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Cars for your iPod

More automakers are offering iPod integration in their models, sometimes as a standard feature. With this type of integration, you can bring your iPod into the car, leave it in the glovebox or console, and access all of your music through the car's stereo interface, listening to your tunes through a full audio system. You can select your music by artist, album, genre, and playlist just as you would on your iPod. And the number of automakers offering this integration varies widely.

Of course there are BMW and Infiniti, but would you believe Ford and Hyundai, too? Take a … Read more

80: Driving (and savoring) the BMW M6!

Ford doubles down on hands free tech ... Nissan cars to self-steer out of danger ... The first car with THX 5.1 ... and a rip snorting tear in the BMW M6. Listen now: Download today's podcast SHOW NOTES

Maserati Gran Turismo Review

Nissan cars may soon brake to keep you out of trouble

New Alpine GPS device looks like all the rest

Edmunds finds U.S. fascination with fuel efficient cars may be short-lived.

Microsoft adds Live Search to its automotive platform

Anticipating an era when cars connect to the Internet, Microsoft is adding the capability to connect to its Live Search service to its automotive offerings, composed of Microsoft Auto and Windows Automotive. Microsoft Auto is the software behind Ford's Sync system, while Windows Automotive powers some portable navigation devices and some factory-installed navigation systems. Although Microsoft's announcement won't have an immediate impact on products, the tools will be there for companies such as Ford to build a search function into the in-car interfaces, possibly tailoring it to provide greater flexibility when searching for destinations, as opposed to today's fixed points-of-interest databases.… Read more

MPG now! Automakers race to boost efficiency

DETROIT -- During the 18 months he worked on a new version of the Chevrolet Cobalt, Mike Danowski saw consumer tastes change before his very eyes.

When he started, studies showed that styling was the No. 1 reason people bought Cobalts. By the time the vehicle rolled out, fuel economy had leapt to the top of the list, the Cobalt XFE project manager says.

The Cobalt team's timing couldn't have been better.

A combination of revised gear ratios, engine recalibration, and low-rolling-resistance tires improved highway fuel economy 9 percent, from 33 miles per gallon in highway driving for … Read more

Ford shows off 76 mpg Fiesta

Working hard to improve fuel economy, Ford showed off one result of its efforts at the British International auto show this week. The Ford Fiesta Econetic uses a 1.6-liter turbo diesel engine that gives it a combined fuel economy, under the EU test cycle, of 76.3 mpg.

Along with the diesel engine, the Fiesta Econetic has other tricks up its wheel well to achieve this fuel economy. Ford made aerodynamic changes to the standard Fiesta, such as adding rear air deflectors, lowering the suspensions, and putting the car on low rolling resistance tires. The engine uses low friction … Read more

Photos: 2009 Ford Flex

At the grand opening for the San Francisco Ford-Mercury-Lincoln dealership, we got a close look at the new Ford Flex. This big wagon offers retro styling, something that made the new Ford Mustang so popular. But the Flex doesn't share the same kind of heritage, making its success less of a sure thing. The Flex goes on sale this summer.

Click here for photos of the 2009 Ford Flex.

Car Tech in the U.K.

Just like the Web, CNET is a world wide company, with local offices that cater to their own countries. We just did some catching up with our colleagues across the pond, and thought we would post links to all of their Car Tech videos. Watch host Rory Reid drive a set of cars where the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

Smart ED electric ninja-mobile

Ford Focus 'Facelift' and the haunted sat-nav

Jaguar XKR Portfolio drives by itself! Fast

Ford Focus CC-3 voice-controlled car-bot

Peugeot 308 shows even diesels can rock

Peugeot 207 GTi THP 175 Octane white-hot hatch … Read more

News.com Daily Podcast: Restoring an American film classic

Amazon.com suffers an outage, and Warner Bros. gives a digital makeover to The Godfather. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Six years ago, Warner Bros. developed digital technologies to make copies of damaged or decaying film negatives and return the movies to their original viewing quality. But the latest project came with added pressure: director Francis Ford Coppola looking over technicians' shoulders as they digitally remastered his masterwork, The Godfather. CNET News.com's Greg Sandoval tells intern Holly Jackson the story of the painstaking restoration process.

Also in today's podcast: Carl Icahn names his price for Yahoo; … Read more

Daily Debrief: Warner Bros.' film restoration technology

This fall, film enthusiasts will have the opportunity to watch an American classic like they've never seen it before. The Godfather trilogy has recently been digitally remastered to look cleaner, brighter, and as as fresh as its original release in 1972.

In Friday's Daily Debrief, I chat with CNET News.com's executive editor, Jim Kerstetter, who also happens to be the office film buff. He explains the painstaking process of the digital facelift and why the preservation of such classics is important for posterity. Also, hear what kind of directives director Francis Ford Coppola gave the technicians … Read more