TomTom, which you may be surprised to know is actually based out of Amsterdam, just recently announced its newest line of navigational hardware, the GO I-90.  It’s a double DIN navigation and radio tool that allows for easy, point to point directions between any two points most anywhere in the world, as long as they’re somehow connected via roadway.

Oh, but this isn’t just another navigational device, either–TomTom brass promises that the device offers  “full radio integration with the car speakers for high quality audio when using spoken instructions, or making hands-free phone calls.”

So not only does it get you from point to point, it also lets you call ahead to tell that point you’re arriving.  That’s actually pretty cool.

As if that weren’t good enough, users will be able to add annotations to the maps via TomTom HOME and Safety Alerts, telling other motorists about accidents, road construction, and those pesky speed traps.  You can also hook your MP3 player to it.

There’s a lot to like about this device, and its ninety nine dollar price tag is just icing on the cake.

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For a while there, drivers in Victoria in Australia were about to be forbidden from using their cell phones as navigation devices while driving.

This actually may have been a good idea, if somewhat unenforceable–you’d have to actually see into every car to find out who was doing it, especially if they kept the phone below the window line–because, after all, most cell phones are distractions waiting to happen in cars, and distractions are just accidents that haven’t happened yet.

But VicRoads, the agency that oversees Victorian road use, realized they were sort of tossing the baby out with the bathwater, and instead agreed to allow the devices if they were in cradles or remotely operated.

This is probably all for the best anyway as, when it comes to car navigation, you really want something that announces your turns and such, not something you have to read, especially while you’re driving.  You want your attention focused as fully as possible on the road ahead, not on some LCD screen in your car.

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