One of the most requested features for Google Maps Mobile was to add turn-by-turn navigation. In the past, this wasn't possible because of the licensing fees that had to be paid for each user of the navigation system. Now that Google no longer uses data from TeleAtlas in the US, turn-by-turn navigation can be added for free.

Google's blog announces that Google Maps Navigation will be available in Android 2.0. The first mobile phone that comes with Android 2.0 is Motorola Droid. "This new feature comes with everything you'd expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection." And unlike other navigation systems, it's free.
For now, Google Maps Navigation is only available for the US, but it will certainly be available in other countries when Google collects enough mapping data.

Billed as the world’s first smartphone with Android 2.0, Motorola Droid arrives on the Verizon network November 6, the carrier officially confirmed today via a press release. The official announcement arrives on the heels of an unprecedented buzz that Verizon’s anti-Apple and anti-AT&T ads and the DroidDoes.com mini-site successfully generated. Verizon Wireless is the nation’s largest wireless carrier.

Verizon said that the Droid is designed to “outperform where other smartphones fall short.” Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive officer of Motorola and chief executive officer of Motorola Mobile Devices, hailed Droid’s “warp-speed web browsing” and a “mammoth screen.”

Companies that provide navigation solutions aren't afraid that they'll lose their customers. "There's a lot of content included in our applications that gets updated on an ongoing basis--and that costs money. Millions of customers use our service because of its reliability, ease of use and additional features. People are willing to pay a premium to have something work all the time on their phones," said a TeleNav spokesperson.

Psystar, the Miami-based PC manufacturer that’s still in a protracted legal battle with Apple over selling PCs that come pre-installed with Mac OS X, has begun offering Rebel EFI – software that lets any generic PC run Mac OS X. It costs $90, though Psystar is selling it for $50. The software lets PCs equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, i7 or Xeon Nehalem CPUs to run Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard.” A limited-function demo is available for download from Psystar’s Web site.

Psystar reportedly is starting an approval program that will vet specific PC components to work with their software. “The most common hardware set-ups are compatible, and through PsyLabs we will continue to work toward the Rebel EFI supporting an ever-broader range of hardware profiles,” reads a statement.

In related news, Psystar notes that Rebel EFI works with Microsoft’s newly-released Windows 7 operating system.

Features:

• DUBL: The Darwin Universal Boot Loader allows for the easy installation and management and up to six different operating systems.
• Safe Update: The Update tool screens and approves software updates available from Apple. Safe Update also allows for the detection and acquisition of the most up-to-date hardware profiles available from Psystar.
• Support: Rebel EFI provides direct customer service through the interface itself. Support is also made available via email at support@psystar.com.
• Psystar Labs Approval: Unique approval system helps to provide extended support to Rebel EFI users. Visit the Psystar Labs page for more information on this exciting new initiative.

Windows Virtual PC, Virtual Box and VMware Workstation are some popular applications that allow you to create new virtual machines on a Windows PC but the only problem with these programs is that they require you do everything from scratch.

Microsoft’s Sysinternals team has released a simple application called Disk2vhd, that lets you easily migrate an existing computer to a virtualized hard drive (VHD). It’s a tiny utility doesn’t even require instillation. When you run Disk2vhd, it will immediately show you all the drives and partitions on your computer that it can migrate to a VHD.  Simply select a drive that you wish to create a VHD file from and click “Create.” Disk2vhd will convert the hard drive into a VHD file even if the computer /drive is currently in use.

When the Virtual Machine VHD file is created, you can run it in any desktop virtualization program including the free Windows Virtual PC, Virtual Box, or VMware Player. You can also mount the virtual machine as a standard hard drive in Windows 7, and can even boot from it if your computer is running Windows 7 Ultimate.

You may use Disk2vhd to create virtual machines of your Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and higher machines, including x64 systems.

Let’s say you have a computer that is already running all the software programs you frequently use, but you now want to move to a new computer or upgrade your operating system. You can then consider creating a virtual machine of your old machine using the Microsoft utility and this will help you use all your favorite programs (with the same settings) on the new machine.

You can also use virtualization to create a ghost image of your hard drive in a single file and this will be handy in the event of a disk failure. Disk2vhd is an useful tool that will make it much easier for you to enjoy the benefits of virtualization without being too technical.