Filed under: GPS

We had a pretty good idea that not only was this whole “Biggest Drawing in the World” business fake, but also impossible. First, we were skeptical that DHL could make deliveries based on coordinate instructions. Then, we determined — with little effort — that the little campaign was a DHL ad. Now we have a straight-up admission from artist Erik Nordenenkar and DHL that entire thing was fictional. Appearing at the bottom of Erik’s site — after the fact and millions of hits — are the following words: “This is fictional work. DHL did not transport the GPS at any time.” Meanwhile, DHL offered that this was an innocent college project and they were happy to let Nordenenkar film in their warehouse, use their name, and make false claims regarding the whole shenanigan. So, there you have it. The videos, briefcase, DHL receipts — all spam. Move along.

[Via Wired]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, GPS

Geotagging devices are cropping up at a pretty steady pace these days, and it looks like you can now add one more company to the bandwagon, with Sellgino now showing off its GS-200 GPS Photo Tour device. Like other similar options out there, this one relies on your photo’s EXIF data to match ‘em up with the locations logged by the GPS receiver (a SiRF Star III, in this case), with some software provided to merge all that data together and plot out your travels on Google Maps. Somewhat more uniquely, this one will also double as a USB handset for VoIP calls (hence the design), and it can apparently be used as an external USB drive, though it’s not clear how much storage space it packs. No word on a price or release date either, unfortunately.

[Via Slash Gear]

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Okay Britons, here’s your shot at ripping us Americans who’ve had quite a few laughs at the expense of your GPS-loving neighbors. Reportedly, the driver of a charter bus carrying a high school girls’ softball team decided to casually follow the soothing turn-by-turn directions that were being emitted from the nearby GPS unit rather than actually noticing the enormous clearance sign on the overpass ahead. As you can likely guess, the 11-foot, 8-inch-high vehicle plowed right into the 9-foot bridge — which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 — though somehow everyone on board escaped without any major injuries. Oddly enough, the driver apparently isn’t alone in chipping away at the landmark, as a local even mentioned that “large trucks hit the bridge every two weeks or so,” but couldn’t resist noting that “this [instance was] by far the worst.”

[Thanks, Raleigh]

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So Pioneer‘s cramming a 5.8-inch 800 x 480 screen into this Pioneer AVIC-F500BT “portable” navigation device, and just got themselves some FCC approval for shipping it over to the States. In addition to that gargantuan screen, Pioneer F500 really excels at connectivity, with Bluetooth for hands-free calling, an optional traffic antenna, and some ND-BC2 add-on to hook the unit up to a rear view camera. You can also use it to control your iPod, but there’s an SD card slot if you want to handle those tunes with the F500. No word on price or availability, but this unit sells as the NavGate 500 over in Europe for a whopping 699 Euro — about $1100 US. Ouch.

Pioneer introduces AVIC-F500BT satnav unit got you all hot and bothered, then big brothers NavGate AVIC-F900BT and NavGate AVIC-F700BT should totally wreck your lifestyle. The new units sport all kinds of funky functions, like a 5.8-inch WVGA touchscreen display, built in DVD player (CD for the F700BT), 3D mapping with text to speech, PMP functionality with playback of MPEG, DivX, MP3, and WMA files, plus Bluetooth support for cell phones and the ability to manage up to 300 contacts. The do-it-all units also feature SD card support and USB jacks. Both new models will go on sale in Europe, Russia, Australia, and the States sometime in June, no word on pricing yet. You can watch a demo of the unit in action in the video after the break. C’mon… you know you want to.