Posts Tagged ‘Look’

Portable satellite radio is the latest music trend, combining your MP3 collection with the ability to hear new music via Sirius or XM Radio. You’ll find that many of the portable ones are unique, sleek and more functional than an iPod. Many people like the versatility of a portable satellite radio since they can use it in the home, office or car, with minimal installation requirements.

Your best bet for Sirius brand is the Sirius S50 Radio (with car kit), which allows you to save your favorite channels and 50 hours of music, replay songs, import playlists, get game alerts, listen to six hours of music per charge and access traffic reports. It also comes with everything you need to listen to your subscription in the car.

The Stiletto 1 or Stiletto 2 portable satellite radio offers the most stylish new design. The only difference between the two is that the second model is slightly slimmer, lighter and has longer battery life.

Both will record up to 100 hours of radio programming, bookmark 10 hours of music at the touch of a button, store your MP3s on 2 GB of space, allow an hour’s worth of replay and provide personalized sports alerts. The Stiletto 1 usually runs for $199 and the Stiletto 2 is $329, but you can often find sales.

If you’re thinking about XM brand, there are some amazing options. The Pink Pioneer Inno offers: 50 hours of storage, sports and news tickers, one touch recording, artist and tune select features, MP3 storage and play. While girls may prefer the Pink Pioneer, guys can get excited about the gray Pioneer Inno or the Samsung Helix, which has all the same features.

Both of the Innos can also play Audible audio books as well! The Nexus has a little less storage space and lacks the bells and whistles (like sports and news updates), but it will get the job done for $129 full price or $70 on sale. Your Nexus will come complete with a mini-tuner, home stand and antenna, power adapter, RC cable, USB cable, rechargeable battery, earbuds, Napster CD, belt clip and remote.

Portable satellite radio is great for exercising, walking to class, plugging into your car and bringing your subscription to the office. XM brand offers live breaking news, while Sirius brand can give sports fans Game Alerts – which is a really neat feature that your iPod doesn’t currently have! Get the most out of your Sirius or XM subscription with a portable device that goes where you go.

Subscription-based satellite radio service is at the forefront of the US music market. Long gone are the days when people when the only option was in choosing from just one or two measly stations that had poor reception and overbearing, irritating disk jockeys and commercials!

However, local stations generally don’t fear this latest technology revolution, predicting their survival in much the same way basic television has survived, despite the emergence of cable in the 90s. There’s a lot to love about this technology and it’s no surprise that Sirius Radio is ranked #1 Fastest Growing Company for 2007 (by Deloitte Technology).

First of all, this technology provide you with a high-quality digital signal that can transcend geographic borders by beaming down from three geosynchronous communications satellites orbiting around the Earth. Many channels feature CD-quality sound, static-free.

Secondly, instead of picking the lesser of the evils from four or five local stations, subscribers have the option of choosing from over 200 specialized channels! What are you in the mood for? Choose from Early, Late or Deep Classic Rock. Do you want mellow rock, Jam Bands and Lite Rock — or Punk, Heavy Metal and 80s Hair Bands?

You can listen to Court TV, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern, ESPN, Nascar, International News broadcasts, Fox News or Liberal News, Traffic and Weather stations, Comedy, Playboy Adult, Latino, or 24/7 Bruce Springsteen. There are five Country music stations, ranging from Bluegrass to Today’s Hits, and six Hip Hop stations ranging from Old Skool Rap to R&B Hits.

There are mix stations and stations for each decade from the 1950s through today. Satellite radio gives you a huge range of options that span cross-country!

The third benefit – that’s worth its weight in gold – is that there are NO commercials! It may be hard to believe that 100% commercial-free radio exists, but for just $13/month, you can evade the constant interruptions that plague your morning and late afternoon commutes. Satellite radio is the obvious choice for truckers, delivery drivers and long road trips.

However, the fact that satellite radio costs anything is still a deterrent to many frugal individuals. Therefore, there will always be a market for regular local broadcast stations. At this point, it can be a hassle to go to the electronics shop and get satellite radio receivers for home use or for your car.

In the future, this latest technology will become the standard and most new cars will already have it installed. Maybe then the real revolution will begin.

I want to stay around $250
Is the verbal street name and turn info that important? What about maps and what is the advantage of Blue Tooth on GPS?
Users please help!

One of the great inventions of our time is certainly the telephone. We use these devices on a daily basis to keep up with work issues, and let our families know if we’re going to be late for dinner. Telephones have become a necessity for all of us. In addition to our communication buddies, we thrive on the concept of telephone answering systems. How else would we keep up with all of those different activities going on in our hectic lives? We all take advantage of telephone answering systems of some sort, which ensure us that we won’t miss that important call.

