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T3: Fiddling with your satnav is the last thing you want when you’re behind the wheel, so Sony’s latest system gets you home with just one gesture, letting you keep your eyes on the road for longer. No more squinting at a screen full of postcodes – Sony’s system recognises gestures, so you can scribble commands like “get me home” or “find the nearest petrol station” onto its screen, and it’ll do just that.

It beats scrolling through endless menus to find the point of interest (POI) you’re after, and the NV-U51 even displays attractions, petrol stations, bars and restaurants you’ll pass on a sort of timeline to your destination.

As well as getting you home in one piece, the dash-mounted unit also bleeps to warn you of pesky speed cameras. There’s even a one-month free subscription to updated camera locations included in the box.
Embedded with 512MB of memory and single region mapping data, the satnav will keep going for six hours on a full charge.

Unfortunately there are no added extras, like MP3 or video playback, but then, those would distract you from the road ahead, something the Sony’s keen to keep your mind on.

(More info on Sony’s Nav-U range)

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EETimes: Claiming to offer the first middleware product that simplifies the design process for in-car multimedia devices, QNX Software Systems is introducing the QNX Multimedia Solution at the Convergence 2006 Automotive Electronics Conference in Detroit, Michigan this week.The middleware solution includes an embeddable media player and supporting multimedia software that allows automakers and suppliers to build digital information and entertainment platforms. The product claims intelligent connectivity, full customization, and automotive-grade control.

The middleware includes audio and video playback and audio record features. It can also extend the functionality of an in-dash stereo to connected devices such as iPods. To personalize the user experience, the QNX Multimedia Solution can identify any CD, DVD, USB flash disk, or audio/video stream, and automatically synchronize the content on that media source with a customizable database.

The QNX technology also supports multiple independent users with multiple device types, and with multiple playback and record paths. It supports such features as time shifting, trick play (fast forward), and multi-view content presentation on a shared screen.

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Gizmodo: Siemens VDO has developed a new system that ‘reads’ traffic signs whilst you’re driving.

A camera scans the field ahead while an onboard computer searches for patterns.

In the case that a speed limit sign is detected, a windshield display will place the new speed limit next to your current rate of travel.

The system can also be configured to automatically adjust your cruise control accordingly.

The system will be commercially available in 2008.

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Bloomberg: Hitachi, Japan’s biggest electronics maker, will pay 55.7 billion yen (around €371 million) for a majority stake in car audio and navigation maker Clarion, helping boost their auto-related sales sixfold by 2011.

The company, which is already Clarion’s largest shareholder with a 14.4% stake, plans to buy more than half of the stock, Hitachi has said today in a statement.

Hitachi, which started a development venture with Clarion in December 2000, is targeting sales of 290 billion yen (€1.9 billion) at its car information systems unit by the year ending March 2011.

Tokyo-based Clarion last month slashed its profit forecast because of price declines and lower overseas sales of its car navigation systems.

Hitachi’s sales from car navigation equipment were 44.4 billion yen last year, about a quarter of Clarion’s 184.1 billion yen revenue. Hitachi bought its initial Clarion stake in 2004.

“They should have done this when they bought the minority stake two years ago and the indecision is typical of Hitachi management,” said Takeo Miyamoto, a Tokyo-based analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

Clarion last month forecast net income will drop 78 percent to 1.3 billion yen, instead of an earlier projection for 3 billion yen, as sales rise 1 percent to 186 billion yen in the year ending March 2007.

The alliance with Hitachi would help Clarion speed up development, cost cuts and give the company the scale necessary to compete globally, Clarion President Tatsuhiko Izumi said today at the joint Tokyo press briefing.

“Carmakers are trying to squeeze in more and more devices,” said John Yang, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research in Tokyo.  “It used to be just a DVD player, now it’s a car navi with a hard disk.”

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GPSreview: We are starting to get information about TomTom Car Connect, a Bluetooth device from TomTom which is compatible with the TomTom GO 510, 910, and RIDER becoming available in the USA. This device will allow you to hardwire your TomTom to the existing audio system in your car. You can choose where you want music from your TomTom to be sent to as well as where you want spoken directions to be played through.

Hands-free calling are played through the TomTom Car Connect device. Even though the Car Connect device does connect with your TomTom via Bluetooth, you still establish a Bluetooth connection between your phone and the TomTom GO, not directly to the Car Connect.

The device can also automatically switch the display on your TomTom from day to night mode when you turn your headlights on.

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Attendance by the general public at the IFA consumer-electronics fair in Berlin, slumped 9 per cent compared to a year ago.

But organizers said interest among businesspeople in the IFA had grown, with 35 per cent of trade visitors coming from outside Germany compared to 25 per cent one year ago. Orders had exceeded the 2.5 billion euros booked one year ago.

Figures also indicated heavy orders for 42-inch flat-panel television sets, in place of the 32-inch LCD sets that were the most common current model in major western European nations.

Issuing closing statistics Wednesday, the organizers said 225,000 people in all had attended the fair.

Next year’s IFA is to take place from August 31 to September 5, 2007 in Berlin.

See IFA Website

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AV Zombie: Land Rover’s new Freelander 2 will feature the first-ever in-car application of Dolby Pro Logic II 7.1 surround sound. The Alpine-made system has a 440 watt multi-channel amplifier and 14 speakers.

The Freelander has a three-way front speaker layout of mid, bass and tweeter together with a centre-fill speaker to replicate the front sound stage right. Surround is provided by tweeters and bass drivers in the rear doors plus rear-fill speakers in the pillars. An 80 watt subwoofer contributes the LFE.

Alpine Sound has previously developed a bespoke surround sound system for. amongst others, the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

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Pocket-Lint: Kenwood showed six new car cd players at IFA 2006. All of them can connect to USB flash, hard drives or portable music players to access music in MP3, ACC or WMA formats. The 1-DIN models feature a USB cable connection on the rearside. The double height models both have the USB connection at the front.

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JCN Network: Pioneer will be releasing their AVIC-HD3BT hard disk Sat Nav system into the Russian market.  It’s claimed to be the first all-in-one hard disk drive-based navigation system for the region’s consumer market.

In Russia, there’s been a lot of interest in in-car audio/visual entertainment centering on DVD media. With its recent energetic economy, consumer appetite in navigation systems is growing stronger.

Pioneer launched the world’s first GPS car navigation system designed for the Japanese consumer market in June 1990, followed by the European and North American consumer markets in 1999 and Chinese market in March 2006.

The navigation software includes Russian interface and voice guidance. The hardware seems to be similar to the European AVIC-HD1BT

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Seems Alpine might start producing waterproof car stereos. As this year’s main sponsor of Bladerun (a Gumball-style motorboat rally) they equiped 40 powerboats with Alpine gear.
Firstpost has some pictures of the send-off party. No pics of champagne-proof boat stereo’s dough.

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Engadget: TomTom will be releasing their entry-level TomTom One sat nav device in North America.

Retailing around $500, the specs are pretty much the same as the original, but with a new loook and reduced size.

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Press Release: Pioneer announces their winning EISA (European Imaging and Sound Association) products.

Three of their products received the title as Europe’s best:

• PDP-5000EX: Best HD-Component Screen
• AVIC-HD1BT: Best Navi-Media System
• DEH-P88RS: Best Mobile Audio Head Unit

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