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Apple working on a GPS unit?
It wouldn't be Sunday on the Mac web without a little wacky rumor to keep us interested. A German magazine by the name of Focus has a brief item today claiming that Apple is working on a GPS unit for cars. The article goes on to say that these units would be available exclusively for Mercedes during their the first 6 months of existence and then spread to other car manufacturers.Will an Apple branded GPS unit be coming to your car in 2009? I'm going to go ahead and say this isn't very likely. It would be more likely that iPhone 2.0 has built in GPS and some sort of car mount. That's a rumor I could get behind (though to be clear I have no inside information about any of this).Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Faith in GPS sends Mercedes downstream
So far, over-dependence on GPS devices has resulted in more inconvenience than actual danger, but things took a turn for the worse earlier this month when a U.K. woman sent her £96k Mercedes SL500 flying into a river, trusting the car's optimistic GPS guidance instead of the road signs warning of impending doom. Matters were made worse as the river was swollen from recent heavy rains, which caused the vehicle to be swept some 200 meters downstream before the woman was able to escape. While she emerged unscathed, the car unfortunately wasn't quite so lucky, remaining stuck in the river for a week after the incident and now believed to be a complete write-off.[Via The Register]
TOCA Race Driver 3 Challenge downloadable demo
One week after the popular Metal of Honor demo hit the web, PSP gamers are being treated to a new demo: TOCA Race Driver 3 Challenge. The demo includes three vehicles, the Ultima GTR, Opel Vectra GTS V8 and the classic Mercedes Benz W196, for use in three different challenges. This marks one of the few times where a game demo has been made downloadable before a game's actual release.TOCA will be available for UK buyers on February 16th.1. Download the demo ZIP file.2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file.3. Connect your PSP to your computer using a USB cable.4. Go to the PSP/GAME folder.5. Copy ULED90009 folder into the GAME directory. Check out our new demos site:demos.pspfanboy.com
Vodafone launches trio of McLaren handsets from Sharp / Samsung
While we caught wind of Vodafone's plans to release a Mercedes McLaren-edition of Sharp's 770SH during our stint at CES, it seems that the carrier has now gone official with its plans, and tossed in two more special edition handsets for good measure. Partnering with the McLaren Formula 1 racing team, the duo has slapped that silver and red branding on the Sharp GX29 clamshell and the Samsung SGH-Z520M slider, and although we doubt the specs will change on any of these three mobiles, owners are sure to get a few glances from the updated aesthetics, and racing aficionados will appreciate the specialized Formula 1 news that will be delivered through Vodafone Live! throughout the season. Currently, details are scant with regard to pricing, specs, and availability, but we're sure it won't be too long before Vodafone offers its newfangled trio up to get a few motors running. Click on through for a few more glamor shots.[Via BenzInsider, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sharp 770SH MILILITER gets McLaren makeover on Vodafone
McLaren isn't a stranger to spiffing up an otherwise run-of-the-mill handset, but the whole "automobile-electronics" partnership is most commonly associated with the bevy of high octane lappies out there. Nevertheless, it looks like Vodafone has picked up Sharp's Mercedes McLaren-branded 770SH, and aside from sporting an ultrathin, sexy enclosure dashed in red, silver, and black, it also boasts a central LCD on the lid, 320 x 240 inner screen, 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a paltry 5MB of internal memory, miniSD slot, MP3 playback, Vodafone Live compatibility, USB connectivity, and 220 minutes of reported talk time. Although the luxurious title may force you to ponder which fixed assets you'll need to liquidate to afford all this, thankfully the pricetag is rather reasonable, as you can apparently pick this gem up in about two weeks for just €69 ($91) with a new agreement. Click on through for a more snapshots.[Via Xataka]
WiMedia and Mercedes to demo in-vehicle, HD streaming over UWB
In what the WiMedia Alliance calls a "first of its kind demonstration," DaimlerChrysler Research will roll-out a Mercedes-Benz R500 SUV at CES next week all dolled up in Intel's and Alereon's Ultrawideband (UWB) USB technology. The demonstration will pump high-definition video from a handheld mobile device to an array of factory installed headrest monitors for the middle and third row passengers. Great, let's hope they do better that we did with the Belkin's CableFree USB Hub which wasn't quite up to the task of streaming HD with a paltry 6.35Mbps measured. But Belkin's box packs Freescale's flavor of UWB -- this is WiMedia kids, the favored child of the Bluetooth SIG. So let's hope they can demonstrate something a bit closer to the "480Mbps and beyond" transfer speeds they like to boast about. You know, so your kids can someday sit zombied in the backseat watching their videos on a 7.1-inch, 1080p display just as the Good Lorf intended.
Etronics' Inkel Widetouch W-7.0 offers GPS, PMP, and DMB
We love the idea of having GPS and PMP functionality in the same gadget, and when we see one of these devices with a 7-inch widescreen we certainly sit up and take notice, but unfortunately we'll need to make some friends in Korea if we ever hope to install the Inkel Widetouch W-7.0 from Etronics in our ride. Without any detailed specs on this upcoming model, we're going to assume that it's very similar to the ARM-powered Widetouch 5.6 we spotted last month, as both units also offer an optional DMB tuner to complement the media playback and navigation features. As usual, no word on pricing or release dates for this piece, but since the DMB-equipped 5.6 was going for around $600, we can safely assume that a similarly-configured 7-incher will cost at least a hundred bucks more. Keep reading to see just how fun it is to roll around with one of these in your Mercedes...
Luxury car manufacturers choose HDTV for their ads
High definition advertisements are going upmarket, with these separate releases regarding Mercedes-Benz and Lexus producing their new spots in HD. The first focuses on the Germans, who shot their new S-class mostly in 720p (but some 1080p, maybe for Blu-ray or HD-DVD trailer releases only) and how they used Apple software to manage all the footage. The second regards the marketing campaign for the new ES 350 and how their three commercial spots set to run on network television during prime time were all filmed in HD.Seen any other HD ads lately? The last one i noticed was the trailer for the new Mission: Impossible.
