E-Commerce News: GPS

GPS Safety, Part 2: Which Products Get It Right?
October 06, 2009

These days, it seems GPS units are everywhere -- built into cars, mounted on dashboards, strapped to bicycles and even loaded into the cellphones we carry in our pockets. In fact, by 2015, more than half of all new cars sold in the North America and Europe will feature either built-in GPS units or the option to hook portable units directly into the car's computer, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Garmin Takes a New Tack With Linux-Based Nav Phone
September 30, 2009

After nearly two years of anticipation, Garmin and AT&T announced Tuesday that the long-awaited Garmin Nuvifone G60 will become available in the United States starting Oct. 4. Billed as "the navigation phone" for its integration of phone capabilities with GPS functionality, the Linux-based device will be sold online and in AT&T stores for $299, after a $100 mail-in rebate.

GPS Safety, Part 1: Texting, Part 2?
September 29, 2009

Looking through the news, it's not hard to find a story about someone driving into a river or onto railroad on the advice of an in-car navigation system. Last year, a Seattle bus driver blamed his GPS unit after he collided with a bridge embankment, injuring several of his passengers, according to the Seattle Times.

GAO-Predicted GPS Failure Could Have Drastic Consequences
May 20, 2009

The business and national security implications of a Global Positioning Satellite system failure would be too enormous to bear, and as a result, the prediction made in a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report is unlikely to come to pass, a Gartner research analyst who follows the industry told TechNewsWorld on Wednesday.

TomTom Slings a Shot at Microsoft
March 20, 2009

TomTom has responded to Microsoft's allegations of patent infringement with a lawsuit of its own. Close to three weeks after Microsoft filed complaints against TomTom in the U.S. District Court in Seattle and with the International Trade Commission, TomTom has filed a countersuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Microsoft vs. TomTom: Low-Level Hum or Drums of War?
March 02, 2009

Those in the Linux community tend to pay fairly close attention to any news relating to Microsoft, but when that news includes a lawsuit involving our favorite operating system, all eyes, ears and keyboards become trained on Redmond. Yes indeed, traveling across the blogosphere in the past few days since Microsoft announced its suit against TomTom, it was almost difficult to find discussion of anything else.

Microsoft Takes a Beating, Gmail Takes a Nap
February 28, 2009

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told a gathering of analysts that the company won't be making any further layoffs, and once word got out, Wall Street proceeded to pummel the company mercilessly, sending its stock to an 11-year low. Analyst Rob Enderle told us the no-more-layoffs decision made sense because there just aren't a lot of unnecessary people on Redmond's payroll, but Wall Street was having none of it.

Microsoft Drums Up Patent Charges Against TomTom
February 26, 2009

Microsoft has filed complaints against TomTom in both the U.S. District Court in Seattle and with the International Trade Commission, alleging that the GPS gadget maker has infringed eight of its patents. Is this another day, another tech patent suit story? If it were any other plaintiff, perhaps.

Street Corners, Internal Organs, Watery Depths: Google Is Watching
February 07, 2009

Now you and your friends can play "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" with Google's new mobile technology called "Latitude," but you, or they -- all of you, as a matter of fact -- can be Carmen. All of your movements can be geographically tracked through cell tower signals, and everyone you let in on the game can potentially be your own personal stalker, following you by smartphone or regular old PC.

Google Puts You on the Map
February 04, 2009

Until now, it seemed the only thing Google didn't know about you was where you were. Now that its mission to capture and categorize all information online is well in hand, Google has taken steps to add that missing piece with the introduction of Latitude. Built into Google Maps for Mobile and iGoogle, this location-sharing feature tracks users' comings and goings.

New HTC Smartphone Includes Photo Geotagging, Car Nav
January 23, 2009

HTC on Friday unveiled the Touch Cruise, a handset featuring built-in GPS and accompanying software. The new smartphone, an update to a similarly named HTC device released in January 2008, offers consumers a more compact form factor as well as new features. The handset is the first to include a new photograph-tagging application from HTC, called "Footprints."

TomTom Adds Live Services to Navvy
January 09, 2009

TomTom has announced a new GPS navigation device, the Go 740 Live, which includes a built-in SIM card and GPRS modem for connectivity that can deliver real-time traffic information and a variety of other services, including TomTom's Fuel Price Service, Local Search powered by Google, TomTom Weather, QuickGPSfix, and TomTom Buddies.

Palm Steals CES Spotlight With New Smartphone and OS
January 08, 2009

Companies like Sony and Microsoft are typically the ones to gather the biggest crowds at CES. This year, however, a lot of anticipation centered on Palm, a company that pioneered the concept of the PDA and the smartphone, but has more recently endured a streak of lousy sales, few new or exciting devices, and the unfortunate embarrassment of an aborted product.

Black Friday Rosier Than Expected
December 01, 2008

A variety of retail-watching experts are churning out Black Friday sales facts, figures and customer inclinations, and while it wasn't a rip-roaring Black Friday compared to previous years, it wasn't all that bad -- particularly for the hot-selling consumer electronics sector.

Tooling Around Town With the Magellan Maestro
October 27, 2008

I've never been big on global positioning satellite devices. Even though I'm a technophile, it just seemed like one gadget too many. What was wrong with using a map? Unless you're someone whose job demands you travel to locations with which you're not familiar, most people go to generally the same places daily. That, however, was before I had a chance to check out the Magellan Maestro 4350 Portable GPS Navigator.

In the Wireless World, 3 Things Matter: Location, Location, Location
September 11, 2008

Location-based mobile and Web services are increasingly delivering value and gaining adherents as service providers devote greater time and resources to developing them further. For example, Sprint's Xohm wireless broadband unit is working with a group of leading mobile Web application development companies to develop a set of personalized "geobrowsing" services.