In our current age of gadgetry, a GPS device is one of the more in vogue devices. In this head-to-head comparison, Senior Editor James Booth will be examining the Garmin Nuvi 350 and the Delphi Nav 200. Both devices are entry-level units, geared toward the new-to-GPS consumer.

Read this Computing Unplugged article.

A joint project between Microsoft Research and Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs has resulted in a novel solution–touch screens on both the front and back of a mobile device that are used simultaneously. The user’s thumbs touch the front screen while the other eight fingers touch the back on what’s been termed the LucidTouch “see through” mobile device interface. To be precise, the device’s screen is not actually transparent. Instead, a camera on a short boom attached to the prototype’s back captures images of the user’s hands touching the rear screen, and an image of the fingers–to enable the user to “see” where his or her fingers are touching–is displayed on the front screen as if the device were transparent.

Mobile Stream’s Card Reader has just been updated. Card Reader allows you to use your Palm OS device’s memory card slot as a standard USB card reader for transferring and managing files. The program features a 1200/1100KB/s read write speed, background transfers and a small file size. It even supports the Bluetooth File Transfer Profile for wireless card transfers. The new update includes support for the latest devices including the Treo 755p and preliminary Centro support, Clie Mac OS X compatibility fixes and a new German UI localization.

Palm and MobiTV invite filmmakers to submit their funniest made-for-mobile films to compete in the first Treo Mobile Comedy Film Festival. Deadline for entry is Monday, Sept. 24, 2007. Submitted films will run exclusively on the MobiTV service from Sept. 18-Oct. 18. A one-month free trial of MobiTV is available to Treo smartphone users. Complete information about The Treo Mobile Comedy Film Festival, including festival guidelines and rules and sample films is available at the site.

The film festival will award thousands of dollars in cash and prizes to the aspiring filmmakers from the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom, who come up with the funniest made-for-mobile comedy films. Susie Essman (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and John Henson (TV Guide network, Talk Soup) will co-host the Treo Film Festival awards show on Oct. 18 at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.

Yugma announced the launch of their Yugma Skype Edition. The Yugma Skype Edition builds upon Skype’s offering by adding real time collaboration and desktop sharing functionality. Yugma has integrated the new functionality in a way that makes it extremely easy for existing Skype users. Once Yugma Skype Edition in installed, simply invite a friend or colleague from your existing Skype contact list, Yugma opens automatically, and sharing begins.

Fair Use exceptions to U.S. copyright laws are responsible for more than $4.5 trillion in annual revenue for the United States, according to the findings of an unprecedented economic study. According to the study commissioned by the Computer and Communications Industry Association and conducted in accordance with a World Intellectual Property Organization methodology, companies benefiting from limitations on copyright-holders’ exclusive rights, such as “fair use”–generate substantial revenue, employ millions of workers, and, in 2006, represented one-sixth of total U.S. GDP.

Millions of people use Google’s search engine every day, but don’t realize the balance inherent in U.S. copyright law helps enable it to exist. Google strongly supports the intellectual property rights of content creators and the protection of copyright. They think creators deserve to be rewarded for their work, and support the balance of copyright law as fundamental to promoting future creativity.

While protecting the rights of creators, the Constitution and the courts place limits on the rights of copyright holders. For example, copyright laws encourage others to make use of content in limited ways without seeking anyone’s permission through the doctrine of “fair use.” By enabling journalists, scholars, and the general public to quote from and comment on others’ writings, the fair use doctrine underscores basic rights of free expression.

Fair use exceptions to U.S. copyright laws account for more than $4.5 trillion in annual revenue for the United States, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the Computer and Communications Industry Association.

Recent studies indicate that the value added to the U.S. economy by copyright industries amounts to $1.3 trillion, said Black. The value added to the U.S. economy by the fair use amounts to $2.2 trillion. The fair use economy’s “value added” is thus almost 70% larger than that of the copyright industries.

SYWARE announced that Visual CE, the rapid application development software for database and forms development on Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, now supports Google Maps Mobile. Applications built with Visual CE can launch Google Maps Mobile and display the map or satellite view of the area related to a specific record.

To display the area relating to the current record, users simply click a button on the Visual CE form. Visual CE will retrieve the location from the current record, launch Google Maps Mobile, and display the area in map view or satellite view. The record may contain an absolute address (for example, “1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington D.C.”) or a description (for example, “Statue of Liberty”).

The integration of Google Maps Mobile with Visual CE means developers can create information-rich, mobile database applications for end users in just a few hours or days. For example, an inspection company can create a database application that allows inspectors to find directions to the site they are to inspect.

DataViz announced the latest release of its mobile Office suite, Documents To Go Premium Edition, version 3.0010. The release for Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone and 6 Standard devices places Documents To Go at the forefront as the first commercial Office solution in the mobile platform arena to offer complete Microsoft Office 2007 file support. Users can now open, view, edit, and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 files and attachments on their smartphone.

Other enhancements include “Zip and Send” technology to compress files and email them instantaneously, as well as full screen support for PowerPoint presentations. This release is also the first version of Documents To Go for Windows Mobile to be made available in French, German, Spanish and Italian.