Both watches work with TomTom’s own Graphical Training Partner. This system allos you to see at-a-glance statistics based around your physical activity – these three bits make up the full nelson for the future of wrist-based sports excellence!

• Race: Race against a personal best or most recent run. Quickly track performance with real-time graphics, to continue to improve run-after-run.

• Goal: Set a distance, time or calorie goal and see progress toward that goal with simple, full-screen graphics and alerts.

• Zone: Set a target for pace or heart-rate (with optional heart-rate monitor) and track progress in a simple full-screen graph throughout a workout.

Both of these watches will be bringing on the heat with a hardware build that’s not to be missed! Both watches come in at 11.5mm thin and are both waterproof and weatherproof – waterproof up to 50 meters/5ATM, that is! You’ll be using a “super-touch display” as well with both scratch and impact-resistant reinforced glass to keep your precious watch safe and fully readable.

You’ll be able to connect with the TomTom MySports website, MapMyFitness, RunKeeper, TrainingPaks, and of course: MyFitnessPal. You’ll be connecting with Bluetooth to keep your Smart Heart Rate Monitor’s data in-tune with your watches’ understanding of your body, the watch works with QuickGPSFix with both GPS and GLONASS satellite technology for a precise location every time, and you’ve got indoor tracking capabilities as well!

These two watches are extremely similar to one another, but the main bits are there for both – the one-button simple design, the lovely large display, and the release: Summer of 2013! Keep your eye on the TomTom tag portal here on SlashGear to hear more about these watches as they come closer to release time!

BONUS: You’ll also see a Dedicated Bike Mount, Cadence Sensor, Built-in Altimeter, and Swimming Motion Sensor coming out for these watches in the future too! Stay tuned!

TomTom has survived the rise of the smartphone and the tablet for a reason – they continue to create GPS-centric devices that work extremely well. They also provide data to smartphone apps galore, including their own TomTom apps, but that’s neither here nor there. What we’re looking at today is the launch of the TomTom Go with more than one way to stay connected.

You’ve got the ability to work with TomTom Traffic for always-on real-time traffic information as you drive. You’ve also got the ability to connect via Bluetooth to your smartphone to see TomTom traffic. You’ll be working with Lifetime connectivity to services from TomTom with the following restrictions:

“Lifetime is the useful life of the device, so means the period of time that TomTom continues to support your device with software updates, services, content or accessories. A device will have reached the end of its life when none of these are available any more.” – TomTom

You’ll also be working with 3D maps so you can identify the buildings around you by their general size. You’ll have Tap and Go functionality so you can quickly map your way to any location you can pinpoint with your finger. You’ll be able to pinch to zoom to get in and out of maps quick.

This isn’t the push-hard sensor screen you’re used to working with from years past. This device comes with capacitive touchscreen action – that means its as easy to touch and type with as your smartphone or tablet. Have a peek at the video above and let us know if you’re all about TomTom’s newest effort – and have a look at the timeline below for more information on TomTom in the recent past!

You’ll have in-vehicle navigation with Scout for Cars like you’ve ever before thought possible as this next-level system comes through on not just your car’s display, but your phone and your desktop computer as well. With the webpage Scout.me, you’ll have management of your favorite locations, early looking up of places you’ll want to go, and more! With a built-in system in your vehicle you’ll have instant connectivity.

Above: our most recent hands-on experience with Scout in-vehicle integration. Below: Telenav’s official quick spot on Scout for Cars and the ties between it and Scout for Phones!

Key features of the Scout for Cars interface include the following:

• Personalized Information: Favorites, recent trips, and commute times automatically sync between the computer, phone, and car

• Fresh Maps & POIs: Access to up-to-date maps and millions of POIs

• Local Weather: Real-time weather and forecasts

• Local Search: Integrated one-box search with automatic suggestions makes it fast and easy to enter addresses & POIs

• Real-time Traffic: Drivers save time with live traffic overlays and updates that automatically reroute them around traffic jams or road congestion

• Voice Control: Safety is increased as drivers are able to keep their hands on the wheel with voice-activated commands

• Flexible Branding: OEMs can offer embedded navigation in their vehicles under their own brand, look, and feel

• Companion App: OEMs can use Scout for Phones or their own branded smartphone app to bring connectivity and services into the car

From our long history with Telenav – the folks behind Scount and this ever-expanding high-powered GPS navigation environment and experience – you’ll find that this group of workers is second to none when it comes to creating a top-notched program. This isn’t just a system that leads you to the places you need directions to: it’s a companion for you both in and out of your vehicle. With Scout in its many iterations you’ve got your own personal guide wherever you’re going!

Have a peek at a timeline of Scout and Telenav bits and pieces below to see how far the system has come! Also be sure to hit up our Car Hub to see the many different ways the automotive industry is getting technologically powerful and makes forward thinking a must-have for your next-generation vehicle!

TeleNav announced the update via their Twitter account, noting that the new 3D features will “give drivers a better view and navigation experience.” The feature will be available later this year, along with crowd-sourced traffic reporting like we’ve seen in Waze. It’s not said exactly when the update will hit, but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

TeleNav will rely on its 34 million subscribers to report various accidents and traffic jams around the country, and the app will update itself in real-time with the traffic information it receives from its users. This means that Scout will suggest faster alternate routes when it detects that you’re about to hit some heavy traffic.

The video above shows off the 3D buildings in a demo, and while you can clearly see the outlines of the buildings, they don’t get in your way of the navigation, and you can still through the buildings and look ahead to what roads you’ll be turning on. When the update eventually does hit, it’ll be available for both free and premium users of the app.

The California appeals court ruling essentially states that using your phone in any way while driving will get you a ticket, even if you’re trying to look up where your old friend lives. Of course, the problem doesn’t exactly lie with using GPS while driving, but using GPS to look down at your phone to type in an address to scroll through a map.

