GPS

CoPilot Live Premium Europe for iPhone

With so many navigation apps available, many for free, it may be difficult to imagine paying for one. But ALK Technologies makes a reasonable case for its CoPilot Live Premium app. Its most compelling feature are the full set of maps it includes, making it possible to navigate without a data connection.

Most people using a smartphone for navigation will be doing 95 percent of their driving in an area with data coverage. But the most critical times for a good navigation app come out on back roads, far away from cell towers. Likewise, high data roaming charges in foreign … Read more

iPhone-compatible 'smart watch' raises $100K in two hours

The concept of Pebble's "smart watch" is simple -- a clean interface running useful apps and wrapped in a fashionable watch interface. The key to Pebble's inevitable success will be its apps.

According to its Kickstarter page, the Pebble E-Paper Watch will ship with the capability to run several apps using some of the functionality of your iPhone or Android smartphone via Bluetooth connection.

For example, bikers can get information about their speed, distance, and total time by using the GPS capabilities of their connected smartphone. Runners will also get a similar functionality.… Read more

Rumored: Transformer Prime to get GPS Band-Aid

According to a post on the Transformer Prime XDA Developers forum, Asus will soon release an attachment for the Prime that will "address the GPS function and be a fully usable GPS that will lock onto many satellites and keep their lock with Wi-Fi active."

The post goes on to indicate that the proposed dongle will be offered for free and will arrive in mid-April.

Though the original post was copied from an e-mail exchange with a purported Asus rep, no official announcement has been made by Asus.

Back in Feburary, we gave Asus the chance to address … Read more

Superradiant laser is super stable

Physicists have engineered a significantly more stable laser, an advance which could lead to better atomic clocks for equipment, such as GPS satellites, and physics experiments.

Researchers at the JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado, have built a prototype of a superradiant laser using 1 million rubidium atoms. Their work was described in a paper published in Nature yesterday.

Using a different structure than traditional lasers, the researchers believe they can build a laser which is 100 to 1,000 times more stable. These lasers could be used in … Read more

TomTom releases fix for 'leap year' bug

Satellite navigation maker TomTom has pushed out an update to fix a software glitch that left customers worldwide complaining about not being able to find their location.

The problem, which began on Saturday, meant the sat-navs failed to get a GPS position. Instead, users saw a gray screen or a message saying the GPS signal was poor.

Today the Dutch company apologized for the glitch, which it said was caused by a "leap year" bug in the GPS receiver software from a third-party supplier.

"A software update fixing the issue is now available via MyTomTom," it … Read more

Garmin becomes Suzuki's one-stop shop for cabin tech

A few years ago, we tested a Suzuki SX4 that was equipped with a Garmin navigation system. Of course, that system consisted of a Garmin Nuvi portable navigation device that integrated with the Suzuki's stereo via a specialized cradle. That hacked-together solution was one of our first overt experiences with Garmin as an OEM automotive navigation supplier, so it's fitting that Garmin's next step is taken again with Suzuki with the announcement that the navigation provider will be supplying its first fully integrated, factory-installed infotainment system for the automaker's 2013 model year vehicles.

This is no … Read more

Car Tech Live 256: New York auto show preview and the last live show ever! (podcast)

The Feds want to ban navigation systems, a preview of the New York auto show, we take a ride in not one, but two very fast cars, and finally we say goodbye to Car Tech Live.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 256 SHOW NOTES

• Fed driver distraction guidelines make navigation unusable

• Piece the 2013 Nissan Altima together from this trio of teasers

• BMW X1 in New York heralds U.S. introduction

• Toyota new sedan

• New Acura Flagship to Debut at the New York International Auto Show

Want to know where your teen is? Ask OnStar

If you're nervous about giving your teen driver the keys to the family car, you may be able to buy peace of mind from OnStar. The telematics company now offers the ability to tell you where your vehicles, and possibly the drivers, are at any time.

Family Link is an optional add-on service to the operator-assisted emergency response and navigation services offered by OnStar. Subscribers can log on to OnStar's Family Link Web site to view a map with the vehicle's location at any time. They can also schedule e-mail or text alerts to update them periodically … Read more

Property rights for spectrum makes more sense all the time

Has the Federal Communications Commission finally learned its lesson on spectrum management?

The FCC began proceedings yesterday that could OK Dish Network's plan to use existing spectrum to build a terrestrial 4G LTE mobile broadband network. The rulemaking follows the agency's earlier rejection of Dish's request for a waiver of license conditions, which prohibit using the spectrum for anything other than satellite-based applications.

The decision to proceed with the slower but more formal process was certainly motivated in part by the recent fiasco involving LightSquared. In January 2011, the FCC granted LightSquared a waiver similar to the … Read more