Good news for Android users situated in Canada and and 11 Western European nations, as today Google announced the immediate availability of its free Google Maps Navigation application in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. To get Google Maps Navigation 4.2 you’ll need to live in the aforementioned countries and have an Android phone running 1.6 and up. Also announced by Google was the addition of support for French, German, Italian and Spanish for Google Voice Search. This update applies not only to Android, but BlackBerry and iPhone as well. No update to the application is needed to gain support for the additional languages, but if you’re the paranoid type you can grab the app at m.google.com or the iTunes App Store.

Read [Maps] Read [Voice Search]

BlackBerry addicts, its officially time to freak out because BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 has just gone live in App Word. We don’t think we need to tell you what it’s all about because not only did we give the world its first look at the app, but its also been floating around for one hell of a long time. Well what are you waiting for? Let’s crash RIMs servers and call it a party! Hit us with your feedback, ok?

UPDATE: Looks like the servers really aren’t capable of handling the demand as we and a bunch of our readers are getting a “connection timed out” message. We’ll let you know once things calm down and everyone can be accommodated.

UPDATE 2: Looks like things are once again up and running.

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You guys might have heard that we’ve (Beejive and BGR) been plugging away at TweetGenius behind the scenes since we announced our initial partnership. The entire program has been redone from the ground up and there’s literally too many fantastic changes and new features to list, but we’ll try and give you a taste of some:

• Innovative direct-from-application Twitpic photo uploading
• Inline image viewing for Twitpic, Twitgoo, img.ly, TweetPhoto, yfrog images
• GPS location posting
• Themes: comes with two different themes for viewing tweets. More are coming soon!
• Shortcut icons (reply, retweet, direct message)
• Status bar to show you necessary information like time, signal status, etc

Those are just a couple examples of what’s been changed, but what you’ll find is that the program is incredibly quick and gives users a desktop-class Twitter experience. We’re happy to announce that as a special thank you to all our original customers, TweetGenius v1.0.9 will be exclusively available to them for a period of two weeks before our worldwide launch. And, it’s available immediately for download. Hit the break for some screenshots and the download link!

Read [TweetGenius download link for existing TweetGenius customers, OTA and Desktop-based installations]

Read [TweetGenius signup page to be notified when TweetGenius is available for purchase]

Now this is some news we’re most definitely not happy to report. Back in February we told you about Syncplicity, an awesome sync solution that, in our opinion, is far superior to any competing product. In a nutshell, Syncplicity allows users to mirror any folder on a computer (in two clicks) with an always-in-sync online copy, “in the cloud”. Folders can also by synced across computers and shared with anyone in just a few clicks. Syncplicity had just opened its Mac beta when we covered it and since then it has become a staple on every system that hits BGR HQ. Unfortunately, bad news struck our inbox this past Thursday that will change all that:

Our engineering team has recently completed a ground-up analysis of the Mac beta client and the investigation found some issues which require some major changes in the client. Because of this, we’ve decided to pull back the Mac client beta until which point the engineering team has time to make some major changes. We intend to reassess our engineering schedule early next year.

Unfortunately, this does mean that as of July 31st, you will no longer be able to use Syncplicity with a Mac computer.

We truly strive to have Beta software become Final Release software. In the case, we felt the Mac beta client didn’t meet our standards for quality. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, and I thank you for participating in the trial period.

If you have any questions or concerns, I invite you to email me at macbeta@syncplicity.com.

The line, “We intend to reassess our engineering schedule early next year” has us particularly worried as it leads us to believe the company won’t even begin serious work on the Mac client until some time in 2010. Ouch. While Syncplicity’s Windows solution will remain alive and well and we’ll continue to use it on our Windows boxes, it looks like Mac is down for the count until some time next year. If you’re a Syncplicity user with a Mac, make sure you have everything in order so you’re not blindsided when the lights go out two weeks from now on July 31st.

UPDATE: Just a word of warning — we’re getting reports from several Mac users that 3.5 has issues with restoring sessions/tabs after exiting and reopening the browser. By issues, we mean it doesn’t work. Windows users are seemingly not affected.

UPDATE 2: If you’re having the problem mentioned above, go to Firefox > Preferences > Privacy [tab]. If “Clear history when Firefox closes” is checked, click on Settings and uncheck “Browsing History”.

