It's getting tough to stand out from all those GPS/DMB/PMP units helping folks navigate the roads while watching TV and listening to music, but Fusionsoft looks to have found at least one way to distinguish itself, with its new odd-i 7STAR unit providing some unusually substantial storage to back up all that distraction. The low-end 40GB model alone would have probably been enough for the device get noticed, but Fusionsoft's gone all out and stuffed an 80GB hard drive into its top end model for those with insatiable media appetites. Otherwise, the two units are identical, each based on Windows CE 5.0 and packing a 7-inch QVGA display, 128MB SDRAM, 64MB NAND, the ever-popular SiRF Star III GPS chipset, and the usual array of supported audio and video formats (DivX included). As is the case with most of this combo units, however, the 7STAR looks to only be available in Korea, for the local equivalent of $634 for the 40GB and $740 for the 80GB model.
[Via Akihabara News]

If you're not exactly keen on breaking your cellphone contract in order to pick up a new geo-tracking edition, or you're looking for a streamlined method to easily cover every footstep of your mischievous child (or your elderly grandparents), KLIC has your answer. Korea Location Information & Communications has announced the "world's first" terrestrial-based personal location detection device in the KP-100, which operates on a fee-based "my Pol" service rather than GPS. Aside from charging the user a monthly fee for the tracking capabilities, it also boasts the ability to work inside of solid metal buildings and in the trenches of Kalamazoo (or other places GPS has difficultly connecting), and with the simple press of the clever "SOS" button, a user-determined individual will be alerted to the carrier's location "within one meter." Furthermore, the device is designed to be charged with a common cellphone adapter, and can run for around four days without a recharge. Currently, the KP-100 will run you around 160,000KRW ($170) up front, with the monthly tracking services ringing up at 9,000KRW ($9.56), but KLIC plans on introducing smaller, more functional (think MP3 player) devices in the near future.

[Via AVing

A 4.3-inch touchscreen, live traffic updates, Bluetooth for hands-free calls and an SD card slot for photos and video -- nothing groundbreaking, but a solid offering all the same. JVC's KV-PX70 portable GPS unit is bringing its complete lack of surprises but overall sex appeal to Europe today, for roughly €575 -- spendy indeed, so hopefully you Europeans get what you pay for with this one, the specs are promising.

[Via NaviGadget]

If you've recently plunked down $599-ish for a TomTom GO 910 portable GPS device, but decided to hop onto the interwebs real quick just before you plug that sucker in (yeah, we know, the odds are low), then it looks like it's your lucky day. Apparently the Netherlands-based TomTom just admitted to a UK security journalist that the TomTom GO 910s that were produced between September and November of 2006 have been shipping with a couple Trojans -- similar to Apple's little RavMonE.exe debacle last year. But not to worry: "The viruses that were detected present an extremely low risk to customers' computers," according to TomTom. Of course, relaying to the public such helpful information that TomTom was obviously aware of would be clearly out of the question, but it's nice to know that while manufacturing oversights caused a couple of Trojans to be introduced to unsuspecting PC users by spendy GPS hardware, they at least aren't the nasty kind. TomTom claims the problem has been corrected, and that "Appropriate actions have been taken to make sure this is prevented from happening again in the future." They also have some instructions at the read link for removing the viruses (win32.Perlovga.A Trojan and TR/Drop.Small.qp), which mostly amount to advising you to update your virus software.

[Via Slashdot]

It's not the first DIY GPS data logger by a long shot, but Steve Cholewiak's new PIC16F88 Delorme Tripmate -- which Steve originally envisioned as a way to log his runs by carrying the unit in a backpack -- might very well be one of the cheapest. For under $20 you can snap up an old Delorme Tripmate off of eBay, and then set to work with Steve's detailed instructions. Sure, you'll need a few hax0r chops to begin with, and there's plenty of work to be done to get the Tripmate to spit out the right kind of data, and then store that data in an accessible way on some self-built circuits, but it's not like you had anything better to do this weekend, right?

