All Things Digital

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:

While this is not exactly a “digital” story–we at AllThingsD.com like to think we have our finger on the pulse of the latest trend, including the lean, mean green one. (We had well-known Silicon Valley VC Vinod Khosla come and talk about alternative energy at D4, in fact.)

Yesterday brought news that Om Malik was going all Al Gore on us with his new Earth2Tech, a blog site “devoted to the business of clean technologies, its innovations and everything else.”

We like what we have read so far (avoid soy biodiesel IPOs, as if they were Pets.com reincarnated–DONE!) and it looks great (nice digital leaf).

Not to be outdone, we made acquaintance with writer Charles Runnette and his veggie Mercedes, whilst on a run to the most excellent Baby Blue Bar-B-Q in Venice, Calif., last night (which was deliciously oily, too).

The car, which has been converted to run on vegetable oil by Lovecraft Bio-Fuels, a popular company that converts diesel cars in the shaggy Silver Lake area of Los Angeles.

I once visited an even shaggier commune right next door to Lovecraft and can still recall the pungent Thai food smell that perpetually wafted out of the place, as its workers toiled at making the world gasoline-free. Mighty tasty, too!

Here’s my video: