Sweet

Hot new devices at a recent tech show:
They loaded a GPS into the newest Palm PDA coming out — it was just a matter of time — the iQue runs on the latest version of the Palm OS (5.1), on a 150 MHz Motorola MXL ARM 9 processor, comes with 32 MB of DRAM, an SD card slot and a (huge) 320 by 480 pixel TFT screen. It’ll come with the MapSource City Select CD-ROM (for all the maps), a leather flip cover and USB cradle. It should retail for $589.
The fact that they have the Palm OS on a Pocket PC-class procressor (when it doesn’t need a high end processor) just tickles me. I want one.
Except for the niggling bit of “THEY will always know where I am” paranoia, that is, but that’s true of cell phones too. C’est la vie.

3 Replies to “Sweet”

  1. How can they track you unless you are transmitting from some other system. For instance, when I’m in a 757 over Wyoming using my Garmin, the USAF doesn’t know where I am with a GPS.

  2. THEY won’t know where you are, the GPS is not a transmitter, and it is not always on. If it were always on, they could grab you and your PDA and extract the track to see where you’ve been, but that’s not even possible with this unless you intentionally turn the GPS on. I expect the battery life to be too short to routinely carry it around with the GPS always on.
    Doyce is right about cells phones being trackable, especially the newest ones that have gps chips in them. The cell towers locate the phone any time it is powered up, even though it is idle, and gps can be queried to determine a precise location.

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