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NaviGadget: We have many manufacturers offering pre-installed maps of Western Europe on their sat nav systems – but not many with detailed maps of Eastern Europe. Prestigio of Czech Republic is here to change that with their new GeoVision 350 GPS Navigator. This one offers pre-installed detailed maps of Western and Eastern Europe, and Russia including millions points of interest like hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and attractions. It also offers 30 menu languages, and precise voice commands in 26 different languages.The rest of the specs are pretty standard – offering a 3.5″ touch screen, SiRF Star III GPS receiver, SD card slot in addition to the 1GB internal memory, built-in speaker, and a Li-Ion battery pack that lasts upto 3 hours on a single charge.

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Engadget: We know that Nintendo’s Wii has been a massive hit with families, but we’ve also noticed a growing trend with the physically-interactive game system that is honestly a bit of a surprise — apparently, senior citizens can’t put their Wiimotes down. The UK’s gossip rag The Sun is reporting that seniors at the Sunrise Home in Birmingham, UK, have taken to the console like super-old fish to water.

The pensioners at the institution have been engaging in knock-down, drag-out contests in Wii Sports — playing tennis, boxing, and bowling with a cut-throat competitiveness not seen since the Dark Ages. Barrie Edgar, 88, one of the home’s residents said, “It’s great fun. We’ve only had it a few days but we can’t put it down.”

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Anything But iPod: German storage device company TrekStor hasn’t been overly hyped for manufacturing innovative audio players – until they released the Vibez. Coming in sizes of 8 and 12GB and designed by former Rio Audio developers, the Vibez incorporates many features fans of the venerable Rio Karma still dream about: gapless playback, automatic playlists based on listening habits, crossfade, DJ function, and so on. The Vibez could be seen as a reincarnation of the Rio Avalon – the last, unreleased player designed by Rio Audio, just before they got shut down by their parent company, Digital Networks.

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Absolute Gadget: European gamers will have another colour choice when it comes to the Nintendo DS Lite next month. Already available in black, white and pink, a silver version will also hit Europe on 12 October 2007.”Nintendo DS has become Europe’s best-selling games console, with over 14 million sold to date and in many markets across Europe it is the fastest selling handheld games console in history,” said Nintendo immodestly.

The company said those strong sales were even being maintained in traditionally slow periods for the videogames industry and it’s not just the kit itself: “This is being seen with software as well as hardware.”

Nintendo expects More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima: How Old Is Your Brain? to hit the one million mark in Europe soon, as it has already sold over 915,000 copies in its first 11 weeks.

The original Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? has now sold over 3.3 million copies and continues to feature high in software sales charts across Europe, despite launching over a year ago.

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Tech: Navman has announced its new S-Series satellite navigation models with a host of user enhancements going, it says “beyond navigation.” Indeed, the company reckons it has made over 500 changes to the models including a mileage tracker, SOS function, Bluetooth mobile integration and even the ability to navigate to geotagged Flickr photos you download.

The 4.3-inch screened S90i model is also 20 per cent slimmer than any other sat nav kit in its class, according to the company.

The ability to take a picture using the built-in camera and tag it with a grid reference isn’t new to Navman, but you can now share your “NavPics” online as well as download locationally-tagged Flickr images to your sat nav using the NavDesk PC software. Navman says its ideal for locating non-address specific locations such as a beech or forest.

Also included is an SOS button that will navigate you to the closest hospital, doctor or dentist should you need. You can also call them directly if you have your phone linked up via Bluetooth. Talking about the phone function, the S90i will also sync with your phone’s address book. There’s even software for your PC that can export your mileage as an Excel sheet for expenses claims.

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Electronista: Microsoft could soon implement a new watermarking system for music that would discourage piracy without restricting the usefulness of the music, according to a newly granted patent. Titled “Stealthy Audio Watermarking,” the patent originally filed in May 2004 would use audio analysis to automatically place a digital signature inside the sound itself. Encoding software on a server would either look for gaps in the energy levels of a given track or create an uneven “chess” pattern, inserting data bits in areas where they are unlikely to affect the sound. Authorized software could then piece together a signature from the resulting information, identifying who bought a given track without requiring a separate digital rights layer that might restrict which devices can play the audio file.

Because the system is dependent on the actual structure of the music, it would make stripping the watermark extremely difficult, according to Microsoft. As the data would be seamlessly integrated with the sound, there would be no easily identifiable text or other data that could be altered. The inherently semi-random nature of bit placement would also prevent hackers from easily predicting where the watermark signature would appear. In one implementation, the media encoder that writes the signature could start the process at random points in tracks to further randomize the watermark.

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NaviGadget: This week, TomTom announced in Germany that Toyota’s Yaris will come with the option of an embedded portable navigation as a part of Yaris’ built-in radio system.The best part of this system is that it is clutter free, fitting right onto Yaris’ dashboard; but at the same time it is portable, in case you need to use it on foot or in another vehicle.

Other benefits of TomTom and Toyota cooperating is that the navigation system will integrate seamlessly with car’s already existing audio system which will be utilized during vocal driving directions or taking hands free phone calls thanks to the bluetooth feature.

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Mobile Magazine: The DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, and the aim of this cross-industry collaboration is to bring all sorts of consumer electronics together, sharing multimedia through both wired and wireless networks.

The Sony NAS-C5 speaker is powered by DNLA, letting you share all sorts of different tunes through its WiFi-enabled radio and powerful speakers. The wireless network audio system sports a tiny display on the front to help you navigate through your networks and snatch songs at will.

It should be perfectly compatible with a wide range of audio files, including MP3, WMA, and ATRAC.

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Slashgear: The Logitech Cordless Vantage Headset has works natively with the PS3 for easy setup and a reliable link. On top of that it’s an ambidextrous headset allowing you to switch which side the microphone is on.

The Cordless Vantage has a rechargeable battery that should last your for at least 12 hours. There is noise filtering for the headphone and sound-canceling for the microphone.

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VNUnet: Microsoft is in talks with the BBC about using the broadcaster’s TV content on its Xbox Live gaming service.

The deal would allow gamers to download BBC programmes to their consoles for viewing.

“We are working diligently on multiple fronts to make this happen,” said Ross Honey, senior director for media at Microsoft’s content and partner strategy group. “The BBC is a great content provider.”

It is not known whether UK gamers would pay for such services, however, as content is usually shown free to television licence payers, although the BBC does sell DVD box sets.

Honey said that Microsoft had also approached several other broadcasters in Europe.

Microsoft already runs a similar video-on-demand service for Xbox owners in the US, offering content from MTV, Disney, Fox, CBS, Paramount and Warner Bros.

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HDTV: Philips has announced the launch of their new 9632D and 9732D high definition TVs, ranging in screen size from 32- to 52-inch or 81cm to 132cm, and all with their new Perfect Pixel HD Engine technology.

The Perfect Pixel HD Engine is a combination of technologies including 100Hz Clear LCD, Digital Natural Motion, Horizontal & Vertical Luminance Transient Improvement (LTI) and Colour Booster with 14-bit processing.

It offers full 10-bit digital processing capable of handling up to 248 million pixels per second.

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