GPS

Wayfinder Introduces Free Mobile GPS Application for Outdoor Activities

Dale — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:07:35 -0400

Wayfinder Active(TM) Make Maps, GPS Recording, Routes and Statistics Accessible on Mobile Phones

STOCKHOLM, Sweden --(Business Wire)-- Mar. 26, 2008 Wayfinder, the leading supplier of innovative location and navigation services for mobile phones, today announced that it is introducing its Wayfinder Active(TM) application in the U.S. and Canada. Wayfinder Active is a free GPS application for mobile phones with a unique combination of maps, GPS recording and statistics that is designed for people who enjoy running, hiking, skiing, biking or other outdoor activities.

Wayfinder Active is a simple, fun, safe and social way to stay connected to others with similar outdoor interests. Once the application is installed on a mobile phone, each user will have access to a world wide map and the ability to record and share routes with a single keystroke. Users can follow in the footsteps of friends' adventures and training routes by importing routes and tracks directly from and to their mobile phone.

Wayfinder Active's integrated online community, ActiveOutdoor, takes outdoor activities to the Internet, with an innovative, user-friendly and measurable way of sharing outdoor activities. Each activity is recorded in a standard GPX format, and the route is then uploaded to the Internet. If needed, users can preload a specific route onto the phone's caching memory so they can enjoy their activity without thinking about where they are going. Once a route or training trail is completed, the activity is automatically uploaded to the online community.

"The North American market has big potential, and it is with enthusiasm we introduce Wayfinder Active. It is also of strategic importance to extend our business offering beyond car navigation and integrating services like the interactive community ActiveOutdoor," says Magnus Nilsson, CEO of Wayfinder.

Additional useful features include detailed statistics such as maximum, current and average speed during each activity, plus the distance travelled and calories burned. With a built-in compass and a "Reverse Route" feature, users can easily find a route to anywhere. With the introduction of free Wayfinder Active, Wayfinder also brings the topographic maps of North America to mobile phones, which are available for a fee directly from the device via Wayfinder's mobile shop. Our partner Tele Atlas delivers the overview maps and U.S. Trailmaps topographical ones.

The free Wayfinder Active can be downloaded atÂ http://www.activeoutdoor.comÂ on a computer or directly from the phone fromÂ http://www.active.getwf.com. In addition to being available directly to end-users, the product is also available for service providers to offer directly to their subscribers. Wayfinder Active is compatible with more than 100 phone models from all major handset manufacturers including the most popular devices from Sony Ericsson and Nokia. In addition to being available directly to end-users, the Wayfinder Active product is also available for service providers to offer directly to their subscribers.

TomTom reveals revolutionary IQ Routes technology on new TomTom GO series

Dale — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:29:34 -0500

~ Unique route calculation method based on actual average speeds on roads provides smartest route calculation on the market today ~

Concord, MA - March 3, 2008 -Â TomTom, the worldâ€™s largest portable navigation solutions provider, today announces ground-breaking features and unique content on its new TomTom GO range, including its exclusive IQ Routesâ„¢ technology and Advanced Lane Guidance.

The innovative IQ Routesâ„¢ technology is based on real average speeds that have been measured on roads, rather than static maximum speeds per road type. This means the new TomTom GO determines a route by considering all possible routes, and then selects the one that takes the least time. In almost 50 per cent of all journeys, this results in taking a different and faster route, saving the driver significant travel time - as well as saving money and fuel.

In addition, the new TomTom GO features Advanced Lane Guidance - a first for the navigation mass market. Advanced Lane Guidance gives drivers a more realistic view and enhanced visual instructions of driversâ€™ surroundings, ensuring they are better informed about the situation ahead.

The two new features will be available with the new TomTom GO series, the TomTom GO 930 and TomTom GO 730, starting at the end of April 2008.