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You heard that right, folks. People complaining that Apple’s very-much-delayed push notification service might be delayed again can all relax — Beejive 3.0, the fantastic new version with push support will be going live in about an hour or so from now.

We exclusively gave you a look at Beejive for iPhone almost a year ago, and you have to give us some credit — we called it the best IM application for the iPhone, and were we right? Now think about push notifications and a whole slew of other additions and tweaks and you’re looking at a desktop-class IM application. We’ve been using a version with push for a pretty long time and can safely say it doesn’t disappoint. Here’s a breakdown of the new goodies and let us know when you try the new version!

• Push notifications
• Meta contacts (link IM buddies to address book entries!)
• Various UI enhancements, updated layout and color schemes
• Performance enhancements

Oh yeah, two more things… the price is now $9.99 (down from $15.99), and we’re testing a version that allows videos to be sent over AIM. (You could always send photos) Look for this in the near future.

You read the headline right, kids — the new and insanely hot BlackBerry Messenger that we exclusively showed off to the World looks to be headed to all BlackBerry devices that will receive the OS 5.0 treatment. How do we know? Because we’ve been playing around with a recent build of OS 5.0 on a Curve 8900, and well, let’s just say that it and some other pretty awesome stuff is in there. But since we’re talking about BlackBerry Messenger, let’s just get right into it. We’ve already told you that the new Messenger has avatar support, GPS integration (including proximity sensing), the ability to set and group conversations by subject and a way to create a homescreen icon for messenger contracts, but it now looks like even more crazy stuff has been crammed in in addition to a little facelift.

So strap yourselves in, hit the jump and prepare to be green with envy as we show you an even newer version of BlackBerry Messenger!

Since we know that most of you are just going to gloss over the text and check out the ensuing screenshots, we’ll keep the list of what’s newer than new really brief:

• SMS support — You wanted threaded SMS? Well you’re finally going to be getting it!
• PIN barcode scanning — Too lazy to add your friend to Messenger by entering in their PIN? Just have them click the Barcode option on their devices and, you guessed it, a barcode will show up letting the other party scan it with their BlackBerry camera and immediately add that contact to your list.
• Backup/Restore Messenger list to microSD card — What else need we say?

So tell us, you BlackBerry freaks; were you able to make it through this entire post without having a heart attack?

Back in February we reviewed a great little piece of software for OS X and Windows called Expandrive. In a nutshell, Expandrive makes interacting with FTP servers as easy as interacting with an external hard drive or a networked drive. FTP connections appear as drives and you can browse them and drag/drop files just as if you were using Finder or Windows Explorer — because, well, you are using Finder or Windows Explorer. During this past week, Expandrive announced a major upgrade in the form of version 2.0 for Mac and if you’re an Expandrive user, you need to check it out asap. Brief change log:

• All new SFTP Layer
• Up to three times faster when transferring large files
• New metadata-caching architecture that is faster and more reliable
• Experimental support to detect updates made on the server within ~20 seconds.
• Utilizes OpenSSH to take advantage of Kerberos auth, public key auth, etc on Leopard.
• Amazon S3 support — access Amazon S3 accounts like a filesystem, connecting to the root or an individual bucket
• Refreshed GUI with customizable drive icons
• In line eject/show in finder buttons
• Many many enhancements to FTP/FTPS, no longer in beta

There is a caveat, however. As the new build is essentially a new app, upgrades are not free for everyone. If you purchased Expandrive within the past 60 days, you’re good to go at no cost. If you purchased the program before then, an upgrade to 2.0 will run you $19.95. New users enjoy a 30 day free trial and then it’s $39.95 to stick with it.

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It’s time to get to upgrading, folks, because the new version of iTunes promises to be faster and includes a new set of features. The Genius feature now supports movies and TV shows beyond just music, CDs can be imported at a much higher quality and the overall experience is much faster. That means when you’re syncing your iPod or iPhone, browsing through playlists or shopping in the iTunes store, the improved speeds will make the experience more rich and pleasant – especially with how impatient many of us can be. Oh and if you’re planning on grabbing a new 4GB iPod Shuffle, iTunes 8.1 is required. You don’t need us to tell you what to do next, but just in case, go ahead and download it already!

