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gps

Media device adds GPS to playlist

The race for the ultimate all-in-once device is a marathon, and there's no guarantee that anyone will ever win. But in the latest leg--the incorporation of GPS technologies--is as hotly contested as it gets, especially between the smart phone and the media player.

The latter seems to have made a decent stride with the P360 from Prober, which combines GPS navigation with audio and video formats controlled on a 3.5-inch touchscreen. The handheld device has a remote that lets you zoom in on the screen and, just for kicks, it throws in an e-book reader as well.… Read more

Call and navigate home with the Nokia 6110 Navigator

In addition to the E series goodness, Nokia also announced the Nokia 6110 Navigator today, a quad-band smart phone with robust navigation capabilities. The handset is equipped with built-in GPS as well as AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System), and comes with local maps pre-installed on a memory card so you can start navigating right out of the box. The Nokia 6110 offers all the navigation tools you'd expect in today's GPS devices, including text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, real-time tracking, points of interest, and various options for route creation. An optional car mount will be available for purchase, … Read more

GPS or hockey puck?

Until GPS phones become commonplace, it will still be necessary to carry two devices if you want both capabilities. So Motorola apparently figures it will try to cash in on this inconvenience while it can, offering its T815 navigation device to work with your smartphone. Gizmodo says it puts maps on your phone and spits out directions, though it appears to be designed more for the car than for your pocket. We're going to hold out for a combo phone--with our luck, one of our kids would grab this thinking it was one of their hockey pucks.

Inilex one-ups LoJack for GPS car security [Video]

Announced today at Demo 07, security company Inilex is launching its own GPS car security system. Like competitor Lo Jack's early warning system, Inilex has a GPS hardware unit that's installed in your vehicle and alerts you if your car is moving when you're not in it. The unit also lets you know how fast your car is going. You can secure your vehicle via phone or a Web-based interface. What's really cool is that Inilex has created a way to make your own perimeters called "geo fences." Going outside of or (in some … Read more

Locr: Geo-tagged photo browser and hosting solution

Locr is a new photo hosting service that promises to make geo-tagging your photos a little easier. After uploading photos, users need to simply add a zip code or city name to set a longitude and latitude for their shots. Users can then browse other geo-tagged photos by click-dragging a Google Map.

Is this different from what Flickr offers? Yes, but without a Web-based batch uploader or a way to tag landmarks, Locr comes up short.

Locr's Web interface is really easy to use for individual uploading and geo-tagging, but it just doesn't work with multiple photos. That … Read more

GPS shoes redefine track

We're not all that big on the high-tech apparel trend, but if clothing can help save our lives, it'll get our attention every time. The GTXC "Xplorer" is a line of running shoes equipped with GPS transmitters. Beaming constant signals to show their location, they were designed to track the whereabouts of children and patients, according to Electronista. The shoes can send signals to cell phones and relay text messages if they stray beyond predetermined boundaries that form "virtual fences." Maxwell Smart would be proud.

XM gets into weather

XM Satellite Radio continues to branch out. It first went beyond its original remit of offering dozens of obscure radio stations with the introduction of XM NavTraffic, a service to drivers providing real-time information on congestion and traffic conditions. Now the company is getting into weather forecasting with its XM WX weather data service. The first standalone device to feature the new service will be the ONIX400, a joint collaboration between XM and Bushnell Outdoor Products that will let you listen to death metal tracks while checking the outlook for your weekend picnic.

The waterproof handheld device, which features a … Read more

Free real-time traffic reports? We wish

We've often thought that real-time traffic reports was an obvious use of interactive technologies, but for some reason they're still not universal. (These thoughts typically come to us while stuck on a freeway, which is often.) But a German GPS software company called Navigon says it will "radically change" this sluggish pace of development with a free service that will be offered with GPS services right out of the box, according to Twice.

The company, which is working with ClearChannel's Real Time Traffic, has made a deal with the Porsche Design Group as the first … Read more

Harman finds its way into navigation

Harman Kardon is best known in the automotive world for its audio equipment, but here at CES 2007, the company has taken a leap into the crowded world of portable GPS devices with the unveiling of its Guide + Play GPS-500. Like most portable navigation devices on the market nowadays, the GPS-500 is more than a digital wayfinder: it can play a range of audio (MP3/AAC/WMA) and video (MPEG-4/WMV9) media formats and will even display album artwork in glorious Technicolor. Media is played from a 4GB SD card that slots into the top of the bezel. Maps and … Read more