TomTom makes 1 million improvements

TomTom Map Share hits one million map improvement upload

TomTom just announced that the TomTom Map Share has received the one millionth map improvement from its users since the launch of the service in July 2007. Over half a million Map Share users have joined the Map Share community since it became available.

TomTom Map Share ensures that drivers always have the most accurate and up to date maps available in the industry. TomTom Map Share is a proprietary map improvement technology unique to TomTom and it is available in 30 countries spread over 5 continents.
 
“We are very pleased to see that the TomTom Map Share service is used so intensely by our user community,” said Harold Goddijn, CEO of TomTom. “Road networks change every day and often unexpectedly. Previously, navigation providers couldn’t offer maps that were current enough to meet users needs. Now users can easily and instantly improve their own maps directly on their device. And more importantly, our users can receive all the improvements made by others and thereby benefit from all their local road knowledge every day for free. The more often users connect their device to TomTom HOME, the more up-to-date their maps will be. TomTom is the only navigation solutions provider offering customers this unique and effective solution.”

Out of the one million uploaded map improvements, about two-thirds can be fixed instantly. The remainder is forwarded to the TomTom development team - who are working on fixing more and more types of errors - or can be forwarded to the map provider for further study.

TomTom has the world’s largest satellite navigation community with over 15 million members. Via TomTom HOME, TomTom Map Share users can receive all map improvements made by this significant community, so their maps are as dynamic as the world they live in.

With TomTom Map Share, users can:

• improve their maps when they spot road changes with just a few touches on the screen of their device
• share and receive all map improvements by connecting the device to TomTom HOME
• keep their data current by regularly connecting to TomTom HOME
• have the most up-to-date maps available in the industry at all times.

TomTom Map Share is offered for free with the TomTom GO x20 (T), TomTom ONE XL (T)* product ranges and the TomTom ONE 3rd EDITION. TomTom GO x10 series, TomTom GO 700, TomTom GO 500, TomTom ONE XL and TomTom ONE 1st and 2nd EDITION devices are also compatible with TomTom’s latest software.

And the award goes to : Pro Tools

Digidesign is pleased to report that recordings in which Digidesign Pro Tools systems had been used were honored with numerous nominations and awards at the 2008 Grammy Awards, which celebrated its golden anniversary last Sunday with a star-studded cast of nominees, winners, and performers. As in previous years, Pro Tools was used prominently in the recordings of both winners and nominees across a diverse set of categories and genres, from rock, hip hop, and country to soundtrack, comedy, and surround sound recordings.

It was an especially big night for Best New Artist winner Amy Winehouse. Pro Tools was used in the production of her breakout album Back to Black, for which producer Mark Ronson was awarded the Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Winehouse ended the night with a host of Grammys, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Not only was Pro Tools used heavily in the production of Back to Black, it was also used in the recording and production process for numerous other Grammy-winning releases from a variety of artists, including Vince Gill, Foo Fighters, and Album of the Year winner Herbie Hancock. Other winning songs and albums recorded with Pro Tools spanned a broad range of categories, including Best Hard Rock Performance (the Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender”), Best R&B Album (Chaka Khan’s Funk This), Best Country Album (Vince Gill’s These Days), Best Latin Pop Album (El Tren De Los Momentos by Alejandro Sanz), Best Folk Album (Levon Helm’s Dirt Farmer), Best Reggae Album (Stephen Marley’s Mind Control), and Best Surround Sound Album (The Beatles’ Love).

Gil Norton, who produced the Foo Fighter’s Grammy-winning album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, which also spawned the Grammy-winning single, “The Pretender,” was quick to point out the powerful contributions of Pro Tools to his process. “I think for any producer using Pro Tools, or any kid who picks it up, it’s important to use it to its fullest extent,” he reported. “But you have to honor the human element of what happens when someone plays music too. There’s a whole world inside Pro Tools that you can use to enhance what you do.”

“It was a great night for artists who use Pro Tools — their recordings took home major wins in almost every category across the board,” said Dave Lebolt, Avid vice president and general manager of Digidesign. “Pro Tools|HD’s versatility in helping to produce stellar recordings across every musical and artistic genre is reflected in the wide range of awards in nearly every conceivable category. Our heartfelt congratulations to our many loyal customers among the winners and nominees alike.”

For the Grammy Awards telecast, Pro Tools along with Digidesign ICON integrated consoles also played critical roles in the HDTV and 5.1 surround sound broadcast from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. From their XM/Effanel mobile production trailer, the Grammy telecast audio engineers incorporated dual Digidesign 32-fader ICON D-Control™ systems to deliver simultaneous real-time 5.1 surround and 2-channel audio mixes for every live performance and presentation during the telecast. The unique dual system configuration allowed sound engineers to successfully create high-quality custom mixes for all on-air performances.

Nokia upgrades their Map to 2.0

Connected, Mobile navigation for Walk and Drive has arrived - Nokia unveils Maps 2.0
 

Updates include enhanced pedestrian navigation, new satellite images and support for integrated compass orientation

At the Mobile World Congress 2008, Barcelona, Spain Nokia just announced that the Beta version of Nokia Maps 2.0 is ready for you to take out for a spin. Nokia Maps is taking its mapping and navigation experiences to the next level by enhancing its pedestrian navigation, adding multimedia city guides, offering satellite images, and sporting a redesigned user interface.

Nokia Maps 2.0 adds Walk, a pedestrian focused navigation component to the application, while still offering Drive, a world class car navigation system. The pedestrian navigation efficiently walks you from A to B with visual turn-by-turn guidance. It helps you to locate yourself by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks (including pathways through the park) and in newer handsets, like the Nokia 6210 Navigator, points the direction in which you are walking; using the handset’s built in compass for orientation.