You can still use your phone while driving, but it must be completely hands-free, meaning that you have to hook it up via Bluetooth and use voice control to navigate through your phone. Of course, a recent study determined that even hands-free use of a phone is still dangerous, since your brain still focuses its attention on the phone, rather than on the road.

However, there are a lot of loopholes in the new law. For instance, many newer cars come with navigation systems built into the dashboard, and many of them are completely touch-controlled, which means it’s essentially the same thing as using the GPS on your smartphone, only it’s built into the car. These are still legal, but we’re guessing that auto makers will be more aware of creating navigation systems that are more voice-controlled — not only to follow the law, but to actively make driving safer.

[via Techdirt]

Sources stated that Apple purchased the small startup for $20 million. The news was later confirmed by an Apple spokesman who said that Apple “buys smaller technology companies from time to time.” Google has already jumped into the indoor-mapping game and it currently offers indoor mapping services for several locations, including certain airports, retail venues, and sports venues.

WifiSLAM works by allowing mobile apps to detect the user’s locations using the WiFi signals in the building. The service says that by only using ambient WiFi signals, your smartphone can pinpoint you to 2.5m accuracy. Not only is the startup used to help with indoor navigation, but it is also used to help create proximity-based social networking apps, and improve retail customer engagement.

Apple will most likely use the startup to add an indoor-mapping feature to its Maps app, but there are also many other possibilities that the startup can offer. Apple may also have a difficult time convincing customers to use its Maps app again. The app was notorious for giving bad directions, something that several people in Australia can account for. But of course, it’s Apple, so I’m sure the company will find some way to convince consumers to give Maps a second chance.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

This version of the TomTom Rider allow you to use Bluetooth to listen in on directions inside your helmet – all you’ll beed is a pair of Bluetooth-friendly earbuds. There’s a new charging bike dock with this model that turns the device on or off with the ignition on the bike you’re riding, and the display you’re working with is improved as well. This newly enhanced 4.3-inch screen is touch-friendly and biker glove-friendly – so you wont have to de-glove each time you want to tap!

The lovely scene and mini-movie you’re seeing above should encourage you to pick one of these devices up, if only because it makes you feel so flowery and friendly inside. According to Managing Director of TomTom Consumer Corinne Vigreux, the TomTom team sought out feedback from motorbike communities that they then used to create this newest-gen device. They found that “the overwhelming majority of bikers use their motorcycle for recreational purposes”, this leading the TomTom team to include features that allow the biker to find and ride “the best scenic routes in the world.”

With Tyre software you’ll be able to search and create routes on your PC at home before you head off into the wild blue yonder, uploading them to your TomTom Rider device before you head out. From there you’ll be able to share the route with fellow riders (as mentioned above) with this device’s “Upload Routes and Go” feature. You’ll be able to use this device in all types of weather without worrying about damage, and you’ve got Free Lifetime Maps with your purchase as well – updates forever, free!

All this and more are available for pre-order today for 329.99 GBP or MSRP $299 USD – get pumped up about the Summer season right this minute! Note: that’s a MASSIVE price cut compared to the 2nd Gen model of the Rider – things are looking up!

Furthermore, the app’s 36 million users shared a total of 90 million “reports,” which include things like speed traps, road hazards, and accidents. In total, Waze recorded over 6 billion miles of driving from its 36 million users. That’s a lot of gas — approximately $850 million worth based on an average 25 MPG and a gas price average of $3.54 according to the EIA.

What’s perhaps even more astonishing, is that the app has reached 110 countries. Plus, back in December, the company revealed that map issues are practically fixing themselves thanks to community-driven editing capabilities. On average, map editors are resolving nearly 70% of problems in any given 30-day period, and almost all user-reported map errors are fixed within a week.

Back in October, Waze revealed that their map-editing community was growing extremely quickly, with a 40% month-over-month increase in new editors. The app’s newest feature, which now includes gas stations and their latest prices, have become increasingly popular amongst users, and for good reason. The first month of the feature being live resulted in over 50,000 gas stations being added.

Note: the following set of vehicles and technology is in no particular order – the innovations we’re seeing this year are essentially all groundbreaking as we’re seeing the dawn of the mobile connectivity age in auto right before our eyes!

Audi A6: Google Maps, NVIDIA Tegra SoC, Bang and Olufsen audio

Back in January of this year we heard direct from Audi that they’d be teaming up with NVIDIA to bring the Tegra 3 quad-core mobile chipset to their automotive lineup. The Audi A6 took the opportunity to work with that processor and bust out a lovely touchscreen panel with 3D Google Earth views that the pilot is able to control on the fly. There’s also a touchpad where you can write commands to the vehicle one letter at a time as well as voice controls for next-generation control.

This machine works with Bang & Olufsen audio to keep your beats strong, and Audi assures the user that they’ve got plans for upgradeable entertainment and graphics modules as well. Keep an eye on our Tegra Portal to see NVIDIA continue working to bring high-powered processing to the market!

Tesla Model S: the year’s most infamous electric vehicle

The Tesla Model S has been in the news for months upon months now, gaining a spot up at the top of the “best of 2012″ lists for auto publications galore here near the end of the year. This machine is the flagship of the Tesla fleet and works with a collection of massive battery options – have at its birth the longest range of any electric vehicle on the planet.

This machine works with a beastly 17-inch capacitive touch LCD display with built-in navigation (with seven years of free updates if you pick the right package) and connection to a high-definition rear-view camera. This machine is shifting the way we work with cars here in the now, an essential cog in the machine that drives us toward an all-electric vehicle set for humanity.

