Before embarking on last month’s road trip, we purchased a TomTom global navigation system.

For the past decade, the bulk of my trips have been the fly/rental car variety. Increasingly in the past years, my cars have come equipped with a GPS.

There are few things I hate more than those tiny place-mat maps the Airport car rental places give you.

The only place they have ever successfully steered me is into the freight hangars.

So I took to GPS like a duck to cool, deep puddle and planned on making sure the next car we buy has it factory-installed.

But a portable after-market system in the meantime? Seemed like an unnecessary luxury in this Mapquest world.

Then, the day before embarking on my 10,000-mile boondoggle, my husband came home with a TomTom. Like an adult, I squealed and hopped around the driveway.

The portable system ran us about $300. We chose it over the integrated option with my husband’s Blackberry because, well, I’m the one that does most of the getting lost in this relationship.

The installation was a matter of attaching a suction cup.

With John Cleese telling us to ‘turn left NOW’, off we stepped.

It never occurred to us to check if it would work in Canada. No worries, even in the most rural bits of northern New Brunswick the device knew where to go.

The multiple-stop planning option was outstanding. We were able to integrate all the destinations - client sites, hotels, desired detours - it a single plan. The estimated travel times and on-the-fly recalculations were about 90% correct. Huge improvement over the other systems I’ve used (perhaps a simple matter of the algorithm getting smarter) and Mapquest.

In sum, the gadget steered us faithfully  except for some spells where the satellite signal was not available. The maps clear, construction and traffic avoided, and John’s sardonic wit occasionally shining through the basic ‘go here go there’ dialogue. By the end of the trip, we were ‘instrument driving’ - relying on TomTom  instead of looking out for upcoming exits or traffic.

The only improvement to our experience (excepting stronger satellites) would have been if we’d paired it with a Bluetooth headset like the one MoGo is rolling out. There were long stretches when it would have been nice to route the sound only to the driver’s ears.

Otherwise, I can heartily recommend this as a Father’s Day gift or just a regular Thursday purchase.

Share This

Here’s a question for all you tech freaks, gadget lovers, and all around electronic guru’s…Will the whole Speech To Text thing be the next wave of the future, or will it be a passing phase?  Will it be the technology that revolutionizes how we do, well, just about everything, or will it be another Chia Pet?  I really want to know what all of YOU think about this.

The reason I ask is simple, I just saw over on the Scoble Show, a video with the two founders of a new company called Mobeus.  Mobeus is a technology that lets you literally talk to your cell phone, and when I say talk TO your cell phone, I mean that, not through it, To it.  The video even offers up a pretty cool little demo where Mike Phillips, the company’s CTO searches for a Creedence Clearwater song by simply talking to it.  The speech-to-text in this new technology is waaaaaaaay beyond your simple “Training” style speech-to-text your phone probably has right now, and can literally (with very few errors) type what you say, as you say it, accurately.

So, my question is, in this Bluetooth age of wireless tech, simple innovations, and the whole world getting a lot smaller, where will speech-to-text fit in?  I’m thinking of the exciting implications of this when you pair it with an awesome Bluetooth headset like the MoGo headset.  Imagine being able to just speak directly into your headset, with your phone in your pocket, and being able to dial people, search the internet for songs or videos, or compose entire blog posts without Ever having to use your fingers.  Wow.

Share This

In a couple of weeks, we’ll be launching a contest looking for ideas for Bluetooth gadgets. Along with that theme, here’s another one that recently came to market.

Alive Technologies is an Australian company that has launched Blutooth-enabled health monitoring systems.

One of these, the Alive Sports System has applications for the serious athlete. It tracks your heart rate as you exercise, sending the information to your Bluetooth phone or computer.

You can use this information in many ways; in conjunction with your doctor as part of treatment, in partnership with a trainer to improve your workouts, to see your trends ( e.g. Do you stay at peak heart rate longer during morning or evening workouts?), and  track your preparedness for an event - like a marathon or triathalon.

If you’re the type that runs or works out in the hotel fit club as your way to shake off the grit of being a road warrior, this is the kind of information can help you compare apples and apples, when you are trying to get a feel for how the road effects your performance.

According to Gizmag, Alive is tying this functionality in with other gadgets to enhance the information even more.

By connecting the system with a GPS phone that tracks your route, Alive is creating a package that will tell you where you peak and where you struggle.

And Microsoft Australia is getting into the game, too. They are testing a system where the heart rate monitor will communicate with an MP3 player. This gadget will prompt faster or slower songs to cue you to change your effort level so you keep your heart rate at the optimal level for your health goals.

What do you think?

Share This

A bit different today, all of us here at MoGo want to take a short break and just wish everyone a very Happy Memorial Day!

In lieu of mobility tips, Bluetooth technology updates or rants on why MoGo is the sweetest thing since PopTarts for all of us young, hip, road-warriors, today we just want to wish everyone a very Happy Memorial Day and ask that you keep all of the service-men and women that are defending our country in your thoughts, prayers, wishes and hopes.

They follow orders to keep us safe, the least we can do is give them our respect and take a day out to say Thank You!

Share This

Here at the MoGo Mobility blog, we’re gearing up to celebrate the launch of the MoGo headset with a contest:

“What kind of Bluetooth gadgets do YOU envision?”

As we get ready to kick off, I couldn’t help but think about  the possibilities.

One of the things I would like to see would be an alarm to let me know when I’m about to leave behind my cell phone or iPod (again). I long ago eschewed getting a Treo or Crackberry,  but simplicity has been my foe. Without  a BatBelt holstering my gadgets, I am well-known for digging around in a panic.

