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Waypoints, Twaypoints

I used to post a weekly column called Waypoints, consisting of GPS news briefs and items of interest to GPS aficionados, typically things that might not warrant an individual post. But it got to be too much, compiling bookmarks all week and then writing it up.

Yet since I follow over a hundred RSS feeds daily, there's just too much cool information not to share it. So I've been thinking about alternative ways of doing this, which are less time consuming and at the same time, more immediate.

What I've come up with is Twitter. With a 140 character limit, I can't get too verbose. I can post quickly and folks can get the information right away. I'm not sure if I should call this Waypoints, Twaypoints, or what.

Different ways to follow

• Have a Twitter account? Then just go to my Twitter page and click the Follow button below my picture
• Subscribe by RSS UPDATE: Twitter RSS feeds are not working as of 8 a.m., Feb. 4. You can't add it to your feed reader. Keep trying though! :-)
• Bookmark my Twitter page and watch for updates

Waypoints - Backcountry edition

With the SHOT Show underway, and Outdoor Retailer right behind it, we're seeing a lot more handheld GPS news and related product announcements. So here's a few odds and ends for you outdoor types:

Waypoints - Dragons overpower GPS edition

In an effort to keep up with all things GPS, I go through over 100 RSS feeds and websites each day. It's all complicated by GPS being an acronym for other things including schools and sports teams, and often these stories are a source of amusement. The most recent chuckle came from the headline Dragons overpower GPS, hence the title of this week's edition of Waypoints.

Garmin

• Garmin has released BETA firmware for the Colorado 300 and 400t, which adds a "reposition waypoint here" feature, among other things; discussion at Groundspeak
• Free Garmin topo maps of Arizona; discussion here
• Barrons thinks Garmin will miss the nuvifone Q3 launch date
• A guide to paperless caching on the Garmin nuvi
  
• Forerunner 405 tips and tricks
• GpsPasSion reports on some new features in City Navigator 2009
• Garmin has released new versions of Training Center for Windows and their Communicator plugin
• Definitely UK oriented, Mapomatic focuses on using OpenStreetMap data on Garmin GPS receivers. Via Pocket GPS World

Waypoints - April 6, 2008

This week's edition of Waypoints has more cell phone news briefs than usual, thanks to the annual CTIA wireless show held earlier this week. So let's get right to it...

Garmin and cell phones

Garmin made a number of cell phone related announcements while at CTIA:

• Upgrades to Garmin Mobile for a wide range of phones, including a more nuvi-like interface and access to Google Local search
• Garmin will provide navigation for select Samsung phones
• There is a free seven-day trial of Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry for Centennial BlackBerry 8300 phones
• nTelos is the first to take advantage of Garmin Mobiles's BREW application compatibility

Waypoints - March 30, 2008

Waypoints is a weekly posting of GPS news shorts...

Garmin

• Win a Garmin nuvi 650 from NJection.com, which offers speed trap and red light camera databases for Garmin GPS.
• Free Geography Tools continues its Garmin POI series with posts on creating a custom POI file and managing custom POI data.
• A picture of the nuvi 800 series remote control.
• Garmin has posted firmware updates for the nuvi 750, 760 and 770, and the Quest 2.

Waypoints - March 23, 2008

Waypoints is a weekly posting of GPS odds and ends, news briefs, etc.

TomTom

• Win a TomTom ONE
• TomTom hypes Map Share and the rate that changes are recieved
• More TomTom phone rumors

Waypoints - Ides of March edition

Welcome to the Ides of March edition of Waypoints. There hasn't been a huge amount of GPS news this week, so this week's post is relatively short...

GPS firmware

• DeLorme has posted a major new firmware update for the PN-20. Discussion at the DeLorme forum and at Groundspeak.
• Magellan has released a firmware update for the Triton 2000. Discussion at TritonForum.com.

Waypoints - March 9, 2008

Waypoints is a collection of GPS news shorts, announcements, random musings, etc., from the past week.

CeBIT news

I've given quite a bit of space this past week to announcements from the Hanover, Germany, Consumer Electronics show. Here are a few additional notes:

• CompeGPS plans to bring the TwoNav Aventura, a hybrid trail/auto navigation device, to the U.S.
• In my post on the Garmin nuvi 900T, I overlooked the fact that it has lifetime traffic. Perhaps this feature will make it to other Garmin models.
• Commentary on the safety aspects of Garmin adding TV to the 900T.
• A gallery of the Navigon 8110 and 2100 max.
• Meanwhile, GPS Business News thinks Black Friday consumers won't pony up for Navigon's FreshMaps.
• Magellan announces some new RoadMate models for Europe.
• Pocket GPS World blogs the show.

Waypoints - March 1, 2008

Waypoints is a collection of GPS news shorts from the past week...

CeBIT

The U.S. has its Consumer Electronics Show; Europe has CeBIT, which is happening next week. While we only have a couple of announcements so far, we do expect some new units to be announced next week by some of the top GPS companies, so do stay tuned.

• Nav N Go's iGO 8, which features 3-D imagery, is being demonstrated at CeBIT.
• Also at CeBIT, U-Blox will demo Galileo reception.

The business of GPS

• Nuvio sues Garmin. At first I thought, okay, it's a similar name. Big deal. Then I found out that Nuvio's HQ is four miles from Garmin's. You would think they would have known better! But why wait till the nuvifone to sue; why not sue over the name nuvi? One blogger points out that Garmin may have been smart to use the umlaut in the name.
• Garmin supports racing. Um, wait. maybe that's not how their PR folks meant for it to be taken.
• Maptech slashes marine chart prices and then gets put up for sale.