â€œWith the introduction of IQ Routesâ„¢ technology, we continue to focus our efforts on features and content that improve the core navigation experience,â€ said Jocelyn Vigreux, president of TomTom, Inc. â€œIQ Routesâ„¢ delivers what we call â€˜intelligent routingâ€™ â€“ an even smarter and more efficient way of planning your daily route that will help TomTom GO users save time, fuel and money.â€

TomTom IQ Routesâ„¢Â The new TomTom IQ Routesâ„¢ technology is based on actual average speeds on roads, rather than the sign-posted speed limits. This intelligent routing technology is based on anonymous historical speed profiles of more than 10 billion kilometres of driven roads, gathered over the years by millions of TomTom users. It takes into account all the factors that may influence the time it takes drivers to get to their destination, including traffic lights, roundabouts, steep slopes and speed bumps.

The TomTom IQ Routesâ„¢ speed profile database continues to grow at the rate of more than half a billion measurements per day, so the time and spatial accuracy of TomTom IQ Routesâ„¢ technology will increase continually. Drivers can be confident that they will always be given the smartest route incorporating detailed local knowledge. This allows for more efficient daily route planning, in particular when driving through urban or hilly areas.

www.tomtom.com/iq-routes

Advanced Lane GuidanceÂ With the new Advanced Lane Guidance feature, navigating difficult junctions becomes easier than ever before. This realistic representation of highway junctions on the screen, including clear arrows indicating the lane direction, provide drivers with timely instructions to take the correct lane. Static images of road signs, in the same colour as the ones displayed on the road, ensure drivers have an even better overview of their surroundings.

www.tomtom.com/lane-guidance

A host of extra featuresÂ In addition to IQ Routesâ„¢ and Advanced Lane Guidance, the new TomTom GO range has a new premium look with a high-quality finish, expanded map coverage and comes pre-installed with the latest navigation features, including:

The TomTom GO 930T also features a new premium look with a high quality finish and expanded map coverage. The device comes preinstalled with the latest navigation features, including:

TomTom Map Shareâ„¢ enabling users to make updates and corrections to their own maps instantly and to benefit from improvements made by other users, completely free of charge. New Map Share features include the ability to change turn restrictions and posted road speeds

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Latest map guarantee so users always have free access to the latest map at time of purchase

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TomTom RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver for detailed traffic information

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Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT) for uninterrupted navigation even in tunnels or highly built areas

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Large 4.3 inch touch screen with new generation icons and an updated user interface to navigate drivers to their destination even more easily

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Voice address input drive to millions of cities and street names by simply announcing the address of your destination

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Clear voice instructions and text-to-speech to enable street names, places, traffic alerts and SMS messages to be read aloud as part of the spoken instructions

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Enhanced hands-free calling with high quality sound system via BluetoothÂ® to allow drivers to keep their eyes firmly on the road whilst making phone calls in the car

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Extensive safety features including â€˜Help Meâ€™ menu to give drivers direct access to emergency services and roadside assistance

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Built-in FM Transmitter to play music and navigation instructions seamlessly through the car stereo speakers

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New smart & fun extras to personalise usersâ€™ devices, including recording your own driving instructions, viewing documents, exchanging positions via SMS and Bluetoothâ„¢ wireless technology and selecting a favourite car icon on the screen

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Free TomTom HOME software and content from the TomTom community to keep your TomTom device up to date at all times

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Pre-installed safety camera database providing users with timely information on safety cameras on driversâ€™ routes

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Full range of accessories to match the design and finish of the updated GO range

Map CoverageÂ ï€

The TomTom GO 930 comes pre-installed with the most up-to-date maps of US, Canada and Western and Central Europe stored on the internal memory
The TomTom GO 730 includes new expanded map coverage, including the latest maps of the US and Canada

AvailabilityÂ The new TomTom GO range will be available across North America and Europe starting at end of April 2008.

