An Affordable, Easy-To-Use Solution For Small to Midsize Fleets

Teletrac Inc. announced availability of a specialized solution suite — Teletrac 20/20 — for vehicle location and GPS vehicle tracking, that helps businesses gain fleet efficiencies, save fuel, improve on-time performance, and lets dispatchers and drivers be significantly more productive. Teletrac 20/20 goes far beyond traditional vehicle location and GPS tracking solutions, delivering an array of premium features utilizing today’s most advanced technologies such as Microsoft’s Silverlight and BING Maps for enhanced visualization and animation, interactive mapping, and video playback. As a result, Teletrac 20/20 technology uniquely gives dispatchers clear vision and focus for tracking mobile assets and managing operations, in an affordable, easy to use solution specifically designed for small and midsize fleets, even micro fleets.

“With the release of Teletrac 20/20, companies with small to midsize fleets needing to focus on tracking mobile assets, now have access to a solution offering a comprehensive feature set aimed specifically at their operations and business requirements,” said Tony Eales, CEO, Teletrac. “Further, as a result of our 22-year technology leadership and success of Teletrac’s flagship solution, Fleet Director 7, Teletrac 20/20 uniquely offers the most advanced big fleet technology in an affordable, easy-to-use solution for small to midsize fleets.”

Teletrac 20/20 fleet software is a specialized solution for tracking mobile assets that improves operations and reduces costs in numerous ways — through fuel savings, higher productivity, reduced driver overtime and unauthorized vehicle use, reduced backoffice paper work, improved preventive maintenance, and often lower insurance premiums.

Teletrac 20/20 is browser-based, enabling dispatchers to efficiently locate, track and monitor the position and operation of fleet vehicles in real time, 24×7, from any internet-enabled personal computer. Fleet managers gain unprecedented visibility into operations — a user friendly layout and easily recognizable icons make Teletrac 20/20 easy to use and intuitive from the start; advanced satellite mapping with conventional roadmaps in 2D and 3D views including live traffic give dispatchers more realistic and detailed maps on which to base operational decisions; automatically identifying nearest vehicle based on actual vehicle speed, actual distance and estimated arrival time provides the most accurate information for enhancing the customers’ service experience, and multiple and detailed vehicle reports help monitor driver performance and provides advanced decision support for more efficient regulatory compliance.

Advanced mapping gives dispatchers clear vision and focus for tracking assets

Teletrac 20/20 vehicle tracking system uses the latest BING Mapping technology, aggregating the best maps and data from an array of leading suppliers. Mapping is extremely powerful and layers location-relevant data on top of imagery taken from satellite sensors, aerial cameras, Streetside imagery, 3D city models and terrain, providing vivid photorealistic images. Satellite mapping with conventional roadmaps in 2D and 3D views plus live traffic data gives dispatchers more realistic and detailed maps on which to base complex decisions. The ability to easily overlay standard or custom data points makes it quick and easy for dispatchers to add custom landmarks to maps, places of interest and important or frequently visited addresses — enabling dispatchers to more readily assign and track vehicles and routes.

Determining nearest vehicle for more effective response

Teletrac 20/20 provides “nearest vehicle” locating, based on Teletrac’s computed combination of actual drive time, actual distance and current traffic conditions — far more accurate than as-the-crow-flies estimates. Dispatchers simply enter a street address or an unlimited number of landmarked locations. Dispatchers are immediately presented with maps showing all vehicles within the map area plus crucial information such as speed, actual distance and estimated time of arrival. Dispatchers can also apply this process to multiple vehicles, enabling them to converge on a destination.

At-a-glance dashboards and complete reporting supports decision making

Dispatchers can view real-time information and summary data in at-a-glance “dashboard” displays to support rapid, optimal decision making for most productive use of vehicles. These dashboards can drill down and include information customized to the needs of individual users.

Teletrac 20/20 generates 15 different reports for viewing via web-browser, or reports can be downloaded and printed. Up to four reports can also be automatically generated, scheduled and delivered via email — daily, weekly or monthly — according to each recipient’s needs and preferences.

