Tag: gps
Econav Sat Nav: The tree-hugging satnav
Driving green is totally different to driving fast, and the Econav, from Vexia, knows it. The Econav will deliver you exactly the same speed, traffic and gear change info as a regular sat nav, but instead of showing you the fastest way to go, it’ll show you the most economical.
For example, if you’ve got a carful of people, then it’s going to be much better for you to use a motorway than country roads. It’ll take into account your car, fuel and occupancy level. The manufacturers claim that it’ll pay for itself in reduced fuel usage within six months. The price? £200. If you’re not often in a hurry, then it could be worth a look.
Vexia (via ShinyShiny)
LG's new flagship multimedia handset – the "Arena" KM900
I’ll admit it’s been a while since I was excited about an LG handset, despite my love for the company’s TFT monitors. This phone might change all that, however – it’s the LG Arena KM900, newly announced in advance of its unveiling at MWC 2009.
The biggest feature of the phone is its use of 3D. It’s got a completely new UI which is based on cubes, providing a number of different home screens. A touchscreen allows you to navigate between them, but from the picture to the right, it looks clearly iPhone-influenced.
The Arena will also have HSDPA, Wi-Fi, and aGPS, but beyond that we don’t know anything more. We’ll be finding out full specs, and hopefully a release date, next week at MWC so stay tuned for that. If you want to be the first to hear, then you might like to follow @techdigestnews on Twitter. Just an idea.
(via Official LG Blog)
More on LG: Lucy plays backgammon on the LG KF300 | LG has ‘modular’ VX9600 Versa in the works
Mileage Tracker: GPS tech comes to the rescue to help with your expenses
Perhaps now isn’t the best time to remind you that (if you have to do the dreaded Tax Return) you’ve a little over a day left to complete it.
However, if nitty-gritty stuff like car mileage tracking has been a real pain to calculate then the Mileage Tracker could be the answer.
Using GPS (naturally), it can track what distances you’ve travelled in your car and export it to a CSV file (boring) or Google Earth (cool)…
WeFi online wireless hotspot directory now available
WeFi has announced a couple of new services to help mobile users locate free and pay-for Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide.
First up is the online directory that, given an address, will show where the nearest spots are — well, it will if you download a piece of software first. A phone or laptop with GPS enabled can also be used to located new hotspots automatically…
Sony surveys fans on PSP2 features
Sony has been roundly beaten in the handheld and the… er… non-handheld markets by Nintendo (seriously, we need a better name for full size consoles than that – suggestions in the comments). What’s the best way for them to fight back? That’s the question that Sony is asking its fans, with a survey floating several new feature ideas for the PSP2 and asking people to rank them.
Some of the new features include GPS, bluetooth, internal storage, touchscreen, a content download service and a social network including home support. Personally speaking, I’d rate GPS and social network features high, if only to compete with the growing influence of mobile phones on the gaming-on-the-go market. Adding in Skype features could just make the fightback possible.
(via Kotaku)
Related posts: Sony planning to revise PSP again in 2009 – with proper “PSP2” to follow later | Sony strengthens firmware portfolio – PSP hits v5.00, PS3 now goes up to v2.50
CES 2009: Hands on with the Asus T91
Susi was lucky enough to get her her hands on the swivelly Asus T91 in Vegas that we originally covered here. It’s got a GPS unit, a touchscreen and a TV tuner – quite nifty for an 8.9″ netbook. Can’t wait to try Windows 7 on it.
For more CES goodness, click through to the motherlode of CES posts.
Textecution – an extremely clever mobile app that stops you texting while you're driving
So, go on then, guess how a mobile phone app can tell if you’re driving or not? Speed of texting? Pauses while texting? More errors than usual? Drastic directional adjustments detected by the iPhone’s accelerometer as you hastily steer away from the bus stop, off the pavement and back onto the road?
Nope – Texecution uses GPS to locate the position of your phone, and therefore you, deactivating the phone’s SMS features when you seem to be moving at more than 10mph.
There is, of course, an override function for when you’re a passenger, on buses and trains, or running really fast…
Garmin to launch Android mobile, too
Adding further fuel to the fire of evidence that Android will become the mobile OS of choice in 2009, GPS manufacturer Garmin has announced that it’ll be building an Android-based mobile phone. The release is promised for the second half of the year.
It’s unclear as to whether this is an entirely new handset or a upgrade to the still-not-released Nuvifone, but either way, this should be a touchscreen GPS mobile device that packs a powerful punch. Current plans are just to launch the device in Taiwan, but given that the company’s GPS units are sold all over the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if this followed too.
Garmin (via Adding further fuel to the fire of evidence that Android will become the mobile OS of choice in 2009, GPS manufacturer Garmin has announced that it’ll be building an Android-based mobile phone. The release is promised for the second half of the year. It’s unclear as to whether this is an entirely new handset or a upgrade to the still-not-released Nuvifone, but either way, this should be a touchscreen GPS mobile device that packs a powerful punch. Current plans are just to launch the device in Taiwan, but given that the company’s GPS units are sold all over the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if this followed too. Garmin (via Phandroid) Related posts: Garmin intros rugged nüvi 500 Series portable navigation device | Garmin partners with GyPSii geo-social network, find where your friends are and how to get thereroid-phone-coming-in-2009/”>Phandroid
GPS for Skiiers is more than just an avalanche tracker
If you’re a skiier, you’ll know the value of not getting trapped under an avalanche, but most decent skiing jackets these days come with GPS in them, for those ‘just in case’ situations. Why do you need a dedicated GPS unit, then? Because Flaik, the company who makes it, has gone all Web 2.0 and tacked on a social network.
Despite Flaik’s website not being properly launched yet, and being epically broken in Chrome, it seems that the GPS unit will let you do all kinds of crazy stuff like running real-time competitions against people you don’t know, tracking the location of individual skiiers, and calculating run-by-run and day-by-day statistics.
Obviously this is for hardcore skiiers only, and there’s no word of price, but it apparently launched last month in Colorado. If anyone’s able to provide any more info, then drop us an email, because this looks like it could be fun.
Flaik (via CrunchGear)
Related posts: Wii Skii: Nintendo to release ‘Family Ski’ – proper use for the balance board | Shiny Video Preview: Satski’s GPS system for skiing trips
GPS-equipped jesuses thwarting baby thieves
Have you ever set up a Nativity scene on public display? Did your baby jesus get nicked?Apparently it’s a rather common problem, but a company called LightningGPS, who make GPS tracking units, are giving away units to churches, schools and community centres setting up their Nativity displays.
Sadly it’s an America-only offer, but I know we have a few American readers, so you might want to let your local pastor know. You can sign up for the offer here. Now what I want to see next is a Google Maps mashup of all the baby jesuses across America, and their recent travels…
LightningGPS (via PRWeb)
