The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show is over, but so many tech news stories, product showcases and software announcements came from the convention that you’re almost guaranteed to have missed something. If you take a look at our wrap up guides, you just might catch up on something you overlooked. Here’s everything we saw — and loved — at CES 2012.

CES 2012: Best in Show

The Annual Best of CES Awards
Here are the show’s standout products in 13 categories including the best smartphone, laptop, tablet, auto technology and accessory to surface in an unending swell of new gadgets.

Reader’s Choice Award 
The Best of CES Awards spotlights our editors’ top picks from the annual convention, but this year our readers had a decidedly different take on the single hottest piece of new tech.  

CES 2012: The Hottest Products

Best Laptops of CES 2012
Seven of these 8 clamshells fell short of a Best of CES Award, but they certainly garnered their fair share of time in the spotlight. Check out the laptops we eagerly look forward to reviewing this year.  

Best Smart Phones of CES 2012
The show’s smartphone announcements include a big step forward for Windows Phone, larger-than-ever screen sizes and phone cameras with the best specs we’ve encountered.

Best Tablets of CES 2012
This year’s tablets will offer longer battery life, lower prices and clearer screen resolutions.

CES 2012: The Biggest News Stories, Our Commentary and Live Video Coverage

Top 10 Videos of CES 2012
Some tech you have to see for yourself, like the Tobii Gaze Interface which, someday, will take hands-free to a whole new level by allowing you to navigate a computer screen just by looking at it. 

CES 2012: Biggest News Stories
CES doubles as a town hall for the world’s most successful tech companies to make huge announcements. This year, Microsoft embarked on its last CES keynote address and Intel announced partnerships to build smart phones with Lenova and Motorola.

SpoonFed: Top 5 Things I Learned at CES 2012
CES is too big to leave without thoughts on the long-view of tech. LAPTOP Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer learned that despite Ultrabooks’  lionshare of limelight at the show, hybrid Android tablets that connect to keyboard docks could be a bigger trend. 

CES 2012: How Our Staff’s Mobile Gear Performed
We armed ourselves with some of the best gadgets of 2011 and tested them in the fast-paced halls of North American’s largest tech show. Check above to see how the MacBook Air 13, ASUS Zenbook UX31 Ultrabook, Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone and other favorite gadgets performed in action. 

LAS VEGAS — TomTom announced the revamping of its North American line of personal GPS devices at this year’s CES with the release of its Start, Via and GoLive units. Marketed as an entry unit for budget conscious consumers, the Start features lifetime traffic and map updates, spoken street names, lane guidance and IQ routes. The $119 Start system also includes maps of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as 7 million points of interest, and fuel prices when you sync your device.

The $169 Via is the middle-of-the-road option and features a slimmed down shell and Bluetooth connectivity. In addition to the capabilities included with the Start, the Via also offers instant routing and voice recognition and can be synced with users’ phones via Bluetooth, allowing them to make hands-free calls from the device.

Topping off the line is the $249 GoLive, which includes the same features as the Via, as well as a capacitive touchscreen and TomTom’s HD Traffic system. HD Traffic collects traffic data from other HD Traffic users and third-party companies in real-time, so if a user is stuck in traffic, HD Traffic will anonymously send your location and speed to TomTom’s servers, where it is checked against reports of accidents or construction to determine if there is a traffic jam.

Unlike other traffic services, TomTom’s HD Traffic uses AT&T’s GSM network to send and receive the information. As a result, TomTom says HD Traffic is able to update traffic information every two minutes. HD Traffic is also capable of mapping six million miles of roads compared with the 500,000 miles of roads mapped by other services. The GoLive also includes mobile apps such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Search for address searching.

In addition to its three new units, TomTom has introduced version 1.10 of its iPhone and iPad app. The update, the company says, brings Facebook and Twitter integration to the app, so users can search and navigate via Facebook or share their destination via email, Facebook or Twitter.

