Dash says it is the first GPS manufacturer to offer a local search function on its product. Nearly a year ago, Google teamed up with Volkswagen to show off a Fahrvergoogle Earth 3D map overlay for “dead-reckoning and laser-radar imaging” and “car-to-infrastructure communication.”

Now that’s how you write a press release. But, as far as we know, you couldn’t type in “croissants” and bring up a list of nearby bakeries, cafes and stores along with directions. But with Dash’s product, you can.

With the Dash Express, Yahoo! Local search results are arranged into “address cards,” which can be selected, routing the driver to where he or she can find the goods.

Yahoo! Local ratings and reviews are also presented with results where available. This is great news for the perpetually lost, the touring, and the proud I-know-where-I’m-going crowd. But services like this are also good news for local brick-and-mortar shops that often go overlooked.

The Dash Express will released in California this spring and will be demonstrated at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. And then let the newest cause of the crash-em-up-derby begin.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I was typing in a search for Starbucks. Oh! There’s one right there. And another. And another! Boy, do I feel stupid.”

More on how to write a press release to come.

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Adding Yahoo Local To Your Road Trip

Through the wonders of GPS and the power of a wireless Internet connection, Dash will bring Yahoo Local search results to drivers using its service.

Instead of toting along a copy of the local yellow pages, and stopping to flip through, the Dash Express device will lookup a search term entered by a driver, present the results, and guide the driver to the selected choice.

Dash said in a statement its product would be a first in the GPS industry.

GPS systems are very useful for getting someone to a known destination; Dash and Yahoo would go this one better by helping a driver decide on a destination too.

As an early effort, its success will depend on Dash’s adoption by drivers.

Being the first Internet-connected GPS device differentiates them from competitors like Garmin and Magellan, and the Yahoo deal gives them a recognized brand name in association.

We have written many times about the local search market, one that offers search advertising companies a multi-billion dollar market to target.

Having the Yahoo brand present in one more place helps to reinforce the name and potentially retain users for its desktop and mobile search services too.

To increase the number of drivers exposed to Yahoo through Dash, the GPS maker probably needs a competitive price to offset the broader selection and greater brand recognition of existing GPS firms.

If they have sufficient quantities of the product, perhaps Dash could try to pull off a fleet deal with a car rental company, and gain exposure to the business travel market that way.

The rental company could tuck a Yahoo Search Marketing flyer into the rental agreement documents, and maybe a few of those gain the interest of a businessperson for some future ad sales.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

It seems to be the trend at this time of year to reflect upon the last twelve months, and offer up a “best of” list of some sort for reader consumption

While I’m not arguing with tradition, I’ve decided to break away from the typical “top 10 list” and just talk about some of my favorite Web 2.0 personalities in 2006. These are the people that give me great story ideas, entertain me, or just flat out make me laugh.

Oh yeah, they’re pretty smart people, too.

So without any further delay, let’s get on with the list (in no particular order):

Robert Scoble – PodTech

First off, this guy is just a fantastic writer. He conveys concepts and topics, which are sometimes very complicated, in a manner that is easy to digest and understand, even if you aren’t a techno-savvy type of person. Also, Robert seems to have a knack for always finding the story behind the story, taking the news and analyzing what potential impact it could have within the industry.

As a writer here at WebProNews, I was given a baptism by fire in learning how and what to write about, and reading Robert’s blog was definitely a tool I used on many occasions while getting my feet wet.

Michael Arrington – TechCrunch

If you want to know about the cool new thing that’s around the corner, than TechCrunch is one of your best bets. Michael Arrington has become one of those people who can make or break a startup with his analysis. He has also been quite outspoken against Digital Rights Management (DRM) – a cause that I champion as well. More than anything, though, Mike says what he really thinks, and you have to respect that.

Matt Cutts – Google

You can shower Matt with a lot of similar accolades that are given to Robert Scoble. He’s a great writer, and he really has a knack for taking the often-messy aspects of SEO and spam techniques and conveying them in an easily understood context. What do I like best about Matt, though? He’s a great interview. Check out this video of Matt talking with our own Mike McDonald, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Jason Calacanis – Sequoia Capital

Jason might be one of the most quotable people in the entire blogosphere. I don’t always agree with what he says, but I will give him credit in that he always speaks his mind. Jason’s exploits are highly documented, which tells me that even though people may not like him, they recognize his influence throughout the industry.

