Archive for November, 2009

Texas Instruments and Fullpower Bring Advanced Motion Solutions to Portable Devices

Fullpower selects MSP430(TM) MCUs as lead product for MotionX Gesture Recognition Engine

DALLAS, Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ — Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) and Fullpower Technology today announced their strategic collaboration to bring advanced motion sensing capabilities to portable devices. The leading combination of Fullpower’s advanced MotionX technology and TI’s ultra-low power MSP430 microcontrollers (MCUs) enables developers to easily differentiate portable devices such as smart phones, sports equipment, gaming equipment and bluetooth headsets with cutting-edge motion sensing technology as well as extended battery life.

“MotionX does for motion what a great speech recognition engine does for speech, and MSP430 is the ideal platform to embed MotionX in portable devices,” said Philippe Kahn CEO of Fullpower. “Pairing the ultra-low power MSP430 MCU, the ultimate solution for a wide range of ultra-low power and portable applications, with the leading MotionX motion recognition engine, enables us to bring the magic of advanced motion to portable devices.”

Fullpower’s MotionX-Recognition Engine is designed to accurately solve the challenges of gesture recognition, pedestrian navigation and image stabilization, turning raw accelerometer data into actionable information. TI’s MSP430 MCU combines the industry’s lowest power consumption with control peripherals, advanced analog integration and connectivity. Fullpower first demonstrated the MotionX-Recognition Engine performing with MSP430 on May 26, 2009 at the D7 Conference.

“MotionX is a game changing technology for motion detection, as it enables sensor enhanced portable devices to sophistically and intelligently understand environments and adjust through simple gestures,” said Scott Roller, general manager of the MSP430 platform. “By coupling Fullpower’s MotionX technology with the leading ultra-low power MSP430 MCU, we can provide a unique consumer experience that extends battery life, improves functionality and eliminates traditional obstacles.”

TI and Fullpower are committed to solving problems for portable device manufacturers to provide a better consumer experience. TI and Fullpower together are presently engaged in several flagship projects that will reach the market in 2010. For more information about MotionX-Recognition Engine, please visit www.fullpower.com/?Page=Technology. For more information about MSP430, please visit www.ti.com/msp430.

To learn more about TI and Fullpower solutions, go to:

TI’s ultra-low power MSP430 MCUs: www.ti.com/msp430

Fullpower’s MotionX-Recognition Engine: www.fullpower.com

Video demonstration of MotionX technology: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2009/10/08/sbiz.sbtech.fullpower.smb/

TI’s MCU platform: www.ti.com/mcu

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go to www.ti.com.

About Fullpower/MotionX

Based in Silicon Valley, Fullpower http://www.fullpower.com/ is the world leader for mobile sensing solutions and develops technology and IP with an embedded licensing business model.

Founded in 2003 by Sonia Lee and Philippe Kahn, Fullpower’s mission is to put motion-sensing in every mobile device. As the leader in mobile sensing solutions, Fullpower is building on its expertise in wireless sensor technology to deliver unique, interactive motion-sensing applications. MotionX solutions are designed and developed in Santa Cruz, California.

Trademarks

MSP430 is a trademark of Texas Instruments. All registered trademarks and other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated

MotionX-GPS 8.0 is available for download now!

 

Featuring an optional new high-contrast skin for easy viewing in daylight.
Of course at MotionX all of our updates are free!

Download from the App Store: MotionX-GPS 8.0

 
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Fullpower Announces MotionX-GPS Drive 2.0 for the iPhone: Faster Door-to-Door Navigation With Powerful, New User-Requested Features

 

SANTA CRUZ, CA–(Marketwire – November 9, 2009) – Fullpower Technologies, the global leader for mobile sensing solutions, today launched MotionX-GPS™ Drive 2.0 for North America on the iPhone. Fullpower has added powerful features to MotionX-GPS Drive 2.0 based on direct user feedback received from Fullpower’s large, growing and engaged MotionX community.

 

MotionX-GPS Drive is designed with active, younger iPhone users in mind. It delivers the high quality navigation experience that Fullpower’s customers have come to expect from MotionX. This new release of MotionX-GPS Drive introduces Night Mode for enhanced ease of use in all ambient lighting conditions. In ‘Get Directions’ mode, users will also find that manual re-routing is made fast and easy with the push of a button. In addition to various other optimizations, users now have enhanced iPod music control within the application along with improved airport search, and for our Canadian customers, MotionX-GPS Drive delivers an improved interface for entering addresses in Canada. MotionX users have spoken; Fullpower has listened and has delivered with MotionX-GPS Drive 2.0.

 

MotionX User Profile: Brad Hoover Relies on MotionX-GPS Drive to Assist Those in Need
Brad Hoover, an Aging & Disability division case manager, uses MotionX-GPS Drive to find the most efficient routes around his territory in Seattle’s south suburbs. His job involves visiting the homes of aging and/or disabled persons to assess their needs and determine how much in-home care they need.

