When Christopher Columbus first set sail on his voyages, there was little to help him navigate his way around the seven seas. While the compass was first invented to help improve navigation on the sea, there was nothing really out there to help with directions and navigation on the road.

All this has changed since the first global positioning system (GPS) came into existence. Instead of using magnets that helped track latitudes and longitudes in compasses, GPS use signals from satellites to guide travelers on sea and road. More popularly known as satellite navigation, or SatNav in short, these devices are available as automatic standalone pieces that can be fixed to an automobile or motorcycle, and can even be carried around when walking to a destination.

SatNavs these days can plot your position on a monitor, warn you of traffic congestion zones, and speed cameras, in real time. A few manufacturers have claimed to have pioneered the first SatNavs for use by the general public. Among these are Mitsubishi Inc, Honda, Alpine and Pioneer. In the U.S, a company named Magellan is said to have introduced the first GPS devices for use in automobiles.

The display on these devices is usually three-dimensional and the user can get a top aerial view of the road he is traveling on. What makes it really handsfree are the voice prompts which enable the driver to focus on the road while listening to the instructions from the SatNav device. The names of streets and door numbers of houses appear on the monitor as the driver passes by them. Many of the devices feature additional information such as parking areas, restrooms, restaurants, and fuel stations. Places of interest and entertainment areas are also often featured as part of the package.

Updates for these devices are often available online on the internet, so all that a user has to do is to connect the device through a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection to his computer and download updates. Maps are frequently updated by the global positioning companies on their websites and this and other traffic and road related data are made available to the users.

Vital to the functioning of these devices are global positioning signals from satellites. Without these signals, you are as good as lost with a device that can’t show you the directions. The liquid crystal display monitor is so lucid and is high on clarity that the device can be used to broadcast DVD and television programs. The mp3 feature is another feature for in-car entertainment. More recent models of SatNavs can be connected to your mobile phone and you can set them up for hands-free talking.

All portable SatNav systems these days come kitted with a power adapter, USB cable for connecting to your computer, car charger, bracket for mounting the device in your car, and a secure digital card with preloaded maps of a country or continent, based on your purchase, and CD-rom discs of navigation software applicable to your SatNav device. In today’s day and age, few drivers venture out to faraway locations without this very useful and portable device.

The future of television is the OLED television set. This set is different from the LED television set because it offers clearer, brighter projection and consumes less energy to operate. It is virtually weightless, weighing in at only a few ounces and is flexible as well as almost indestructible. The screen itself is paper thin assisting with space limited places.

The biggest difference between an OLED television set and an LCD television set is the OLED doesn’t use a backlight to function. OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. The organic matter in an OLED consists mostly of Carbon. Sony is the manufacturer testing the protocols of the OLED television set that isn’t yet available for public purchase. The OLED offers fast response times, wide viewing angles, high brightness and terrific contrast levels. OLED television sets have a higher quality of image and color control because they emit light instead of modulating or transmitting it (which is done in LCD sets).

The OLED television set has control over colors more so than the LCD set because it only expresses pure colors through an electric current that stimulates pixels. The primary color wheel in an OLED consists of red, green and blue. These colors are mounted directly on a printing circuit board. Each OLED element is housed in a “micro cavity” structure that assists with cutting out interference lighting that can affect the colors displayed on screen. The thickness of the organic layer in this set adjusts to produce the strongest set of light for each color (red, green or blue).

OLED has become the breaking edge of television technology for many reasons. The OLED fabrication process is easier than LCD or traditional sets. The OLED devices are also thinner and light weight which is a huge benefit to the consumer, especially if mobility of the device is required.

The first commercial OLED was put out by Pioneer in a car radio face. The breakthrough of the OLED technology is projected to become public in the year 2010. In years to come, OLED technology will change the way computers, cell phones, televisions, wide area lighting, signs, billboards and communications in general are viewed and used. Sony is introducing an 11 inch and 27 inch OLED television set. These sets are said to be between 3mm thick, no thicker than 10mm. The Toshiba corporation had planned on selling OLED products in 2009-2010 but then shelved it’s plans because of the cost of mass production. Samsung has also dived into this OLED race, projecting it’s release of CES-2008 in 2010. Samsung has also dived into the market of using the OLED technology in its cell phones. This cell phone has the ability to always be on but reserve power. Panasonic has reserved 300 billion yen to invest into OLED technology with the possibility of first production for the public as early as 2011.

In conclusion, the OLED technology used in televisions, computers and cell phones is the cutting edge of technology in our own day and time. This technology offers clearer more precise images with little consumption of energy. Not to mention the lightweight-ness and flexibility abilities this technology has embedded in itself.

Asus has let word out on its Eee keyboard which is basically a multimedia PC that is built into a keyboard with a small secondary touchscreen embedded in it. They have not said if it will be released to the public anytime soon, if ever, but from what it looks like, it seems like the perfect home theater tool. The HDMI completes the deal for an amazing home entertainment PC.

Via Gizmodo

Google has been slowly building its influence in the PC technology industry over the years, and now with the use of the Android OS as a desktop OS means they may be well on their way to overtake Microsoft.

Matthaus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann who are also the founders of mobile-facts took the Android OS and started using it on an Asus Eee PC 1000H. They were surprised at how little change it took to be able to run Android on the netbook, in fact it only took 4 hours of work to put together everything together. What made this possible is that Android is really just Linux at its heart, so it’s common sense that it shouldn’t be too port over to the desktop.

According to Daniel Hartmann who got the netbook running with Android, they were able to have full functionality including graphics, sound and wireless Internet. They said that they had been expecting Google to use Android for more than just mobile phones for a while now, and this shows where Google might go with it.

So as Microsoft rushes to release Windows 7, Google may be using their Android OS on PCs by the beginning of the summer. It’s finally time for a little change in the PC market.

Via PC World