Fisker Karma: a lot of bad press for a radical plug-in hybrid luxury sports sedan

What we saw with the Fisker Karma this year was nothing short of a negative press nightmare with two major recalls, one starting in December of 2011 and reverberating through the press through 2012, the other logged in August of 2012. The first recall was for a battery fire risk caused by coolant leakage, the second was for a faulty cooling fan unit. Then there were several fires, one of them in May in Fort Bend County, Texas, another in August in Woodside, California. After a single vehicle model has more than a couple incidents with it such as these, the press tends to pick up even the most minor incident – the result was that this futuristic beast had a lot more “negative” visibility than it did positive in 2012.

On the other hand, Fisker hasn’t fallen to the press. They’re bringing on the Fisker Atlantic EV early in the year and a new $100 million dollar investment round in September. They’ve also got plans for a less expensive vehicle by the name of Fisker Atlantic which will be appearing no sooner than 2014.

BMW 3 Series and friends: packed tight with technological mainstays

The folks at BMW have brought on a fabulous mix of high-tech features to not just their 3 Series and X3 SUVs, but the BMW X1 Crossover [check out our full review here] as well, most notably with the iconic center control station you see in the photo below. BMW comes correct on more than one model this year with blind spot detection, heads-up displays, lane departure warnings, and both rear and side parking cameras so you’ll never miss that rambunctious pet of yours.

BMW brings on adaptive cruise control, auto-high-beams, and internet integration with your center stack display – you’ll want to pick up a brand new 3 Series or X3 SUV for every single one of these features should you pick up the right package. It’s not going to come on cheap, but BMW created some of the most impressive packages the whole year long.

Ford Focus: an affordable line of forward-thinking vehicles for the whole family

The Ford Focus lineup includes several lovely little beasts pumped full of technological features, including the hatchback, the sedan, Focus ST with EcoBoost engine, C-Max station wagon / MPV coming in two iterations (hybrid and plug-in hybrid), and the fabulous Focus Electric. These vehicles each have their own fabulous feature high-marks like electric power-assist steering, iPod jacks, Bluetooth wireless connectivity to your smartphone, and parking sonar.

With Ford’s parking sonar technology ties up with electric power-assist steering to bring on automated self-parking and brings on cross-traffic alerts as well. You can upgrade your Focus in several cases with on-screen navigation, and there’s a bit of brand Ford brought forward that’ll place a smile on the faces of parents everywhere: MyKey. With MyKey, parents are able to limit how fast a Focus can stop, the on/off and volume of the vehicle’s audio system, and crash notifications via the web.

We also got a hands-on look at the AT&T-branded MyFord Mobile app for the 2012 Ford Focus Electric earlier this year that you’re going to be able to have a peek at below. This app works on iOS and Android and allows you to jump right into the guts of your vehicle without even being in the same neighborhood – hot stuff!

Nissan Altima: it’s got two display size options, sure, but it’s really all about the tires

The Nissan Altima works with either a 5 or 7-inch display ready to work with your tunes and your backup camera. This display allows you to work with Pandora radio, Google-powered local destination alerts, text messages, and more – though for some of these items you’ll need a connected smartphone. You’ve also got blind spot warnings, lane departure warnings, and moving object detection too. This machine also packs a simple AUX-in port that every modern vehicle should so you can connect your MP3 player or smartphone with a simple headphone-sized audio cord right out of the box.

The most instant-win technology you’ll get on this line is Easy Fill. With the technology known as Easy Fill, you fill your tires up with air until the vehicle beeps once when you’re near the correct pressure, then again when you’re there. Extremely simple feature that we’re certain most people would love to have.

Toyota Prius: a hero for the hybrid class gets a big tech upgrade

This year the Toyota Prius blasted forth once again with the new highest-mpg on the road along with the all-new Entune music and smartphone connectivity system. The Prius line carrying Entune works with your Entune account, your compatible smartphone connecting with the official Entune app and Bluetooth (or USB) with apps galore. Bing brings you local points of interest, as does OpenTable – dinner reservations too, Pandora and iheartradio bring on the runes, and MovieTickets.com allows you to pick up tickets for the next big blockbuster from your center console.

Google uses a Prius fleet for their driverless vehicle experiments and tests.

Entune also brings on local Fuel Prices, Stocks, Sports, Traffic, and Weather information too – and of course Entune isn’t limited to the Prius, it’s hit quite a few of Toyota’s 2012 and 2013 models. The Prius line is coming forth with Bluetooth and USB jack standard from now through the foreseeable future, too, Toyota making such connections an expected feature in cars across the industry (so it is expected).

Hyundai Santa Fe Sport: geofencing, smartphone connectivity, and a massive display up front

Earlier this year we had a test drive of the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport and had a peek at its futuristic insides. This machine brings on an 8-inch color LCD touchscreen with full navigation integration. This vehicle’s system includes Bluetooth connectivity to your smartphone for music streaming as well as an iPhone app for remote start, locking, and unlocking. You’ve also got the option to “geofence” this vehicle digitally, setting physical limits for where this vehicle can drive – drive too far and the whole vehicle shuts down.

2013 Cadillac ATS: with the Cadillac User Experience (CUE) in full effect

We had a close-up peek at the CUE in our 2013 Cadillac ATS Review – it was clear basically immediately that the high-quality interior on this machine was right in step with the competition, starting with its 8-inch capacitive touchscreen and running right through to USB and SD card compatibility. Have a peek at the hands-on video with CUE and feel the excellence in informatics and entertainment – Bluetooth connectivity with up to 10 devices included as well.

This machine works with physical buttons galore as well, pushing information to another 5.7-inch display in the instrument cluster and a heads-up display as well. The audio in this machine works with Bose technology, including a noise-cancellation system to reduce road and engine noise while you’re jamming at high speed.

Kia Soul (Eclaim!): bringing the Microsoft UVO Infotainment System to the great outdoors

The Kia Soul comes in several different spec models, as many fine modern vehicles do: our Kia Soul Review from earlier this year went by the name !, or Exclaim! This machine brought on the Microsoft-powered “UVO Infotainment System.” This system works with a 7-inch touchscreen in this case, bringing on Bluetooth stereo, USB and aux-in connections for your smartphone, and voice control. You can work with Sirius XM satellite radio right out the gate, and of course there’s a back-up camera so you’ll be in-line with governmental regulations for many years to come.

