Tech Stream

Tech Stream 021

10 July 2009

Listen and download: MP3

With more smartphones featuring GPS, maps and navigation applications what does the future hold for dedicated sat-nav devices? Photo from Flickr by tripu.

We hit the wide open road in the Tech Stream this week with some of the latest GPS satellite navigation applications for mobile phones.

Technology journalist Adam Turner has had a chance to try an Australian sat-nav mobile maps application for the iPhone called Sygic (you can read a full review on his blog). But it seems we shouldn’t be throwing out our dedicated sat-nav devices just yet.

Plus we ask, what exactly is GPS and where did it come from?  We have an expert in the field with us to answer our questions: Professor Chris Rizos, Head of the School of Surveying & Spatial Information Systems at the University of New South Wales. You can also read more about GPS – the Global Positioning System – on ABC Science Online.

We also briefly mention the news about Google launching its own PC operating system called Chrome OS. Details are still sketchy but the company has posted this FAQ and blog-post about it.

And finally to gaming and EA’s Sims 3 – the latest in the world’s most successful computer games series. Bajo from Good Game on ABC TV in Australia reviews it for us and says its strongest selling point is the way if fosters an active online community who can use the game to create their own content, including videos.

You can listen to the full Tech Stream program with the MP3 link above or the “Listen Now” link on the right. Feel free to comment on any of these stories or suggest something we can follow up in future programs. You can also subscribe to the podcast too!