Apps
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For many of us, the thought of motoring through the backroads and byways of Europe sounds like a dream vacation, but such trips come with their share of challenges -- namely, unfamiliar roads, signs in foreign languages, and, like anywhere, rush hour traffic. (Hey, someone's gotta keep punching the clock.) Now, Google has come to the rescue. It's no secret that Google Street View has been heavily criticized by privacy advocates, but its big sister, Google Maps has been widely lauded by travelers. Available on a range of smartphone operating systems -- not to mention most browsers on laptops...
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Pandora Internet Radio Expands Relationship With Ford, Scion
Pandora Internet radio is rapidly expanding their presence in the automotive segment, where nearly fifty-percent of radio "consumption" happens. Pandora solutions are now available from automakers and the aftermarket alike.
Kurt Ernst -
Roadside America App Ensures Weirdness At Your Fingertips
The Roadside America app for iPhone will guide you to the obscure and bizarre along your travels. It's the perfect app for summer road trip season.
Kurt Ernst -
GMC Brings Its Showroom To The Smartphone
According to Nielsen, Americans are finally shifting to smartphones: 38% of mobile users already have one, and the majority of those shopping for new handsets are planning to purchase one in the near future. General Motors is hoping to cash in on that development with its new GMC Showroom App. Like...
Richard Read -
Mercedes To Answer BMW With Own Apps Store?
Mercedes-Benz could be planning a system of apps, and a store to distribute them, much like rival German luxury marque BMW.
Nelson Ireson -
Al Franken's New Bill Guards Your Privacy On The Mobile Web
Privacy has long been a serious issue on the web. Now, a new bill authored by Senator Al Franken wants to address some of those concerns -- and from where we sit, it's arrived just in the nick of time. In the early days of Web 1.0, long before the rise of social networking, privacy concerns...
Richard Read -
Drunk drivers who think they can evade the law by looking to certain smartphone apps might suddenly find a roadblock after all. Apple has followed up its big iCloud news earlier this week with some revised guidelines for its App Store—and one of the most noteworthy changes is a crackdown on apps that make it potentially easier to avoid police DUI checkpoints and drive drunk. Perhaps bowing to pressure from a number of organizations, along with a group of four U.S. Senators, the Silicon Valley company has now clarifies, "Apps which contain DUI checkpoints that are not published by law...
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Volvo Launches Beefed-Up 'Volvo On Call' App For iPhone, Android In Europe
Volvo was one of several auto brands cast off from its parent company during the recent recession. The majority of those marques were shuttered (e.g. HUMMER, Pontiac, Saturn), and one -- Saab -- is struggling to keep the doors open. Volvo, however, has managed to stay the course, and a new app...
Richard Read -
iOnRoad App Brings Collision-Avoidance To Your Smartphone: Video
If you're in the market for a new vehicle, you might be tempted to go for something with high-tech safety features, like a collision-avoidance system. At the moment, though, most of that technology is tied to luxury rides or comes as pricey add-ons. But if you've got an Android smartphone, a new...
Richard Read -
Memorial Day: 6 Apps For Your 3-Day Weekend
If you're one of our U.S. readers, you're probably (well, hopefully) preparing for a three-day weekend. And although gas prices are sky high, chances are good that many of you are planning road trips over the Memorial Day holiday. If you're in that number, we'd like to suggest a few apps that'll...
Richard Read -
2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS Accessorizes With Apple iPad App
Automotive apps are all the rage, but it's a special kind of car that gets an app all to itself. The luxury 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class four-door coupe is just such a car, and a free app available through the Apple App Store allows owners and potential owners to access information about the car...
Antony Ingram -
2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class Gets Its Own Apple iPad App
Mercedes-Benz is the latest in a growing list of luxury automakers releasing new apps for the Apple iPad, a connected executive’s latest must-have and something that’s increasingly becoming an intriguing accessory for cars, especially in marketing them. This isn’t the first time...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
For those who can't get enough of chatting to strangers in traffic, the experience can now be enjoyed more widely than ever with BUMP.com's acquisition of BumpChat. The 'social network for your car' allows you to contact other drivers and chat to your heart's content, all the while fine-tuning the criteria you use to find other drivers by. The app lets you select how far away you'd like to speak to others - whether in the same traffic queue as you or several miles away - or by a specific make, model and year of car, allowing you to keep in touch with other like-minded drivers. Simpler options...
