Candid conversations about using GPS and wireless technology for work and fun.
Community Stories
Featured TeleNaver: Charles Cooper
Apr 30th
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“How do you use TeleNav?”
As TeleNav’s social media dude (for the record, not my official title), part of my job is to be the voice of the customer to our company. That’s why when you say something, whether it be here on our blog or on our Facebook or Twitter page, it doesn’t just stop there. A lot of the time, I shoot it on up to the rest of our company, whether that be to a product team or all the way up to our CEO. When you say something, I hear it and I make sure others do too.
As part of my role entails interacting with customers, one aspect of my job I really enjoy is getting know the community around our brand and the individuals who make it up.
“What’s your name? Where are you from? How do you use TeleNav? Coke or Pepsi?” ;)
These are just some of the questions I was curious about recently so I asked and someone responded. I’d like to introduce you to him.
Meet Charles Cooper, our first (of hopefully many) Featured TeleNavers!
THE BASICS
Name?:
Charles Cooper
What is your occupation?:
I.T. Support Supervisor for a University in Cambridge, MA
Where are you from?:
Central Massachusetts.
Would you consider yourself to be tech-savvy?:
As an I.T. professional I work with technology on a daily basis. I recently made the decision to go back to school and I’m attending my classes online. My alarm clock is Wi-Fi enabled! (www.chumby.com) My car is voice enabled thanks to Ford Sync powered by Microsoft. I’m lost without my smartphone. Technology is in every facet of my life. I’m the person many of my friends and family go to for technology buying decisions or technical support.
HOW YOU USE GPS NAVIGATION
On what devices do you use TeleNav?:
I currently use Sprint Navigation powered by TeleNav on my Palm Pre. I also have a 2010 Ford Fusion equipped with Ford Sync; which I recently found out the Navigation is powered by TeleNav.
What kind of GPS navigation user do you consider yourself to be?
I think of myself as a casual GPS user. I say casual in the sense that I use the technology without thinking about it. If I don’t know where I’m going I don’t worry about it or put any effort into planning how to get there, I just whip out my phone. Once I reach a destination, plans can change…TeleNav adapts with me. TeleNav has become such an integral part of my life that it has become habit. I confident in never having to pre-plan my routes or even carry maps because I know the technology will reliably get me to where I’m going.
When do you tend to use us? 
I use TeleNav pretty heavily for directions and locating POIs when I’m on vacation. Last year I went California for my first trip to the west coast. For me, going to California was like being blind folded and dropped off in some random place. Over a 10 day period, my girlfriend and I traveled up the coast from San Diego to Santa Barbara. We went to Disney World, Hollywood, Laguna Beach, and ate at places like Joe’s Crab Shack and In and Out Burger. We never once looked at a map. Each place we went to, we solely relied upon TeleNav to get us there and never got lost. TeleNav was also able to locate local restaurants by cuisine type in order to fulfill cravings for Mexican food and even find a convenient store when I needed to pick up some Advil for a headache. Without TeleNav on our vacation we truly would have been lost.
When I’m closer to home, I will use TeleNav to find a new restaurant opposed to going to the same local spot. One of the downsides of TeleNav is that I’m never a regular at any particular restaurant. In a single application I can get the restaurant phone number, call them and then get turn by turn directions. My girlfriend and I have two dogs Bailey a golden retriever and Layla a black lab, I use TeleNav to get directions to dog parks.
How many times per week would you guess you use us?
I use TeleNav at least a few times per week. Basically any time I’m going someplace I have never been before.
How long have you used us?
I’ve been using Telenav since 2004. TeleNav came pre-installed on my Nextel Motorola i730. This was my first phone that was GPS enabled. Back then there was no moving 3D map only audio guidance with directional arrows. I’ve used Telenav on the following devices:
- (Nextel) Motorola i730
- (Nextel) Motorola i860
- (Nextel) Motorola i870
- (Sprint) PPC-6700
- (Sprint) Sprint HTC Mogul
- (Sprint) Palm Treo 800w
- (Sprint) HTC Touch Pro
- (Sprint) Palm Pre
What features do you use the most? Do you have a favorite?
I love being able to search for gas by price. Gas prices are expensive and I’ve been able to find gas as cheap as a $0.10 per gallon difference using TeleNav!
What is your most memorable experience with TeleNav?
My sister lives in Virginia and I visit every few years or so. I’m not familiar with the area at all, but my sister is always amazed at how I am able to get around like I’ve lived there for years.
Do you have a name for “her” voice?