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Unveils end-to-end development platform with free tools for Windows Phone 7 Series and advances with Silverlight that will bring new applications, games and experiences to life.

At MIX10, Microsoft Corp. showcased advancements in its platform technologies that enable the developer and designer community to deliver compelling user experiences across a broad set of devices. Building on the excitement of the recently announced Windows® Phone 7 Series, Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, .NET Developer Platform, and Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president, Windows Phone Program Management, detailed the opportunity for developers to use proven technologies such as Microsoft Silverlight and the XNA Framework to build new mobile applications and 3-D Games.

“As the browser, server, Web and devices evolve, a focus on delivering consistently great user experiences has become paramount,” Guthrie said. “By extending our familiar platform technologies and tools to phones, Microsoft is delivering the premier application development experience across a variety of devices and form factors.”

End-to-End Application Development Platform for Windows Phone 7 Series

During the keynote, Microsoft provided the first deep dive into Windows Phone 7 Series application development. By combining Silverlight features for rich application development and the XNA Framework for games, Windows Phone 7 Series empowers millions of developers and designers to build visually stunning and immersive applications and games — one of the industry’s most profitable mobile application categories — while taking advantage of device-specific capabilities. Specifically, developers will be able to take advantage of the following features:

  • Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion
  • A Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location information
  • Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless of whether or not an application is running
  • Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM)
  • Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry’s highest quality content viewing experience
  • Multitouch
  • Camera and microphone support

“Windows Phone 7 Series brings together a rich application environment, powerful hardware, a fresh approach to software and a smart new design,” Belfiore said. “It was designed to generate incredible opportunities for developers and designers to quickly and easily deliver compelling applications and games. With the best developer tools, an established ecosystem and marketplace, and a path for developers to use their Silverlight and XNA Framework skill sets, we are delivering an application platform that is simple, powerful and inspiring.”

Free Tools for Windows Phone 7 Series Developers and Designers

To further support an end-to-end development experience, Microsoft announced the availability of comprehensive tools support for Windows Phone 7 Series. The easy-to-install package includes previews of the following:

  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone
  • Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC
  • XNA Game Studio 4.0
  • Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing
  • Expression Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview

A Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 Series Applications

Microsoft also showed how developers and designers will be able to bring applications and games to market with a new Windows Phone Marketplace. The Marketplace features a panoramic design and active merchandising to increase the discoverability of games and applications, and supports one-time credit card purchases, mobile operator billing and advertising-funded applications. The Marketplace will also enable customers to try applications before buying them and allow developers to cross-promote their applications through deep linking.

Several leading companies will be creating exciting applications and games for Windows Phone 7 Series. They include The Associated Press, Archetype International Inc., AWS Convergence Technologies – WeatherBug, Citrix Systems Inc., Clarity Consulting Inc., Cypress Consulting, EA Mobile, Fandango Inc., Foursquare Labs Inc., frog design inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Graphic.ly, Hudson Entertainment Inc., IdentityMine Inc., IMDb.com Inc., Larva Labs, Match.com LLC, Matchbox Mobile Ltd., Microsoft Game Studios, Namco Networks America Inc., Oberon Media Inc., Pageonce Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc., PopCap Games Inc., Seesmic, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., Sling Media, SPB Software Inc., stimulant, TeleCommunications Systems Inc., Touchality LLC and Vertigo Software Inc.

Continued Innovation With Silverlight and Expression Blend

Microsoft announced a release candidate (RC) for Silverlight 4, available for download today, which builds on the beta version released at the Professional Developers Conference in November 2009. The Silverlight 4 RC provides powerful media and enterprise application and media capabilities, out-of-browser flexibility and world-class tools support via Visual Studio and Expression Blend with Sketchflow to enable robust application development and rich interactive experiences.

