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NaviGadget: Satmap Active 10 handheld GPS receiver with customized maps for trails is getting an update.The new software has the ability to show your location with a ‘you’re here’ mark on the trail you’re following, can hide inactive paths, and now is smart enough to save some battery with a low power mode.

There’s also new caching method that helps Satmap Active 10 to get a satellite position fix faster from a cold boot.

SatMap Active 10 comes pre-loaded with national road mapping.

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Audio Junkies: Onkyo has released two new entry level receivers,the TX-SR576 and TX-SR506. The TX-SR576 puts out 80 watts per channel into seven channels, and the TX-SR506 will put out 75 watts into the same. Both feature the new Audyssey 2EQ automatic calibration system and Audyssey’s Dynamic EQ algorithm for low-volume listening.

The receivers also allow the rear channels to be used in conjunction with the fronts to bi-amp stereo speakers if necessary. Both receivers use 32-bit DSP processing and 192 kHz/24-bit digital-to-analog converters on all eight channels of surround processing for Dolby Digital EX, Dolby ProLogic IIx, DTS-ES, DTS 96/24, and DTS Neo:6. Both will be available this April.

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HDTV News: Pandigital, the leading provider of digital photo frames in the USA, has developed an HDTV designed specifically for the kitchen.The 1280×720 HD-ready resolution TV supports ATSC/NTSC, composite, S-Video, YPbPr and HDMI.

The HDTV also features a digital cookbook and a photo frame, allowing users to display their own digital images of family and friends.

As well as watching TV in the kitchen, users can access their own, and pre-loaded recipes on the 15-inch LCD screen.

512MB of internal memory is included to store up to 3,200 pages of recipes or digital photos.

Designed specially for the kitchen environment, the HDTV features an easy to clean design that is sealed with glass, protecting it from food splashes, spills and splatters.

It is available in a choice of brushed stainless, black and white, to tone in with kitchen décor.

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TMCnet: Nuvio Corporation, a leading provider of on-demand business phone service, yesterday announced that it has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Garmin International, Inc. in the U.S. District Court of Kansas. Garmin’s recently announced Nuvifone infringes on the prior Nuvio trademark which Nuvio uses on Nuvio phones and its telephony services.

Prior to filing the lawsuit, Nuvio attempted to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution with Garmin. No resolution was reached and Nuvio filed legal action to protect its rights.

“While we would have preferred to settle this without resorting to a lawsuit, we felt it was important to ensure that our customers and potential customers are not confused by someone abusing our legally protected trademark,” stated Jason P. Talley, Nuvio’s CEO. “Our customers commonly refer to our service as the Nuvio phone.”

Nuvio’s lawsuit alleges that Garmin knowingly and willfully appropriated Nuvio’s trademark. In addition to a determination that Garmin has infringed on the Nuvio trademark, Nuvio is seeking a permanent injunction that prohibits Garmin from using the Nuvi name.

Nuvio issued a cease and desist letter to Garmin on January 31, 2008.
As well as seeking a permanent injunction barring Garmin from using the Nuvio trademark, Nuvio has requested damages for past infringement.

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The Register: Finding your misplaced possessions may soon become a problem of the past. Boffins at a Japanese university have invented a pair of smart specs that recognise objects and record their locations to help you find them later.

The prototype glasses – which you definitely won’t find in Specsavers – have a camera mounted on one side that records everything you see and a small display on the adjacent side that faces your eye.

Their inventor, Professor Kuniyoshi, from the Tokyo University School of Information Science, told The Times that a software algorithm written into the special specs’ hardware allows individual items, such as your iPhone or your BlackBerry, to be recognised.

If, god forbid, you forget where you left either of these items, then simply say “Where’s my iPhone” into a microphone built into the glasses. The over-eye display then plays back video footage of the last time the camera recorded any view with an iPhone in it.

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Slashgear: One way of playing music from your ugly iPod and guaranteeing no one ever sees it is if you move the speakers up to 45m away from the base. With Griffin’s Evolve you can wirelessly do just that.

Each of the two speakers has a Lithium-Ion battery built in to power it and there is a pair of antennas on the base for clear reception of the audio signal. There are other inputs and outputs on the system as well so you can watch video from your iPod on your TV or play sound from your TV through these speakers.

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PMP Today: Apple recently filed a patent for a flip-phone. Handset manufacturers regularly file patents that will never see the light of day, but this one looks seriously innovative enough it won’t surprise me if Apple actually pushes through with it.

