Cars

Pioneer is following Ford and Microsoft in its adoption of USB ports for the playback of digital audio in the car. Here at CES, Pioneer is debuting the snappily named DEH-P6900UB and DEH-P690UB, two new stereo head units that come with built-in USB jacks for hooking up portable media players or thumbdrives.

When connected via USB, media players, such as iPods and Zunes, can be controlled entirely via the head unit, giving drivers high-speed control over their digital media, including content subject to iTunes (Fairplay) and Windows Media digital rights management. As well as a built-in USB port, both head … Read more

Here's another take on Windows Mobile. The Azentek Atlas is a double-DIN system that fits into your car's dashboard and gives you all of the functionality of a Windows PC from the driver's seat. While the model on display here at CES 2007 is running XP, we're told that Atlas will ship in March with Windows Vista. The Atlas, which makes use of iMobile software, packs an Intel Core Duo processor and comes with 512MB of RAM memory and a Seagate automotive-grade 40GB hard drive. It also comes with built-in GPS with turn-by-turn navigation and maps … Read more

One of the most eagerly anticipated aftermarket car tech gadgets at this year's CES is the Dash Express from Dash Navigation. Dash Express is the first portable navigation system to have built-in two-way connectivity (cellular and Wi-Fi), giving drivers access to a whole new world of information via the Internet and the network of other Dash-connected users. The system display real-time traffic data, which comes from the network of other Dash drivers, while Web connectivity gives drivers a points-of-interest database served up by Yahoo Local, with whom Dash announced a partnership last week. Here are some of the major … Read more

One of the major themes of this year's CES is mobile TV: yesterday, Verizon confirmed it will be bringing live full-length television programming to selected handsets, and then Samsung revealed it had developed a technology to enable local TV stations to broadcast digital programs to cars and mobile devices. For those road warriors who can't wait for either of the these solutions for their fix of Regis and Kelly, the answer might just be KVH's TracVision A7.

Developed in collaboration with DIRECTV, the A7 enables drivers to pick up 185 channels, including local network stations. To do … Read more

The fact that Dual can call its new XMC100 in-car stereo a "multimedia receiver" without including a CD slot is a sign of the digital-audio times. The XMC100 features three options for playing digital media, without a disc in sight: a 3.5-inch jack, an SD Card slot, and a USB port.

The XMC100 also can be used as a satellite radio receiver for Sirius Satellite Radio. Drivers can see what's playing on the unit's black-and-white dot-matrix display. The XMC100 features an internal 240-watt (60x4) MOSFET amplifier, as well as source audio memory and five selectable … Read more

Nobody loves staring into a sea of red brake lights while enduring their daily commute, but TeleNav and Sprint are hoping to relieve some of that headache with TeleNav Traffic. A new feature of TeleNav GPS Navigator, a GPS-enabled navigation service for cell phones, TeleNav Traffic alerts you to congestion and accidents with voice and visual prompts on your mobile phone. In addition, customers can get alternate routes by pressing "0" on their phone, and can receive an estimated time of arrival based on real-time traffic conditions. Swanky.

TeleNav Traffic is currently only being offered to Sprint customers … Read more

New versions of the Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Caravan minivans made an appearance at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. Come on, wake up! There really is something interesting about these minivans. Chrysler creates a cozy little breakfast space in the back by adding swiveling capability to its middle-row seats, along with a foldout table. And it really makes these minivans kind of cool road-trip vehicles. While a couple of friends drive and navigate, you and your friends are in back riding limo-style, playing poker and doing shots of tequila. (Make that last one lemonade if you don't … Read more

Bad pun, I know, but "Chevy charges forward" would be worse, because the concept Volt is an electric car. Chevy grabbed the front of its new Camaro and grafted on a small sports coupe made of lightweight composite materials developed by GE. GM has been using its Chevrolet brand to push its most futuristic alternative energy ideas, such as the previously announced Fuel Cell Equinox. The Volt seems especially designed to counteract the bashing GM got in the movie Who Killed the Electric Car?, as the Volt builds on the technology GM used in its original electric car, … Read more

OK, it's Sync, not *NSYNC, and with its stylish logo it should be free of any associations from the band that made Justin Timberlake famous. Unlike the band, Sync also plays music. Microsoft has been trying to sell automakers on its automotive platform for a while and is really starting to gain ground. Last year at the Geneva Auto Show, Fiat showed off an installation of Microsoft's system, dubbed Blue&Me, in one of its cars. This year the software maker and America's number two automaker announced that a version of Microsoft's automotive platform will … Read more