Talk:Etak

message: Etak was the first company to deliver in-car navigation systems.  Why would you want to delete that?
http://www.townsend.com/case/caseDetails.asp?o=6084
http://sec.edgar-online.com/1996/09/10/00/0000950109-96-005911/Section5.asp
http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/secarticle.asp?&sid=1796833&symb=NVT&guid=1550118&type=311  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.92.48.132 (talk) 19:21, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Initial comments 

message: Right now there's a whole section "Definition" with an unsource definition of "etak".  This is, in fact, a polynesian word (in which polynesian language, I don't know).  The nautical metaphor might seem odd, but it was apt in ways both obscure and relatively obvious.  Obscurely: Etak co-founder Stan Honey and Nolan Bushnell were both yachters, and in fact Stan Honey had designed some special purpose navigation computers for yacht races.  At least according to Etak in-house legend, Honey's boat-racing navigation expertise was how he came to Bushnell's attention, and from that connection, Etak got Bushnell's financing out of Bushnell's Atari winnings.  (The only "venture capital" the company ever really got, I think; really more like angel investment considering the source, the mode and the amount).  The Etak name is fitting in a more obvious way: Etak as part of a polynesian navigation technique relied on sketchy environmental clues, since full celestial navigation wasn't possible for polynesian navigators; the car-nav system that Etak (the company) developed also had to rely on clues, in lieu of GPS, and some fairly tricky sensor fusion, since all sensors had failure modes -- the compass could be spun by magnetic fields in building structures, the wheels could spin because of being stuck in mud, etc.
Etak (the polynesian navigation technique) is probably worth an entire article, and of course it should be distinguished from Etak the company.  Etak was (almost certainly) the original commercial car navigation equipment seller, and that is notable.  Tele Atlas claims credit, perhaps because they acquired Etak, but they acquired Etak long after it had stopped selling car-nav gear.
As for how I know all this: I worked at Etak as a consultant for a number of months in the late 1980s, and got to know a co-founder and some other early-stage employees.
Yakushima (talk) 12:15, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Etak as polynesian navigation technique vs. eponymous car-nav/digital mapping company 

message: *.
Of relevance to the previous section on this talk page:
Peaceray (talk) 18:43, 30 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fast Company article on Etak 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on Etak. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070623060414/http://www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/humanfactors/navigation.pdf to http://www.techtransfer.berkeley.edu/humanfactors/navigation.pdf
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070915184819/http://www.wireless.per.nl/reference/chaptr01/roadtrin/positi.htm to http://www.wireless.per.nl/reference/chaptr01/roadtrin/positi.htm
*Added archive https://archive.is/20130421185208/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5751245-description.html to http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5751245-description.html
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Etak. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160305013553/http://www.directionsmag.com/pressreleases/tele-atlas-acquires-us-based-mapping-company-etak-from-sony-corp-of-america/97605 to http://www.directionsmag.com/pressreleases/tele-atlas-acquires-us-based-mapping-company-etak-from-sony-corp-of-america/97605
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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018)