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Archive for the 'Car tech' Category

Review: Delphi’s live traffic kit

May 1st, 2007, 1:02 pm by

**UPDATE: Lots of feedback on this one. Read the “What’s with the photo?” post and the post where readers review their own GPS traffic gadgets. **

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It wasn’t pretty.

I set out with a new toy, the Delphi NAV200 system, plugged into a live traffic feed and hit the 405. I was confident that this new traffic service would help me avoid accidents, jams and, at minimum, highway slowdowns. While some reviewers may have had better luck with the $200 traffic kit (service is good for life, by the way), I found myself stuck in traffic, riding the brakes and unhappy that Delphi’s traffic kit did not reroute me. Read my full review HERE.

A few afterthoughts: The $300-ish NAV200 system by itself worked fine for the most part. While it did freeze up occasionally — and only when it was receiving live traffic information — it prioritizes activities and never lost my location. That’s a big plus. I definitely can’t say that for my 4-year-old portable GPS, which freezes often and requires unplugging to reboot. Still, this review wasn’t about the GPS itself, but the traffic kit, which was rarely helpful and possibly more of a distraction for the passenger. It isn’t worth the extra $200 to me.

**UPDATE: Lots of feedback on this one. Read the “What’s with the photo?” post and the post where readers review their own GPS traffic gadgets. **

Toshiba dominates auto market

February 27th, 2007, 1:11 pm by

toshibahddauto.jpgFor those keeping track, Toshiba is still the leader in supplying hard disk drives to the auto market with a whopping 85 percent of the market, so says Techno Systems Research, a Japanese market research firm.

Toshiba Storage Device Division in Irvine liked the stat so much, it cited Techno’s research in its press release today announcing that it shipped its 5-millionth drive to the auto industry. Automotive-grade hard drives are much more rugged than the ones inside personal computers. They, after all, must operate in freezing and sweltering temperatures, plus handle the twists, turns and bumps in the road. Currently shipping are 30 GB and 40 GB drives that operate in temps from -30

My latest gadget: a Prius!

January 22nd, 2007, 6:09 am by

blackprius.jpg

I went into the Toyota dealer to look at the Yaris and Scions and left with a Prius, a shiny black one. I love it! I love the push-to-start button, the constant miles-per-gallon monitor, the quiet engine when it runs on battery. prius_miles.jpg

Of course, I should have bought one a long time ago since these are so techie and all. But I didn’t want to sit on a waiting list or pay extra to get ahead of everyone else. Apparently, waiting isn’t an issue anymore. The dealer had a half dozen models. I wound up buying a lower-end Prius and I am kicking myself for not getting the Bluetooth and GPS integrated into the car. Well, too late now. This will encourage me to experiment — like add a personal computer to the car. Or integrate GPS on my own. And in the future, I’ll be able to add the DASH GPS if it ever comes out.

prius_tomio.jpgWithin hours of my purchase, I was scouring message boards about modifying the Prius. I wound up on OCPrius.com, the home of Orange County’s Prius Club. The group had Tomio Yamazaki, the chief designer of the Prius II as the guest speaker. I had to go. And I’m glad I went because Tomio (pictured) showed us how he came up with the aerodynamic design of the Prius plus a sneak peak of a hybrid to come, the Toyota FT-HS (already been Wiki’d too!):

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More pics…
Read the rest of this entry »

Bluetooth car kits

December 7th, 2005, 8:36 am by

More of these Bluetooth car kits – the ones that turns a Bluetooth cell phone into a loud speaker phone – are coming out. CarKit.gifI really like the one from Parrot but not so much Jabra. A new one from Anycom of Santa Ana looks simple enough and includes echo cancellation and a noise canceling microphone, which are important details if you drive a noisy car like my Civic. The ANYCOM Blue Car Kit HCC-210 has a comparable price of about $100.

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