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Cell Phones, iPhone, Mobile Software, Reviews, Web

Impressive 'Siri' App Makes Your iPhone a Virtual Assistant

Siri is an Impressive

Siri
is a new voice search and "virtual assistant" application for the iPhone that takes "natural language" requests and turns them into actionable results. For example, ask Siri "where can I get the best sushi," and it will, using the iPhone's GPS, search Yelp to find recommended sushi restaurants near you.

Using Nuance, the same speech-to-text engine that powers popular tools like Jott and the Dragon, Siri converts your requests to text, parses them to determine your intent, and then pulls appropriate content from its partners such as Yelp, Eventful and Taxi Magic. What makes Siri unique, and particularly useful, is that once you've found a restaurant, or a movie, you can reserve a table or purchase tickets right from the app. Siri can also look up weather forecasts, business locations and concerts, and can even book you a taxi.

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Google, Web

Googlemobile Got By German GPS Pranksters

Remember when Google rolled out its Street View feature and everybody was suddenly up-in-arms about their privacy? Well, the tables were recently turned for a day in Germany. According to Mashable, some Berlin artists known as the Free Art & Technology (F.A.T.) group secretly attached a GPS device to one of Google's Street View cars over the weekend. In a hilarious bit of irony, the pranksters posted a Google map on their site, which tracked the car's movements around the city. The map updated every two minutes so that Berlin residents could check it and avoid being caught on camera. But somebody from Google must have pretty quickly noticed that the company car was being tracked, because the device went offline the same day it was planted. Nonetheless, you can still check out the map and see where the car went.

At least now, a few Google employees know how it feels to be watched. We're sure it won't make the company rethink its voyeuristic ways, but it might make folks who've been caught in compromising situations by Street View feel a little better. [From: Mashable]

Bank Robbers Busted by GPS-Equipped Cash

In what sounds like a plot from a bad comedy, three Illinois bank robbers were busted by cops who followed them using a GPS device hidden within the stolen cash. It's part of a new security measure that could make solving robberies much simpler.

According to The Chicago Tribune, Timothy Rucker, 33, Phillip Griffen, 31, and Brandon Barnes, 25, stole about $9,000 from a TCF Bank by pointing a gun at a teller on December 30th in Calumet City. The trio fled to the basement of one crook's parents with a nylon bag stuffed full of cash. However, the dumb criminals didn't realize that two credit-card-sized GPS devices had been hidden between some of the bills. Illinois Bankers Association spokeswoman Debbie Jemison explained that a few state banks began this practice about two years ago, so that police need only to follow the signal right to the criminals and the cash. Turns out, it works.

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CES-2010

Soon, AT&T Will Help You Track Your Kids and Packages

What's AT&T to do, now that it has a solid foothold in the cell phone service market? According to Reuters, the wireless provider will make deals to bring its service to 20 new devices this year -- expanding both its reach and our freedom to roam while staying connected.

Speaking at CES 2010, Glenn Lurie, head of emerging devices, said these gadgets will include (but not be limited to) e-readers, small computers, tracking devices, and digital picture frames. Over the next few years, Lurie said this expansion could bring in around $1 billion in annual revenue for the company, and tracking devices could bring the most business in 2010. AT&T would provide the service for a range of location-aware devices, enabling you to use GPS to keep tabs on anything from your child to a package. (Good thing, too, because who doesn't often misplace both?)

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Cell Phones

GPS 'Directions' Strand Couple in Snow for Three Days

A GPS device can be a wonderful tool when traveling, and even help save lives. Just as easy, it can foul up a trip and make you want to bash it with a rock. For a Reno, Nevada couple, their GPS pulled double-duty and did both.

While traveling through Eastern Oregon last week, John Rhoads and Starry Bush-Rhoads became lost after a cell phone equipped with a GPS told them to turn off the highway and onto a forest service road. According to USA Today, the couple trekked on for about 35-miles before becoming stuck in more than a foot of snow. For three days, the couple huddled inside their Toyota Sequoia, which was thankfully stocked with food, water, and warm clothes. On Sunday, the phone gained a weak signal, but it was just enough, according to Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger. The couple sent their location to authorities who came and pulled them out. Authorities tracked their location, and came and pulled them out.