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With the advent of intelligent one-to-one file sharing solutions such as Streamfile and the increasing popularity of great cloud storage and sharing solutions such as Dropbox and Syncplicity, FTP’s days are numbered. Why bother with unsightly FTP software and annoying server settings when a solution like Syncplicity will allow you to securely share any directory in about five seconds? The answer: You don’t have to. Massachusetts-based ExpanDrive offers two solutions, one for Mac and one for PC, that will make you look at FTP in a whole new light and think twice before shelling out big bucks for a trendy cloud storage solution.

ExpanDrive offers two products that essentially accomplish the same thing: sexify the way you interact with FTP. For the purposes of this post we’ll focus on the Mac solution though the Windows solution accomplishes the same thing on a PC. In a nutshell, ExpanDrive allows you move files to and from FTP servers as if each server was an individual remote drive. By making use of the standard Finder UI on a Mac, there’s nothing new to learn – transfer files simply by dragging and dropping just as you would anywhere else in Finder. You’ll have access to FTP drives on your desktop (as seen in the image at the top of the post) and from within the Finder sidebar just like you would with a network drive or iDisk:

There is also no limit to the number of simultaneous connections you can have. In other words, unlike a standard FTP client you can maintain an active connection to your FTP site along with clients’ FTPs, software company FTPs and any other servers you want.

Beyond the Finder interface, the only other piece of UI is the Drive Manager where you can connect to drives as well as add and remove drives. You can also choose to auto-connect to a drive within the settings which is awesome when using FTP as a remote storage solution. Green lights indicate connected drives, yellow disk icons represent standard FTP drives and red disk icons represent secure SFTP drives (FTPS is supported as well in the Mac client, coming soon to Windows):

ExpanDrive places an icon in your taskbar as well, so you can easily connect, disconnect and see the status of each of your drives:

Apart from standard FTP functionality wrapped in the Finder UI, ExpanDrive gives you a terrific front end for as many iDrive-like remote storage drives you can stomach. The obvious benefit over other remote storage options such as iDrive however, is the cost. iDrive gives users 150 GB of storage for $49.50 per year and a slightly sexier solution, ZumoDrive, will run you an outlandish $450+ per year for 200 GB or a still-ridiculous $240 per year for 100 GB. For real?

These days just about everyone has a website and even the cheapest hosting plans typically come with free secure FTP access and a massive amount of storage. For example, the base plan from HostGator offers unlimited disk space for just $4.95 per month. Unlimited. So if you already have a decent hosting plan like HostGator’s, ExpanDrive gives you a ridiculous amount of remote storage for absolutely no additional monthly or yearly cost — just a one-time software purchase. If you don’t already have a hosting plan or an FTP account somewhere, plenty of services provide them for pennies compared to Amazon S3 front-end solutions like ZumoDrive.

We still say there’s no better sharing / auto-sync / remote back up service than Syncplicity – but where files you don’t need hogging up local space are concerned, ExpanDrive literally trounces the more expensive options mentioned above. Plus, it removes the need to use cumbersome and tricky FTP clients; ExpanDrive is actually a front end solution and can use any FTP client such as CyberDuck or even Firefox to move data (don’t worry, it will chose from available FTP apps on its own when you install it). As far as cost you’re looking at a one-time purchase price of $39.95, or $34.95 if you first join the ExpanDrive group on Facebook. Not bad at all. Don’t take our word for it though — ExpanDrive offers a free full-featured 30-day trial on both applications.

ExpanDrive for Mac
ExpanDrive for Windows

Mac users, rejoice – the cloud storage solution to end all cloud storage solutions is finally ready for public beta on OS X and trust us when we tell you, you’ll want to have a look. The Syncplicity founders might have Microsoft pedigree but that certainly doesn’t mean they can’t bang out a Mac build as full-featured and capable as the Windows client, and that is exactly what the Syncplicity team has done. For those completely unaware of the service, allow us to bring you up to speed. Syncplicity allows you to mirror any folder on your computer with an always-in-sync online copy, “in the cloud”. What’s more, Syncplicity can sync files and folders across multiple computers and folders can even be shared amongst different Syncplicity users. Folders can be designated for remote syncing in just two clicks from your right-click menu and anytime a file is altered in any synced folder, on any computer, the changes will automatically be synced across Syncplicity’s servers along with all other computers where the file is present. Oh, and did we mention you’ll also have access to all of your synced files and folders from any web browser on any computer or mobile phone? Recap: Any folder, anywhere, everywhere, automatically.

