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I’ve always known it would just be a matter of time until Facebook rolled out built-in geolocation features. According to the New York Times Bits blog, citing company sources, Facebook will officially announced geolocation features at its annual f8 developers conference in late April. According to Bits, Facebook will not only allow users to append location information to their status updates but also provide a set of APIs so that developers can allow location information to be shared with the social networking platform.

With 400 million users this has the potential to turn the location-based application industry upside down. Facebook’s 100 million active mobile users are perhaps even more significant. But the company says it won’t attempt to compete with the Foursquare’s and Gowalla’s of the world, but rather try to take on Google in the local small business advertising niche. How that’ll work remains to be seen.

Twitter has also apparently rolled out geolocation capabilities on its website today though it’s been available from mobile phones and via its API for some time.

Facebook built-in location features coming in April is a post from: GPS Obsessed

by Greg Bartlett / guest author

When was the last time you looked at a picture of you or your family and asked yourself “Where in the world was that taken?” Unless you’re obsessive about cataloguing each photo you take, chances are it’s happened more than once. For those of us who can’t remember our own birthdays, much less where we were when that photo of the pretty butterfly was taken, Sony has introduced a GPS tracker to supplement your memory banks.

The photo mapper is a small GPS tracking device that can be clipped to your belt or backpack as you walk. It keeps track of your location throughout the day by recording coordinates at intervals. Simply carry it with you and make sure it’s clock is synchronized with the clock on your camera. At the end of the day, you can download the information to your computer and the software will match the location information with the time stamp on your digital photographs. You’ll have an instant map of your adventures plus new categorizing abilities including organization by trip, state, or city in which the pictures were taken. An online map powered by Google Maps allows you to add additional photos, keeping a photographic record of your travels that can be updated after each new excursion. Acting as virtual markers on the map, you pictures will synchronize with the location information in order to put place names at your fingertips rather than at the tip of your tongue.

Whether your next vacation includes several cities, several states, or several countries, you’ll never again have to worry about looking at a quaint village nestled in the hillside and wondering whether it was in Italy or Spain, or whether that vineyard was in California or Nevada. Your GPS tracking device will do the remembering for you and when you go to show off your travels to family and friends, you can focus on relating the humorous or special details that made the trip memorable rather than stumbling over memory lapses regarding specific place names.

GPS tracking devices have become an integral part of our lives and can be expected to become even more so as new technology incorporates tracking in order to make everything from jogging to photography a little easier. Watch for new innovations to help you keep tabs on family and friends, no matter where in the world they might travel.

GPS Tracking Devices Help You Organize Your Memories is a post from: GPS Obsessed

by Harriette Halepis / guest author

If you’ve ever watched a soccer match, then you know how close some calls can be. Thanks to a new invention called CTRUS (no doubt due to its limey green glow), the confusing world of “out of bounds” and “off sides” may be a thing of the past. CTRUS is a soccer ball, but it’s so much more than that too – in fact, it’s a soccer ball that’s entirely equipped with GPS tracking capabilities.

CTRUS was designed by AGENT, and it comes with GPS and RFID tracking capabilities. The idea behind the ball is to track each move and kick so precisely that there’s no need for last minute calls. The ball itself is made from a shell that’s entirely translucent. Inside of the ball sits a durable CPU that can be read by all who look into it – a kind of crystal soccer ball, if you will.

While the idea is entirely noble (and AGENT is the first company to come up with a ball of this type), many are sceptical that the CTRUS ball will actually work. Most close calls are incredibly precise, and GPS tracking technology may not be accurate enough to pinpoint every move that a ball makes. Still, the idea is a nice one that’s bound to be perfected within the near future.

For now, CTRUS isn’t available for retail sale (or on soccer fields), but it is gaining a lot of attention. Never before has a soccer ball been equipped with such high-tech features. CTRUS opens up an entirely new window within the world of sports – one that may do-away with the referee professional altogether. Then again, the day that sports fields don’t require the scrutiny of a black and white shrouded ref is still far away. For now, those who wish sports were a lot more cut and dry can look forward to more juicy inventions such as the AGENT CTRUS.

Soccer Gets a GPS Upgrade is a post from: GPS Obsessed

Navigon knows GPS navigation business is just more than telling people how to get to B from A so they’re adding more and more features to make their sat nav more attractive to potential buyers. Take the Navigon 2510 Explorer for example with its new software, real time data connectivity, and the ability to be used as a navigator when not in a vehicle.

So what’s the latest with Navigon 2510 Explorer? The sightseeing function. It can inform the driver of the interesting places to visit along the route with information on historical sites alongside with pictures, opening times for places, and even a guide for scenic routes provided by ViaMichelin.

The Navigon 2510 Explorer also offers pedestrian navigation that is accompanied by a motion sensor that changes the orientation of the screen when you place the GPS in a vertical position. It also has a digital compass that is responsible for determining our exact heading when walking. The improved 4 hours battery life also is helpful when you can’t depend on your 12V power source in your car… via

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

Navigon 2510 Explorer

Mio has a brand new GPS navigation system out in Korea called Mio S400. Mio S400 is a dual purpose sat nav device that can be both used inside a vehicle or on a bike/motorcycle.

It will come out tomorrow in Korea to be exact and will be sold for 139000 KRW ($122). The device measures only 18mm in thickness, weighs 147.5 grams. The battery is good for about 2.5 hours and it looks like it won the iF Design Award China with its stylish black/silver frame.

Some other specs include the 20 channel GPS receiver, Windows CE 5.8 which allows for watching of movies or playing games as well as the more important office viewer. It can also accept external memory cards up to 16GB.

Will it come to this side of the world we don’t know yet… via

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

Mio S400

There’s no shortage of GPS navigation apps for the iPhone these days. Destinator 9 is one of these, offered by Intrinsyc.

It has live traffic alerts, a feature called NavStrip which lists POI’s along your way, live weather, comes with Navteq maps, uses junction views for realistic 3D intersections, has the ability to send your location to friends, supports iPod controls and lets you navigate to your contacts.

It is available for Android, and WinMo phones too, in addition to iPhone.

Anyways we have ten promo codes for Destinator 9 for the iPhone – and all you have to do is leave comment below to grab one of these. While you’re at it subscribe to our RSS feed so you don’t miss it when we announce the winners.

If you don’t win; do not worry. There’s always the free 30 day trial. After the trial a lifetime subscription is $80 and a regular subscriptions is $60.

We’ll close this article for comments a week from today and after that we’ll announce the winners.

Good luck.

Brought to you by your GPS navigation site NaviGadget.

giveaway: Destinator 9 GPS navigation app