aha

LAS VEGAS--At the start of Ford's press conference at CES 2013, Wired published a story saying the automaker would offer up its Sync AppLink technology for free to the competition. Doug VanDagens, Ford's director of connected services, who spoke during the press conference, is quoted by Wired, confirming the story.

Sync AppLink is Ford's name for the technology that supports app integration in its cars. It lets a driver load an app on a smartphone, then control it through the car's voice command and dashboard buttons, while listening to the audio output through the car's … Read more

LAS VEGAS--One of the most successful services at CES 2013 would seem to be Aha, which added Porsche, Ford, and Chrysler as partners. Harman, Aha's parent company, boasts the service will be available in cars from more than 10 automakers.

Aha offers 30,000 Internet-based stations in its lineup, from music to podcasts to news. It includes audio-based location search services for restaurants and coffee shops. Users can listen to Facebook and Twitter updates from their personal accounts. Aha is also available through the Aha Radio app for iOS and Android.

Ford has added Aha to its roster of … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We're not what you'd call fans of FM transmission technology, but Griffin's iTrip with app integration for Apple's iPhone is easily one of the best in that class. At CES 2013, Griffin and Harman announced Aha app integration with the iTrip Auto FM hardware.

Aha provides a way to to listen to your Facebook and Twitter feeds, audiobooks, podcasts, news, and other audio content -- Harman claims more than 30,000 stations are accessible by the app, with new stations being added constantly.

Now, in addition to using the iTrip app to scan for open … Read more

At this year's CES, Harman International's Aha announced a partnership with Honda. Today Honda hosted a conference showing how that partnership would play out with a new service called HondaLink. This new connected service will let drivers listen to a variety of Internet-based stations, featuring everything from Slacker radio to Yelp listings of nearby restaurants.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Remember when Aha Radio's claim to fame was robotic text-to-speech reading of Facebook status updates? You've come a long way, baby.

At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, Aha by Harman announced a handful of new content and hardware partners, the ranks of which include Subaru, Honda, and Kenwood.

The two automotive partners, Subaru and Honda, will be building Aha Radio connectivity into their vehicle's infotainment systems for the 2013 model year--which means we should start seeing the fruits of this union as early as this fall. After pairing a smartphone running the Aha Radio app, drivers … Read more

At the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Harman International demonstrated Aha app integration it developed for Ferrari. It's a big-name client for a little-known product, and may herald future Aha implementation with other automakers.

Aha gave CNET an exclusive look at the implementation ahead of the Frankfurt auto show.

Using an iPhone running the Aha app and connected to the Ferrari head unit, a number of cloud-based services became available, such as Slacker, Yelp, Twitter, and traffic reports. If you touch the Aha tab on the head unit's audio screen, the list of services appears in a vertical … Read more

This week, our Frankfurt auto show preview. Volkswagen finds the only direction is up, Land Rover ends tea time to update a 25 year old model, and Yo-Auto redesigns the car door.

• Aha Radio and Slacker join forces to add beats to your tweets

• Volkswagen to showcase Up at Frankfurt auto show

• Land Rover concept heralds Defender update

• Infiniti mystery concept for Frankfurt

• New Porsche 911 shows up with seven-speed manual

We've seen cars with smartphone app integration. We've even seen car stereos with apps. Now, we have an app within another app. Aha by Harman and Slacker have just inked a deal to roll some of the functionality of the Slacker Personal Radio app into the Aha Radio app for iPhone (and from the looks of the supplied photo, an upcoming Android version). If the "Inception"-esque concept of having Internet radio inside your Internet radio doesn't make you feel like the universe is about to implode, read on.

Aha Radio is a content delivery … Read more

Smartphones offer many useful apps for drivers, but these very same apps can be a distraction. Harman steps in with an app designed to make smartphone functions safer to use in the car. The free Aha Radio app, which is limited to the iPhone, monitors traffic, Twitter, Facebook, and plays podcasts.

Design

One key element of the Aha Radio app to make it driver-friendly are the large buttons for each function. Although the user can add podcasts, Aha stations, and Twitter feeds to the app, it only allows four buttons per screen. Moving from screen to screen requires a sideways … Read more