Hopefully this means the two will combine forces and produce a BlackBerry with a killer navigation system. $10 says that the two companies can get something on the market before the Garmin-Asus does. They have been working for years and we still haven’t seen anything on retailer’s shelves.

Jeez, now that’s a leak: 1 little sheet of paper, 6 device launch dates, and 1 confirmation of a previously unannounced service.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Dash Navigation is getting out of the hardware business and cutting 55 jobs, or 65% of its workers. The startup, which is backed by both Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, makes the Dash Express car GPS device. This is a network-connected GPS that pools the location and speeds of all nearby Dash owners to give them back real-time traffic reports. It also supports geoRSS feeds, and other GPS apps.

Despite its novel features (I am a big fan of the device) and the $71 million the company has raised, going into the hardware is business looks like it was a wrong turn. Dash will now pursue a strategy of partnering with other device manufacturers, including cell phone-makers, to add its software to their devices.

Read more…

Insignia, Best Buy’s house brand, is launching two GPS units that come with cellular connectivity built-in – somewhat like the Dash GPS. The notable difference is that these two GPS units use Google Local search instead Yahoo Local search. We won’t ruin this dudes entire post but let’s just say, it sounds like a house brand product to us. 

Satellite lock was very slow on a rainy day; I got a couple of miles down the road before it locked.

Local search result lists give the distance to the destination, but not the direction.

Cellular reception with the Insignia has been spotty so far, though there seems to be some improvement following a firmware upgrade from 1.01 to 1.3.

Those of you using the much-hyped Dash GPS unit have another reason to brag to your friends. You can now send GPS’d directions to your Dash unit by taking advantage of two new voice recognition systems from Tellme and Dial Directions.

Basically, if you know what you want, you call 1-DIRECTIONS (1-347-328-4667), say the address or intersection of where you want to go, and the service sends the directions to the Dash. If you want to search for businesses, by name or category, call Tellme at 1-800-CALL-411 (1-800-225-5411) or 1-800-555-TELL (1-800-555-8355). (Obviously, you’d have to set all this up beforehand, but that’s only a matter of going to the Dash Web site to register your cellphone number.)

That short video explains how the whole process works.

Certainly seems useful to me.

One of the most compelling features of the Dash – Wi-Fi updates – is finally here. Dash users have to simply connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi and the Dash GPS unit will download and install the update automatically. Try doing that with your TomTom.

After the update the devices will have MyRoute, a system that maintains a list of your popular routes and adds your personal preferences to its routing suggestions.

Here’s a rundown of the latest goodies:

MyRoute™ – With the new MyRoute feature, as you travel from one point to another, Dash Express will automatically learn your preferred route in the background. The next time that you drive between the same origin and destination, the first route choice will be MyRoute, complete with traffic-based arrival time data. MyRoute can be compared to the computed Dash routes, including traffic detours, to decide which is optimal.

Search Along Route™ – Finding whatever you need on the road using Yahoo! Local search just got even easier. With the new Search Along Route feature, you can now search for anything you need along your selected route, shortening diversions on the way to your destination. Want to grab a latte on the way to a meeting? Simply do a Yahoo! Local search for “Starbucks” and select “along route” to be presented with the stores that are most conveniently located. Results are displayed with the distance from your current location, the distance off the route and the direction of the destination relative to the selected route.

FasterFind™ – With the new FasterFind feature, we have dramatically decreased the time it takes for Dash Express to find its position and start navigating. Powered by SiRFInstantFix technology, Dash Express uses additional over-the-air GPS satellite position information to get a fast GPS fix so you can be underway in seconds. FasterFind will even improve the device’s ability to get a GPS fix under difficult conditions such as beneath tree cover and near high-rise buildings.

Performance Enhancements – Continued system tuning has enabled significant progress in overall device performance. For instance, the June08 Update increases the speed in which Dash Express draws its maps by more than 50%. It also enables quicker toggling between 2D and 3D map views and smoother map zooming.

User Interface Improvements – The June08 Update also includes numerous customer-requested refinements to the Dash Express interface, making it even more intuitive for daily use. These improvements include tuning the route selection screen to make it easier to select among the multiple route choices, improving the readability of road labels on the map and expanding the night mode color scheme across more menus for glare reduction.

