Tricked-Out Cars Trickling Down

Good sends us to an IBTimes article on the expanding trend for more options for electronic gadgetry — telematics — in cars. Manufacturers are including more high-tech options in more models, including low-end models, as component prices drop and as the car makers attempt to sell to a demographic that has grown up surrounded by personal electronics. According to a telematics analyst, Bluetooth hands-free modules for cell phones will be available on more than a third of car models sold in the US in 2007, and auxiliary jacks for iPods in nearly half. From the article: "One of the industry's more advanced systems will be Ford's Sync, which connects digital music players to the car's voice-control communications system and reads aloud cell-phone text messages and has 20 preset text-message responses... The flash memory-based system, controlled through voice commands and buttons on the steering wheel, is based on a Microsoft Corp. operating system for cars."

Comments

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[markbt73]

This is going to change car ads as we know them....

Young hipster: Hello, I'm a Scion XB.
Middle-age guy in a suit: And I'm a Ford Expedition.
YH: We both have four doors.
MAH: Four wheels.
YH: And an engine.
MAH: But that's where the similarities end. You see, I have room for seven.
YH: So? I have room for five.
MAH: And I can tow 6000 pounds.
YH: And yet, we both spend most of our time in traffic, with just one person inside. What's your MPG again?
MAH: ...Like, twelve... Hey, what's that backing-up-and-turning maneuver you're doing?
YH: It's called parallel parking.
MAH: ...Wish I could do that...

Re:sarcasm

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

What do you mean? Apple *invented* the 3.5mm minijack.

I can't believe people are still trotting out this tired old line. Apple licensed Xerox's 1/4 inch jack technology, made a few tweaks and shipped it in a smaller footprint.