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Web

Cat Strapped to GPS, Tracked by Owner

Cats, like small children and Chinese contortionists, somehow find a way to get in the darndest of places. So how can a cat lover possibly hope to keep their kitties close to home? One man from Long Island has a solution.

After realizing that his cat, KooKoo, had a worrisome tendency to disappear for days on end, Mark Spezio decided to take matters into his own hands, and outfitted his furry bundle of joy with a GPS collar. The collar allows Spezio to track and archive all of KooKoo's movements, but, as he points out in his narrated video clip, the device doesn't trace the feline in real time, since that would be plain "offensive." Spezio was also deceitful delicate in his design of the collar, embedding it into some sort of faux bow tie to perfectly match KooKoo's natural tuxedo fur coat [Ed. Note: Aww.].

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Google, Web, Holiday Gift Guide

Track Santa With NORAD and Google Earth

The stockings are hung with care, the tree is glowing bright, and Santa's list has been checked and re-checked. With two days until Christmas Eve, there's nothing left to do but let the anticipation build. One necessary part of that Christmas preparation is tracking Santa's flight path through the night sky.

There are several ways to track Santa this year, but if you're looking for experienced trackers, you can't beat the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) official Santa Tracker. The folks at NORAD have been tracking ol' St. Nick for more than 50 years, but they're not afraid of innovation. You can even follow Santa's flight path in 3-D using Google Earth. It really is a treat for kids (and adults, too) to watch Santa and his eight tiny reindeer zoom past digital versions of famous skylines -- from New York to Sydney, from Paris to Rome.

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Cell Phones, iPhone

Tracking U.S. Enemies? There's an App for That, Says Raytheon

Seemingly every other professional uses an iPhone at work, so why not a soldier? Raytheon, a military contractor, hopes to bring Apple's do-all device to the battlefield soon. According to The New York Times, Raytheon announced Wednesday the "One Force Tracker," which is an application that shows a person's position on a real-time map and provides secure communication between users. This live line between soldiers could reduce the likelihood of friendly fire and other errors. The maps could be updated by GPS to point out certain locations -- like sniper spots or safe positions.

There's one major problem though: an iPhone can only run one app at a time, which would need to change for the military's purposes. But J Smart (yes, that's apparently a name), chief technology officer for Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems, has a solution. "Underneath the iPhone is a Mac OS X operating system which is based on Unix, which gives us Unix multitasking," he told the Times. Then, you have to worry about all that multitasking draining the battery, but Smart says Raytheon is working on that, too.

So, it sounds like before too long an iPhone could become standard issue for U.S. soldiers. What's next? An Xbox 360 and a copy of 'Call of Duty' as a teaching tool? Wait a second... [From: The New York Times]

Car Tech

The Cheerful Pikavu Keep Kids on Lockdown via GPS

For whatever reason, parents nowadays seem more intent than ever on shackling their kids with GPS tracking devices. The latest product to add to the growing list of toddler house arrest devices is something called the Pikavu Express Locator. It's a spinoff of an earlier rendition, called the Keruve GPS Tracker, which was designed to corral the wandering elderly suffering from Alzheimer's. The sunny, bright-colored kiddie version includes a water-resistant watchband for your tot, a portable receiver, and uses all of four positioning systems (SBAS-GPS, indoorVision, VisionCellid, and T-GSM) to pinpoint the pre-schooler. The catch (in addition to all but guaranteeing that your kid grows up with some sort of weird cattle complex) is that this handy little lifesaver will cost you just over $1400.

We understand parents are worried about kids getting lost and winding up in trouble. But aren't there less humiliating, more human ways to keep tabs on your kids? It's a pretty radical alternative, but hand-holding might be just as effective. [From: Engadget]

Car Tech

Maplock GPS Anti-Theft Device Is 2010's Alternative to 'The Club'

If you don't take the necessary precautions, a portable GPS mounted on the dash of your car is an ideal target for somebody with sticky fingers. We don't know why, but some people are just too lazy to tuck the device away in the glove box or bring it inside. For those folks, Maplock might be the perfect addition to their car, which is probably already riddled with more gadgets than Best Buy.

