Archive for the ‘Car’ Category

Use Your iPhone To Start Your Car

By Chris Scott Barr

Keys are one of those objects that seems almost archaic when you think about them. We have so many technologies at our disposal, you have to wonder why we rely on these so heavily. If you don’t have a car with a fancy keyless setup, you can now add a Viper StartSmart system that will let you control your car from your iPhone.

The new StartSmart System won’t have you driving your car from an iPhone, but you can do a host of other functions:

• Lock/arm
• Unlock/disarm
• Remote car starter
• Trunk release
• Panic or car finder

You can do all of the above functions anywhere using your iPhone or iPod Touch, so long as you have either a data connection or WiFi available. The App is free, but you’ll need the Viper StartSmart hardware in your car. The StartSmart kit will set you back $499, and you’ll need to pony up $29.99 a year for service (the first year is free).

[ Viper ] VIA [ Dvice ]

Art Deco Goes Green

I love when past design sensibilities turn out to be more than aesthetic fluff when combined with modern knowledge. Such is the case with the art deco movement. “Doh” unapologetically rehashes the streamline and symmetric lines of automobiles from the 30’s – a time when aerodynamics became the “in” thing. The vehicle is sleek like a pearl, slippery looking like a fish and is laced with more gadgets than you can count.

Neuro-technology embedded into the seats eliminate unnecessary buttons and controls. The seats are separated by the upper and lower parts, attached to the roof and floor deck which hides a storage place. The entry/exit of the vehicle is an event where the seat swings to the outside for ease and that all important photo-op.

So where does the green part come in? Why the use of lightweight and sustainable materials of course. The designer doesn’t go into detail but he does mention extensive use of recycled glass and components. His argument is art deco was about minimizing just as it was about decadence. While automobiles of later decades became ornate exercises in ego, art deco stayed true to what a car should be – sleek and efficient thus requiring less energy to manufacture and drive.

Designer: Doh Kim

Laughably large Red Light Camera Detector proves that you should just drive safely

Just a hunch here, but we get the feeling that you’ve gone one step too far when you decide to install a red light camera detector in your vehicle that’s larger than a) your GPS unit and b) the bag phone you used between the years 1991 and 1994. For those bold enough to disagree, there’s the wild and wacky device pictured above, delivered to you by none other than Hammacher Schlemmer. Packing an internal database of 6,000 red light and speed cameras across the US and Canada, the GPS-enabled device also boasts a 1.6-inch OLED screen to show your position in relation to upcoming cameras, and of course it’ll belt out all sorts of warnings to help you avoid the inevitable. Of course, you could just follow the rules of the road, but then you’d have no excuse to burn $199.95 up front and $19.95 annually on this heap. Tough call, no?

[Via NaviGadget]

Filed under: Transportation

Laughably large Red Light Camera Detector proves that you should just drive safely originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remote Control Your Car With Your iPhone

Now you can use your iPhone or iPod Touch to kill the environment by firing up your car from afar and leaving the engine to idle whilst either warming or cooling your ride while you wait inside. This alternative to a scarf and gloves comes from Viper in the form of the SmartStart, a module which is wired into your car and lets you lock, unlock and start your car from any distance.

The remote unit isn’t new — Viper has sold the SmartStart for some time. The fancy part this time is the iPhone (or iPod Touch) integration, which comes by way of an iPhone app and a $300 add-on for your SmartStart device (you can opt for the $500 all-in-one if you are starting from scratch). This box has inside it a GSM cell radio, with which you communicate via the internet using the companion application.

Because it uses the cellular network, you’ll need to pay a $30-a-year subscription (year one is included in the cost of the device) and, because it has something to do with cars, you’ll have to pay somebody to install it — there is no DIY kit version. I guess only you, reader, can decide if it’s worth burning extra gas instead of just sitting in a cold car for five minutes. On the other hand, having the car report status info — triggered alarms, for example — direct to your phone is pretty handy stuff.

Product page [iTunes]

Product page [Viper]

Unmanned Car Uses iPhone, Cameras, and Lasers to Travel, Kill Grannies [IPhone]

Sometimes in this magic land of the intarwerbs, fantasy becomes reality. Apparently, this is one of them: A team at the Freie University in Berlin have actually rigged a car so it can be fully controlled with an iPhone.

There are not a lot of details except what you can see in the video. The GPS- and Wi-Fi-equipped Spirit of Berlin—as they called the car—uses drive-by-wire controls, with mechanic parts to operate the pedals. On its top, there are video cameras and pewpewtastic laser 3D sensors.

The iPhone connects to the car using Wi-Fi, transmitting acceleration data to the car in real time. It looks like the real thing, but maybe it’s all a four-wheeled Octoberfest joke. []

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