GPS systems are now so pervasive that manufacturers have to come up with novel features in order to part you from your money. Of course, if you want to appeal to women, most manufacturers seem to think that painting the thing pink or providing directions to the nearest shoe shop will be enough to make the distaff side cough up the reddies. Or if you are a bloke, then it should talk like Kitt from Knight Rider. However, kudos to Binatone as it has come up with a feature that would really help all of us - a rear-view camera to help you park better.

While we were in some traffic jam on the way Absolute Gadget towers this morning, we wondered how many car crashes had been caused by people paying too much attention to their trusty satnavs and not enough on the road. Thankfully Direct Line had a new survey out which holds the answer: 300,000.

OK, so we are never going to buy a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am and fight crime across the US while wearing a leather jacket exposing a manly hairy chest but we'd rather like the idea of Kitt giving us directions to the nearest petrol station. So thumbs up to Mio, who have come out with a Knight Rider-themed satnav.

With most people abandoning traditional paper maps in favour of our favourite in-car gadget the satnav, we should all be getting to where we want to go, shouldn't we? It turns out that that natural phenomenon aurora borealis, which produces pretty lights in the sky without the aid of drugs, disrupts satellite signals and sends you off to the middle of nowhere.