Hasta La Gadget!

They made it. The team from Visilab, which left way back in July, has arrived in China and will now take its place among the various other random things going on at the Shanghai World Expo. As you may or may not recall, a gaggle of autonomous orange EVs left Italy three months ago on a trip that would take them through cities like Moscow and wastelands like the Gobi Desert, all thanks to an array of laser scanners, cameras, and of course GPS. It was a 13,000km journey (8,078 miles) that was made with minimal driver intervention and, thanks to the EV-nature of the vehicles, without stopping once for gasoline — though they were limited to about four hours of travel each day before having to recharge. Now, remember when you were impressed that Google’s autonomous car managed about 1,000 miles on its own?

Driverless electric van cruises 8,000 miles from Italy to China without stopping for directions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pack a lob wedge or extra utility iron? Punch and run or flop and drop? Crush a five iron or hit a three-quarter four? These are just a few of the questions that amateur golfers wish they had to ponder as they instead devote their time to rummaging through the brush trying to find what could be their fourth lost ball in three holes. Maybe Garmin‘s new Approach S1 watch can help. It’s loaded with every hole from over 14,000 golf courses and, from anywhere on the course, will give you precise yardage to the front, back, and middle of the next green — meaning it won’t help your lay-up but could be just the ticket for nailing that approach. Its integrated odometer will even track how many miles you covered through the course of the day and, we’re presuming, not tell your significant other whether you spent those drinking in the cart or walking at a brisk pace. The Approach S1 is available now for $249 and is subtle enough that your buddies might not even notice your new wrist-borne advantage.

Continue reading Garmin Approach S1 is the first GPS watch for golfers, sends that caddy back to the shack

Garmin Approach S1 is the first GPS watch for golfers, sends that caddy back to the shack originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We got our first taste of Navigon‘s MobileNavigator for Android way back at CES last January, and since then Googlephone users across Europe have been merrily navigating around using the thing. Finally, Americans get our chance, with Navigon announcing a North American release. This version includes maps of the good ‘ol US of A, downloaded to the storage card (1.5GB worth) to enable full offline navigation, though you’ll need a connection to get traffic updates. There’s an improved Reality View Pro mode, which shows “photo realistic 3D views” of street signs and, the cream of this frothy app, a new Reality Scanner mode. This Layar-like view overlays nav and POI information over a real-time stream of the world from the phone’s camera, letting you spot that Stuckey’s from afar. The app hits the Android Market today for $39, but that’s one of those limited time deals. After two weeks it jumps up to $59, so don’t be slow with the clicking.

Continue reading Navigon MobileNavigator finally hits American Androids, includes augmented reality POI view

Navigon MobileNavigator finally hits American Androids, includes augmented reality POI view originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chalk another up to the rumor mill. Just as we’d heard, the Garmin-Asus partnership will soon be no more. After a few arguably valiant attempts to break into the smartphone market, it seems as if ASUS is walking away in hopes of finding greener grass elsewhere. According to Reuters, an unnamed ASUS official has confirmed that it would be “ending its mobile phone cooperation agreement with Garmin.” We’re expecting the rest of the breakup details to roll tomorrow, but honestly, you’d turn the other cheek and move on if you were classy. But we both know that’s not happening, right?

ASUS officially walks away from Garmin-Asus partnership originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It turns out that GPS units are good for more than just making sure you don’t get lost, they can also be used to help save endangered African rhinos from poachers.

In the North West province of South Africa, researchers have outfitted five different rhinos with GPS chips, which allow the researchers to follow the animals’ movements and the chip will also sound off alarms if the rhinos exhibit unusual movement or leave the park area. The chips were inserted into a small hole drilled into the inert part of the rhino’s horn.

“It’s basically a satellite system which connects with the cell phone system and we can monitor the animals on whatever time delay we want,” Rusty Hustler, head of security for North West Parks Board, told the BBC. “There are a number of alarms that can be programmed: one for excessive movement, so if the rhino starts running, and another that goes off if the rhino sleeps for longer than six hours, which is abnormal.”

In addition to saving the lives of rhinos, the chips could also potentially be used to track down poachers who slaughter animals and make off with their horns.