Richard Read, Reporter
Articles
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Ford was one of the big guns behind last week's TechCrunch Disrupt. The automaker was central to a number of tech developments there, including an unofficial merger between Spotify and the SYNC...
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Car Accident Sidekick App Claims To Find Nearby Ambulance-Chasers
Ads from ambulance-chasers make life worth living. Many are so outrageous, so ridiculous, so covered in schmaltz that viewers can't help but smile. But the times they are a-changin': a new app for accident victims could make such cheesy TV spots obsolete. The app is called "Car Accident Sidekick"...
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2011 Toyota Corolla Fans Love Virtual Pop Star Hatsune Miku
If you've never heard of pop star Hatsune Miku, don't worry. Most of her work is in Japanese. And she's only four years old. And of course, she's not real. Miku is a virtual celebrity, created in 2007 as part of a music software package called Vocaloid. (Basically, she's apotheosis of AutoTune: a...
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2011 Frankfurt Auto Show: Nokia Merges Cars & Cell Phones
Last spring, we told you about Terminal Mode, a new protocol being pushed by GM, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, and other automakers, as well as handset manufacturer Nokia. Terminal Mode (now known as MirrorLink) promises to make smartphone integration in cars much easier, and during this...
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Hack Your Own Car! (No, Really, Ford Says It's Okay)
Maybe it has something to do with the start of the auto show season. Or maybe it's because we're fast approaching the 30-year anniversary of War Games. But whatever the reason, the subject of hacking is clearly a hot topic in car circles. Last week, you might recall that MacAfee issued an alarming...
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Ford SYNC Hacked To Incorporate Spotify: More Of That, Please
Last week, a certain alarmist antivirus software manufacturer made headlines when it tried to raise concerns about the hacking of on-board computers in automobiles. In contrast, folks at the TechCrunch Hackathon calmly demonstrated some much more viable -- and interesting -- tweaks to the Ford SYNC...
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The breathalyzer -- technically a brand name that, like Jello, Xerox, and Dumpster has gradually become genericized -- was invented in the early 20th century for police purposes. But scientists have...
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Win A 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 In Pennzoil Sweepstakes
Are you feeling lucky? If so, you should zip over to Pennzoil's "Join the Pursuit" sweepstakes page, where you can enter to win a very special 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 392, inspired by Penske Racing. "Join the Pursuit" is a marketing campaign that celebrates the partnership between Pennzoil and...
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Become A Virtual Lee Iacocca In New 'Automation' Video Game
Ever wanted to lead a car company? Ever looked at rows upon rows of sedans in a parking lot and said to yourself, "If I were in charge, I'd do things differently!"? A new videogame called Automation is about to let you put your virtual money where your real-world mouth is. On the pre-order website...
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2012 Jeep Wrangler Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Edition
If you're the sort of person who's into off-roading and first-person shooters, you'd better sit down, because Jeep is about to blow your mind. This November, the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 special edition will roll into showrooms across the country. Actually, if you've been...
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Auctions: Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang & The Panthermobile
If you've got a passion for movie cars and a bank account that's in the black, you might be interested in a handful of auctions taking place this week and next. On the blocks: replicas of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Batmobile, plus the original -- and only -- Pink Panther "Panthermobile". You...
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SiriusXM Offers 2 Free Weeks To Lapsed Subscribers
The Great Recession forced many people to rein in household spending. Among the easiest cutbacks to make? Subscriptions to cable channels, magazines, and other infotainment services. Now that the economy is on the mend (this week, anyway), many of those services are working overtime to woo former...
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Stopping is inefficient. When a vehicle comes to a complete stop, it wastes energy, frittering away gas while idling, and consuming even more to get moving again. This is in part why we're seeing...
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Google Street View Rolls Into Israel (With Restrictions)
Google Street View -- like its big sisters, Google Maps and Google Earth -- is a great service that has changed the way we view the world, but it's taken a lot of heat, too, especially from privacy advocates. Now, Street View cars are making their first forays into Israel, but they'll be rolling...
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Garmin's Big News Is...Updated GPS Units
Late last week, Garmin rolled out a teaser campaign for something to be unveiled on August 24th. Assuming that Garmin is a forward-thinking manufacturer of high-tech gadgets, we imagined that the company might roll out an Android app (finally) or perhaps a telematics service to compete with OnStar...
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Ford, Toyota Team Up On Telematics: What's It Mean For You?
Automotive heavyweights Ford and Toyota joined forces yesterday to make a very interesting announcement. Toyota's executive vice president for research and development, Takeshi Uchiyamada, appeared with Ford's group vice president for global product development, Derrick Kuzak, to say that the...
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Google Maps Predicts Rain And Shine With New Weather Layer
If you're trying to squeeze in one more vacation before summer comes to a screeching halt, you might want to crack open Google Maps. You already know that the service can plan your travel route, but now, Google Maps can help you pack, too, by giving you weather forecasts for your target...
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Taps For TomTom: The Standalone GPS Unit Is Dead
The lightbulb killed the gas lamp. The DVD killed the VHS tape. And now, the world is preparing for the death of another invention past its prime: the standalone GPS device. We've been expecting this funeral for some time. Google Maps' debut on smartphones was a bad omen, and each new travel app...
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Regular readers will remember Zimride, the carpooling service that works like a social network, matching needy commuters with altruistic drivers. Until recently, Zimride had been a private service,...
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Garmin Launches Cryptic Teaser Campaign, We Unravel It
Garmin has launched a new teaser campaign via email and Facebook, and because it's a slow news day, our crack team of marketing specialists has decided to take some guesses at what all the fuss is about. So far, it appears that Garmin's campaign has two components: an email containing an image that...
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We Were Right To Be Dubious: HP Effectively Shuts Down WebOS
On Tuesday, we wrote about Hewlett-Packard and about how some at the company were hinting that HP's mobile operating system, webOS, would soon come to dashboards. We expressed a heavy dose of doubt about that -- and it turns out that we were right to raise an eyebrow. Today, HP indicated that it...
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Bugatti Galibier's Price Will Be 'Extraordinary', If It Arrives
If you were hoping to score the upcoming Bugatti Galibier on a bargain basement budget, think again: head honcho Wolfgang Durheimer says that the Galibier's pricetag will be "extraordinary". That's about as specific as Durheimer will get at this point, roughly two years before the Veyron...
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HP Wants To Bring WebOS To Your Dashboard (UPDATED)
UPDATED: Click here. Remember webOS? We don't hear much about Hewlett-Packard's mobile operating system these days -- mostly because it's busy being overshadowed by Android, Apple, Blackberry, and even Windows (now that Microsoft inked a sweet deal with Nokia). But webOS is alive and quietly...
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BMW Shows Off Its V2V Technology With 5 New Videos
Back in May, we told you about new technology from BMW aimed at making left turns safer. Now, the company has uploaded a handful of videos showing that technology in motion, as well as other developments that could eventually make your commute more worry-free. All five of the tech developments...
Richard Read