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Georgia Woman Found iPad Impaled In Front Bumper And It Still Works

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Be careful where you leave your iPad. It might end up impaling some poor lady’s bumper.

That’s what happened to one unlucky iPad owner who forget they placed their iPad on top of their car. After getting onto the road, the iPad eventually fell off the roof of the car, slammed into a Georgia woman’s front bumper, and then stayed there for the rest of day.

BMWs, Minis Get Glympse One-Touch Location-Broadcast Feature

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Glympse is a clever — and potentially lifesaving — feature that we’d love to see in more smartphone-connected cars.

It started out as a free app that can broadcast the user’s location to selected contacts, Facebook friends or Twitter followers. But it’s become a valuable tool for drivers of smartphone-connected Fords and Merecedes-Benzes, allowing them to broadcast their location without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Now BMW and Mini have partnered with Glympse, raising the marque total to four.

These Clever Russians Hacked Their Car So It Can Be Driven With An iPad [Video]

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We’ve seen some really neat car hacks that use the iPhone and iPad to do some crazy stuff, but this one might take the cake.

A group of Russians decided to take their Opel Vectra car and turn it into the “James Bond car” that could be driven with a cellphone in Tomorrow Never Dies. The result, is a beat up beauty that can be driven with an iPad. Check it out:

Automatic Link Connects Your iPhone To Your Car For Diagnosis, Trip Information & More

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The Automatic Link is a new iPhone accessory that’s been built to provide you with all of the important information you’ll ever need to know about your vehicle. It plugs into your car’s on-board diagnosis port, then transmits all sorts of data to an accompanying app on your iPhone.

Not only will Automatic Link help you identify why your “check engine” light is on, but it’ll also give you all kinds of data about the journeys you make, it’ll help you remember where you parked your car, and it’ll help you change your driving style to save gas.

The iPad Allows This Electric Car To Drive All By Itself

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Robotic technology developed by England’s Oxford University is working alongside the iPad to enable an electric Nissan Leaf to drive itself. Apple’s tablet is built into the vehicle’s dashboard, and can be used to activate the robotic technology that will take over the vehicle for short stretches.

The clever system, which is designed to take the strain off of drivers during busy commutes, uses small cameras and lasers built discretely into the body of the car that allow it to recognize its surroundings and avoid collisions. 

Magnetyze Cordless Charger Now in Car and Travel Versions

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You know about Magnetyze, right? It’s a system that lets you charge an iPhone 4/S or Galaxy S3 without the need for a cord. Pop your iPhone into the provided case, then drop the case on the magnetic charging base and your iPhone will charge (and sync) — it works kind of like the MagSafe power adapter on a MacBook. It’s really cool on the S3, because the Magnetyze case replaces the S3’s original back, so there’s almost zero extra bulk. Neat.

Audi’s iPad Controlled Race Track Puts You Behind The Wheel In An Audi-Utopia [Video]

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Cars are a fairly boring topic for me, but I just sat through this 15-minute documentary by Audi completely enthralled by the amount of dedication the Slots Mods team poured into making an iPad-controlled slot car race track utopia for Audi.

Basically, Audi asked Slot Mods to make an iPad-controlled slot car race track that would give people the experience of driving an Audi from their iPad. You can control the speed of the car from the iPad and a little video camera behind the windshield shows you what it’s like to be the driver. The concept is cool on its own, but the amount of details and obsession poured into the project make it truly enthralling.

This Hack Lets You Start Your Car By Sending A Text Message From Your iPhone

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It’s winter. It’s probably cold where you live. Running outside to start your car is probably one of the most dreadful experiences you have every morning, and then you gotta sit in your cold car for a few minutes before the heat really kicks in. You’re shivering. Trying to drive faster. And it all just sucks.

You could buy one of those remote ignitions, but then you gotta carry around an extra block on your keychain, and its range isn’t so great. Will O’Brien came up with a better idea – starting your car with your iPhone by sending it an SMS. It’s brilliant, and anyone can replicate his hack.

Parrot Asteroid Classic Car Sound System: The Deck I Wish I’d Had in High School [Review]

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This is the original Parrot Asteroid Classic car stereo head-unit ($349), and it made quite a splash when it launched last year. The single-DIN, 4×55 watt receiver boasts a formidable array of features: Bluetooth connectivity, powerfully accurate voice recognition for both calls and music, a GPS receiver, a bright, 3.2-inch LED screen and a quiver of apps that run off its customized, upgradeable, early-vintage Android 1.5 OS (all of which require a data connection via a dongle).

Though this model was originally called the the Asteroid (no Classic), the Classic nomen was added to lessen confusion as three new models were announced a few months ago. However, the Asteroid Classic still very much in play; in fact, as this review goes live, the Classic is the only member of the Asteroid family currently available, as its new siblings haven’t shipped yet.

With its Android-based OS, you’d be forgiven if you thought the Asteroid Classic was more friendly to Android phones than the iPhone. In fact, the opposite is true, as I’ll explain later. And while it suffers from something that can probably be described as teething trouble, it’s still a lust-worthy system.

This Boomerang Looks A Lot Like The iPad Mounting System We All Want [Kickstarter]

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The Boomerang is a new Kickstarter iPad accessory from the one-device-to-rule-them all crowd — it’s a combination universal mounting system and frame. The hinged, X-shaped frame snaps onto the back of your iPad, while a powerful, centrally located magnet of its back allows it to attach to a wide variety of stands and mounts that Uros Cadez, the project’s creator, has already designed. Even without any accessory mounts, the frame’s hinge can ratchet to prop the iPad up at three different  angles. Another plus: The Boomerang’s corners were designed so it wouldn’t get in the way of a Smart Cover.