The new Nokia Maps 2.0 update also adds the option to purchase first-class multimedia guides that feature photos, videos and audio streams to enlighten your journey even more. As with the previous version of Nokia Maps, map users will receive a free 3-day Navigation trial, for Walk and Drive, plus an additional free 10 minute City Guide trial.

“By taking navigation services out of the car and onto the sidewalk, Nokia is enabling people to explore and discover what’s around them with the confidence of a local,” said Michael Halbherr, vice president, Nokia location based services. “By combining the integrated compass of the Nokia 6210 Navigator, with the speed and accuracy of assisted GPS, Nokia Maps 2.0 provides a unique experience with which other less accurate mobile navigation applications can’t compete.”

Upgrading to the GPS navigation option enables your mobile to become a powerful connected personal navigation device, that provides clear, turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance. If your Nokia device doesn’t have built-in GPS, you can also use an external GPS module with a compatible device. Nokia Maps 2.0 will also have, for an optional fee, real-time traffic feeds with dynamic re-routing in 18 European countries. With vector maps provided by TeleAtlas and Navteq, Nokia Maps now has maps covering over 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable.

Nokia Maps 2.0 can also lead you to the nearest transit station using localized icons in 17 cities so you can hop on the Metro to get across town. While you are on riding on the Metro you can discover and explore new places using the hybrid satellite views or by purchasing one of the new multimedia city guides from companies like Berlitz. The expert advice on where to go and what to do, combined with the integrated Nokia mobile search, helps Nokia fulfill its goal of bringing people context aware Internet services forward.

Nokia also announced that they are planning on bringing Nokia Maps to the mass market with a Series 40 version of Nokia Maps, which will be ready during the 1st half of 2008. Devices based on the Series 40 platform accounted for a large portion of the more than 437-million devices Nokia estimates it had cumulatively shipped by the end of 2007.

Aperture 2 just landed

Apple today introduced Aperture 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software. Featuring an improved interface, faster browsing, and enhanced image processing, Aperture 2 delivers more than 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use, and more powerful than ever. Thanks to its new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit, and publish photos like a pro. Owners of previous versions of the software can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99.

TomTom personalize online content

TomTom launches online Content-Sharing Platform through TomTom HOME

Users can seamlessly download, upload and share content with other members of the TomTom satnav community for free.

TomTom just launched the industry’s first content-sharing platform for TomTom devices that allows users to easily download, upload and share a wealth of navigation content with other users for free.  The content available to share and download will offer something for everyone from personalised start-up images, to warning sounds to funny voices and more. 

The platform will be made available on the latest version of TomTom HOME, which has been unveiled for both PC and MAC users. This new version is available from today and has been designed to bring new levels of personalisation to the navigation experience of the entire TomTom community.

The content-sharing platform comes fully integrated into the new version of TomTom HOME, is easy-to-use and requires no separate installation.  Users simply connect their device to their computer, launch TomTom HOME and select the type of content that interests them. Within each area the user will see a list of content supplied either by TomTom, a third party or individual TomTom customers.  They simply click on the “add” button to install the content onto their TomTom device. To upload and share content, users simply fill in a short description of the content and can then easily transfer the item from their device to TomTom HOME.

Nice extras
Symbolising the importance of user-generated content, users can rate content via a star system, as well as sort it by how it’s rated by the TomTom community.  Additionally, TomTom HOME will automatically distribute any updates to existing content, for example if someone updates a POI set of favourite restaurants, their changes would automatically be sent out to TomTom HOME users who have previously downloaded that set.

New Map Share features
In addition to the content-sharing platform, the new version of TomTom HOME features new management improvements to Map Share, TomTom’s patented map improvement technology.  Now users can limit the corrections they download by country or region, enabling those with limited memory space on their device to use Map Share more selectively.  Additionally, Map Share now features a status indicator which keeps users informed on how up to date their maps are. 

The full portfolio of content available to share and download includes:
• Personalised Images: For the driver that wants to express their individuality, TomTom offers a database of images appear that users can have appear on the touch screen of a TomTom device when it is turned on or shut down.  Drivers can access loads of pictures from the image of a cowboy riding off into the sun, to the logo of their favourite automotive brand.
• Vehicle Icons: One of TomTom’s most popular content offerings allows the driver to choose a variety of different car models and colours on the touch screen (ranging from a classic 1960’s sedan to a modern hot pink car) to symbolise their exact place on the road
• Warning Sounds: To alert drivers to any number of situations on their journey, such as the close proximity of a safety camera or their favourite POI (anything from a museum to the best scuba diving site), drivers can choose from sounds that include an airplane taking off to the sound of an elephant!
• Funny Voices: A full database of funny navigation voices to take the boredom out of travelling are available on the TomTom content-sharing platform. Drivers can install different navigation voices, including the real John Cleese and blunt sports team coaches!
• Colour Schemes: TomTom users can install new colour schemes directly onto their TomTom device to suit individual taste in colours or they can even choose to have the main colours on the navigation screen reflect the colours of their national flag. 
• Map Overlays: Drivers can create their own maps and overlay them onto the map that comes with their TomTom device.  Examples of overlays that people could create are walking routes, maps of large exhibition halls, or amusement parks.
• POI’s:  A huge set of POI’s (Points of Interest) is available on the TomTom content-sharing platform that will enrich every driver’s navigation experience.  POI’s range from golf courses to internet hot spots to coffee shops.
• Routes: A large and growing number of free routes available for most Western European countries can be found on TomTom HOME.  The routes are from the best sources (mostly well-known motor magazines and websites) but also people from the TomTom community can create and share their favourite routes.
• Content will continue to be added. The platform can be found at: www.tomtom.com/home/personalise-device.

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