Mazda CX-5: with SKYACTIV, this machine may well be the best competition future-friendly electric batteries have

This machine takes on the hybrid and all-electric competition with Mazda’s SKYACTIV technology, combining “weight reduction, efficiency improvement and design rethinking”, as our Mazda CX-5 Review mentions right up front. This machine also works with three-stage heated front seats, rear-view mirror auto-dimming, and of course, a 5.8-inch LCD display. This display is touch friendly (provided you get the right package) as well as TomTom-powered GPS navigation.

Wireless connectivity with your smartphone is provided by Bluetooth and syncing allows you to access you contacts and make a call from the vehicle’s touchscreen. There’s a controller down by your parking break called the Multimedia Commander that you can use to scroll through selections on your touchscreen – or you can just use the generally OK voice command system via the dedicated activation button on the vehicle’s steering wheel.

Wrap-up

SlashGear will continue to be your source for the top technology coverage in automotive through the future with many more high-powered vehicle reviews to come in 2013. Be sure to check out our monstrous [Car Portal] to see the futuristic automobile segment from any angle you do so choose, top to bottom, and get pumped up about the connections you’re about to make!

As StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON team up with Glypse, you’ll have a brand new set of navigation features. This update brings on the Glympse icon to your standard toolbar and allows you to instantly share you location with a select number of friends for either a short or a long period of time. Recipients of the messages you send with Glympse shows a link to a Glympse tracking map complete with location, arrival time, and speed (where applicable.)

In a rather similar sort of integration, Foursquare now appears in the two Garamin apps for check-ins galore. WIth just a click or two you’ll be linking in to your Foursquare account and checking into venues and making new locations on the fly – you’ll also get personalized POI suggestions based on your check-ins left and right.

With Apple devices you’ll be rolling out with iCloud support on the fly as well. You’ll be able to get your favorite destinations across multiple iOS devices with sync-tastic accuracy. And boy, are you lucky: starting today and lasting until the 7th of January, 2013. These apps provide a premium experience (with a one-time cost, forever, no subscription cost) for the following cash discounts:

StreetPilot Onboard iPhone USA: $39.99 instead of $49.99
StreetPilot Onboard iPhone North America: $44.99 instead of $59.99
NAVIGON iOS USA: $39.99 instead of $49.99
NAVIGON iOS North America: $44.99 instead of $59.99
NAVIGON iOS MyRegion: $22.99 instead of $29.99
NAVIGON Android USA: $39.95 instead of $49.95
NAVIGON Android North America: $44.95 instead of $59.95

With Scout you’ve got a free model – the download is free either way – and a pay model that includes “Scout Plus” for either 1 year or per-month, the former costing $24.99 and the latter costing $4.99. The premium features you attain when upgrading include real-time traffic updates, lane assist (with highlighted exit lanes), red light camera alerts, posted speed limits, speed trap notifications, and Always There Navigation.

With Always There Navigation you’re getting support for GPS even when you’re offline. You can download maps of your local area to your device, there thereby also relieving you of the charges you’d incur with data from your cell company from accessing the maps on the fly. Without Scout Plus you’re still able to work with turn-by-turn voice navigation though, starting today for free!

Have a peek at Scout on not just the iTunes Appstore today, but also the Android-loving Google Play app store as well. See the timeline below as well to get deeper insight into the world of Scout and its creators at Telenav. And get yellow!

Also reported today was a note that Cue was continuing to work with the maps company that’s responsible for much of the inner workings of the GPS information in Apple’s current Maps app, TomTom NV. Cue previously took over the now-defunct MobileMe program at Apple and is also reportedly working with Apple to improve the Apple TV ecosystem.

Recently there’s also been word that the Apple Maps system as well as the iPhone superstar Siri will be moving forward to the OS X desktop environment. This move would have a MapKit framework pushed to developers so that they might embed the workings of it into their everyday mapping apps from top to bottom. Siri similarly would be expanded to all manner of cross-platform apps and apps that would be greatly improved by talk.

Meanwhile the iPhone 5 has been reported to be the hottest selling phone in the USA over a period of 12 weeks leading up to October 28th, this according to analyst group Kantar. Chevrolet continues to show their support for Apple with next-generation MyLink with Siri in their next-generation vehicles, and the iPhone 5 is replacing BlackBerry left and right.

With these two new API releases, 3rd party app developers will be able to take the massive beast of a dataset that Google has in their Google Maps archive and integrate it into their own apps at a whole new level. With this information, apps of all kinds will be able to map their own location – that being the device they’re being run on, of course – and help people find the locations they’re aiming at. Should a bakery have an app, for example, Google Maps integration would be able to lead the user of said app to the physical location of the bakery, even if they don’t have GPS switched on.

If you run a business – or work for a business as a developer – you can also pay for support from Google to make this system work for you. You’ll be able to work with Google’s own set of advanced features such as geo-fencing. With geo-fencing, a company can create a virtual space on a map that’ll be able to send notifications if a device enters or exist its bounds. This system could certainly be automated and do away with a central dispatcher – if that’s your kind of business, of course.

Have a peek at a timeline of recent Google Maps related stories and see how the system has been evolving of late. It’s Google that’s still in the limelight here in the GPS maps universe as the rest of the brands fight for glory against such a titan as the big G. Stay tuned for more on the iPhone Google Maps story specifically, where a re-release of Google Maps app data in app form constitutes a giant news release.

[via Google]

This service allows developers to push free, voice-guided, turn by turn, GPS navigation directly from their app or their website, making full use of the Telenav database with ease. Just as easy as it is to embed a video into your website, you’ll be working with Telenav’s Scout mapping without sacrificing your own brand – the app or website can keep their own brand name on everything throughout the whole navigation session.

