Your car is your mobile castle these days--and so deserves to be appropriately outfitted with the latest gadgets. And there's no shortage of gear for doing that.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, equipment makers of all stripes were on hand to show off their latest and greatest for making your car into something far more than a mode of transportation. The newest global positioning satellite systems, for instance, let you talk your way to a destination without ever taking your hands off the wheel. Other gadgets aim to help you buff up your ride's status symbol. Still others cater directly to the kid-toting crowd.
Start with the fun stuff. Bazooka, Earthquake, Titanium Power and Magnadyne--these aren't exactly weapons but companies with sound systems that will make the ground shake and put a dent in your eardrums. We were overwhelmed by the JackHammer SuperWoofer from MTX Audio. There's nothing lightweight about this subwoofer. It weighs in at 369 pounds. It incorporates magnets powerful enough to wipe out the data on credit cards that come within 25 feet. This is the ultimate, "competitive" sound system.
Frequent nighttime drivers might appreciate the Flir PathFindIR thermal imaging camera, which can spot animals and pedestrians up to 2,000 feet away--much sooner than you can eyeball them. This is no toy system; military and police vehicles have tried out this technology. It's also priced accordingly.
You can get lost evaluating all the GPS systems available these days. Happily most are priced within the budget of typical consumers. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, the Magellan Maestro Elite was the only on-board system that lets you use Google Local search to look up locations. Garmin's nuvi 880 features speech recognition so that you can talk to your direction system, rather than touching a screen to figure out where to go next.
Microsoft and Ford Motor have created Sync, an "in-car connectivity system" that first debuted last year but will become more widespread in 2008. The latest Sync is designed to generate vehicle diagnostic reports and automatically call 911 if an air bag goes off in an accident. And here's the cool part: Sync also lets motorists call up songs on their iPods and other MP3 players via voice commands. Ford plans to make Sync available in most of its high-end vehicles by the end of the year, but it can be purchased separately, too.
There are other ways to make gadgets work in your car even if they weren't exactly built that way. Add Scosche's BlueLife DIY Bluetooth Receiver into a car that isn't equipped with Bluetooth and your cell phone and music devices will get channeled through the car speakers.
Sirius and Ford together have developed a "Travel Link" navigation system, which the carmaker will roll out during 2008. The subscription service features an in-dash screen that provides live information about local gas prices, traffic conditions, sports scores and local movie listings. Included in the hardware for Travel Link, although technically separate from the service, is a 10-gigabyte voice-command "jukebox" that can hold up to 2,400 songs and display complete track information and album cover art thanks to technology provided by Gracenote.
Then there's Azentek's multimedia PC--the Atlas CPC-1200, designed explicitly for cars. It uses an Intel Core Duo processor and can do anything you need--run Microsoft Vista, play high-definition radio, run a GPS system.
If that seems too elaborate, there are ways to amuse your children in the car for a more modest price. Sirius Satellite Radio has launched an automotive satellite TV service. Only three channels so far--but they are the ones that most kids want to see: Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and a special mobile edition of the Cartoon Network. It's available in some Chrysler models now, and more broadly available in the second quarter of this year.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, equipment makers of all stripes were on hand to show off their latest and greatest for making your car into something far more than a mode of transportation. The newest global positioning satellite systems, for instance, let you talk your way to a destination without ever taking your hands off the wheel. Other gadgets aim to help you buff up your ride's status symbol. Still others cater directly to the kid-toting crowd.
Start with the fun stuff. Bazooka, Earthquake, Titanium Power and Magnadyne--these aren't exactly weapons but companies with sound systems that will make the ground shake and put a dent in your eardrums. We were overwhelmed by the JackHammer SuperWoofer from MTX Audio. There's nothing lightweight about this subwoofer. It weighs in at 369 pounds. It incorporates magnets powerful enough to wipe out the data on credit cards that come within 25 feet. This is the ultimate, "competitive" sound system.
Frequent nighttime drivers might appreciate the Flir PathFindIR thermal imaging camera, which can spot animals and pedestrians up to 2,000 feet away--much sooner than you can eyeball them. This is no toy system; military and police vehicles have tried out this technology. It's also priced accordingly.
You can get lost evaluating all the GPS systems available these days. Happily most are priced within the budget of typical consumers. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, the Magellan Maestro Elite was the only on-board system that lets you use Google Local search to look up locations. Garmin's nuvi 880 features speech recognition so that you can talk to your direction system, rather than touching a screen to figure out where to go next.
Microsoft and Ford Motor have created Sync, an "in-car connectivity system" that first debuted last year but will become more widespread in 2008. The latest Sync is designed to generate vehicle diagnostic reports and automatically call 911 if an air bag goes off in an accident. And here's the cool part: Sync also lets motorists call up songs on their iPods and other MP3 players via voice commands. Ford plans to make Sync available in most of its high-end vehicles by the end of the year, but it can be purchased separately, too.
There are other ways to make gadgets work in your car even if they weren't exactly built that way. Add Scosche's BlueLife DIY Bluetooth Receiver into a car that isn't equipped with Bluetooth and your cell phone and music devices will get channeled through the car speakers.
Sirius and Ford together have developed a "Travel Link" navigation system, which the carmaker will roll out during 2008. The subscription service features an in-dash screen that provides live information about local gas prices, traffic conditions, sports scores and local movie listings. Included in the hardware for Travel Link, although technically separate from the service, is a 10-gigabyte voice-command "jukebox" that can hold up to 2,400 songs and display complete track information and album cover art thanks to technology provided by Gracenote.
Then there's Azentek's multimedia PC--the Atlas CPC-1200, designed explicitly for cars. It uses an Intel Core Duo processor and can do anything you need--run Microsoft Vista, play high-definition radio, run a GPS system.
If that seems too elaborate, there are ways to amuse your children in the car for a more modest price. Sirius Satellite Radio has launched an automotive satellite TV service. Only three channels so far--but they are the ones that most kids want to see: Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and a special mobile edition of the Cartoon Network. It's available in some Chrysler models now, and more broadly available in the second quarter of this year.
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