Reuters: The European Union launched a free satellite navigation network on Thursday that could help pilots, drivers and blind people by fine-tuning the accuracy of the U.S. global positioning system (GPS) to around 2 meters.The EGNOS system will use three satellites and 34 ground stations to narrow the horizontal accuracy of GPS from around 7 meters previously and improve its vertical accuracy to help pilots during landings.

The “Safety-of-Life” service for aircraft navigation could be in place next year, the EU executive said in a statement.

Farmers could also benefit from improved precision for spraying fertilizers, and new applications could emerge on roads, such as automatic tolling and pay-per-use car insurance.

“It will make all personal navigation applications much more precise, giving birth to new possibilities like guiding aids for blind people,” the Commission said.

The system was pioneered by the Commission, the European Space Agency and aviation safety authority Eurocontrol.

It paves the way for the better known Galileo project, a European satellite system which will rival GPS and could be up and running in 2014.

The 4 billion euro ($5.8 billion) Galileo project, Europe’s biggest single space program, has been plagued by delays and squabbling over funding that ended only when the EU agreed to fund it from the public purse.

european union galileo gps sat nav

Oh Gizmo: Remember back when the Nintendo Wii came out, how there were reports of idiots tossing their Wiimotes through their fancy TVs?

Well that sort of thing is still an issue for people with LCD and Plasma TVs, and not just from flying game controllers. Since the screens are easily harmed, one company has decided to specialize in protecting these expensive pieces of equipment.

TV Armor is a simple way to prevent objects from impacting (and thus ruining) the screen of your HDTV. The solution is about as low-tech as it gets, consisting of a thin layer (¼-inch) of acrylic held on by Velcro straps. The acrylic is considered optical-grade so that it won’t reduce the quality of the image.

The TV Armor won’t win any awards in the looks department, but it isn’t hideous by any means. The acrylic blends in rather well, and the Velcro straps are barely visible. You’ll need to set back $69-$289 (47-198 euro) depending on the size of your TV. It’s a little salty, but far less than you paid for your fancy-pants TV no doubt.

gadget lcd plasma

Techradar: One of the biggest criticisms of the new camcorder-equipped iPod nano is that the lens isn’t placed where you’d expect it to be.It’s not on the back at the top behind the LCD screen like a mobile phone or a Flip Video. It’s actually on the back, at the bottom behind the clickwheel.

The practical upshot of this is that if you hold the iPod nano like normal, with your thumb on the clickwheel, the rest of your hand ends up obscuring the camcorder sensor.

advertising Apple iPod iPod Nano

About: Panasonic has been pushing hard, really hard, to get 3D into the home. In the past year or so, Panasonic has been on the road and at trade shows demonstrating its 3D technology to manufacturers, dealers, press, and potential consumers. I have actually seen Panasonic’s 3D demonstrations during this time period and have been impressed with the results. However, good results are only part of the equation, cost and movie studio content support are even bigger factors, especially in current economic times.Keeping all this in mind, Panasonic has announced that it will be taking the first step into the consumer market in 2010 with a 3D-enabled 50-inch Plasma Television and, hopefully, a companion 3D-enabled Blu-ray Disc player (…).

This is especially important as a new breed of 3D-enabled Blu-ray Disc players would be required to view 3D content using Panasonic’s system. Also, no price or content information is available yet, but I am sure this system will be displayed at the annual CES in January and information on pricing and content should be forthcoming by that time.

3d Blu ray CES panasonic plasma

Navigadget: TwoNav Aventura is a new handheld GPS navigation device that is quite different than most other handhelds out there. It can accept any kind of maps, provided you are capable of creating vector maps and raster imagery. You can even scan your own according to gpstracklog and calibrate it to use on TwoNav Aventura.

Another feature of TwoNav Aventura (perhaps where the “two” is coming from) is that it can also act as a GPS navigation system for your vehicle, giving you door to directions.

Apparently it is being released in Europe this June for 650 Euros […].

Here are some specs:
* Li-Ion battery
* Battery slot can be replace with 3AA battery slot
* Up to 20 hours battery life
* electronic compass
* barometric altimeter
* rainproof
* SiRFStar III GPS chip

gps TwoNav Aventura

Gizmag: Could the end be nigh for plasma and LCD screens? Seiko Epson has recently announced a further development in ink-jet technology, which does away with some of the problems still dogging the much-vaunted organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. In particular, Seiko Epson has signaled it is moving toward a 37-inch HD OLED screen by creating a uniform deposit of organic material while removing the uneven layering of the ink-jet method.

Read more »

lcd oled plasma Seiko Epson