Top events of 2012 - A review

Top events of 2012 - A review

The Queen's Diamond jubilee

The 60th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the thrones of seven countries upon the death of her father, King George VI were celebrated on 6th february 2012 .Celebrations were held in these countries(United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand ) to mark the occasion

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

The Academy awards

The 84th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2011 of the United States and took place February 26, 2012, at the Hollywood and Highland Center Theatre

The Artist won five awards, including Best Actor for Jean Dujardin, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, and Best Picture, the first silent feature to win an Academy Award for Best Picture since 1927's Wings, the inaugural winner in 1929.

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php


UEFA euro 2012

UEFA European Football Championship was hosted for the first time by Poland and Ukraine between june 8th and july 1st.

Spain made history by becoming the first team to retain the UEFA European Championship

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

London Olympics

There's no bigger event in the world than the Olympics with USA claiming the most of the medal with 104 in total with Phelps winning four golds and two silver medals, making him the most successful athlete of the Games for the third Olympics in a row

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

Mars Exploration

The 'Curiosity rover' is a car-sized robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL)

The rover's mission include:

Investigation of the Martian climate and geology;

Assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water;

Planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

Windows-8 released

Windows 8 features improved user experiences on desktops,laptops,tablets and home theater PCs. The features include much faster startup, an App Store, integrated web applications, improved digital media support, faster resumes from low-power states, and support for both USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

Abraj Al-Bait towers in Mecca

Abraj Al-Bait tower, this becomes the second tallest building in the world, behind the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.* It is made up of seven different towers, with the Hotel Tower, the tallest, soaring to a height of 601m (1,972 ft)

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

US elections

A very good victory for Barack Obama getting re-elected as the US President after a hard pounding campaign and a nail biting contest

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

Quadcore smartphones

The first quad-core smartphones and tablets are released in 2012 With some are HTC one X+ , LG Nexus 4 , LG Optimus G, HTC Droid DNA , Samsung Galaxy Note 2

originally posted on http://geeknfreak.in/2012/12/25/Top-events-of-2012-A-review.php

End of the world

The Mayans were an ancient people that lived thousands of years ago, in what is now Central America. They are noted for having the only fully-developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas – as well as its art, architecture, mathematical and astronomical systems.A b'ak'tun was the longest unit of measurement in this system and was equivalent to 144,000 days, or 394 years. When correlated with the modern Western calendar it can be shown that the 13th b'ak'tun ends on 21st December, 2012.

Many rumors claimed that world will end on december 21 with 1 in 10 people believed the rumors.

And ofcourse the World din't end with NASA claiming 'Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012'


courtesy:  http://geeknfreak.in

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Wins for City,Arsenal..Chelsea,United go down

Arsenal ease past 10-men tottenham after a moment of madness from x-arsenal forward Adebayor who scored the first goal for tottenham was handed a red card ..Tottenham struggled to cope with the numerical disadvantage thereafter and it only took a few minutes for Per Mertesacker to equalise.

Lukas Podolski's strike, and Olivier Giroud's fifth goal in his last five games gave Arsenal a comfortable two-goal cushion by half-time.

Tottenham fared slightly better in the second half, but their only reward came through a Gareth Bale consolation after Cazorla killed the contest.

To add insult to injury Theo Walcott grabbed a deserved goal in injury time to make the score the same as the 5-2 win that Arsenal used as a springboard for their Champions League assault last season.

while Manchester City recorded a comfortable win, easing past Aston villa by 5-0.. The Barclays Premier League champions went ahead through David Silva at the Etihad Stadium,later Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez each struck twice

Norwich stun United as they continued their revival with a 1-0 win which blew the chance for united to go back on top of the Premier League table.A header on the hour by Norwich winger Anthony Pilkington -- a former United trainee -- ended up consigning Alex Ferguson's side to their third defeat of the season after only 12 matches.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo had a miserable return to Hawthorns on Saturday as his side fell to a 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat to West Brom...Nigerian international Peter Odemwingie headed home a cross from Shane Long whose opening goal had been cancelled out by Eden Hazard.