Dash, everyone’s favorite navigation company, has just released its open API for developers. Using some basic tools, you can highlight any geographical information you want — propertly listings, speed traps, and weather reports. Because the device has two-way communication with the cloud, data providers can send almost anything to the device. While some of the apps are map-based, you can also sync contacts with Funambol and even use MediaGuide to see what’s playing on the radio.

You can sign up for the API by contacting developer@dash.net.

Dash Navigation Opens its Platform to Developers and Launches Industry’s
First Dynamic API Program at O’Reilly’s Where 2.0 Conference

Consumers Can Access Content from their Favorite Internet Sites in the Car Using the Dash Express; Coldwell Banker, WeatherBug and Trapster Among Partners

O’Reilly’s Where 2.0 Conference – Burlingame, Calif. – May 14, 2007

News Facts

• Dash Navigation, Inc., the first internet-connected GPS device, today became the first GPS provider to open its service platform to third-party developers. For the first time, developers and content-providers can easily create dynamic applications, called DashApps, and provide Web-based content to consumers in the car.

• In conjunction with the announcement, Dash unveiled the first five partner-created Dash Apps* that, with the touch of a button, help Dash drivers every day while on the road. Dash customers will have access to these powerful new applications via the MyDash portal (http://my.dash.net/) beginning on Thursday, May 15th:

- Hunting for the home of your dreams? Real estate leader and innovator Coldwell Banker® allows consumers to search for homes with the “Coldwell Banker Home Search” button. It allows Dash drivers to access real estate listings and property details from their vehicle and instantly create a route to them.

- When and where is my meeting? Access calendar events, then dynamically route to meetings with Funambol’s “myFUNAMBOL Calendar” button. It allows Dash users access to their electronic calendars (from virtually any source, e.g. Outlook, Yahoo! and Google) from their Dash Express. Calendar items are updated automatically and users can route directly to any address listed.

- What’s that tune? Mediaguide enables Dash Drivers to easily find out the names of tunes playing on their radios. By simply taping the “BakTrax Radio” button, Dash users can see a list of the last three songs that just played on their favorite AM or FM stations.

- Speed trap ahead? Furthering Dash’s belief in the power of a driver network, the “Trapster® Find Traps Now” button not only gives Dash Drivers access to Trapster’s information about live speed traps and red light sensors, but also enables Dash Drivers to contribute speed trap information back to other Trapster users in their area.

- Is it going to rain? Access live, local weather information with WeatherBug’s “MyWeatherBug” button. It provides Dash Drivers with up-to-the-second information about current and future weather conditions while on the road from the largest, most precise weather network in the world.

• Content providers wishing to partner with Dash should contact the company at developer@dash.net.

• Dash will be demonstrating the new applications and talking more about the dynamic API program at the Where 2.0 conference today. Chris Butler, content development evangelist for Dash, will be hosting a keynote presentation at 9:50 a.m. Press are welcome to attend.

It’s not every day that I find a product that threatens to completely change an entrenched, mass-market segment. Perhaps the Kindle and the iPhone are two recent examples, but in mass market terms those two devices are oddities, two exquisite outliers that will change the way we read and make phone calls in the years to come but in terms of market penetration will probably maintain a low profile for years to come. Dash.net’s new Dash GPS device, however, comes at us out of left field and promises to change the things we value in a standalone GPS device. I’ve been following these guys for almost two years now as they inched closer and closer to launch and today I’m glad to announce that you can finally buy the Dash device at Amazon and a number of other retailers.

So what makes this thing so special? In short, it is the first GPS device that is more than a digital version of the ratty old road atlas in the trunk of your car. Sure, it gets you from point A to point B but, commuters will love this, it also tells you about traffic spots and connects with your PC through the Internet for quick address updates and searches. In short, it gets you from point A to point B on time and helps you avoid traffic at all points in between.

UPDATE – Fixed price and a few small points regarding GPS data.

