Google Maps on iOS gains access to your flight, hotel and restaurant reservations

Google Maps on iOS just got a lot smarter with the recent update which now enables flight, hotel and restaurant reservations right to show up from the app. Integrating the functionality of Google Now into Maps, any of the above reservations that are tied in to your Gmail account will auto-populate on any relevant maps. This is  nicely integrated solution for globetrotting iOS users.

Rdio now streaming to 20 more countries

Rdio is expanding to 20 more countries across Europe and Latin America. Rdio has evolved to users discover, play and share over 20 million songs will now be available in 51 countries across six continents.

“We launched Rdio in two countries just over three years ago. Today, we’re proud to bring our latest groundbreaking music experience to customers in 51 different international markets,” said Anthony Bay, Rdio’s chief executive officer. “Instant access to over 20 million songs, weekly new albums including several exclusive artist releases, and over 400 genre radio stations is an incredible value that we are excited to share with music lovers around the world.”

Countries receiving Rdio service for the first time today include: Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela. New subscribers in these regions will receive free, metered access to Rdio web for up to six months and a 14-day free mobile trial.  For a complete list of regions where Rdio is available visit https://www.rdio.com/availability/.  To learn more about pricing in your region visit http://www.rdio.com/pricing/. 

Postal gone: Canada Post to phase out home mail delivery in 5 years

Canada Post plans to end home delivery service in 5 years at the expense of 8,000 postal jobs. Forced to streamline its operations and cut costs, mail in Canada will still be delivered to community, grouped, lobby, and rural mailboxes. 

Canada Post will  open more franchised retail outlets while driving up the price of stamps starting in 2014. Hoping that the changes can result in a profit of between $700 million to $900 million.

Canadians will begin to feel the sting of this transition starting in the middle of 2014 in order to help make Canada Post financially stable by 2019. Personally, I'm hoping that Amazon's delivery drones will be fully operational by then.

Source: The Verge

iTunes offers users 12 Days of Gifts starting December 26

From December 26 to January 6, you can download a gift each day—songs, apps, books, movies, and more—with the 12 Days of Gifts app. Each day's gift will only be available for 24 hours, so download the free app to make sure you don’t miss out. Note: Not all content is available in all countries.