Elsewhere Transfer speculated Suarez proved just how valuable he is to Liverpool with two goals and an assist to help secure a 3-0 win over Wigan - only the Reds' second at home this season..The Uruguay international struck twice in nine second-half minutes and also played a part in the third which saw Jose Enrique score his first goal for the club.

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham

Reading 2-1 Everton

West brom 2-1 Chelsea

Man city 5-0 Aston villa

Newcastle 1-2 Swansea

QPR 1-3 Southampton

Liverpool 3-0 Wigan

Norwich 1-0 Man United

EPL Table 2012-2013

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Man City	12	8	4	0	25	10	15	28
2	Man Utd	12	9	0	3	29	17	12	27
3	Chelsea	12	7	3	2	24	13	11	24
4	West Brom	12	7	2	3	19	13	6	23
5	Everton	12	5	5	2	22	16	6	20
6	Arsenal	12	5	4	3	23	13	10	19
7	West Ham	11	5	3	3	14	11	3	18
8	Tottenham	12	5	2	5	20	21	-1	17
9	Fulham	11	4	4	3	24	19	5	16
10	Swansea	12	4	4	4	18	16	2	16
11	Liverpool	12	3	6	3	17	16	1	15
12	Newcastle	12	3	5	4	13	17	-4	14
13	Norwich	12	3	5	4	9	18	-9	14
14	Stoke City	11	2	6	3	9	10	-1	12
15	Wigan	12	3	2	7	12	21	-9	11
16	Sunderland	10	1	6	3	7	11	-4	9
17	Reading	11	1	6	4	14	19	-5	9
18	Aston Villa	12	2	3	7	10	22	-12	9
19	Southampton	12	2	2	8	18	30	-12	8
20	QPR	12	0	4	8	9	23	-14	4

——

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Diwali movies - What to watch for

The box Office of south India will see three biggies set to clash on Diwali day... Bollywood stars Ajay devgn , Shah rukh and Tamil star vijay are set to battle out to reach the top spot with their films 'Son of Sardaar' 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' and 'Thupakki' respectively.

The bollywood 'Singham' also has admirers in the south, with the film an action comedy is expected to attract class A audience ... Devgan said the film is a complete 'Bollywood masala' film ,which will entertain the masses and the family audience who come to the theatres.

SRK who is known for giving mass openings is set to relish the Diwali special with his 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' . His last two films were equally hit in Tamil Nadu as in North.. The Bollywood star is set to give tough competition to vijay in south class centres.

And next comes the most widely spoken movie in south, with the trailer itself claiming 12 lakh views. The Ilayathalapathy starred movie seen wide promotion in every channel is set to release big in every theatres, online bookings have already started for the film..

What to watch out for:

Since the release day turns out to be much special day with fun filled entertainment added to that a movie will make the day worth...

Son of Sardaar:

Expectations: Comedy, action

Highlights: Title

Comment: Severely for bollywood addicts

Jab Tak Hai Jaan:

Expectations: SRK , heroines

Highlights: Romance

Comment: For SRK fans

Thupakki:

Expectations: A r Murugadoss, Vijay

Highlights: Vijay, Santhosh sivan's cinematography

Comment: Watch it for perfect Diwali treat

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India's top International cricketer(2011-12) Virat kohli chosen for BCCI Polly Umrigar Award

Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli was chosen for the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Polly Umrigar award for being India's top international cricketer in 2011-12.

With this Virat Kohli is going to be honoured with a trophy and cheque of 5 lakh Rupees at the Annual BCCI Awards Ceremony in Mumbai on 21 November 2012.

The other previous winners of this prestigious award are Sachin Tendulkar in year 2006-07 and 2009-10, Virender Sehwag in year 2007-08, with Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid in year 2008-09 and 2010-11 respectively.

Virat Kohli in year 2011-12 had scored:

• 627 run @ 52.25 from 7 Tests, which include two centuries.
• 1539 runs @ 73 from 26 ODIs, which includes seven centuries.
• 389 run @ 48 from ten T20 Internationals, which include four fifties.

VVS Laxman, who announced his retirement from international cricket in August 2012, is also going to be felicitated at the ceremony with Sachin Tendulkar who is being honoured for completing a century of international centuries.