This Scout for Apps environment and service is available for developers on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone starting immediately, and Telenav has also brought on a companion for the web as well. Telenav is bringing on a website widget for Scout called the Scout Drive Button, made for small businesses that want to make it super easy for people anywhere in a web browser to find their physical location. Your mobile browser will be able to initiate turn-by-turn directions now with a single tap!

Developers will be able to access the Scout Drive Button for websites as well as the Scout for Apps environment immediately, for all three major mobile platforms! Have a peek below at our other recent encounters with Telenav and Scout, and get to navigating!

Ryan Drake, Scout product manager at Telenav, notes that, “the last thing you want to worry about is losing your GPS navigation if you drive out of wireless coverage and take a wrong turn”, especially when you’re in an unfamiliar area. Thus, Scout is here to bring you the information you need directly from your device’s own memory banks. With no web connection necessary, there’s no need to use up your data for the month either – greatness all around!

Scout also offers speech recognition for searching for nearby destinations with save one-button touch activation. Voice Commands are included in this feature and word combos such as “Find Coffee” or “Drive Home” work right away, no training necessary. Each time you make a new query, Scout will either find the best nearby results or it’ll create the best navigational route to your chosen location based on traffic and your start point.

You’ll be able to update your current Scout app today for free, or if you’re a new users, you can access the app in the Apple App Store on your iPhone. You can download the app for free, then you’ll have a free 30-day trial as well. Offline navigation will cost you $9.99 per year or $2.99 per month – this cost includes additional premium features as well, of course!

The watch provides a navigation arrow that will help steer users to destination points, and there’s a TracBack function that will help the owner retrace their steps as well. In combination with a desktop application, users can also plan certain routes and trips and share them out to friends and families in the process.

In terms of connectivity, the fenix comes equipped with Bluetooth plus altimeter, barometer, and compass sensors. The altimeter will provide elevation data, the barometer may be used to see any upcoming changes in the weather, and the compass naturally helps the user with their bearing. The fenix can also auto-calibrate using the built in GPS chip, and automatically set the time by determining the location of the watch.

Garmin has made sure the watch is rugged and durable too. There’s a “high-strength housing” that will survive shocks and bumps, plus a glass front that will resist scratches. The LCD display is LED backlit, with the watch held together by polyurethane wristbands. Garmin says the watch should be capable of 50 hours of battery life when actively using GPS, and its also waterproof up to 50 meters. The fenix should be on sale sometime this Fall, and cost around $399.99.

The use of Street View is the major new feature. It allows users to keep an eye on the street level images just in case they’re having difficulty finding the right building, and Street View will automatically pop up as users approach their destination. Drivers will also be able to jump into a full-screen 360 degree view if they want to scope out the surrounding area.

Cockpit displays various stats about your travel, such as gForce, speed, horizontal and vertical position relative to the ground, plus adjustable speeds and altitude graphs. On top of that, there’s compass and altitude options for off-road drivers.

Finally, manual route blocking allows drivers to look at their current routes and tell the navigation software to ignore certain paths using a simple tap. The app then programs an alternative route automatically. In addition to all of that, Navigon says that the startup time and map rendering of the app should be much faster.

The updated app is available today, and Navigon is also running some discounts until July 16th. Navigon North America will cost $39.99, down from $59.99, and Cockpit will see a reduction to $3.99. Other in-app purchases will also see discounts.

[via Engadget]

Spoofers are a new problem for GPS-guided drones, allowing hackers to trick navigation systems with false information. Humphreys and the team have designed a device costing less than $1,000 that sends out a GPS signal stronger than the ones coming down from orbiting satellites. At first, the rogue signal mimics the official one in order to trick the drone, and once it’s accepted new commands can be sent to the UAV.

Naturally, Humphreys highlights the associated risks of such a device, saying that in the wrong hands drones could be turned into missiles. Right now drones can’t be used in US airspace on a wide basis, but Congress has asked the FAA to come up with regulations that would allows drones to fly over the United States by 2015. That could lead to usage in law enforcement, as well as by power companies and delivery firms.

The US government says its aware of the potential dangers of spoofing, and officials from the FAA and Department of Homeland Security have seen Humphreys’ demonstration first hand. The Department of Homeland Security reportedly has a program in place to try and solve the problem of GPS interference, but it’s aimed at trying to deal with jammed signals, not spoofed ones.

[via Fox News]

Any changes in the immediate area, such as new speed limits, blocked roads, or different street names, can now be modified directly on the device. If the user then chooses to do so, they can send the updates to TomTom and the Map Share community so that everyone reaps the benefits for free.

Major changes such as brand new roads or roundabout placements are logged with TomTom, validated, and added to maps on a quarterly basis. The collaborative approach to creating the maps apparently helps TomTom to create “maps [that] accurately reflect reality.”

Want a preview of Map Share? Take a peek at the video below to get a better idea of what it’s all about.

Apple announced and demonstrated their own version of GPS mapping with the tentatively titled Apple Maps, this being the first time Apple wasn’t relying solely on Google for all of their mapping needs. Apple’s new system will rely instead on TomTom-based backend mapping data, and will include new features such as the rather impressive looking Flyover 3D rendering of the planet.

This first Google-pushed Google Maps application for iOS will likely make a stab at Navigation now that Apple Maps will have the same functionality, and will almost certainly be a free download as well. Have a peek at our timeline below to see all there is to see on Apple’s new mapping initiative, and get ready for a map war!

