Thursday, January 8, 2004
Handmark Announces New Products
Posted by Brad Adrian in "CONTENT" @ 02:01 AM
Handmark, the company that has delivered such great games as Scrabble, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit to your Pocket PC, says they will soon be releasing some even neater new stuff for PDAs.
First, Handmark is partnering with Rand McNally to distribute StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe, its next generation mapping and travel solution for both Palm OS® and Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC devices.
"The new, streamlined software StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe Edition simplifies on-the-go mapping, offering complete on-device navigation. Once a map is added to the handheld device, multiple routes with point-to-point directions can be calculated on the device and displayed. This new edition also works with a variety of GPS (global positioning) units making Rand McNally’s StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe Edition the complete mapping and GPS navigation solution, in combination with supported devices.
The two CD-ROM set includes street map detail for more than 75,000 cities and towns in the 48 continental United States. Map features also include multiple levels of zoom, personalized color schemes, markers, and icons, and point of interest information."
Second, Handmark will be working with TV Guide Publishing to offer some of its TV-related products for PDAs.
"TV Guide will provide Handmark with access to its daily, local program listings and its 'Cinebooks' online movie database—which includes cast, credits, and reviews for more than 40,000 movies, plus filmographies for actors and filmmakers—from TV Guide Online®. TV Guide will also license its inventory of crossword puzzles from its 50-year-old TV Guide® Magazine. The content will be used in software developed by Handmark for use in games and other applications for handheld devices that run on Palm OS and Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC and SmartPhone platforms."
The two-CD StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe Edition will be offered in many of the stores where Pocket PCs are traditionally sold and will cost $39.99. The TV Guide products will be sold through similar outlets and through Handmark's online store, beginning in Fall of 2004; no pricing information is available.
I find the announcement about the TV Guide listings veeeeeeery interesting, especially in light of some other recent events. A couple of the current TV listing applications, Pocket TV Listings and Pocket TV Browser, ran into problems when the format of their listing data -- which was "scraped" from the tvguide.com Web site -- was suddenly changed. At the time, I wondered if the reason that TV Guide changed the data format was to both put the existing applications out of business and to prepare the way for a product of its own. I guess I was right.
In any event, if these two products are anything like the other Handmark products, they should be top-notch.
First, Handmark is partnering with Rand McNally to distribute StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe, its next generation mapping and travel solution for both Palm OS® and Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC devices.
"The new, streamlined software StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe Edition simplifies on-the-go mapping, offering complete on-device navigation. Once a map is added to the handheld device, multiple routes with point-to-point directions can be calculated on the device and displayed. This new edition also works with a variety of GPS (global positioning) units making Rand McNally’s StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe Edition the complete mapping and GPS navigation solution, in combination with supported devices.
The two CD-ROM set includes street map detail for more than 75,000 cities and towns in the 48 continental United States. Map features also include multiple levels of zoom, personalized color schemes, markers, and icons, and point of interest information."
Second, Handmark will be working with TV Guide Publishing to offer some of its TV-related products for PDAs.
"TV Guide will provide Handmark with access to its daily, local program listings and its 'Cinebooks' online movie database—which includes cast, credits, and reviews for more than 40,000 movies, plus filmographies for actors and filmmakers—from TV Guide Online®. TV Guide will also license its inventory of crossword puzzles from its 50-year-old TV Guide® Magazine. The content will be used in software developed by Handmark for use in games and other applications for handheld devices that run on Palm OS and Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC and SmartPhone platforms."
The two-CD StreetFinder® NAV Deluxe Edition will be offered in many of the stores where Pocket PCs are traditionally sold and will cost $39.99. The TV Guide products will be sold through similar outlets and through Handmark's online store, beginning in Fall of 2004; no pricing information is available.
I find the announcement about the TV Guide listings veeeeeeery interesting, especially in light of some other recent events. A couple of the current TV listing applications, Pocket TV Listings and Pocket TV Browser, ran into problems when the format of their listing data -- which was "scraped" from the tvguide.com Web site -- was suddenly changed. At the time, I wondered if the reason that TV Guide changed the data format was to both put the existing applications out of business and to prepare the way for a product of its own. I guess I was right.
In any event, if these two products are anything like the other Handmark products, they should be top-notch.
