dash
Robots
Cockroach-Like Robot Survives Eight Storey Fall, Will Outlive Us All
4:40PM Dan Nosowitz | DASH, a UC Berkeley-designed, cockroach-inspired robot, manages to take what makes cockroaches so resilient and even retain the cockroach’s singularly creepy movement. This thing is near-indestructible. More »
Business
RIM Acquires Dash Navigation
6:59AM Andi Wang | A RIM spokesperson has confirmed that RIM has acquired Dash Navigation—the maker of GPS Dash Express—sparking rumours that BlackBerrys may get even better connected GPS functions in the near future. [BoyGeniusReport] More »
GPS
TeleNav Shotgun Web-Connected GPS Delivers Real-Time Traffic, Finds Cheap Petrol for $US300
3:10AM Matt Buchanan | Just as Dash—makers of the internet-connected, traffic-terminating GPS—is bailing out of the hardware game to sell its awesome software to other companies, TeleNav is officially doing the exact opposite: Jumping in with its first GPS device, which sounds a lot like the Dash Express (on paper, anyway). The internet-connected Telenav Shotgun delivers real-time traffic reports with intelligent re-routing, dynamic maps, automatic updates, web search, cheap gas locator and online pre-planning, which lets you plan your route on PC and shoot it over to the Shotgun automagically. galleryPost('shotgunpeek', 3, ''); More »
GPS
Dash To Can Its Hardware Biz, Licence Its Web-Connected Nav OS To Other Devices
3:57AM John Mahoney | We’ve always been fans of the Dash Express, with its real-time web-delivered traffic monitoring and its constantly evolving app platform. Somewhat sad news today is that Dash Navigation will be pulling out of the consumer hardware business entirely and cutting 50 jobs (two-thirds of its work force)–enabling them to move toward licensing their innovative software platform to other GPS nav makers, as well as to mobile phones and MID platforms in the future. But in a lot of ways, the move makes perfect sense. More »
GPS
Dial Directions 411 Phone Service Automatically Beams Routes to Your Dash GPS
1:00AM John Mahoney | Call up “DIR-ECT-IONS” (clever) on your way to the car and tell the friendly robot who answers where you want to go, and you can have a route beamed to your Dash GPS over the web instantly. Dial Directions already works with a few other online and mobile services, but this Dash integration is a pretty great trick. Just pair your mobile number with your Dash to get started, and start entering routes without having to stoop over and tap in your directions. [Dial Directions - Thanks, Dave!] More »
Entertainment
Old School Digital Car Dashboard Roundup Is an LED Light Show
7:40AM Jason Chen | Motive mag takes a look at the digital dashboards of the 1980s; a time where men were men and electronic car computer technology barely made anything fancier than some green LEDs. Despite this handicap, auto manufacturers came up with some fancy displays, as typified by this predecessor to my own 350Z, a Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Man, we’d like to see more of this kind of digital Knight Rider-esque readout in modern cars, but we have a feeling that the tach on the Prius would look pretty pitiful. [Motive Mag] More »
GPS
Dash GPS’s Major June 2008 Update Lets You Plot Custom Routes
1:00AM Brian Lam | galleryPost('dashupdate21b', 3, '');Dash navigator’s latest update rolls out today, allowing for a few key improvements. • My Route records your local paths between two points (or locations within 800 metres of those points) and recommends the route along side traditional GPS routes next time you make the trip. • Searches for points of interest “along the way” return listings with distance from current location and distance from destination. • Road closures will be highlighted in black. • Using SiRF’s instantfix tech, the GPS will lock on sats on resume within 3 seconds • The GUI is about 50% snappier • Street names are easier to read because of better contrast. Video of My Route over at [Dash's Blog] More »
Regulars
Giz Explains: An Easy Primer on GPS
4:00AM Matt Buchanan | In this week’s Giz Explains, we’re doing a quick rundown of a sweet technology that has evolved from a (deadly) serious military application to becoming a household utility, found in all kinds of gadgets: GPS.
Software
First Third-Party Dash Apps Have Weather, Speed Traps and Radio Song ID
4:44AM Jason Chen | The first third-party applications for Dash’s GPS (you know, that internet-connected smart GPS) are here, and they do some interesting things. There’s Trapster, which shows you whether there are speed traps ahead (and let you contribute trap information), Mediaguide, which shows you the last three tracks played on any FM or AM station, and WeatherBug, which tells you weather conditions now and later. More »
GPS