Loren Feldman – 1938 Media

This guy is a straight shooter, and I really like that. He doesn’t pull punches, and everyone is fair game in his satirical tirades, including himself. Loren is an entertainer, to be sure. Behind the comedic exterior, however, lies a guy who just flat out knows his stuff. He understands Web 2.0, the blogosphere, and online video in ways that I don’t think other people quite get. He’s a visionary, and people like that are always in short supply.

Nick Douglas – Valleywag

When Nick was the main writer for Valleywag, there wasn’t a single day I would visit the site and not keel over laughing in a fit of uncontrollable mirth. This guy has a gift for gossip and making fun of others that is nothing short of legendary. I was sad when he got the boot from the main writing gig over at the ‘wag, and it goes without saying that the tech gossip rag just doesn’t have the same edge anymore.

Joanne Colan – Rocketboom

You might not here a lot of people say this, but I’m going to just go ahead and put it out there; Joanne is far and away better for Rocketboom than Amanda Congdon ever was. This girl is sharp as a tack, charming, and has a delivery style that you simply can’t teach; it’s just a gift. I could go on for quite a while longer on how talented I think this lady is, but I don’t think I would do her justice. You just need to check out Rocketboom for yourself.

So there you have it, these are my favorite Web 2.0 personalities from the past year. It’s been a crazy ride, with lots of information to absorb on a daily basis. Luckily, we have talented, humorous, intelligent people in high places to make the task a bit more manageable.

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Luckily, Anil Dash came along recently and was able to summarize what I wanted to say in a single example.

Note to Microsoft: Community trumps codecs. Users see “I can’t upload my Movie Maker clips to YouTube” as your bug, not theirs, and they don’t want to hear about “transcoding licensing fees” just to watch funny videos.

[emphasis mine]

Well said, Anil. That succinctly illustrates what’s going on.

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Jeremy Zawodny is the author of the popular Jeremy Zawodny’s blog. Jeremy is part of the Yahoo search team and frequently posts in the Yahoo! Search blog as well.

Visit Jeremy’s blog: Jeremy Zawodny’s blog.

Contrary to defining blogs as a technology or platform, instead Dash described a blog as “a way to connect.”

Ratio of writers to readers in the SixApart network have changed from 1:40 to about 1:1000 for blogs that are “public facing.”

Two thirds of the users on LiveJournal are female. “A haven for those who want to communicate in a way that’s private and controlled.” On LJ, it’s more like 1:6 or 1:8 of writers to readers.

“You might read 1000 feeds…but you don’t have 1000 friends.”

“Real influence is not measured in raw numbers. Real influence is related to the number of people who you are connected to who really care about what you think.”

“The New York Times thinks they compete with the Washington Post. The New York Times is not competing with the Washington Post. The New York Times actually competes with recipes from my grandmother. The New York Times competes with information from my friends.”

“There are only a couple of different ways to connect. A person can connect at a really high level with 6-8 people, and at a moderate level with about 150 people.”

The most popular community on LJ is “Oh No They Didn’t” … a community of about 250,000 celebrity gossipwatchers. Most of those people watch this information on their “friends” page — they intersperse this information with information from their friends and family news.

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Christopher Carfi, CEO and co-founder of Cerado, looks at sales, marketing, and the business experience from the customers point of view. He currently is focused on understanding how emerging social technologies such as blogs, wikis, and social networking are enabling the creation of new types of customer-driven communities. He is the author of the Social Customer Manifesto weblog, and has been occasionally told that he drives and snowboards just a little too quickly.

Apple does buzz like no one else. News of an Apple special event brings forth the excited Mac faithful and near-continual posts from websites and blogs. Rampant speculation focused on many potential products, with a possible new video iPod with a larger screen getting lots of attention.

The steak failed to match the sizzle, to coin a phrase. Jobs announced a new Mac mini, featuring Intel’s Core Duo processor. He followed that up with the iPod Hi-Fi, a speaker system for the iPod that makes the same sort of room-filling sound claims that people see from Bose every Sunday along with coupons for Bisquick.

Mmm, pancakes.