Product technical specifications -Â ï€

4.3â€ widescreen 16:9 format LCD (WQVGA: 480x272 pixels)

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CPU 400 MHz

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TomTom GO 930: 4 GB internal flash memory, TomTom GO 730: 2 GB

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SD card slot

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High sensitivity GPS receiver

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Bluetoothâ„¢

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Battery lithium-polymer (up to 5 hours operation)

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Dimensions: 4.6" x 3.2" x 1"

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Weight: 7.7 ounces

Review: Magellan Maestro 3210 GPS

Dale — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:02:23 -0500

As time goes on, GPS technology is quickly becoming ubiquitous, entering every point in our lives, from finding hidden treasure to finding Jesus, but GPS devices generally fall into one of two categories: handheld or vehicle-mounted. The Magellan Maestro 3210 offers a mid-grade vehicle-mounted device with a few quirks, but a smooth interface.

Form

The 3210, while designed for vehicle use, is small enough to easily fit into a pocket, being only slightly larger than an iPod. With plenty of user controls to customize the interface, volume, and other personal preferences, the device and menu system offers an intuitive interface that you'll be able to use without reading the included pdf manual. The interface also offers Night View, which blackens all but the streets, keeping glare to a minimum when your eyes need to stay adjusted to the darkness.

Finding your destination

The 3210 offers several methods to find your destination and can optimize a day of errands to prevent backtracking and minimize gas usage, very valuable with today's fuel prices.

When you're ready to head out, you can find your location by address or by searching the Points of Interest (PoI) database. The 3210 offers the option to find a destination by city or zip code, offering a list of previously used cities. Once you choose a city, as you start to enter the street address, the 3210 will only allow you to choose street names and address ranges in its database. While this is normally convenient, serving as an autocomplete system that's easier to use than the iPhone keyboard, even with my big fingers, the block my daughters' dance class building is on wasn't in the database, even though the street appeared on the map, so I had no way to even get it to guess the location--I had to settle for the closest number, which was only off by 1.

You can also find a destination by searching the Points of Interest database. Magellan uses the Navteq on BoardÂ® database, and while Magellan's website says the database is updated annually, one of the grocery stores in town that has been there for many years did not show up in the PoI database, and another grocery store that closed and has been vacant for a few years still showed up. Were I a tourist looking for some snacks in town, I wouldn't know where to go.

Trip Options

When finding a trip path, the 3210 offers 4 options: Fastest Time, Shortest Distance, and Least or Most Use of Freeways. It also includes an option to Avoid Toll Roads on any path. Most routes can be calculated in a matter of about 5 seconds, a trip halfway across the country (1255 miles) being calculated in 18 seconds, although Avoiding Toll Roads, Shortest Distance, and Least Use of Freeways are only possible on a trip of 600 miles or less. That's not a huge loss, since any trip that long would most sensibly use the available options. During the trip, the 3210 offers Exit PoI's so you know where to find a gas station or a hospital from your mid-trip location.

We put the 3210 through its paces as we travelled to visit family over Christmas, and as we went, we were glad the 3210 would recalculate the route shortly after we deviated from the suggested path, and we were glad it doesn't have feelings, or it would've given up. When we saw that the course it suggested was quite different from our normal route, we looked at the estimated time of arrival (very convenient when calling Grandma and saying, "We'll be there at 8:37.") and then took our route to see how the time compared. Our route took about the same time, but we found that, when the 3210 would suggest a route, subsequent suggestions seemed to stubbornly try to get us back on the previous route, even when that was no longer the fastest path. At one point, it was suggesting that we get back on the previosu course, and once we passed the next exit, it rerouted to the way we planned on going and knocked 20 minutes off of our time. Sometimes, "fastest" isn't always fastest.

The 3210 also offers extensive AAA travel information, including the AAA TourBook, which can lead you to approved AAA repair locations and places that will offer AAA discounts.

I have a long list of suggestions that I'd like to see in this device, most prominently a feature recently added to Google Maps: the ability to reroute by telling it, "I'm taking Hwy 151--take that into account." This can be done using the trip planner, but adding that point in mid-trip would be convenient.