What It’s Like To Have A Beer And Fix A Car With Steve Jobs

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Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs is filled with a lot of personal anecdotes about what the charismatic Apple co-founder and ex-CEO was like in his personal life… and most of them were not very good at making Jobs look likable or human.

That’s why I was grateful to see this thread pop up on Quora, in which Tim Smith, the principal at the Applied Design Group talks about the time that Steve Jobs, his son and Laurene Powell Jobs tried to fix his car back in the 1990s… along with a mysterious man in a tuxedo who looked eerily like James Bond.

Jabra Freeway Bluetooth Speakerphone: Excellent for Chatting, Not So Much for Music [Review]

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The Jabra Freeway ($100) is Jabra’s flagship bluetooth car speakerphone. The Freeway has loads of top-rung features like hands-free voice commands, caller announcements and FM music-streaming, wrapped around three loud, powerful speakers accompanied by noise-cancelling dual microphones — making it a very attractive option for drivers who want to add a hands-free speakerphone to their cars.

BMW: Apple Made White Cars Cool

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If it weren't for Apple, this car would probably look awful to you.
Photo: BMW

Steve Jobs never got the chance to build the car of his dreams, but he has still had a huge affect on the car industry. Why? Because he made white cool. Before Apple began making white computers and accessories, white was a color only associated with boring products like refrigerators — and nobody dreamed of owning a white car. Now it’s the most popular car color in America.

Apple Forgot To Tell Car Manufacturers It’s Putting Siri Buttons On Their Steering Wheels

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Apple demonstrates Siri integration in vehicles at WWDC.
Apple demonstrates Siri integration in vehicles at WWDC.

Earlier this week during its WWDC keynote, Apple announced that nine automakers have committed to introducing a special Siri button into their upcoming vehicles, allowing you to activate your voice-controlled assistant without removing your hands from the steering wheel. However, it seems the Cupertino company forgot to tell some of those manufacturers about its plan.

Devium Dash Transforms Your iPhone Into Your Car’s Stereo System

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Decent in-dash stereo systems aren’t just expensive, they make you a target for a break-in… and why even bother with one when your iPhone can do everything a stereo dash can do, and a lot more besides?

Exactly, say the makers of Devium Dash, a new project up on Kickstarter. Instead of some expensive in-dash system that doesn’t do as much as your iDevice, why don’t you just slap your iPhone into the dash when you start driving instead?

Video Shows Spoiled Kids Crying On Twitter Because They Didn’t Get an iPhone For Christmas

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httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwWqRV2RsI

(Warning: video is NSFW)

All I wanted for Christmas was an iPhone. That’s it. But my parents went off and bought me a stupid Kindle Fire…those dumb bastards. Actually I’d be pretty happy with receiving a new Kindle Fire, and I already have an iPhone 4S with the fancy camera and everything so I don’t need a new one of those, but apparently a lot of people were disappointed on Christmas morning when they didn’t unwrap a shiny new iPhone. Taking the audacity of privileged consumerism to new heights of hilarity, comedy writer Jon Hendren compiled the stream of dejected tweets into a music video to express the world’s ingratidude.

“WTF?! I Wanted An iPhone” is a catchy (but NSFW) tune that captures little treasures of bitterness that bloomed on Christmas morning. The enormous display of ingratitude is a bit shocking. Hey @SamStandsFoSwag we’re sorry mom and dad got you the black iPod Touch instead of the white one, but maybe when you graduate high school and get a job you’ll realize, “Oh dang, spending $200 on a silly music player is not the funnest thing to do in world.”

Pioneer Embraces The iPhone With A GPS Car Dock [CES 2011]

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photo: Erfon Elijah

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — Pioneer launched its SmartCradle for the iPhone at its CES presser today, further proving that the aftermarket auto industry seems to be embracing the iPhone with rapidly increasing gusto.

They really pulled out the stops on this one, hardware-wise: a dedicated GPS receiver with an external antenna, which they said will give even newer iPod Touch models GPS capability; an accelerometer and gyro sensor for better location awareness; hands-free calling an integrated amplified speaker with the ability to vary volume based on ambient noise; and audio/video output. Of course, it’ll also charge the iPhone; Ted Cardenas, Pioneer’s director of marketing, made of point of this — but since the iPhone won’t last long with location services going, any dock even remotely similar already includes charging ability. Nary a whiff on price or availability yet.

Griffin Launches Car-Monitoring Sensor For iPhone [CES 2011]

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LAS VEGAS — Griffin revealed something really cool today: a sensor that hooks up to your car’s diagnostic computer and feeds all kinds of info to your iPhone. Griffin calls it the CarTrip, and it attaches to your car’s OBD-II sensor (the thing car mechanics uses to diagnose problems), collects and stores the data, then sends it to your iPhone (we’re not sure how, because the press release doesn’t say), which then displays the data in realtime with the help its free partner app, CleanDrive.

The app/hardware package will reveal all kinds of information, like fuel consumption rates, acceleration, and it’ll interpret diagnostic codes. It’ll also display a “Carbon Score,” so you can figure out how much you’re befouling the planet by driving around.

CarTrip should be available in early 2011 for $90.

Update: CarTrip is equipped with Bluetooth for relaying the data to an iPhone. Thanks Levi!

Hyundai Releases iPad Owner’s Manual for 2011 Equus

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Hyundai has gone high-tech for their luxury Equus sedan, releasing the 2011 owner’s manual as a free interactive iPad app.  Now you can view a multimedia reference guide, locate Hyundai dealers, schedule service appointments, read (and ignore) safety warnings, and – according to the App Store description – “experience Equus rear-passenger massage and relaxation therapy.”

Wow. That’s some owner’s manual.

Even better, an iPad comes with the car! Nice perk. Vehicle cost: $58,900. iPhone and iPod touch versions of the app are scheduled for release shortly.