When I use Sync in my car I can tell there are two different distinct voices for Sync’s voice command confirmation and the voice for audible directions. I’ve heard that the Sync voice is called “Samantha” and that turn by turn direction voice is “Susan”. Care to comment? :-)
TECH TALK
What is your next “must buy” gadget or device?
The HTC Evo for Sprint. This device has been dubbed a “Superphone” by many tech blogs. The hardware on this phone is incredible two cameras, rear facing camera is 8 Mega Pixel, HD video recording, 4G, Internet sharing via Wi-Fi, HDMI out and of course it’s running Android. I’ve been looking to make the move to Android for a while because Google and 3rd Party Developers have done some really innovative things with Android.
If you could leave your house with only one gadget, what would it be?
My Palm Pre. It’s how I do business, communicate with friends & family, and stay up to date with what is going on in the world.
How many “gadgets” would you say that you use on a daily basis?
There are a few gadgets I use every single day. Those would be my Palm Pre, Jawbone Bluetooth headset, Motorola S9 stereo Bluetooth headphones and Zune MP3 player.
WORD ASSOCIATION
iPhone = Pretentious
BlackBerry = Entrepreneurial
Android = Conqueror
Windows Phone = Reborn
GPS Navigation = Necessity
FINISH THIS SENTENCE:
The earliest memory I have of the internet is…
My earliest memory of the internet involved AOL and constantly trying to redial to get on and eventually becoming excited when they added new phone numbers to avoid busy signals. Chat rooms and instant messaging were all the rage. I’ve slowly watched my AIM buddy list decline as more and more people switch from instant messaging to social networking sites in order to keep in touch. In the past I would constantly sign in to AIM when I got on a computer, now I go an entire day without signing in but check Facebook multiple times per day from my computer and phone.
The best piece of technology to come out this year (so far) is…
I’d have to say the best piece of technology to come out so far this year is The Palm Pre Plus for Verizon. As a Palm Pre users on Sprint, I’m envious of the Verizon users because they have a device that has more RAM, twice as much storage space and the mobile hotspot application which turns the Pre into a Wi-Fi hotspot!.
Without tech, my life would be…
My life without technology would be pretty disorganized. I use my calendar on my phone to keep me reminded of appointments and meetings. I don’t have anyone’s phone number memorized anymore because it’s all in my phone. I’ve had power outages and I’ve just gone to sleep because I couldn’t do anything I normally do with no access to the internet. Sad, I know.
The first blog I look at every day is…
Engadget! I make it a point to look at Engadget Mobile to stay up to date on the latest mobile technology.
JUST FOR FUN
Which is better: Coke or Pepsi?
Pepsi
Which is better: Mac or Windows?
Windows
Favorite food?
Any seafood, but specifically lobster.
Rollercoasters: love or hate?
LOVE rollercoasters. We have a six flags in Massachusetts; I’m hoping to get out there this summer.
What is your favorite TV show?
This year my favorite show is Fringe. I’m also a big fan of The Office & Lost.
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Thank you to Charles for taking the time to answer our questions and sharing his thoughts.
So my question to you is, how do YOU use TeleNav?
Let us know and you may just be our next featured TeleNaver!
A Blogger Lost in Florida
Apr 8th
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We love stories.
Photo by CameronParkins
Don’t you? If nothing else, isn’t life all about a good stories? Whether you’re talking with your friends about that crazy vacation you went on last summer or about that one time that one thing happened to that one guy, you’d probably agree that there’s nothing better than a truly great story.
For us here at TeleNav, that’s no different – we LOVE stories. We especially love the ones about how the products we work on every day are actually affecting our customer’s daily lives.
That’s why we were happily surprised today when we discovered that Doug Goldring of JustAnotherMobileMonday.com, posted his experience with Sprint Navigation (powered by TeleNav) while down in an unknown area of Florida after attempting to use a different GPS system provided by the car rental company. In it he says:
After about a half hour of driving around, hopelessly lost, I finally found a place to pull into a parking lot, grabbed my car charger out of the trunk, and plugged in my phone. I fired up the Sprint Navigator app (which is powered by Telenav), and away I went.
Thank you to Doug for posting this story (read the full post HERE).
This story and those similar to this, don’t go unnoticed by us here at TeleNav. When we receive or discover a customer story, internally we circulate them around to variety of different people on a lot of different teams – in fact, it’s not unusual for these to go all the way up to our CEO, HP Jin. What may seem like just another blog post to you, is a very big deal to us here because it gives us confirmation here at TeleNav that what we’re working on is helping to make our customer’s lives easier.
Have an experience with our products that you’d like to share? If so, we’d love to invite you to share in the comments below.
