Dell is betting that location services will be a hit in netbooks and next week will offer the Dell Wireless 700 location solution for their Mini 10 netbook in the United States. It provides turn-by-turn navigation.
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The $69 add-on is a hybrid WiFi/GPS Mini PCI-E card/software package, and combines location based information using the Skyhook positioning system and A-GPS (when a signal can be acquired).
The hardware part is an internal GPS card with built-in Wi-Fi locationing. It can calculate your position using Wi-Fi access points or using GPS satellites. The Dell Wireless 700 is powered by Broadcom's A-GPS and Skyhook Wireless' Wi-Fi position solutions.
The Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) can determine the location of Wi-Fi enabled devices using a signal beacon known as a MAC address, notifying nearby devices of their presence. WPS refers to the mapped locations of millions of Wi-Fi MAC addresses to pinpoint the device location. WPS is complementary to GPS. It works best indoors and in urban areas, while GPS is limited by physical obstructions of ceilings and tall buildings.
On the software side, the Dell Wireless 700 location system features CoPilot navigation software to provide turn by turn directions. I offers things like 2D and 3D map views, lets you save up to 50 addresses for one trip, offers trip optimization to provide the most efficient route, can provide instant detour information when you encounter expected delays and provides continuously updated information about the trip.
Skyhook Wireless combines GPS, cell tower and Wifi location data. Their Loki service is a browser plugin that comes preconfigured for Internet Explorer and Firefox. It works with Loki-supported sites to improve local search functionality by providing you details from nearby restaurants store locations and your friends' location information from supported social media sites like Flickr, Loopt and BrightKite.
Initially, it will support Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7 support will come later. The Mini 10 is the first system that we'll offer with the optional Dell 700 Wireless location solution.
