Archive for Automotive

Mercedes gives car owners more control via the iPhone

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on November 19th, 2009

Mercedes gives car owners more control via the iPhoneWhen Mercedes says they want you to get personal with your car, they mean it. Recently Mercedes-Benz USA and Hughes Telematics, Inc. launched mbrace, which brings an unprecedented level of connectivity to Mercedes-Benz drivers and allows them to customize their in-vehicle experiences.

The system allows drivers to connect with their vehicles via an iPhone or BlackBerry, and remotely lock or unlock their vehicles, locate them in crowded parking lots or city streets through a map and much more.

XO2 folding electric scooters

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on November 19th, 2009

XO2 folding electric scootersWith more electric vehicles than ever hitting the streets, we’re going to see more electric scooters. The XO2 electric scooter has some interesting features, but the most interesting is that you can fold it up, making it easy to bring indoors for charging.

It’s still pretty big when folded, but it beats getting your ride stolen because you had to leave it outside. We’re talking 60km/h for the XO2 50 Urban and 105km/h for the XO2 125 Urban. The scooter will charge up to about 80% within just a few hours, and give you about 50-70km.

Rocket pickup truck with a jet engine

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on November 18th, 2009

Rocket pickup truck with a jet engineThis huge Ford F650 pickup truck has something that the typical model does not. A 7,000HP GE J85 jet engine. Which makes it less of a pick-up truck and more of a rocket on wheels.

The truck is capable of reaching speeds of up to 200MPH and is apparently street legal, as long as the engine isn’t firing. Though that won’t be good for anyone if it misfires. Not that anyone could catch you.

SoundRacer makes your car sound like a supercar

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on November 8th, 2009

SoundRacer makes your car sound like a supercarSo you drive around in an Gremlin, but what you really want is a Porsche or a Ferrari. Unfortunately you can’t afford one. Which is why you are in your little bucket of rust. Well, the Soundracer can help. It won’t convert your heap into a sportier car, but it will plug into your car’s cigarette lighter port, and use an FM transmitter to play real V8 or V10 engine sound effects to the stereo.

That way you can at least pretend you are driving in luxury. According to SoundRacer’s website, the sounds correspond to the RPMs of your car’s engine. Pretend is fun.

Ford to offer inflatable seatbelts

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on November 5th, 2009

Ford to offer inflatable seatbeltsThe next-generation Ford Explorers will offer something unique that we haven’t seen before. Rear seatbelts that will inflate in an accident the same way an airbag inflates. The idea is that rear inflatable seatbelts would be able to multiply the surface area of the belt against your body by up to 5 times.

So in an accident, your crash would be more “comfortable.” We aren’t sure if this would be practical or not, but it might save lives in the future. I wonder if it will hurt those people with more girth, by squeezing them tight.

Toyota’s Gullwing Door XBOX Halo Warthog Concept

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on November 3rd, 2009

Toyota's Gullwing Door XBOX Halo Warthog ConceptToyota is clearly out to capture the hearts of gamers with the Tacoma All-Terrain Gamer (ATG) concept. It’s a Toyota pickup with four, yes four Xbox consoles inside, a Warthog from Halo and a Monster energy drink dispenser to keep you going during your intense gaming marathons.

In the center cabin there are four 24″ LCD monitors from Samsung, which swing out to give each gamer their own display. Oh yeah and the outside is also cool to look at, despite all the action going on within.

Cheetah C50 GPS Speed Camera Detector

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on October 29th, 2009

Cheetah C50 GPS Speed Camera DetectorThe Cheetah C50 is a small GPS speed camera detector with 65 unique spoken voice alerts that cover various types of threats. The device can identify different types of cameras for speed, red light, speed-on-green, and also is capable of telling you if the camera is on a freeway, a highway, an exit ramp, a frontage road, etc. It will give you an edge while speeding away.

The Cheetah C50 has a speedometer, compass, and directional intelligence, so you won’t be caught off guard by false alarms for cameras on the other side of the freeway. At $100 it will hopefully save you some money on speeding tickets.

2010 Cosmos 4RW V8 Muscle Bike

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on October 28th, 2009

2010 Cosmos 4RW V8 Muscle Bike When a motorcycle has four wheels, is it even a motorcycle anymore? We have no idea. This beast has left us dazed and confused, but mostly we just can’t stop staring. This thing looks like it kicks some serious ass.

