With its US owner in the process of selling New Zealand-founded Navman (to Norway's Navico and Taiwan's Mitac) our spies tell us the GPS system maker has been making some major lay-offs over the past few days. Around 100 staff are to go (from around 600), and the company's Christchurch Development Center will be shuttered. "Complete turmoil", is how one person puts it.

Regardless of the ownership shenanigans, it's still a great company with a great product, so let's hope they get things sorted out sharp-ish.

Lastly - and this might not be the best time to bring this up - as I sit at my new desk drinking a bucket-sized cup of Starbucks, under the withering gaze of the Deputy Editor, it does remind me of an experience I had as I played with the Navman iCN720, following Ted Gibbons' official review: it flashes a helpful alert each time you drive past a Starbucks. Now I like my overpriced coffee as much as the next clod, but there are many, many Starbucks in Auckland's CBD, and very, very few car parks, so the whole "feature" just drives you crazy.

And last night as I drove home, I saw a familiar site: a towel draped over my sister-in-law's iCN720, stuck to the windshield of her car. Why? Otherwise the GPS overheats in the sun and refuses to work.

Still, a nifty product overall, and I'd definitely buy one if I were to win third division Lotto next week, but just a couple-three anecdotes I thought I'd share with you.