In the world of phones, the wireless cell phones have become a right arm to many people. While we still use our home phones, cell phones are a constant addiction. It seems that people have to make calls for no reasons these days. Regardless of this epidemic, telephone answering systems are still prominent. Voice mail appears to be the most popular of these systems today. In the business world, many people rely on cell phones to make those important transactions or meeting calls. If the person is unavailable, a voice mail service will record the message so nil will be lost. Many of us, even away from our work environments use this feature regularly for family issues and simple chores. Telephone answering systems have become our reassurance that the message will be intercepted.

While voice mail is certainly the current rage when it comes to telephone answering systems, I still prefer the good old answering machine. I enjoy having the ability to glance over at my ringing phone, see who’s calling on the caller ID, and then decide whether or not to pick it up. The answering machine will get it. No big deal. I can listen to the message while it’s recording, and play it back as many times as needed. This to me is the greatest of telephone answering systems. The funny thing about keeping track of our messages these days is the simplicity. Whether you want your messages routed through your cell phone, home phone, or computer, it’s really up to you. When it comes to telephone answering systems, we definitely have some choices. No matter your preferred route of message retrieval, the goal is still the same.

If you’re in need of a good telephone answering system, you can check the local electronics stores, who will provide you with valuable information to aid you in your choice. The Internet can also clear up any questions you have concerning telephone answering systems, their abilities, and their prices.

If you own a business where you usually exchange information online with your clients you may want to make sure that your customers are really who they claim to be. This can be especially important if run a business or a storefront where there is a common exchange of money. If verifying your users or customers is important to you online than you may want to check out how useful a telephone reverse lookup service could be for you. This is because you can use the telephone reverse lookup service to check the phone numbers that your users give you against the names they also sign up under. To start searching the database visit http://reversetelephonedirectory.ws

Wondering how this can work? Well by requiring a phone number and a full name you can head over to this easy to use telephone reverse lookup service and plug in the phone number. Within minutes you will have the true identity of the person who owns or is registered to the number and you can compare it with the name your customer or user gave you. This is one easy way to verify that each user is a real person and that they are not trying to deceive you before you allow them to use their business or decide to partner with them for an exchange of services.

As mentioned, using the telephone reverse look up service is very easy which makes it a great asset for the security of your business. Although simply knowing the identity of a person is not a surefire way to ensure your transactions are safe, it is a way to weed out people who are deliberately deceiving you from the start. After all, if you use the telephone reverse lookup and find that a user was not truthful from the beginning when they registered you will know that you should not continue to allow them to access your services.

Additionally, when you use the telephone reverse look up service you can infact check and verify more than just if they offered you a valid phone number as well. When you use this user friendly telephone reverse lookup service you will also be able to lookup the address of the person who owns the phone number as well so you can check to see if you were given a valid address as well and that the person really is who they have described them self as.

This is one great for finding out the truth behind a user quickly which is another reason why so many people are finding that a telephone reverse lookup service is essential to operating their businesses safely. In fact, with the telephone reverse lookup service you can find out landline numbers, cell phone numbers, addresses, household members, and many more useful pieces of information. Household members are helpful to you especially so you can find out if there are other people who may have rightfully given out a number so that you never making an error while verifying and using the telephone reverse lookup service. You can begin using this service at http://reversetelephonedirectory.ws

It is more than difficult to find a good GPS review on the Internet. The reason is this: GPS devices all do the same thing. They show your location on an electronic map, and then show you how to get where you’re going. Now, by GPS device I mean a car GPS device that you buy separately from your automobile and either hang from a bracket on your windshield or put next to you on the seat.

So, the key to a good GPS review is understanding the features that various GPS devices offer at each price point.

What do all GPS devices have in common?

All car GPS devices that are on the market today have a touch screen where you can enter information into the unit, such as your destination address. All auto-calculate the route to that address, and all give you spoken directions of some sort as you drive to your destination. In addition to this, virtually all GPS devices come pre-loaded with maps, usually at least of the continental United States, have an internal battery for emergency use, and can toggle between 2D and 3D map views. (3D gives you a slightly more realistic view of what you should be seeing in front of you.)

There are exceptions to all of these rules, but almost all are in the older models.

Who are the industry leaders?

There are three main manufacturers of car GPS systems, Garmin, Magellan, and Tom Tom.

Garmin sells about one out of two of all the car GPS systems sold in the world. They are known for making a quality product. Magellan was an early leader in GPS systems that can route you to more than one destination. They do not have nearly the market share that Garmin has. Tom Tom is a late arrival who is quickly catching up. According to Tom Tom, their GPS system, the Tom Tom One, is the best selling system in the world.

What are the main features to look for in a GPS system?

In this GPS review, let’s start at the cheap end and work our way up.

You can buy a GPS system for less than $200. The Garmin nuvi 200 and the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition currently sell for less than $200 at Amazon.

As you increase price, the main features you can add are

Voice prompts that actually say the street name

Cheaper GPS devices only tell you where to turn. They say something like, “Turn right, here.” A good feature to be aware of is having the GPS device actually say the street name of the road you need to turn on. So, instead of “Turn right, here,” a better GPS system would say, “Turn right on Highland Avenue,” or “Take a left onto the entrance to I-95.” Devices with spoken street names usually start around $300.