Yes, I regularly call myself to find my phone and my iPod has been found everywhere - including the refrigerator.

As it turns out,  an alarm  isn’t a future-tense device.

Sony-Ericsson released the MBW-100 watch  last year that is, you guessed it, Bluetooth-enabled.

In addition to being a decent-looking timepiece,  it connects wirelessly to your phone and displays caller ID and message alerts, plus lets you reject calls and control your phone’s music player.

That’s right, the caller’s name subtly flashes in the face of your watch and with a push of the button, you can send it to voicemail.

My favorite feature? If you  walk away from a paired device, like your phone, it gives you an alarm to let you know.

And yes, it’s compatible with the MoGo headset.

Share This

First ESPN Mobile, now Pandora Music Box available ON your phone? Man, how are we going to get anything done, Ever?  That’s right friends, Pandora, the wildly popular “new music” finder online, is now officially available on 5 Sprint Phones already.

According to reports, the online music service will be available already on the the FUSIC by LG, the A900 and A920 by Samsung, and the 7500 and 8400 by Sanyo; consider Pandora’s box officially opened.  What’s cool about Pandora is it allows you to have a completely customized, albeit randomized, music experience right on your phone…no PC necessary.  What’s also cool is, it allows you to be introduced to new bands you’ve never heard of that Pandora believes you might just like.

Not to toot our own horns, but again, pairing a service like this with the MoGo Headset is just plain genius.  The ability to listen to all new music without having any pesky wires dangling out of your ears is, in a word, priceless.   Plus, this way you can leave the phone in your pocket or backpack, have the headset in your ear and be rocking out without anyone being the wiser to it.  Not bad amigos, not bad at all.

Share This

Last February, the one & only Carlton Bale took a MoGo mouse on a trip and, like me, wished it had a scroll wheel;

…”here are new and innovative pointing devices that just don’t have room for a scroll wheel. Users are frustrated, everyone complains about it, and there is no apparent solution. Unless you remember Pointix Scroll ++; …. (software that) gave ‘old school mice’ the ability to scroll without one.”

Carlton, being Carlton, has found the old software and tried it out - with great success.

Here is his post with detailed instructions and the software (which is free).

Thanks, Carlton!

Share This

I got my MoGo Mouse last week and as you know I run Vista and haven’t had the greatest fun getting a Bluetooth adapter to work (I’m dying for the MoGdapter due next month) so you might want to know how it worked.

Well.

Okay, not at first but it was my own dern fault. See with all my goofing around and testing new stuff and installing no less than 4 different Bluetooth adapters I pretty much wrecked my install of Vista. I detailed how I fixed it on PimpYourWork, but suffice to say that when I got back up and running with a nice clean install of Vista, everything worked, and is still working, as the instructions said.

Have no fear of the MoGo mouse and Vista. If you already have Vista and Bluetooth runing on your laptop … I can’t think of a better travel mouse (heck I’m using mine right now).

Tags: MoGo Mouse, MoGo Vista

Share This

When you’re on the road, it’s easy to take for granted most of the open WiFi connections - in the airport, the hotel , the coffeeeshop in the lobby of the building.

However, it is becoming more and more important that you know where your WiFi is coming from, and if you are rightfully allowed to use it.

This sage warning comes on the heels of another felony arrest for hi-jacking (or ‘piggybacking’) an open WiFi meant for customers.

ars technica is reporting that Sam Peterson has been arrested and charged with a felony for unlawfully using the WiFi connectivity of the Re-Union Street Cafe of Sparta, Michigan. Peterson used to drive up each morning and check his email from his car - never actually entering the cafe or buying anything there.

Because he wasn’t a customer, he didn’t the right to use their WiFi. In 1979, Michigan made computer hacking illegal (way ahead of their time). In 2000, they updated the law to make it a crime to access a computer system without authorization.

The management of the cafe didn’t know it was wrong for Peterson, and in fact Peterson himself didn’t know.

It was a police officer who observed Peterson’s daily habit that thought that it wasn’t quite right what he was doing. A little research ended up in a warrant.

And the moral of this story?

On my recent road trip, I opened my laptop one day to write a post for this blog. Frustrated by the slow response time of the WiFi, I hunted up a land connection to the network. In my search, I was unnerved to discover that the WiFi I had been using belonged to a private citizen in another building.

It’s too easy. And? Illegal.

Know where the WiFi comes from. And, for God’s sake -just to be on the safe side, buy a muffin.

Share This

Ok, maybe not the scariest thing in the ENTIRE world, but I’ll admit this, when reading my colleague Elizabeth’s post about this new fangled “Mobile-Spy” program that actually lets employers, or whomever monitor, in REAL time, the goings-on on my cell phone, I instantly became terrified.

It has long been my belief that as of right now, we are TOO tapped into this world, too accessible, too monitor-able, and too spy-able.  Now our cell phones might not be safe?!  Yikes.  With new technology comes new questions of morality, ethics, and what should or should not be allowed and accepted as commonplace.   Tech like wireless internet, shrinking size of products, and our favorite, Bluetooth, are all amazing and bring with it a freedom not ever before enjoyed.  Along with it, however, comes this new question as to what should be allowed as far as keeping tabs.

I want to hear your thoughts about all this, so please, sound off on this one.  What do YOU think of “big brother?”  What do you think of the influx of security cameras, hidden microphones, software designed to log every keystroke, every email, and now, cell phone programs that can read your text messages and hear your calls AS YOU MAKE THEM?  They scare me, a lot, how do you feel?

Share This