navigation

Happy Cyber Monday! I've always preferred this "holiday" to Black Friday, as it allows me to shop in my preferred garb: bathrobe and slippers. (Tried that on a Black Friday once; I am no longer welcome in the mall.)

Indeed, this is arguably this biggest shopping day of the year for the ol' Cheapskate, as all the deals are, by definition, online. I'll be discussing some of my favorites live today on CNET's Holiday Help Desk, which airs at 3 p.m. ET, noon PT.

In the meantime, here are some assorted Cyber Monday goodies … Read more

Just yesterday I was discussing the merits of standalone nav systems with my brother-in-law Charles (who's as savvy a cheapskate as there ever was--and I mean that in the best possible way).

I said, "Hey, look, here's a GPS with lifetime traffic for under $100." His response: "I'd rather have lifetime maps."

Well, sir, how about both? Today only, Staples has the TomTom VIA 1405TM 4.3-inch GPS for $99.99 shipped (plus sales tax in most states). It comes with free traffic data and map updates for life.

The Via 1405TM is … Read more

CSR's new GPS architecture taps additional satellites, plus cell tower and Wi-Fi access points, to improve navigational accuracy.

During a meeting in CNET's offices, Kanwar Chadha, CMO of CSR Technology, noted that all content is becoming location-aware. Smartphone apps and navigation devices can tailor information to a user's personal surroundings. Taking advantage of that trend, Chadha's company, which provides GPS chips for navigation devices, has developed a new generation of products that can pinpoint locations both outdoors and indoors.

As an initial step to improve accuracy, the company's SiRFstarV architecture not only uses the U.… Read more

Apple's October 2011 software update for the iPod Nano changes the home screen navigation to a large icon view. The change is intended to make the fitness-friendly MP3 player easier to use, and honestly, I like it better than the small grid of icons that was used previously.

I mean, when you're dealing with a screen the size of a postage stamp, even one icon can be tough to manage. Throw in the fact that you're probably using the Nano while flailing around trying to work off that morning extra doughnut, and you're probably praying the … Read more

Welcome to Roadside Assistance, in this week's show, a user has some insight into our issues with the Bluetooth streaming in a VW, we help one of you add new tunes to a goat, and we explain just what's so "HD" about TomTom's HD traffic.

• LOLcars (photos)

Testing GPS devices can be a grind--a dull, boring grind. So when a device comes along promising to revolutionize portable navigation devices, I tend to perk up and take notice. The TomTom Go Live 1535M is one of those attention-getters.

When this portable navigation device (PND) was announced a few weeks ago, I was intrigued by its integration of travel apps that enable the user to tap into Yelp, Trip Advisor, Expedia, and Google Local Search services for up-to-date point-of-interest data and reviews via the same Live data service that beams in its HD Traffic data. I was even more … Read more

Could parking garage maps be coming to BMW's ConnectedDrive navigation system? BMW released a video demonstrating its micro-navigation technology, which shows drivers the most exact route to their destination, down to the parking space.

BMW announced that it was developing this technology last year, and while the new video doesn't show much more detail than what was previously released, it could suggest that this feature, which was developed in conjunction with the 3-series sedan, could be making its way to production. … Read more

TeleNav announced this morning that its GPS Navigator app for Android phones is getting a major update soon.

Designated version 7.1, this new update starts with a new My Dashboard home screen that presents a local map, commute times and traffic, shortcuts and a search bar at the user's fingertips upon launching the app. Users may not immediately notice once their trip is under way, but behind the scenes the maps feature a revised rendering engine that TeleNav claims is both smoother and faster.

Of course, no good Android app would be complete without a widget, so TeleNav … Read more

Siri, the new voice technology unveiled yesterday that's coming to the iPhone 4S, may not be such a new idea for Apple after all, at least according to a 1987 concept video showing a vaguely similar system designed for tablets.

Andy Baio over at Waxy posted a video of Apple's "Knowledge Navigator," a concept video put together for the Educom computer trade show in 1987, to be delivered alongside the keynote of then Apple CEO John Sculley.

The video, which cost Apple some $60,000 and six weeks to create from start to finish, features a professor going about comparing research notes and studies, as well as collaborating with others over video chat on a foldout tablet device running an older version of the Mac OS. Included is a plethora of concepty goodness, from touch screens and video conferencing to translucent removable memory that looks like it's straight out of "Star Trek."

But the glue that holds it together is the artificial intelligence assistant: A smooth-talking man who is a dead ringer for Bill Nye, the science guy, has complete conversations with the professor and is able to pull up charts and data based on plain language requests. It was more advanced than the Siri technology we saw demoed yesterday, but there are clearly some shared ideas. … Read more