navigation

Star navigator tells you where to gaze

For some years now, we've had a digital telescope gathering dust in a closet somewhere (we're not even sure which one anymore). The reason? We still don't know how to work it.

That's why we're sorely tempted to accidentally donate it to charity and get one of these instead. The "Talking Star and Constellation Navigator" is more our speed--not only does it have a tracking system to find the best viewing angles, but it actually tells you what to do next to find and identify "56 constellations, 66 stars, and 33 deep-sky … Read more

Coming to America: Nokia 330 Auto Navigation

OK, you heard it here first: the Nokia 330 portable navigation system is headed for the United States. We got a little heads-up from Nokia tonight that it's going to announce the U.S. availability of the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation unit tomorrow with an expected ship date of April. It'll come preloaded with Navteq maps and features a 3.5-inch touch screen, turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions, and multimedia capabilities (music and video player and image viewer). You know, pretty much like every other portable in-car GPS device out there. Will it offer any compelling reasons to fork over $… Read more

Palm GPS Navigator Car Kit finds its way to CTIA 2007

New Treos these are not, but Palm did have some news to share at CTIA 2007. Today, the company introduced a number of hands-free car solutions, including the Palm GPS Navigator Car Kit for the Treo 750 and the Treo 680, as well as some new cases (umm, yay?).

The Palm GPS Navigator Kit is specifically made for the new, slimmer Treos (other Treo owners can get the same solution from the Palm GPS Navigator Smartphone Edition) and features a cradle with an integrated GPS receiver and a speakerphone--just snap your Treo 680 or Treo 750 into place, and you … Read more

Sprint Navigation to arrive in April

Today, Sprint and TeleNav announced they are expecting a little cell phone/GPS lovechild sometime in April. They've named the location-based service (LBS) Sprint Navigation, and it brings a bundle of navigation joy, such as:

Text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions 3D maps Pedestrian mode Real-time traffic alerts Local search with more than 10 million points of interest Gas finder by lowest price

Sprint Navigation will be available on most Power Vision phones, including the Motorola Razr V3m, the Motorola Krzr, and the LG Fusic, with several data plan options. The new Sprint Power Vision Navigation Pack gives you unlimited … Read more

Deutschlanders: E-mail Google Maps to your BMW

Google has announced on their blog a new partnership with BMW's Assist driving service--but only in Germany, so far. BMW drivers using Google Maps Deutschland can now "send" selected geographic data from their PCs directly to their in-car navigators. Consequently, there's no need to look it up at home and then look it up again in the car. (Above: Check out Google's promotional video. Don't worry, it's in English.)

It's not available stateside yet, or with non-BMW navigators, but Google has stressed that this is only the first step in the introduction … Read more

Media device adds GPS to playlist

The race for the ultimate all-in-once device is a marathon, and there's no guarantee that anyone will ever win. But in the latest leg--the incorporation of GPS technologies--is as hotly contested as it gets, especially between the smart phone and the media player.

The latter seems to have made a decent stride with the P360 from Prober, which combines GPS navigation with audio and video formats controlled on a 3.5-inch touchscreen. The handheld device has a remote that lets you zoom in on the screen and, just for kicks, it throws in an e-book reader as well.… Read more

Call and navigate home with the Nokia 6110 Navigator

In addition to the E series goodness, Nokia also announced the Nokia 6110 Navigator today, a quad-band smart phone with robust navigation capabilities. The handset is equipped with built-in GPS as well as AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System), and comes with local maps pre-installed on a memory card so you can start navigating right out of the box. The Nokia 6110 offers all the navigation tools you'd expect in today's GPS devices, including text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, real-time tracking, points of interest, and various options for route creation. An optional car mount will be available for purchase, … Read more

GPS or hockey puck?

Until GPS phones become commonplace, it will still be necessary to carry two devices if you want both capabilities. So Motorola apparently figures it will try to cash in on this inconvenience while it can, offering its T815 navigation device to work with your smartphone. Gizmodo says it puts maps on your phone and spits out directions, though it appears to be designed more for the car than for your pocket. We're going to hold out for a combo phone--with our luck, one of our kids would grab this thinking it was one of their hockey pucks.

Harman finds its way into navigation

Harman Kardon is best known in the automotive world for its audio equipment, but here at CES 2007, the company has taken a leap into the crowded world of portable GPS devices with the unveiling of its Guide + Play GPS-500. Like most portable navigation devices on the market nowadays, the GPS-500 is more than a digital wayfinder: it can play a range of audio (MP3/AAC/WMA) and video (MPEG-4/WMV9) media formats and will even display album artwork in glorious Technicolor. Media is played from a 4GB SD card that slots into the top of the bezel. Maps and … Read more