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LAS VEGAS — TeleNav has announced its newest iPhone location-based app here at CES. Known as Scout, the app builds on TeleNav’s previous navigation app efforts by giving users the ability to sync Scout with the company’s Scout.me location-based website, eliminating the need to search for locations and directions on the web and having to later input them into your phone’s navigation app.

The Scout app is centered around its My Dashboard, a customizable homescreen from which users can access real-time commute times to saved locations or search for saved favorites and new locations. Scout also features, My Routes, TeleNav’s turn-by-turn navigation service; My Traffic, which offers real-time traffic on demand; and My Places, which gives users the ability to search for new locations near a specific destination.

Other features include, My Favorites, from which you can saved favorite places online and send them to Scout; My People, an option that lets you select and get directions for contacts saved on your iPhone; and My Music, which lets you control music on your iPhone without having to exit the Scout app.

To help people integrate their web-based navigation searches with the Scout app, TeleNav has also launched Scout.me, a companion website to the Scout app. According to TeleNav, most people start searching for directions to locations and events from their office or home computer. With Scout.me, users can sync the searches they perform online with the Scout app, saving them the hassle of having to re-enter the information on the app later.

But TeleNav didn’t stop there. TeleNav also announced they are teaming with Ford to bring their navigation app to Ford’s Sync AppLink. With AppLink, users will be able to connect their Scout-enabled iPhone directly to their AppLink-equipped vehicle and control the app via their car’s steering wheel buttons or voice command. TeleNav has also struck a deal with Sony to bring its TeleNav GPS software to Sony’s in-dash A/V receivers.

• CES 2012: Full Coverage
• GPS Guide
• Majority Think Motorists Should Lose License If Caught Texting And Driving

LAS VEGAS – OnStar and Verizon have announced today that they working on a research vehicle intended to test the concept of giving passengers access to streaming content from the cloud through Verizon’s 4G LTE network and OnStar’s Advanced Telematics Operating System. The prototype vehicle, based on the Chevy Volt, is meant to demonstrate the aforementioned streaming content, in-vehicle sharing of content among passengers, independent transmission of cached or streaming content from the main interface to a vehicle’s rear-seat infortainment system, and Skype integration.

The Skype integration is particularly interesting because it will allow rear-seat passengers to make video calls from the vehicle to your home, smartphone or tablet, or another vehicle. OnStar actually demoed the service, setting up a Skype video chat with an OnStar employee seated in the backseat of one of the test vehicles. And while company representatives stressed that this was still a test concept, they assured us in the audience that all of the mentioned services will be showing up in vehicles in relatively short order.

OnStar also announced that it is making its proprietary API’s available to select third-party developers in order to create new apps that work with the OnStar system. The first company to get access to the API was RelayRides, a company that lets users rent out their cars to other motorists. When a user rents a car, they can download the RelayRides app onto their smartphone, which then guides the renter to the vehicle’s location. The renter can then unlock the rented vehicle using the app.

• CES 2012: Full Coverage
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• Top 10 Smartphones

Sources say that Google has already created prototypes of glasses embedded with a heads-up computer interface. Unlike Apple’s rumored “iBangle,” Google’s device isn’t a peripheral meant to interact with a user’s smartphone; instead, it connects directly to the cloud via IP.

9to5Google’s sources also indicated that these glasses will tie into the company’s location services, so users wearing the glasses could see relevant information related appear before their eyes on the built-in screen. In other words: Expect Android and GPS on board.

Unsurprisingly, there’s no word yet about a timeline for public release, but Google co-founder Sergey Brin is reportedly actively involved in this Google X Lab project. All of this makes us wonder, could 2012 be the year of the wearable gadget?

via 9to5Google

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Though free and paid versions of the TeleNav app are available for Android, iOS, and BlackBerry, the new HTML5 navigation service means location-based apps in the vein of Foursquare and Shopkick can provide directions without requiring users to leave their app. According to Sal Dhanani, co-founder and vice president of products for TeleNav:

With one line of code, you can give your customers one-click access to premium, voice-guided turn-by-turn directions to any location, including hotels, restaurants, merchants or deal locations.

