Hasta La Gadget!

I’m not sure what’s my favorite part of this GPS-dongle for cars. Maybe its that it makes it impossible to misplace your car, or perhaps it is that fact that it’s called the AutoBot, clearly the most Transformer-tastic name for a car accessory ever.

Hooking into the car’s on-board diagnostic brain via an OBD-II-port, the AutoBot works with a partner-app in your Android phone or iPhone. From here you can get walking directions to the car, or tap into the diagnostics for in-depth info on what’s happening under the hood.

Even better, the dongle will also let you track a stolen car (or sound an alarm when your kids drive to the local make-out spot instead of going to music lessons), and will send your location to both family members and 911 should your airbags deploy. The AutoBot will be in stores early next year for “less than $300″.

There is one catch. The monthly service comes in exchange for spam. If you don’t pay to opt-out, you’ll get “offers” based on what it going on with your car. Ominously, “AutoBot knows when you need an oil change, tires rotated, and how many miles you’ve driven,” and will “share this information with our partners.” No thanks.

AutoBot product page [Mavizon Tech via The Giz]

See Also:

• Remote Control Your Car With Your iPhone
• Start Your Car From Your iPhone
• Car Thieves Use GPS Jammers to Make Clean Getaway

LoJack schmojack. You don’t need some spendy radio transponder to keep tabs on that new Escalade. Uplinking your wheels to the great eye in the sky without breaking the bank is easier than you think. More »

Her dulcet tones are familiar to millions, though likely none of them know her name–in fact, they’d like have difficulty placing it during casual conversation. Her name, for the record, is Karen Jacobsen. She’s an Australian who has been living in the US since 2000. She is the voice of Garmin GPS’s turn-by-turn directions. Oh, and she wants to be a famous singer.

Jacobsen describes her musical stylings as a cross between Billy Joel and Celine Dion. New Yorkers will be able to see her in action next week, when she opens at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, a cabaret on 42nd st. in Manhattan.

Jacobsen is living her dream, kind of, sort. “As a little girl, I dreamed of hearing my voice in the car radio,” Jacobsen told The New York Daily News. “I never dreamed that my voice would end up in cars, but in a GPS.”

Microsoft’s already added a Taxi Fare Calculator to Bing Maps to help keep your cabbie in check, and it’s now actually enlisted the help of some 33,000 Beijing cab drivers in an effort to further improve driving directions. More specifically, it’s relying on GPS data collected from the cab drivers’ cars over a period of three months, which has since been funneled into a system called T-Drive created by a team at Microsoft Research Asia. Just how big a difference can a bit of local know-how make? Apparently, about a 16 percent cut in time on average, or roughly a savings of five minutes for every 30 minutes of driving. Of course, it won’t do anyone outside of Beijing much good at the moment, but there’s plenty more GPS-equipped cabs out there if Microsoft ever decides to expand things.

Microsoft aims to improve maps with GPS data from 33,000 Beijing cab drivers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 10:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Based on our experience with relationships, we’ve learned that it takes two to tango. It also takes two to produce co-branded wares, and with ASUS already withdrawing (respectfully, of course) from the ill-fated Garmin-Asus smartphone partnership, this here is more a formality than anything else. That said, those worried that Garmin would try to loop in another handset maker in order to manufacturer yet another Garminfone that 3.4 people would consider buying can rest easy. In the company’s Q3 2010 earnings, it confirmed that it is “winding down” its smartphone efforts, and rather than continuing on a path to doom and destruction, it’ll be ramping up marketing efforts in the aviation and maritime sectors. As for quarterly results, the company did see net income rise to $279.5 million (up from $215.1 million a year ago), but shares fell as it issued a depressing outlook for Q4 amid weakening demand for standalone PNDs. Hate to say we told you so…

Garmin officially exits the smartphone business, reports mixed Q3 earnings originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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