The award Polly Umrigar is under the name of  late Indian cricketer Polly Umrigar (28 March 1926 – 7 November 2006)  who had played first-class cricket for Bombay, and Test cricket in the Indian cricket team, as a middle-order batsman and had  captained the Indian team in eight Test matches from 1955 to 1958.

Source : jagranjosh

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A perfect revenge taken by Chelsea FC

It was a day of football action and thrills of spectator to watch 9 goal drama in Stamford Bridge as the Blues cruised to a 5-4 victory over the Manchester Reds as a perfect revenge to their Sunday night controversial defeat..

Daniel Sturridge and Ramires struck in extra time to send Chelsea into the quarter-finals of the Capital One Cup. Manchester United's young centre-half, Scott Wootton, had defended well for so long but his inexperience was eventually found out. Wootton fouled Ramires with seconds of normal time remaining, gifting Eden Hazard the chance to make it 3-3 from the spot. The Belgian duly delivered.

Then Wootton's poor header allowed Sturridge to run through and score in the first half of extra time, with Ramires rounding goalkeeper Ander Lindergaard to add gloss to the scoreline with a fifth. This was a night of occasional off-field tension at the Bridge, with a pitch invader, a couple of fireworks and United fans teasing their hosts about their current issues with the referee, Mark Clattenburg.

Suspensions had ruled out Fernando Torres, John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic yet there was still Petr Cech, Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Juan Mata in the line-up. Nani had a free-kick held by Cech. Chelsea's keeper then saved from Danny Welbeck following good work by Ryan Giggs and Anderson, whose juggling skills to create a yard of space were a treat to behold.

United were threatening on the break but their first-half goals came from mistakes, initially and surprisingly from Cech after 22 minutes. Cech stroked his goal-kick straight out to Romeu, always a dangerous move as United had been pressing hard, fast and high. Anderson was swiftly on to Romeu, nicking the ball into the path of Giggs with the goal exposed.

Cech hurriedly tried to scramble across, but Giggs was moving with clinical intent. One touch teed the ball up. Giggs then looked up to check how far Cech had managed to get back across. Not enough. Giggs' second touch with his left foot sent the ball arrowing between the despairing Cech and the keeper's right-hand upright. Frustration briefly flowed through Chelsea.

Their fans were furious that the referee, Lee Mason, cautioned Mikel and Romeu for fouls but not Rafael for bringing down Lucas Piazon, even Alexander Buttner for catching Moses for the Chelsea penalty after the half-hour mark. It was a clear penalty, swiftly despatched by Luiz, although Lindegaard got close.

Chelsea fans were then treated to the bad side of Luiz, the lax side. With four minutes remaining to half-time, the Brazilian lost the ball in midfield and United exploited such largesse. His compatriot, Anderson, played a delightful ball through to release Hernandez, who placed his shot unerringly past Cech.

Chelsea were soon level early in the second half, following a spell of pressure. Mata had just released Sturridge, whose scampering journey towards goal was ended only by a superb tackled from Rafael. Chelsea continued to press. From a Mata corner, Cahill rose powerfully and sent the ball flying goalwards.

Rafael, standing inside the goal, cleared it but the assistant referee correctly signalled it had crossed the line. United simply shrugged off their frustration at losing the lead by scoring a wonderful third. Hernandez was lurking around the box but eventually turned away and found Nani. Oft criticised for his final ball, Nani was magnificent here, moving in a blur through blue shirts, exchanging passes with Anderson before dinking the ball past Cech.

In a game that flowed between the boxes, Moses should have equalised from Eden Hazard's cross but headed over. Cesar Azpilicueta then wasted a marvellous Mata ball, heading well over. "Time to blame the referee," chanted the United fans as their Chelsea counterparts sighed. The home supporters were then up in arms when Mata's cross hit Michael Keane's hand. With Hazard and Oscar on, Chelsea attacked in waves.

Moses and Ryan Bertrand were stretching United but still they refused to yield. Wootton blundered again eight minutes into extra time, his ill-considered attempt at a header back to Lindegaard allowing Sturridge the chance to run through and make it 4-3 to Chelsea. Nani and Oscar then squared up, hardly a battle of the heavyweights, before a touch of controversy invaded proceedings.