The map portion of this device isn’t as fully featured as some GPS devices we’ve used. There are no waypoints, for example, so a long trip from San Fran to New York will give you the shortest route without stop overs in Las Vegas and Scranton. The hardware itself is quite large compared to similar devices and the processor is a bit aged. It does have gesture-based map redrawing, so you can slide your finger across the screen to look at the terrain. However, the redraw speeds are quite slow and sometimes disconcerting. This is 1.0 hardware, however, so I’ll forgive it its minor problems and talk about what really makes it good.

The Dash unit constantly reports your speed and position — hopefully anoynmously — to their servers. It also uses Inrix data for some cities but focuses on fresh data from other Dash drivers. Dash’s servers also send out real-time traffic updates and sometimes estimates based on activity on that particular road at any particular time. For example, if there is no historical data for a road, it will probably remain dead. If there is some data — either taken from a third-party provider or a Dash customer who travelled that way perhaps a week or day ago — it is a colored dashed line. Finally, if the road has been recently driven and there is current data, it will appear as colored solid line. The traffic readout is fairly simple: red is bad, yellow is OK, green is super great.

The biggest problem? The Dash is a flocking device. This means that many people have to own Dash devices for the service to make sense. This number doesn’t have to be big, however. Los Angeles and parts of New Jersey have about 40 beta testers each wandering the roads and even with one beta tester in Brooklyn — who I suspect was actually Erick Schonfeld — gave me some info on the expressway that always seems to be clogged at the Battery Tunnel.

Dash is for commuters. it is not for the family of 5 in an RV road-tripping across America. Every time you choose a route, it offers at least two possibilities and ranks them based on estimated time. If the highway is clogged, for example, it will route you around the traffic. That, friends, is a lifesaver.

This minor point — that the GPS device can talk to other devices and servers — is the key to this brave new world of directional devices. Sure, you cellphone can do this as well, given the right software, but cellphone GPS hasn’t quite taken off. Folks like mom and grandma don’t want to be squinting at 3-inch screen. They want something big, that talks to them, and that can route them around accidents. That the Dash can also do Yahoo Local searches (type in “plunger” or “hamburger” and get lists of hardware stores and diners, respectively) is just icing on the cake. You can also right click an address in most browsers — on Windows or Mac — and send it to the Dash over the air. You’ll never need to bring your device in for map updates or software improvements again. Best of all? It gives local gas prices for nearby gas stations and you can build little “itineraries” i.e. waypoints that you can visit in order. The example Dash gave was an Entourage collection of points in Los Angeles. Yes, you too can eat at the places Ari ate.

All of these features are accessible via the Dash.net website.

In terms of usability, the Dash’s interface is actually simpler than most other GPS devices. Because so many devices now add in Bluetooth and “POI” support, their menu structures are complex and messy. The Dash, because of its fairly narrow focus, has none of that. It is considerably larger than most other GPS devices but it comes with a comically large dashboard mount that actually worked better than most other mounts I’ve used.

All is not completely rosy with the Dash device. It costs $399 and $9.99 a month for service. This is considerably better than the original $599 they were about to charge, but the service charge might be a little steep for some. For commuters, however, it is a lifesaver. If you spend any time in your car, the Dash’s features wlll woo you immediately.

Is Dash the iPhone of the GPS industry? No, but it is the Kindle. The package isn’t perfect, but it is powerful and intelligently built and it is, in short, the future.

If you’re thinking we’ve been on smartphone overload this week, you’re right. We’ve been rounding up all of the best and worst in the smartphone world and giving you the goods and bads in general terms. Your next phone will likely be a smartphone. There are more options than ever before, and they literally now fit into any budget.

They’re not for everybody, sure, but if you do more than call Mom once a week so she knows you’re alive, then it’s time for you to get your QWERTY on and do more with your handset, and this guide is here to help.

We should start buy clarifying exactly what a smartphone is and what a smartphone isn’t. That’s more difficult that it sounds, however, as many regular phones today are featuring smartphone features like email and QWERTY keyboards. In essence, a smartphone is a cross between a cellphone and a PDA, allowing you to access information in multiple formats as instantly as possible.

