Good Thing In A Small Package

      ALK Technologies Inc. packed its huge CoPilot Truck database into a handheld computer in 2003. CoPilot Truck/Pocket PC edition runs on the Windows Mobile operating system. Pocket PCs are made by Audiovox, Casio, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, NEC, Symbol and Toshiba among others.
      It's relatively easy to attach a handheld computer cradle to a truck dashboard so drivers can have truck-sensitive, turn-by-turn directions provided by voice using a generic device that doubles as a calculator, datebook, game device and even a phone.
      If it isn't a phone itself, a Pocket PC running CoPilot can connect to a digital cell phone that will transmit GPS location at set intervals, enabling a new kind of low-cost tracking.
      CoPilot must also be running on the remote computer, but that will change soon. ALK said it expects to launch a service that will provide location information from CoPilot units on a web site that can be accessed from any computer.