Moses should have killed the game when put clear by Sturridge but Ramires finally did after unselfish work by Hazard.

That was fortunate as Azpilicueta knocked over Hernandez in the final minute and Giggs made it 5-4 from the spot.

But the final word went to Hazard, who hit the post, again with the last kick.

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Windows 8 strikes the target expectation

Four million Windows 8 upgrades since Friday, says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

 

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday the company has sold 4 million upgrades to Windows 8, signalling a strong start for its new operating system which launched on Friday.

Ballmer, speaking at a meeting for software developers at Microsoft's headquarters near Seattle, said hundreds of millions of Windows systems would be sold over the next year, and the company was seeing strong interest from business users.

Ballmer already said on Monday that Windows 8 was outselling the previous version, Windows 7, at the same stage after launch three years ago.

Windows 8 strikes the target expectation

Windows 8 is available in two versions at retail - Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. And for business customers, Windows 8 Enterprise offers new features like Windows To Go, DirectAccess, and BranchCache, as well as enhanced end-to-end security with features including BitLocker and AppLocker. Also, the company launched Windows RT for ARM based tablets, which will be available pre-installed on new devices.

Windows 8 comes with a new start screen that shows live colorful tiles that update in real time. Windows 8 is natively cloud-connected so you can access your data on any other Windows 8 PC. Microsoft says Windows 8 to be seamlessly synced across multiple devices. Windows 8 also comes with a new browser - Internet Explorer 10.

Microsoft plans to continue providing technical support for Windows 7 until January 14, 2020.

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Nadal, Unstoppable at Roland Garros

Paris: Rafael Nadal has caused so many others sleepless nights at Roland Garros. This time, though, it was his turn to do all the tossing and turning.

The bad weather. The unpredictable bounces. An opponent, Novak Djokovic, who couldn`t miss.

It all kept flashing through his mind on Sunday night. He would walk back on the court Monday for the resumption of the rain-delayed final, protecting a slim lead in the fourth set — giving him very little time to get a wobbling game back on the rails.

As it turns out, he lost sleep over nothing.

Nadal won six of the nine games played after the restart to close out a 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Djokovic, cementing his name in the history books with a record seventh French Open title, one more than Bjorn Borg. Nadal also prevented Djokovic from becoming the first man to win four straight majors since 1969, the same way Roger Federer got denied in 2006 and 2007.

Also against Nadal. Also on the clay

"My mental part, probably, on clay is one of the most important things," Nadal said. "Because you have to run, you have to suffer sometimes, you have to play with more tactics, because you have more time to think, to do things."

The end of this final played out the way seven of the past eight of them have at Roland Garros: Nadal sliding through the gritty court, reaching for balls nobody else could think of getting, punishing his opponent and forcing him into riskier shots in the vain hope of hitting a winner — Djokovic had 15 unforced errors during the fourth set

It was quite a different scene from the evening before, when rain turned the court into a sheet of near-mud, the tennis balls got saturated and every advantage belonged to Djokovic. He ran off eight straight games — who does that against Rafa on clay? — and Nadal was scowling, arguing with the umpires, asking to have the match suspended because Roland Garros was playing more like an unkempt public court after a storm than one of tennis` hallowed grounds on an historically important day.

The decision to stop, and not to resume later Sunday when the rain stopped and there was still light available, might have been the turning point in the match.

"I said, `Good, we got lucky. If we hadn`t stopped, we were going home,`" said Nadal`s uncle and coach, Toni Nadal.

Djokovic thought the same: "It`s unfortunate," he said, "because I was playing better and I was feeling really well on the court."

Djokovic needed one more win to join Don Budge and Rod Laver as the only men to win four straight major titles. Instead, he fell to 0-4 against Nadal at the French Open. He saw the task that lies ahead but also appreciated what he`d done.


"These matches make you feel like all the work that you put into it is worth it," he said. "You`re living for this moment to play finals of any Grand Slam, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."

After the win, the conversation quickly turned to whether Nadal is now the greatest clay court player ever. Nadal himself doesn`t like getting drawn into the "greatest this," ``greatest that" discussion. "I`m not the right one to say that," he said.

