Although possibly only for the US, Garmin are planning to release an ecoRoute ESP Cable, which allows you to connect a Bluetooth enabled Garmin Nuvi 1xxx device to your car’s OBD on board diagnostic connector to be able to display certain information, including:

• Fuel and Intake Air Anformation (Fuel Flow, Intake Air Temperature, etc)
• Coolant Temperature & Oil Pressure
• Throttle Position
• Combustion Mixture (Emissions)
• Engine Component Operation & Status
• Battery and Charging System Information
• Climate Control Information (Heat & AC)
• Drive Train Status and Condition

Interestingly, this is referred to as a cable, yet something that needs to be paired via Bluetooth, so it’s not clear exactly what it is, and how it works, (unless the cable is used between the device and the Nuvi as part of setting it up).   However, offering this information is an interesting new take on providing SatNav functionality, and something that we hope comes to the UK and other Nuvi models next year.  It looks like it will cost $150 in the US when it formally launches in the New Year, and there’s no word of UK availability (although there should be no reason why not).

Information courtesy of GPSCity [via Engadget]

This is the new 2010 Jaguar XJ, revealed today by Jaguar UK.  Although we don’t often feature whole cars, we’ve certainly featured some elements of the tech included before, so we thought we’d look to see how well it brings the tech together…

The styling reminds us of both the Jaguar C-XF Concept car, and the current Jaguar XF, with maybe a hint of the Citroen C6 in those vertical LED rear lights…

Like the Jaguar XF, the new Jaguar XJ features the JaguarDrive, a fly-by-wire rotary gear selector, but also features “JaguarSense reading lamp and glovebox switches” (basically the switches are touch sensitive); if you want to customise the interior beyond the normal choices of colour (14 choices), trim and wood veneer (11 choices), you can also replace the word “Jaguar” in the top-middle of the dashboard with another word of your choosing…

Laser thin phospur blue lines of light highlight the centre-console switches, and around the JaguarDrive gear selector, the handbrake, door handles, door mounted switches and even the door storage panniers, and to save you needing to even take the car key out of your pocket, it can be specified with Keyless Entry and Keyless Start.

The Steering wheel features lots of control buttons using thumb-operated switches and five-way pads, which will include controls for an iPod.  Oh, and if that’s not enough, you can specify an optional heated steering wheel!

The instruments in front of the driver is actually all virtual, with the ability to replace the tachometer with another warnings or information required by the driver and the display features a “spotlight” feature to highlight the most important information.  The large touchscreen for the SatNav also gives access to many of the cars functions (as have previous Jaguar touchscreens), and for some countries (including the UK, but not the US) the touchscreen is a dual-view screen, allowing the passenger to watch a film or TV whilst the driver cannot (he instead gets SatNav or controls, but never the film / TV, which is illegal here), with an additional set of wireless headphones for the passenger to allow them to hear the different source too.

That’s not all in terms of multimedia, you can specify a rear entertainment package, a Premium Sound system (600W) or even a 7.1 Bowes & Wilkins 1200W system.  Finally, there’s also a DAB radio option, which we would recommend everyone takes, with the UK Government suggesting that DAB should be standard in most cars in the next few years to allow a potential shutdown of FM signals in the future…

Of course, these options don’t come cheap…

• DAB radio: £250
• TV support: £500
• Dual View screen £850
• Rear entertainment £1500
• B&W 1200W Sound System £2000

all of that, on top of the car instelf, which goes from £52,500 upto £88,000 (we should point out that many of those features above are actually standard on the higher spec cars (eg the 3.0litre £62,900 XJ Portfolio includes Dual View, B&W 1200W Sound System, a rear camera and even a panoramic roof with electric sun blinds).

For more information, head over to Jaguar UK’s website here.

If you fancy leaving a USB car charger device in your car permanently, but don’t like the look of a normal device that sticks out (both physically and asthetically) then this might be the solution for you.  This miniature USB car charger is exclusive to Mobile Fun at the moment (in the UK) and is less than £15.  That’s more than a normal USB car charger, but in this case, you are paying for something that is more discrete.  If your current mobile phone / mp3 player charging cable has a car cigarette adaptor on the end, then Mobile Fun also have a range of USB based charging cables to help you out.

Head over to Mobile Fun for more information, although don’t forget the UK Gadgeteer Offers page currently includes a Mobile Fun offer.

Now, this is an interesting idea.  Mercedes Benz and developing this technology whereby a single screen is capable of presenting different images to each of the front seat passengers, allowing the drive to see, for example, the SatNav display, whilst allowing the passenger to watch a DVD (in most European countries it’s not allowed for the driver to watch moving images, such as DVD or TV programs whilst driving).  This should become available on the S-Class around Summer 2009.