To use this feature within an app or mobile website, users simply must have an HTML-compatible phone. TeleNav is currently accepting developer applications for early access to the new service, and the HTML5 navigation solution will publicly launch in early 2012.

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GPS has established itself as the navigation technology people turn to when cruising roads and highways, but what about simpler predicaments—like when you’ve lost a friend inside the mall? Navizon has the answer for that.

The company’s new location technology, Navizon Indoor Triangulation System (I.T.S.), is touted as the first global micropositioning system that works both outdoors and indoors. It combines GPS, Wi-Fi and cellular signals to detect the location of Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, tablets, and laptops, all with real-time accuracy. The technology even works in three-dimensional areas–so you’re covered, even when you dither around multi-level buildings or multi-building campuses.

The technology is being pushed for use particularly in government buildings, tourist attractions, retail stores, and shopping malls, where businesses and managers can track consumer traffic patterns, identify trends, and monitor crowd movement and security risks. The system is available for order now and starts at $350/month. You can learn more about the new technology on Navizon’s official website.

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Owners of Android phones will now never lose their cars in a parking lot. Available from AppBrain, the app, called Car Finder AR, uses augmented reality to help you find your car when you can’t remember what section of lot at the mall it was in or which side street you left it on.

The app uses the phone’s camera image of your surroundings and projects directions for you to follow. It also has a map, can manage up to three cars at once and includes features such as a parking meter alarm. You can also email the car’s location to another device, though that seems more useful as an anti-theft measure.

The app comes in a free demo version and a full one for $3.14.

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Each weekday on TechNewsDaily, That’s Useful! finds practical new gadgets, computing hardware, apps, appliances and other electronics that make sense and simply make life better.

Yes, this is an obvious one, but it’s hard to beat free spoken turn-by-turn directions built right into the Android OS. On iOS the Maps app delivers directions but they’re not spoken, and you don’t get a 3D view of your route either. If you want a bona fide GPS navigation experience, you’ll have to download an additional app, most of which are paid.

Step by Step

1. Open the Maps application and search for an address.
2. Once you see the business or specific address you want to navigate to, tap on it.
3. On the next screen tap the button that looks like a right turn sign.
4. You’ll be presented with three options. Choose Driving Navigation.
5. If your phone has more than one GPS application, tap Navigation under “Complete Action using.”
6. Click Accept on the next screen when you see Google Maps Navigation is in beta. Use caution.

Your Android phone will now calculate driving directions and search for a GPS signal.

Made by DeLorme, the Earthmate PN-60w with SPOT satellite communicator provides a way to check in with friends and family from remote locations and signal for help in an emergency. The handheld GPS pairs DeLorme aerial, topo and nautical maps with the ability to type and send one-way text messages via a satellite called SPOT for check-ins and emergency response.

The SPOT communicator uses the GPS satellite network to determine a person’s location and the Globalstar network to transmit messages and GPS coordinates to others, including an international rescue coordination center.

The SPOT device can be set up to send information to your Facebook, Twitter and Geocaching.com accounts as well as sending text messages. Friends can track a user’s progress via a shared SPOT page integrated with Google Maps.

Adventurers can set up predefined check-in messages so that all it takes is one press of the check-in button on the device. An SOS button works in the same way. The GEOS International Emergency Response Center alerts the appropriate agencies worldwide such as 911 responders in North America and 112 responders in Europe (the country’s number for emergencies).

The devices meet military standards for use in extreme conditions including 810F for vibration and shock, waterproof to the IEC 529 IPX7 standard with consistent functioning in humidity levels over 90 percent and temperatures up to 167 degrees Fahrenheit.

The SPOT communicator can link up with a cellphone using Bluetooth technology.

The Earthmate GPS and SPOT satellite communicator pair costs $450 plus a $100 annual service fee.

This article was provided by TechNewsDaily.

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