Insta GPS

One of the chief GPS chip makers, SiRF recently said that Renesas Technology has licensed SiRF GPS baseband IP blocks to location-enable its latest SuperH Family SH7775, a system on chip solution, which has specifically been brought about for high-performance car info systems.

With its built-in SiRF GPS abilities, the Renesas SH7775 is touted to make available the auto industry the technology for creating the X-gen of inexpensive in-dash navigation, telematics and auto info systems.

The SiRF IP solution delivers superior GPS performance for automotive applications. Along with a standalone SiRF GRF3i+ radio frequency subsystem IC, the built-in SiRF GPS technology handles constant-critical facets of obtaining location measurements from the GPS satellites, and passes positioning data to SiRFNav GPS software running on the SH-4A processor core.

SiRF will directly provide the RF subsystem and system-level integration support to automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers to ensure successful integration of the Renesas SH7775 solution into their products, maintain compatibility and interoperability of the GPS and other host platform functions and obtain optimal GPS performance.

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Navigadget reported that an unknown company recently rolled out their NaviBlue NBC3500, a GPS navigation device with 3.5-Inch and MP3 Playback capabilities as well as users’ basic starter satnav. After making a search of the device I found that it was avail -able at tigerdirect.com, which could be frightening at the start - however at $155 you can more or less jeopardize it. The specs that were also available at tigerdirect.com are also okay as well.

Navigadget. com or tigerdirect.com also reveal that the latest and greatest device makes use of the sensitive SiRF Star III GPS receiver, which is more or less is used by all and sundry. NaviBlue NBC3500 features a mid-range 1250mAh rechargeable battery and is sprinted on an Atlas II 300Mhz processor. Besides, NaviBlue NBC3500 is claimed to be consisted with multimedia abilities also - it gives support to MP3, WMA, OGG, Vobis, JPG, BMP, and GIF formats. Maps of the U.S. are pre-installed on an SD card, which consists of 1GB capacity.

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If you believed the 3.5-inch GPS market was being a bit way oversaturated, apparently you weren’t alone. Recently GPSPassion was reported to have said that Garmin of late let out rumors of a widescreen 4-inch version of the nuvi 200 and 250, both of which will put on Ws towards the end of their names to be a sign of the additional real estate.

The display itself will apparently include a 480 x 272 resolution, and as can be guessed by us that the real software and characteristic sets will continue basically the same, there’s no way of making out just so far.

Remarkably, it’s not so far apparent if the North American-friendly nuvi 270 will wind up getting a tad of width also, however the 200W and 250W should be shipped in European shops just round the corner for an estimated €299 ($402) and €349 ($469), in that order.

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Cowon recently announced to come up with a new widescreen portable media player for the Korean market. Thought presently it is for the Korean market, but nothing can be said whether it will ever make it to American shores, we will have to wait for it. The COWON L2 is the successor of the N2 with an improved onboard memory of 2GB, a big leap from the 64MB of the N2.

Now let’s talk about the most interesting part of L2, which is that it comes with built-in GPS technology, whereby users will be able to navigate around their much loved urban environment at the same time enjoying a video on-screen. Talking of on-screen, Cowon’s newest portable media player is touted to provide a somewhat matchless (PIP) picture-in-picture function thus users can in fact split the display between what is being watched by them and their GPS navigation. Further than GPS and PIP technologies users are provided with several other stuff in this razor-sharp looking PMP.

The Cowon L2 consists of AVI/MPEG-4 video playback, WAV/ASF/WMA/MP3 audio file support, BMP/PNG/JPG picture file display, 2GB of integrated memory (expandable via a SD memory card slot), FM radio, integrated speakers, a DMB tuner for digital television viewing (where supported), USB 2.0 and a non-glare screen.

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Garmin’s most recent adding to the eTrex series, the eTrex Vista HCx is officially announced. While the new eTrex series was announced some days back it was told that they are consisted with backup for the next-up Galileo satnav brought about by EU but the Garmin does not talk about such thing. We’ll just go ahead and blame our source.