[via Google+]

This new mapping enhancement will be hitting Google Earth sooner than later, this getting the Google Maps world prepared to explore the earth in a dimension only available to us via a real live airplane in the past. The process Google has gone through to create this vision for the future actually did (and continues to) use airplanes flying back and forth across your city in a pattern that’s carefully calculated and placed against models of the city they’ve photographed. This system creates what you see here:

This process brings you entire 3D cities from a 45-degree set of ariel photographs. You’ll soon be able to explore the world in this way across entire metropolitan areas with an app called Tour Guide as well as (and also inside) Google Earth. As Google continues to push each of their Maps programs together, we’ll get closer and closer to a 100% reproduced to-scale image of the earth so we’ll no longer have to leave the house to see the planet. Sound good?

To check out Google’s live feed, head to Google on YouTube but stick around here if you do so wish to drop any and all comments as appropriate. We’ve also got a Facebook group started with images from the event so you can keep up do date for later. This event is set to reveal what Google will be bringing to the tablet in light of the ever-changing world of maps and GPS tracking, and that’s just for starters.

Head to the timeline below to see all of the Google Maps action that has lead up to this event, and stick around as we drop the largest bits on your piece by piece!

These applications work with one another in a variety of ways, but what you’ll find in the following videos more than anything is that they’ve each got their own very unique way of helping you move about the world in your vehicle, with public transport, or on foot. Starting off with a couple of applications that have been out for a while but certainly warrant another look as they’re touted as value points for the whole Nokia lineup in smartphone stores around the world. Nokia Drive and Nokia Transport are up first:

Next have a peek at Nokia Maps, the heart of the whole situation:

Finally check out the newest member of this pack of awesome beasts, Nokia City Lens. This application allows you to see a virtual reality world of locations all around you in several ways – hold it in portrait mode and you see a list, hold it in landscape mode and you see points around you mapped in real life via your camera, or hold your phone flat to see a flat map!

Then there’s a BONUS! Have a peek here at an extension of this suite of apps in the feature “My Commute.” This feature will be appearing inside the second quarter of 2012 on Windows Phones and will appear as a Live Tile that learns from your driving patterns and tells you how long your route will take on any given day. Great stuff!

Check out the rest of our Nokia coverage by heading to our Nokia portal (full of reviews galore!), then be sure to check out this year’s full selection of CTIA content by heading to the CTIA 2012 portal – so much stuff your gadget-loving head will explode!

What’s the rub? ALK, the company behind CoPilot, is taking the freemium approach. The initial download is free, and you’ll be able to download one country’s maps gratis. While you’ll be able to map out journeys, live traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation will cost you £9.99 (~$16) and £19.99 (~$32) respectively.

It might not be a crucial blow against Google, who provides all of the above for absolutely nothing, but it’s an interesting proposition for iPhone users. TomTom offers its mapping service for iOS, but the costs are expensive. The UK version costs £49.99 (~$80.51), with Europe, US, and other maps adding even more on top. TomTom don’t seem to offer a proper app for Android either.

ALK’s gambit could potentially pay off. It’s the same approach that games use after all, enticing you with free gameplay then charging you in-app for extra items or upgrades. Having said that, we are talking about maps and navigation, not quite as excited or offering the same appeal. Only time will tell if this model will work out for the mapping company.

[via Electric Pig]

Other apps like BlackBerry Maps and BlackBerry Locate will also make use of TomTom’s maps, with third party developers leveraging access to include the maps in their own apps. Nuno Campos, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for TomTom Licensing, says: “TomTom’s market-leading real-time traffic information will provide BlackBerry customers with the best mobile travel experience.”

RIM seems pleased with the deal too: “”We’re thrilled to work with TomTom to leverage their industry-leading traffic and travel content for BlackBerry Traffic and BlackBerry Maps, and to enable access to those capabilities for BlackBerry developers as well.” There’s no word on exactly when the change will be rolling out, but we expect it will be a free update for BlackBerry users, which is never a bad thing.

This three screen experience starts at home with Scout.ME – this being a website where you can make your experience what you want it using Telenav’s vast database of places, events, and of course navigation. Have a peek at our hands-on video from back at CES to see the next step:

If you check that post out from earlier this year you’ll find that the app in-car was nearly ready to rock at the level we’re seeing now here a bit closer to Summer. Scout for Cars as it’s called is now up and running fully, and all features are live, including Voice Navigation which for several unforeseeable reasons was not available earlier this year.

Telenav’s Scouts are Suburban Trendsetters and Young Adventurers – are you one of those two groups? Have a peek at the app for iPhone now! Telenav apps with Scout abilities will be available on carriers, built-in with Android phones for example, with different branding and a slightly different look throughout the year and over time.

The message this week from Telenav has been those two keys, one Everywhere and Everyday, the other being Everything Local. With Everywhere, Telenav’s goal at the moment is to get 100 million subscribers in the short herm. They’ve got a three screen strategy to get these subscriptions, including web, on your phone, and in your car, and they’ll continue hitting these strategies in both Direct and Indirect sectors. Direct sectors are carriers, automotive manufacturers, and app store, while indirect covers developers with HTML5.

For their Everyday goal, Telenav is aiming for people to use their apps multiple times a day. To make this happen, Telenav is aiming for increased usability in general as well as a continuously expanding set of use functions in Scout – their newest push for subscriber-based GPS app usage. Everything Local includes what Telenav describes at Hype Local marketing services for brick and mortar companies – this includes sending more traffic to stores physically.

Have a peek at our Telenav timeline below to follow their growth over the past few months and expect big things from Scout and the rest of the Telenav family soon!

This version of Scout brings iPhone the not-oft spoken-of ability to do turn-by-turn directions in real time. Where Android has similar features basically right out of the box (that basic bit, anyway), iPhone only otherwise has text-formatted directions: no voice included. Here we’ve got Telenav powering an app that brings that ease and simplicity to the iPhone in a single feature-full app. Have a peek at just the new features included in this version of Scout:

• Automatic rerouting if you miss a turn or take a detour
• Lane Assist that lets you know which lane to be in before your next maneuver
• Audio & visual traffic alerts & rerouting
• Red-light camera alerts that notify you of red-light cameras ahead with both audio and visual alerts
• Speed trap alerts that let you know when to slow down due to upcoming speed traps
• Posted speed limits that give you your current speed limit with an indicator to show if you are speeding

Then see the app in action here courtesy of Telenav as well – this look like a service you’d be interested in paying a measly $10 a year for?

