safety

Ten years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. is still without a nationwide network that would let first responders from different agencies and jurisdictions communicate with each other over emergency radios.

In late August, the National Security Preparedness Group pointed to the lack of the national interoperable radio network recommended by the 9/11 Commission. And the commission itself recently issued a report card that expressed concern over communications capabilities.

One of the biggest problems immediately following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City was that firefighters and police were unable to … Read more

Hurricane Irene has come and gone, and despite widespread power losses up and down the Eastern U.S., wireless networks performed well.

Cell phone operators said they had been preparing for days for the hurricane, which hit North Carolina on Saturday and hugged the Atlantic coastline up to New York City where it turned into a tropical storm before making landfall early Sunday morning. The preparation paid off as all four major operators reported that their equipment for the most part held up well in the storm.

While some customers may have experienced some disruption, for the most part, the … Read more

Welcome to Car Tech Live, the show where the car tech guys take a moment to answer your email and voicemail... only today, that's not what we're doing at all. We've got a few products to showcase today and a preview of a showdown between tech giants... and of course, LOL Cars.

• LOLcars (photos)

Recently, we took a look at an app for Android that could help save your life. iOnRoad is a driver safety app that uses a combination of GPS data and augmented reality to monitor the road ahead for potential collisions. By warning distracted drivers that they're too close to the vehicle ahead, iOnRoad could save money on low-speed fender benders or save lives when speeds get higher. I hit the road with this app to see how it performs.

After downloading and installing the beta version of the app (version 0.99.5), I used a suction-cup cradle provided … Read more

I think that we can universally agree that fiddling with a smartphone while driving is a bad idea, but is fiddling with a phone attached to your steering wheel any safer? The makers of the Steer Safe universal hands-free kit would like you to think so, but I'm not sure that I agree.

The video and description that accompany the Steer Safe's KickStarter page say that the smartphone mounts to the user's steering wheel, putting the phone close by for easy hands-free calling, navigation, and whatever else you want to do while behind the wheel. It all … Read more

Many cars are equipped with crash avoidance technology, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says the Volvo's City Safety is the most effective at reducing low speed crashes.

By examining property damage liability claims, the IIHS determined drivers of Volvo XC60s outfitted with City Safety file 27 percent fewer at-fault driver claims than owners of comparable midsize SUVs without that technology. That means that XC60 owners are less likely to be involved in low-speed crashes in which they are at fault, namely rear-ending the car in front of them in traffic.

City Safety is standard feature on … Read more

For the third time in a week, hackers have released information pilfered from compromised online accounts of Arizona law enforcement officers.

Under the "AntiSec" umbrella, the combined Anonymous-LulzSec hacker group is targeting government agencies, financial institutions, and other high-profile targets. AntiSec first released e-mails, phone numbers, passwords, and other information belonging to the Arizona Department of Public Safety on June 23. The hackers said they are targeting the police organization to protest "racial-profiling anti-immigrant" policies, specifically SB1070, which makes it a crime to be in Arizona without documentation proving United States residency.

Earlier this week, AntiSec … Read more

Car Tech Live 221: Is the honeymoon over for hybrids? Ford puts Sync apps in more cars. New Volvos may brake for animals. And we drive the Kia Optima Hybrid. (podcast)

• CNET drives the Kia Optima Hybrid

• Volvo technology will brake for animals

• The worst cities for keeping your car are mostly in California

• In-car TV stumbles again

• CNET's LOLcars gallery!

A few months ago, Tessa Hulls ventured on a cross-country bike trip from San Diego to the East Coast after breaking up with her boyfriend. Hulls is still peddling away on her solo ride, but her family has, in a sense, joined her. She's attached a GPS locator to her pink and white bike and downloaded an iPhone app called Life360 so her family can see her location in real time, whenever they want to.

A couple of days ago, her brother Chris Hulls was curious about his sister's whereabouts, so he clicked on the Life360 app on his iPhone. She was in Connecticut.

Until now, subscribers needed an Android device or iPhone to use the mobile security service. Last week, however, Life360 opened up its service to non-smartphone users and customers subscribing to all carriers except MetroPCS, as a way to tap into a bigger market of consumers.

"For smartphones, we get your location through a mix of GPS, cell triangulation, and Wi-Fi data. We save that on our server and share it with your family members," said Chris Hulls, who also happens to be Life360's co-founder. "For non-smartphones, we do the same thing, but instead of getting the location from our app, we get it from the carriers directly." … Read more