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The Ambit watch is Suunto's latest GPS-enabled watch, following up on the X10. The package is designed to provide outdoor athletes with a suite of tools - GPS, sports computer, heart rate monitor - to train and adventure successfully. The data gathered can then be shared at Suunto's online training community, where there are more tools and features. Read More

Imagine the power of a US$500 outdoor GPS built into a $5 app available on iOS and Android devices. In a nutshell, that's ViewRanger. The advanced mapping GPS app has been around for years in Europe and just launched in the United States. Read More

Along with the well known defense applications, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are also used for crop dusting, bushfire and environmental monitoring, and infrastructure inspection. Such applications can see them flying close to the ground and amongst obstacles meaning it is of the utmost importance for pilotless craft to be able to accurately determine their heading and orientation to the ground. By imitating the method insects employ, Australian researchers have designed a vision-based system to provide real-time guidance for these eyes in the skies. Read More

The world's first handheld GPS to use the Android mobile operating system is gearing up for release. The All Sports GPS from Holux is also the first handheld unit with WiFi capability. The idea is to fuse smartphone capability into a handheld GPS, allowing users to download GPS apps directly without having to hookup to a computer. Read More

It may sound like the premise for the latest Pixar movie, but it’s actually happening – four small autonomous aquatic robots have embarked on a 60,000-kilometer (37,000-mile) journey across the Pacific ocean. The Wave Gliders, built by California-based Liquid Robotics, left San Francisco last Thursday. All four will travel together to Hawaii, at which point they will split into two pairs – one of those pairs will proceed to Australia, with the other heading for Japan. Called PacX (for “Pacific Crossing”), the project will constitute the longest voyage ever completed by an unmanned ocean vessel. Read More

Within just the past few years, scientists have developed an impressive number of experimental systems designed to help the blind navigate city streets. These have included devices that mount on the wrist, are incorporated into glasses, are worn as a vest, and that augment a traditional white cane. A young researcher at Hewlett-Packard Labs in Bangalore, India, however, has come up with something else - a navigational device for the blind that's built into a shoe. Read More

Hong-Kong-based Innotrends has unveiled its Ca-Fi Android 2.3-based infotainment system for in-car use. Tailored for 2-DIN dashboards and running on a 1.2GHz Cortex A8 CPU and 512MB of RAM, Ca-Fi features 6.2-inch 800 x 480 (resistive) touchscreen, a 3G modem to surf the web, GPS to handle in-car navigation apps, Bluetooth support for hands-free calling and 4x45W audio output. Read More

Having a calming voice like that of John Cleese or Ozzy Osbourne shout out directions to supplement the visuals on your GPS navigation device is an effective way to make sure that you don't miss your turn. Relying on visual navigation is a big distraction for cyclists too, dangerously diverting focus away from the road ahead. To help overcome such issues, a research team in the Netherlands has reported promising results from an audio-only navigation system that uses an Android smartphone connected to a pair of headphones to help guide users to a target location with music that's artificially shifted to the left or right to indicate direction. Read More

Although many of us don't know how we ever managed without our car navigation systems, they are not without their flaws. For one thing, when that voice says "Turn left in 100 meters," you may find yourself looking out the windshield and wondering "Does that mean this left turn, or the one just past it?" The Wikitude Drive augmented reality navigation app is designed to address these problems, by overlaying directional arrows on real-time video of the road in front of you. Read More