Navigation devices set to take mass market route
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Portable navigation devices are  poised to take off this holiday shopping season as market  leaders Garmin and TomTom race each other to make deeper  inroads into the mass market by pushing out cheaper models.
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Two firms are racing to map the world as the Internet goes increasingly mobile with ever more sophisticated gadgets for people on the move.
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Watch for wireless IM, mobile mice, portable storage--and a carrying case to transport the gadgets.
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Silicon vendor Atheros Communications has agreed to acquire u-Nav Microelectronics, a GPS chip maker, for approximately $54 million in cash and stock, the companies announced after the close of trading Thursday.As GPS becomes part of the toolkit users are looking for in networked devices, Atheros wants to add that technology to its lineup. Customers of Atheros put its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips into notebooks, dual-mode phones, and other products.&quot;GPS is something that these guys were asking us for,&quot; said Atheros CFO Jack Lazar.Broadcom, a rival of Atheros, acquired GPS chipset maker Global Locate earlier this year. Atheros chose u-Nav because it makes a single-chip GPS system using CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), a standard technology that has been key to Atheros&#39; own success in Wi-Fi, Lazar said. Using CMOS has helped to reduce the size and lower the cost of many types of chips.Privately held u-Nav was founded in 2001 and is based in Irvine, California. Its approximately 54 employees will join Atheros but remain in Irvine and at u-Nav&#39;s European engineering facility in Tampere, Finland, Lazar said. Greg Winner, CEO of u-Nav, will become the head of Atheros&#39; GPS business following the close of the deal, expected this month. Atheros is based in Santa Clara, California.Although GPS is an obvious fit for cell phones, there are many reasons to put it in other devices too, Lazar said. For example, GPS in a notebook PC could be used by enterprises to track the PC, and a notebook with built-in GPS could serve as a personal navigation device without any external hardware. UMPC (ultramobile PC) devices for specific purposes such as construction already have GPS built in, Lazar said.It should be possible in a year or two to integrate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS in a single chip, though Atheros probably wouldn&#39;t do that unless a customer asked for it, Lazar said.
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Blog: Google launches Maps feature that lets you customize driving directions by clicking and dragging the route to other spots on the map
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Manufacturers focus on mobile standard, expected to hit the market next year.
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In 2008, you'll be able to get Craigslist listings on your GPS device.
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Who's on the hook when a navigation system's instructions result in an accident?
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A service starting next month in Paris will allow a cellphone or GPS navigation device to search a parking lot database for nearby parking spots.
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The ViaMichelin X-930 is an in-car navigation device with Michelin-approved information about points of interest along the way.
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There&#39;s something to interest almost everyone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week:For the lostGPS is built in to an increasing number of mobile phones. Nokia is still the most aggressive vendor. This year it plans to sell 35 million phones with GPS. The Finnish phone giant is not alone: its competitors are also embracing navigation, so don&#39;t be surprised if in a few years GPS is as common in phones as cameras are today.Trendsetters: HTC P3470 and Samsung G810For shutterbugsPhone makers also continue to develop cameras. Among the features that popped up during this year&#39;s show are face-detection, image stabilization and the ability to take better pictures in the dark. Phone cameras with a 5-megapixel resolution are also becoming more common, although you still only get a digital zoom.Trendsetters: Sony Ericsson C902 and Samsung F480For LinuxApple isn&#39;t the only company redrawing the mobile phone map. Linux is nothing new in mobile phones, but the launch of Google&#39;s Android has given it a lot of extra attention. On the show floor several chip manufacturers&#160;showed prototypes. The first real phones should be ready before the end of the year. One benefit with Android is the reduction in the time it takes to develop a new phone, according to Texas Instruments.Trendsetters: ARM and Texas InstrumentsFor cineastsIf the mobile phone makers are to be believed, we should also use our next phone to watch movies. Two things that get us there: bigger screens in a widescreen format and larger storage capacity.Trendsetters:&#160;Nokia N96&#160;and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1For globetrottersGeotagging is a feature that combines built-in support for navigation and photography. When you take a picture your location is also saved. Then you can overlay that information on services like Google Maps, and see where you&#39;ve been.Trendsetters: Sony Ericsson C702 and Nokia 6220 ClassicFor CIOsWith Sony Ericsson on board, four out of five of the biggest phone makers have phones based on Microsoft&#39;s Windows Mobile operating system. The last holdout is Nokia and it still has no plans. One interesting thing about a few of the Windows Mobile phones launched at the Mobile World Congress is that they fit just as well at home as at work.Trendsetters: Samsung i200 and LG KS20For speed freaksPhones with support for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) are arriving at a steady pace. A few phones now support 7.2Mbps&#160;-- but to get the most out of that bandwidth you need a laptop. A few phones also support HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access), an abbreviation that in the real world means faster upload speeds.Trendsetters: Toshiba Portege G810 and LG KF700For speed freaks IITo get more bandwidth to your phone you can also use Wi-Fi. Support for this technology is also becoming more common. One of the advantages with Wi-Fi is that you can sometime sbrowse the Internet for free. Good luck doing that on a mobile network.Trendsetters: Motorola Moto Z6w and Sony Ericsson G900For your carSo how do you listen to your MP3 player without using headphones? One solution is to use the FM transmitter integrated in some new phones, and listen on your car radio. A small step for technology, but a big one for usability according to Nokia.Trendsetters: Nokia N78 and Sony Ericsson W980For the touchyTouch-based user interfaces are fast becoming the norm in mobile phones -- although buttons will still not disappear. The goal is, if all goes well, to make phones easier to use. Only the imagination of the phone makers limits what can be done.Trendsetters: HTC Advantage and&#160;Samsung Soul
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The computer-hardware giant, best known for products such as PCs and printers, on Friday laid out its plan to become a brand-name in consumer electronics products such as flat-screen TVs, music players and the devices that move content between them.
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They can plumb the Internet for the latest movie times, news headlines, stock figures and gas prices. They'll even help you skirt traffic, find a parking spot or make a phone call. Oh, and they'll navigate for you, too.
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The Garmin NÃ¼vi 660 is one of the first wide-screen navigation units that is also a traffic warning system and a source of entertainment.
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Devices that let people carry video and images are set to have a big year, industry experts say.
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Microsoft  and Siemens  (SIEGn.DE) will join forces to develop in-car entertainment and  navigation products that should make it easier for consumers to  connect devices such mobile phones and music players.
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Even though a number of companies are battling for handheld and in-car GPS technology, only a fraction are putting effort into the athletic sector of the industry. Yes, there is an athletic sector of the global locator industry.