Hasta La Gadget!

Potter in style with the “Potter Navi” cycling navigation unit to be released in late March from Pioneer’s Cycle Lab.
With this navigation system, you can potter about (“putter around” in US English) using all the great tools that are built-in. It has a communication module using NTT docomo’s data and application services that cycling fans might appreciate, for example, for exercise stats, displaying/sharing information such as where your cycling friends …

Many of us can vouch for smartphone navigation being something of a battery hog. Sony would like us to navigate relatively guilt-free: its D5600 and flash-equipped D5601 chips chew no more than 10mW of power for everything they do. Most of their peers demand more than that just for the RF side of the equation, Sony says. They also won’t lean on outside help for their location fix. Both chips talk to GPS, GLONASS and similar systems, but they further share the increasingly common ability to use an accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer to get a more reliable position lock. Don’t expect thrifty GPS just yet, when Sony ships the basic D5600 in June and D5601 in September; that doesn’t even include the time spent to build a phone or tablet around either of the new parts. We’ll be patient if they reduce that anxiety over battery life whenever we’re getting directions.

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Tablets, Sony

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Source: Sony

Remember the days of yore when carphones used to be attached to the car — permanently? Accel Telecom wants to take you back there with the Voyager, an Android smartphone with car-centric functions that can stay put in your vehicle. To start with, the handset will feature a dedicated Waze launcher key for GPS navigation duties, and will also sport “high level noise reduction and echo cancellation,” along with hands-free voice activation. Other features include a 3G-WiFi hotspot, a “driver-centric” design with large physical keys, multiple car-focused apps and “crystal clear, echo free sound quality.” Interestingly, it’ll also connect to your vehicle’s on-board diagnostics system via RS232 or Bluetooth and ping you if any parts are about to break off. Accel told us that it’ll launch Voyager in Europe and the US “with operators that offer a second sim device,” to let you share your current phone number. There’s no sign of pricing yet, but there is PR and a video after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

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In-car GPS developers have long had to wrestle with the urban canyon effect that blocks or bounces signals downtown: they often have to make best guesses for accuracy when they can’t count on cellular or WiFi triangulation to pick up the slack, like a smartphone would. The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid has nonetheless found a way to borrow a page from mobile devices to get that accuracy back. By supplementing the GPS data with accelerometers and gyroscopes, researchers can use direction changes and speed to fill in the blanks, improving accuracy from a crude-at-best 49 feet to between 3 and 7 feet. The University’s creation doesn’t just minimize the chance of a wrong turn; it could be key to intelligent or driverless cars that have to perform sudden maneuvers all on their own. While the enhanced system is just a prototype without a commercialization schedule, it already slots into just about any car, including the University’s own intelligent car prototype (not pictured here). We may no longer have to lump car GPS units into the same “close is good enough” category as horseshoes and hand grenades.

[Image credit: Steve Jurvetson, Flickr]

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

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Via: BBC

Source: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Nokia’s position in the smartphone market may be precarious (if improving), but its Location and Commerce (read: mapping) division has developed quite the reputation. Toyota is the latest big car manufacturer to pay cash to get Nokia’s Here Local Search installed on Mr. Toyoda’s in-car infotainment units. The Japanese giant is planning to have the software baked into its vehicles in Europe, Russia and the Middle East by early 2014. At the same time, the duo have agreed to work together on how best they can develop Here’s navigation potential even further.

Filed under: Transportation, Software, Nokia

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