When device is closed, transparent touch sensitive panel is covering the whole display area and you’ve got your ordinary full multi-touchscreen iPhone.

When you flip iPhone open, you have a normal phone display and another side of the trackpad becomes multi-touch-active. Through it you control the phone:

* If you want to dial a number, you can just draw it on a trackpad.
* Or the rotational dial may appear on display, and you rotate it by sliding finger on a track pad.
* In the open mode, the transparent trackpad can easily be made to display the standard T9 keypad and other symbols. That can be accomplished by making polarized number and symbol markings that can only be seen when the trackpad is open. Or they can be implemented as tiny LED’s.
* When needed, you can keep both sides of the cover/trackpad touch-active at the same time. Thus having “six degrees of freedom” for control, and enabling 3D gestures on the device. Standard multi-touch gestures along “XY” axis on one side of trackpad, adding “Z” axis for the touch events on the other.

This dual sided trackpad approach can be applied to media player functionality as well. When media player mode is selected and cover is closed, it works just like iPod Touch does – media controls on the screen and you control it via touch/gestures.

Flip it open, and another side of the trackpad acts as a scroll wheel on a standard iPod and more

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vnunet: Geotate has developed a software-based GPS system that could overcome many of the challenges inherent in today’s geo-tagging systems in cameras, personal navigation devices and mobile phones.

Geotate was spun off from semi-conductor firm NXP, following the development of the ‘Capture and Process’ GPS platform.

The software captures and stores a short burst of available satellite data rather than taking the time, processing power and battery life to acquire a satellite fix.

The data is then processed via web-based services, either in real time or at a later date.

Geotate claims that this method dramatically reduces the cost and power requirements of handling GPS satellite signals, removing hurdles for the use of GPS signals in resource-limited devices such as cameras and location-loggers.

The company reckons that the technology will allow mainstream camera makers to enter into the market for GPS in consumer devices, a sector analyst firm IMS Research predicts will increase five-fold by 2011.

“New advances in GPS and location based services, such as geo-tagging, are driving growth of GPS into consumer devices such as cameras and laptops,” said IMS Research analyst Matia Grossi.

“We expect to see the market take off in 2008 with well over one million GPS-enabled cameras sold, and strong growth forecast for the next four years thanks to new disruptive technologies like geo-tagging coming of age.”

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Telegraph: Mobile phone operator O2 has unveiled a music download service that allows users to buy songs directly on their handset.

The service, which launches this weekend, is part of a deal between O2 and music provider Napster, which will give mobile customers access to around five million tracks from all of the major record labels, plus hundreds of independent artists.

Songs will cost 1,27 euro per track for the first three months, with subsequent pricing after this trial period has expired still to be decided. Customers can also buy a song bundle of five tracks for € 5,2.

They will not need to pay any data charges for downloading music, and can request a copy of the file to be sent to a designated email address so they have a version stored on their computer.

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PMP Today: The Eco-Media Player is available in Planete Green Europe for 199.95 euros. If you have forgotten about this player, it’s a PMP that you can wind up for power. Yep, this baby will play videos (asv/mp4, wmv, avi, mpegs) and music (MP3, WMA, ASF, WAV, OGG) via old school cranking.

The Eco-Media Player plays 40 minutes of music on a minute of cranking, to give you an idea on how cool this gadget is.

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Mobile Magazine: After the HD DVD format was declared dead, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer hinted that they might be including Blu-ray support in the Xbox 360. Industry pundits starting wondering whether they would produce a Blu-ray add-on for the gaming machine or if they would produce a new Blu-ray complaint Xbox 360 system altogether. As it turns out, neither will be the case.

Xbox 360 group product manager Aaron Greenberg is now saying that Blu-ray is not coming to the Xbox 360 at all, but consumers can still access high-definition content through Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service. He reminds us that this is the only game console to do so. As you may know, Microsoft has stopped producing the HD DVD add-on for their game system.

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Audio Junkies: Kenwood is generally not known for high-end headphones, but it appears they may be trying to change that with the release of the KH-K1000 “Sound Meister Edition” cans. The KH-K1000 features a self adjusting strap and 53mm drive units. Frequency response is rated at 10Hz – 45kHz, with 98dB/mW sensitivity and 42 Ohm impedance.

The KH-K1000 seems a bit plasticky for the expected price of €230, hopefully sound quality makes up for the apparent lack of build quality.

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