AIS has introduced the Mobile Rugged PDA, probably the most rugged looking of rugged devices I’ve ever seen. Running on Windows Mobile 6.1 and powered by a 624MHz Marvell PXA270 processor, the Mobile Rugged PDA features a 240 x 320 pixel, 3.7-inch display (a 480 x 640 pixel upgrade is optional), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional 3G and GPS, 256 MB of built-in storage, 256 MB of RAM, and a variety of ports including one Ethernet and a microSD card slot. The Mobile Rugged PDA is MIL-STD810F/461F rated for resistance to dust, shock and all the other fun stuff and IP67 rated for water resistance. Shipping on an as-yet-unknown date, the AIS Mobile Rugged PDA will have an MSRP of $1, 899.
Austria’s Zanier have announced a ski glove model with integrated GPS. Dubbed the X-Plore.XGX, the gloves help you follow a route or get back to your car along with recording important ski-related info such as altitude, speed and distance. Information is displayed on a monochrome display placed on thumb while the controls are located on top of the glove. And Zanier doesn’t skimp on the material either, using Gore-Tex X-Trafit to ensure you’ll always have warm hands. On the hill the X-Plore.XGX is powered by a lithium-ion battery and once back at the lodge users can hook the gloves into a USB port and upload all the recorded info to a PC.
Given the amount of running I’m doing lately and my goal of running an extreme ultramarathon sometime in the next 2 years or so, the Gobandit HD digital camcorder is definitely something I’d like to try out. Billed as the “world’s first digital HD action camera”, the Gobandit is targeted at videographers/athletes participating in extreme sports with fast-moving action. The Gobandit can shoot video in SD or HD, the latter maxing out at 720p resolution and 30 frames per second. The gadget can also take still shots in 3 to 5 second intervals at 5 megapixels and save everything in the 2 GB of built-in memory space or on an up-to-32-GB SDHC card. Like many digital cameras and camcorders coming to market in 2010, the Gobandit also incorporates a GPS chip so that it can record location, altitude, speed, distance and other location-specific variables suitable to the extreme athlete. The waterproof camera will ship in April though it can be pre-ordered now for £299.99 ($473). Check out some demo videos on Vimeo.
Google Russia and Russian railways have teamed up to put together a fascinating multiplatform mashup of the Trans-Siberian railroad journey. During August 2009, two video crews travelled the normally 6-day, 5, 753 mile journey from Moscow to Vladivostok in 30 days in order to acquire 150 hours of high-definition video footage. Using a combination of Youtube and Google Maps, armchair travellers can enjoy a simulated journey through 87 Russian cities, 2 continents and 7 times zones. If the clickety-clack of trains wheels clipping along the track isn’t appealing, viewers can enjoy a Russian reading of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the background!
Geomate.jr maker raises cash: Apisphere, maker of the Geomate.jr handheld geocaching device and location-based enterprise software has raised $4.6 million in funding.
Ouidoo augmented reality phone with GPS: A company called QderoPateo is attempting to make a mobile phone specifically for augmented reality called the Ouidoo. According to co-founder Steve Chao, the Ouidoo combines GPS, accelerometers and gyrometers to calculate location 10 times more accurately than GPS alone.
Garmin nuvi 1860 coming out in UK: This 4.8-inch GPS includes a web browser, Wi-Fi and a camera that can geotag pictures. Other features are typical though the price tag is a bit atypical in a market not so favorable to the PND-about £499 (US$800).
Techcrunch’s MG Siegler has the scoop on a new feature coming to Verizon’s VZ Navigator mobile navigation software tomorrow. Apparently VZ Navigator, which features turn-by-turn GPS directions, will be released in its fifth iteration tomorrow with the ability to share your location with Facebook.
Personally I don’t find this interesting, though it is useful for hardcore Facebook fans who don’t have too many options when it comes to sharing their lat/long locations with friends. Facebook doesn’t support location sharing natively at this time and other solutions such as Yahoo Fire Eagle and Nokia’s Lifecasting with Ovi really aren’t that streamlined from a usability perspective. So VZ Navigator’s Facebook location integration could be useful for a certain type of mobile user tied to Verizon Wireless.
With Google and Nokia both offering free navigation software that will include all these features for free one day, paying $9.99 per month for VZ Navigator 5 seems sort of silly to me. But then again, I live in Canada…
Our Rocky Mountain Tracking Smart Tracker GPS giveaway contest wrapped up yesterday afternoon and a big thanks to everyone that entered. It was fun reading all the comments and submissions-so many people don’t trust their teenagers! But enough blabbing. I know you all want to know who the winner is…Ken Wayne has been selected as our winner! I hope this makes up for the past 45 years of unlucky contest entries, Ken!
Free stuff! Free stuff! And right here, no less. Fort Collins-based Rocky Mountain Tracking is looking to give away a Smart Tracker GPS device which enables the owner to track, in real-time via any PC, the location of his or her vehicle in the event of a theft.
Smart Tracker GPS utilizes a simple box design and I believe fits into your dashboard-out of sight and out of mind. After a simple two-wire install and set up it’s ready to go. And while you’ll have to purchase a low-cost data plan, it’s only required for a certain number of GPS lookups thus only requiring payment when the Smart Tracker is being used.
If you were to buy the Smart Tracker you’d be paying $175 for the device and a minimum of $4.95 for a 24 hour usage time. So this is a great giveaway and quite generous on the part of Rocky Mountain Tracking.
If you want a chance at winning, just leave a comment telling us why you should be the winner and an email to [email protected] so I can contact you if you win. The contest is open until next Saturday at 12:00 PM CST after which we’ll draw a name from the commenters. Rocky Mountain Tracking will ship the prize directly to the winner (unfortunately Smart Tracker only works in the United States so the contest isn’t open to those outside of the country)! Game on!
Back in December, Google announced the launch of aerial imagery for 2 cities in the United States. The high-resolution imagery augments the satellite imagery of Google Earth and the street-level imagery of Street View, giving viewers a look at the ground as if they were flying in a helicopter or some other low-flying aircraft. Originally available only in San Jose and San Diego, both in California, aerial imagery is now also available for Sacramento and Oakland, California, as well as Portland, Oregon.
Travel company Orbitz and online real estate bigwigs Trulia and Redfin have all implemented the new imagery via the Google Maps API. Google Maps Mania also has a collection of mashups demonstrating usage case examples of aerial imagery.
Garmin has announced the nuvi 1490TV GPS navigator, geared for the European market. The 5-inch GPS includes all the usual PND features including pre-loaded European maps, free traffic updates, safety camera warnings, Bluetooth compatibility, 2 million POIs, Garmin’s “Where I Am?” feature that plots your location in respect to hospitals, police stations and other safety-oriented institutions. The nuvi 1490TV also includes voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions with spoken street names and automatic re-routing in case of a missed turn.
The most important feature in the case of the nuvi 1490TV, however, is the inclusion of a DVB-T mobile TV receiver. With the DVB-T receiver, the nuvi 1490TV can receive freeview digital TV and radio content from over 14 countries around Europe. In the UK alone it can pick up over 50 digital TV channels including the BBC and SKY. As an added safety precaution, the mobile TV feature only works when the vehicle isn’t in motion.
Coming in early April 2010, the Garmin nuvi 1490T will cost the equivalent of US$420.
Our 
But enough blabbing. I know you all want to know who the winner is…Ken Wayne has been selected as our winner! I hope this makes up for the past 45 years of unlucky contest entries, Ken!