In addition, Microsoft unveiled the Expression Blend 4 Beta, a design and development workflow tool. New features such as Path Layout enable developers and designers to build and animate innovative user interface design via a groundbreaking visual layout mechanism, without the need to write code. Expression Blend 4 Beta also adds support for Silverlight 4, .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010.

Silverlight Customer Adoption

Silverlight adoption has continued at a rapid pace with installations approaching 60 percent of all Internet devices worldwide — an increase of nearly 15 percentage points in just four months. Customers such as Major League Soccer, BBC, eBay Inc., Netflix Inc., NBCOlympics.com and CT Corp., a Wolters Kluwer business, demonstrated how they are taking advantage of the power of Silverlight to deliver compelling consumer and enterprise experiences.

“Microsoft Silverlight technology will be the backbone of the video platform on our newly launched MLSsoccer.com,” said Chris Schlosser, director of digital strategy for Major League Soccer. “Our work with Microsoft allows us to launch cutting-edge digital and mobile experiences for our loyal fans. As part of our increased focus on digital media, we view a rich video experience as absolutely critical to accomplishing our goal of ’super serving’ MLS supporters.”


McGraw-Hill Education ALEKS 360

Combining powerful Artificial Intelligence and Personalized Learning with Interactive e-Books

Total course solution goes beyond the textbook to deliver precise assessments of students’ math knowledge and adapts to individual student needs

For many students, two significant hurdles stand in the way of a college education: money and math. The cost of education continues to rise, and students are experiencing high failure and withdrawal rates in developmental math and college algebra/precalculus courses. To address these concerns, McGraw-Hill Education has introduced ALEKS 360, a total mathematics solution that combines a powerful artificial intelligence and personalized learning program with a fully integrated, interactive e-book in one affordable package.

“McGraw-Hill Education is committed to delivering digital learning solutions that adapt to each student’s needs and abilities and improve student success in critical gateway courses,” said Kurt Strand, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education’s Science, Engineering and Mathematics Group. “By integrating McGraw-Hill e-books directly into the ALEKS program, students will be able to learn effectively and affordably, and faculty will be able to reduce the expense of high failure and withdrawal rates.”

ALEKS 360 acts much like a skilled human tutor, delivering precise assessments of students’ math knowledge, guiding them in the selection of appropriate new study material, and recording their progress toward mastery of course goals. Through adaptive questioning, ALEKS accurately assesses a student’s knowledge state and delivers targeted instruction on the exact topics a student is most ready to learn. College and university case studies have shown that ALEKS has increased pass rates by more than 20 percentage points versus traditional online homework systems, and by more than 30 percentage points compared to using a textbook alone.

The e-books featured within ALEKS 360 go beyond simple PDFs – they are high quality, interactive versions of their physical counterparts that offer robust virtual features such as highlighting and note-taking capabilities, as well as access to multimedia assets such as images, video, and homework exercises. E-books are accessible from ALEKS Student Accounts and the ALEKS Instructor Module for convenient, direct access.

ALEKS 360 launched this month and is available for use in summer classes. The initial e-books to be offered in ALEKS 360 include: Introductory Algebra, Second Edition, by Julie Miller and Molly O’Neill; Intermediate Algebra, Second Edition, by Miller and O’Neill; College Precalculus, Second Edition, by John W. Coburn; and College Algebra, Second Edition, by Coburn.

ALEKS was developed by ALEKS Corporation, a leader in the creation of Web-based artificially intelligent educational software. ALEKS assessment and learning technologies were originally developed by a team of cognitive scientists, mathematicians, and software engineers at the University of California, Irvine, with major funding from the National Science Foundation.

“ALEKS Corporation is committed to student success, and we are delighted to integrate some of the best mathematics textbooks available with the power of ALEKS. This is an enormous value for students and faculty and it couldn’t be better timed,” said Wil Lampros, president of ALEKS Corporation.

To experience ALEKS 360 for Introductory Algebra, please begin a free trial at http://www.aleks.com/free_trial/instructor and select “Beginning Algebra with ALEKS 360″ for your course.