JamesX

Among my busy first week back from holidays, I’ve managed to find a little time to update my TomTom maps. It turns out that while I was away Dean managed to obtain a copy of the latest Australian maps (v14). It’s always handy to keep the maps as up-to-date as possible because it means you get lost less often! I was surprised at how easy it was to install them and there are a lot of changes - it even includes EastLink.

While I was there, I also updated to the latest version of Tripmaster. This has to be the most useful TomTom third party application out there. It allows you to log where the car has been and then import that information into Google Earth for further analysis. It has a stack of other features too - like the ability to keep track of the highest speed you have achieved in your car (something I can see Dean is enjoying!). If you have a TomTom, you really should get it. I’ve been using it for over a year now, and it only keeps getting better.

All I need now is the update to the Core OS v7 which is due out sometime this quarter. Maybe it might even be time for an upgrade. :)

Well it’s been a while since I last splashed out and bought a new gadget (almost a year with TomTom being the last major purchase in November 2005), but I decided I needed a compact digital camera. I have my big digital camera, but it’s just too clunky to carry around everywhere. Enter the Canon Digital Ixus 65. It’s a great little 6 megapixel camera with a giant 3-inch screen on the back. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket and loaded with a 2GB SD card, it can take a whopping 1800 odd shots at medium resolution. I got a great deal on it - just over $400 from an online store. The RRP is $580 so I’m happy with that.

I’m sure that the new purchase will inspire me to take far too many photos than I need to, which of course makes it tough to keep them all organised. Which brings me to Aperture. Apple recently released Aperture version 1.5 and this new update fixes many of the problems that stopped me from using it to manage my media when it first came out. Now that Aperture allows you to keep your photos in any folder instead of importing them into it’s “library” and it lets you keep thumbnails of images and burn the masters to CD for archiving, I think it’ll be a great asset to have. Time will tell of course, so I’ll just have to wait and see.

With the increasing number of people who are adopting TomTom devices (I think we’re up to six now) I figured this one is worth pointing out. In tandem with the announcement that TomTom firmware version 6 is on the way, TomTom also announced that they would be releasing software called TomTom HOME that will allow users to manage their TomTom from their computer.

Well today, TomTom released HOME, and to my surprise it’s platform independant so I can even run it on my Mac! Gotta love (shudders) Java.

With this application, managing your TomTom PND will become much easier. Installing and removing firmware, maps, POI’s, voices, colour schemes, itineraries,… all of this can now literally be done with a push of the button. HOME also enables you to make a complete back-up of the harddisk or SD card of your TT PND, and 910 owners can manage their photo’s music (mp3) files, audio books and iPod with it.

The release date for firmware v6 is still undetermined. But at least there’s something new to whet our appetites in the meantime.