In my opinion, any phone that doesn’t offer system-wide copy-and-paste, automatic email sync, third party application support, and Office integration isn’t a smartphone. And while you think you won’t use all of that, at some point, you’ll be glad it’s all there.

The real problem, though, is that there are dozens of smartphones to choose from, how do you know which smartphone is for you?

The easiest way to tell is to determine what type of user you are. Are you using it for work or personal use? Or both?

If you’re buying your smartphone for business reasons, it’s wise to see if your company has a smartphone policy, as many do now. Your IT guys should be able to help you narrow down which ones they recommend and which work with their network.

But likely you’re on your own, so what are you going to use the smartphone for? If you’re mostly looking at easier, QWERTY text messaging, you might be able to get by with a regular phone with QWERTY, or a “communicator” as they’re called.

But if you’re looking for advanced IM and email, then it’s a smartphone for sure.

There are really two choices you have to make when considering a smartphone: which operating system you like, and what form factor you’re interested in.

For the OS, in the US, you’re basically limited to Windows Mobile, which is modern, though ugly and clunky; Palm OS, which is easy and elegant, but definitely in need of an upgrade; or the OS of Blackberries, which is simple, and functional, but doesn’t do much more than basic functions.

These all have their strengths and weaknesses, so you should check the guides we’ve written earlier in the week to see which one might work well for you.

Most all smartphones have some sort of QWERTY keyboard, either on the face or some sort of slide-out design. The thing to consider is this: how do you like touchscreens?

We all want a phone with a touchscreen, and they do make the phones more useful, but you’ll pay a premium for it. The cheapest way to get a good smartphone with a touchscreen on the market today is the Centro from Sprint at $100. While some carriers might have offers that bring them down to about $50, they’re usually older models, while the Centro is a pretty fresh product. And with the Palm OS, it’s easy to use, making it a very attractive first-time phone.

If you’re looking at Windows Mobile and you want a touchscreen, you’re in luck: all the major carriers in the US feature at least one such phone. But, as mentioned before, they’re not cheap, expect to pay at least $200 for one, even with discounts and subsidies.

AT&T is pushing the Tilt, a decent choice as there’s nothing this phone is lacking besides a speedy processor and, well, a headphone jack. Really. T-Mobile has the popular Wing, which is quite similar. Verizon’s version is the XV6800, and Sprint has the Mogul. All of these are high-end, touchscreen, sliding-QWERTY, Windows Mobile phones, and are all made by HTC.

AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon also offer Treos running Windows Mobile that combine the same touchscreen-over-QWERTY design as the Centro, as well as a handful of others worth a look.

But if you’re willing to forgo the touchscreen, you can still get a wholly usable smartphone, often for free with a new plan. The Q by Motorola, available from Sprint, Verizon and AT&T is one such device. They’re slim and light, and very phone like. T-Mobile has a competitor called the Dash, which, while due for an upgrade, is an inexpensive but passable phone. AT&T also features the quite popular Blackjack by Samsung, one of the highest rated non-touchscreen smartphones we’ve ever seen.

And then there’s the Blackberry. While the devices status of “smartphone” is often in question, we’ll include them here because they’re iconic enough that it’s what many people think of when they think of a smartphone.

They share the non-touchscreen-over-QWERTY design of the Dash and the Q, but don’t have the gawdawful Windows Mobile operating system, which is a blessing. The curse is they don’t have much of an operating system at all, just enough to do what they do. That is likely the phones’ greatest strength and its greatest weakness; most smartphones excel with the help of popular third-party applications, whereas there are very few for the Blackberry line of smartphones.

But most of this doesn’t matter, because a smartphone is just a fancy phone with a keyboard if you don’t have the service to go along with it. All the major carriers support push email, which some consider the smartphone’s killer app. But you’re going to need a data plan. You’re going to want an unlimited one, too, because when you’ve got emails flying, IMs coming in, and a Web browser in your pocket, you’re going to want to use it often.

And that’s what a lot of people get scared off by. But smartphones are now where cellphones were in about 1998: Early adopters have them, and they’re not sorry they signed up for the extra monthly fee, while others are hesitant, thinking they don’t “need” it yet.

