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Canon's Powershot PX is smart home camera for family moments
Canon has unveiled the PowerShot PX, a stationary camera that uses facial recognition and auto-subject search to automatically capture photos and video.
Automatic to shut down and end support for its car diagnostics dongle
Automatic, the company behind an on-board diagnostics (OBD-II) dongle for cars, announced that it’s shutting down due to COVID-19.
Automatic's original car adapters won't work after August 31st
Automatic made its mark by launching an ODB-II car adapter and app that can monitor many of your vehicle's functions, but it just made a move that may upset its original buyers. The company announced that it's not just ending support for the original first and second-gen (Legacy and Silver) adapters, but killing the apps altogether. That will essentially turn the device into an unusable piece of plastic, even though the second-gen version has only been on the market for four years.
Automatic's new car adapter uses 3G without a subscription
Automatic makes devices that track your driving style and trips, quantifying that information for you in a companion app. These gadgets also do thing like tell you why your check engine light is on before you pay a few hundred dollars to a mechanic. Today the company announced its latest-gen adapter, the Automatic Pro. The $130 dongle has an unlimited, no subscription 3G connection -- a departure from previous models that used your phone's Bluetooth connection to talk to the company's servers.
Automatic launches an app store for cars
Two years ago, Automatic released a $100 Bluetooth-enabled car adapter along with an accompanying smartphone app to give you all kinds of insight about your vehicle. You could use it to track your trips, figure out your fuel consumption, locate your parking spot and even find out what that Check Engine light really means. Today, Automatic is taking that whole smart driving assistant thing one step further: It's opening an app store so that third-party apps can harness some of that same metadata too. And since Automatic's adapter works with any car with an OBD-II (Onboard Diagnostics) port -- that's all vehicles built and sold in the US since 1996 -- that means this store will be compatible with a great majority of vehicles out there. Likely one you already own.
Comcast's Xfinity Home works with automation tech you already own
Comcast's Xfinity Home has been automating living spaces for a while, but now the company is opening up the cloud-based system to more gadgets. Starting this summer, customers can add devices from August, Automatic, Cuff, Leeo, Lutron, Rachio, SkyBell and Whistle to the kit that already wrangles motion sensors, connected outlets, cameras and more. We're talking about things like August's smart locks, Automatic's car tracker and Cuff's smart jewelery. What's more, Comcast is teaming up with Nest as part of the Works with Nest effort to bring that smart thermostat into the fold, too. In addition to those new partners, Comcast will open up an SDK later this year alongside a Works with Xfinity Home certification program to make sure approved devices can be used with minimal headaches.
Automatic's car tracker works with Nest to give you a cozy arrival
Your car and house may soon be having conversations about your whereabouts, thanks to a new feature from Automatic's car tracker. The $100 dongle (US only) -- which attaches to your car's ODB-II port to track your driving and save fuel -- now works with Nest's thermostat to optimize home heating and power usage. The system allows you to create basic "rules" that can switch Nest into home or away mode, depending on your whereabouts. It also supports deeper functionality, that could, say, crank the heat when you pass a certain landmark on a specific day. The systems will supposedly work together to learn your habits with the goal of eventually giving you "just-in-time" heating control to minimize energy usage. Or, you know, plot your overthrow.
Automatic targets teen drivers with License+ service
Every time I get into my car and take a drive, short or long, a small dongle plugged into its onboard diagnostic port sends data - including location - to an app on my iPhone. I get a score on how efficient my driving is, and it's also simple to track all of my trips in a Google Spreadsheet through IFTTT integration. That dongle is from Automatic (US$99.99), a company that today announced a new service targeting teen drivers. License+ is designed to help those kids who have just picked up a driver's license master their driving skills by providing coaching. License+ helps parents keep track of how their teen's driving skills are progressing (or regressing), while providing teens with encouragement. License+ is a free update to the Automatic app that tracks the driving performance of the teen through a 100-driving-hour program. Parents review data from the app and can coach their kids to discuss progress. Automatic CEO Thejo Kote says that "We believe parents want to be able to prepare their teens for the road ahead while respecting their freedom and privacy. License+ brings parents and teens together to improve the teen's skills during the first six months of independent driving, which are the most dangerous – while fostering mutual communication and trust." Through the Automatic web dashboard, parents can see the teen's drive score, progress throughout the 100-hour program, and ask about bad driving events like hard brakes and accelerations or speeding over 70 mph. If parents also want to monitor that the car isn't going to places it should be, a list of cities visited is also provided. License+ gamifies learning driving skills, giving badges when a teen masters skills like night or highway driving. At the end of the 100 hour program, the driver gains a bronze, silver or gold completion medal based on their drive score throughout the program. Parents will also appreciate that Automatic can help teens by coaching them on how to get help in the event of a crash, decoding those cryptic Check Engine light codes, or even remembering where they parked the car. It's a brilliant and free addition to a service that's already useful for any driver. If you have an Automatic dongle and a teenager, be sure to get the update as soon as possible.
