I have been using the new Microsoft Streets and Trips for about a month and I love it. In the past before I would go off to a meeting or event I would consult Map Quest on my computer at home, type in my address and the address of the event, press ENTER and in a few seconds there is the route. I would then grab a piece of scratch paper and transcribe the directions into my own travel shorthand with very large R's and L's and big circles around the Highway Exit numbers.
Now before I leave to go to a meeting I grab my laptop, open-up Streets and Trips, click on the little Rout icon and type in the address of my meeting and instantaneously there are the directions. I plug-in the GPS device, make sure that my laptop battery is fully charged, then climb into my car placing the laptop on the seat next to me. When I enable the GPS a woman's voice begins to guide me, I don't know if she's a blond, brunette or a red head, but she and the guy up on that satellite work well together as they always know where I am and where I should go.
Now I do know the back roads of North West Jersey much better then this babe, she calls out OFF ROUTE, OFF ROUTE till I catch-up with a cross road, then she stops nagging me.
It occurred to me after our first trip together that a Tablet PC, a Slate Tablet PC mounted on my dashboard would be an ideal way for me to interface with my lady friend and her satellite tracking buddy. With a mounted Tablet I wouldn't have to turn my neck as far and we could get power from the cigarette lighter. She could also play my music and read my email to me. This relationship is beginning to feel like a killer app for the Tablet PC. Streets and Trips already calculates the distance and the fuel cost of my trip, why not incorporate my calendar so she knows where I have to be and when I have to be there. This all sounds like the beginning of a wonderful friendship...…Streets and Trips, my baby and my Tablet PC.