GPS

Panasonic is using this year's SEMA show to launch the CN-GP50U, its first portable navigation device. The CN-GP50U features a 5-inch touch-screen display and comes with text-to-speech technology for reading out road names when under route guidance. A real-time traffic service from Clear Channel is available on the device with the purchase of a separate receiver. It also comes with built-in Bluetooth for hands-free calling and an industrial-strength in-car mount. Check out our first look.

If there was ever a comic book hero named Mapman, this would be his ride. Tele Atlas, a map content company out of Netherlands, is the owner of this orange van and the attached equipment. It creates maps of the roads it plies using a potpourri of location capture devices.

Mounted on top are four cameras, each capturing three images per second. The van can be configured with up to eight cameras depending on the landscape it is mapping, making it possible to capture 24 images per second when needed. Those are accompanied by laser scanners that help to determine … Read more

External GPS receivers are pretty handy if you want to turn your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone into a satellite-navigation device. But imagine if you could use your external GPS receiver to keep a log of your travels and then be able to see your journey on Google Earth.

Better yet, imagine if you could use that GPS travel log to synchronize your digital pictures with their exact locations, so you can post them on sites such as Locr or Flickr and let your friends see where the pictures were taken. The Qstarz Travel Recorder BT-Q1000--the little black box in the pic--does … Read more

GPS Sports an Australian based company has some interesting technology for coaches out there. It won't be long before you can actually track your player's vital signs during their game.

In a world first, Australian Aussie rules football players have been rigged up with GPS devices that allow their coaches to track how far they run, what speed they run at and the hits they absorb during the game. This helps the coaches train the athletes independently for each position and allows the coach to track their workload and whether injured players are fit to resume the game. … Read more

As more people insist on having a TV while they drive, the following scenario is inevitable: A motorist is watching a big game or show in the car, pulls up to the driveway at a crucial point and sits inside for fear of missing anything. Sanyo has apparently anticipated that kind of conundrum with a new dashboard GPS device that doubles as a portable TV.

The "Gorilla" series--we have no idea what inspired the name either, other than maybe Godzilla--is touted as the first device of its kind with a terrestrial digital tuner, making it easy to pick … Read more

GPS trackers aren't just for school uniforms anymore.

U.K. clothing manufacturer Bladerunner is out with a trackable children's jacket featuring a device that notifies you of your tyke's whereabouts by e-mail or text message.

The rechargeable GPS gadget fits into a pouch inside the jacket, has about a 15-hour battery life, and can track wearers within 43 square feet, reports The Guardian.

The tracker can be structured in various ways. You can, for example, configure a geo-fence and only get alerts if your kid steps outside a certain boundary, like school or the park. You can … Read more

If it's possible for skiers and boarders to actually agree on anything other than their shared love of snow, it might be something like this. The "Satski" is a GPS device developed specifically for the slopes to provide such invaluable information as the best runs, levels of difficulty and--most important--which lifts have the shortest lines.

Like Garmin's "Edge" line for bikes, the Satski can also store uploaded information that can be shared with others, as well as record such real-time performance stats as speed, distance and altitude. And for the apre-ski lodge, Gadgetizer says … Read more

Japan and gadgets go hand in hand, so it's no wonder that car technology figures prominently in automaker displays at the 2007 Tokyo auto show. Both Honda and Volkswagen put up exhibits showing their latest-generation navigation systems, which are generally available as in-dash options in their cars. Both companies embrace the new trend of hard drive-based navigation. These types of systems offer faster data access than DVD-based systems, and there is usually a bit of space left over for music storage. Honda uses a 40GB drive, the largest we've heard of as a factory install, while the Volkswagen … Read more