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Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Nov. 17, 2006 / 26 Mar-Cheshvan, 5767

When new isn't improved

By Mark Kellner

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | If, as discussed last week, "planned obsolescence" is a hallmark of many businesses, "new and improved" is perhaps one of the hucksters greatest phrases. Last year's product can't possibly suffice this year, they say, so let's add some features and relaunch.


Sadly, while something may be "new," it isn't always "improved."


For example, take the Magellan RoadMate 6000T, a $699.99 GPS system that is the same price as last year's RoadMate 360. Where the former item was well worth the same price Magellan is asking for this year's model, this new product suffers greatly from feature overload.


Users can, for example, plug in a SecureDigital (SD) flash memory card and you can either view photos on the device or listen to music. Of course, you can do both on a video-equipped iPod, and plugging the Apple Computer music device into a car stereo will produce better sound than the Magellan unit. So, why the features?


Magellan also placed a Bluetooth speaker phone into the unit, which means you can speak through it when answering or making calls, something useful in places such as the District of Columbia, where the law requires "hands-free" use of cell phones. Sound quality is uneven, however, and while that may be a function of the telephone one is using, it again seems a bit of an unnecessary add-in, considering the seemingly wide adoption of handsfree headsets.


What's more. once I had invoked the phone menu during a given session, the device wouldn't get away from that no matter what I tried. I could only boot up the GPS, let it warm up and manually "escape" from the phone menu into navigation. And, after all, navigation is what one buys a GPS to have.


In navigation, the 6000T is acceptable, but not necessarily the best choice for the job. It works well, but its promise of "live traffic reports" and presumably re-routing seemed uneven; the only feature that would be invoked is a slow traffic indicator that urges you, for example, to jump from the express lanes of I-270 south into the local lanes. Fair enough, except when you're stuck in the middle of traffic and there's no way to get into those lanes. A few lines of software code might solve that contradiction.


I'm also disappointed in Magellan's lack of options for voices and the on-screen display. Friends who have the TomTom GPS report they can select several voices for the device, including one with a British accent. By contrast, Magellan gives you the choice of either male or female and that's it. A little more variety, instead of, say, the photo viewer — a great driver distraction if I ever heard of one — might be welcome.


Because Magellan is asking one penny less than $700 for this unit, it should be subject to the same kind of scrutiny a notebook PC — also available at $700 or less in some cases — should get. After all, you can hook up a USB-attached GPS antenna to a notebook PC equipped with Microsoft's Streets & Trips 2007 software, recently released at a list price of $129, though it's available for less at online stores and some retailers. The Microsoft software does its job very, very well, calculates alternate routes, speaks directions and, since it uses a notebook display, offers a much better viewing experience than the Magellan. If I were driving a great deal, I'd consider getting some kind of auto mount for a PC and use a notebook instead of the Magellan RoadMate 6000T. Details on the Microsoft software can be found at www.microsoft.com/streets; I won't tell you where the find the Magellan product, since I'm not recommending it.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.

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