You can grab Scout, aka Scout by Telenav, from the iTunes store right now – upgrade included right out of the box!

TomTom apologized for the glitch today, which it attributed to a leap year bug in the GPS receiver software from a third-party supplier. Customers from the UK, Australia, Denmark, and Switzerland were among the first to experience the glitch. Most users were unable to receive any GPS signal, while other had intermittent access.

The company hasn’t directly specified which sat-nav units have been affected, but instructions for the software update have been posted for the Start 20/25, Via 110/120/125, the Via Live 120/125, the Go Live 820/825, and the Go Live 1000/1005/1005 World. You can check out the support page here.

Customers with units from the UK, Australia, Denmark, and Switzerland have experienced the bug first hand. Apparently the unit displays a gray screen and says that its unable to to find a GPS signal. The problem can be temporarily resolved by rebooting the unit, but it is a persistent issue: TomTom will need to issue a software update to completely eradicate the bug.

The bug first emerged on March 31st, with users quickly taking to the TomTom forums to report the issue. Most are unable to get any kind of GPS signal, while others seem to have intermittent access. As of writing, the thread has 374 posts filled with complaints and bug reports.

TomTom say that a software update will be rolled out via its website when the bug has been squashed. Users are encouraged to sign up to be notified when it becomes available.

[via BBC]

What Scout for Apps will allow developers to do is integrate GPS navigation directly into their apps, plain and simple. This framework will allow you to, for example, work with a single app which locates the best restaurants in the area and also drives you there without consuming additional battery life by launching a whole extra app only for GPS. What happens instead is that you’ll be getting a web-based popup (much lighter) which shows you directions then closes when you’re done.

This system exists in addition to TeleNav’s Scout.Me system for IOS launched this past December (see more here). This new release of Scout for Apps will have the world’s FIRST web-based HTML 5 powered navigation system at the fingertips of developers ASAP so this summer we can be rolling out hard with as small an amount of power consumption as possible. A single line of code is all a developer needs to integrate TeleNav navigation in their shopping app, sightseeing app, or whatever they deem applicable!

Developers should head to http://developer.telenav.com/ to expand their vision of GPS navigation today! Integrate this system in your mobile site or email as well! This whole system works with iOS 4.0+ and Android 2.1+, so you’ll be good to go!

BONUS check out our own experience with a Scout app in-vehicle from CES 2012 here:

Then again, these vanity voice skins don’t come cheap. Each character or celebrity costs $12.95. In addition, if you opt for a custom voice, the GPS will not speak the names of the individual streets. So while the default computerized voice can tell you, “Turn left on 5th Avenue,” Marge Simpson only has the ability to tell you to “turn left.” Not all TomTom units have the ability to generate spoken street names, though.

So in case you haven’t been keeping up to date with all the celebrity GPS news, some of TomTom’s other downloadable voice packages include James Bond, Kim Cattrall, KITT from Knight Rider, SpongeBob, a slew of characters from Star Wars, Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, Dora the Explorer, Snoop Dogg, Burt Reynolds, and Dennis Hopper. Forget about anything you see on the big screen – that’s an all-star cast.

[via Cnet]

What this ruling does is take GPS devices and place them in the same category as a Police officer demanding that a person empty their pockets if they’ve got no real reason to do so. The word “search” is what’s important here, and the Supreme Court has found it unreasonable to search a person, or track a person, as it were, without justifiable intent. Have a peek at some important bits from the ruling here:

The Government’s attachment of the GPS device to the vehicle,
and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.

(a) The Fourth Amendment protects the “right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” Here, the Government’s physical intrusion on an “effect” for the purpose of obtaining information constitutes a “search.” This type of encroachment on an area enumerated in the Amendment would have been considered a search within the meaning of the Amendment at the time it was adopted.

You can check out the entire ruling in PDF form if you wish, noting especially how the addition of a whole new category of search is important to us all when speaking about privacy in our country. The image you see above comes from Jon Snyder and Wired, Snyder being the fellow on trial here as his movements were tracked by the government for 32 days without his consent via his car and a couple of GPS devices, one of them being the one you see in the image above.

[via Wired]

Alternate words from LightSquared on the subject have included them pushing for additional testing and trying to get the FCC to say that GPS has no exclusive rights to the waves they use. This most recent statement from the group has us wondering how much time they’ve got left given how far they’ve gotten thus far. As LightSquared Executive VP Jeffrey Carlisle says:

“The testing just doesn’t reflect reality — and it was probably never intended to. [Recent testing] was rigged by manufacturers of GPS receivers and government end users to produce bogus results. We’ll continue to look at alternatives … assuming this goes past the end of January.” – Carlisle

The folks on the GPS side of things have another opinion, that LightSquared is attempting to attack the testers because they do not like the test results. This would certainly seem to be correct save for the idea that maybe, just maybe, GPS doesn’t hold the exclusive rights to the waves (reserved mainly for faint emissions from satellites), and LightSquared has full rights to argue. As Jim Kirkland, general counsel to GPS maker Trimble Navigation Ltd, notes,

“LightSquared does not like the test results, so it is attacking the testers. Test after test has shown that LightSquared’s ill-conceived plans do in fact cause widespread interference with GPS.” – Kirkland

It appears that GPS might come out on top of this one, by the looks of it, and LightSquared’s position will turn into a move over or get out sort of situation. Will the group be able to convert their technology to turn over a new leaf, or is this the end for LightSquared? We’ll see in a few weeks, at the latest!

