in-car

I know a little about under-dash record players from the late 1960s, but I was totally clueless about 1950s car turntables, until I heard writer Paul Collins talking about them on WNYC's "Soundcheck" radio show a few weeks ago. I chatted with Collins to learn more about these groovy hi-fis.

Columbia Records developed the proprietary Highway Hi-Fi format: a thick 7-inch, 16 2/3rpm record that had up to one hour playing time per side. Chrysler executives jumped on the idea, and offered the turntable as an option in their 1956 models, and were hoping one out … Read more

Admittedly, there's a bit of embellishment in that headline. The Jabra Freeway is good, but perhaps not truly audiophile-quality. However, as visor-mount Bluetooth speakerphones go, the Jabra Freeway's audio quality is among the best that we've tested.

The Freeway is also one of the largest visor-mount Bluetooth speakerphones we've tested, but that's because in order to provide the big sound it does, the Freeway packs three speakers behind its fabric grille. The result is a stereo speakerphone that's good enough for listening to certain genres of music and sound that's full enough to … Read more

Smartphones do all sorts of amazing things that make them useful in a driving situation, but their interfaces usually aren't optimized for operation at 65 mph. The screens are too small, the buttons are too hard to hit at arm's length, and the design of their applications often requires a user's full attention to read messages or input queries for search. Making matters worse, touching a phone (even one in a cradle) is of questionable legality in many areas. Vlingo Voice with InCar for Android aims to address all of these issues in one application.

Vlingo Voice … Read more

Pioneer has been slowly adding iPhone app integration to its line of AVIC all-in-one receivers for the last two generations. First came PandoraLink, then Aha Radio and Motion-X GPS Drive in the latest generation. Today, Pioneer announced at an event in San Francisco that it's taking smartphone app integration to the next level with AppRadio: a standalone in-dash receiver that uses the iPhone and its apps as the primary source of for its audio and connectivity.

In a nutshell, AppRadio acts as a terminal, allowing users to interact with the apps and media stored on their smartphones, particularly Apple'… Read more

Wayne and Brian are kicking it Euro-style at the 2011 Geneva auto show, so Antuan Goodwin helms this episode of CNET Roadside Assistance, the show were the Car Tech guys take some time to respond to your queries and highlight your comments. This week, we about talk in-dash touchscreens, the fate of the portable navigation device, and an LOL Car contributor defends himself.

SAN FRANCISCO--By many estimates, texting while driving is unsafe, which explains why 30 states currently have laws on the books restricting the act. And yet data suggests that those laws do nothing to actually prevent users from testing while driving.

That's where Vlingo comes in. The service is aiming to keep users' hands on the wheel and eyes on the road with its new InCar feature for Android. The functionality, which will be available exclusively on Sprint handsets through the end of the year, adds a read-back feature for texts messages. So now you can not only speak texts … Read more

Ford drivers who like to talk to their cars might find the conversations a bit smoother with the automaker's next version of its Sync in-car system.

Teaming up with voice-dictation vendor Nuance, Ford announced on Thursday a series of new voice upgrades scheduled to debut with the next generation of its MyFord Touch Sync systems.

Available in the new 2011 Ford Edge, which hits dealers next month, the new Sync systems will allow drivers to more easily issue commands to their cars using natural phrases and a much wider vocabulary than in the current system, said Ford.

The new system will respond to more direct and shorter commands, such as "Call John Smith," "Find ice cream" and "Add a phone," Ford explained, helping drivers express themselves in fewer words. It will also understand more than 10,000 commands, up from only 100 in the first-generation Sync.

The voice of the system, Samantha, has a better "ear," to more accurately recognize speech and will speak back in a smoother, more natural voice.

Together, Ford and Nuance beefed up the Sync's speech engine to add a larger dictionary of possible driver commands, said the automaker. Samantha's new vocabulary lets her listen to and react to voice commands more directly, pick up on different words that mean the same thing, and understand names of local businesses and points of interest.

"With this latest generation of Sync, users can control the system without having to learn nearly as many commands or navigate as many menus," Brigitte Richardson, Ford global voice control technology and speech systems lead engineer, said in a statement. "As we've gained processing power and learned more about how drivers use the system, we've been able to refine the interface. Customers can do more and say more from the top-level menu, helping them accomplish their tasks more quickly and efficiently."

Ford is also touting the new system as a way to improve safety.… Read more

A group of students at the University of Michigan may have given us a glimpse at the next generation of in-car software.

Six teams of students at the Ann Arbor, Mich., university recently developed a series of applications designed to help drivers traveling in a convoy, looking for improved fuel economy, connecting with car-pool passengers, and other activities. Offered as a 12-week research course called "Cloud Computing in the Commute," the class project forced students to think beyond today's GPS software by creating cloud-based apps to assist people behind the wheel.

Students were encouraged to incorporate Internet … Read more

Volvo's got a new infotainment system to keep the kids (or adults) busy in the back seat.

The automaker said its 2010 Volvo XC70 vehicle will make its entrance at the Chicago Auto Show Thursday with a new rear-seat entertainment system. Sporting Windows XP, Wi-Fi, and a 500GB hard drive, the RSEi-500 system will let backseat passengers surf the Web, check e-mail, listen to music, and watch TV and movies.

To view content, passengers can wirelessly connect to the in-car system from their personal PCs to transfer video, audio, and other files. While on the road, people can plug … Read more