gps

U.S. drone 'hijackings' raise security concerns

The use of drones is taking off in America.

Local governments and private businesses see them as a cheap and effective way of maintaining an eye from the sky.

But will the drones be fully under their control?

A college professor and his students say not necessarily.

A civilian drone aircraft was "hijacked" by Professor Todd Humphreys and his graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin.

They were able to hack into the drone's GPS signals.

Later, in an exercise done in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security at White Sands, N.M., they … Read more

TVFoodMaps is a GPS-guided tour for food TV fanatics

TVFoodMaps for Android is an app that takes you on a tour of all the restaurants featured on your favorite Food Network and Travel Channel shows, using GPS. For self-proclaimed food enthusiasts, it is a veritable treasure trove of eating advice.

Launch TVFoodMaps, enable GPS, and watch the app immediately get to work searching for notable restaurants in your vicinity. The home screen lets you choose to do a keyword search or jump straight to a map of nearby hot spots. For users of the paid premium version, you can also browse by TV show and even get notifications when … Read more

Drones can be hijacked via GPS spoofing attack

Last year a U.S. military drone doing reconnaissance in Iran disappeared. Iranian government officials there said they had steered the device off course by interfering with its GPS signals.

Such an attack, called GPS spoofing, had previously been considered theoretical. A research team at the University of Texas at Austin has demonstrated that the GPS signals of an unmanned aerial vehicle can be commandeered remotely. This demonstration highlights security concerns with plans to allow thousands of military and civilian drones in U.S. airspace by 2015.

"I think this demonstration should certainly raise some eyebrows and serve as … Read more

5 GPS devices that do more than just navigate

Space is a premium in your car's cabin, even more so when we're discussing your windshield. You don't want to go cluttering up your view of the road with too many devices. It's easy to get out of hand with a navigator, a Bluetooth speakerphone, an audio source, and a fuel economy meter.

That's why we've rounded up five portable GPS devices that do more than just navigate.… Read more

GPS rival Navsop navigates by Wi-Fi, TV signals

GPS could drop off the map as British boffins work on a new location technology that navigates by signals from mobile phones and Wi-Fi. Defense firm BAE Systems is testing Navsop, a navigation system that goes where others can't.

Navsop figures out where it is from a GPS signal, then learns about different signals including medium-wave radio frequencies, mobile phones, televisions, and Wi-Fi to find its way around.

Read more of "Navigate by Wi-Fi and TV signals with GPS rival Navsop" at Crave UK. … Read more

Waze app update adds real-time gas prices, fuel discounts

There's already a lot to like about the Waze, the social GPS and live traffic app for Android and iOS devices. It saves you time with its turn-by-turn directions, saves you fuel by helping to avoid jams with its crowd sourced traffic data, and (possibly, most importantly) it doesn't cost a penny. With the new 2.3 update that should be hitting the app marketplaces today, Waze now moves toward actively saving you money by helping you and other drivers to find and buy the cheapest fuel around.

Starting in version 3.2, users will be able to … Read more

Scout by Telenav

In light of Apple's recent announcements about its maps app, the idea of another navigation app for the iPhone might seem redundant, but Apple's program will have a hard time matching the route guidance capabilities of Telenav's Scout.

This recent free navigation app builds on Telenav's extensive experience in mobile navigation. Telenav came up with a new interface design and made the app free as a way of competing in the increasingly cutthroat world of navigation software.

Scout's major drawbacks are that it is strictly an online app, and voice prompts require a $9.99-a-year … Read more

Can the automotive industry rescue Google Maps?

Google isn't saying much about how it's going to rescue its mapping product from the expected upset of losing the Apple deal. We're going to learn exactly what it's doing tomorrow at a press event that I'll be live-blogging. (Join us Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. PT.)

All Google has said so far is:

Brian McClendon, VP of GoogleMaps and Google Earth, will give you a behind-the-scenes look at GoogleMaps and share our vision. We'll also demo some of the newest technology and provide a sneak peek at upcoming features that will help … Read more

Cool or creepy? Alohar tracks your location, always

In 2006, Sam Liang of Google started to work on the company's geolocation project. It was his team, he says, that created the back-end technology that enabled the creation of the blue dot on Google's mobile maps: the one that tells you where you are.

Now, six years later and at his own company, Alohar Mobile, he's working on a new blue dot: one that's both more precise and that uses far less battery life.

What he's trying to do is create an "ambient" location tracking technology. (Mark that word: ambient. It's … Read more

Remove your location data from photos with PhotoInfoEraser

When you upload photos to Facebook, Twitter, or elsewhere on the Internet, you may be sharing more information than you know. Your photos can have hidden data in them, like exact location data. If it's a well-known public location, like Disneyland, you might not mind sharing that, but what if it's your home, or where your kids go to school?

The easiest way to avoid sharing location data on your photos is by turning off geotagging in your Android camera's settings. But maybe you've already taken photos that have location data on them. Or maybe you … Read more