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Garmin GPS technology is constantly evolving and always getting better. This week Garmin announced they are offering Star Wars options to some of their GPS systems. This is an awesome option for Star Wars fans!
Now instead of that Australian woman’s voice, Garmin GPS users can select Sith Lord, Darth Vader or Yoda to be their navigator. Parts of the “Star Wars” score are thrown in, as well as TIE fighter and lightsaber sound effects. Some features will also include Obi-Wan Kenobi. How cool is that!
This announcement by Garmin is of key interest to us here at FieldLogix because this week in San Diego, Comic Con is in town. Comic Con is the world’s largest comic book and popular arts convention. Hundreds of thousands of people attend, as it is the largest convention held in San Diego.
Gas Prices Up 5 Cents in Last 30 Days, Good and Bad News for California Gas Prices
Gas prices are currently on a slightly upward trend. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas is currently $3.68, up 5 cents since 30 days ago, and 3 cents since one week ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. The reasons gas is slowly creeping back up after a two-month decline include: the faltering Greek economy, a weaker US dollar, unrest in Libya, increasing demand for gas and limited production from refineries.
Gas prices in California have remained unusually low, when compared to other states in the US. Typically California has the highest gas prices in the continental US, but several other states currently have higher prices such as Connecticut, Washington, New York and Washington D.C. The average price in California is $3.782 today, a 2 cent increase since last week.
For Californians there is good and bad news, gas still costs 14.4 cents less than it did a month ago, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. However, it’s still 67.3 cents more expensive than it was a year ago.
The current national retail average price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.67. Today’s average price is 4 cents more than the price one week ago, and two cents more than one month ago. Currently three states have an average retail price for regular unleaded of more than $4 per gallon – Hawaii, Alaska and Connecticut.
Oil reversed direction for the fourth straight trading day on Tuesday and climbed about 2 percent, as traders faced uncertainty about the direction of the economy and a weaker dollar.
Crude oil is used to produce gasoline and other fuels, and it’s also a major investment commodity. Prices can swing with the collective mood on Wall Street. Recently benchmark oil has fluctuated between $95 and $99 a barrel as investors gauge how Europe deals with Greece’s debt crisis and the debate goes on in Washington over spending and the U.S. debt ceiling.
An all-new fleet tracking and fleet management system was launched last week in Australia by GPS giant TomTom (AMSTERDAM: TOM2.AS). Fleet managers in Australia can now improve the efficiency of their on-the-road operations with easy to use fleet tracking products and web tools that benefit management, dispatchers and their mobile workforce.
Fleet management systems have been proven to help businesses optimize their fleet’s performance. In fact, most managers see a huge difference in cost savings within days of purchasing a new GPS fleet tracking system.
A fleet tracking system helps businesses with a commercial fleet better manage some of today’s most pressing challenges including driver safety, fuel efficiency and compliance. TomTom’s WorkSmart fleet tracking solutions include professional navigation, traffic avoidance, vehicle tracking, job dispatch, time management, environmental responsibility and management reporting.
Gas prices have continued to rise during the month of July. This week, a gallon of regular unleaded is averaging $3.67 per gallon, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. This price is 4 cents higher than one week ago, one cent higher than a month ago, and 95 cents higher than one year ago. One week ago, gas was averaging $3.63 a gallon.
Gas prices have been rising across the entire US, according to AAA. In Florida the average price of $3.66 per gallon is a 6 cent increase from last week. Gas prices in Rhode Island are on the rise, up seven cents from last week, averaging $3.82 per gallon. Massachusetts gas prices are up for the second consecutive week. Regular gas jumped a nickel in the past week to an average of $3.71 per gallon.
This weekend a GPS IIF-2 satellite was launched into orbit via a Delta IV Medium 4, 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket placed the navigation satellite into the Global Positioning System constellation for the Air Force. The powerful Delta 4 booster blasted away from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT) for a middle-of-the-night ascent precisely timed to deliver a critical replacement satellite directly into the GPS constellation.
Today’s GPS fleet is comprised of 31 satellites. “GPS is a global utility providing highly accurate position, navigation and timing services at no cost to billions of people,” said Jon Goodney, the GPS 2F deputy program director at Boeing. “Originally developed for military use, it’s since been adopted as the foundation of modern communications. GPS saves lives and enhances quality of living. And adding this GPS 2F-2 ensures the constellation will remain robust.”
Continuing a prolific partnership that has benefited billions of users around the world, this weekend the Delta rocket family successfully launched its 50th satellite for the Global Positioning System. It was the type of rocket flight that could appear routine. But replenishing the navigation network is vital to the military forces, civilian consumers and the blossoming commercial marketplace that have come to depend on GPS every day.
