Microsoft, Fiat team on car technology

Microsoft and Fiat announced on Thursday a new initiative to jointly develop ways to integrate devices such as cell phones, handheld computers and digital music players into cars.

The companies said they will design telematics systems that let drivers access Web services and use a Bluetooth connection to tap into personal address books and contacts from a handset. They will also be able to listen to music stored in players via a USB connection in the dashboard. All of the systems will feature voice activation, the companies said.

Fiat and Microsoft said the partnership will be long term, without divulging any further terms of the deal.

The new systems will feature Windows Automotive software and will be based on standard hardware. Fiat's component arm, Magneti Marelli, will develop the hardware on which the systems are integrated, using a reference design to be developed by Microsoft and Fiat. The companies said they plan to make the system interoperable with the vehicles' controller area network for diagnostic data.

Although efforts to marry cars and computers have so far failed to make a dent in the market, Microsoft has been trying to convince automakers to use in-car computers for entertainment, navigation and information devices that connect to e-mail and calendar information.

Here In My Car...

What about Apple & BMW technology links?

Just what the world needs, Microsoft technology viruses & crashes while you're driving your car.
BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH - FATAL ERROR - ABORT!

Don't forget to push the START button to shut your car off.
I'll go with the Beamer!
Off the GRID in Seattle

[itanalyst]

THIS CAR HAS PERFORMED AN ILLEGAL OPERATION AND WILL SHUT DOWN

This as your car is heading towards the retaining wall and your brakes fail.

More CRASHES to come

Remember the lovely experiment with the BMW 7 series? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

R.O.F.L.M.A.O.!!!!!

Radio gives you a Windows CE illegal operation when you try to convert the station into METRIC and then suddenly the breaks seize up and the car won't even run.

"Dude, where's my car's product activation code?"

[lemob]

President's Pointless Political Posturing

Nice alliteration, eh?

Every single phishing attempt I've captured originated from an offshore mail server, and pointed the potential mark to a url on an offshore web server. So this law will have an affect on these criminals how, exactly?

[Greg Sparkman]

FIAT -- Fix It Again Tony

How fitting that M$ has teamed up with Fiat, an automobile
most commonly seen in the shop.