Well, you do. Not long ago, many people said they’d never get a cellphone, and now you’re the odd duck if you don’t have one. The same will be said not long from now about those who don’t get their first smartphone, so it’s time you head down to your carrier’s store and see what they have to offer. Talk about data transfer and the costs associated with it, which models they’ll make you a deal on, and incentives they have to get you on their faster networks. You’ll be glad you did.

Selected Smartphones

I’ve been following the Dash Express — the “flocking” GPS device that tells other Dash devices in its vicinity about traffic problems and can connect to WiFi to look up addresses — for over a year now and every time I’ve met with them they’ve been pushing back the ship date. Well, now you can pre-order the Dash Express for $599 and will ship in February. The monthly pricing has been set at $9.99/mo with a 2-year plan and $10.99 with a 1-year plan. It is $12.99 for the a la carte plan.

I agree it’s a little bit on the high side, but the service is very compelling. It has lots of acutally useful points of interest and you can ask it for things like “thai food in atherton.” The flocking aspect is the most interesting as it creates a little network that takes readings of real-time traffic.

* While any GPS device can provide directions to get you from point A to B, the always-connected Dash Express gives you the information you need every day.
* Superior traffic with the Dash Driver Network™: Select your route based on up-to-the-minute traffic data that is automatically and anonymously tivexchanged via the most reliable source – other Dash devices.
o The Dash Express gathers traffic information from the Dash Driver Network and combines it with other sources of traffic data to provide you with the most accurate picture of what’s happening on the routes you’re traveling.
o Only Dash provides traffic information for both freeways and local roads and side streets.
o The Dash Express provides up to three routing options to your destination that are based on flow rather than incident data, and it has the ability to automatically alert you when traffic conditions change and route you around traffic problems on your route.

* Find virtually anything with Yahoo! Local search: Connect to Yahoo! Local search to find unlimited points of interest—people, places, products and services.
o Two-way connectivity gives Dash Express the ability to use Yahoo! Local search and other Internet search sources.
o Unlike other GPS devices that come loaded with a static database of points of interest, Dash gives you access to unlimited points of interest based on your specific needs, and delivers key detailed information (i.e. gas prices, movie times) to help you chose the right destination.

* Send2Car™ means no typing required: Simply highlight an address from any Internet browser or Microsoft Outlook and send it directly to your car.
o You can use Send2Car yourself, or have someone else send it to your Dash device when you’re already on the road.

* MyDash makes it even easier to personalize your Dash Express: The MyDash portal (http://my.dash.net) enables you to customize your Dash Express.
o Create your own lists and feeds or, if you prefer, import the great content created by other members of the Dash Community.
o Easily send customized search buttons (i.e. LA Yoga Studios, Best Red Sox Bars in Boston, Toddler Playgrounds in New York City) straight to your device so you always have access to the places you want to go.

* AutoUpdate™ means your GPS is always up to date: Dash Express is the only GPS that automatically and wirelessly updates software and traffic using two-way connectivity. You’ll always have the latest features as soon as Dash releases them.

Product Page

Make sure to do a sync and a complete back up of your Dash, because the upgrade is gonna wipe everything out. You’ll lose your Yahtzee! scores. We know, we feel the pain.

T-Mobile Windows Mobile Upgrade Page

They’re looking for nation-wide road testers to rock out with the Dash Express for the summer in anticipation of a Fall release. Do you like to drive? Want to know where you’re driving? Want to create a networked GPS system that could gain sentience and drive us all off of cliffs? Well get cracking!

Sign-up page

A while back I received a T-Mobile/HTC Dash to play with and truth be told, it wasn’t too exciting. Windows Mobile is just a crappy OS and until it’s redone completely or undergoes a major overhaul, I really don’t plan on using it…or an HTC phone I suppose. Anyways, this 9-minute long video stars The fat Phat Guy going off on a rant about the Dash.

Surprisingly though, he actually addresses both the good and bad points with the Dash. Those of you considering a Dash might want to watch this before you plunk down your hard-earned cash.

