ALK Technologies is reporting that it's seeing a spike in its CoPilot Live personal GPS software, and attributing it to rising gas prices. "With gas prices forecast to climb to beyond $4.00 per gallon and recessionary worries fueling consumer uncertainty, ALK has noticed a trend: more motorists are navigating new routes using GPS navigation systems to off-set fuel costs of both personal and business travel," the company said in a statement.

I'll spare you the rest of the self-serving details. But ALK does have a real point: if you set your GPS unit to pick the route with the shortest distance, rather than the fastest one, you'll likely end up on secondary roads and travel at lower speeds as well as less actual miles. You can also program units like the CoPilot Live to avoid toll roads, and some of the later units offer gas station price comparisons. There's nothing like using technology to save money.