 

“I really like the ability to set mapping features, such as Fastest Route and Avoid Freeways,” Brad said. “And how the app seems to take into account real drive-time traffic conditions. There are plenty of features to use; I really like the iPod & compass features, and it’s not overwhelming.”

 

MotionX: Navigation Leadership on the App Store, Delivers on Next-Generation Driving and Pedestrian Navigation
MotionX-GPS Drive turns any iPhone 3G or 3GS into the next generation car and pedestrian navigation solution. MotionX introduces new features not yet seen on mobile devices, including “door-to-door” personal navigation tools, user interface innovations that greatly simplify the navigation experience, and integration of live search capabilities. The MotionX brand is the category leader for navigation on the Apple App Store.

 
 

Drawing from the feedback of more than 2 million iPhone MotionX-GPS users, MotionX has built a complete navigation solution specifically for the iPhone. This is not a quick port of an ancient application. MotionX-GPS Drive provides bleeding-edge innovation with a state-of-the-art business model, which means users get a better and continually improving solution at a fraction of the cost.

 

Fullpower developed MotionX-GPS Drive because customers asked for it. There are more than 2 million iPhone MotionX-GPS customers who love the outdoors, are typically 16 to 43 years old, very active, into sports and love their iPhones. These users also need to find places and get there door-to-door. MotionX asked them what they wanted and then started with a clean slate.

 

“Today MotionX continues to show the future of car and pedestrian navigation on the iPhone,” said Philippe Kahn, CEO of Fullpower. “We have listened to our users and have responded with features and enhancements that they want. Together with our users, Fullpower will radically update and improve the iPhone door-to-door navigation experience. The iPhone is the perfect platform to invent the future of navigation.”

 

MotionX-GPS Drive has an introductory price of $2.99 and covers the U.S. and Canada.

 

MotionX: Everything Is Live and Dynamic
Everything about MotionX-GPS Drive is dynamic including search, maps and routing. This fully-live, always up-to-date, connected experience is unparalleled, leveraging the full power of the Internet and the iPhone. MotionX-GPS Drive is designed and optimized for the iPhone, and provides a user interface for iPod music and for the iPhone 3GS compass. MotionX-GPS Drive turns any iPhone 3G or 3GS into the next generation vehicle and pedestrian navigation solution.

 

MotionX live Connected Solution Vs. On-Board Competitors
With the MotionX-GPS Drive solution, users benefit from a fully-live, always up-to-date, connected experience for navigation. Search, maps, routing, points of interest (POIs), and relevant destination information, such as phone numbers, are delivered to the user — all current, real-time and up-to-date. This is a significant advantage over on-board solutions, such as those available from providers TomTom and Navigon, which require users to download and pre-install map data with tedious data loads that are in excess of a gigabyte. Off-board navigation data is static, and hence, becomes outdated the moment it is loaded onto the user’s device.

 

About Fullpower/MotionX
Founded in 2003 by Sonia Lee and Philippe Kahn, Fullpower’s mission is to put motion-sensing in every mobile device. As the leader in mobile sensing, Fullpower is building on its expertise in wireless sensor technology to deliver unique, interactive motion-sensing applications. MotionX solutions are designed and developed in Santa Cruz, Calif.

 

Important Links:
MotionX-GPS Drive in the iTunes App Store:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=328095974&mt=8

 

MotionX-GPS Drive Comparative Review by Walt Mossberg:
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20090909/these-apps-help-users-of-iphones-find-their-way/

 

MotionX-GPS Drive Website:
http://drive.motionx.com

 

Follow us on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/motionx
Contact:
Tami Casey
Kulesa Faul for Fullpower/MotionX
650.340.1984
Email Contact

MotionX GPS Solutions: From the Pavement to the Trail

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Roger Sewell is a GPS power user. As an off-road dirt bike adventurist, he uses MotionX-GPS Drive to find his destination, which can be in desolate hard-to-find locations. When the paved road comes to an end, he unloads his KTM 640 Adventure Bike and hits the trails with MotionX-GPS.

“I’ve found the MotionX GPS applications to be incredibly fun and very helpful,” said Sewell. “I load my motorcycles into the truck, mount my iPhone on the windshield and use MotionX-GPS Drive to get to my riding area. Then I transition to MotionX-GPS with the iPhone mounted to my bike.”

“I like the idea of using one device to get me from my front door to the end of the trail, transitioning from my truck to my bike and back. I’m hoping that with these solutions I can start converting some of my buddies over from their big clunky GPS units to the iPhone and MotionX GPS solutions.”

Roger’s latest adventure took him from San Diego to Las Vegas, then southwest toward Hoover Dam as he set off a 1200 mile off-road loop around the Grand Canyon.

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