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Are you fond of listening to music during the hours of a long drive? Alpine has turned up with CDA-9877R, a high class music player to take you to the world of music. Hearing music on this music player is sure to make you feel being present at a musical concert in person. It lets you enjoy music of your choice with audio clarity and tonal accuracy. Equipped with MultEQ technology, this presentation from Alpine is precise and perfect.

With high functionality as one of the highpoints, the Alpine CDA-9877R displays a complete pack of features. It offers fast-paced connection for iPod and MP3 file playback. Compatible with CD-R / CD-RW, the device displays CD text. CD/MP3 changer control is also available with it. You can operate it at ease with a high-end remote control and keep its volume in check with a retractable rotary encoder. The Alpine CDA-9877R will make a right purchase also because of its unique audio-processing features. Let it make you dance to the tune of your favorite music.

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ARCHOS has turned up with the latest version of its Internet Media Tablet to boost your internet activity,  provide you with easy access to media content and keep you tuned to TV. ARCHOS 7, the best-in-class of portable media players is an outcome of evolution of ARCHOS in the field of technology.  With media on the move, this hand-held device is a smart excuse for media lovers to go gaga.

With a high-resolution and sharp-edged screen, ARCHOS 7 makes you feel browsing the web on a PC. Browsing on this media player with the Adobe Flash™ 9 video support and the ARM® Cortex™ processor comes alive as a thrill. Its full email application facilitates reading, writing, sending and downloading attachments effortlessly.  With an internal hard drive for 160 GB – 320 GB, the device offers ample storage space for a large number of song and film videos. Enjoy a rich media experience by watching movies in DVD or HD quality on the go.  By means of the DVR Station, ARCHOS 7 lets you play all digital content like games, photos and music on your TV. Web radio is one of the highpoints of this media player from ARCHOS.

I suppose that the introduction of new technologies may raise ethical issues, and now GPS units have joined that club.  There have been recent ideas of providing people suffering from dementia with GPS tracker units so that their carers can find them more easily and providing children with GPS enabled mobile phones that inform the parents if the child moves outside a pre programmed area.

The ethical issues regarding the invasion of privacy are weighed against the requirements of duty of care/ responsibility and I guess that each individual has to make up their own mind in these cases.  However, a scheme has been piloted in North Wales, providing school children with gps enabled smart cards which are specifically aimed at monitoring their behaviour.

Another step towards “big brotherdom?”

Navevo ProNav PNN-200

The Navevo ProNav PNN-200 is designed for use for lorries, caravans and vans with route planning which gives the driver warning of height, width and weight restrictions as well as showing preferred hgv routes and where they are prohibited, steep hills, sharp bends and risks of grounding are also indicated. Designed with the professional driver in mind, these sat navs have POIs  such as truck stops, hgv fuel stations with high flow pumps and loading bays in London

I know I harp on about keeping maps in the car and using a sat nav as an aid to navigation, not a substitute for common sense.  Well, an article posted today in the Marine Corps Times, illustrates the concern in the US Marine Corps regarding the erosion of map reading skills amongst its troops.

Over reliance upon their sat nav landed a USMC foot patrol in jeopardy in Iraq when their GPS went blank.  They had a map, but no compass, or spare batteries for the gps… they were lost.  Luckily they weren’t under fire.

The thing is, rarely will our life depend upon our sat nav. If it goes down, we might get lost and waste a bit of time, unless, of course we do what it says and try to drive up a railway line!

And it used to be said that the most dangerous thing on a battlefield was a subaltern with a map!

Now that the Garmin Zumo 660 is readily available in the distribution channel, the units seem to be selling like hot  cakes!  Of course, given the specs on this sat nav, it is hardly surprising that it should become the sat nav of choice for motorcycle enthusiasts, but what is surprising is the number of units that are being sold.  Either riders have been waiting for the Zumo 660 to become available or they have decided to replace their existing units.  The other interesting fact is that quite a few of the Cardo Systems Scala Rider Q2 helmet mounted headsets are being purchased at the same time.

Mind you, with the lovely weather we have had recently and the forecasted hot summer ahead, it must be pretty wonderful riding through the countryside, easily finding those out of the way places and sharing the experience with your passenger and fellow riders.

All sat navs are dependant upon signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) (which was developed and maintained by the US military) to determine their positions.  Now, it seems, the lack of funds to replace aging satellites is putting the integrity of the system in jeopardy.  The US Governments Accountability Office reckon that there is a 20% chance that the system have less than the required number of satellites at times, between 2011 and 2012.

The EU “Galileo” System, which is supposed to provide Europe with its own navigation system should have 4 satellites operational next year. But this won’t help if your sat nav is tuned to receive signals from the US GPS system.