Automatic launches a Web Dashboard; Progressive teams up with Zubie
Automatic is a handy little device that plugs into your car's OBD (On Board Diagnostics) port, linking to your iPhone to give you an idea of how efficient your driving is. TUAW reviewed the US$99.95 Automatic earlier in 2014, and the device does an amazing job of providing you with data about your trips and driving abilities, all through the free Automatic app. Yesterday the company announced a new feature that's instantly available to all users -- a Web Dashboard for viewing data from any web browser, including Safari and other browsers on iPad. As a happy Automatic user, I immediately logged into the Web Dashboard with my account and was greeted with a very iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite-like page displaying a regional map marked with many of my more recent driving trips. Those trips are detailed on the right sidebar with your Automatic "score", total mileage driven, MPG, the amount spent on fuel (based on regional gas prices), and total hours spent driving. It's possible to sort trips based on those different factors, and those who want to slice 'n dice their driving data can even export the information as a .CSV file. In similar news, Progressive Insurance announced today that it's teaming up with another driving tracking service -- Zubie -- to allow Zubie users to share their data with Progressive as part of the company's Snapshot program. If the device shows that a driver is safe and doesn't speed or jam on the brakes constantly, those participating can get a discount on their auto insurance.
Automatic's updated iOS app tells you how much gas you've got left
Automatic brought its driving companion app (which, if you'll recall, pairs with a dongle in your car to deliver real-time driving feedback) to Android earlier this month, but it hasn't left iOS users out in the cold. The team just pulled back the curtain on version 2.0 for roadwarriors who have pledged allegiance to Apple, and that update has brought some nifty new tricks into the fold. The iOS app underwent a touch of plastic surgery, but the real meat comes in the form of two new features for the lead-footed among you. In the early days, your Link dongle would bing at you once you tip-toed over the 70 mph threshold, but you can now tweak that speed limit to your like. More importantly, owners of certain cars will be able to see their current fuel level (along with a estimate of remaining range) on their phones, which sounds much better than trying to guess how much is left in the tank when the fuel light comes on. Yeah, yeah, some of this will sound passé if you tool around in a ride from the past few years, but there's a staggering chunk of people who could stand to smarten up their cars without breaking the bank.
Automatic launches on Android, dismisses your friends when you drive
If you're a car fan making do with a slightly older ride, Automatic's $99 Link dongle is a neat thing to have around: it tracks your trips, monitors your fuel consumption, and lets you know when you're being a leadfoot. It used to be that only Apple acolytes could get their Automatic dongles syncing with their phones, but the company says that's the case no longer: it has just released its Android app to bring the word of realtime driving feedback to all. As a reward for their patience (or, you know, because Android lets devs can get down and dirty with low-level access to hardware), Android users get an extra feature, too. The app can silence your phone while driving, and tell your chums to buzz off (via text message, anyway) if they contact you at the wheel. Combine that with the ability to store and transmit information about a crash, and you've got yourself a pretty nifty car companion -- just don't try testing that latter feature on your own.