According to Engadget, this anti-theft device locks and mounts onto your GPS unit, tethering the device to the steering wheel with a cable. Maplock is like "The Club," which locks your car steering wheel, and it will probably elicit plenty of laughs from your friends, too. On the bright side, you won't have to deal with busted windows and a ring of dried spit where your GPS used to hang. Unless the thief knows how to remove a steering column (and has help carrying it), your GPS will be safe and sound. But your dignity, well that's another story. [From: Engadget]

Audio/Video

Traffic Reports Vanishing From the Radio Airwaves

In the battle to keep listeners from turning that dial, some radio stations are ditching traffic reports. The trend is largely a result of the struggling economy, which has forced stations to downsize, and of technological advancements that allow people to instantly access information with their GPS units or smartphones.

According to USA Today, the top-rated pop station in Los Angeles, KISS FM, recently stopped broadcasting its afternoon traffic reports because another Top 40 station recently received higher ratings after ditching its own reports. Don Bastida, vice president of operations for Airwatch, one of the nation's largest traffic-reporting services, says he expects traffic reports to continue declining until they're only broadcast as part of major news stories. "Now traffic reports on the music stations become just an interruption that gives the listener an opportunity to hit the button and move on to the next station," he told USA Today.

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Computers

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Unveils Child-Tracking Devices

It may not be as fun as dragging your kid around on a leash, or as sleek as tracking your kid with a GPS, but the latest child-tracking system should at least be able to guarantee that little Tommy isn't playing shuffleboard with hoodlums during your family vacation.

USA Today reports that the new Oasis of the Seas ship, which sails under the Royal Caribbean flag, will soon be inserting electronic tracking devices in wristbands that all children will be required to wear on-board. The devices will allow parents to know where their bundles of joy are at all times, and are being introduced in conjunction with new Royal Caribbean smartphones, which will allow passengers to communicate with each other and staff.

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Car Tech, Computers

Man Crashes Into FBI Building to Destroy 'Mind-Reading' Device

It seems James Kromer had it all figured out. He was gonna do it, once and for all. The FBI had been controlling his brain with a mind-reading device for far too long. Kromer had to put an end to it. And he almost did -- until he messed up the address.

The 36-year-old Minnesotan crashed his car through what he believed to be the FBI building in Minneapolis. As it turns out, it was just the University of Minnesota Public Health building, which incurred $20,000 worth of damages from the incident. The entire case of mistaken location can be traced back to an extra zero that Kromer tacked on to the building number. (We're not sure whether it was GPS, or Google Maps, or what.) The real FBI building is at 111 Washington Ave. S in Minneapolis. The Public Health building, on the other hand, is at 1110 Washington Ave. S. Oops.

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Holiday Gift Guide

Gift Guide: Garmin Approach G5 GPS Golf Companion


Garmin Approach G5 (Sports Fan, Under $500)

To some, the game of golf is nothing more than a good walk spoiled. For the true disciples of the game, it is a test of character and mental fortitude. Both parties agree that it can flat out embarrass you.

For those who could use an ace up their sleeve (we're talking to you, everyone that isn't Tiger Woods) the Garmin Approach G5 might be just what is needed need to kick start their game. This golfer-friendly GPS device comes preloaded with thousands of courses' information, providing users with real time info on shot distances, hazards, and weather/wind conditions. The G5 also doubles as a four-person score card.

Golf can be a humbling endeavor. Tell your golfers to prepare themselves accordingly.

Car Tech, Computers

MIT's AIDA: The Friendly GPS Robot for Your Dashboard


Ever wish your GPS system could be something more than just a bodiless voice? Ever wished you had a pretty face to associate with that mellifluous, alluring car voice? Thanks to scientists at MIT, you might soon be able to entertain all your wildest robot fantasies.

AIDA, short for Affective Intelligent Driving Agent, is like a GPS-fueled Wall-E-meets-personal-assistant, a nifty little robot that can not only help you find the fastest route home, but can also learn your favorite after work activities, alert you when you're running out of gas, and adjust its directions to traffic conditions. The best part, though? It has a head that pops out of your dashboard. And it can smile. If you're nice, it'll even wink.

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