Over the past year there has been an endless supply of jokes about Apple Maps and a cry of relief when Google finally swept in to "save the day". But, with all the jokes aside, when Google claims it will send you to multiple destinations, it does not mean being lost in the outback of Australia.

Today, the search giant announces that it is rolling out a major update for its Maps program, though not quite in time for summer travel.

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I used to exclusively be a home console gamer -- I preferred playing games on a TV screen as opposed to a tiny handheld display. Heck, I even grew up during the GameBoy era but never got one. The NES was a better option for me, as portability was not a need at the time. Truth be told, I didn't get into mobile gaming until I got my first Android phone. Since then, I play all of my games on a smartphone or tablet. Sadly, platformer games are my favorite genre and virtual d-pads are a poor experience. I have always dreamed of an Android device with dedicated gaming buttons.

In July, the NVIDIA Shield was released. However, it serves as a dedicated gaming handheld -- it cannot realistically replace a tablet. It didn't make financial sense to buy both a tablet and the NVIDIA handheld. Today, Archos announces a new Android-based, 7-inch tablet that also serves as a gaming machine, called the GamePad 2 (the successor to the GamePad 1). In other words, it combines the functionality of a Nexus 7, with the gaming controls of the NVIDIA Shield. Amazingly, the company is releasing the product in Q4 of 2013, for the low price of $199.

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Many people reading this review tangle up in features. They have a spec-sheet mindset that obscures seeing some products' benefits. Google gets the difference, and you should too. The paper holder that wraps around a Starbucks coffee cup is a feature. Protecting your hand from burning is a benefit. While related, the two are distinct. Any evaluation of Chromebook -- or any other thing to be purchased -- should focus on benefits first. Specs are a distraction.

In offering my first impressions about HP Chromebook 11, I step back from features and focus on benefits and who gets the most from them. Based on the out-of-the-box experience, for most people reading this review, I would not recommend the computer, which Google co-designed, over Intel Haswell-based Chromebooks. However, keeping with suspicions expressed yesterday, the tiny Chromebook would be right for students. Design, size, portability, functionality and value for price offer the right mix of benefits for preschool-to-grade 12 students. HP Chromebook 11 is what white MacBook was to kids last decade.

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Presentations are loved and loathed in just about equal measure. A great presentation helps to drive a message home; a bad one makes a meeting drag on forever. PowerPoint may be the king of presentations, but the online office tools that are available in Google Drive also have a good following. Now Google has recognized the fact that monitors are almost universally widescreen these days, adding the ability to create widescreen format slides in presentations.

The change in aspect ratio may seem like a minor feature, but it is immensely useful. Be gone foul borders! Presentations can now make use of every pixel of your display, or give a full cinema experience when projected to a larger audience. Widescreen slides have not just been introduced, they have been made the default setting -- and there are 16:9 and 16:10 formats to choose from.

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When it comes to Windows 8 and the Modern UI, the single biggest knock has undoubtedly been the sparse population of the app store. In fact, the ongoing app count has become something of a meme around the internet with every milestone generating stories from various tech sites.

Microsoft can't force developers to get involved, but it can provide incentives to encourage them and today, the tech giant is doing just that.

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Folks are increasingly using Twitter while watching their favorite TV shows. A couple of days ago, Nielsen announced that viewers were becoming more engaged with television as a result. However, I argued that this could potentially distract users from both the programming and advertising. Today, Twitter and Comcast announce a partnership that looks to bring users to the TV with the power of tweets, rather than pull them away, with a feature called See It.

"It's a simple, but exciting tool that helps people more easily watch the shows they read about or discover online. See It lets people tune-in or record their favorite shows -- directly from the conversations happening on Twitter. In a typical week, #thevoice generates more than 350,000,000 Twitter impressions. What’s missing is how to seamlessly move from that conversation to consumption. And that's where See It comes in", says Sam Schwartz, chief business development officer at Comcast.

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The Xbox One that’s currently available for pre-order is a very different beast from the system Microsoft originally announced back in May. Despite the changes that have been made to the games console/set top box, I think it’s a very promising product and one I’ll likely purchase at some point in the future.