But others certainly will.

"He has to be now," said Mats Wilander, who won here three times and presented the trophy to Nadal. 

"The players that he`s up against are better on clay. They`re more consistent than the ones Borg was up against. Playing Roger Federer in a bunch of finals. Now Novak, No. 1 in the world. Yes, absolutely. The seven here makes a big difference."

Those seven go along with eight at Monte Carlo, seven at Barcelona, six at Rome and an overall 254-19 record on the surface.

But while the numbers get gaudier, the tennis world moves on — to the grass at Wimbledon, which is where Djokovic started his string of three straight Grand Slam wins last year, beating Nadal in all three finals.

"I don`t have that chance to play in my favorite court the rest of the season," Nadal said. "That`s the thing. The calendar says we only have this period of time on clay, and I don`t have more chances to play on clay."

The rest of the tennis world should rejoice at that.

But if playing on clay was supposed to make the 2012 final a no-stress walk through the park at Roland Garros for Nadal, somebody forgot to give him that message.

Nadal said the first time he felt confident Monday, in the hours before the final act played out, was three minutes before he walked on the court.

"Because for the rest of the time I was a little bit too nervous, more nervous than usual, probably, for the situation," he said.

source : Zeenews

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Ultrabook’s newest competitor: MacBook Pro with retina display

Last night at Apple’s Worldwide Developer conference, the world’s number one tech company showcased a new range of MacBook Pros and the latest MacBook Air. Without a doubt, the new MacBook Pro is already the talk of the town.

The first big change is in terms of size as the MacBook Pro got thinner and sexier. It is now only 0.71 inches thick. Almost everyone who showcased those hybrid ultrabooks cum tablets at Computex 2012 in Taiwan must be feeling a little silly. The idea was always that laptops would get thinner, and faster and Apple has shown everyone how to do this with the new MacBook Pro.

The other big change for MacBook Pro is the screen resolution. Apple added ‘Retina display’ to its new MacBook Pro series thus forever transforming how awesome computer screens will be for users. Retina Display means that the new MacBook pro will have a screen resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels.

As the Verge points out in this useful comparison tablet that as a far as screen resolution is concerned Apple is miles ahead with the new MacBook Pro. The next closest competitor is Asus’ Zenbook Prime with a resolution of 1920 X 1080. The New MacBook pro with Retina Display is only available in the 15.4 inch model. The regular MacBook Pro will continue to be available in 13.3 inch and 15.4 inch models while the 17-inch model has been officially scrapped.

The new Macbook Air Pro is pictured during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco. Reuters

But all these features come at a high price. The MacBook Pro with “Retina display,” has a price tag of $2,199 or $2,799, depending on the configuration. The regular MacBook Pro models are now cheaper with a price range of $1,199 to $2,199.

The other reason why Ultrabook makers would be worried is that Apple slashed the cost of the MacBook Air. The 11.6 inch MacBook Air will now cost $1,099 from $1,199. It also has a faster 1.7GHz Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor (one that a lot of new Ultrabooks are also using), and a 128GB solid-state drive. The 13.3 inch Air also saw the price slashed by $100 to $1499, plus the addition of a new 1.8GHz Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, and 256GB solid-state drive.

An Ultrabook uses less energy and boots up faster because it uses flash storage, but now the MacBook Pro also uses flash memory for storage. It has 256 GB or 512 GB flash storage with an option to upgrade to 768 GB. The regular Pro’s come standard with a 500 GB or 750 GB hard drive, though options with a larger hard drive or flash memory are also available.

In terms of pricing too, most Ultrabooks are still in relatively high-end therefore the whole only Apple is expensive argument doesn’t really stand. For instance HP’s Envy 14t-3000 Spectre ultrabook with Ivy Bridge costs nearly $1,399. So for higher specs, with the Ivy Bridge processor the cost is still starting at $1000.

 Apple’s cheaper-but-better MacBook Air isn’t good news for ultrabooks. Apple just cut the price and upped the processor specs on the MacBook Air.