Automatic brings the Internet of Things to your car
If there's one topic that absolutely fascinates me these days, it's the "Internet of Things" -- connected devices that talk to our smartphones and tablets that can provide us with information. Now that information can be as simple as telling us what the temperature is, whether a door is opened or closed, or if somebody has entered or left a room, or it can be as complex as telling us how we're driving. That latter use case is exactly where Automatic (US$99.95) comes into play. Usable in practically every car manufactured in the US since 1996, Automatic consists of a dongle called the Link that plugs into the data port of your car -- otherwise known as the OBD (on board diagnostics) port -- and an application that runs on your iPhone. The two communicate via Bluetooth 4.0, so that at the end of every drive you have an idea of how far you drove, how much gas you used (works for gasoline and hybrid vehicles), how much it cost to drive that distance, and what your average gas mileage was during that drive. But that's not all Automatic does. By watching how you drive, it provides a 0 to 100 score (with 100 being the best) on how efficient your driving is. That is determined by looking at how many times you accelerate too quickly, jam on your brakes, or drive at speeds over 70 miles per hour. There's a new beta feature that can notify emergency personnel and loved ones if your car is in an accident, and the combination of the app and the Link always remembers where you parked your car -- even if you don't remember. If you ever get one of those "Check Engine" lights on your car, Automatic will tell you what's happening and in some cases will even let you turn the light off. I'm currently testing one of the Automatic dongles and so far have found it and the app to be a surprisingly powerful combo. I have a 2007 Honda CR-V and found the OBD port without difficulty under the steering wheel of the car. The Automatic app takes you step by step through entering a specific code that identifies the Link, setting up a free account, initializing the link between Link and phone, and then acquiring the vehicle identification number (VIN) and doing an initial conversation with your car's computer. The setup process is fast and easy, taking me about two minutes to complete. All you need to do after you've set up the Link is drive. The device and your iPhone will notify you if you're stomping on the gas pedal or brakes too hard, or if you happen to get into that inefficient driving zone above 70 mph. After a drive, your stats are immediately viewable in the app. I was happy to see that I'm a very efficient driver, scoring a 100 (top score!) so far. Yesterday I went to our local grocery store and was confronted with bad traffic due to an accident. Sure enough, looking at the Automatic results after the fact, it's obvious that it not only took longer to drive the 3.4 miles to the store than it did to return from there, but that sitting in a traffic jam while the police cleaned up the accident cost me an additional 22 cents of fuel. What initially got me interested in Automatic was noticing that the device has its own IFTTT (IF This Then That) channel. Automatic triggers include New Trip Completed, Ignition Turned On, Ignition Turned On In Area, Ignition Turned Off, Ignition Turned Off In Area, Check Engine Light Turned On, and Check Engine Light Turned Off. The IFTTT integration is amazing, because it means that you can create recipes that do things like automatically log all of your trips to a Google Drive spreadsheet, have an email sent to your mechanic automatically if the Check Engine light goes on, upload or email a map of your road trip, and more. While I will wait to do an official review of Automatic until I've had some time to use it and test out the IFTTT integration, I'm already very impressed with what appears to be a solid and very useful tool for anyone who drives.
Automatic Link driving assistant can now auto-post to Facebook, other apps
One of the greatest benefits of Automatic's Link driving assistant dongle is that it finally made it possible to hook your car's metadata to the web. You could then use your smartphone to do things like track your trips, note your parking spot and even figure out your Check Engine light problem without going to a mechanic. Well today, it's about to go one step further thanks to a partnership with IFTTT. IFTTT, if you're unaware, is a service that hooks up a variety of apps and services together with a series of "If This, Then That" formulas. Now with Automatic, you can create recipes that'll prompt an action once it detects certain information from your car. For example, you can set it so that you get a text message every time the car starts up, or send a push notification to your spouse whenever you're running late. You can automatically post trip summaries to Facebook, tweet if you're ever in an accident or keep track of your mileage in a dedicated Google Spreadsheet. It even works with other Internet connected hardware -- a possible recipe is to turn on all your Philips Hue lights as soon as you get home. IFTTT's Automatic channel already has a pretty healthy set of triggers, but Ljuba Miljkovic, Automatic's chief product officer, tells us they're hoping to build more around activities like speeding or braking hard. "We see this as a step toward Automatic really being connected to the wider world," says Miljkovic. "For example, we announced that the Link now has iBeacon thanks to a software update. We really see third party integration as a big thing in our future [...] We're making it possible to add your car to the Internet of Things." If that sounds like an exciting proposition to you, head on over to the source to find out more about the Automatic Link, IFTTT and its plans for an even more connected car.
With Motorola Assist's latest update, you can now reply to texts with your voice while driving
Motorola Assist, the contextually aware app that lets you set triggers and actions for a wide variety of tasks, is smart enough to determine when you're driving, sleeping, in a meeting or in other situations. In that first scenario, however, the app was only able to read texts out loud to you as you drove, leaving you without a way to respond aside from pulling over and doing it manually. The latest update to the app fixes that, as it promises to let you reply to incoming messages using your vocal cords. Additionally, Assist can also launch your music app of choice as soon as you begin driving. Assist is available on the Moto X and the trio of Verizon's latest Droid devices, so text-happy drivers should check it out post-haste.
Automatic Link review: an expensive way to learn better driving habits
We love when we find new ways to bring our toys together. The Automatic Link does just that: it connects your iPhone to your car's computer, using Bluetooth Low Energy as a bridge to the On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) interface that's been standard in most cars since 1996. Coupled with a free app, you can log various stats from your road trips, including how aggressively you drove and how much gasoline your car consumed. Basically, it's sort of like a quantified-self tracker, but for your vehicle. So, does this $100 driver's assistant deliver? Let's see.
