Men Free Blog

Check it, Europeans — Clarion has just dumped a new duo of PNDs on the market, and they’re both geared up to route you all over your humble lands. It appears that the only major difference between the MAP680 and MAP780 are the actual maps loaded in; the former is available in four regional versions, while the latter features a full 43 European countries. Specs wise, we’re lookin’ at a 4.3-inch widescreen display, text-to-speech, built-in TMC tuner, 3D display of buildings / POIs, lane assistant, Bluetooth (with phone book transfer and audio streaming), a 400MHz CPU, multimedia player and 2GB (MAP780) / 1GB (MAP680) of internal memory. No word on a price or any of that good stuff just yet, but feel free to get more acquainted with the pair in the gallery below.

[Via NaviGadget]

Read

Thanks to inventions like GPS Navigation and online directions, it’s getting harder to get lost by the day. Google Maps has been a big hit for folks trying to navigate to new destinations, and the free service just got cooler with the integration of Street-View into driving directions. Now when you enter a destination and get step by step directions, you can also click on a camera icon on the map to get a street-level view of the roads you’ll be traveling.

Street Maps allows you to rotate the view, click arrows to virtually travel the route, and even check out landmarks that you’ll be passing along the way. That way you’ll have a distinct visual to look out for when you’re going to turn, instead of seeing the tiny street sign at the last possible minute. The photo resolution is so clear, you can check out where there are one-way streets, read parking signs, and even keep tabs on speed limits on your route. The only draw-back is that you need to be within one of the 44 regions of the US to use the feature, but most metropolitan areas have the feature.

[Source: Carscoop]

Now, we’re not certain whether the 81xx actually arrived in a basket wrapped in old linens, but whatever the case, the FCC was kind enough to take Navigon’s forthcoming PND in and put it through the necessary paces. After doing a little 2 + 2, we’re going ahead and assuming that this unit is the 3D map-lovin’ 8110 that we played around with briefly at CeBIT. As you’d expect from an FCC filing, there’s no mention of when this thing will be freed for selling here in the US, but we don’t expect it to lag behind the 2100 Max for too awfully long.

Read

With prime motorcycling weather nearly here, TomTom has prepped an update to bring a handful of new features to its RIDER 2nd Edition. Aside from including Map Share technology and the “Help Me” menu, the enhanced 2nd Edition GPS will also provide a latest map guarantee, trip statistics and itinerary planning. Reportedly, the upgraded unit will go on sale early next month for £349.99 ($691) / £399.99 ($790) depending on whether you’re picking up UK / Ireland maps or all of Europe, but existing 1st Edition / 2nd Edition owners can snag the update gratis via TomTom HOME. No word on a North American release just yet.

Read

Honda’s launching the next step in navigation system evolution that will automatically warn drivers to be on guard when traveling through areas of high crime. The system is launching in Japan on Tuesday, but we haven’t heard of any plans to bring it to the United States. It’s probably for the best, as there’d be wide swaths of the country that this navi would recommend you avoid. Places like Washington DC, where crime is apparently legal and perpetrated by criminals with offices and staffs. Detroit might be marked with an avoidance warning too, but that’s more likely due to Honda wanting to avoid a Jets-Sharks danceoff.

Honda’s warning system uses historical data from the Japanese police to pinpoint areas where vehicle damage or theft has happened in the past. Areas then receive ratings based on the level of danger they pose to automobiles just passing through. We guess it could be useful for people who don’t take notice of their surroundings when behind the wheel, but some of us may lump it in with other “safety” annoyances like self-locking doors.
[Source: AFP]

As of today, we’re taking bets to see how long it will take before people realize that “GPS” does not stand for “Auto Pilot.” The latest “But the GPS told me to…” story is brought to you by a charter bus driver in Seattle. Piloting a coach through the Washington Arboretum — as the GPS instructed him — the driver ignored, or didn’t see, or didn’t believe (take your pick) the flashing lights and sign warning him that his 11-foot-high bus was too tall for the looming 9-foot concrete overpass.

You can see how the story ends. The overpass ended up with some superficial damage, the coach got a removable top, and the girls softball team inside received some minor injuries. Luckily, the 60-inch sewage pipe inside the overpass wasn’t ruptured. The driver was ticketed for $154. And in response to the charter company executive who remarked, “We just thought it would be a safe route because, why else would they have a selection for a bus?”, a Garmin spokesman responded “Stoplights aren’t in our databases, either, but you’re still expected to stop for stoplights.”

[Source: Seattle Pi]

Almost eight years ago, Europe embarked on a journey to create its own navigation satellite system. Named the Galileo positioning system, this global navigation satellite system was intended for the European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) as an alternative to the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). We all know that the US Military runs the current GPS network system. 

Concept building began as early as 1999 but it was four years later that proponents agreed on the first stage of the Galileo program. The main difference from the current GPS ran by the US is that Galileo is intended primarily for civilian use, unlike the current one which the U.S. military has arbitrary control over. The US has the right to limit access or shut down totally public access to the GPS system especially during times of war or when they opt to. The Galileo system will only shut down access to during extreme circumstances.

Also, the Galileo project claims to be better than the GPS in that it can provide location precision of around one meter. The US GPS system provides only a 10 meter location precision. Also, the Galileo system will be available to all users, which means both civil and military are welcome to use it.

When finished, the Galileo system will consists of 30 satellites, 27 of those would be operational while the remaining three will serve as active spares. The satellites will orbit the three circular Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) planes which is located about 24,000 km altitude above the Earth, and at an inclination of the orbital planes of 56 degrees with reference to the equatorial plane.

On December 28, 2005 the first experimental satellite was launched. The Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element test satellite or GIOVE-A was launched to test technology in orbit for the Galileo positioning system. Two more test satellites, two more GIOVE, are expected to be launched in the next two years.

GIOVE-B was supposed to be launched this year, but problems after problems have pushed the Galileo project behind schedule. This time, the reported problem was with the Russian rocket Soyuz which was the one that supposed to place GIOVE-B into orbit.

Just like any space program today, the Galileo program has been hit by rising costs. Plus, the European Union officials had to step in when private partners began squabbling with each other which caused several delays in the project. The estimated costs for the project has now reached 10 billion euro or 14 billion dollars. After the delays, the latest forecast for the system’s completion has been set to 2012.