Maps that don’t go out of date
Out-of-date maps can throw a wrench into your driving plans, but TomTom’s new Map Share software combines cartography with community to allow users to update maps on the go – and later share the results with others.
For example, a driver who comes across a closed road or detour can enter changes to the route on the TomTom navigation device’s screen right there. The changes can later be uploaded to the Internet with the TomTom Home software, which lets the device transfer data when connected to a Mac or PC. Other TomTom users can choose to download all map updates to their own Global Positioning System units, or just those verified by TomTom.
The TomTom Map Share technology is free and included with the new TomTom GO 720 GPS receiver, shown here, which will be available in stores and at by the end of next month. (The Map Share software will eventually be released to users of older TomTom GPS products.) The GO 720 has a 4.3-inch color screen, a built-in FM transmitter to play music stored on the device or from MP3 players through the car’s radio, and the ability to record your own audio driving instructions. – J.D Biersdorfer, The New York Times
Internet phone can record calls
The Ipevo Free.2 phone is slim, sleek and potentially sneaky. The phone, which makes calls over the Internet, can record your calls and save them on the hard drive of your computer.
The phone, $45 at, has other features that are equally neat, though less sly. The handset has separate hot buttons for making free calls on the Skype calling service to other Skype users, and for Skype Out calls to regular phones, which incur a charge.
A toggle button speeds scrolling through past calls and current contacts. And there is a mute button – critical to any recording device.
Recordings made with the phone can be saved in MP3 and other formats, although the record feature currently works only with a PC using Windows XP or higher. The phone features work with PC or Macintosh, provided your Mac has OS X 10.4 or higher.
Of course, secretly recording calls is illegal in many states, which the Free.2 addresses by posting a warning on the screen of the other person’s computer (or inserting an occasional beep on calls to phones), alerting people that they are being recorded. And that little click you might hear? That just means your friend hung up. – Roy Furchgott, The New York Times
