Last week we introduced you to AIDA (the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent)--get used to her if you can. MIT and Audi are hoping that this robot, or one that looks even more like Pixar's EVE, may be gracing your car's dashboard to ...READ»
Even as we busily plug our personal information into Facebook, the powerhouse social network is about to get a whole lot more personal. It's getting ready to link geo-location information to your actions on the social site.
The ...READ»
My parents already treat the GPS on their car like it's a person: "Shh! She's talking!" Now researchers at the MIT Media Lab, in partnership with Audi, want to take that relationship one step further with AIDA, the "Affective Intelligent Driving Agent."READ»
We wondered if makers of GPS navigation apps and systems should worry about Google's rumored efforts toward free turn-by-turn nav just the other day. And guess what--it's all true, and Tom Tom, Navigon, and the rest should be ...READ»
Yesterday the Web caught wind that Apple had bought mapping software startup Placebase in July. Several recent patents filed by Cupertino suggest that the iPhone maker is interested in personal navigation. What do they have planned? ...READ»
Computer engineers have come up with a way to use smartphones' microphones, cameras, and accelerometers, to identify a person's location in the end all and be all of indoor mazes: the shopping mall.READ»
Loopt, the location-based friend-finder, has just snuck an amazing little bonus feature into its iPhone app: It works in the background. As Apple detractors are fond of pointing out: The iPhone can't do this. What's happening?READ»
Yesterday, Nokia released a well-produced video demonstrating what they apparently believe to be the future of augmented reality apps. If you haven't been keeping up with AR, it's just used to denote an information layer ...READ»
Driving is becoming more and more automated: We rely on GPS, cars can even park for you...and now Toshiba's automated a nearby traffic alert system that solves the tricky problem of avoiding heavy traffic up ahead on the road.The core ...READ»
Twitter's about to unveil a new feature that taps into another developing social networking trick: Geolocation. The ability to pinpoint your location will happen automatically within the Tweet's code, and it has some big ...READ»
This morning, the Tokyo-based automaker announced four new developments: Forest-scented A/C, an automated turn assistant, a brand-new EV, and a remote-control iPhone app. With no major auto shows on the horizon, it's a bizarre time for Nissan to tantalize the blogosphere.READ»
Location tracking is only recently reaching the affordability level of the average Joe, but it's still not ideal. So when Chris Molnar's girlfriend wanted to track her stuff during a recent house move, he came up with a plan: A $99 ...READ»
Dell recently announced it'll make a GPS add-on for its Mini 10 netbook. While your mileage may vary on the value of this idea, I'm making my mark here: This is one of the dumbest gadget ideas ever.
I can see the inherent value ...READ»
One of the most eagerly-awaited functions of the recent iPhone 3.0 firmware upgrade was the addition of proper turn-by-turn navigation. The first big-name effort has hit iTunes today: Navigon's MobileNavigator.READ»
Japanese officials are about to test a cellphone-based tracking system in an attempt to combat future pandemics. It's a bit like trying to solve the problem with good design, just with much less civil liberty.READ»
Bold new concepts in mapping don't come along often, but London-based graphic designers Jack Schulze and Matt Webb may have invented one, with the "Here and There" map, which blends both a 3-D, first-person view and a bird's-eye view.READ»
There are plenty of voluntary ways to use your GPS-enabled phone to locate your friends in real time: Loopt, Google Latitude, or a simple text message will usually do. But if you're more into the constant-surveillance kind of thing, ...READ»
The next iPhone could be the center of a sophisticated in-car navigation system, if a recently revealed Apple patent is taken to logical extremes. We've mentioned Apple's extensive patenting of GPS technology before, but that's ...READ»
At the end of February, Microsoft [MSFT] brought suit against GPS company TomTom [TOM2] for several patent infringements pertaining to TomTom's Linux-based GPS navigation software. Now the Linux community is preparing for a fight, ...READ»
The Palm Pre is going to be a hot item when it launches this summer--possibly hot enough to tackle the iPhone. One reason it's gaining so much traction is that the Pre's features weren't designed to compete against the current ...READ»