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Although we've seen our fair share of zany criminals pulling off (or at least attempting to) incredible feats in order to snag a few good pieces of electronic kit, it seems that our era has all but eliminated the value previously associated with low-end, old fashioned electronics. Sure, there's a few folks out there shopping for bulky, cumbersome, and cheap 13-inch CRT televisions, but in numerous dodgy neighborhoods in and around Canada, researchers simply couldn't convince thieves to take one. In a ploy to track a thief from the moment the crime happened to where it ended up, the crafty schemers discretely installed a GPS device in the TV, and then proceeded to leave the functioning set in various unlocked cars around less-than-amicable boroughs for thieves to jump on. After nearly a month of trying to get a single thief in all of Canada to jack this thing, their attempts proved overwhelmingly futile. So while there's no exact moral to this story, we'll just assume that potential larcenists might be a tad more apt to pass on by your crib if you're caught watching snow-filled soaps on a 1982 RCA than say, a $10,000 plasma, but you already knew that, eh?

[Thanks, Camperton]

It seems like Sayo Isaac Daniel has some serious competition coming at him in the GPS shoe market, as GTX Corporation is unveiling its latest geo-tracking footwear at next week's World Shoe Association trade show. The questionably styled Xplorer kicks pack an internal GPS transceiver, built-in battery that's good for "several days" before needing a recharge, and a sleek Dual GeoFencing feature that keeps your offspring on a leash gives parents peace of mind. Shoe owners (read: paranoid guardians) can utilize the firm's "internet portal" in order to pinpoint limited boundaries in which the wearer can, um, Xplore, and if the person's shoes ever leave the pre-set area, a phone alert will be immediately sent to a pre-selected individual to warn them. No pricing or release information was readily available, but if we had to guess, we doubt your kiddo will be begging for these next school year anyway.

[Via NaviGadget]

With Brandt Snedeker upstaging Tiger's return to the greens, we have to wonder if he didn't get ahold of GolfLogix's latest gizmo before heading out to the tee box. The self-named GolfLogix handheld GPS exercises an exclusive agreement that allows the company to "utilize its proprietary golf software on Garmin's popular eTrex line of GPS receivers." Since this still-debatable technology has been given the USGA and R&A blessing, folks looking to more accurately judge the distances, terrain, and unforeseen hazards up ahead can legally take advantage of its 1.25- x 2.25-inch LCD, automatic advancement to the next hole, large on-screen numbers, water / shockproof enclosure, personalization features, and backlit screen to get an edge. The built-in 12-channel GPS receiver claims to be accurate within two meters, and while we're not exactly sure how much internal memory is included, it can hold "multiple courses" simultaneously. The unit itself should start shipping soon after its stint at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, and while one free course download comes with the $349 pricetag, you'll probably want to invest the yearly $29.95 for unlimited course access if you plan on moving around much.

Garmin's Nuvi 680 isn't exactly a major upgrade, virtually identical in appearance and features to the company's earlier Nuvi 660, with the notable exception of added MSN Direct support, which proved to be enough to get the folks at GPS Lodge to check it out for a full review. On that point, they found the 680 to mostly deliver the goods, with MSN Direct features like weather information and gas prices well-incorporated easily accessible. The MSN Direct Traffic feature, however, looks like it'll prove to be more useful to some than others, largely dependent on the coverage in your area. As for the 680's other functions, GPS Lodge found that the unit unsurprisingly performed identically to the Nuvi 660 -- in other words, very well. You'll still have to wait until March to get your hands on one, when it'll retail for $999 (including a free year of MSN Direct). Until then, you'll just have to make do with checking the weather on your coffee pot.

We know many of you (including yours truly) recently took up running just to bask in that sweaty gadgety goodness of the Nike+iPod collaboration. Sure, the out-of-the-box experience is good, but wouldn't it be nice to have more control over your run data? The folks at Gordian Labs think so and built the Runometer site for that purpose. They provide all the details you'll need to extract and upload your run data from the bowels of the iPod. Once uploaded, you can manage and share your runs with others and even map the data to your running routes uploaded from GPS data or from tracings done in Google Maps. It's not as polished as the Nike+ site but as they say, the site is "not even in Beta" yet. Of course, if you choose to upload your data to the site we can't guarantee it won't end up in the hands of the government or other aliens looking to track your whereabouts. But if you're feeling like sticking it to the man (however you may define that) then go ahead, it don't cost nothin' but your time.