The screen is an 8″ Active Matrix TFT screen with special filters built into the screen that control at what angle each picture can be viewed.

More detail at eMercedesBenz [via Engadget].

TomTom have updated their software for the 520, 720 and 920 models, with the new version being v7.480. Along with a few bug fixes, it adds support for the new HD Traffic receiver addon. There are reports of some problems with voice recognition no longer working, but these problems seem to stem from an accidental beta release in the US only, and should not affect users who download the update after yesterday. Some items (custom voice, custom cursor) will need resetting, and it’s best to take a backup of the unit before applying the update.

Story courtesy of Pocket GPS World.

There are a lot of rumours flying around that TomTom is planning a response to the Garmin nuviphone by producing their own equivalent. The device will possibly combine an HTC hardware device with TomTom pre loaded (removing some of the problems TomTom has had over the years with compatibility problems with their software working on some Windows Mobile devices). Hopefully more information will be revealed over the upcoming months, and we won’t discover this is a early April Fool’s.

Story courtesy of Pocket GPS World.

As well as the TomTom ONE HD, TomTom have produced a replacement power supply for the TomTom GO x20 and x30 ranges which includes a SIM and GPRS service to connect and download reliable and accurate traffic data, including data collected from Vodafone mobile phones up and down the country. This will cost €100 to buy and €60 for 6 months service, and TomTom plan to increase the range of devices supported later in the year. TomTom claim the HD traffic service provides 5 times as many traffic updates as their standard service and covers up to 10 times more roads. This should help when there is an accident, and traditionally you would have been simply diverted onto other equally busy roads.

Interestingly, the HD traffic receiver actually contains a Li-Ion battery, so does not appear to need an external power supply to function, although when connected, it will power both the traffic receiver and the main SatNav unit.

Although available separately, it will be provided as standard on the TomTom GO 730 HD Traffic and the TomTom GO 930 HD.

The only downside (in the short term) is that it appears it is not compatible with third party mounts, such as the CarComm mount we featured here, although we expect Brodit and CarComm to update their solutions fairly soon after the devices are widely available.

Hopefully this service will be available soon in the UK (it should be before the end of the year).

TomTom has used CeBIT (as usual) to announce it’s new units for the year. These are the 530, 730 and 930 units. In a similar way to last year’s x20 units, the 530 will have UK & Ireland mapping, the 730 has Western and Eastern European mapping, and the 930 will have US, Canada and Western and Eastern European mapping. The units are of a similar style to the existing x20 units, although these new units come in “very sophisticated soft touch black with “real metal” detailing”. Again, as usual, these units come with new software.

More information in the rest of the article.

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If you have a TomTom SatNav device, and you use the PGPSW (Pocket GPS World) Speed Camera Database, then head over to their website, where you will find a new set of custom speed camera icons. These aren’t compatible with every TomTom device, so you’ll need to check whether they will work with your unit first, but if they will, they provide a much richer icon set than the default.

If, of course, you don’t use their Speed Camera Database, these icons won’t be much use, so whilst you are there, sign up – it’s only £19 per year, and for that you get access to the forums, discounts on new GPS hardware, and access to the speed camera database. Plus, if you report just one previously unreported static speed camera position or a change to speed/location of an existing static camera already in the database or (finally) a new mobile site then you may (subject to verification by PGPSW) get a lifetime subscription (remember only the first reporter will get the lifetime sub).

Picture courtesy of Pocket GPS World.

Although announced some time ago, the Toyota Yaris SR is the first car we’re aware of that is shipping with the TomTom dock solution. The TomTom Duo allows you to remove the actual SatNav element (like most TomTom units) to allow you to still plan routes when away from the car (plus update the maps / speed cameras), but by having a permanently remaining interface, a lot of extra technology is included. This includes acting as an ipod interface, a radio, a CD player, a mp3 / wma player (via USB memory stick); in fact, most of these functions still work even with the SatNav unit removed. In terms of specification, the Duo is a similar spec to the TomTom ONE.

This is standard fitment on the Toyota Yaris SR.

Whether you are a PC or Mac user, TomTom has been busy updating it’s desktop software. TomTom Home 2.2 is now released, and offers some new functionality, notably more user community sharing options, with the ability to upload and share POIs, Voices, Routes, Colour Schemes, Sounds (arrival sound, alert sounds, ringtones). In terms of Mac support, the new version offers new functions, and a much more stable interface.

In other news, TomTom has now signed up Vodafone to provide the data for their HD service in Germany. Although only live in The Netherlands, TomTom had already signed up Vodafone to provide the data there and in the UK. TomTom are hoping to have HD traffic for 50% of their European customers by the end of 2008.

A lot of people have been trying to connect their TomTom SatNav devices to their new 3 SkypePhones to get traffic updates, and having problems. Crundy, who developed the SkypeIN / SkypeOUT workaround, has released details instructions on how to achieve this, which you can access in the rest of the article.