Lost in the hype and subsequent disappointment expressed by those covering the event was a statement from an Apple executive included in a press release. He noted how quickly Apple has shifted half of its product line away from the PowerPC platform:

Apple starts pricing for the Mac mini at $599, while the iPod Hi-Fi lists for $349. One humorous comment about the Hi-Fi working with power from either a wall outlet or six D-cell batteries appeared on Valleywag from Six Apart’s Anil Dash:

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The new engine gives consumers maximum choice and flexibility whether they know their exact travel dates and destination or they are open-minded in their planning.

To provide consumers the “personal touch” often associated with the advice of an expert, this new search engine uses Site59′s unique library of last-minute package inventory and patent-pending functionality unrivaled in online travel.

When consumers search by date and destination, Site59 works like a personal shopper — not only returning the requested results, but also including relevant alternatives displayed in a new dashboard view. Alternatives include: other dates for the chosen destination, nearby and regional destinations for the chosen dates, and other relevant destinations for the chosen dates based on matching categories such as “Beach,” “Big City,” and “Golf.” All options are shown with easy-to-compare pricing including taxes from the consumer’s departure city, eliminating the inconvenient multiple searches and back-clicking that travelers must endure on other sites to save a buck or find what they want.

“Now travelers can see in a glance if staying an extra night will save them money, or if choosing another date or destination will offer them a better value,” said Robert Albert, General Manager of Site59, a Travelocity Company.

Does Adding Two Nights in Bermuda and Saving $22 Sound Right?

A recent search on Site59 for the weekend of September 24th showed that New York City to Bermuda Friday to Sunday cost $606 per person for flight + hotel. With the new results page, consumers could easily see that they could save $22 per person by adding two nights and staying until Tuesday — for a total of $584 per person. Prices for the same trip were also available for other dates. Further down the dashboard, six other Caribbean trips were listed from Nassau to Aruba priced $442-$571, followed by other domestic beach trips, starting at $334 — all for the same dates.

Travelers Who Don’t Know Can Still Go

Unlike other travel sites, Site59 doesn’t require that travelers know where and when they want to go before showing the deals. The new search engine offers the incomparable flexibility of responding to open-ended requests such as “Europe this weekend” or “See all destinations this Friday-Sunday” so travelers can plan their trips with as much or as little information as they have decided. After choosing their departure city, consumers can choose to search by weekend or region, or refine their search by destination or specific date.

“Site59 has again revolutionized the travel shopping experience, making it easy for travelers to get away as often as they like,” said Albert, “When planning a quick getaway, sometimes destination is important, but often travelers are just looking to get a great deal on ‘anywhere but here’ this weekend.”

Site59 Last-Minute Getaways include flight + hotel (and optional car), flight + car and hotel + car, and they are available to hundreds of domestic and international destinations, from more than 100 U.S. cities, every day. Bookings can be made from 14 days in advance up to three hours before departure. Site59 is the only deeply discounted travel site that ensures consumers can choose their exact hotel, airline flights, and rental cars and earn frequent flier miles.

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The first stage, called the Player prize, went to the website that could gain the number one ranking in Google’s SERP for the keyword “Nigritude Ultramarine” by June 7th. The second stage, or the Stayer prize, was awarded to the site that had the number one ranking on July 7th.

Because yesterday was the last day of the competition, DarkBlue announced the winner of the Stayer portion on their message board. The winner, Anil Dash, used a different method than did the winner of the first stage, a contestant named Merkey.

Merkey created a forum dedicated to the keywords, and had numerous contextual links to sites that linked back to him using the “Nigritude Ultramarine” set.

Anil’s method involved his blog readers linking to him using the competition keywords. Dash made one entry on his blog asking people to link to him using the paired words. According to Wired News, after Anil’s late entry request (June 4th), he quickly gained the top spot and was never seriously challenged thereafter.

A snippet from Dash’s blog highlights his disdain for SEO tactics and has his request:

“(I)n order to prove that real content trumps all the shady optimization tricks that someone can figure out, and because I figure I deserve an iPod at least as much as the Star Wars Kid, I’m entering the contest. Do me a favor: Link to this post with the phrase Nigritude Ultramarine. I’d rather see a real blog win than any of the fake sites that show up on that search result right now.”

The winner of the Player portion of the contest received a mini iPod, while the winner of the Stayer part received a Flat Screen monitor from Sony.

Please read DarkBlue’s forum for further details.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.