In-car entertainment

Ego trip: Raytel debuts new lineup at SEMA

One of the newcomers to this year's SEMA show is Raytel, a subsidiary of German company Funkwerk, which is using the event to launch five new products: The Ego Drive, Ego Talk, Ego Flash Ego Look, and Ego Cup.

Ego Drive, the flagship product in the lineup, is a combined portable and dockable GPS navigation and multimedia device with a wireless rotary remote control. The device features a 4.3-inch color touch screen with 3D map view, and it comes with text-to-speech functionality to read out road names during turn-by-turn route guidance. For multimedia, the Ego Drive supports MP3 … Read more

Ferrari's media system takes second lap

Whether it's binoculars or Segways, Ferrari is a company that knows marketing. So to generate more interest in the Meridian F80 portable media system debuted earlier this year, it is relying on a standard branding practice: introducing new colors.

In addition to the lacquer finishes shown before--we were particularly fond of the yellow--Ferrari is introducing two special editions: The "Rubino Micallizzato" (red) and the "Grigio Silverstone" (graphite). They'll have the same features, according to Newlaunches, including a CD/DVD player, digital radio and 80-watt speakers. And don't worry, the price hasn't changed … Read more

Flashy: Kenwood KDC-X991

Built-in storage is all the rage among carmakers and stereo manufacturers these days, and Kenwood is no exception. The vendor is using SEMA 2007 to show off its KDC-X991, which, in addition to its support for a range of digital-age audio formats (MP3, WMA, USB), comes with 512MB of internal flash memory--roughly enough for 30 albums' worth of music.

Drivers can rip CDs to the memory as they listen or import digital audio files via the stereo's USB port. A color fluorescent display and a novel jog dial controller let users navigate folders and files using an intuitive rotary … Read more

Sanyo's GPS-TV combo for the car

As more people insist on having a TV while they drive, the following scenario is inevitable: A motorist is watching a big game or show in the car, pulls up to the driveway at a crucial point and sits inside for fear of missing anything. Sanyo has apparently anticipated that kind of conundrum with a new dashboard GPS device that doubles as a portable TV.

The "Gorilla" series--we have no idea what inspired the name either, other than maybe Godzilla--is touted as the first device of its kind with a terrestrial digital tuner, making it easy to pick … Read more

Photos: Hands-on with the Porsche phone

Porsche Design's mobile phone isn't just a piece of rubbish with a Porsche logo on it--it is in fact a rather nifty clamshell handset.

Crafted out of sturdy aluminium and mineral glass, the Porsche P'9521 isn't for the faint-hearted, weighing 137g and measuring a somewhat chunky 47mm wide, 90mm tall and 18mm deep.

Inside, this phone packs enough features to scare off any other car-inspired phones--including a fingerprint reader, which doubles up as touch-sensitive scroll interface for navigating through the menu or your pictures.

On the back, the Porsche P'9521 sports a 3.2-megapixel camera … Read more

Review: Blaupunkt Velocity 2Go

As a powered subwoofer for your car, the Blaupunkt Velocity 2Go installs easily and delivers a reasonably powerful bass thump. But this sub gives you more bang for your buck in that it works as a semiportable speaker system for an iPod or other MP3 player. In the latter incarnation, it adds pairs of 6 1/2-inch woofers and 1-inch tweeters to its subwoofer output.

Read the review

The LCD's circle of life

If razor-thin OLED screens do eventually supplant LCDs as some predict, there may still be hope for liquid-crystal display technology--in a new shape.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology has created a circle-shaped LCD that could be used for digital instruments in cars, according to Fareastgizmos. Why a circle? Because it can fit in certain parts of the dashboard better than cornered shapes, as well as particular design styles. (Think speedometers, tachometers and such.)

Besides, it's a much more dignified fate than resorting to a gimmicky engagement ring box.

Driving It: Implications of the Internet-connected car

Someday soon, cars will be rolling Internet access points. Different technologies that exist today could make it happen, such as an iPhone-like connection that picks up Wi-Fi when in range of a hotspot, then switches over to a cellular network when necessary. Or it could be through WiMax, a solution I've heard mentioned by automotive parts suppliers. There are a lot of obvious benefits, such as keeping navigation system maps and points of interest up to date, or having cars serve as traffic probes, reporting to a central database where traffic is slowed or stopped.

But what about the … Read more

Clarion puts a little color in the dash

Even in the face of monumental change in the automotive industry, it's amazing how conservative automakers can be sometimes. While they've focused increasingly on electronics and entertainment systems to differentiate their products, built-in stereo receivers still look pretty much the same as they have for the last decade.

Not the latest line from Clarion. The car electronics veteran is in some ways breaking its own mold with boxes that look more appropriate in the kitchen than the dashboard. Not only are they departing from the standard black and silver, as is made plain by the photos on Akihabara … Read more