What you are looking at is the 2010 Cosmos 4RW V8 Muscle Bike. Those wheels are 17-inchers and all four support a 350 cubic inch engine with 350 horsepower. It looks like it came straight out of a Sci-Fi flick.

Lexus does another transparent car

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on October 22nd, 2009

Lexus does another transparent carIf you thought the Lexus LF-A Crystalised Wind looked awesome, check this one out. This is a real car on display at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Looks like Lexus is working on invisibility, which insurance companies will be thrilled about. The Lexus LF-A Crystallised Wind was made of acrylic glass back in April at Milan’s Museo della Permanente art gallery. Your days of driving nude are officially over.

Start your car with your iPhone

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on October 13th, 2009

Start your car with your iPhoneCar keys are so last century. They’re only good for scratching other people’s cars out of revenge or scratching instant lottery tickets. We have the iPhone, who needs keys? More cars are starting with just the push of a button these days anyway. More will follow. Viper is creating a keyless future with their new iPhone app that unlocks and starts your car for you.

The app is free and connects to a Viper SmartStart hardware module inside of your car, letting you start your car, get the heat going, unlock doors or turn the alarm on or off. Also, you don’t need to be physically near your car to do those things since it works using cell networks.

Red Light Camera Detector could save you from tickets

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on October 11th, 2009

Red Light Camera Detector could save you from ticketsThis device may have the look of a child’s toy, but it can come in very handy. At any given intersection it will let you know if its being monitored by a red light camera or a speed trap. Like I said, very handy. The 1.6″ OLED display shows your car’s current location and alerts you to presence of a red light camera based upon an internal database of 6,000 red light and speed camera locations.

It will notify you using either audio or visual alerts. The database can even be updated by connecting it to your computer and downloading them for free for a year. After that it’s $19.95 per month.

Car Cam Voyager is a Black Box for your car

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on October 4th, 2009

Car Cam Voyager is a Black Box for your carIt would be pretty handy to have a black box for your car, just like airplanes have. That way if you got into an accident, saw a crime being committed or got beaten up by a cop for no good reason, you would have a record of the event.

That’s basically what the Car Cam Voyager does. It acts like a black box. It’s the first video camera for the car that allows you to record what is happening in real time while you’re driving. The device can display captured video on the 2-inch 320×240 screen and can record up to 48 hours of video on the road to a 32GB microSD card.

LED Jumper Cables from the future

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on September 20th, 2009

LED Jumper Cables from the futureMost of us have had trouble with a dead battery in our car. It usually happens at the worst possible times. It might be dark or snowing, or raining, or all of the above. Well with these jumper cables, the dark won’t be a problem.

That’s because they have LED lights built in. It’s such a simple solution, we wonder why we haven’t seen more like this. And since every clamp has a light built into it, you won’t have any problems matching the positive and negative. The lights kick on whenever you squeeze the clamps open.

Lexus LF-Ch concept sports headrest-mounted iPhone docks

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on September 14th, 2009

Lexus LF-Ch concept sports headrest-mounted iPhone docksThe Lexus name is all about luxury, so why not incorporate some iphone docks? That’s just what they’ve done with the hybrid Lexus LF-Ch Concept. They’ve added rear seat headrest-mounted iPhone docks. That should help keep your little hellions quiet on your next roadtrip.

Assuming you or your kids own an iPhone of course. But hey if you are driving a Lexus, I’m sure you can afford one or two iPhones. The LF-Ch also has storage in the rear seat armrests for small items like iPods, PDAs and cell phones.

Hitch Safe puts valuables in your Trailer Hitch

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on September 7th, 2009

Hitch Safe puts valuables in your Trailer HitchThe HitchSafe Key Vault Hitch Safe lets you store valuables in your Trailer Hitch, where no one will expect valuables. Basically, it puts a combination locked safe into your car or truck’s trailer hitch. Maybe you want to keep a spare set of keys in there, or some candy, or whatever.

It’s easy to install and made of sturdy solid heavy-gauge metal with a heavy duty rubber dust cover. It’s secure thanks to a four digit combination lock and you can set it to your own combination. The HitchSafe is large enough to store up to 9 spare keys even credit cards and your driver’s license if you like.





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