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With Acura's new generation of cabin tech, the TSX offers all the modern conveniences, including a fast and good-looking navigation system, and an audio system with excellent sound and all the audio sources you could ask for. The fact that Acura adds a wagon version for the TSX mix makes it an even more attractive tech cruiser.

Although the TSX Sport Wagon features a well-designed engine, it doesn't push the car into new realms of efficiency, nor does the five-speed automatic transmission. This old-school tech may not win any fuel economy awards, but it does make the TSX … Read more

There are dozens of products and apps that can route you from one place to another by car. Many of these apps will even take real-time traffic into account and adapt directions to avoid congestion. What none of them can do is tell you where you're most likely to actually find a parking place once you're at your destination. That's what Parking In Motion is for.

This mobile app, in its early stages now, is mostly a directory of parking lots and garages. Like GasBag, a database of gas stations and the prices they charge, Parking In Motion shows you how much you're going to pay for parking at various lots. Users can update the data if it's inaccurate. Great feature: the app has arrows to show where garage entrances are.

Ultimately, the app will do much more, according to co-founder Sam Friedman. First of all, it will show which lots or garages are full. This information can't come from users--it'd be too late to be useful. Parking In Motion is instead working with garage operators to collect this data on a broader scale. But first it might have to help operators actually get that data themselves.

Tighter integration with parking structure operators will eventually allow drivers to reserve spots and to pre-pay for them--possibly with a discount. This is where Parking In Motion will make its money, taking a percentage of those transactions.

The app will also, eventually, offer advice on street parking. It won't be able to direct you to a specific spot, unfortunately. Even though many cities are installing smart parking meters, the data collection is too slow to direct drivers to open spaces. Rather, Parking In Motion will collect data from users and meters and tell them which streets or areas are most likely to have open spots, and how long it will likely take to find them.

Down the line even further, Friedman has this vision: "Five years from now, you'll be able to get in your car, find parking on the street, and pay for it from within your car. And then if you're in a meeting and it's running over, you'll be able to re-up your meter from the conference table."

The company's flagship cities are Philadelphia and Santa Monica, Calif., where it has reservations and street parking data coming online. But it has garage data in about 300 cities, and the iPhone app is free and available in the App Store today.

It's a relationship business Building the consumer-facing services are almost trivial for this company. The real challenge is getting good data. To get information from parking lots and garages, Parking In Motion will need to establish relationships with owners--and possibly help them upgrade their IT so they can report open spot numbers in real time. To get street parking information, Parking In Motion will have to either get the parking meter companies (there are a half-dozen of them) to provide data after winning approval from cities, or it will have to file Freedom Of Information requests to get the public-owned data. And it will have to do this hundreds of times. … Read more

From the string of hybrids we've seen at CNET lately, the BMW ActiveHybrid 7, the Infiniti M35h, and the Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid, it's clear that you can do a lot more with the technology than get good mileage. Although all of these cars get better mileage than their conventional gas engine equivalents, they also get considerably more power. Forget the mild-mannered Prius, these hybrids are exciting.

Volkswagen's Touareg Hybrid makes use of a supercharged direct-injection engine and an electric motor to hit 60 mph in about 6 seconds. It also represents a new generation of Touareg, featuring … Read more

Lane Splitter is a fun distance game that challenges you to weave through traffic at high speed on a motorcycle. The graphics are crystal-clear on the iPhone 4, with well-detailed cars and interesting scenery as you blow by on your motorcycle. The idea is that you're late to your wedding, and you must speed through traffic wearing your tux in order to make it on time. The game uses the iPhone accelerometer for steering and touching the screen gives you a burst of speed that results in a wheelie and less control--perfect for getting out of the way when … Read more

At one time a tech powerhouse, neglect has let Acura's top sedan, the RL, fall behind its competition. Although its five-year-old tech is by no means bad, it hasn't taken advantage of some current advances. Its engine is solid, but doesn't exploit modern efficiency technologies, it still uses an old navigation system, and Acura has even given its other, less expensive sedans better tech updates.

Acura has made a few important updates, such as giving it iPod support and Bluetooth streaming as audio sources. A six-speed automatic transmission keeps the drivetrain from being completely moribund. And its … Read more

Last year, Infiniti released the M56x, its top sedan loaded with a big displacement V-8. That car offered the power one would expect from a luxury sedan, but the engine was caveman technology. This year, Infiniti shows it can do high-tech motive power equal to the level of tech in its cabins. The M35h hybrid couples Infiniti's tried and true V-6 with a next-generation hybrid power system using lithium ion batteries.

The M35h drives exceptionally well, running in EV mode over a wide range of speeds. The hybrid system boosts power substantially over that of the gas engine alone. … Read more

BMW established its 7-series as a tech powerhouse, so adding a hybrid system is like sprinkling a little extra crazy on top of Charlie Sheen. The 7-series already features a strong array of driver assistance features, such as a night vision system, a navigation system with lush topographic maps, and an audio system that produces superb sound and includes onboard music storage on the car's hard drive.

But with the ActiveHybrid 7, BMW also demonstrates that it can do a gas electric hybrid powertrain. Although the car gets the best fuel economy of the 7-series model line, it is hardly a fuel sipper. Rather, the hybrid powertrain makes it the second most powerful of BMW's 7-series models, right below the V-12 760i. More power and better fuel economy? That seems like a worthwhile addition.

Read our full review of the 2011 BMW ActiveHybrid 7. … Read more

If you're wondering why there's never enough time in the day, perhaps its because you've been spending a month each year sitting in traffic.

New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Pittsburg are home to the top-10 worst corridors for rush hour traffic, which isn't news for anyone who actually lives there. Traffic information provider INRIX has analyzed gridlock and traffic patterns in the U.S. for the past four years and keeps a scorecard of the most congested cities. Some unlucky souls spend an average of 4 work weeks stuck in traffic.

At the top of … Read more

For years, the Honda Civic has stood as the gold standard for small, fun-to-drive cars. Recently, however, C-segment competition has started to heat up, and Honda is facing some serious competition from the likes of Hyundai. Yes, Hyundai; don't laugh. We were recently given an opportunity to spend time behind the wheel of Hyundai's all-new compact sedan and we're now thoroughly convinced that Honda should definitely be afraid of the 2011 Elantra GLS.

Starting in the engine room, the Elantra is powered by a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that, at 148 horsepower and 131 pound-feet of torque, … Read more