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We at About-Electronics tend to use our GPS to determinate our location. Less scrupulous people could use this technology to spy on their spouse. Ronan Fitzgerald from Guardian Unlimited has examined the potential for abuse…
Tim Hibbard wants you to see where he is. On his website, Hibbard uses GPS technology to plot his location on a map of Lawrence, Kansas, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

(…) “People are very willing to give up their privacy,” he says. “You just have to give them a good reason to do so. If you can assist a person in their everyday life, they will be more than happy to divulge their current location.”

(…) Of course, the biggest potential for abuse surely lies with the biggest power: governments. As a pioneer, Hibbard is optimistic. “I could choose to be paranoid and concerned about that, but I’m not. I wasn’t around when the first bank was invented, but I’m sure there were a lot of people that had a problem putting their money in someone else’s hands.”

But are we willing to accept that technology, because the benefits and conveniences it offers to us are so tempting? Jen Corlew, of human rights group Liberty, doesn’t believe it’s worth it. “There might be some benefits of GPS tracking technology becoming popularised but I think the technology makers will be hard pressed to say why this is actually necessary. I don’t think those benefits really outweigh the risks of a situation where people can be monitored without being aware of it.”

Ron Fitzgerald: (…) And ultimately, consent is the bottom line. Whether we’re using our mobile phone, wandering around on social networking sites, or just going about our daily lives, we want to have agreed to any tracking that takes place.

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Engadget: Navman has four new GPS units – the F20, N20, N40i and N60i (pictured).  Set to launch end September/October, they are expected to retail between €249.99 and €499.99.

All four look to be relatively minor updates, with each getting a built-in camera for use with Navman’s Navpix service as standard issue, as well as an upgrade to the SiRFstarIII chipset, TeleAtlas 2006 maps, and Navman’s latest software interface.

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The world’s first car navigation system that features a terrestrial digital broadcast tuner supporting digital TV broadcasts will soon appear in select Nissan vehicles.

The HS706D-A system is a high-end model of Nissan’s original navigation series that has been available on the market since July 2006, and uses a JBlend-supported ARIB BML browser jointly developed by Sanyo and Aplix.

Japan’s television market is scheduled to fully transition to digital technology by 2011, and the digitization of television broadcasting is proceeding on a global basis.

Sources: Aplix Corporation and Wireless Asia.

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HardwareZone: BMW today announced the availability of Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI) in select BMW models (i.e. the X5, M5, M6, and the 3, 5, and 6 Series) sold in the States. The new service will offer timely traffic information and dynamic rerouting.

Unlike other automobile manufacturers that charge a recurring monthly fee for RTTI, or require customers to pay for an additional satellite radio service, BMW has included RTTI as part of the cost of the navigation system for select 2007 BMW models. There are no activation fees or recurring monthly charges to BMW customers for 4 years.

BMW’s new RTTI service will be available in as many as 44 major metropolitan markets through Clear Channel’s Total Traffic Network, Clear Channel Radio’s award-winning programming and technology service that delivers Real Time Traffic Information directly to vehicles over its extensive network of FM radio stations.

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Amsterdam-based navigation solution provider TomTom and Citroën have signed a partnership agreement to provide the TomTom One ‘Europe’ as an accessory in all Citroën dealerships.

Under the agreement, the new TomTom One ‘Europe’ version will now be available to European customers purchasing a Citroën vehicle from a Citroën dealership.

Citroën customers will also be able to request certain other features, such as Traffic and Weather packages, but these come at an additional cost. TomTom Buddies is another such paid service which helps to locate friends and send text messages or navigate directly to them using a Bluetooth compatible phone and GPRS connection.

The agreement currently covers Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, the UK, Denmark, Benelux, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and Sweden.

Sources: Automotive World and Forbes

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Sony have announced two new portable Sat Nav models – the NV-U80 and NV-U81T.

Both feature ‘Position Plus’, which sorts you out with directions even when GPS signals are playing up.

You can also programme the models so that the info you’re after will pop up at the gentle stroke of a single finger. And they’re Bluetooth enabled.  Full product specs are on Sony’s website.

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T3: Nokia looks set to install Sat Nav on its N-series mobile phones following their acquisition of a German sat nav software developer called Gate5.

Gate5 has worked on in-car systems for VW and Daimler Chrysler in the past, as well as the smart2go software for Symbian-based smart phones. Nokia’s handsets use the Symbian operating system.

The company will kick off its entry into the sat nav world with a seperate GPS unit and software update for the Nokia 770.

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Tech Digest & various sources: It’s the world’s largest consumer electronics show – and it will be open from today until 6th September. Here are some highlights from the manufacturers:

Philips: they’ll be announcing a new Skype VoIP phone, a new Windows XP Media Center for the living room with 250GB hard drive and Blu-Ray (again the product was first shown last year). See www.ifa.philips.com for more.

Pioneer: their latest line-up in Plasma, AV Receivers, DVD players and Sat Nav systems, plus a few surpises.  Expect samples of their Blu-ray player, the BDP-HD1, their new 60-inch Plasma TV – the PDP-607XD and a new HDMI DVD Recorder DVR-940H with huge 500GB hard disk.  See Pioneer’s news release for more.

LG: plan to launch new TVs with built in DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) following the success of the 43-inch plasma model launched in May.  Apparently LG has shifted two million handsets of its ‘hero product’, the chocolate phone, but no news on a successor yet.

Samsung: Among the new products will be the company’s Blu-Ray DVD players which are due to go on sale before the end of the year. Also showing off an LCD TV that uses LEDs as a backlighting source.

Grundig: Now part of the Alba Group, Grundig is showing off a pair of wireless stereo speakers which according to the blurb ‘have the potential to be design icons’.

Thomson: Unveiling a completely wireless (2.4GHz) system for linking up various devices in the home, including DVD player, set top box and TV screen.

Yamaha: The company plans to launch two new Sound Projector models (a single speaker mounted below the TV screen which replaces five or more surround speakers).

Daewoo: An interesting sounding GPS system with built in DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) system so you can listen to the radio and watch TV whilst navigating.

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Tech Digest: Daewoo announced at IFA (Berlin), that they will be releasing three new satellite navigation systems into Europe – seemingly targetted at walkers and cyclists.

The DPN-3500 has a 3.5-inch LCD display and the DPN-5600 has a 5.6-inch display, and both sound to be fairly standard portable sat-nav devices.

The third sat-nav device, the ANK-6160, also boasts a Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) receiver which is supposed to allow you to receive audio and video data such as radio/TV programmes and service information.

As yet, no pricing information is available.

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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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Guardian Unlimited: The UK Government is to invest another £21 million (around €30 million) in a European space mission to build a new satellite navigation system.

The investment forms part of a £2.4 billion scheme to provide Europe with its own independent system by 2010.

Surrey Satellite Technology built a test satellite which was successfully launched from Kazakhstan late last year.

And Astrium UK and LogicaCMG are major partners in Galileo Industries, the consortium of European companies building the first four test satellites

In-car direction terminals and other tracking technologies rely at present on the US military-based Global Positioning System (GPS).

Galileo will be a civil system, run by a private consortium and offering guaranteed levels of service.

The full constellation of Galileo satellites is expected to be in operation by the end of 2010.

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Stuff: Ahead of the Tokyo Game Show in September, news has been leaked of Sony’s plans to release GPS receiver and camera accessories for their PSPs.

The add-on GPS receiver will be most likely designed for car use, but there would be no reason why you wouldn’t be able to use it on foot as well.

Here’s an unofficial first look:

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