New York

Whether you're taxiing to LaGuardia or driving to your folks' New Jersey half-mansion, the warmth of holiday cheer is inevitably preceded by the nut-punch of holiday traffic. Bypass the brutality, with TrafficJot.

Covering all major U.S. cities, NY-based Jot GMaps up-to-the-minute road conditions and traffic congestion, with info both culled from Yahoo Traffic and emailed in by users, whose distracted BlackBerrying is even now leading to a five-rickshaw pileup. The site displays everything from average road speeds to specific incidents like construction, lane reductions, traffic jams, and poor visibility, oddly indicated by a cloud hovering above the road like a Spy Hunter smokescreen. Simply click an icon (road cone, men at work, etc) to get specifics, e.g., info source, lane direction, and problem start/end time, but not what kind of hoagie that guy who should be hastening the end time is lazily lunching on.

Registered users receive 10 credits for every alert submitted, which Jot says will be redeemable for gifts once they secure sponsors -- the exact line you'll give your dad when you finally arrive in North Caldwell.