Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

The Clarion MiND (which I will herein capitalize as normal) is supposed to be a lot of things. It’s supposed to be a GPS, an internet tablet, a media player, and more… All stuffed into one sleek and portable package. It’s a brilliant idea, an idea that a lot of companies have been trying to make happen for a long time. So is this what the Clarion Mind is? A video explains it all, plus my review, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

When I first read about the concept of tagging your photos with GPS data, I wasn’t exactly sold on the idea. I mean who takes photos and forgets where they were? That’s half the reason for taking a photo in the first place, to remember where you’ve been or what you’ve seen. I came back from CES this year with over 3,000 shots, and I can tell you where each and every one was taken. However, as photo sharing sites like Flickr became more popular, I started to warm up to the geo-tagging idea, since it meant that I could see where somebody else’s photos were taken. To me, that was its ‘killer app’.

Well the popularity of geo-tagging clearly wasn’t hindered by me not being on board, and at this point there are quite a few solutions on the market that make it easy to record and update your photos with GPS positional data. In fact, you can even buy cameras that already have GPS functionality built-in. But if your camera predates this convenience, the GPS PhotoFinder mini from ATP provides an easy way to geo-tag your photos, without a PC, thanks to a special dock that accepts SD or CF memory cards directly from your camera. So how well does it work? You can read my full review of the ATP PhotoFinder mini after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By Evan Ackerman

There are a variety of self contained GPS tracking solutions out there, but most of them seem to assume that you want to know where something is almost all the time, and require you to pay a monthly subscription fee for that service. The fact is, though, that most of the time, you know exactly where your stuff/kids/pets are. It’s that every once in a while panic attack that makes having a GPS tracker worthwhile.

The XACT TRAX is just like any other GPS tracking device, with a GPS receiver and a cellular antenna to call home with coordinates, plus the ability to set “fences” around areas and a panic button. The primary difference to the TRAX is that it doesn’t do realtime monitoring, and you don’t have to pay a subscription. Instead, when you want to know where the TRAX is, you just ask it (via the internet or phone), and it’ll tell you and charge you $1. If you have > 15 freak outs about losing stuff per month, then maybe this isn’t for you, but if that’s the case you probably have other things to worry about. If, on the other hand, you’re just worried about things occasionally getting lost or stolen, $1 is not that much to ask for a precise location.

The XACT TRAX will be available by the end of Q1 for $249.99.

[ Xact ]

By Evan Ackerman

GPS devices are good for three things: telling you where you are, where you’re going, and where you’ve been. Somewhat ironically, using them for the first thing doesn’t really help you out that much… Knowing that your present location is exactly 37.867828° N 122.269488° W won’t make you any less lost. Telling you where you’re going is what most people use GPS devices for these days, but really, it’s far less relevant than getting you back where you came from. So if that’s what you care about most, you’ll be perfectly happy with this GPS homing device. It only does one thing: it takes you back where you were.

There are a grand total of two buttons on the device. One of them turns it on and off, and the other one marks your current position, and if you go somewhere else, it’ll give you a distance and bearing back. It won’t actually give you directions, so if your path involves lots of twists and turns and bottomless pits and fearsome monsters and meteor showers, you’re probably out of luck. I guess it’s a relatively useful enough accessory for people who like to wander about aimlessly with their eyes closed or whatever, but the price tag of $80 puts it far too close to the pricepoint of a fully armed and operational GPS.

The GPS Homing Device will be available January 2 from Hammacher Schlemmagesundheit.

[ Hammacher ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Andrew Liszewski

According to their CBS affiliate, New York city’s transit agency is currently testing a new digital advertising system on the sides of buses. The system apparently uses actual flat screen displays to show rotating static advertisements as well as short commercials, but what’s particularly interesting is that the ads will be targeted towards the specific neighborhood the bus happens to be passing through thanks to GPS. A company called Titan Worldwide has a 10 year, $800 million advertising contract with the city’s public transportation system, and the first buses to feature the new ads are currently being tested on a Manhattan route. But come 2009, about 200 more buses will also get the advertising upgrade.

