Microsoft Bing Maps team members Tom Barclay, Brad Clark and Ryan Tracy talk about how their work with Dell Data Center Solutions on their new microsite in Longmont, Colorado, enables them to deliver the world to the world — for less.
Google Maps 3D route mapping
Fly through of a route in Google Maps running in Safari on OS X
Garmin: New features and capabilties for G3X
The software update theme continues this week as we address some recent software upgrades to the G3X system. Last month, version 6.40 was released, which includes many new features and capabilities including support for GTS 8xx traffic systems, the option to display the G-meter on PFD, the option to display track-up orientation on the PFD HSI, added support for GNS 480 MapMX data and more. Get this update free from the Garmin website!
Here’s a closer look at what you’ll get with the new G3X software:
The G3X can now interface with the GTS 8XX traffic systems, allowing the G3X to display traffic information for transponder-equipped aircraft in your vicinity. To assist with traffic advisories, aural traffic alerts are possible as well.
Another new feature is MapMX, which is now available when using the GNS 480 as your external GPS navigator. This feature allows the G3X to display a more accurate flight path on the moving map page, including procedure turns and holds.
You can also now display the HSI instrument on the PFD in a track-up orientation. Put simply, this feature automatically rotates the HSI to put the aircraft’s ground track at the top, which lets you fly with the course pointer at the top of the instrument regardless of crosswinds. In this screenshot, you can see that a 26-knot direct crosswind is trying to push us off course, but the HSI has rotated to show the ground track at the top; magnetic heading is still available on the heading tape at the top of the display. This handy feature can help reduce the pilot’s workload by taking the guesswork out of wind correction angles, which makes following the desired course a “breeze”.
For those who are looking to be a little more adventurous, we’ve added a large, easy-to-read G-meter to the PFD. The range of G values displayed on the gauge can be configured to match your aircraft, and there are indicators to show the maximum positive and negative G’s recorded since last being reset by the pilot.
A tribute to Bob Moog
In the mid-1960s, Dr. Robert Moog unleashed a new universe of sounds into musicdom with his invention of the electronic analog Moog Synthesizer. The timbre and tones of these keyboard instruments (true works of art in and of themselves) would come to define a generation of music, featuring heavily in songs by The Beatles, The Doors, Stevie Wonder, Kraftwerk and many others.
When people hear the word “synthesizer” they often think “synthetic”—fake, manufactured, unnatural. In contrast, Bob Moog’s synthesizers produce beautiful, organic and rich sounds that are, nearly 50 years later, regarded by many professional musicians as the epitome of an electronic instrument. “Synthesizer,” it turns out, refers to the synthesis embedded in Moog’s instruments: a network of electronic components working together to create a whole greater than the sum of the parts.
With his passion for high-tech toolmaking in the service of creativity, Bob Moog is something of a patron saint of the nerdy arts and a hero to many of us here. So for the next 24 hours on our homepage, you’ll find an interactive, playable logo inspired by the instruments with which Moog brought musical performance into the electronic age. You can use your mouse or computer keyboard to control the mini-synthesizer’s keys and knobs to make nearly limitless sounds. Keeping with the theme of 1960s music technology, we’ve patched the keyboard into a 4-track tape recorder so you can record, play back and share songs via short links or Google+.
Much like the musical machines Bob Moog created, this doodle was synthesized from a number of smaller components to form a unique instrument. When experienced with Google Chrome, sound is generated natively using the Web Audio API—a doodle first (for other browsers the Flash plugin is used). This doodle also takes advantage of JavaScript, Closure libraries, CSS3 and tools like Google Web Fonts, the Google+ API, the Google URL Shortener and App Engine.
Special thanks to engineers Reinaldo Aguiar and Rui Lopes and doodle team lead Ryan Germick for their work, as well as the Bob Moog Foundation and Moog Music for their blessing. Now give those knobs a spin and compose a tune that would make Dr. Moog smile!
Garmin’s multi-sensor controller concept for infotainment systems helps reduce driver distraction
With the increasing use of technology and smartphones behind the wheel, driver distraction has become a concern. But technology in general is not the problem. The most important question is how it is being used and integrated into the car so that it doesn’t distract drivers. Garmin’s new multi-controller concept provides a new and unique way of controlling essential functions of an in-car infotainment system, such as audio, apps, communications and navigation. It is a concept development from Garmin’s automotive OEM group, providing further research for enhanced reduction in driver distraction.
Garmin’s concept positions the screen higher up on the dash inthe driver’s eyesight and combines it
with a rotary infrared controller in convenient reach, a touch pad, and menu mode buttons. The infrared sensors of the rotary controller automatically detect an approaching hand and the system reacts by displaying menu options even before it is touched. Because the system “knows” when a user is reaching for the controller, menu buttons on the screen are hidden when not needed. At all times important information, such as driving directions and the name of a song or radio station is kept at the top of the screen so the driver always has a single reference point. Four buttons with infrared sensors on the rotary controller allow switching between different menus, such as audio, apps, communications and navigation.
In addition to the rotary controller, radio preset buttons with infrared sensors are positioned below the screen to allow a driver to feel for the right button without having to press it – when their finger is close to a preset button, a highlighted preset image appears on the display, allowing the driver to select a station.
Tied into this system can be HVAC controls, vehicle bus information, connected services and apps from a smartphone. Existing technology like text-to-speech, voice command, Bluetooth hands-free calling and traffic services also helps alleviate driver distraction to avoid potentially dangerous situations.
Garmin’s automotive OEM group utilizes the company’s long-standing experience in interface and hardware design from its automotive, avionics and marine segments to develop innovative in-car navigation, telematics and infotainment systems. Garmin already provides integrated cockpits to the aviation industry and is dedicated to bring a similar level of technology, integration, safety, reliability, and efficiency to the automotive market. Garmin recently announced its first fully integrated infotainment system for most 2013 Suzuki vehicles.