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By Andrew Liszewski

At some point along the way the development of GPS devices split into two distinct paths. On one side you’ve got complicated touchscreen devices with maps of every road on the continent that can plan out the easiest route from point A to point B, and on the other side they’ve actually been simplified to what are essentially glorified compasses, like the GD-101 from GlobalSat.

It forgoes the colorful touchscreen for a simple monochrome LCD display that features a digital arrow capable of pointing in one of 16 different directions. The idea is to set a destination you’d like to remember, like where you parked your car, and the GD-101 will easily guide you back, complete with detailed info on how far away you are. And it’s not that I think these types of devices are a bad idea or anything, I just think they could benefit from a price tag of around $30-40, instead of the roughly $80 they’re currently selling for online.

[ GlobalSat GD-101 ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

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As promised, we’ve made a run over to check out Viliv’s forthcoming S7 netbook tablet, bringing along the ever-popular VAIO P to see how the two stack up (as well as an Eee 1000H for good measure). As you can see, the S7 actually isn’t that much larger than the Sony, maybe 30 percent thicker and a little bit wider, but also a bit shorter. The thing manages to find room for a track pad on top of the keyboard, but it’s an awfully small one, so thank goodness for the (non-multi) touch screen. Also small is that keyboard, which is one of the most painful we’ve yet experienced on a netbook, featuring arrow and punctuation keys that even a pygmy would fat-finger. But, compromises must be made when making machines small, and small this one is. Viliv has written a custom skin that overlays the Windows XP install, demonstrated in a video below. It’s reasonably pleasant to use (minimizing the need to rely on that tiny trackpad), but is also easy to exit if you’re not feeling it. We already know the specs of this tiny convertible, so the only mysteries left are “when” followed immediately by “how much.” The answers we received to those questions are unfortunately a bit vague: “before this summer” and a rather predictable “less than the VAIO P.” We’re guessing it’ll be a lot less. Oh, and for those examining the gallery, don’t worry about the rough edges you might spy: this is a pre-production S7, so things should be a good bit more polished when it hits retail.

Gallery: Viliv S7

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By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not the partying type, so I let Evan and David take care of the ’schmoozing’ part of CES. But when a party is thrown at the Las Vegas Atomic Testing Museum, how can I not attend? The museum was opened in March of 2005 and documents the history of the atomic bomb tests at the Nevada Test Site starting in January of 1951. They’ve got some great artifacts in their collection, including an actual nuclear bomb pictured above (minus the explody bits of course) and if you’re a fan of mushroom clouds, it’s probably worth stopping by on your next visit to Las Vegas.

And I’ve included a few more pics after the jump.

Apparently J.C. Penny lent a large collection of their clothing mannequins to the Nevada Test Site for testing the effects of a nuclear blast on humans. Or at least crude, plaster representations of them. The before and after states of each mannequin were documented, and for some reason J.C. Penny felt these photos would make for a great ad. Oh, and they also put many of these mannequins in their stores across the country for the public to see in person. What’s that? Radiation? Never heard of it.

When the atomic bomb tests moved underground, the Nevada test site had to develop some advanced mining techniques and equipment since the tunnels they dug out for the bombs had to be as straight as an arrow.

A collection of film dosimeters from over the years. They’re used to monitor the radiation exposure levels of workers at the Nevada Test Site.

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If there’s one problem with modern GPS devices it’s that they’re “highly complex” — at least that’s what you might think if you’re a frequent Hammacher Schlemmer shopper. Believing that people find things like touch screens or buttons a little too much, the gadget company has created what it calls a “GPS Homing Device.” For a penny under $80 (roughly the price of a real nav system) the over-sized key fob lets you mark your current location and then, after an exhausting day of bargain hunting, find your way back to where you began just by following an arrow — all without relying on the help of the parking lot attendant. Makes a great gift for the directionally-challenged shopaholic in your life.

[Via Chip Chick]