Richard Read, Reporter
Articles
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In theory, new technology should make our lives easier. But as anyone with an overflowing email inbox or a dodgy wireless router can attest, tech can actually make things worse.
Nowhere is this...
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Are The Music Hard Drives In Your Car Illegal? (The Music Industry Says "Yes")The music industry ain't what it used to be. The days of dastardly contracts, ruthless chart dominance, and many, many dollars are gone, thanks to the internet and the industry's stubborn unwillingness to adapt to it. The only things that remain the same are (a) the music industry's greed and (b)...
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Peter Frampton Hit By Woman Breaking All The Rules (About Texting)Rock legend Peter Frampton is used to mixing it up with women, but not while stuck in traffic. (Well, not that we know of.) Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened yesterday, and today, Frampton's back and neck are paying the price. According to the musician's Twitter page, Frampton was in...
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Natalie Wood's Mercedes-Benz 300SL Heads To Amelia IslandMovie buffs traveling to this year's Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance will be in for a pleasant surprise: among all the classic rides on display will be Natalie Wood's Mercedes-Benz 300SL. The car will be one of several 300SLs on hand to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Mercedes-Benz's first Le...
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Find My Car Smart App Could Be The Errand-Runner's Best FriendLet's be honest: Bluetooth isn't the most beloved product on the market. As communications technologies go, it's a huge battery hog, it's notoriously buggy, any many folks would rather listen to radio static and miss calls than try to pair their phone with an in-dash system. However, a new version...
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After Two Years, Apple Pulls Fake Driver's License AppIf you heard the sound of a thousand distant screams yesterday, it wasn't an ebbing in The Force, it was the anguished moans of college freshmen, learning that Apple had pulled DriversEd.com's free "Driver's License" app from the company's App Store. In an instant, fake IDs became minimally more...
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Between 1963 and 1964, Jaguar produced a special racing version of its popular E-Type (known in the U.S. as the XK-E). Of the 12 "Lightweight E-Type" units manufactured, one was taken by E-Type...
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Audi Shows Off A Digital Interactive Roadway In Miami: VideoRegular readers might remember the solar-powered roadway proposed by a company called -- not so originally -- Solar Roadways. The gist was that LEDs embedded in the surface would allow for quick and easy updates to dividing lines, signage, and more. At the recent Design Miami showcase, Audi showed...
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Navigon Now Lets Users Download Maps One State At A TimeMillions of Americans are planning road trips this holiday week, and many of them will use navigation software to get them where they need to go -- whether that's over the river and through the woods or to the outlet mall. The Navigon MobileNavigator smartphone app recently made things simpler for...
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Ashton Kutcher Gives Demi Moore A Lexus, Divorce ImminentPeople put a lot of effort into saving troubled marriages. They see counselors, buy expensive gifts, take romantic vacations, have more kids. According to TMZ, Ashton Kutcher has tried at least one of those tactics to save his rocky marriage, but so far, Demi Moore ain't biting. If you've turned on...
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Google's Next Goal: 1,000,000 Miles In A Self-Driving CarGoogle is betting big on its autonomous car technology, but the company has a long road ahead of it before those cars reach the market. Google's next major goal? Seeing its self-driving cars travel 1,000,000 miles without driver intervention. Last time we heard from Google, the company was lobbying...
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2012 Buick LaCrosse, Regal, Verano Will Come With PandoraPandora has been on a roll the past few years. After a shaky period during which the company fought for the right to broadcast copyrighted material, Pandora roared back, becoming one of the first infotainment services to be featured on Ford's popular Sync system. Now, the company has developed a...
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We've reviewed a number of smartphone apps that read texts aloud to drivers -- apps like DriveSafe.ly, PhoneGuard, and SafeCell -- but we've seen very few text-to-speech applications from automakers...
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Google Maps Update Zooms From Satellite View To Street ViewGoogle Maps has become an indispensable tool for many travelers, offering highly detailed maps, complete with satellite imagery. Now, the service offers a new feature: seamless movement from Google Maps to its popular sibling, Street View. Once upon a time, if users wanted to use Street View, they...
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BMW microNavigation Offers New Tools For Getting Around: VideoAt this point in the game, satellite navigation is old hat. To really get attention, automakers have to up their game -- and that's exactly what BMW has done with its new microNavigation system prototype. The microNavigation unit works a lot like other satnavs, offering traffic data, suggesting...
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UPDATE: TomTom Ceases Production Of Top Gear-Branded UnitsEarlier this week, we told you about a new, Top Gear-branded satnav system from TomTom. Unfortunately, someone failed to clear the licensing of Jeremy Clarkson's voice with BBC's editorial staff, and now, TomTom has been forced to cease production of the devices. It's a classic problem of the left...
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Nissan Unveils 10-Minute Electric Car Charger, But It's Still 10 Years AwayThere are at least three obstacles standing between electric cars and mainstream drivers: range-anxiety, battery recharge times, and the fledgling charging infrastructure. The good news is, Nissan may be well on its way to eliminating one of the three. Working in partnership with Japan's Kansai...
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TomTom's Top Gear Edition Puts Jeremy Clarkson & The Stig On Your DashWe admit that we've been critical of TomTom, Garmin, and other aftermarket satnavs. After all, in the age of smartphones and factory-installed telematics systems, dashtop devices can seem as outdated as your grandmother's VCR. But you have to give them props for trying, and TomTom is trying very...
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Over the past few years, we've seen a number of startups offer ways for city-dwellers to give up their personal rides and make do with borrowing cars from time to time. Zipcar is perhaps the best...
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iPhone 4S Hitches Its Wagon To The 2012 Nissan LeafAs everyone knows by now, Apple did not launch the iPhone 5 at yesterday's press event. This was bad news for Apple (shares slid after the meet-up), bad news for iOS developers (iOS handsets have recently been losing ground to Android), and bad news for Apple's new CEO Tim Cook (who should've been...
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1957 Chevy From 'Pawn Stars' Catches Fire, Gets Restored Within HoursUnless you're a fan of the TV series Pawn Stars, you might've missed the news on Friday that a 1957 Chevy 150 sedan belonging to the "Old Man" overheated and burst into flames. But there's a follow-up piece that might interest you: the classic car was restored in just a matter of hours, and it's...
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Red Light Cameras, Speed Cameras, And Now...Tire Cameras?It's no secret that municipalities across the U.S. are strapped for cash, or that many of those places depend on high-tech hardware to put money in the city kitty. But a new camera system making its debut in Great Britain may cross the line by measuring tire treads. The device is called the...
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Streetline Inks Deal With IBM To Ease America's Parking WoesStart-ups aren't just judged by the sums of cash they've collected; they're also judged by the names and reputations of those investors. In the case of Streetline, the company recently upped its profile by landing a major deal with IBM, which could result in big improvements on the parking front...
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eBay Motors Debuts 'World's Fastest Car Show' With Justin BelleBay has had a tough go of it since former CEO Meg Whitman stepped down, but what change a week can bring: now, Whitman's been tapped to help the sinking ship known as HP, while eBay Motors has just launched an impressive new series for the web and mobile devices called "World's Fastest Car Show"...
Richard Read