Applications may not be designed or marketed for real time route guidance; automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other mechanical devices; dispatch or fleet management; or emergency or life-saving purposes.

This means that any hope Garmin, TomTom or any other GPS interface manufacturer had for releasing an iPhone app has officially been shot down, likely due to some ball-cradling agreement between Apple and Google Maps, the current GPS utility for the iPhone. After all, if the TomTom or Garmin interface was available on the iPhone, fewer people would use the Google Maps mashup available by default. [BBG via Giz]

Of course, the Dash Express already has this feature beat by allowing the instructions to be sent wirelessly, but this is a nice lazy-man feature added by Garmin. [Gizmodo]

What happens when technology answers a question nobody asked? Sometimes billions are made. Other times, needless technical complexity makes for a more complex experience. Such is the case one Car and Driver reader made in the mag's July '07 issue. In a letter to C&D, he directs our attention to the BMW 328i, whose oil dipstick has been replaced with a sensor and on-screen alert icon. But according to the writer, the system has resulted in owners overfilling their crankcases. And according to two dealerships, the only way to check the oil accurately is thus:

I was told the proper way to check the oil is to return the car to your BMW dealership and it will put the vehicle on a rack, drain the oil, measure it, and then reinstall the oil in the car.

[via NASIOC]

Related:
Let's Interface: Mini to Get BMW's iDrive [internal]