New York City will be adding 70 electric vehicles to its police vehicle fleet as a part of an initiative to make the city more green. The city already has 360 electric vehicles currently being used by police. NYC has also launched new efforts to inform the public about the benefits of electric vehicles. The new vehicles include 50 Chevrolet Volts, ten Ford Transit Connect electric cargo vans, and ten electric Navistar E-Star utility trucks.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city’s new batch of electric vehicles includes 50 new “extended range” hybrid Chevrolet Volts, 10 fully electric Ford Transit Connect cargo vans, and 10 new fully electric Navi-star “E-star” utility trucks.
Gas prices are currently averaging $3.66 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report. This is a 7 cent increase from this time last week. The Fuel Gauge Report uses retail receipts from more than 100,000 service stations across the United States, compiled by the Oil Price Information Service and by Wright Express.
Since the July 4 weekend, US drivers have been paying more at the pump. The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:
* Alaska – $4.09
* Hawaii – $4.04
* Connecticut – $3.98
This weekend, July 16-17, the busiest freeway in Los Angeles is going to be shut down for more than two days (53 hours, to be exact). Poeple are calling the event “Carmageddon”.
The 405 Freeway will be closed between the 10 and the 101 for demolition and reconstruction of the Mulholland Drive Bridge. Freeway ramps will begin closing at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 15, with lanes shutting down at midnight on the 16th. The 405 won’t reopen until 6 a.m. on Monday, July 18.
Luckily for drivers there is a new app that is hoping to ease drivers’ pain. Waze – a new, unique, real-time, traffic application – was designed to help driver’s get around traffic. In Los Angeles, the company says more than 180,000 drivers are using Waze. And the company is working with local transportation experts to better prepare for “Carmageddon.”
Waze is a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn, voice-activated GPS tracking navigation based on the live conditions of the road, while harvesting the traffic information that you’re providing. It blends real-time traffic information with the urgency of a social network. The more people that use the app, the better the information.
Faced with the impact of rising fuel costs on the city budget, local leaders are realizing the importance of “going green” and utilizing a fleet GPS tracking system.
Dozens of cities across America are facing the same challenge: the effects of rising fuel costs. In Albany, NY the cost of keeping the city government’s fleet of vehicles on the road during the next fiscal year will increase by nearly $2 million because of rising fuel costs, officials recently said. That figure is up from the $1.6 million the city spent this last calendar year on fuel for its vehicles.
Albany Mayor Willie Adams used the fuel discussion to reiterate his position that every city vehicle needs to have some sort of Global Positioning System, or GPS tracking system, to monitor their whereabouts to ensure they aren’t traveling when they aren’t supposed to be.
“Nearly every corporation in the country has some kind of GPS or AVL (automatic vehicle location) device,” Adams said. “We’re a corporation and we need to keep track of our vehicles. That’s something I’d like to see on all of our vehicles.”
Gasoline prices are rising again even though drivers in the U.S. have bought less gas for four months in a row. Gasoline is getting more expensive even though motorists continue to cut back. MasterCard SpendingPulse said Tuesday that gasoline consumption has dropped for 16 weeks in a row. SpendingPulse, which tracks credit card payments around the country, said the four-week average for gasoline demand fell by 1.1 percent last week compared to a year ago.
Demand even dropped over the July 4 weekend, usually a time for lots of road trips. MasterCard analyst Jason Gamel said motorists used 1.7 percent less this year than they did during last year’s holiday weekend.
Oil, which is used to make gasoline, is higher as well. On Tuesday. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery gained $2.28, or 2.4 percent, to settle at $97.43 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price many international oil varieties, rose 51 cents to settle at $117.75 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In 2009 Pioneer asked the International Trade Commission (ITC) to ban Garmin Ltd (NASDAQ: GRMN) from importing any global positioning system (GPS) device made with technology that infringes on its patented technology. Recently the ITC said Garmin isn’t violating Pioneer’s patent rights because Pioneer didn’t fulfill legal requirements of having a domestic industry for the underlying technology, which relates to how data may be stored, retrieved or displayed on GPS devices.
The commission looked at whether Pioneer, a Japanese maker of car-navigation and audio equipment, may use a portfolio licensing program as proof of a market when only one or two patents in the portfolio were being asserted. The ITC’s reasoning in today’s ruling won’t be made public until Pioneer and Garmin can redact confidential information. The International Trade Commission’s ruling may limit future patent disputes at the agency for Pioneer.