Automatic Link promises to be personal driving assistant, available now for $100
First Automatic said its driving assistant dongle and related iOS app would be ready in May, and then it said the app needed until August to fully bake. Well, it's now October, and at long last, it appears the San Francisco-based startup is finally ready to launch its connected car platform to the general public. As a reminder, Automatic utilizes a piece of hardware called the Link that attaches to your car's OBD-II port -- most cars built after 1996 have one -- along with an iPhone app that communicates with it via Bluetooth LE and translates that onboard diagnostic information into usable data. For example, the app will monitor your driving habits and let you know when you're riding the gas pedal too hard or hitting the brakes too aggressively. If your car's Check Engine light shows up, it'll give you its best guess as to what caused it and even lets you clear it if you've managed to solve the problem. There are other uses too, like dialing 911 if you've been in an accident or finding a parked car. Have a peek at our hands-on for more info, and if you feel like picking one up yourself, Automatic's Link hardware is on sale for $99.95 on Apple's online store and retail locations starting today.
Automatic delays connected car platform until August as it seeks to perfect iPhone app
It's an age-old problem: do we clamor for a company to ship a product that's not ready, or do we swallow delays with grace as it aims to deliver when things are good and ready? Such a choice has to be made when it comes to Automatic, the California-based startup which had originally hoped to start shipping its automotive dongle + app platform at the end of this month. Those (including yours truly) who pre-ordered on day one received an email last night delivering the news that things were running a bit behind schedule. The hardware itself is actually already being manufactured, but stellar components are only a piece of the total puzzle. The software -- an iPhone app, in this instance -- still needs more time in the proverbial oven, and now we're being told that packages won't ship until "the end of August." A three-month hiccup is nothing to scoff at, and Automatic seemingly knows it. In order to sate those who were hoping to use the $70 product during their upcoming summer road trips, the company is giving early pre-orderers the option to beta test the app as it stands today. For those who agree, they'll receive their hardware in mid-June, but they'll be forced to use it with a version of the app that "lacks a few features like Crash Alert and support for multiple cars and users." We'll be keeping a close eye as the situation develops, and will definitely endeavor to pass along a review just as soon as we're able. If you're curious, we've embedded the email in full just after the break.
Automatic Link connects phone and car for better driving, we go hands-on (video)
Scanners that can read data from your car's OBD-II port (which is in every car built since 1996) aren't exactly new; they're on-hand at every mechanic's workshop and curious car enthusiasts can buy them from most hardware stores. But few port readers are consumer-friendly enough for the everyday driver to grok. Enter the newly announced Automatic Link, which uses Bluetooth 4.0 and a paired smartphone to deliver diagnostic info with a decidedly novel twist. Instead of just hard facts, it offers an innovative array of features that range from monitoring driving habits, dialing 911 in case of an accident and even letting you clear a check engine light if you can fix the problem yourself. Join us after the break where we give the Link a bit of a test drive, speak to Automatic's lead product guy and find out a bit more about the potential of this tiny plastic nub.
Automatic Link converts your iPhone into a personal driving assistant (video)
That OBD II port that has been installed on just about every US-bound automobile since 1996? Its potential has just been tapped. For years, ambiguous dashboard lights have clued motorists in on internal issues, but driving to a body shop just to borrow a data port reader is so last decade. Enter the Automatic Link -- a simplistic nub that plugs into said port and utilizes Bluetooth 4.0 to connect to your iPhone 4S or 5 (prior iPhones use older versions of the BT stack). Once linked, it'll monitor your driving habits and routes, sending gentle reminders to not brake so suddenly or accelerate so quickly in a bid to save fuel. Moreover, it'll dial 911 and alert your relatives should you get in an accident, and perhaps most intriguingly, it'll send full diagnostic reports to your iPhone whenever a warning indicator lights up. Heck, it'll let you clear the code through your phone once you've remedied whatever has gone wrong.
Rolls-Royce Wraith picks gears using GPS, keeps your Spirit of Ecstasy soaring (video)
Many Rolls-Royce drivers are used to effortless speed between the big engines and smooth suspensions. The automaker's new Wraith coupe could iron out what few of those wrinkles are left through a clever use of GPS for the transmission. Its eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox relies on positioning to pick gears in advance, gauging the situation down to the exact stretch of road: it can see the need for a shorter gear at the upcoming corner, for example. Other tech upgrades aren't quite as fresh, although we're sure that less traditionalist Rolls drivers won't mind a heads-up display, voice command support and the infotainment system's multi-touch trackpad. The Wraith's €245,000 ($318,745) price and late 2013 availability will likely be too much to endure if all you're looking for is seamless shifting -- they may, however, provide some consolation for missing out on that LaFerrari.