Syncplicity has been hard at work on its private Mac beta for some time now and we’ve been enjoying every minute of it. Nearly all of the functionality found in the Windows application has been integrated at this point and the team has even thrown in a few extra spices like Growl integration for notifications. Just like the Windows client, overlay graphics appear on all synced folder and individual file icons to display sync status at all times. Mac users also have access to the the same web interface for file and folder access, or to recover an unlimited number of file revisions. Each time a file is changed and saved, a historical copy remains on Syncplicity’s servers in the event you or a collaborator makes an unwanted change. Since we obviously have a particular affinity for the mobile space here at BGR, we’ll also mention that all files can be accessed while on the go from an iPhone-optimized or standard mobile site. Files can easily be downloaded to your handset and supported file types can even opened right in your browser.

Syncplicity really does trump competitive options in so many ways. Beyond the ease of use and versatility already covered, the company uses an open API which will allow third-party development to expand upon its offering in any way imaginable. To kick things off, web-based services such as Google Docs, Sribd, Picnik  and Zoho Writer are integrated, allowing you to easily open and edit a document or image by right-clicking the file on your computer or choosing to open the file in your web app of choice from within the web interface. Syncplicity is also integrated with Facebook, allowing you to designate a folder to sync photos with your account automatically. In other words, any time you drop a new photo in the designated folder it will automatically be uploaded to your Facebook account. Create a new folder within your designated folder and it will automatically become a new album on your Facebook account, allowing you to keep everything as organized however you’d like.

There’s plenty more to cover but we doubt you’ve even made it this far into the post without clicking over and checking out Syncplicity for yourself. If you’re still here however, we’ll wrap things up with the nitty gritty details. First and foremost, Syncplicity offers a free account with 2GB of remote storage which can be increased to 5GB if you invite three friends (one extra GB per friend). Free accounts have access to each and every feature Syncplicity offers – the only restriction is storage. Once you’ve maxed out on your free space, upgrade options are offered at a flat rate with each 50GB block of space costing $99 per year (or $9.99 per month if you pay monthly). So 50GB of storage is $99 per year, 100GB is $198 per year, 150GB is $297 per year, etc.

If you’re worried about security, as you should be, know that Syncplicity uses SSL encryption while moving everything from log in credentials to file syncing and backup – absolutely no data is exchanged without being encrypted. Within the Syncplicity data center, all stored files are encrypted with military grade (AES-256) encryption. Syncplicity has plenty more cooking for the near future including a Business Edition complete with large-scale deployment capabilities and monitoring / reporting features for IT Managers. In the meantime, Mac users should definitely hit the read link and check this service out – as should Windows users for that matter. A quick note for Windows users: While official support obviously can’t be proclaimed until the OS is officially released, Syncplicity works seamlessly with currently available Windows 7 betas.

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One of our favorite SaaS utilities we’ve been beta testing over the past few months goes by the name of ScreenToaster and if you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, you’ll want to remedy that very shortly. Built by French startup ScreenToaster SAS, ScreenToaster is a download-free screen recording service that just launched today after a pretty serious beta period including over 10,000 testers from around the globe. In short, it’s awesome. To elaborate slightly, ScreenToaster is a browser-based screen recorder that is compatible with Windows, OS X Linux as long as you can find your way around Firefox 2+, Internet Explorer 7+, Chrome, Opera 9 or Safari. Using the service couldn’t be easier, literally. Go to the site, click the ‘Start Recording’ button, adjust your settings and hit a keyboard shortcut to begin. ScreenToaster will record your full display, or a section you designate, along with audio and even your webcam if you so choose. When you’re ready to stop recording, a simple keyboard shortcut does the trick. The video is uploaded to your ScreenToaster account or a guest account if you haven’t yet signed up, and you can add some finishing touches such as adding subtitles / text and designating your video as public or private. The video will then be hosted on the site for you to watch, share, embed on your site or do whatever esle you want to do with it. ScreenToaster is perfect for light screen recording, sharing, instructional videos, demos and plenty more – definitely have a go with it and let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Sure, there are other services that try and do the same thing, but Qik holds a special place in our hearts. Ever since they announced and released the first streaming client for the Nokia N95, we’ve been pressuring them to release a BlackBerry client. As you are all well aware, RIM doesn’t exactly give you access to everything you need as a developer so this was almost impossible until recently. It’s still not 100% as Qik would like even more integration into the device, but for now, this is an incredible feat and we’re thrilled. The client is available starting now in alpha form, so don’t get your panties in a bunch if it’s not perfect — Qik is banging out releases faster than you can stream a 10kb movie. We’ll update you when the client comes out of the alpha/beta, but for now, hit the jump and behold every BlackBerry user’s dream: broadcasting live video from your device! Press release is after the jump.

