Mobile App
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If you're the sort of person who's tempted to take calls while driving -- or worse, answer text messages -- there are dozens of apps to help curb your addition. Now, Sprint is making the process even easier by pre-installing the Drive First app on every Android phone. Drive First works like many other anti-distracted-driving apps we've seen, including PhoneGuard, SafeCell, and DriveSafe.ly. When the phone's accelerometer registers a certain speed (usually around 10 mph), it automatically shuts off most features: incoming calls are sent straight to voicemail; text-message alerts are turned off...
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GM, Honda, And Others Launch Car Connectivity Consortium To Set Standards For In-Car AppsNew technology is exciting, but like most exciting things it's also fraught with peril -- and that's doubly true for developers. Think of all the tsoris caused by the great VHS vs. Beta battles of the 1980s, or the far more recent Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war, both of which cost manufacturers billions of...
Richard Read -
Packing For SXSW? Grab These Two Apps For Motoring Around Town
Back in the late-mid-80s, South By Southwest was a humble music festival. Then someone -- possibly Al Gore -- invented the internet, Austin became a second Silicon Valley, and today, SXSW (as it's now known) is a jumble of music, film, and interactive technology. For the traveler, SXSW is also a...
Richard Read -
Video: Mercedes-Benz mbrace Locates Friends With Text Messages
When we first heard about Mercedes-Benz's new Send2Benz service, we were slightly underwhelmed: sending a destination to your car's navigation system? That seems so 2009. A number of automakers -- including GM -- already offer similar services that facilitate communications between smartphones...
Richard Read -
Watch: 2012 Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid Comes With A Smartphone App
Just yesterday, our colleagues at All Cars Electric gave readers a sneak-peek of the 2012 Volvo V60 plug-in hybrid, an intriguing new wagon that promises to earn up to 745 miles on a fully charged battery and a full tank of diesel. But of course, no high tech ride would be complete without the...
Richard Read -
Dodge Debuts Owner Apps On Android, Blackberry, And iPhone
Smartphones have moved one step closer to controlling our lives: Dodge recently announced that it has launched owner's manual apps on the Android, Blackberry, and iPhone platforms. The apps offer a range of features that supplement and enhance the existing hard-copy manuals and DVDs that come with...
Richard Read -
Over 3 million of today's smartphone users use telematics apps -- apps ranging from navigational services like Waze to streaming music players like the now-ubiquitous Pandora. That figure is expected to rise dramatically over the next five years; in fact, ABI Research estimates that by 2016, it will hit 129 million. So, what does that mean for automakers and their own telematics systems? We've written a good bit about the in-dash offerings from car companies like Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Hyundai. Ford seems to be leading the telematics pack with MyFord Touch, which has become...
