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Engadget: Before you dismiss this as just another crazy idea out of Japan, hear us out. The newly developed, crab-simulating Navi Robo is designed to give drivers visual navigating assistance as a supplement to their GPS device. Its primary benefit, aside from helping the hearing impaired, will be in conveying instructions without requiring the driver to focus on it, as its eyes light up for attention and its “claws” vibrate urgently when an upcoming turn is imminent. Frankly, it looks both cute and functional, and we think kudos are in order for both Pioneer and iXs Research for coming up with the idea. They’ll be taking their usual good time (read: a couple of years) to refine and develop the idea, but we’ve got video of the robot doing its thing right now — you know where to find it.

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Cnet: Ideally, GPS devices increase safety by allowing drivers to focus on the road instead of fumbling with a map. And though most will admit that it’s safest to not take phone calls when behind the wheel, it’s best to go hands-free if you absolutely must. Why not hit two birds with one stone by grabbing a GPS device that features a built-in Bluetooth speakerphone? (more…)

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Electronista: Ford added a new feature to its MyFord Touch in-dash car system on its way to launch. A new Eco-Routes feature gives drivers an extra option for GPS navigation that picks the most fuel-efficient path: it will avoid highways but still try to use major roads where the car can keep a consistent speed and save fuel. The system looks at historical data along with live traffic conditions to gauge where stop-and-go traffic might waste gas. (more…)

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GPS Business News: According to IMS Research, the GPS chipset market capped 300 million units in 2009. The research firm also published an optimistic outlook for the GPS chipset market in 2010 in their recently released quarterly tracker.

Tom Arran, a research analyst working on the service, explained “2009 has been a year of tremendous fluctuations. The start of the year had shipments into some verticals at record lows, for example year-on-year shipments into the PND market had fallen 41% due to inventory issues apparent in the market.” (more…)

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Hot Hardware: One of the biggest pains to buying a GPS system is the knowledge that your maps will be outdated within 12 months, if not sooner. TomTom knows it, and they’re doing something about it. Announced this week, the company is selling select navigation models that come with Lifetime Map and Traffic Updates. For free!

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NaviGadget: As you know may already know we’ve been keeping a good track of all the GPS navigation apps for the iPhone. We had already mentioned MapQuest there but this is worth mentioning again since they just released MapQuest 4 Mobile for iPhone – which is totally free.
We say it was time for iPhone users to get a taste of free GPS navigation. Android users have Google Maps in the U.S, Nokia users all around the world have Ovi Maps – now one our first internet favorites (late 90’s?) MapQuest comes to the rescue for iPhone users. Read more…

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Navigadget: According to an analysis firm in Sweden the number of GPS enabled handsets shipped worldwide increased 92% in 2009 to 150 million. If it continues with its 39% compound annual growth rate this number will be up to 770 million in 2014.

The articles acknowledges that almost all smartphones have GPS feature standard and the same is about to happen to even low-cost smartphones. It also says that feature devices will be able to analyze signals from GPS, Glonass, and Galileo at the same time but this still won’t be able to provide a reliable location info when indoors. To circumvent the problem measurements from cellular networks, and WiFi signals will have to be used together. Read more…

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Navigadget: Leica Geosystems seem to be getting ready to release a GPS navigation system in the U.S. of A. Looking at their product line they don’t seem to be focusing on consumer electronics so this probably would be their first attempt at the market.
This sat nav device which we came across the FCC site is called Leica mojoMINI and looks like most other GPS navigation system with a 4.3″ screen. It comes with a car charger, mounting bracket and cradle, and stylus for the touch screen. It has an SD card slot, mini USB charging port, headphone jack, and an embedded external speaker.
We’re not sure when this Leica mojoMINI will hit the market but we’ll be sure to let you know when it does.

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Akihabara: Panasonic proposed today alongside its 5 new PND, 3 New in Car GPS with the CN-HX910D, CN-HW890D and CN-HW860D. Sold between 200,000 to 280,000 Yen our midrange GPS all features a 7” WVGA screen, a 60GB HDD a DVD and CD player, as well as improved CD to HDD ripping algorithm to better improve disk copy as well as speed.

The CN-HX910D includes also a dual Digital and Terrestrial TV Tuner, as well as Bluetooth, while the CN-HW890D does not include a digital TV.

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Hot Hardware: TomTom has a lot of weight on their shoulders. They’re consistently looked at as one of the top dogs in navigation, and thus expectations are extremely high. That’s particularly true on the iPhone and iPod touch, where TomTom’s app was the first major one into the App Store and the only one that Apple actually spoke of by name during a keynote.

In the past months, TomTom’s iPhone GPS app had slipped in terms of matching functionality provided by rivals, but a huge update has landed today that shoots it right back up to the top.

Version 1.3 of the TomTom iPhone app brings a few much-needed updates to the program, including real-time traffic, Local Search powered by Google and enhanced integration with the iPhone ecosystem. There’s also the addition of pinch-and-zoom, a new map update, automatic day/night modes, music fading (that keeps your iPhone or iPod touch music fading as text-to-speech commands come and go) and an “Add To ToTom” feature that allows you to save locations from other iPhone apps to your TomTom app.

All in all, it’s a worthy update if you’ve already got the app (free to download), but if not, the new version is available with U.S. maps for $59.99. Of note, the real-time traffic is a separate add-on that will cost you $19.99 for 12 months of service.

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Übergizmo: Navigon’s latest 2510 Explorer GPS navigation system will come with a sightseeing function, making it a suitable purchase for those who love doing plenty of traveling and prefer to rely on technology instead of the locals to tell them of interesting places to visit along the route. Apart from that, it will also provide additional information on historical sites accompanied by pictures, opening times for places and even a guide for scenic routes thanks to ViaMichelin. Battery life has also been improved to 4 hours. Read more…

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BBC: Galileo, Europe’s much delayed and costly satellite-navigation project, takes a major step forward on Thursday.

The first contracts are being awarded to the companies that will start to build the operational network.

The European Commission will purchase spacecraft, rockets and system management in deals totalling more than half a billion euros.

Galileo is intended as an EU version of the US Global Positioning System (GPS), but with significant improvements.

Its more advanced technology should give users quicker, more reliable fixes, and enable them to locate their positions with an error of one metre compared with the current GPS error of several metres.

European Commission vice-president with responsibility for transport, Antonio Tajani, is expected to announce the winners of the contracts in a media conference in Brussels at about midday.

One recipient is already known because it was the only bidder for the tendered work.

Read the full article.

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