Dash's hardware and OS may not have been anything special, but its proprietary traffic mesh system is awesome. When I first reviewed the Dash Express, I wrote that the company was "so singularly focused on traffic that the rest of the GPS feels rough around the edges." That may turn out to be a blessing if it allows Dash to become a software provider instead of a hardware manufacturer, providing real time traffic (both incident and predictive flow) information to various third-party devices (Garmin, are you listening?).

Dash will cut 50 jobs -- approximately 65% of its workforce. The company says it will continue to support existing Dash owners, but will no longer sell new devices or accept new activations.

On the surface this is kinda sad news. I always thought od Dash as the little engine that could, putting its secret sauce into those mysterious, albeit ugly, GPRS-enabled devices. Let's hope there's a happy ending here, and Dash can re-position itself as a much more profitable software provider, and help improve the generally poor traffic information found on most other GPS devices.