Entries tagged with cars - Channel 10

The future of energy efficient mobility

Laura — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:43:00 GMT

Energy efficient personal mobility is something that we all should be concerned with. We all need to get around and we all need to do our part to save the environment. That's why "Going Green" was such a huge theme at this year's Wired Magazine's NextFest. The Toyota booth took up nearly 1/4 of the show floor as they showed off multiple vehicles and even let attendees ride the I-Real. So, exactly how efficient are these futuristic rides? Watch this clip to find out and then check out this clip for more info on how you can help!

Smart Driving 10 Years Out

Larry — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:34:00 GMT

Autoblog has a post about a new Audi dash system called Travolution that establishes communication between your car and traffic lights. The system will tell you what speed you need to maintain so you don't have to stop at the light, and no braking means better gas mileage and reduced emissions. Currently the pilot program is only running in Ingostadt, Germany.

The system requires a module retrofit on the traffic light to communicate with the dash system, so don't look for this in the short term, but as more cars arrive with in-dash computers (like Microsoft Sync) the possibility is only a software update away. What would be even better is a two-way communication system so that a traffic light can understand which side of the light is backed up the most and help alleviate some of that congestion and intelligently synchronizing with other traffic lights.

Motorola’s New Dashboard Computer

sarahintampa — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:16:00 GMT

Motorola has just introduced a new dash-mounted mobile computer, the VC6096. Running Windows Mobile 6, this computer is designed specifically for work-related applications like those used for fleet management or vehicle tracking systems, for example. Another use for the device would be in emergency and police vehicles. Currently, the systems used in those vehicles tend to run Windows XP, XP Embedded, or Windows CE.

With its wireless LAN (WLAN) capabilities, the device can be easily integrated with a company’s existing WLAN for real-time visibility of the vehicle. In addition, its 3.5 G GSM HSDPA WWAN allows for simultaneous voice and data and the bandwidth to support even data-intensive applications. Because of the VC6096’s open platform, any number of applications can be installed on the device to support whatever your business needs.

Here are the full specs:

The new VC606 device is 9.53" x 9.25" x 1.95" with a 6.5" VGA touchscreen. It can be connected to an SAE J1708 or SAE J1939 telematics bus to work in tandem with fleet management or vehicle tracking systems, and has a SiRFstarIII GsC3ef/LP GPS chipset, GSM HSDPA, 802.11 a/b/g, and Bluetooth 2.0. Its wireless LAN supports WPA2, WEP (40 or 128 bit), TKIP, TLS, TTLS (MS-CHAP), TTLS (MS-CHAP v2), TTLS (CHAP), TTLS-MD5, TTLS-PAP, PEAP-TLS, PEAP (MS-CHAP v2), AES, and LEAP.

Microsoft and Ford Sync up

Larry — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 10:30:00 GMT

You may remember back in January when Microsoft announced a partnership with Ford to collaborate on a way to control your mobile devices while behind the wheel via voice. Sync works with most Bluetooth-enabled phones and popular media devices (full list here).

For $395 (the same price as racing stripes on the Mustang) Sync will allow you to place calls by name, read incoming text messages, call out playlist names to your media player, or even ask it what it's playing. Detroit Free Press reporter Sarah Webster took Sync for a 2-day spin and it's an interesting read. She came away calling Sync a first step in "something potentially life changing."

Sync is a respectable little device with a 400Mhz processor and is open to developers which I think is the best feature, because the future of Sync will driven by consumer demand and the imagination of developers. Sync is available in a number of 2008 Fords, Mercury, and Lincolns, which are hitting the showrooms now. You can find out more about Sync at Ford's site www.SyncMyRide.com.

Peugeot Design Contest brings your car to the Xbox 360

Jesse — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 20:51:00 GMT

For the petrolhead gamer, walking through the virtual garage of your favorite racing sim is one of the more pleasant experiences. Staring at the endless amounts of detail that gets lavished onto each car model is truely awesome, but what if you could see your own designs in-game?

This year's Peugeot Design Contest is being sponsered by Xbox 360, and they've decided to give us all a shot at just that sort of glory. The grand prize winner, in addition to having their fully-constructed concept vehicle shown in Frankfurt, will see their creation take digital life inside an Xbox game.

Looking beyond Vista: Fiji, Vienna, and Ford?

Jesse — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:59:00 GMT

Sure we're all very excited for the consumer launch of Windows Vista. Whether you love or hate the next version of the OS, we think you'll agree it'll be nice to stop hearing, "it's coming!" Some interesting stories are starting to push through about what's around the next corner.

Two potential upcoming versions of Windows, Fiji and Vienna, have stoked the fires of anticipation all over again. The Fiji codename seems well-chosen for its idyllic potential. With the possible inclusion of WinFS for saved search folders, better media center integration with Windows Live Services, and more of the original (and gorgeous) UI that was promised for Vista, Fiji could be a very nice place to live.

Windows Vienna, which contains enough new ideas to choke on, is almost certainly years away. A completely rethought UI (think no start menu), integral speech recognition, and the possible end of caring about drives or folders are rumored to be in the cards. This could be the OS to make up for the conspicuous absence of jetpacks.

Finally, in a more tangible albeit expensive upgrade, it's expected that Ford (FoMoCo) will announce Microsoft software in their 2007 vehicles. Having your wheels understand the concepts of MP3 players and Bluetooth phones should make the traffic a bit easier to bear. We're going to have our first car review on 10 this year, promise.

Fiji and Vienna (via OSNews)
Ford cars (via OSNews)