native resolution is just 640 x 480, and yes, it really is just 10-inches in size. In due time, the outfit hopes to scale up to screen sizes that may actually be appealing to end users by utilizing multiple projectors (each of which with a 800 x 600 resolution), though a 4K x 2K 3D display (of the glasses-free variety) is still probably a couple of trade shows out. At least.

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DigiTimes: The first Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) products are already lining up, ahead of a specification ratified by the Bluetooth SIG.

According to a recent study from ABI Research, the BLE market will develop in two very separate stages. How well the players in each stage understand the technology and its potential will determine its success.

BLE is supported by two different technology implementations: dual mode and single mode ICs. By and large the two modes of IC will also be produced by two different groups of vendors, with each dependant on the investment and commitment of the other.

Next year, single mode ICs will account for less than 3% of BLE chipset shipments. Just over 2.5 billion BLE chipsets will ship in 2014 in a market that will grow at 78% CAGR between 2009 and 2014; but less than a third of those shipments will be for the single mode ICs.

“BLE will enter the market in two stages,” says principal analyst Jonathan Collins. “First with support for BLE embedded in mobile handsets, and then a second stage when BLE devices come to market. Key is that both dual mode and single mode suppliers are confident that each will deliver and support BLE.”

BLE will enable sensors and monitors to communicate with mobile handsets and other BLE-enabled devices using very low power communications. While existing low power short range applications such as sports and fitness equipment will be the first devices to market, there is further potential for more serious BLE health monitoring applications.

“The technology will be incorporated in the Bluetooth ICs at a relatively minimal additional cost to existing Bluetooth chipset vendors who will deliver the bulk of dual-mode ICs,” says Collins. “But BLE’s success will depend on the commitment of single mode IC vendors to invest in producing these chipsets and their conviction that they will get good return from their efforts.”

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BBC: Nokia has reported a loss for the July to September quarter after sales sank by almost a fifth.

The company made a net loss of 913m euros ($1.4bn; £838m) for the period, compared with a profit of 1.1bn euros for the same quarter last year. This included a write-off of 908m euros reflecting the fall in value of its Nokia Siemens Networks division.

Nokia has suffered as mobile phone makers like Apple have developed more popular smartphones, analysts say. Net sales fell to 9.8bn euros compared with 12.2bn euros a year ago.

Chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said that sales “were constrained by component shortages”.

Despite the fall in sales, Nokia said it had maintained its overall global market share in mobile devices at 38%. It said it had increased market share in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

“This was offset by lower market share in Greater China, Asia-Pacific and North America,” Nokia said.

The company estimates that global mobile phone sales in 2009 will fall by 7% from 2008. “Overall, I have to say it is kind of a mixed bag with a negative bias. I think that the big picture doesn’t look that well,” said Thomas Langer at West LB.

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AutomatedHome: Could this be the “X Smart Home Utopia ” we’ve been waiting for? The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has approved a new technical standard called ‘G.hn’ which could finally lead the way to a workable standard by providing a set of protocols and profiles to enable a diverse range of devices to communicate with each other around the home.

From the Wikipedia entry on G.hn – “Examples of G.hn devices based on high complexity profiles are Residential Gateways or Set-Top Boxes. Examples of G.hn devices based on low complexity profiles are home automation, home security and Smart Grid devices.

From the ITU’s press release:

ITU has approved a cutting-edge technical standard that will usher in new era in ‘smart home’ networking systems and applications.

Called ‘G.hn’, the new standard will enable service providers to deploy new offerings, including High Definition TV (HDTV) and digital Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), more cost effectively.

It will also allow consumer electronics manufacturers to seamlessly network all types of home entertainment, home automation and home security products, and greatly simplify consumers’ purchasing and installation processes.

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