[Via Hack A Day]

Joining the growing list of DMB-enabled GPS units hitting South Korea, the Mando Wholesee MWN-7200D is checking in with a rather large screen and a few electroluminescent keys, too. Demanding your full attention is a Samsung seven-inch WQVGA touchscreen LCD, and beneath the relatively thin 0.78-inch frame is a SiRF Star III receiver, DMB tuner, 64MB of SDRAM, 64MB of Flash NAND, and Windows CE 5.0 runnin' the show. You'll also find an SD card slot, audio output, AV input, USB connectivity, MP3 playback, image / text viewer, PIP support, and maps provided by Mando and Soft's GiNi. Per usual, we've no idea how much this fairly well-featured device will be selling for when it hits the streets of Seoul, but we sincerely hope its owners focus more on the turn-by-turn guidance and less on whatever television show is running on the side when navigating their routes.

[Via MobileWhack]

Yeah, we've seen quite a bit of mishaps happen in conjunction with operating a GPS device, and the list of brainless criminals is (fortunately) seeming to get longer each day, but this heist made the cops' jobs so easy it's almost implausible. A few crooks with a potentially bright idea set out to swipe a dozen or so cellphones from the Town of Babylon Public Works garage in Lindenhurst, NY, but unfortunately for them, the 14 units they swiped turned out to be GPS devices. As expected, Suffolk County police didn't have any qualms tracking the bandits down, and actually found the head criminal holding one of their prizes when they entered his home, as he was presumably trying to call his mother (or partners in crime) and explain all he'd accomplished. Nevertheless, the father and his 13-year old son, along with another 20-year old culprit, were all taken in on charges of grand larceny and stupidity, but at least justice prevailed, eh?

[Via Fark]

Taking a saturated market and cramming yet another alternative in it is Asus, as its "first entry into the portable GPS market" looks to be yet another mundane offering with little to differentiate it. The S102 touts an internal antenna, SiRF Star III receiver, and "advanced natural voice technology" so those turn-by-turn instructions sound eerily lifelike. Other features include a 3.5-inch 320 x 240 resolution touchscreen, handwriting / voice recognition capabilities, 64MB of SDRAM, 64MB of Flash ROM, SD slot, external antenna jack, MP3 playback support, photo viewer, and a rechargeable Li-ion battery that should be good for about four hours. Although Asus was kind enough to belt out the specs, it left us hanging in regard to price or future availability, but we're sure it'll fit right in with all the others whenever it lands.

[Via GPSGazette, thanks Dimitris]

We can't really call this a loss for Sony, 'cause it's still selling PSP widgets to these hackers, and we assume should be overjoyed at the kind of "in the face of all odds" homebrew scene its PSP still enjoys, but somehow or other Deniska has defeated The proverbial Man and released a new version of the MAP THIS! software which includes support for Sony's official GPS. The little dongle only just hit Japan last month, so props to Deniska for the quick turnaround. If you're hoping to do pull this off with your own PSP, you'll need to import the receiver from some place like Play-Asia, and be running 3.03 OE-B open-edition firmware.

[Via PSP Fanboy]

With the overall PDA market slowly dwindling into oblivion, Asus is attempting to keep the PDA kickin' for just a bit longer, and the company's latest duo actually isn't half bad considering the GPS functions and relatively slim enclosure. The A686 / A696 units ditch the MyPal moniker from days past, and rather than adding that bulky GPS antenna the side, Asus has bumped up the style points by crafting a stainless steel frame with a non-protruding GPS antenna. Both units pack Windows Mobile 5.0, 802.11b/g, a SiRF Star III receiver, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 64MB of SDRAM, 3.5-inch 320 x 240 resolution touchscreen, integrated speakers / microphone, audio recording capability, rechargeable battery, and it comes in at just 1.57-centimeters thick. The A686 is powered by an Intel XScale 312MHz processor with 128MB of Flash ROM, while the A696 picks up a 416MHz CPU and double the Flash ROM, and both units should be making their way onto store shelves soon for currently undisclosed prices.

[Via MobileTechReview]