TomTom is making easy and smart navigation available to powered two-wheel riders everywhere, with the launch of TomTom Urban Rider.

This smart two-wheel navigator has a glove-friendly, intuitive screen and simplified user interface, but also ensures riders have the smartest navigation with innovative TomTom features like advanced lane guidance and IQ Routes™– all from just £249.

“With TomTom Urban Rider, we’re making navigation truly accessible to all users of a powered two-wheeler,” says Damian Woodward, VP sales & marketing at TomTom. “Whether you use your bike for the daily commute or for long rides on the open road at the weekend, it’s everything you’ll need in a great value package.”

The most noticeable feature is the simplified menu, which has just two buttons – ‘Navigate to’ and ‘Browse map’. This lets users get going without any hassle, and is made even easier to use thanks to the glove-friendly screen with its larger icons – perfect for gloved hands.

When it comes to safety, a welcome addition to the Rider products is advanced lane guidance. On the most difficult highway intersections, this provides a realistic 3D representation of the junction to keep users relaxed and safe.

For even better routing, meanwhile, TomTom Urban Rider features IQ Routes. This innovative TomTom technology uses actual speed data collected from millions of users to calculate the fastest route for any hour of any day.

And to help customers keep their map up to date between map releases, TomTom Urban Rider features Map Share™ technology. This lets them make corrections to their map and benefit from thousands of corrections made by TomTom users every day – free of charge.

For the serious riders out there, TomTom is also releasing TomTom Rider Pro. This comes with a Bluetooth® headset in the box, for loud and clear voice instructions and for making and receiving phone calls when on the road.

TomTom Urban Rider will be available from end of May 2010.  Priced £249.99 for UK/ Republic of Ireland maps and £299.99 for European maps.  For more information and to buy, visit http://www.tomtom.com

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A number of new services and features are coming soon to the TomTom app for iPhone, including TomTom HD Traffic for real-time traffic speed and incident reports, and Local Search powered by Google. The latest update to the TomTom app for iPhone (version 1.3), which has been submitted to Apple for review, will offer these and other soon-to-be-announced enhancements to ensure an optimal, and even more intuitive, navigation experience.

“TomTom is fully committed to offering TomTom app users the services and features they demand most,” said Tom Murray, vice president of market development for TomTom Inc. “The latest update to the TomTom app for iPhone offers our highly sought-after real-time traffic service option, enhanced point-of-interest search capabilities and a wide range of other features.”

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PocketGPSWorld.com are pleased to announce the release of CamerAlert on the Apple AppStore. Priced at £0.59 it is available now from the Apple AppStore.

CamerAlert is a Speed and Red Light Camera warning system for iPhones based on the world renowned PocketGPSWorld.com Speed Camera Database. It provides both audible and visual warnings as you approach a camera. When you are in a section of SPECs or Average Speed Cameras CamerAlert keeps track of your average speed to ensure you are aware of your average speed between each camera. To cut down on the number of “False Alerts” you are only warned for cameras that monitor your direction of travel.

CamerAlert works in two different modes: Map and List. In Map mode the main display is a map with the cameras positioned on it. This can be shown either as “North Up” or “Course Up”. The list mode simply shows a list of all the cameras in the area, highlighting the ones that you are approaching.

CamerAlert comes preinstalled with a Speed Camera Database. To insure you have the latest camera information we also offer a free Latest Database Guarantee which allows you to download the latest database after product registration. CamerAlert allows you to use your existing PocketGPSWorld.com membership to keep the camera data up to date. With weekly releases of the database it is important to download the latest speed camera information to remain safe.

If you see a camera that is not in the database then you can report it using CamerAlert. This feature can also be used to change information about a camera already in the database i.e. changing speed or direction information.

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With the launch of a revolutionary CV-dedicated portable satnav device, Clarion has cut a major path to providing better, more accurate road guidance for commercial vehicles on Britain’s roads, and in Europe.

Whilst the demand for plug-and-go portable navigation by the car-driving public has triggered significant product development, the lack of a competent CV-specific equivalent for the truck market, has done little to ease the drivers’ burden.

But Clarion’s launch of the MAP690TRK CV portable navigation device – with its ability to designate routes according to the vehicle’s size, weight and other criteria – represents a considerable advance over present products on the market.

No stranger in the supply of in-cab audio, multimedia and navigation to CV manufacturers, fleet operators and independents, Clarion has designed and purpose-developed the product with functionality and ease-of-use at its core, including a unique, active cradle (AC709) with a 12-24 volt power input, stereo speaker output and built-in TMC antenna.

Route calculation takes into account bridge height, width and carrying capacity, tunnel height and width, road carrying capacity and water protection and/or hazardous material transportation limitations.

Trip assistance tools allow for the inclusion of loading and waiting times at pre-determined stops to be taken into account when calculating the ETA, whilst a travel time monitor tracks driving and rest times and alerts the driver when daily, continuous or break times are exceeded.

The MAP690TRK accommodates three different vehicle profiles, logging data on height, width, length, weight (actual and max.), weight per axle and trailer inclusion, whilst a mode of transport option allows use in the car as well as truck, making the new navigation device truly portable.

Two separate high-performance programmes – powered by a powerful 400MHz CPU – allow the MAP690TRK to display buildings both in the foreground and background. Buildings close to the driver appear see-through as you approach them, so as not to obstruct the view of the next junction, whilst buildings further away are textured and solid, making them lifelike and easily recognisable as reference points while driving.

The new PND also uses digital elevation model data to draw height and depth features, with hills and mountains rendered in 3D while you drive, to create the most realistic view, at any level of zoom. Elevation information is also applied to the road network for rendering of shadows, to display roads and bridges at their correct height for a greater clarity of route guidance.

The MAP690TRK is pre-installed with map data for 44 European countries whilst voice guidance is offered in 38 languages. To cater for UK and European driving, the MAP690TRK utilises both a 5-digit and 8-digit postcode search function, to direct you more accurately to your destination, and with the addition of built-in RDS-TMC traffic information and numerous driver alerts, commercial vehicle users are kept constantly updated with changing conditions.

To cope with the demands for an ‘always-connected’ communications network, Clarion’s latest portable navigation device also makes the most of Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free operation of Bluetooth enabled mobile phones and PDA’s, including on-screen phone book and touch-pad dialling.

Entertainment features on the MAP690TRK include audio streaming (A2DP) via Bluetooth and MP3/WMA playback through a built-in USB music player, a movie viewer, allowing users to download up to 8GB of MP4 video via MMC or SD card, and a digital photo album that allows the user to upload pictures via SD card or the built-in USB port.
The Clarion MAP690TRK is priced at RRP £399.00 inc. VAT, with the AC709 active cradle priced at £35.00. For more information on stocking, contact Clarion (GB) Ltd. on 01793 870400 or amsales@clarion.co.uk.

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