[ WCBS TV - NYC Tests Digital Ads On Buses ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Evan Ackerman

If you’re someone who likes to upload video clips to YouTube a lot, and you have trouble remembering where exactly you were when you took the video, you should probably not run for public office any time soon. Also, you may want to have a look at DGX’s DVH586 HD video camera, which is able to add geographic metadata to video clips (just your initial location, I’m guessing) as you take them. On the software side, it’s then able to export that data to YouTube (this just in: YouTube has an integrated video geotagging option). There isn’t much information about the hardware on the camera itself, besides that it’s HD and it uses GPS software from Geotate.

The interesting thing about the Geotate geotagging software is that it doesn’t actually take the time or energy to figure out where you are. Instead, the software takes a snapshot of the raw satellite data, and when you get home, your computer crunches the numbers and derives a location. It’s much faster and more efficient, but if you and your camel driver are lost in the desert and you’re trying to call in an airlift, you’ll both die of thirst (and the camel will probably eat you) before the camera will spit out an actual location. So, you know, just something to be aware of.

According to Geotate, the DGX DVH586 “offers the right user experience at the right price point to penetrate the mass market,” but they don’t say what that price is, or when the camera will be available.

[ LetsGoDigital ] VIA [ Navigadget ]

By Evan Ackerman

We took a look at the Ricoh 500SE (and it’s crazy features) last year, and now GeoSpatial Experts has added another little doohickey to the water resistant, WiFi enabled, Bluetooth enabled, GPS equipped camera: a compass. It may not seem like much, but it’s a very nice thing to have integrated into your geotagging system. Now, you get a record of which direction you’re pointing the camera in addition to where you’re standing when you take a picture. Pop that data into Google Earth, and you’ll be able to stick a geotagged picture into the same location and perspective (both heading and tilt) as when it was taken, which could make for some pretty sweet virtual tours.

The rest of the features on the Ricoh 500SE are mostly standard, including 8 mp resolution, a 28mm wide angle 3x zoom lens that can macro focus to 1cm, a 2.5″ LCD, and image stabilization. The camera takes SD cards and accepts a range of accessories, including additional lenses and even an external GPS antenna. Oh, and it can be hooked up to a Bluetooth laser rangefinder to record distance data along with pictures, and it scans barcodes.

All these bells and whistles will cost you just under $1800, which is certainly a little steep on the compact digicam spectrum. My guess is that there’s a certain type of person out there who this camera is absolutely perfect for, and they probably lead a far more dangerous and exciting life than I… You know, until they get devoured by a gang of ravenous anteaters in the jungles of Borneo, which is not generally something I concern myself with. Knock on wood.

[ Ricoh S00SE ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

By Evan Ackerman

The iNAVI K7 is not quite as cool as this. Or this. But it sure beats the pants off of just about any other GPS system I can think of when it comes to the display, which (being the bit that shows you where you’re going) is rather important. And, it’s an actual product that you can buy, which is a major plus. The iNAVI K7 from Thinkware doesn’t just give you a 3D view of your route, with detailed lane markings, but it also incorporates 3D buildings with textures. And trees. And streetlights and crosswalks and who knows what else. You’ll barely have to look out the windshield. All of this stuff is displayed on a gorgeous 7″ WVGA touchscreen, with a svelte set of clear backlit controls on the side. It takes SDHC cards, plays mp3s and videos and games and ebooks (?), and includes a geomagnetic sensor to help keep itself accurate.

I should probably mention that when I said that it’s an actual product you can buy, I meant exactly that, as long as you live in South Korea… Anywhere else and you won’t get the nifty 3D database. Cost: a shade under $500.

[ AVING ] VIA [ Navigadget ]

By Jonathan Kimak

For people who are disabled or care for a family member that’s disabled it can get frustrating when you have to go somewhere. While plenty of shops and offices are becoming more accessible there are still many that are not. This GPS unit from NAVTEQ, called the BBNav(short for Blue Badge Navigator), was designed to help people living in the United Kingdom and Ireland to locate disabled accessible spots.

The BBNav has a list of 10,000 handicap parking spots(called blue badge spots) and 3,500 parking garages that are graded 1-3 based on their accessibility. As well, there is a list of 20,000 points of interest tailored specifically for people with disabilities.

The GPS unit comes with all of the standard features including a 4.3 inch touchscreen and bluetooth calling capabilities. The price hasn’t been listed yet.

[ BBNav UK ] VIA [ Engadget ]