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Garmin has announced its entrance into the mobile phone market with the nüvifone, an all-in-one, sleek and slim, touchscreen device that combines a premium phone, mobile web-browser, and cutting-edge personal navigator.

“The nüvifone is an all-in-one device offering unmatched integration of utility and function in a single mobile device,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “This is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for – a single device that does it all.”

The nüvifone is an innovative mobile phone that has a wide range of advanced yet easy-to-use features. The all touchscreen device is the first of its kind to integrate premium 3.5G mobile phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions in one device. The 3.5-inch touchscreen display reveals three primary icons – “Call,” “Search,” and “View Map” which allow the user to effortlessly master the nüvifone’s functions.

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Mapping London: Making Sense of the City
Author: Simon Foxell

Hardback / 288 pages /300 b/w and colour illustrations / 29 x 24 cm
ISBN13: 978 1 906155 07 0

Mapping London: Making Sense of the City is a beautiful, compelling anthology of over six centuries of London maps, tracing the mesmerising evolution of the city and exploring the hopes and fears of its inhabitants as history unfolds.

The book is a cartographic journey, charting the influence of Roman city planning, Saxon feudalism, Medieval tumult, imperial hubris, contemporary town planning and more on this great metropolis. It includes over 200 maps, from literary imaginings and utopian prophecies to portrayals of London in contemporary computer games, comics and online—as well as the timeless Monopoly board.

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TomTom Links GPS Devices to Google Maps – Information Week
TomTom, a maker of personal navigation devices, said Wednesday that customers can now use Google’s mapping service to find business addresses and then transfer them via a computer to a TomTom gadget. Clicking on Google’s GPS option after locating a business address sends the information to TomTom Home. Once the data is stored in Home, it can be transferred to a TomTom device via Bluetooth or wired connection. People can view the location on a map displayed in the TomTom device, which can provide directions to the address. The location can also be saved for a future trip…

Navigators Everywhere, Especially on Holiday Gift Lists – New York Times
JUDGING from the holiday-season popularity of G.P.S. navigators, there are few gestures more satisfying than telling the person you love, “You have no sense of direction, but don’t worry — modern technology can help.” This year, the Global Positioning System seems to have been invented merely to be tucked into great gadgets — smartphones, portable in-car navigators and even hand-held devices you can use on hiking trips or during workouts. Under this seemingly slim rubric is an array of products to fit many lifestyles and interests…

Secrets in Rare Cartography – EurekAlert!
Whales were the economic drivers of the 1850s. So important was this resource that the founder of the U.S. Oceanographic Office, Matthew Fontaine Maury, created a map showing the worldwide distribution of sperm and right whales in 1851. “Whale oil then was like petroleum is today,” says Christopher Baruth. “This is a graphic device that showed where the whales were located by type and season.” Quietly housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) since 1978, the AGS Library contains more than a million items, half of which are maps and charts, some dating to 15th century, and some that aren’t available anywhere else, even at the Library of Congress…

The controversial Google Street View project has arrived in Australia taking snaps in our major cities and towns.

The project has already captured images at street level in 17 US cities and attached them to the highly popular Google Maps online application.

It was launched in the US in May, and quickly attracted controversy after claims several images breached privacy.

Some images identified men outside strip clubs, women sunbaking in parks and even captured a woman’s g-string as she emerged from her car. Soon after, Google modified several images to remove or mask the identity of individuals.

Google Australia’s head of corporate communications Rob Shilkin said Australia’s privacy laws were tighter than those in the United States, and that no one’s privacy would be compromised.

“We’re giving very considerable thought to how best to safeguard Australian’s privacy, including consulting experts and community groups, while enabling all Australians to benefit from this new feature,” Mr Shilkin said.

“We’re focusing on finding ways to ensure that individuals’ faces are not identifiable in pictures taken in Australia and that licence plate numbers are not identifiable in Australia.”

Cameras mounted on top of “Google-labelled” cars will travel around Australian cities and towns, pausing to take a 360-degree photo, record the location of the image using GPS, and then move to the next location.

The images will be collected throughout summer and are likely to appear online in the second half of next year. (via news.com.au)

New Simplified Map of London drawn from memory… (by Nad @ flickr)

The TomTom GO 720 GPS Unit features a new elegant slim design with a high-quality finish that allows it to fit perfectly in any car or to be carried in a shirt pocket. The large 4.3 inch touchscreen has TomTom’s renowned easy-to-use and intuitive user interface with 3D graphics, including building footprints, that ensures drivers have an even better overview of their surroundings.

