Hasta La Gadget!

UK-based artist Hetain Patel’s first car was a 1988 Ford Fiesta that was handed down from his father. In honor of his first set of wheels, this collaboration with his father and brother turns a similar vehicle into a Transformer-like robot that is far more than meets the eye.

The car is a symbol. As he says, “Manufactured in England, this car stands as a symbol of working class Britain, a native body, albeit here a car body.” And of course, he was inspired by the Transformers, seeing this art piece as a symbol of empowerment:

Another significant influence for me and this work are Transformers, an American film and toy franchise since 1984, and a widely recognisable pop culture reference that reaches far back in Hetain’s memory. In this new sculpture, Transformers have been made manifest, physically, in a literal transformation of a Ford Fiesta car into a large-scale squatting human-like figure. For me, these ‘robots in disguise’ (as per the cartoon’s theme tune) stand as a metaphor for the other, in a fantasy world where they can transform out of a marginal position into one of empowerment.

Forget all the fancy talk of art and empowerment and all the rest. This piece of art is just plain awesome and stands on it’s own. No pun intended. It shows what a father, son, brother trio of geeks can accomplish.

[via Make:]

At the recently concluded CEATEC 2013 in Japan, we managed to spend some hands-on time with the Nissan self-driving car, which also managed to pick up the Grand Prix award along the way. Well, Ford might not have a self-driving car, but they did demonstrate an advanced self-parking system which will drop you off before it speeds away to park itself. This would definitely jive well with any existing self-driving systems for sure. Barb Samardzich, Ford head of product development in Europe, shared, “Parking in today’s cities can be stressful and difficult. We want to make it as easy, efficient and accurate as possible.”

At the moment, existing parking assist systems make use of a range of sonar, radar or even camera sensors in order to assist motorists enter the parking bay, whether it is into parallel or perpendicular spots. Of course, the motorist will still have a hand (literally speaking) in this, where some vehicles will use the brake alone, while others require the operation of both the brake and throttle. Ford’s system, known as the Fully Assisted Parking Aid, would let you alight from your ride, where the push of a button on the key fob would then let it park itself. Is this impressive or what?

Ford Self-Parking System Does It Sans Driver In Car original content from Ubergizmo.

With Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer stepping down from his role as CEO of the company, many are wondering who could be next in line to fill his position. Some have speculated that it could be Nokia’s former CEO, Stephen Elop, while some believe that it could be none other than Ford’s CEO, Alan Mulally. There is also a possibility that it could be Computer Sciences CEO, Mike Lawrie. In any case it seems that if you were hoping that it would be Alan Mulally, you would be disappointed as Mulally himself has since stepped forward and dismissed the rumors that he was shortlisted to be the next CEO of Microsoft.

Speaking in an interview with USA Today, Mulally was quoted as saying, “I love serving Ford and have nothing new to add to (my) plans to continue serving Ford.” The reason why some had pegged him for the role of Microsoft’s CEO was due to his ability to turnaround companies, and while Microsoft isn’t doing badly, we suppose the company could do with some spicing up. In any case this leaves Mike Lawrie as a potential candidate, but since Microsoft has not said anything yet, do take it with a grain of salt for now, but we’ll definitely be keeping our eyes peeled to see who could be next in line to be Microsoft’s new CEO.

Ford’s Alan Mulally Dismisses Microsoft CEO Position Rumors original content from Ubergizmo.

Ford has acquired Livio, a car mobile connectivity company specializing in hooking up smartphone entertainment and navigation to dashboards from a variety of brands, as the car company pushes to lead an industry standard for automotive apps. Ford already has its own infotainment system, SYNC, developed with Microsoft and using AppLink for smartphone integration. However, […]

Ford Motors today is announcing the acquisition of Livio Radio, a maker of a platform for in-car apps, with a focus on audio and music services. This is the car-maker’s first technology acquisition in 13 years. The Ferndale, MI-based startup — now a subsidiary of Ford’s Global Technologies Group — will continue to operate under the original name. Neither party has disclosed the terms of the deal, only stating that Ford paid less than $10m for the in-vehicle app maker.

“It’s not everyday that something you start out of your bedroom gets acquired by a Fortune 500 company,” Livio CEO and founder Jake Sigal told me following today’s announcement.

I visited Livio in late 2012. It’s a small office on a busy road in Ferndale, Michigan. Cement floors. Gadgets and tradeshow props strewn around. The culture was vibrant. You could say, infectious. All the engineers work out of a single conference room, circling around a single table. Sigal told me today they have since outgrown that single room and there are now engineers spilling out into the hallway. Sigal says Livio Radio has an amazing culture focusing on their team.

“It’s hard to believe that in 2008 I decided to go do my own thing and we hired great,” he said. “We really are a team here.”

Ford CTO Paul Mascarenas says purchasing Livio Radio was about acquiring the talented 11-person team behind Livio Radio, the company’s intellectual property and the ability to forge a standard for automotive apps.

This is Ford’s first technology acquisition since October 2000 when it partnered with Qualcomm on the ill-fated Wingcast, a joint venture aimed at developing wireless data services for vehicles.

Exact terms of the deal was not disclosed. The two companies have been in talks since early this year. Mascarenas indicated that the whole deal cost less than $10 million and funds were provided solely by Ford Global Technologies Group. Myine Electronics, LLC, doing business under the name Livio Radio, had raised $2.15 million in two funding rounds.

“We couldn’t do what Livio has already done,” Mascarenas said. “Their own intellectual property complement’s Ford’s App Link.

Right now, nearly every automotive OEM uses its own proprietary automotive application platform. Since pivoting from making Pandora radios over a year ago, Livio has been developing a universe platform aimed at bringing apps into cars.

“We connect smartphones to work with head units in automobiles,” Joey Grover Livio Radio’s mobile tech room told me at CES 2013 (full interview below), adding that the company was attempting to get as many apps in the car as they can. At the time, this list included apps like Accuweather, TuneIn, Rdio and Grooveshark.

Livio’s founder and CEO Jake Sigal noted that this is a great opportunity to work towards an industry standard. Under the terms of the deal, Livio is still free to continue its work with other OEMs. Livio currently provides solutions for other automakers including General Motors with Sigal noting it’s easier to push the industry towards a standard if you’re not just some startup in metro Detroit.

CES 2013 Interview with Livio Radio