Another feature to look out for is real-time traffic and weather capability

Wouldn’t it be nice if your GPS device could not only tell you how to drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Charlotte, North Carolina, but could alert you to bad traffic conditions in time to take a detour? Well, many of the more expensive units can. How does your GPS device know what the traffic is like up ahead? GPS devices that have this capability are tuned to either an FM or satellite radio frequency that broadcasts this information. If your device has this function, then it will usually come with a free trial subscription to this service. After that, it’s going to cost you, but the cost is fairly low, especially considering how useful real-time traffic is. Along with real-time traffic usually comes real-time weather — an added bonus.

Any of the Garmin nuvis from the nuvi 350 up have FM traffic capability. The nuvi 350 runs slightly less than $300 at Amazon. If you want a Magellan that route you around hold ups, you’ll be paying $300 to $350. All of the Tom Tom’s have this capability, even the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition, which is one of the cheapest units on the market, currently running around $200.

Do you regularly use your cell phone while driving?

I know I do. It’s problematic to hold the cell phone in one hand and negotiate your way through heavy traffic on a busy interchange. If your phone supports Bluetooth technology you can get a GPS receiver with that same capability and actually use it to make and receive calls. You answer an incoming call by just tapping on the touch screen. You make an outgoing call by either entering the number in your GPS’s touch screen key pad or by accessing numbers stored in the device — downloaded from your phone when you first set up your receiver. So, now instead of wearing that silly Bluetooth headset and looking like a member of the Borg Collective, you can just have your GPS device do double duty. If you make a lot of calls while driving, this is definitely a feature you need to think about.

As to what Bluetooth is going to run you, the Garmin nuvi 360 is their lowest priced Bluetooth model. It currently sells for slightly more than $300. Virtually all of their upper end products have Bluetooth. Two of the Magellan Maestro series, the 3250 and the widescreen version, the 4250 have Bluetooth. They run around $280 and $350 respectively. The Tom Tom GO series has Bluetooth. They run anywhere from $350 to $900.

Multi-destination routing

It’s not something that I use much, but it’s definitely worth knowing about. Multi-destination routing means you can enter multiple routes into your GPS at one time and it will calculate the best route that includes all of your destinations.

Garmin’s nuvi 700 series does this, as well as a couple of their StreetPilot series. Most of the Magellan Maestro series does this – they can be programmed to hold up to 20 separate destinations. As for Tom Tom, the GO 510 can hold up to 15 routes. As to price, the nuvi 700s run anywhere from mid-$400s to almost $700. The Magellans are slightly less expensive, running from mid-$200s to the mid-$300s. The GO 510 costs slightly less than $500 at Amazon right now. The voice prompts, Bluetooth, and multi-destination routing are three of the more important features to consider.

Also, you want to keep in mind what maps your device comes with. And, almost as important, how many preprogrammed Points of Interest are included in its database.

Points of Interest

(POIs) are names, addresses, and phone numbers of possible destinations, anything from the nearest Starbucks to Yellowstone National Park. The lower priced units come with less than 1 million POIs. That’s not enough, if you’re going to be using this feature. For use outside of your normal travel routes, you really want a few million POIs. Virtually all GPS devices now come with this, except the lowest prices models, like the Garmin nuvi 200, which only has regional maps and less than 1 million POIs. (There’s nothing wrong with fewer POIs, if you’re not planning on needing them, but they sure can come in handy.)

Yet another feature to keep in mind is screen size. The standard size is 3.5 inches. This is measured on a diagonal. So the screen for the nuvi 270, for instance, measures 2.8″ by 2.1″. The so called widescreens measure 4.3 inches on the diagonal. You’re actually getting 70% more screen this way.

Why is screen size important?

It has to do with ease and safety of use while driving. Personally, I like a wide screen, but then again, my car is fairly big and has a big windshield. The difference in price between a regular screen and a widescreen is about $80. That might be money well spent. On the other hand, if you drive a smaller vehicle with less windshield area, the wider screen might be more of a hazard than a safety feature.

Currently at Amazon, Garmin nuvis (their newer product line) run from $179 for the nuvi 200 to $699 for the nuvi 770. The Magellan Maestros are running from $168 for the 3100 to $356 for the widescreen 4250. Tom Tom’s GPS systems are currently priced from slightly less than $200 for the Tom Tom One, 3rd Edition, to $899 for the GO 700 (which is overpriced).

Whatever you do, don’t procrastinate. Even with a good GPS review, with all of these confusing choices it’s tempting to just wait for whatever the next model is going to be. What you’re missing by doing that is lots less stress while driving! Imagine, if you’re a guy being able to always (really) know where you’re going despite what your wife or girlfriend says. And, even better, if you’re a woman you won’t have to pester your husband or boyfriend to stop at the local gas station and admit that they’re lost – not an easy admission for a guy. (I should know!)