Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on February 11, 2008 by CyberNet.

This past weekend we took advantage of living back in the Chicago area and headed down to the Chicago Auto Show.  Apparently we still have cars on our minds because we are focusing today’s MyFive feature on gadget-equipped cars which there were plenty of at the show! Today’s MyFive is a list of different gadgets that you can find in cars on the market today that may (or may not)become standard in vehicles over time.

1. Rear Parking Assistance

   Everybody has been able to back-up without assistance over the last however many years just fine, yet the rear-parking assistance feature is becoming a “must-have” feature. One such car that offers this is the Lexus ES 350. It’s called “Intuitive Parking Assist” and uses sensors to detect how close the vehicles are to surrounding objects. Other cars like the Chevy Tahoe and the Toyota Sienna also offer a similar feature.

2. Real-Time Traffic Information

   Car-maker Acura sells cars that come with AcuraLink. That is the name of the system that they use to display real-time traffic info on the navigation screen.  Only certain cities are included, but if you live in one of the covered cities, it could sure come in handy! I’m just waiting for the time when they incorporate the navigation system with the traffic information to guide you on the fastest route possible based upon traffic conditions that day.

3. Heated/Cooled Cup holders

   This year Cadillac will be introducing the 2009 Escalade Platinum that will include all kinds of gadgets that any geek would sure love like LCD screens for the back seat passengers and a flip-down screen in the ceiling. Another feature is that the cup holders offer the option to heat or cool your drink. Want your coffee to stay nice at hot in the mornings? No problem! Want the icy cold drink to stay cold on a hot Summer day? No Problem!

4. Remote Start

   While Remote Start systems have been around for quite a while, they’re still one of those features that not everybody realizes is available.  From Chevy to Toyota, a remote start system is a feature that most car-makers offer their customers.

5. Bluetooth

   How many of you use a Bluetooth headset? Probably quite a few because Bluetooth is becoming pretty popular. Many automakers out there like Toyota and Chrysler offer the option to have a Bluetooth system installed in which you can make and receive calls without ever holding a phone. Users can place a call simply by verbally saying the name of a contact that they have previously stored in the system.

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Getting a jump start to Black Friday, U.S. Cellular slashes prices on its Android phones and offers a credit on future bills.

Originally posted at Dialed In

Hold your horses, Bubsy. While it looked like there were but a few Is to dot and Ts to cross before Comcast’s takeover of NBC Universal was official, folks in high places are now shaking their heads at a recent decision by the carrier. As the story goes, Comcast and NBC Universal are still in talks with the government over the proposed takeover, and it seems that a few wires were crossed in recent days; Comcast decided to announce a new management slate for NBC Universal just a few days ago, despite the fact that the takeover hasn’t actually been green-lit. According to an inside report over at The New York Times, one unnamed official in Washington had this to say: “For a deal this large, and one that hasn’t been approved, Comcast’s behavior is presumptuous and arrogant.” Of course, it’s not like this trigger-pulling in and of itself is reason for the whole deal to collapse, but it certainly won’t make things any easier on either company. So much for taking on those new roles (and accompanying raises) prior to Turkey Day, huh?

Regulators perturbed by Comcast’s executive reshuffling, NBC Universal takeover to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Show of hands: how many of you bought an Xbox 360 in its first month or so of release, five long years ago? Alright, now how many of you still use that same Xbox regularly, with zero RRoDs getting in your way? Yeah, we thought so. The Xbox 360 has been an astounding success for Microsoft and for gamers, a particularly strong feat when you consider that it was Sony’s race to lose going into this console generation. Still, when you talk Xbox history, it’s hard not to see that huge red smudge on an otherwise stellar record. In hindsight, perhaps it was wise for Microsoft to do such a stellar job of taking the console online, beyond all the obvious reasons: the overheating hunk of plastic and silicon in our entertainment center didn’t really mean much anymore, sentiments-wise. Instead it was our Gamertags and Gamerscores and cutesy Avatars that really mattered, the true “heart” of our console.

We can’t even count how many Xboxes we churned through in the past five years, with only Microsoft’s most recent attempt finally solving some of the machine’s egregious noise issues, but most of us stuck with the Xbox all the way through because that’s where our friends were. Cute trick, Microsoft, but let’s pick a slightly less expensive way to fail for the next generation, alright? Oh, and happy birthday Xbox; we’ll meet you at 8pm with the pizza and the wine and the Black Ops… you just bring the sexy.

Want to re-live a bit of the launch day insanity? Check out this little trip down Engadget memory lane:

• Live Xbox 360 shot!
• Engadget’s live coverage of the Xbox 360 launch
• Xbox 360 hands-on preview
• Unpacking the Xbox 360
• Xbox 360 gutted!
• Engadget Podcast 053 – 11.22.2005
• Xbox 360 backward-compatibility list (1.0) released

Boy, didn’t we look young and naive back then? The world was our oyster. There were so many Halos yet to come.

The Xbox 360 turns five years old… in a purely theoretical sense originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barnes and Noble’s just made version 1.5 of its Nook e-reader’s firmware available. What can Nook owners expect from this latest upgrade? Well, the company says it boasts improved page refresh rates about 50 percent faster than the previous version — which is good news as we found it to be slower than its competitors. The update — which is available for both the 3G and WiFi versions — is also Barnes and Noble’s largest to date for the readers, and includes other fixes such as syncing across devices like the Nook’s various apps (finally!), customizable folders for your library, password protection options, improved search functions and battery performance. That sure does sound like a big update to us, so go get it if you’re a Nook user! Full press release is below.

Continue reading Barnes and Noble Nook firmware version 1.5 now available

Barnes and Noble Nook firmware version 1.5 now available originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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