My First GPS Experience: A Love Story
Apr 6th
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I’ll admit it: I’m a late adopter of GPS technology – then again, I didn’t even get my first CD player until 1994. Sure, I was interested in the concept, but I really had no idea just how amazing GPS is until I activated it on my iPhone last month. To impart my excitement, I’ll spill the top five reasons why I love GPS.
Photo By BurningImage (Flickr)
1) I am more powerful than the forces of traffic
Nothing gets my blood boiling like being parked on a freeway. In the Silicon Valley, traffic seems like an inevitable daily problem. And it is…for those who haven’t discovered dynamic GPS. When I found out that my phone can tell me the optimal route to avoid heavy traffic, I’ve got to admit, I felt a tinge of superiority; after all, I had information that those creeping along the interstate at 2 mph did not.
2) GPS settles arguments
My fiancé always “knows where he’s going”. This philosophy has resulted in a drive down the “scenic route” on more than one occasion. Consequently, when I believe I know the better/faster/less-congested route, I speak up. As you can imagine, this leads to a debate, sometimes even creating tension. Now we leave it to the even-tempered lady in my phone’s GPS to settle the argument. Thank you, nice GPS lady. You’re my favorite new secret to maintaining a healthy relationship.
3) I will never be without my Starbucks again
If you are Starbucks-dependent like me, you understand the importance of locating your morning latte. As ubiquitous as the chain is, there’s really no excuse to have to drive to that far-away Starbucks because it’s the only one you know. With GPS to guide you right to the door of the closest store, you need never be caffeine-deprived again.
4) I can always provide an accurate ETA
Uh oh: it’s red light day, and I’m afraid of being late. But, just like those swimming results in a Magic 8-Ball, my concerns are assuaged by my GPS Navigator app. Right there, next to my 3D map, I can see exactly when I’m set to arrive at my current rate. Beautiful.
5) No more speeding tickets.
I try to drive the speed limit. I do. But it happens to us all: our mind is elsewhere, we don’t know we’ve gone straight from a 50 to a 35 mph zone, and we get pulled over. In my experience, the whole “but officer, I didn’t know I was speeding!” excuse is just not consistently effective in saving me from the abhorrently expensive ticket. But NOW I’ve got GPS on my phone. No more excuses needed; I always know what the speed limit is. (Now I just have to obey it!)
What did I miss? Why do YOU love GPS?
Back From the Land of Indulgence
Jan 29th
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The French Quarter at Royal Street
I’m home from New Orleans, and that pretty little city definitely lives up to everything it promises – even if you don’t go for Mardi Gras. The party never stops. Every night Bourbon Street is blocked off to make way for the fun-loving partiers who are drinking in the street (and a street-cleaner comes through every morning). Live music spills out of almost every doorway and it’s great to bounce from one bar to the next when you’re ready to hear another band. I was also excited to find out that people throwing beads are lined up along the balconies all year round. (And no, you do NOT have to lift up your shirt to get beads. Just put your hands in the air and awesome people will be happy to share their fun with you.)
Besides the parties and the beads, New Orleans is also known for great food, and you might remember from my last blog post that I was mostly excited about everything I was going to eat. Well, with so many dishes drowning in butter and cream, I was not disappointed. Actually, that’s not true. I was disappointed that I couldn’t eat at every restaurant I passed on the street! I was there for a week and I still couldn’t fit in all of the good eats I wanted. I definitely need to plan another trip.
In case you’re wondering, my three favorite meals were (in no particular order) shrimp and grits at NOLA Restaurant, linguine with white clam sauce at Mona Lisa and eggs marigny at The Marigny Brasserie. That last one turned out to be my most controversial meal of all times. I checked out their brunch menu online and salivated over one special dish for a month. Try to imagine it – a version of eggs benedict but made with a crab cake and a fried green tomato and topped with a Cajun hollandaise – YUM! I got to the restaurant to learn that they had changed the menu; OH NO! But after seeing how sad I was the wonderful people there were awesome enough to make it for me anyway – and it was excellent. If you go, call ahead and see if they can accommodate; it’s incredible!
Probably my favorite thing about the city is that I can indulge myself on all of the fatty foods I want because it’s almost impossible not to burn off the calories. The best way to explore French Quarter is on foot. And there’s so much to see and do that your feet never seem to get tired. We only rented a car for one day when we decided to get out of the city and visit the famous Oak Alley Plantation, where they filmed “Interview with a Vampire” and a slew of other movies and TV shows. It’s a cool place to enjoy a mint julep, and not too far from the swamp tours on the bayou.
Now it’s time to start thinking about where I want to go for my next trip. Any suggestions?
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