Gearfuse

Clarion Japan has revealed some new details about their fully-packed MAX9700DT car navigation / entertainment system. This thing is going to be absolutley loaded with goodies, but costs as much as most used-cars. All models include a 1-seg TV Tuner, specially made for mobile broadcasts. With so many added features, the GPS system goes underlooked, but with Clarion’s 3D street level navigation, you’re getting the best of the best.

The system wil come with a widescreen 7 inch display built for a king. Add in a 40 GB hard drive, a DVD drive, a touch-activated screen which can replicate the interface of an iPod when connected, 5.1 Dolby audio, SD memory slots, four 50W channels, and of course the (gasp!) AM/FM radio, and you have yourself a Â¥341,250 ($2,800) car entertainment system. — Andrew Dobrow

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If you decided not to shell out the dough for Verizon Navigator, or some other equally useful GPS system, you might find yourself in a jam if you were to get lost ambling around a big city. At Microsoft’s annual TechFest, they displayed a new project which could save you the cost of a taxi fare or the risk of becoming even more lost. Imagine being able to snap a picture of any building in the city, and sending it off to a database, soon to receive a map and information of where you are. Microsoft can make it possible.

To make a working model of the project, Microsoft had to take millions of street level photos from Seattle, the first city to be tested thus far. Instead of making text the only source of a GPS directional system, Microsoft researchers figured it would be a lot easier to just make the camera the input. Using the millions of pictures obtained, and cross-referencing distinguishing features of the buildings, they can then compare these to the photos sent in by users. — Andrew Dobrow

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