Cars

No, it's not the Beck of Speedster and Spyder fame, and it's definitely not the other Beck.

Berne Beck Engineering & Composits, an up-and-coming Swiss car manufacturer, unveiled a new sports car on Wednesday at the Luxus Motor Show in Vienna, Austria.

The Beck LM 800 really is as svelte as the Swiss on slopes. It only weighs about 1,984 pounds when loaded with a 176-pound driver and full tank of gas, according to the company. That is because lightweight materials like aluminum, magnesium, titanium and Kevlar were used in its construction. The tech components were based … Read more

Dresser Wayne is working on a gas pump with Microsoft's Automotive Business Unit that would allow you to download music while waiting for your gas to finish pumping. The Ovation iX fuel pump would connect to the Internet and transfer the songs to your media device or a car stereo system via Wi-Fi. The media/fuel pump complete with touch screen was featured at CES 2007, according to Gizmag.

The device could be a good service for truckers with long hours to kill, but how would you get the full-service gas station drivers in New Jersey to use it?… Read more

For those of you who want TV on the move, but who are unwilling to splash out on the new mobile service from Verizon, there is an alternative. On display here at CES, this International 7300 CXT pickup truck has flat-panel TVs installed in its two rear wheel arches, and one tacked onto the bottom of the tailgate for good measure.

The CXT is hooked up to DirecTV via KVH's Tracvision A7 satellite receiver, meaning that other drivers get to watch cable and local network TV when stuck in traffic beside or behind it. Just synchronize your commute with … Read more

Harman Kardon unleashed its nifty Drive+Play 2 for gadget-loving drivers everywhere. With an impressively simple setup (you can hook it up in a couple minutes sans tools), you can have a single interface for everything from your iPod or Zune to your phone or satellite radio. The 3.5-inch color display is easily mountable on your dash with screws or adhesive, and a 2.4GHz wireless control knob lets you navigate the very iPod-like skinnable menu system for "distraction-free browsing."

The system is powered by a cigarette-lighter module that doubles as an FM transmitter, line output, and … Read more

A Vespa Granturismo might get 64 miles per gallon, but this little guy sure one-ups it. I read about it on ThisNext: it's called the GreenEmotor, or GEM (there does not appear to be any relation to the GEM electric car brand), and it's a zero-emissions electric scooter that gets the equivalent of 1,350 miles per gallon. More specifically, you'd get 1,350 miles of electric charge (a single charge will cost about 12 cents on your electric bill) for the $3 that you'd spend on a gallon of gas. The various GEM models range … Read more

Harman Kardon is best known in the automotive world for its audio equipment, but here at CES 2007, the company has taken a leap into the crowded world of portable GPS devices with the unveiling of its Guide + Play GPS-500. Like most portable navigation devices on the market nowadays, the GPS-500 is more than a digital wayfinder: it can play a range of audio (MP3/AAC/WMA) and video (MPEG-4/WMV9) media formats and will even display album artwork in glorious Technicolor. Media is played from a 4GB SD card that slots into the top of the bezel. Maps and … Read more

An increasing trend in cell phones is the addition of location-based services, such as TeleNav and Verizon's VZ Navigator, so you can get maps and driving directions right on your handset. Now, Motorola has announced that it's teaming up with Destinator Technologies and Jentro Technologies to bring such services to its mobiles, as well as new navigation products in 2007. Jentro specializes in satellite phone navigation, while Destinator develops nav software for mobile devices. Though the companies didn't outline any specific products, they did say the products will give consumers access to local point-of-interest searches, community tools, … Read more

Convergence is the name of the digital game at CES 2007. Music players become phones, phones become GPS devices, and GPS devices become music players. In the latest effort to combine two previously distinct products, JVC Mobile has integrated an 3.5-inch color LCD screen into the faceplate of a in-car stereo head unit to provide drivers with movies, music and directions in one after-market device.

The KD-NX5000, on display at CES for the first time, is an impressive product. Its 16GB hard drive-based navigation system contains 13 million points of interest and comes with a built-in RDS-TMC traffic tuner … Read more

On the other end of the spectrum from the C250, Mio has also announced the full-featured Mio C520 portable navigation device. Unlike the C250, the C520 goes beyond turn-by-turn driving directions with integrated Bluetooth for hands-free calling and advanced multimedia capabilities. The stylish device also has a large, 4.3-inch touch screen and a new, useful split-screen view, which presents your current location and a map on one side and allows you to get route information, upcoming points of interest, and address lookup on the other side. All maps are preloaded on the device, and there is an expansion slot … Read more