Knight Rider GPS System from Mio

I really didn’t think Knight Rider was the shit unlike sleezy jerkoffs from the 1980s. Apparently, a few of these dudes happen to work at Mio, one of the better GPS companies on the market. It seems they had such a boner for Hasselhoff and KITT, a Knight Rider-themed GPS was a must for the 2008 product lineup.

For $280, you’ll get a run-of-the-mill GPS that has KITT-themed voice prompts. Yes, he will go “Hello Michael, where do you want to go today?” when you turn the unit on. With a special casing for the unit that’s equipped with red LEDs, you basically can’t go wrong. Unless you hate Knight Rider.

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Teddy Bear Backseat Driver

iXs Research Corporation unveiled the prototype robot teddy that provides spoken directions to the driver while making distracting gestures. It’d be cool if it did pelvic thrusts every time you came to your exit but no, this bear isn’t down to party. It’s got an alcohol detection sensor in its neck and will snitch on you in a moments notice. If you’re driving too fast, it’ll complain. If you rub his head he provides nearby landmark info; but he’s still a snitch and a pain in the ass.
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GPS Mail Logger Keeps An Eye On Your Anonymous Love Letter

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Software

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Just because the USPS tracking system happens to be as unreliable as a women’s period with PCOS, you might need a little extra push to ensure your snail mail still arrives at its proper destination. This way, at least it’s the right person who calls the cops on you for stalking. The GPS Mail Logger is just the kind of thing to save you the tracking fee.

Measuring only a quarter of an inch thick, and compatible with Google Earth, The GPS Mail Logger from Brickhouse Security fits easily into a typical envelope, and weighs little enough to save the expenditure for an extra stamp. After the letter moves on its way, you can watch the precise path it takes to reach its destination. Track your mail on your terms for the low-low price of $695.99. (more…)

Takata Steering Wheel Points You In The Right Direction

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Most GPS units either come in the form of dashboard attachments or separate displays. The Takata CSW Steering Wheels teams up with GPS company Navigon to incorporate GPS interaction right into the display on the luxury wheel.

The Takata wheel sits in sync with your entire car, attuned with most aspects, including your speed and gyros, which also works in conjunction with the Navigon 7100  application, calculating time until you reach your destination. (more…)

Retrieva Keeps A GPS-Aided Eye On Your Pooch (And You)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wearables

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Dogs aren’t called “man’s best friend” for no reason. Most pet owners would put their own life and limb at risk to keep their pet safe. The feeling that your dog is lost somewhere in the wild is one of the scariest thoughts a pet owner can experience. Retrieva is a system which keeps tabs on your dog with a GPS-enabled collar.

The sat-nav collars allows users to sign into a website to pinpoint the location of their dog, whenever the loved pet goes missing. Retrieva uses three different tracking waves; satellite, telecom and radio transmitters. So if you’re out walking your dog and you get pugged, a special panic button notifies your friend that you might be dead. But any good dog that isn’t a little puss should protect you from that in the first place. — Andrew Dobrow

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GPS-Equipped Walker Saves Grandpa From Making A Senile Turn

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

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Oh, Grandpa you did it again. Brought home by the police for making a wrong turn and “accidentally” walking into the woman’s fitting room. What are we going to do about these old timers constantly getting lost in the shuffle? Some student researchers are playing around with the idea of including GPS connected through WiFi on walkers.

This way, patients at nursing centers would be able to take care of themselves better, without their forgetful minds causing them to take a wrong turn at the cafeteria, and instead walk into the secret senior torture dungeon. — Andrew Dobrow

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GPS Enabled Glove Keeps You Moving

Tell Yourself Where To Go: GPS Starring Your Own Voice

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Most GPS units come with a stock robotic voice which dictates directions to you in an awkward and mispronounced fashion. YourPND is a service which allows you to record your own voice, and than download the audio files to use for your GPS device.

So far, the service only works for TomTom devices, but so many people who use GPS already use TomTom anyway. Garmin, Mio, and MyGuide are expected for the future. It’s cool because now I can hear the voice of the one person I truly love all of the time. I have such a sweet tenor tone and a face made for radio. It would be a shame to let my voice go to waste. — Andrew Dobrow 

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Sony GPS unit adds a location to the image

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As you sit and look through your old photos, your bound to come across a few that make you debate whether you are a flagrant alcoholic. Where the hell was this picture taken and why are my balls taped to my ass? Sound familiar? Anybody? Well, then. The Sony GPS-CS1KA GPS allows for you to add in a location to your image, in addition to the usual time and date listed in the exif file.

When you use the special Picture Motion Browser in conjunction with Google Maps, the software creates a webpage featuring all of your photos, represented by push pins over a map image. Oh, okay, so I was in Tijuana when that pic was taken. That explains it. — Andrew Dobrow

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Sony’s New Cell Phones Stink…Like Apple Pie?

Filed under: Cellphones, Design

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Sony’s new DoCoMo SO703i may come with GPS, TV, and music player functions, but what’s really interesting about these phones has nothing to do with the specifications. That distinction goes to the fact that one sniff of your phone could make you think about lunch. That’s right, the DoCoMo SO703i is available in 11 unique scents, like “apple pie” for instance. These scents are made possible by a replaceable strip located near the hinge. Each strip lasts for about 3 months, after which you can choose to replace it with any of the other available fragrances.

Is it a gimmick? Yes it is. But history has shown that gimmicks will move product. Unfortunately, those of us outside of Japan probably won’t have the honor of being duped by the DoCoMo SO703i anytime soon. More images are available after the break.

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