The competition between Microsoft and open-source software reaches into the automotive space with the announcement of a new alliance among automakers and technology providers called Genivi. The goal of the alliance is to build a Linux stack that will provide a common architecture for automotive infotainment systems.
At the same time, Microsoft announces version 4.0 of its own automotive platform, on which Ford's Sync and Fiat's Blue & Me systems are based. The new Microsoft platform now supports Intel chip architecture and includes what Microsoft calls "common head unit functionality," meaning that the platform comes with standard modules for integrating CD playback and ripping, along with other applications.
Version 4.0 supports a common voice command structure that works for typical car applications, such as navigation and Bluetooth cell phone integration, so users won't have to go back to a top-level tree structure to issue commands for different in-car applications.
... Read moreThe Hyundai IT booth at the IFA electronics fair in Berlin got some unwanted visitors on Saturday: German customs police.
Police seized flat-screen TVs from the South Korean company's booth as visitors watched, according to Reuters. The raid followed Thursday's German court ruling that Hyundai IT and other companies were planning to display unlicensed patented tech at the fair, Reuters said. A customs official told the wire service that 69 raids had been authorized.
The official wouldn't name the other companies but said about 170 TVs, 140 digital audio players, 21 cell phones, and 57 DVD recorders had been seized so far, Reuters said. The wire service said that Hyundai could not immediately be reached for comment.
IFA, which began Friday and runs through Wednesday, is among the largest consumer electronics shows in the world.
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