Hasta La Gadget!

What to do when your navigation product costs almost as much as a cheap portable navigation device but requires a laptop for use in the car? Bring out a version with a simpler, USB key GPS module. That’s Microsoft Streets & Trips 2009 with GPS Locater. It’s just over $50 street price, vs. $65-$90 for the same software with a GPS module on a long USB cable.

The software works just the same as on other versions of Streets & Trips 2009 that we’ve reviewed earlier in the year. It’s a great convenience on a laptop and has some benefits over online trip planning software. It also has some quirks that have crept into recent versions of S&T. For instance, zooming is much less precise than in versions from the middle of the decade: Now, you press + or – keys to zoom, rather than grab the area with your mouse and zoom to the precise size of the bounding box.

In-car GPS navigation systems are undeniably useful. But at $1,500 and above, they’re pretty overpriced to begin with–especially when compared with today’s $150 portable GPS units and $10-per-month cell phone GPS services. So it’s usually no fun to find out you need to shell out another few hundred dollars every time you want to update the maps in your car.

To take at least some of the pain out of the process, Volvo and Navteq have unveiled MapCare, a free map update program, for the automaker’s full lineup of cars. The program will offer two free map updates to buyers of any new 2010 Volvo C30, S40, V50, C70, V70, XC70, S80, XC60, or XC90 with a navigation system. The program is available to all North American buyers, as well as several countries overseas, beginning this month. Hey Volvo, while we’re at it, how about we drop the price of the navigation systems, too?

Pioneer has unveiled three in-dash navigation systems at its Road Show in Long Beach, Calif., today. The flagship $1,600 AVIC-Z110BT offers simultaneous map and route guidance info, iPod and iPhone connectivity, Bluetooth, HD and satellite radio, and voice control, all with a 7-inch motorized LCD screen. With an optional MSN Direct tuner, the unit gives updated traffic, weather, and local event info.

Meanwhile, the 5.8-inch, $900 AVIC-X710BT and $1100 AVIC-X910BT are mid-range units and include three sets of RCA outputs and a 50 watt x4 amplifier; the X910BT includes 3D landmark icons in the display and a built-in MSN Direct tuner. The low(er)-end, $599 4.3-inch AVIC-U310BT is a 2-DIN unit with voice-controlled turn-by-turn navigation, wireless Bluetooth, and iPod and iPhone control.

Ford announced that its next-generation SYNC 3.0 application with traffic, directions, and information (TDI) is now available for early-launch 2010 Ford Mustang, Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Lincoln MKZ, Mercury Milan, and Milan Hybrid vehicles.

TeleNav, the company behind AT&T and Sprint cell phone GPS navigation (and now a standalone unit), is powering the traffic system in Ford TDI. TeleNav PR manager Mary Beth Lowell said in a blog post that the new version of SYNC will offer personalized traffic reports, precise turn-by-turn driving directions, and up-to-date business listings, news, sports and weather information. Traffic conditions will also influence turn-by-turn directions–meaning that owners may hear different routes for the same trip at different times or on different days.

Ford SYNC lets drivers of equipped cars connect their cell phones via
Bluetooth and control their in-car entertainment and navigation system
with voice commands. Current owners of the aforementioned vehicles can visit www.syncmyride.com to download and install the latest application at home at no cost.