DrivingWhileTexting
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Samsung announces Drive Link, a car-friendly app with MirrorLink integration
Until self-driving cars become mainstream, it's best to keep eyes on roads and hands off phones. With this in mind, Samsung's debuting Drive Link, an app that balances in-car essentials with driver safety, complete with approval from the no-nonsense Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association. It's all about the bare essentials -- navigation, hands-free calling and audiotainment from your phone-based files or TuneIn. Destinations can be pulled from S Calendar appointments or texts without trouble, and the text-to-speech feature means you won't miss a message, email or social media update. The best bit is that via MirrorLink, all these goodies can be fed through compatible dash screens and speaker systems. Drive Link is available now through Sammy's app store for Europeans sporting an international Galaxy S III, and will be coming to other ICS handsets "in the near future."
Magellan unveils RoadMate GPS units with auto-replies to calls, earns fellow drivers' gratitude
Phone use while driving is still a serious problem in the US, even for those trying to quit -- which makes us happy to see Magellan doing its part to change travellers' habits. Out of five new RoadMate GPS units the company is releasing to the world, the Bluetooth-equipped, 4.3-inch 2255T-LMB and 5-inch 5265T-LMB models both carry a Safe Texting mode that can reply to any inbound voice call with a text, supplying either the arrival time or the promise of a call later on. All five of the navigators support a portrait view for more details of the road ahead, and the top two 5-inch devices support Magellan's $150 Back-Up Camera for delicate parking jobs. We'll have to wait until September before the RoadMates arrive, but the sub-$200 prices will be a relief to other drivers who want at least a few more eyes on the road.
RIM patent uses motion, CAPTCHAs to stop texting while driving, shows a fine appreciation of irony
More and more people understand that texting while driving is a bad idea, but RIM has just been granted a patent that would have smartphones step in before things get out of hand. Going beyond just filtering inbound messages like some motion-based lockdown apps, the BlackBerry maker's invention also turns off the creation of any outbound messages as long as the phone is moving within a given speed range. The override for the lock is the dictionary definition of ironic, however: the technique makes owners type out the answer to a CAPTCHA challenge onscreen, encouraging the very problem it's meant to stop. As much as we could still see the hassle being enough to deter some messaging-addicted drivers, we have a hunch that the miniscule hurdle is a primary reason why the 2009-era patent hasn't found its way into a shipping BlackBerry. Maybe RIM should have chronic texters solve a Rubik's Cube instead.
Sprint announces Drive First app to stop distracted driving, expects you to pay $2/month for it
Driving whilst distracted is becoming enough of a problem for our various government agencies to start looking into ways to proactively prevent it, rather than just pass laws against it, but Sprint is being more proactive than most. It's announced an app called Drive First, developed by Location Labs, which won't be available until sometime in the third quarter. The app runs on Android and basically puts your phone into lock-down mode "when driving is detected," automatically sending incoming calls to voicemail, auto-replying to texts that you're unavailable, and preventing you from using much of any applications outside mainstream navigation fare. As always with these apps we're not sure just how they'll differentiate between driving and, say, sitting on a train, and we're guessing they'll be just as effective at locking out those riding shotgun, but for parents worrying about whether Junior is texting when he should be driving home from band practice it could be a good solution. That solution, however, will cost those 'rents $2 per month -- and certainly won't earn them any love from their angsty teen.
OnStar announces Bluetooth voice app, reads your Facebook messages to you
Texting while driving is deadly, for serious. But, letting someone else read to you is rather less risky, and talking isn't so bad either -- in moderation, anyway. Bring those two together and you have OnStar's solution, an upcoming Bluetooth app that will read text messages and status updates to you and, somewhat more interestingly, lets you speak a custom message that will be transcribed to your recipient. Fascinating? Absolutely, but we can't wait to hear what sort of fun and cheeky mistranslations come out of that feature. You can also post voice messages to Facebook and say things like "call back" to return a call. The app is, as of now, intended for Android devices only and is set to hit the Market sometime in the first half of the year, and at least initially it'll only work on cars that have Bluetooth or those equipped with the company's new aftermarket mirror, though you'll have to be paid up on your OnStar dues if you want to use it. Full details in the PR after the break. %Gallery-112593%
Email driving: Risky thrill sport, or just plain stupidity?
We all know that texting and driving is dangerous, but what about going beyond just sending short text messages, and actually composing and sending emails while driving? I'm voting for "stupid" as the proper adjective to use. iPhone Savior had a report this morning about Lane Roster, a Huntington Beach, California repo man who has taken driving and emailing to an extreme. Mr. Roster decided that he absolutely had to send emails while driving, so he mounted his iPhone on the dash of his car and loaded the Email 'n Walk app [app store], a program that uses a camera view of what's directly ahead of you as the backdrop to a standard email screen. Email 'n Walk, as the name implies, is designed to be used while walking. Roster, in a phone interview with iPhone Savior, stated that "If I can't email and drive or send an occasional text I would get absolutely nothing done." He also admitted to getting into two minor accidents while emailing and driving:"I had only two minor love taps where I rear ended some folks," Roster said, "There was no major damage to speak of. I just settled it right there with good ol' American greenbacks and we were on our way. I won't lie, I do swerve a tad some days when I'm tired, but email driving is a real rush man!"I'm going to end this post with two quick reminders: don't text (or email) and drive, and try to stay out of Huntington Beach, California if you value your life and your car.
Poll: Americans overwhelmingly against texting while driving, in theory
Be honest, when's the last time you responded to a text message from behind the wheel? If you're in with the majority of cellphone-toting Americans, you've done it -- though you probably also think it should be outlawed. A recent poll of about 2,000 US adults found that some 57 percent had participated in a little SMS action while driving at some point in their lives, but they were at least cognizant of its danger, with 91 percent guessing it was as dangerous as driving on a couple drinks. We'd guess as much, too -- if not more so, considering that texting takes brain function and your eyes away from the road. 89 percent of the polled folks want the practice outlawed, which really makes us wonder about those two percent that know it's dangerous and want to keep on doing it. Let us know to stay away with a bumper sticker on your jalopy, k?
Washington first state to ban texting while driving
Following up on a prior threat, Washington has put its legislative rubber to the road to become the first state to turn texting drivers into criminals. While the safety of handsfree voice calling continues to be a source of controversy, texting behind the wheel is a pretty boneheaded move any way you slice it -- seeing how it robs you of your eyes, your hands, and your attention -- so we applaud Washington's stance here. For the time being, though, it's more of a symbolic move since the state's politicians gave the law virtually no bite to back up its bark; besides the relatively light $101 fine, DWT is a secondary offense, meaning that a driver already needs to be nailed for something else (say, speeding) to get thrown the book. Maybe a little time in the pokey would get violators on the straight and narrow?