Nonetheless, the eTrex Vista HCx is even now pretty competent regardless of lack of backup for Galileo. It consists of a color screen, barometric altimeter and an electronic compass, which is capable of displaying you where north is but for making you sprint in a straight line.

Vista HCx agrees to microSD cards, which stands for you are able to put in your MapSource card with comprehensive street maps and Vista HCx is capable of making available turn-by-turn guidelines to your goal exactly like a car satnav. One nicer thing regarding Vista HCx is that it sprints on AA batteries thus you do not to be anxious about plugging subsequent to the 1st 25 hours –simply take a little batteries with you.

The eTrex Vista HCx comes with the suggested price tag of $320.

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Here comes the most sophisticated GPS receiver, which is not only fine-looking on the inside, with the latest and very sensitive MTK 32 channel chipset on board, but it is pretty on the outside too having its sleek bodywork. Integrating the latest device to the portfolio, Keomo seems to have deployed a head of its GPS family.

Keomo’s MTK is touted to be world’s thinnest bluetooth GPS receiver, which is built-in with the MTK 32 channel chipset on board and a potent 1050mAh Li-Ion battery that last for 200 hours, which is made possible because of their patented Fuzzy Auto On/Off sport. The MTK can be utilized with any bluetooth-based device, take a look at the list below:

(1) All Qtek/HTC serie - S200, 8020, 8300, 8310, 9000, 9090, 9100, MDA Vario, P3300, S620, P4350, P3600, TyTN, S310, MTeoR
(2) Nokia N-series - E60, E61, E70, N80, 3230, 6260, 6280, 6600, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610, 9300, 9500
(3) Blackberry - The Keomo GPS receiver is compatible with all Blackberry series
(4) PDA’s - The Keomo GPS receiver is compatible with all PDA’s
(5) Sony Ericsson - P900, P910 (i)
(6) Hewlett Packard - HW-6515
(7) Palm - Palm Treo 650
(8) I-mate - I-Mate Jamin
(9) Mitac Mio - Mio A701

And as far as its satellite fix times for the Keomo MTK is concerned, it goes as follows: cold / warm / hot : 36 / 33 / 1 second. The device is expected to be available in Europe, and there is not any info of its pricing so far.

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A leading manufacturer of time synchronization servers and storage systems, Cepoint Networks has launched its iS900 iSCSI NAS storage system with Global Positioning system (GPS) or atomic time synchronization features.

The system provides worldwide coverage for navigation as well as time frequency users. A GPS receiver automatically determines its own location and time using trilateration or triangulation techniques by observing at least four satellites simultaneously. Each satellite has broadcast almanac, ephemeris, time and status.

The new iS900 iSCSI NAS storage system is featured with GPS, Inter Range Radio International Group (IRIG) timing or atomic time generator or receiver, which enables synchronized and precise back-up timing for companies with geographically disparate storage locations. The storage/Time server system is embedded expandable to 24TB. The Almanac is a collection of orbital information of all satellite, so that GPS receiver can efficiently know what satellite to look for and track.

CEPOINT’s GPS satellite system is good provider of precise position, velocity and time (PVT) to commercial and military users. CePoint’s iS900 iSCSI SAN is integrated with the best storage management solution for safe and secure data protection, data backup and disaster recovery. The system supports RAID levels 0, 1, 10, 5, 50 and in-built encrypted remote data transfer features. The system has manageable from authorized remote client through implementation of secure connection, which uses RSA SecureID, and IPSec features, remote Boot over IP network and high performance and interoperable in an Gigabit Ethernet environment.

The iSCSI-900 Enterprise storage system is compatible with Microsoft’s iSCSI initiator and Windows 2003 Server. The system supports multiple operating systems, which are following:

1) SuSE Enterprise Linux
2) MandrakeSoft
3) Red Hat Linux 6.2 or later
4) HP-UX 11.0 or later
5) IBM AIX 4.3.3 or later
6) Microsoft Windows 2000 / NT4.0/XP/Me
7) 95/98, Apple Mac OS 8.0 or later
8) UnixWare 7.1.1, SCO Open Server 5.0.5, SunSoft Solaris 7

Image Credit: Cepoint & CePoint

Via: ManagingAutomation

GPS devices are getting greatly useful day by day and you never know when you may need them. Though several cell phones and media devices are incorporating the feature of this state-of-the-art feature into their systems, a mini unique device that can be connected to your key chain comes like a handy option.

