NAVIN miniHomer
Taiwan-based NAVIN Corporation, a company launched this year that creates and manufactures location-aware security products, has announced the NAVIN miniHomer GPS key fob. Shipping in November, the miniHomer is your typical GPS key fob that enables owners to record locations and waypoints. As opposed to the traditional usage of GPS which assists in finding directions from one location to another, the miniHomer records the positioning information of, for example, a car in a crowded shopping mall parking lot. When it comes time to navigate back to the car after the shopping trip is finished, the miniHomer’s built-in magnetic compass will orient a user back to the stored position.
The key fob has different categories for storing positioning information as well. Owners have a Car mode as described above, a Waypoints mode that could be useful in long hikes, Home, Favorite Spots, and Restaurants modes. The categories are a great idea, but limited in the fact that only 5 locations can be stored on the device simultaneously; effectively only one per category. The IPX7-waterproof key fob is shipping next month for an unannounced price that will include a 1-year warranty.