Computer Interface

The 3210 offers the ability to upload a separate PoI list via USB, but we were disappointed that we couldn't charge the battery via the same USB port, since the car charger uses this port.

All-in-all, the 3210 offers a mid-level option that will get you where you need to go with an easy learning curve. You may not always agree with the directions it offers, and you may occassionally need to use Goog-411 to find a given business, so you'll have to balance an easy interface against a slightly outdated database. As long as Navteq can find your destination, you'll find the 3210 to be a good purchase.

CES 2008: HP Drives Digital Entertainment Industry with Connected PCs, TVs and Services

Dale — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:28:31 -0500

Fueling the emerging connected entertainment industry, HP today introduced a broad lineup of products, services and relationships that make it easier than ever for consumers to adopt a high-definition, digital lifestyle.

Unveiled at the opening of CES 2008, the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology, the new lineup includes dazzling entertainment PCs, an expanded portfolio of HPÂ MediaSmartÂ connected entertainment products, digital content services such as Upline, which allows people to store and share digital content over any Internet connection, and a range of partners involved in the creation and distribution of digital content.

"HP has made a focused effort around breakthrough solutions in digital entertainment, high-tech design and home computing technologies - and it has made us the world's leading consumer technology company," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "We're continuing that momentum today with an expanded portfolio of stylish, easy-to-use digital technologies that will help to make the hi-def lifestyle a reality for more people every day."

Stylish, easy-to-use products

One of the standout products in HP's updated portfolio of consumer PCs is the HP Pavilion tx2000 Series Entertainment Notebook PC.

The tx2000 offers an unmatched touch and pen experience with a new, resistive touch-screen technology and built-in digitizer that recognizes the rechargeable pen as it nears the screen and disables the touch feature to ensure easy transition between touch and handwriting.

Featuring a sleek, high-gloss "Echo" Imprint finish, this elegantly designed convertible notebook also comes with HP QuickPlay software, which provides access to a variety of entertainment options at the touch of a button. Using the HP Webcam, integrated microphone and instant messaging solution of their choice, people can engage in live video chat with friends and family across the world.⁽¹⁾Â The new HP Pavilion tx2000 is available today starting at an estimated U.S. street price of $1,299.⁽²⁾

An impressive combination of size, performance and value, the HP Pavilion Slimline s3300 offers a dual-format Blu-ray and HD-DVD player,⁽³⁾Â plus a TV tuner⁽⁴⁾Â and NVIDIA GeForce 8500 card with HDMI port. The setup equips families and students with the functionality of a conventional tower PC in a desktop that's one-third the size - and it lists under $1,000.⁽²⁾

Buoyed by its tremendous success in PCs in 2007, HP is now making every TV it sells a connected HP MediaSmart TV, which feature advanced technology to allow consumers to stream movies,⁽⁵⁾Â music and photos from any networked PC in the home to a high-definition⁽⁶⁾Â LCD TV. In addition, with the new HP MediaSmart Receiver, the company is extending the same networking capability to any of the hundreds of thousands of HDTVs already in consumers' homes.

The HP MediaSmart Receiver features a piano-black finish as well as HP's exclusive "Zen" Imprint pattern and ambient blue lighting, making it a stylish addition to any room in the home. The receiver enables seamless aggregation of digital content from multiple PCs around the home so users can access and enjoy their favorite photos, music and movies on any HDTV.

The latest HP MediaSmart LCD HDTVs now feature Media Center Extender technology, new panels for dynamic blacks and enhanced image quality, and aesthetic updates such as a streamlined industrial design and a back-lighted remote control for an enhanced entertainment experience that allows people to enjoy all their digital content on a stunning HDTV.

HP also is making a variety of enhancements to its MediaSmart Server, including the addition of integrated server-side anti-virus software from McAfee⁽⁷⁾Â for added security as well as remote access and the availability of Photo Webshare and iTunes on the HP Media Vault for more robust and secure experiences.