The Air remains the lightest of them all, at 2.38 pounds for the smaller model and 2.96 pounds for the larger one. The Pro with the same-sized display as the larger Air is about 50 percent heavier, at 4.5 pounds. The Pro with Retina Display is 4.46 pounds, compared with 5.6 pounds for a comparably sized Pro.

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Lenovo launches IdeaPad U310, IdeaPad U410 ultrabooks in India

Lenovo has launched the IdeaPad U310 and IdeaPad U410 ultrabooks in India. These new ultrabooks are powered by 3rd generation Intel Core processors.

Lenovo ultrabooks are touted to combine the features of traditional laptops—powerful processing performance, large storage capacity and rich audio—with the sleek aesthetics and desirable qualities of tablets, such as fast boot up, instant resume and all day battery life.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 ultrabook features a 13.3-inch HD display. It offers up to 4GBDD3 memory, up to 500GB storage and 32GB SSD cache. It starts from Rs 49,990 onwards.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U410 ultrabook is sleek with a thickness of 18 mm, and has a metal exterior. It also has a 13.3-inch display, but it offers up to 8GB DDR3 memory, up to 1TB HDD storage and 32GB SSD1 cache. It starts from Rs 52,990 onwards.

Both U310 and U410 are claimed to have an extended battery life of up to 9hrs.

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Apple Kicks Google Maps Off iOS

As expected, Apple has announced its own mapping solution for iOS 6,featuring real-time traffic conditions, turn-by-turn navigation, Yelp integration, vector graphics, and 3D flyovers. The new Maps app, due out this fall with iOS 6, means the end of the Google Maps-powered app that iOS devices have used since 2007.

For iOS users, this news comes not a moment too soon--many of the features Apple announced Monday have been available on Google Maps for Android for years. Apple's break with Google means the iPhone maker can finally offer significant improvements to Maps on iOS instead of relying on a reluctant partner/competitor to bring new maps features to Apple devices.

If you have an iOS device, chances are the new Maps app will be arriving on your handset, since nearly every popular iOS device in use today (with the exception of the original iPad) is getting iOS 6. Apple introduced the new Maps app during the keynote address at the company's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.

Here's how the new Apple-designed Maps app matches up to the old Google-powered one.

The New Stuff

There are several new additions to the iOS Maps app, including a visual redesign that uses vector-based graphics instead of bitmap images. Vector graphics are drawn by the device based on a set of instructions, instead of loaded from a remote server. This change means that it will be easier for users to pan across a map quickly, without having to wait for new map images to load every few seconds. Google introduced vector graphics for Google Maps for Android in 2010.

Apple has also integrated real-time traffic information and turn-by-turn navigation into its new Maps app. There are numerous third-party apps on iOS that offer turn-by-turn navigation, but having a baked-in version is slowly becoming the standard. Nokia has offered this option with its smartphones for some time, and Google added the capability for Android handsets in 2009.

The new Maps app will also include local information for more than 100 million businesses worldwide at launch, as well as integrated Yelp reviews. Apple first integrated Yelp information into the iPhone with the introduction of Siri on the iPhone 4S.

Similar to the recently announced Google Maps overhaul, Apple's maps in iOS will be getting photo-realistic 3D flyovers for major urban areas across the world. However, Google's 3D flyovers are actual images, while Apple appears to be using detailed and lifelike computer-generated models.

The Not-So-New Stuff

As mentioned earlier, Apple will be offering local information for more than 100 million businesses worldwide. Maps for iOS already offers local information, but we'll have to wait for the final product to see if the new Maps app matches up to the current Google-powered local listings.

Apple is also making a big deal about Siri integration with the new Maps app. The thing is, Siri wasalready integrated with Maps--allowing users to say things such as "show me the nearest coffee shop," and see their results on a map. In iOS 6, however, when users ask Siri for directions to a coffee shop the Maps app will also be able to supply turn-by-turn navigation, instead of just directions. Google added voice command navigation in Google Maps for Android in 2010.

The End of the Road

Apple didn't come right out and say this, but it's a good bet that Google's Street View feature will be gone in iOS 6. Maps will also be losing walking and transit directions, but Apple said during the WWDC keynote that it plans to incorporate third-party solutions into the Maps app for metro transit information.

Source : pcworld

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