Navdy Offers A Fighter-Jet-Like HeadsUp Display For Your Car

Navdy: Feels Like Driving In The Future

 

 

 

Published on Aug 5, 2014

” Pre-order Navdy here at: http://navdy.com

  Navdy announced on 8/5 a breakthrough Head­Up Display (HUD) aftermarket car console that allows drivers to access their smartphone’s apps while keeping their eyes on the road. Navdy combines a high quality projection display with voice and gesture controls to create a safer, highly intuitive driving experience. Combining advanced display technology with touch­less controls means drivers no longer need to fumble around with their phone to navigate, communicate or control their music.

Navdy is the world’s first in­ car platform that offers:

1. Breakthrough display technology: Projects a bright transparent image directly within your field of vision that appears to float six feet in front of your windshield, allowing you to keep your eyes on the road while simultaneously seeing navigation instructions or incoming phone calls. The device comes with advanced dimming and stabilization controls, to optimize usability in any driving conditions.

2. Car­tailored Interface: When your smartphone apps appear on Navdy they are purposely simplified to show you only what you need, when you need it, and minimize distractions. Your navigation will not disappear when a call comes in; Navdy will display both notifications and navigation at the same time in a split screen. Visual elements such as image complexity, placement, or font size, are consistent across apps to make the user experience pleasant and predictable.

3. Voice and gesture controls: You’ll never need to look away from the road to use Navdy. Your app’s simplified Navdy menus can be navigated with intuitive hand gestures. Voice recognition captures more complex commands and text message responses. Navdy’s noise cancellation and wide angle gesture sensors are specifically designed to create an optical driving experience.

4. Works in any car: The device mounts on a flexible footer that fits on practically any car dashboard, and is powered by plugging in to the onboard computer (OBD II port), available in all cars produced since 1996. This makes the only required cord less intrusive, while providing car status information to the Navdy processor.

5. With all the Apps you need: Navdy works with popular navigation apps like Google Maps to display turn­by­turn directions; it controls your music apps like Spotify, Pandora, or Google Music; it reads or displays notifications from text messages or social media apps, fully controlled by its Parental Control settings; and it displays car alerts such as true­ speed, miles ­to ­empty, or battery­ voltage from its access to the car’s computer.

6. Portable and compatible: Navdy works with iPhone (iOS 7+) and Android (4.3+) smartphones, and can move easily to another car or another smartphone. Once a Navdy has been paired over bluetooth for the first time, it can share data with your phone over wifi. Navdy does not require it’s own data subscription service. Initial device dashboard placement takes 60­90 seconds. Slightly longer if you read instructions.

Availability & Pricing:

  Navdy is available for pre­order for 30 days at the introductory price of $299, at 40% discount from its projected retail price of $499. Early adopters can get a 10% refund of $30 for each friend they refer to buy the product ­with 10 referrals, your Navdy is free! Navdy is running a 30­ day pre­order campaign on navdy.com to gauge consumer demand and collect feedback from early adopters. Backers will have early access to the Navdy device so that they can provide feedback and help guide the app development process as the company ramps up to a wider release. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The State Seeks Control Of Your Navigation & Map Apps … “In The Name Of Safety”

Stuck in Traffic? Thanks, Obama!: Feds To Regulate Waze, Google Maps, And Other Navigation Apps

 

 

 

 

 

” The Obama administration wants to cripple the navigation and traffic reporting apps on your smartphone. In the name of safety, of course.

  Provisions in the proposed transportation bill—which Congress will look at in the next few months—would give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the power to regulate apps like Google Maps and Waze, the crowdsourced traffic reporting tool. 

  They’re going to start with automobiles’ built-in navigation devices, since regulatory authority is clearer there. Possible “features” include limiting inputs when the car is in motion, or making people click a button saying that they are a passenger.

  But of course, if they make the onboard navigation systems in cars suck, people will just turn to their smartphones, right? So they had better regulate those too. 

  The impulse to regulate against distracted driving has a long, not terribly glorious pedigree, dating all the way back to efforts to go after people who were changing the radio station while driving. In more recent years, talking and texting bans have failed to show clear positive results and may even cause harm.”

 

 

Reason

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Think Spring !

 

Maritime Rules Of The Road: A Primer For Boaters

 

 

” A professional mariner and U.S. Coast Guard masters license instructor explains the view from the bridge, and lays out the basics of watch-keeping and the marine pecking order for pleasure-boaters.

To be fair, I’ll state at the beginning of this story that I spend a great deal more time than the average boater thinking about the Rules of the Road. In addition to teaching students how to pass the USCG Master’s exams from OUPV (Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels)  to 100-Ton in the winter, I spend summers driving fast ferries on regularly scheduled runs in New England, and portions of my spring and fall seasons are devoted to delivering boats. What I see in the classroom and on the water has led me to an inescapable conclusion: Very few boaters have a good, working knowledge of the rules, or how to deal with other vessels in crossing, overtaking, or meeting situations.

 

 

 

The people who know the rules best are, for the most part, professional mariners. Granted, it’s their job, and they’re paid to know the rules. Their livelihood depends upon a firm command of the rules, and if they screw up, they face large fines and possible jail time. The mantle of responsibility that comes with a USCG license is a heavy one, and nobody knows that better than the men and women who drive commercial vessels.

On the recreational side, all bets are off. You pony up enough cash and you’re on the water. You’re required to know absolutely nothing before you get behind the helm and frankly, it shows. Tugboat operators, Coast Guardsmen, and other professional mariners dread the start of the “Silly Season” in New England: Spring, when the covers come off the boats and those boats and their owners swarm the bays and sounds. They (usually) follow the one basic rule that’s jokingly referred to as the “Tonnage Rule,” where the larger vessel has the right of way, no matter the circumstance.

Not all boat owners fall into that category, of course. Some may have taken courses and gotten licensing, or have come from the commercial side. Some may have spent some time looking at the book that most vessels are required to carry on board — the Rules of the Road. Some may have taken Coast Guard Auxiliary classes, or watched videos or computer simulations in a wise attempt to know the rules better and be more responsible. Some may have simply spent enough years on the water to understand the importance of the rules and assimilate them.

Sadly, all those people combined are in the minority. ”

 

Related articles

• The Alliance for Safe Navigation Unveils Updated Boat Smart White Paper (prweb.com)
• Boat show offers deals, free safety classes (triblive.com)
• NavTeach.com Offers Leading Edge Memory Graphics Method of Effectively Learning the USCG Navigation Rules of the Road (prweb.com)
• ‘Parker Lewis’ Star Shatters Leg In Boat Crash (ksfm.cbslocal.com)
• U.S. Coast Guard encourages boaters to remember safety over the holidays (uscgnews.com)
• Coast Guard suspends search for overdue boaters along Eastern Shore (gloucestercitynews.net)
• Clay boating safety course (jacksonville.com)

Of Interest To Our Fellow Boaters

Raymarine’s Mobile Apps

 

 

 

” Raymarine has launched new mobile apps for tablets and smartphones that let anglers wirelessly control c-Series and e-Series multifunction displays. The RayControl app transforms tablets into full-function MFD repeaters with seamless touch-screen interaction. RayControl comes with a virtual slide-out keypad that emulates the actual MFD keypad, allowing interaction anywhere on board. ”

 

 

 

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