New digital content services

HP makes online trip planning and sharing a snap with the new HP iPAQ Navigate website -www.ipaq.com/navigate. The site helps customers research points of interest and create tailored travel plans that then can be printed for easy reference or loaded onto the new HP iPAQ 300 Series Travel Companion for dynamic trip management.

The site allows users to share their travel plans with family, friends and colleagues online. Travelers also can edit itineraries directly on their device and instantly share new updates when logging back online or even add notes about their travels into their trip plan so others can use the information to create and customize their own trips.(8,9)

Expected to be available in March, the new HP Upline online service atÂ www.upline.comÂ allows customers to readily access, share, manipulate and store digital content over any Internet connection.⁽¹⁾Friends and family near and far can access shared digital files in just a few simple steps.

The new service is a result of HP's recent acquisition of Opelin, a small, privately held San Jose, Calif., company that provides secure, scalable online services including storage, backup and data migration. The new online service complements HP's existing hardware storage offerings by providing consumers and SMB customers the security of knowing their digital world is protected in a secure, offsite location in case their local PC gets lost, damaged or destroyed.

More information on HP's new CES product and services lineup is available in an online press kit atÂ www.hp.com/go/CES2008.

New relationships drive innovation in design and marketing

HP also is for the first time displaying its new Artist Edition notebook at CES. Available later this spring, the limited-edition Artist Edition HP Pavilion notebook features the "Asian Odyssey" personal design of 20-year-old Joao Oliveira of Porto, Portugal, the winner of theÂ "Take Action. Make Art."Â Â global notebook-design competition.

Also on display are the "extreme makeover" notebooks created as part of the HP and PC Magazine "The Computerlicious Design Experience." These one-of-a-kind, fully functional works of art designed by rap superstar Nelly's Apple Bottoms clothing line, handbag designer Rebecca Minkoff and renowned street muralist James de la Vega, among others, will be auctioned off on eBay to benefit tech non-profit the National Cristina Foundation.

During CES, the notebooks will be on display in HP's booth and at PC Magazine's 25th anniversary celebration at TabÃº. View all the designs online and find out more about the charity auction atÂ www.pcmag.com/computerlicious.

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers - from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $104.3 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available atÂ http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾Â Internet access required.

⁽²⁾Â Estimated U.S. street price; actual prices may vary.

⁽³⁾Â As HD DVD and Blu-ray are new formats containing a new technologies, certain disc, digital connection, compatibility and/or performance issues may arise, and do not constitute defects in the product. Flawless playback on all systems is not guaranteed. In order for some HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles to play, they may require a DVI or HDMI digital connection and your display may require HDCP support. Some HD DVD and Blu-ray advanced features may not be supported.

⁽⁴⁾Â Availability of signals limited by the strength and accessibility of the originating TV signal, location and other factors. Performance issues may arise, and do not constitute defects in the product.

⁽⁵⁾Â DVD movies cannot be streamed.

⁽⁶⁾Â High definition (HD) source content varies and will depend on source input, signal, aspect ratio and other factors. HD content may require separately purchased service contract or other fees. HD content may not be available in your service area, check with service provider.

⁽⁷⁾Â 60 day trial period. Internet access required to receive updates. First update included. Subscription required for updates thereafter. This McAfee Total Protection for Small Business software is licensed to you by McAfee under the terms of the McAfee end user license agreement which can be read atÂ http://us.mcafee.com/root/aboutUs.asp?id=eula .

⁽⁸⁾Â GPS Navigation software is included in select countries. Purchase of additional maps and/or software may be required to enable some features or allow navigation in certain areas. Map coverage may vary and is not guaranteed.

⁽⁹⁾Â Bluetoothâ„¢-enabled devices, separately purchased equipment and a service contract with a wireless airtime provider may be required for applicable wireless communication. Wireless Internet use requires a separately purchased service contract. Check with service provider for availability and coverage.

Bluetooth is a trademark owned by its proprietor and used by Hewlett-Packard Company under license.