1.7 million square feet. 140,000 attendees. 1.21 gigawatts. These are the numbers that make up the 41st annual Consumer Electronics Show. So big that it spans three separate venues, before you even include all the private suites and parties. So big it exerts its own gravitational pull. So big that one man was heard to exclaim in awe: "that's no moon...that's the Consumer Electronics Show." Alright, it was me. But still.

It's a large show, this CES, and as an army of two (myself and my fellow Dan), it's a daunting task to cover as many of these gizmos and doodads as I can get my robotically-enhanced grip on. But I'll do what I can to give you a taste of the world of CES over the next few days (hint: it's somewhere between salty, sweet, and crunchy). So, without further ado, let's take a look at the tech that's already crossed my meandering path: a GPS unit that talks back, a TV with double vision, and a monitor that you may have trouble wrapping your head around.

Dash Express

What's better than an in-car GPS unit? If you guessed an almost-sentient communicative network of GPS units, then you, my friend, have won a prize (offer not valid in 49 of 50 states). You've also hit upon the idea behind Dash Navigation's Dash Express. Think of it as GPS meets social networking, but without all the annoying friend requests and embarrassing encounters with high school classmates.

See, instead of just pulling GPS information down, the Dash Express also transmits anonymized data from your unit back to Dash's servers, which it uses to build a traffic model of your surrounding area. The more people in your vicinity with a Dash unit, the better the modeling. That info can be used to show you alternate routes and let you know when traffic's been stopped by an accident, construction, or a shambling mass of zombies. And, unlike most GPS units, the Dash Express actually gives you information about side streets, not just major highways. Also, because the Dash Express is connected to the Internet, you can also search for info on restaurants, gas stations, services, etc. by using the built-in Yahoo! Local capability. And the team (which features at least one former Apple employee) has also created a plugin for OS X that allows you to select any location in an email, or webpage, or instant message, and send it from your computer to your car.

For more Mac news, visit Macworld. Story copyright Mac Publishing, LLC.