November 26 - 5:10pm EST   A variety of GPS models from different manufacturers are being drastically reduced for Black Friday. Starting at $99.95 is the TomTom ONE clamshell portable navigation system, regularly priced at $179.95 at 6ave.com. Next up for $189.99 is the Garmin nuvi 260w GPS, regularly priced at $299.99 at BestBuy.com. The TomTom ONE 130S GPS is available at RadioShack.com for $199.99 after $50 in instant savings. Lastly is the Garmin nuvi 265WT GPS navigator priced at $249.99, a price cut of $100 off the original price of $349.99 at CircuitCity.com. [full story]

November 19 - 4:35pm EST   NCC is about to introduce five new Goodyear-branded GPS devices, with three of them out by Christmas, according to a Wednesday report by Engadget. The least expensive among them, the GY130, will include a 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen along with three million points of interest (POI), a SiRF GPS receiver, turn-by-turn directions and 3D view. The next step up, the GY135, will add Text-to-Speech capability, being capable of speaking out street names. The GY145 will up the touchscreen size to 4.3 inches but bring little else in terms of features and specs. [full story]

November 5 - 4:25pm EST   Sanyo on Wednesday announced it will soon launch a trio of advanced in-car entertainment and portable GPS devices, including the 7-inch Gorilla NVA-GS1580FT that doubles as a car entertainment center and the portable 7-inch NV-SD750FT, as well as the 5.2-inch NV-SB510DT. The first two use 4GB solid-state drives as well as a dual 12Seg/1Seg TV tuner built-in to catch live broadcasts in the company's native Japan. Apart from the smaller touchscreen size, the NV-SB510DT supports only a 1Seg TV tuner. [full story]

November 3 - 9:55am EST   Navigon on Wednesday announced the release of the 5100 max personal navigation devices, spotted earlier this month at the FCC, along with the 2090S. Both units sport Navigon's newest software that can generate routes quicker and makes entering information faster and easier thanks to the company's SmartSpeller software. The 5100 max uses a 4.3-inch touchscreen display with a 16:9 aspect ratio that will display real-time traffic updates. Buyers get these updates for the life of the unit without having to pay any additional subscription fees or having to buy additional hardware. [full story]

September 16 - 4:10pm EDT   Sanyo on Tuesday announced it has added a new, high-feature portable navigation system to its US line-up of Easy Street devices from its home market in Japan with the Easy Street NVM-4370. The unit is less than three quarters of an inch thick and features a 4.3-inch touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio that will display maps and any of its preloaded 7 million points of interest or play videos or display photos via an SD card slot. A video input lets users hook up the optional back-up camera or other sources to the NVM-4370. [full story]

September 5 - 5:05pm EDT   Late last month, Garmin announced the release of its nuvi 7x5 and 2x5 GPS units which came with no-cost lifetime traffic updates. Independent testing of one of the units, the 755T, has revealed there is a price to pay for the free traffic, and that is constantly having ads in the bottom of the screens from Garmin's partners and will pop up from time to time when not in motion, and cannot be disabled. Tapping the ad will find the featured company's nearest locations. The GPS maker has not informed potential customers of this how it will offset the cost of providing users with no-cost traffic data prior to the release. [full story]

August 20 - 1:10pm EDT   Better known for its audio gear, Clarion has announced the ClarionMiND, a forthcoming GPS unit. Unlike most such systems however the MiND is also designed to operate as a mobile Internet device (MID), a category currently dominated by Apple's iPhone; the MiND connects primarily through Wi-Fi, which enables web browsing as well as the use of special MySpace and YouTube apps. Unlike the iPhone, though, cellular access requires tethering through a Bluetooth 2.0 connection. [full story]

August 5 - 4:10pm EDT   Portable GPS device maker Garmin on Monday released the Road Tech zūmo it will offer as part of the Harley-Davidson Genuine Motor Accessories. The special edition unit will add all Harley-Davidson dealership locations preloaded on the unit, expanding on the more than six million points of interest previously available. The unit will come with a handlebar mount and support on Harley-Davidson.com that will allow users to create routes and upload them to the zūmo. [full story]

July 11 - 5:00pm EDT   TeleNav Software says it's developing turn-by-turn voice navigation software for the iPhone 3G, according to TWICE, The industry newspaper says the move comes despite a clause in Apple's contract with iPhone Developers that prohibits sophisticated navigation features. The iPhone 3G has a built-in GPS, but offers only on-screen maps and text directions. [full story]

July 11 - 9:20am EDT   Nokia has completed its purchase of mapping technology and software maker NAVTEQ after getting the European Commission's approval of the deal earlier this month. Navteq provides data used in a wide range of applications, including automotive navigation systems and web-based applications, such as Google Maps, Yahoo! and other sites. As part of Nokia, NAVTEQ will now continue to develop map data and its technology platform, focusing on adding context-aware services to the web functions of mobile devices, the company said. Such functionality will allow users to quickly and efficiently access data such as restaurant reviews and store hours from the Internet based on their ... [full story]

June 5 - 6:20pm EDT   Spectasia from MATT Services brings fighter pilot technology to the Mac OS Finder to provide intuitive file and folder navigation. The company says it's unique "ergonomic retrieval" 3D layout makes desktop icons easier to spot, increasing productivity. This "Head Up Display" is said to be similar to the screens used in advanced fighter jets and provides a "clearly distinguishable angle-of-view and also depth location for every item." [full story]

May 22 - 4:45pm EDT   Nokia today announced the newest update to its Nokia Maps 2.0 navigation software is now available for download. No longer in beta stages, the new Nokia Maps 2.0 include enhancements to its drive, walk and explore modes. The pedestrian navigation options, walk and discover, now feature multimedia city guides, satellite images and integrated compass support. The drive mode includes a subscription-based real-time traffic information update service and a choice of three views in the redesigned user interface. [full story]

May 14 - 3:10pm EDT   The recently launched Dash Express navigation system can now be used to do more than just upload maps or run live Yahoo Search updates thanks to its Internet connection, the company announced on Wednesday. Dash opened its service platform to third-party developers, allowing them to create applications for the portable navigation device. To show off what's possible, the company also announce five new such applications, called DashApps. [full story]

May 7 - 3:45pm EDT   On Tuesday, Clarion unveiled two new personal navigation units, the MAP680 and MAP780. The 4.3-inch touchscreen devices offer more than just 2D and 3D navigation, as a photo viewer, video and MP3 player and RDS-TMC traffic tuner are integrated. A 400MHz CPU is common to both units, as is Bluetooth capability that enables hands-free calling, sending SMS messages and A2DP audio streaming. The MAP680 has less built-in memory than its bigger brother, at 1GB versus 2, and can only be had in one of four versions with pre-loaded regional maps of Europe. The MAP780 includes mapping software for 43 European countries. [full story]

April 24 - 1:35pm EDT   TomTom on Thursday launched its Rider 2nd Edition portable navigation system made for motorcycle riders. The systems utilize a Cardo scala-rider Bluetooth headset to relay instructions and allow for hands-free calling. The 2nd Edition was upgraded with more features from the company's in-car units, including Map Share that allows users to share voice messages, points of interest or even itineraries via Bluetooth. A new Help Me! button can either connect riders with or find the nearest emergency services and roadside assistance. [full story]