The Freedom Mini GPS connects to your notebook, PDA or Mobile Phone using Bluetooth and is synced with the newest in GPS technology; the SiRF Star III which claims to offer an accurate position even in odd environmental locations. Compatible with all the trendy mapping software available at present, the compact, portable device functions as a charm built with your keys

(1) Contents: Freedom Mini GPS, 12/24v Car charger cable, USB Home charger cable, Key link, Quick Start Guide and hints manual
(2) Baud Rate: 57,600 bps. Frequency L1, 1,575.42 Mhz. Tracking Sensitivity: 159 dBm
(3) Protocol: NMEA 0183/GGA, GSA, GSV, RMC, VTG, GLL
(4) Power: Rechargeable 450mAh Lithium Polymer battery
(5) Car charger cable and USB charger cable provided
(6) Bluetooth Version 2.0 Class II (CSR BC04.)
(7) Size: 39 x 33 x 20 mm. 1.54 x 1.30 x 0.79 in
(8) No software is delivered with this device
(9) 20 Channels All-In-View tracking
(10) Weight: 30gms. 1.06 oz

Freedom Mini GPS comes with the price tag of $99 and can be acquired via many retailers throughout the globe. The Freedom Mini GPS can be charged in the car or at home.

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Earlier when I talked about LG’s LN740, it was with LN730 and LN735. Then there was not any picture of the product, but today I have got its image and review, which I got via navigadget.com. The brief and sound review on navigadget.com reveals that LG LN740 received an outstanding report card from the picky reviewers who claims that LG LN740 is better than other brands like Garmin and Magellan, as far as its routing feature is conc-erned.

Navigadget further reveals that the salient feature of the product has been made possible because of the software engineers who made use of the Navteq maps on board, which gives maps of US, Canada and Puerto Rico on a 2GB internal flash memory card.

The brief and sound review of the product has been quoted below, let’s go through it:

The LG LN740 is an extremely capable navigation device that exhibited some of the best routing logic I’ve seen to date. The interface is relatively simple to use, the mounting hardware is effective, and the unit includes everything you’ll need to receive real-time traffic data.

Overall the LN740 is an excellent GPS. However, I found the 4-inch display of lesser quality (brightness and resolution) than other competing 4-inch models from Magellan and Garmin. The traffic service requires an additional antenna that must be routed along the windshield, creating unsightly clutter and additional steps to connect/disconnect the GPS from the car.

LG LN740 comes with the price tag of $450 on Amazon. Grab it soon

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Garmin was recently reported to have said that they would very shortly get comfy with webiste and other software designers by making a release of an API library, which is said to enable designers to better “talk” to GPS units. Thus earlier when you had to download waypoints from Geocaching.com to your PC and then upload them to the GPS, now that is just one click away i.e. by clicking on the Garmin logoed button, the website will have a talk directly to the GPS and relay the coordinates of the next cache directly to the unit.

Through the write-up, which is available at http://www.gpslodge.com/ it is learnt that at present there are six API’s, one of which touts to give support to location-based services, thus there is no need to be surprised that these GPS enablers were made public with the Where 2.0 conference that is being held in San Jose.

The Garmin Developer website is said to be a developer zone which is totally devoted to software designers and content suppliers who would like to make their website, apps and data content consistent with Garmin navigation systems. The Garmin Developer website gives both free and licensed Garmin resources and a library of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), toolkits and web services introducing 6 core products: MotionBased Web Services, Garmin Communicator Plugin, Content Toolkit, Messaging System, Garmin PeerPoint, Garmin LBS Toolkit and Fleet Management Interface.

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