For the most part, I love my TabletPC. :)

I can’t say many of the cooler features and ideas due to a Non Disclosure Agreement I signed in Spring 2007, but I can say what Dash already has made public. The Dash Express is an internet-connected GPS via WiFi & GPRS (aka “Celullar”). As you’re driving, you’ll watch the road change colors depending on traffic conditions, you’ll see the traffic conditions of neighboring roads, you’ll be notified of accidents ahead, and it’ll re-route if there’s an accident on your route.

I have a Dash Express (Chocolate) in the Subaru Forester and Dash Express (Grey) in the XTerra. Dash Express communicate with each other, so you can see what traffic data mine has provided, and I can see yours. With enough users, you’d have realtime traffic everywhere.

Oh, and maps get updated alot more regularly than the CD or DVD that most Garmin, Tom-Tom require. Dash Express, being internet connected, get OTA (Over-The-Air) map updates.

It’s a new technology, so it has its share of warts. Other beta testers are a little more apt to divulge about known issues. As a friend of several Dash employees, I can tell you that they are aware of them, and that progress is quickly being made.

(You can log into my Dash from there via http://my.dash.net, see my bookmarks on my GPS, upload new ones direct from your PC. I have live weather, WiFi, and Yahoo internet searches on mine).

For spiffy cool magical navigation powers, Dash is pretty hip. As someone who frequently drives 28, 29, 50, 66, 7, and 267 in northern Virginia, you’d have also seen all my traffic data on your Dash, and my shortcuts for getting to Patriot Center faster.

ken [dot] foreman [at] latheofdreams [dot] com

…change all the [symbol] to the corresponding keyboard glyphs, and you’ll get a direct line to hell^Z^Z^Z^Zme.

Honestly, daffyd, I’ve thought about the whole hybrid vs efficient 4-cylinder engine thing too. Looking at the cost of lithium-polymer batteries + lead acid, motors + generators, regenerative breaking, the total cost and carbon footprint of a hybrid doesn’t seem any better (and often worse) than a fuel-efficient, well-designed 4-cylinder engine such as that of a Honda Fit, Toyota Camry, Kia, or Mini.

I’m seeing more Smartcars in DC now, so I stopped to talk to one owner. He tells me he’s getting 50-80mpg in his. I need to research more, but it smells like BS. Are the 3-cylinder and 4-cylinder SmartCars (smaller than a Mini, small VW engine block in front of a 2-seater) that efficient? I can testify firsthand that the 350cc engines on bikes get 75mpg+, but a 3-cyl car?

For most of my own personal calculations, I’d going the
(amount of miles driven since last topped tank) / (total gallons used to top tank)

I own a ScanGuage II which I plug into my XTerra and Foresters ODB II port under the dash. I enter the engine size, tank size, and calibrate it for that particular car. Coasting in any vehicle will get 40mpg, but average acceleration+breaking in the XTerra is 15.3mpg while acceleration+breaking in the Forester is 25.7mpg. Watching realtime mpg, gph, and engine stats on the ScanGuage II is always fun.

Anyhoo, shoot me and we can compare notes. :) How many makes/models do you have on your spreadsheet? Same 2.5L engines with/without turbo? :)

- Ken

what’s the best way to send you an e-mail with excel attachment? I’ve got a spreadsheet I created to analyze different cars and prices taking into account changeable gas price data. It’s what prompted me to go with the Fit rather than the hybrid. The payback scale on the fit vs the hybrid ended up being like 23 years or 275,000 miles. So the money never made sense.

It is nice not to have to pay over 80 bucks for a tank of gas in my Expedition though. One tank on the Disney run was 98.00. And I only get 8 mpg when I tow the trailer, thanks to our friend 10% ethanol. (with friends like this…)