Apple wants to ‘radically’ improve its location-based services, job postings on the iPhone maker’s website suggest.

“Come work for the team that revolutionised the mobile technology industry as it continues [to] define what computing looks like in a post-PC era,” read an announcement for two positions of ‘iOS Maps Application Developer’ on Apple’s website.

“The Maps team is looking for an exceptional developer to join us in our mission to radically improve how people interact with maps and location-based services,” it added.

The current maps application from iOS uses Google Map tiles. It is speculated that MobileMe (subscription based online services from Apple) are probably being overhauled, and the job listings could be related to that.

Some time ago, Apple acquired Placebase, a Google Maps competitor. At that time it was speculated that Apple would soon cut off its ties with Google Maps, but that didn’t happen.
iOS Maps continued to use Google Maps tiles, though these were slightly inferior to the maps available on new Android devices. iOS Maps didn’t provide offline maps or turn-by-turn directions. It seems all this is set to change now.

Placebase has the speciality of adding private and public data to maps, which may give a distinct advantage to iOS Maps.

On the other hand, Microsoft has access to Navteq, a map service of Nokia. This is thanks to its alliance with the Finnish handset maker.

Springpad, a popular Android application, has been updated with new widgets and methods that let users to sort more information with minimal effort.

With this free application, users can save ideas and information which Springpad automatically organises and enriches with useful links. You can also set reminders, and get alerts on news, offers and deals.

To make the whole process more user friendly, Springpad has simplified the home screen widgets so the users can easily go to those sections they need to use.

Sections, which are most used, can be given some ‘Hot Buttons’ so users can visit those sections more quickly in future. Users can now also import web clips, to do lists, and even Twitter apps from Twitter.

The market is flooded by to-do list services and apps, but the list shrinks quickly on overall efficiency and usefulness.

‘Things’ is one such app, which is famous among the users for its usefulness, but it drills a hole in your pocket as it costs $49.99. The iPhone and iPad editions of the same App cost slightly more. The users feel put off by the price even before they have begun using it.

On the other extreme is Springpad, which is a free organiser app and can be used on both Android and iOS devices.

The best part about Springpad is that users don’t need to pay anything to use this app. The main benefit with Springpad is that whatever data is entered in mobile app is synced online right away.

With e-book readers on the rise, Kindle has now added a translation support to it.

Kindle is well known for being a popular and efficient e-reader for the book enthusiasts. However, translation used to be a big problem for the Kindle users as the standard Google translation found to be unsuitable for the e-book reader.

For better translation from one language to other, Kindle has adopted a new web app, the Kindlefish.

There are three output buttons which can be set to three different languages as the user wants.

Users just need to type the phrase or sentence they want to translate in a box given. As soon as the ‘Entre’ button is hit, it produces the translated text.

The device shows translated text in bigger fonts, which facilitates easier communication.

For example, if the users are sitting in a French restaurant, they just have to show the device with translated name of the dish and the waiter will understand easily.

The Kindle Browser will, however, work slightly slower, so the users need to be ready for the translation to take some time.

Currently, the only input language being supported by Kindlefish is English, which is likely to change in future.