iLane, the email reader for your car

It's probably not the safest practice to to single-handedly control your vehicle while single-handedly checking your email, but until now there really wasn't an everything-free way to check your inbox while cruising. The iLane, a small device that interfaces with your Bluetooth-enabled handheld, acts as your own personal narrator by notifying the driver of incoming mail, reading your messages in a "natural sounding voice" -- which we'll believe when we hear it -- and replying to your commands. Reportedly, you can even forward, reply, or compose a message via the device, but we're unsure how chaotic your driving environment may end up whilst dealing with the presumably poor voice-recognition assistant. One much appreciated feature is the ability to prioritize messages so those disjointed "male performance supplement" advertisements in your spam folder aren't read before the manager's memo. Although the iLane currently lacks a price and release date, the handsfree approach to email while road-tripping should eliminate a few hazards along the way.

[Via Mobilemag]

[Dan Diemer @ Jul 24th 2006 7:50PM]

great! I can't wait to hear
"Be c st S i el k lin s g Wa u tc z he f s

R k OL e EX
C m ART b IER
B g REIT j LIN w G
BV o LG b ARI
O w MEG z A
PA y TE u K Ph v ilipp t e and ma q ny ot s her"

while I drive.

[Taylor Alexander @ Jul 24th 2006 8:14PM]

Why does this product remind me so much of some late '90's "bubble" tech startup? That logo really looks dated for one, and iStarting iEvery iWord with an i really helps with the feeling too. I've seen so many non-descript boxes with nice looking logos in the $1 bin at one of the local surplus electronics places (and here in Silicon Valley, there's LOTS of them... one of the places, for example, is loaded with boxes of proprietary, non-802.11x networking equipment from the pre-wifi days...), and as nice as the product sounds, i can't help but feel like this is one of those products.
-Taylor

[a1210 @ Jul 24th 2006 9:08PM]

My phone reads out my text messages. If I redirected my emails to my phone via text messages I'd have the same thing!

[Steve @ Jul 24th 2006 9:27PM]

...or install a carputer :)

[randf @ Jul 24th 2006 9:44PM]

i've got an idea...how about people just stick to driving instead of doing non-important things like: putting on makeup, watching movies, reading a book, talking on a phone (while eating, putting on makeup etc) and now checking email???

i don't need to be a victim of your public risk taking, especially when you are armed with a 6000lb Ford Excretion!

[rickm @ Jul 24th 2006 9:51PM]

I'm with randf on this, drive and pay attention to driving instead of checking email.

I'm all for this if I can get a jammer that I could fire up when I get behind someone in the left lane who is doing 55 while trying to send an email to his honey.

[DrBuzz0 @ Jul 25th 2006 1:16AM]

Yeah... This is exactly what I need. I wonder if I should hook it up to my friends-only e-mail address or the others.

Yep...crusising down the steet blairing the voice of Steven Hawking saying


"Subject: Hello. Getting back to you...... Hey, how is your sex life? Our natural male enhancement pills can help improve it. In just three months, you can add up to three inches to your..."