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Fox Business: Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced that users can now send locations found on Google Maps, an innovative online mapping service, directly to their Garmin personal navigation device.

“Given the amount of time we all spend at a computer or in our cars, teaming with Google Maps gives users the versatility of planning their travels at their keyboard in addition to their Garmin device,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “There’s no need to waste time printing, scribbling or e-mailing locations and directions when you can use Google Maps to search for and save everything you need with just a couple of clicks.”

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HiddenWires: The closure of two of Germany’s HDTV channels in recent weeks has cast a shadow over European hopes for a rapid transition to High Definition Television, according to analysis published by the Strategy Analytics Broadband Network Strategies service. This report, “HDTV Channels Shut Down: A Sign of Things to Come?” concludes that Europe’s television providers should concentrate their resources initially on building pay television rather than advertising-based business models in order to reach the critical mass of HD content and receivers necessary to make HDTV a self-sustaining business.

ProSiebenSat1, one of Germany’s leading commercial television broadcasters, closed its two HDTV channels on February 15th after concluding that audience figures were insufficient to justify their continued transmission. The decision leaves Germany with only a handful of HD channels, most of them only available to pay TV subscribers.

“It was always highly ambitious to expect advertising revenues alone to support HD channels in the early years,” comments David Mercer , Principal Analyst. “Significant audiences cannot be built until the market has been seeded with millions of HD receivers–and this was always going to take a number of years.”

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The Register: That racing pulse and those stabbing pains in your chest may not be the fault of all those fried breakfasts. Mobile phones now cause untold amounts of stress in our daily lives, according to a survey.

The Post Office questioned just over 2000 people and found that 53 per cent were often anxious about their mobile phone’s battery life or the amount of credit on their handset. The same percentage of people also admitted stressing over the thought of losing their handset or being ‘stranded’ in an area without network coverage.

Nearly one in five respondents also claimed that not being contactable by mobile phone is more stressful than moving house or breaking up with a loved one.

Stuart Fox-Mills, head of telephony at the Post Office, said “nomo-phobia” – the fear or anxiety of being out of mobile contact – affects many people.

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The New York Times: Microsoft, seeking to expand offerings on its Xbox 360 console, has reached an agreement with a company headed by Peter Safran, the veteran Hollywood producer and talent manager, to produce original shows for distribution on the system.

Speaking by telephone last week, Scott Nocas, global marketing manager for programming of the Xbox Live entertainment service, said he expected similar deals to follow. “We definitely look at this as the first of many,” said Mr. Nocas.

In an interview at his office in Los Angeles last week, Mr. Safran said his first round of programs would all be scripted, as opposed to reality shows, and would probably run under 10 minutes. He said he planned initially to focus on genres, like comedy and horror, that appeal to the Xbox 360 audience, which is heavily concentrated from the ages of 14 to 34, and tends to be more male than female. The first shows are expected to be available to viewers by the fall.

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