An angry Dash customer.. [Mobility Today]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2007/03/22/guy-goes-off-on-t-mobile-dash/feed/ 2 http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/19/slingplayer-mobile-now-friendly-with-blackjack-dash/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/19/slingplayer-mobile-now-friendly-with-blackjack-dash/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2006 22:05:20 +0000 Blake Robinson http://crunchgear.com/2006/12/19/slingplayer-mobile-now-friendly-with-blackjack-dash/

SlingMedia let drop today SlingPlayer Mobile for Smartphones (v1.0.5) and for PocketPC (v1.1). In addition to several bug fixes and tweaksm the smartphone edition features support for the Samsung Blackjack and the T-mo Dash. You can try it out for free for 30 days and after that it’ll cost you $30.

Download [via Zatz via Gizmodo]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/12/19/slingplayer-mobile-now-friendly-with-blackjack-dash/feed/ 5 http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/22/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20-update/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/22/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20-update/#comments Wed, 22 Nov 2006 16:19:59 +0000 John Biggs http://crunchgear.com/2006/11/22/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20-update/

We’re closing the polls in an hour, so vote away!

The Dash Detox Contest is officially over and here are our six entries made by five entrants. Here’s how we’ll do this. You will vote on each entrant, not their specific entries. Judge on humor, creativity, and usefulness. Who, in this case, is your favorite director. Gaming the system is prohibited, but if you want to get your friends to vote en masse, go ahead. This is supposed to be fun, robot-voting-system writers!

The two top winners will receive one of two T-Mobile Dashes I have lying about.

Special thanks to T-Mobile with their Dash-a-Day giveaway, which you should also enter.

UPDATE – The winners are:
jeremywjones – stop cell phone use: use a nagging wife

rGoodwin – Blair Dash and 30 Days

Dash Detox Contest Vote-Off
• jeremywjones - stop cell phone use: use a nagging wife
• rGoodwin - Blair Dash and 30 Days
• jemmett - Brain on a cell phone...
• nigeldogg - Jango says: Don't touch that phone!
• erikeweese - An open letter from John Biggs' dog
View Results
]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/22/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20-update/feed/ 0 http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/21/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/21/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20/#comments Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:04:34 +0000 John Biggs http://crunchgear.com/2006/11/21/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20/

This is our second try for this whole thing. Looks like our polling system is screwed up, so here we go: a new poll. I’ll be adding the previous votes in a moment. We’re closing the polling at noon EST tomorrow.

The Dash Detox Contest is officially over and here are our six entries made by five entrants. Here’s how we’ll do this. You will vote on each entrant, not their specific entries. Judge on humor, creativity, and usefulness. Who, in this case, is your favorite director. Gaming the system is prohibited, but if you want to get your friends to vote en masse, go ahead. This is supposed to be fun, robot-voting-system writers!

The two top winners will receive one of two T-Mobile Dashes I have lying about.

Special thanks to T-Mobile with their Dash-a-Day giveaway, which you should also enter.

Dash Detox Contest Vote-Off
• jeremywjones - stop cell phone use: use a nagging wife
• rGoodwin - Blair Dash and 30 Days
• jemmett - Brain on a cell phone...
• nigeldogg - Jango says: Don't touch that phone!
• erikeweese - An open letter from John Biggs' dog
View Results
]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/21/dash-detox-contest-vote-off-20/feed/ 2 http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/20/crunchgear-dash-contest-vote-off/ http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/20/crunchgear-dash-contest-vote-off/#comments Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:54:38 +0000 John Biggs http://crunchgear.com/2006/11/20/crunchgear-dash-contest-vote-off/

The Dash Detox Contest is officially over and here are our six entries made by five entrants. Here’s how we’ll do this. You will vote on each entrant, not their specific entries. Judge on humor, creativity, and usefulness. Who, in this case, is your favorite director. Gaming the system is prohibited, but if you want to get your friends to vote en masse, go ahead. This is supposed to be fun, robot-voting-system writers!

The two top winners will receive one of two T-Mobile Dashes I have lying about.

Special thanks to T-Mobile with their Dash-a-Day giveaway, which you should also enter.


[poll=7]

]]> http://www.crunchgear.com/2006/11/20/crunchgear-dash-contest-vote-off/feed/ 4