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Ford Sync Could Soon Monitor Your Blood Pressure, Too
Ford's popular Sync telematics system offers an array of great features, like entertainment, navigation, and diagnostics. Now, the automaker's tech team are wondering if they might extend diagnostics to evaluate the health of drivers themselves. Developers at Ford have begun working with WellDoc, a...
Richard Read -
Road Ahead App May Be The Road Tripper's Best Friend
If you’re like us, you have a passion for road trips and a serious preference for certain brands of food, gasoline and coffee. If you own an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, a new application may be just the thing to turn road trip frustration into road trip bliss. Called RoadAhead, the app will...
Kurt Ernst -
The eBay Motors App Arrives At Last, But Can It Save The Day?
We expected the eBay Motors app to arrive in March, but it missed that deadline by a couple of months. Now that it's finally arrived, can the app redeem itself by preserving eBay's standing as a worthwhile shopping destination? There's no denying that eBay has lost luster over the past few years...
Richard Read -
Senators Push Apple, Google To Nix DUI Apps -- But Does It Matter?
In March, we told you that four U.S. Senators had pushed Apple, Google, and Research In Motion (creators of the Blackberry) to remove apps that revealed the location of DUI checkpoints. At the time, RIM was the only provider that agreed to do so, but now Apple and Google have indicated that they...
Richard Read -
Audi Launches Roadside Assistance App For Smartphone Users
Just a few weeks ago Infiniti launched a new roadside assistance app for users of the Apple iPhone, and before that we saw MINI launch its own version, while Mercedes-Benz has had its mbrace assistance feature for what seems like forever. Now Audi is joining the fray with its own free roadside...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Audi's newest product offering comes to owners of the Apple iPhone, as well as BlackBerry and Android devices, in the form of the Audi Roadside Assistance app. The free app delivers some emergency and concierge services to users' phones--everything from locating dealers to connecting with the nearest service center for repairs. Using the phone's GPS services and VIN information registered on first sign-in, the app can pinpoint who's trying to reach Audi's third-party service provider, and where they'll be needing a helping hand. Once the app's downloaded from iTunes, or the BlackBerry...
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Homer Simpson Squeezes Into TomTom's App For iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
Given the vast number of free navigation apps available for Apple, Android, Blackberry, and Windows handsets, we've been more than a little skeptical about the future of satnav makers like Garmin and TomTom. After all, why should consumers shell out for a fairly limited piece of hardware when they...
Richard Read -
Tired Of eBay, Craigslist? Sell Your Car With Copart App
Online car sales sites have transformed the way we buy and sell cars. Whether you're selling to the highest bidder on an online auction site or setting your price and waiting for the calls on sites like Autotrader, you can not only add far more photos and details than ever before but reach a...
Antony Ingram -
Uh-Oh: State Farm Is Watching (And Rating) Your Driving, Too
Remember Progressive's Snapshot program? Sign up, and the agency sends you a device that plugs into your car's onboard diagnostic port and lets Progressive know how safely you're driving. Score well, and your auto insurance rate could plummet. Score poorly, and your rate might go up. Now State Farm...
Richard Read -
Planning A Road Trip? Make It 'Appen With These Mobile Apps
In the good old days all you needed for a road trip was a car, some buddies, and a sense of adventure. Even a map was optional. These days you can have it so much easier with the latest downloadable apps at your fingertips telling you everything from where to sleep to providing your tunes. Here is...
Antony Ingram -
2011 BMW Vehicles Get Pandora Streaming App
Cars were one of the original homes of the mobile phone, and as technology has advanced, their integration has become ever closer. Today, BMW announced integration of Pandora streaming Internet radio service in all 2011 model-year cars equipped with the BMW Apps option, bringing the integration to...
Nelson Ireson