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The latest TomTom devices (x20 range – 520, 720, 920) support custom cursors (custom vehicle icons) out of the box, but an earlier device upgraded with the same v7 software does not. Help is at hand…

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If you are fed up with the car mount for your TomTom, Carcomm have a range of mounts for a variety of devices, but they include the new TomTom x20 range (520, 720, 920). This new mounts includes a TMC extension cable, allowing better positioning of the mount and the TMC antenna. PocketGPSWorld have reviewed this new mount here.

Brodit has launched it’s first mount for a Nokia Internet Tablet, in this case, the N800. Although the N800 Navigation Kit comes with a Nokia mount, these cannot be purchased individually.

Many people are using their N800 with the very respected Maemo Mapper freeware application, and hence need a facility for mounting their tablet in the car. The mount is available in two versions, the second also containing a built in power cable for keeping the battery of the N800 charged up.

The recently launched Nokia N810 ships with a (slightly unwieldy) Nokia mount in the box, but we suspect Brodit will launch a mount similar to this which supports it in the near future.

Brodit mounts come in two parts, a device specific part, and a car specific part, creating a very nice custom mount that rarely looks out of place. However, these parts don’t come cheap, but as users of Brodit parts for many years now, we recommend them.

Venturi Mini is another feature rich Bluetooth Handsfree kit recently launched. As well as including support for A2DP to allow you to stream your music from your Bluetooth Mobile Phone to it, it also has an FM transmitter for easy connection to your car stereo. It also has a USB socket to allow you to charge your phone / mp3 player, and like the Gear4 BluFM we covered before, you can connect your iPod / mp3 player via a cable to play music too. As with many of these devices, it also supports a wired connection to your car stereo if you don’t want to use the FM transmitter.

However, the Venturi Mini also uses some of the advanced features of the RDS data specification to display information on the car stereo (where supported) – eg the Caller ID is displayed when an incoming call occurs. Menu items and the phonebook can also be displayed. If your car doesn’t support this (although most do), the Venturi Mini has a OLED display on the device itself too. This RDS feature sets it apart from other FM transmitter-based devices we’ve seen, although the price seems to reflect that too.

It should be pointed out that the device itself has no speaker.

Available now from Venturi’s website for £79.99.

Yesterday TomTom launched their new HD Traffic service in The Netherlands. This High Definition traffic service uses raw, anonymous GSM signalling data made available through the partnership between TomTom and Vodafone. This data is merged with existing traffic sources to deliver the world’s most advanced traffic data.

This unique new way of supplying customers with accurate and precise traffic information, using anonymous, aggregated mobile phone data, sets a new industry standard and revolutionises the way drivers plan their daily journeys. Users receive up to five times more traffic updates so they are better informed about the traffic situation on their route and receive more accurate travel and arrival times.

In addition, HD Traffic covers at least ten times more roads in the Netherlands, so drivers know in advance that the alternative route they take is actually a smarter option, thus avoiding any unnecessary delays. TomTom has entered into a partnership with mobile network operator Vodafone in The Netherlands and in the United Kingdom for the supply of the anonymous GSM signaling data. Vodafone’s international footprint, strong brand, innovative power and the best mobile network in the industry makes it a true and reliable partner for TomTom and its users.

The ONE XL HD Traffic comes with integrated HD Traffic, using a built-in SIM card to automatically set up a LIVE connection to the TomTom HD Traffic Centre. The TomTom ONE XL HD Traffic comes with a 12 month introductory subscription to HD Traffic included. After that, you decide if you want to subscribe at the fixed, low cost fee (€9.99 per month in NL, which includes the data connection as well as the traffic service). No hidden charges, no mobile tariffs and no nasty surprises.

TomTom expect to launch this HD Traffic service in the UK in 2008.

Gear4 has recently launched an intriguing device. If you weren’t sure about the Pure Highway, which provides DAB radio and ipod / mp3 music via an FM transmitter, the BluFM provides ipod music via a built in FM transmitter, but also acts as a Bluetooth Headset for your mobile phone, which will nicely interrupt your playing music when you get an incoming call.

More details and pricing in the rest of the article.

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Pure Digital, a well respected maker of DAB radio equipment in the UK, have just announced their new PURE Highway DAB in-car radio.  What’s unique about this, compared to the previous in-car DAB addon radios is the easy self-install design…

More details in the rest of the article.

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TomTom announced today that it is now supplying selected TomTom SatNav devices with their latest (read fixed) RDS-TMC traffic receiver in the same box. Similar to Garmin, TomTom has added a “T” into the new product titles to indicate that the product is a bundle including traffic support.

More details of the models and prices in the rest of the article.

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