Qik, Inc., the leading live mobile video streaming platform, today announced alpha support for Blackberry devices including Blackberry Pearl, Blackberry Curve, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Flip. Available today in alpha, Qik’s service is now live on a number of BlackBerry handsets, including the very latest models from Research In Motion (RIM). With Qik’s free service, users can stream video live to the Internet in just two clicks from their mobile phone. Those watching the videos on the Web can take part in live interactive chat with the person broadcasting.

“We are excited to bring our lifestyle technology to the millions of Blackberry users worldwide,” said Ramu Sunkara, co-founder and CEO of Qik. “In our quest to bring mobile live video sharing to the masses, we now support the broadest range of platforms including Symbian, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Java-enabled mass market phones.”

BlackBerry mobile phones are one of the most popular smartphones in North America. BlackBerry handsets are especially favored for allowing fast and easy access to email. The addition of live video streaming to the phones’ capabilities brings a whole new dimension of functionality to BlackBerry handsets. Qik is initially launching in alpha on the following handsets running Blackberry Operating System 4.5 and above: Blackberry Perl 8120, Blackberry Perl 8130, Blackberry Perl 8220, Blackberry Curve 8330 and the upcoming Blackberry Bold.

Owners of the above devices can get Qik by registering at http://qik.com/ . Support for these devices is expected to enter beta in the coming weeks, and support for additional BlackBerry handsets is expected soon after.

The Pope, Senator Barack Obama, Bono, and Steve Jobs are just a few of the notables to be streamed live to the web by Qik users in more than 150 countries. Journalists are using Qik to be more transparent in their reporting, and politicians worldwide are employing Qik as they campaign on a more engaging Web platform. Parents around the planet are easily sharing family events as they happen through Qik on their cell phones. With simple but robust software and a feature-rich site, tens of thousands of Qik users are streaming important moments live to the people with whom they want to share.

Qik, in addition to being the live mobile to web video service of a number of popular technology bloggers and journalists, is also delivering exciting footage shot by a wide selection of users across entertainment, business, sports, and technology. Recent Qik videos of note have included behind the scenes footage from Sarah Palin and Joe Biden’s vice presidential debate, interviews with comedian Dane Cook, the launch of Apple’s new notebook computers, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s speech reacting to the global economic climate.

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Well lookie what we have here. It looks like Mozilla stepped it up and decided to release a shiny new tablet version of the Fennec (Firefox Mobile) browser. N810 and N800 owners running Chinook or Diablo can now enjoy the fresh new 1.0 alpha 1 version of Fennec, complete with a laundry list of changes:

Easy navigation to Web content:

• Bookmarks, including tags
• Smart URL bar ("awesome bar")
• Tabbed browsing with thumbnail images
• Integrated Web search – built into the URL bar
• Easy access to multiple search engines

Web content:

• Maximize content by auto-hiding controls and URL bar
• Zoom in and out

Security:

• Instant Web site ID ("Larry")
• Password manager
• Popup blocker
• Clear private data

Devices services integration:

• Click on a phone number to initiate a call
• JavaScript API to get device location
• Popup blocker
• Clear private data

Also:

• Searchable download manager
• Preferences pane

We’ve played with it for a while and while the look and functionality are fantastic, it’s still slow. When we say slow, we mean sloooooow. The tabbed browsing (pictured above on the left) implementation and navigation controls are awesome – swipe right with your finger or stylus right to open the tabs bar or left to open the navigation menu. Tablet owners can hit the read link to install Fennec or if you’re reading this on your N800 / N810 just click here for the .install file.

[Via nokiAAddict ]

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