[via Business Week]

This system has just been launched this past week with real-time local information as well as integration with your contacts, music, and all of it from the one “My Dashboard” page. You’ll be able to connect with iPhone as well, it having an initial offer of Scout.me integration, the site offering you the ability to plan with friends via Facebook and Twitter and organize and save your favorite spots for later viewing. All of this is then synced to your device where your in-car display will be able to access it whenever you’re plugged in to the system.

Telenav announced that their initial partnership will be with Ford for its SYNC system, and as you’ll be able to see in the hands-on video, the whole system is already working quite slick. Voice guidance is also offered through your stereo, and text prompts are there too if you’re not a fan of being told where to go. All of this is available on the mobile end this week, but as for how soon we’ll see it in cars, there’s no solid date as of yet – soon though!

Grab the phone-based application from the iTunes App Store for your iPhone, check out http://www.scout.me/ as it enters its Beta stages, and grab the Android app in the near future!

There’s also an integrated 4x45W MOSFET amp, hands-free calling and a pair of line-out connections, along with an included remote control.

The Parrot Asteroid Nav has a larger, 5-inch touchscreen and comes preloaded with navigation software, real-time map updates and various geo-location services and apps. There’s also hands-free calling, the same connectivity options for music sources as the Asteroid CK, voice navifation and automatic phonebook sync. USB or Bluetooth tethering can get the Asteroid Nav online, or alternatively there’s WiFi. A steering wheel mounted remote is included.

Finally, the Parrot Asteroid 2DIN has a 6.2-inch TFT multitouch touchscreen and does all of what the Asteroid Nav can, adding in reverse camera support, the ability to broadcast video to separate rear-seat displays, and packs more choice for inputs and outputs. There’s a video output and a video input, twin audio outputs and a subwoofer output, a line-in and two line-out, along with a remote control.

Parrot is yet to confirm pricing and availability.

LightSquared here is noting that they’ve done no wrong because the problem is caused, first of all, by GPS receivers looking into its fully licensed spectrum. What they’re saying with this then is that even if the interference exists, these GPS representatives have no rights that would stop LightSquared from continuing on with business as usual. In fact, if what LightSquared executive vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy Jeff Carlisle says is true, the GPS industry agreed to their plans years ago:

“LightSquared has had FCC authorization to build its network for over eight years and that authorization was endorsed by the GPS industry.” – Carlisle

What LightSquared’s CEO Sanjiv Ahuja says is especially pointed in this regard as well:

“This petition goes to the very heart of the FCC’s mission, which is to ensure that the nation’s airwaves are governed by regulatory certainty.” – Ahuja

You can read the petition for declaratory ruling in a PDF file hosted by LightSquared and note the massive nature of the soft threat. When you tell a group like LightSquared that they can’t go through with a plan they’ve had on the books for 6+ years because some punk GPS jockeys have an issue with you, it’s time for business.

What we’ve got here is TeleNav’s award-winning navigation system brought over to an HTML5 world of full-color moving maps, automatic rerouting, and audio directions. Essentially what you’ve got is a very similar experience to what you’ve been using in your regular app-based TeleNav navigation system, only here you’re in the browser and using a very universal HTML5 set of bones. As co-founder and vice president of products for TeleNav Sal Dhanani says:

“This is an enormous amount of added value for any mobile, location-based website or app focused on travel, shopping, local search, deals and more. With one line of code, you can give your customers one-click access to premium, voice-guided turn-by-turn directions to any location, including hotels, restaurants, merchants or deal locations. Customers never need to leave your app.”

What this means for you, the developer of your own app or service, is that you’ll be able to add a button on your “find us here” page that links to a turn-by-turn navigation system that leads the clicker of the button directly there. This is beyond simple and certainly a value proposition we’ll see many businesses pick up in the coming months. The full TeleNav HTML5 service will be launching in early 2012.

According to testing that was conducted on October 31 to November 4 of this year, Lightsquared does cause significant interference with GPS devices. The study was conducted by the US government and determined that millions of GPS units in the field are not compatible with the LightSquared reports Bloomberg News.

The study draft Bloomberg saw noted LightSquared signals caused interference to the majority of GPS receivers tested. LightSquared was hoped to be an answer to providing wireless internet access to rural areas. To help reduce the issues with interference LightSquared is proposing a lower power level that would only affect about 10% of GPS devices out there according to the company. LightSquared and Sharp teamed up in October to develop tablets.

[via Business Week]

Google Maps new indoor features will help you get around two of the most labyrinthian locations in your everyday life: airports and malls. One of the first malls to be mapped will be one of the largest in the world, the one not 20 minutes away from your humble narrator’s abode: the Mall of America. You can back out and see the whole mall, or move in close to see your nearby surroundings including current stores, exits, and most importantly, bathrooms. You can choose which floor your own, where you want to go, and switch over to your car with only a couple of taps should you want to head to the nearby IKEA across the street.

You can take a peek at a couple of demonstration videos here, first on the airport feature, then one on the rest of the Google Maps Indoors push as a whole – enjoy the animations! The first locations to participate are first the Mall of America along with several chains like IKEA, Home Depot, a handful of Daimaru, Taskashimaya, and Mitsukoshi stores, and select Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s locations. As far as airports go, currently you’ll be able to explore Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Narita International (NRT). We’re hoping for Minneapolis International Airport (MSP) to come on soon since the Mall of America is literally 10 minutes away – how about the full experience, Google?

Then for those of you who own businesses and want to get in on the fun by submitting your own floor plans, head over to maps.google.com/floorplans and join in! There’s nothing we love more than Google getting on every street, every city, every business, and someday every home! Map the entire planet!

UPDATE: I stand corrected! Google has informed your humble narrator that there is indeed a brand new look for Minneapolis International in this version of Google Maps, complete with indoor maps galore! Have a peek at the hands-on with this map here: