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BMW pulls touchscreen features from some models amid chip shortage
For now, some cars are going back to iDrive controls for the infotainment system.
BMW previews iDrive in the iX electric SUV
BMW has previewed iDrive for the iX electric SUV, and the interface has been updated for an era of semi-autonomous driving and connected cars.
Hitting the Books: BMW's iDrive and the pitfalls of an overly customizable UX
Major and Shah explore the user experience, how companies leverage it to attract and maintain customers, and how allowing users to define their own experiences can lead to disastrous design outcomes.
BMW’s Z4 M40i is a powerfully fun roadster
Roadsters are fun vehicles. They're top-down, nimble little cars that are summertime molded into steel, rubber, and glass. BMW's latest incarnation of the Z4 is all of those things and more. While we were sent the more powerful version of the car, it's hard to imagine the smaller-engine model not delivering the same amount of smiles. But it's not all windswept hair and sunshine. There's the inevitable exposure to sunburn and BMW has a few tech versions of that in its roadster.
BMW throws all its new tech at the X5
The average BMW X5 never strays too far from asphalt. It's more at home navigating mall parking than on a backwoods trail. BMW is changing that with its latest X5, starting at $60,700 for the xDrive 40i. The new SUV (or Sports Activity Vehicle, as BMW calls it) ships with actual "sports" capabilities along with an impressive suite of new technology that's premiering on the X5. The result is a BMW off-roader with a new infotainment system, updated driver's assist features and a big pile of features that that should keep X5 owners of the future happy even if they never take it off-road. But they totally could.
iDrive promises unlimited cloud-based phone backups for $5 per year
You probably know to keep backups of your smartphone's data in the cloud, but backing up everything can be an expensive proposition in an era when 128GB phones are a practical reality. That won't be quite as much of a sore point now that iDrive's new Unlimited Mobile Backup option is here. As the name implies, the subscription service lets you back up your Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices without fretting about storage limits. Everyone can at least safeguard calendars, contacts and media (including Facebook and Instagram photos); if you're on Android, you can also preserve call logs, text messages and whole apps.
Cloud storage meets old-school archiving with IDrive's new Safe service
An internet connection is usually the only thing between you and your remotely stored data. Not with IDrive's new "Safe" service, however, which is a strange mix of traditional archiving and newfangled cloud storage. For a one-off payment of $100, the company'll send you a physical 1TB hard drive to fill up, collect it from you, and store it indefinitely (with no recurring charge). With 24 hours notice, IDrive will dive into its warehouse, dig out your HDD and let you have at its contents through the magic of the interwebs -- higher pricing tiers are also available for individuals or businesses that require more frequent data dumps. We can almost see why some might prefer their very own HDD as opposed to an anonymous server rack, even if both are technically out of reach. Best to keep some treasured family photos backed-up though -- that flight isn't going to wait 24 hours for you to recover your e-ticket.
BMW expanding ConnectedDrive with web browsing, Siri, S Voice and Android support
BMW has been refining its ConnectedDrive services for months, but that was apparently only a prelude to greater things: the automaker just outlined a roadmap for 2013 and beyond. The company is rolling out iDrive 4.2 firmware for the 2014 model year that supports web browsing while stopped, iAP Bluetooth control through iOS devices and integration with both Siri Eyes Free and S Voice. The new revision also brings voice search for locations through Google, and a ConnectedDrive Store lets drivers buy services without leaving the car. There's more to come in the long run. BMW will add support for Android apps later this year, for a start. It also wants cellular services to be commonplace. Many of its cars will have built-in SIM cards from July onward, and the company expects that cellular access will eventually be standard or near-standard worldwide -- certainly in i-series cars, where it's needed for remote control. About the only catch to the strategy is the current lack of upgrade plans for those with older vehicles. If you're using a 2013 BMW or earlier, you may have to settle for owning the Penultimate Driving Machine.
IDrive Connect offers Google Docs access via virtual folder on your Windows machine
Need a way to access those Google Docs outside of the native interface? IDrive Online Backup has unveiled its free software that does just that. IDrive Connect allows folks who fancy the document-sharing platform to access files as if they were resting in a folder on their PC -- in a DropBox-esque fashion. The application enables drag-and-drop capabilities for easy upload, conversion for popular document types to the Google Docs format and file sharing directly within the Connect interface. If that wasn't enough, you can also save those Google Docs to an existing IDrive account, which offers up to 5GB of backup / storage (not just documents, either) at no cost. If you're looking for all the details, hit the PR below or take a gander and the source links to download the app and get started.
iDrive, iArm among hot holiday gifts for 2011
Many new iPad accessories are making the rounds this Christmas, but none are as hot as the new iDrive and updated iArm (both US$8.00, although there's a Cyber Monday deal today). The iDrive is a mobile device mount that can hold an iPad, Kindle, or other tech device on the steering wheel of your car, while the innovative iArm makes it simple to hold an iPad, a steaming mug of coffee, and your iPhone all at the same time. I'm personally looking forward to getting an iDrive, not for my car, but for my bike. I'll run the Navigon app on the iPad and no longer have to squint to see where I am on the map. I can also see where the iDrive is going to be useful on those long car drives from Denver to Santa Fe, NM on I-25, when I can put the car on cruise control and have my iPad right in front of me for entertainment purposes. The iDrive comes with both a wheel mount and a surface mount. Bus drivers will appreciate how the iDrive clamps securely to a steering wheel, allowing full access to the iPad's screen while they're sitting in heavy traffic. The surface mount is more useful for mounting an iPad on snowmobiles, personal watercraft, or church pews, and has a patented tilting head for comfortable viewing at any angle. The iArm is another product that is flying off of store shelves this holiday season. This innovative product first arrived last year, but has been updated to work with the iPad 2 and new Kindle Fire. It will be my constant companion during those Wednesday live streaming sessions for TUAW TV Live, when I'll have the iPad strapped to one arm with show notes on it and still have a free hand for drinking beverages or clicking my Magic Trackpad. In case you're thinking that these two products are ludicrous ... you're right. They're actually part of the Prank Pack gift box line from 30 Watt, designed for disguising a more practical gift.
Tesla Model S to have 17-inch infotainment console powered by Tegra; BMW using NVIDIA tech too
Tesla is touting the world's biggest center console for its upcoming Model S today: a titanic 17-inch touchscreen display powered by NVIDIA's Tegra chip. Infotainment, climate control and navigation will all be managed using the vast dashboard dominator, while NVIDIA's hardware will also take responsibility for keeping the 12.3-inch instrument cluster LCD updated. Considering the Model S, like the Roadster before it, is an all-electric vehicle, you'd expect energy efficiency to be a pretty important consideration in the choice of infotainment system and Tesla points that out as a key advantage of Tegra, describing it as "power-stingy." Another motor company hooking up with NVIDIA is BMW, who promises that all of its upcoming models for 2011 will benefit from Green Team GPUs powering their iDrive navigation and information systems. We don't know what exact GPUs will be used, but a "visually rich" next-gen UI is being promised, stretching out to a 1280 x 600 resolution. You'll find both press releases after the break.
RIM converts BMW's iDrive into 'a remote control for your BlackBerry' (video)
If there's one thing business types love more than their BlackBerry, it's their BMW -- or so we're told. It makes all sorts of sense, therefore, that the two companies would partner up to help the things they sell communicate with each other more effortlessly. Using Bluetooth MAP (Message Access Profile), BlackBerry devices can now beam emails and contacts over to BMW's iDrive dash system, where the driver can listen to his messages via a text-to-speech option or make calls using the car's speakerphone. The first supported handset is the newly minted Pearl 3G, and we're told this functionality will come as an integrated part of BlackBerry 6. To see how it works on a 335is, click past the break for the video. [Thanks, Horatiu]
2010 BMWs boast improved Nuance voice control system
BMWs aren't exactly lacking for technology these days, but it looks like the new 2010 models come packing a little something extra to make your life even easier. As Nuance Communications is all too happy to announce itself, the new vehicles boast an improved voice control system from the company that promises to allow for a "more conversational dialogue between drivers and BMW navigation and entertainment systems." That, naturally, gets paired with BMW's own iDrive system, and includes some Sync-like abilities to search for music by voice, as well as a new "One-Shot Destination Entry" feature to let folks enter a destination address in one simple voice command. It can even apparently recognize several different language in parallel, letting a French-speaking driver, for instance, search for a German song title or English album title.
IDrive Portable HDD backs your files up locally and online
Look, we feel your pain. There's about a gazillion options when it comes to portable hard drives, but the IDrive Portable actually does differentiate itself from the masses in one particularly useful way. Aside from being the "thinnest and lightest portable USB drive in its class," this 0.3 pound unit houses 320GB of space on a 5,400RPM HDD, and it plays nice with Windows / OS X machines. Predictably, it features a one-click backup option for storing precious data outside of your PC, but unlike the other guys, this one also includes the ability to backup online for yet another layer of protection. Of course, that online bit will run you up to $4.95 per month, but we have to say the interface looks pretty swank. Anywho, the device itself is listed as shipping within one to two days for $119.95, and all the nitty-gritty about the services is tucked away in the read link.[Thanks, Chris]
Custom Toyota MR2 carputer presents the ultimate distraction for drivers
This insanely kitted out Toyota MR2 is being put up for sale by its owner somewhere in Germany -- he's a highly motivated seller, provided you have the prerequisite electronics and programming (especially Visual Basic) skills. The standard gauges and indicators in the car have been removed, replaced with touch screens and a console mounted iDrive knob, offering the pilot of this machine control over almost every aspect of its operation: climate control, GPS, fuel consumption, mirrors, radar/laser, wireless transfer of music from a home computer, lights, fog lights... and the all-important VCD playback. Also listed on the original posting is something called the "police button" which "virtually controls the police." This might have been something that Google mistranslated, but we prefer to think otherwise.[Via Autoblog]
BMW introducing updated, more customizable iDrive system
It looks like BMW's sometimes derided iDrive system is about to get another boost in features / complexity, with the automaker now apparently readying a whole slew of features that'll add even more customization options to cars using the system. That will apparently include everything from screen savers and sound effects to tweaks in transmission shift points and engine boost levels, which could be customized to either increase fuel economy or improve overall performance. What's more, those changes will apparently be able to be made from any internet-connected computer in addition to from inside the car itself, and you'll be able to save multiple profiles that'll be automatically activated whenever an individual's key fob is in close proximity. Be sure to hit up the read link below for the long list of new features.[Via Autoblog]
BMW tests IP networked iDrive car
BMW has started testing an IP solution for its cars that uses standard ethernet to connect car components to the central computer. The testbed could potentially lower costs: if not due to the physical component cost, then as a result of the IPv6 protocol's future-proof design. BMW even feels satisfied that the IP network can cope with safety features, which may be undermined somewhat by the inevitable attempts at high-speed LAN parties in the back seat.[Via Autoblog]