Kara Visits Dash!
Earlier this week, I visited Dash Navigation, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based car-navigation device start-up that is being backed to the tune of $42 million by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins.
There, I got a look at the new GPS device called the Dash Express that went on sale exclusively on Amazon (AMZN) today and was also reviewed by my esteemed colleague Walt Mossberg (Cliff Notes on that: he liked it a lot, but it’s not perfect, although he thinks the $400 Dash signifies a leap ahead in the arena).
A longtime user of such devices–make that a longtime disgruntled user–I have always been annoyed that car navigation has been so removed from the digital and connected revolution taking place everywhere else.
Being able to grab information from the Web and also send it to a device seems an obvious move, so I am glad someone has made it. I am also interested in Dash’s use of devices to help inform the whole system about traffic problems, which will presumably work better as more Dash devices are on the road.
In fact, I am in Los Angeles right now–the epicenter of traffic congestion–and I brought a Dash unit to see how well that works. And I also sent a map of the hot spots from the HBO series, “Entourage.” First stop for breakfast after avoiding traffic on Fairfax: Canter’s, the very funky deli the “boys” get food from.
My review: The knishes were delicious and I was not annoyed either, since I was not stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic getting to them.
Here’s a video I did while visiting Dash’s HQ earlier this week:
Comments
Dash rocks.
I’ve been beta-testing a unit for ages, and am completely sold on the promise of internet-integrated navigation. Crowd-sourcing traffic is just one of umpteen killer apps that can be enabled (think Dodgeball-like services.)
I very much hope (and expect) that Dash will get this right. The executive management team (Paul Lego and Rob Currie) are first-rate.
Posted by Bradley Horowitz at March 27th, 2008 at 3:32 pm