Gawker: valleywag, gps

Dash To Can Its Hardware Biz, License Its Web-Connected Nav OS To Other Devices

John Mahoney — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:57:38 EST

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 cellphones and MID platforms in the future. But in a lot of ways, the move makes perfect sense.

The nav market is a tough one, and with the added economic difficulties, Dash feels it can do better work by focusing on their open-source OS, which they will then sell business-to-business. More important than the OS, which is fine but not fantastic, is the back end traffic mesh system. A Dash-powered mid-range Garmin nav sounds like a pretty appealing propect, and will help bring a Dash-like system to more people for less dough. New CEO Rob Currie also notes that the Dash's GPRS chip and 400MHz ARM processor are quickly being outpaced by even low-end mobiles, so a move toward adding Dash functionality to GPS-equipped smartphones sounds like a plan to me.

Dash is going to keep the Express back end running for existing owners, but no word on for how long; because these devices hold almost zero local data, once the service goes you will have yourself a nav that can't do much more than direct address routing. Dash friends, care to let us know how long we have? [GigaOM]

AT&T's 3G iPhone Is $199 This Summer

Jason Chen — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:44:45 EDT

According to Fortune, AT&T's going to further subsidize the iPhone down as much as $200, making the final retail price a scant $199 with two-year-contract. The rumor is that the $200 bonus will only be available in AT&T stores, not in Apple stores, so people buying and exporting or using it with T-Mobile will be paying the higher price. Current first-gen iPhone users probably won't get this $200 subsidy when upgrading either, unless perhaps they renew for another 2 years.

If you're buying straight from Apple, it seems like their prices will still be $399 and $499 for the 8 and 16GB models. Fortune's source also says that the phone will have GPS and be 2.5mm thinner, not thicker as previously indicated. And you'll know when the new phone is coming—Apple will cut off shipments of the old phone in order to clear up inventory and give a subtle hint that you should wait before buying. [Fortune]

Update: It looks like Scott Moritz is the same guy who made predictions before that didn't come true. He comes from thestreet.com, who, via Jim Cramer, made the prediction that the iPhone would get 1.5 years of free service. The rumor sounds less credible to us now.

GPS device maker TomTom has partnered with...

Jordan Golson — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:28:23 EST

GPS device maker TomTom has partnered with Google so TomTom owners can send business name and address information directly from Google Maps to their sat-nav systems wirelessly. This is similar to the Send To Car feature that Google and BMW rolled out earlier this year. [Bloomberg]

TomTom raises offer for Tele Atlas to $4.22 billion

Jordan Golson — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:24:21 EST

TomTom, the GPS device maker, has raised its offer for digital mapping service Tele Atlas to $4.22 billion. This is a substantial rise over rival Garmin's prior bid of $3.3 billion. That offer topped a prior one by TomTom for $2.5 billion. The market thinks the purchase price will be driven higher as Tele Atlas's stock price is trading higher than even the latest offer. TomTom has purchased a 28.3 percent stake in Tele Atlas already on the public market. Garmin owns a little over 5 percent of the company.

Big Brother is driving cabs off the road in New York

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:10:35 EDT

How typical of Gawker to report on a story — in this case, the New York taxi strike — and obliviously miss the tech angle. Why are some New York City taxi drivers going on strike? Why, they're protesting a requirement that cabs be outfitted with GPS transponders. The GPS devices, some contend, could be used to track drivers' movements. Corporate employees endure similar snooping of their every move on the Web, thanks to email-scanning and Web-tracking software installed by their overlords — and yet you don't see them going on strike. Our guess is that access to porn and Flash games isn't as important to tech workers as the threat of vehicle tracking is to cabdrivers. Whatever. If this means that we'll actually be able to get a cab in Brooklyn, we say track those bastards down to the last foot. (Photo by sposnick)