But it’s Sony’s rival PlayStation 4 that’s going to be the big hit console this holiday season, pushing the Xbox One into a distant second place -- at least according to the findings of a new survey.

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Apple's new iPhones, the 5s and the 5c, posted record sales in the first weekend of availability, with the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation shifting 9 million units in just three days. And the company is gearing towards boosting that number even further as, today, it announces that the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will soon reach an additional 51 markets.

The iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c will be available in 35 more markets a little over two weeks from today, on October 25, with the two devices to arrive in the 16 remaining markets a week later, on November 1.

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Microsoft opens up Bing Places to businesses in the UK and Canada, making it possible for business owners to promote themselves online more easily. This is essentially an online directory that enables firms of all sizes to gain an online presence and become more easily discoverable by potential customers. It is something of a quiet launch, but businesses are invited to create their online listing free of charge.

Bing Places -- or Bing Places for Business to give its full title -- is a rebranded version of Bing Business Portal. Business owners can check to see whether there is already a listing for them in the directory, and are given the chance to create a new one if there isn't. To help avoid the problem of fake listings being created, ownership then has to be verified either over the phone or via post.

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You know how frustrating it can be when you hear a track on the radio or TV and miss the announcement that tells you what it's called? With the public beta launch of its new Playlister tool the BBC aims to offer a solution to that problem.

Using Playlister you can tag tracks from across the BBC's web services which will be saved to a personal playlist. Once you've created a list you can export it as a PDF or print it out, but more usefully you have the option to export the list to Spotify, Deezer or YouTube so that you can stream the tracks. Other services are expected to be added in future.

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Even though Mozilla may be among the latest entrants in the smartphone market, it has a real chance to succeed in its quest to turn Firefox OS from yet another new kid on the block into a major player. The mobile operating system is available on inexpensive devices, is backed by a couple of large mobile operators and will reach a significant number of prospective buyers in emerging markets.

Today, Mozilla announces it is gearing up for the second round of Firefox OS launches, which are set to reach more markets and more devices. The latest expansion will kick off "soon", with mobile operators Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica and Telenor revealing their short-term plans for expanding the Firefox OS market availability.

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Nero has rebranded and re-launched its free media management tool with the release of Nero MediaHome Free 15.0. Formerly known as Nero KwikMedia, MediaHome debuted last month as part of Nero 2014 media suite.

The application, available as a free cut-down version, is much quicker to load than previous versions, and bundles a built-in media server for streaming music, photos and videos to other DLNA-compatible devices.

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As a growing number of businesses migrate to the cloud to manage their most important information, and an increasing number of cyber vulnerabilities are identified on a daily basis, the integrity of cloud security has become an important and ubiquitous concern.

However, smart companies are putting panic mode on hold in favor of educating themselves on how best to protect their vital data. No solution by itself can make your business hacker-proof, but there are several precautionary measures that help to minimize risk. One important step is backing up your cloud data.

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In his "5 reasons Surface tablets blow away iPads for a mobile business workforce" piece, my colleague Derrick Wlodarz explained why Remote Desktop on Windows RT (and, by implication, Windows 8) is better compared to third-party clients on Android and iOS. Derrick says that the former offers a richer feature set, a smoother experience, improved stability, less compatibility issues and comes with no initial cost (because it is free, as a built-in feature). As you can tell, the lack of official Remote Desktop apps on Android and iOS tips the scale in Microsoft's favor.

That is about to change, as Microsoft has announced that it will release Remote Desktop apps on "a variety of devices and platforms", which include Windows, Windows RT, OS X, Android and iOS. The software giant says the offerings will be introduced with Windows Server 2012 R2, which launches later this month, on October 18, alongside Windows 8.1.

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Leading provider of enterprise mobile services iPass has launched its new iPass Hotspot Finder. The browser-based tool has a completely redesigned user interface and includes several features that help business travelers make informed decisions about hotspot connectivity.

Hotspot Finder doesn't need an iPass account, provides access to over 1.4 million hotspots in the iPass network and can be used from any browser for free.

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