Technical Specifications:

• 4.3” full TFT color LCD touchscreen, 64k colors, 480 x 272 pixels
• Preloaded maps of the US and Canada on internal memory.
• High sensitivity GPS chipset.
• Support for active external antenna (not included)
• Built-in Bluetooth™ connection for handsfree calling, optional real-time trafic, weather and more
• USB connection for charging, updates and downloads
• Rechargeable internal 5 hour Lithium-polymer battery
• Dimensions: 4.6” x 3.3” x 0.9”
• Weight: 7.8 ounces
• CPU: 400 MHz processor
• Memory: 2 GB internal SD slot for optional, additional content. (SD not included)
• Operating temperature: 14° F to 131° F

Reviews:

GPSReview.net says…
What is important to note about the TomTom 720 is that it is more than just a simple specifications bump to an existing model– This device brings a lot of brand new features to the TomTom line that we can expect to see in future TomTom devices. So while this device is thinner, faster, and has a nicer screen than many pervious models, it has a host of new features that make the 720 an important device…It is hard to imagine this device not being a huge hit. It has generated more buzz in the industry than any other recently announced device. ..the TomTom 720 will also set a higher benchmark in terms of personalizing the device by allowing map updates, downloading map updates suggested by other users, and building your own voice prompts…

CNET says…
The TomTom GO 720 is a beautifully designed portable navigation system. Though more full-featured than the TomTom One, the GO 720 keeps a similar slim profile as the One and loses the extra bulk of older models… The entire front side of the GO 720 is dominated by the 4.3-inch, antiglare touch screen. With a WQVGA resolution (480×272 pixels), the display shows off bright and sharp-looking color maps. For the most part, we had no problems reading the screen…You can view maps in 2D or 3D mode. A status bar at the bottom of the screen displays useful information, such as the next instruction, remaining distance, and estimated time of arrival…

Google Maps users in the USA, Australia and New Zealand now have the ability to edit specific locations on Google Maps. Software Engineer for Google Maps, Seth LaForge, announced on the Google LatLong blog that the software will now allow users to place markers on the correct location in the event that it had been incorrectly placed to begin with.

“Take your favorite restaurant, for example. Now you can find it on Google Maps and move the marker to its front door. You might just save someone’s date with this information! Fixing markers can be downright addictive. I’ve spent hours using Street View to locate businesses and houses, and then moving their markers.”

To avoid vandalism the software also records the original location marker so that users can compare the two wiki-style and correct incorrect changes. Users require a Google Account to take advantage of the new feature.

Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas Of The Planet Earth – 73rd Edition
The Onion’s first original book since the New York Times best-seller Our Dumb Century, is destined to become the most important book of the new century—perhaps the most indispensable volume in your home reference library. In fact, go ahead and throw all of your other books in the garbage right now.

The Onion provides you, the elite consumer who actually reads books, a bound, beautifully illustrated hardcover archive of all the world’s accumulated knowledge. Carry it with you when you travel in order to make sense of the strange cultures and frightening cuisine of other nations.

BORAT: Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A. and Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
JAGSHEMASH READER! Subsequents to worldwide successes of his blockbusterings moviefilm, Borat Sagdiyev–televiski journalist and 4th most famous person of Kazakhstan–have in associate with Ministry of Information produce this travel guidings journal to minor nation of US and A. This book a most sensible acquisition if you are think of travel to this country and will instruct you on all you needing know–from how to get cage of your wife through airport, to how to gain entry to an American vagine without spend money.

It also contain most explicit guidings to American peoples–did you know that there are over 1,000 of them with chocolate colour skin? And that it natural, not makeups!? Learn too of the great American cities–Washingtons DC, New York and Londons–and read truthful accounts of their landmarks: for examples, discover that in realitys, the World Trade Centers of New York City is not near so tall as they saying it is.

Containings many many photographs never before looked upon and writings of most splendid caliber, this book really is a very nice!

Hitler’s globe sells for $115,000 – Press TV
A desktop world globe, formerly the property of Nazi Adolf Hitler, sold for an huge amount at a San Francisco-based auction house. The globe, which was recovered by a US soldier from Hitler’s residence in 1945 sold for $115,000. The 91-year-old US veteran said he took the globe as a souvenir after entering Hitler’s Berghof residence in southern Germany.

Garmin turns to Navteq; drops bid for rival mapmaker – Chicago Sun-Times
Garmin, the world’s leading GPS maker, took a new direction today, backing off from a $3.4 billion offer to buy digital mapmaker Tele Atlas while extending its pact with Chicago-based Navteq, the Chicago digital mapmaker. The GPS and mapmaker industry has been up for grabs since Nokia, the leading cell-phone manufacturer, announced last month it is acquiring Navteq for $8 billion.

Chinese take-away: Guidebooks – The Age
Travellers heading to Beijing for the Olympic Games may want to reconsider taking a guidebook. The Chinese Government has banned Lonely Planet’s popular China Travel Guide over what it deems controversial content. After repeated reports of confiscations from travellers, China’s ministry of foreign affairs confirmed that the guide was banned last year because of a map that depicts the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan as separate countries.