Massive Audio Adds to DX Drivers

Massive Audio announced it will ship this summer, additions to its DX line of coaxial OEM replacement car speakers.

It will add shallow mount driver models DX6S, DX69S  in corresponding 6.5 inch and 6 by 9 inch sizes, as well as the DX6 (6.5-inch) component kit at $69.95 and new DX2, DX3, and DX65 models.

All DX series coaxial speakers use heavy gage steel baskets, two-piece custom paintable grills (except the existing DX46 & 57) and high flux Y30 Ferrite magnets.  They also employ Hi Temp 1” ASV voice coils, laminated paper cones with pressed foam surround, polyester fiber cloth spiders and 13mm hard dome tweeters.

The line is rated at 150 to 250 watts peak power handling.

Already shipping are the DX 4, DX 5, DX6, DX46, DX 57 and a 3 way 6×9” co-axial.

The new models are designed to fit shallow mounting spots at budget prices.

Source: Massive Audio

Pioneer Transforms Aftermarket Navigation in Japan

Pioneer announced delivery in Japan this July of its head up display that now adds augmented reality navigation.  A holographic image on the windshield shows the car in real time, photo realistically moving down the road, with information on the next turn.

The system can be mounted on 70 percent of existing cars.  The head up display projector mounts where the sun visor sits on the driver’s side.

Not for penny pinchers, the unit costs the equivalent of about $4,000.   Pioneer showed a scaled down version of the system at CES for the past 2 years, and said that it would eventually come to the U.S. market.  A spokesman in Japan said the product will not come to our shores this year, however,

The device is called “Cyber Navi.”   It can work with a front mounted camera, displaying the image from the camera while superimposing information on it.

The system gives you a 37-inch long color image with a resolution of 720 by 260 pixels. Bluetooth is used to communicate between the head up display (HUD) and the navigation system.

The HUD was developed with U.S.-based MicroVision.  It uses red, green and blue lasers for the light source and MEMS mirrors, said Nikkei Business Publications.

Also, it captures images of speed limit signs and gives the driver an audible alert.

Source: CEoutlook,  Nikkei Business Publications via Engadget

Photo via Engadget

What Geeky Millennials Think About Car Audio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo elicited 2500 comments recently on Reddit-  a popular Internet social site for semi-Geeky Millennials.    So if you want to know what they say about car radios, scroll down a bit into the comments  (skip the first thread about an ’87 Fiero) and click here.  Hint:  They like an aux in jacks.

Source: Reddit

Quick Video of Clarion Next GATE

The short video below puts Clarion’s Next GATE—a relatively unique product for the aftermarket—through its paces.

The 7-inch “tablet” is basically a dummy unit with no standalone functions until it’s connected to an iPhone 4 or 4S.  The Next GATE takes the apps on your phone and converts them to an easy to read user interface on the 7 inch screen.

You can launch Siri by pressing and holding one icon on the Next GATE screen. You get the benefit of the device’s built in microphone.  Another icon lets you make phone calls through Next GATE, said The Verge.

The device gives you  a safer way to operate the iPhone in the car, without swapping out the car radio.  It works with a handful of apps out of the box, but Clarion will add more later.  Apps include Pandora, TuneIn, Vlingo, INRIX Traffic and Infogation.  The unit is available June 1 at $269.

Source: The Verge

CEA Responds to NTSB on Safe Driving

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) told a Federal safety board that it disagrees with the board’s recommendation that technology for the car should disable portable devices within reach of the driver to prevent driver distraction.

In a letter Tuesday, the CEA told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), there is no real world evidence to support a blanket ban of use of portable devices by drivers. Instead, the CEA supports banning texting while driving and it supports laws restricting mobile phone use for novice drivers.

The CEA said, “the private sector has aggressively responded to market demand with innovative products and applications that increase driver safety. Current and future technologies could never see the light of day under the NTSB’s broad recommendations, which would inhibit the very innovation that promises safer roadways.”

The CEA response is to a letter from the NTSB dated February 7 asking both the CEA and CTIA Wireless Association to “encourage the development of technology that disables the function of portable electronics devices within reach of the driver when a vehicle is in motion” (except for emergency use).

The NTSB noted that in 2009, nearly 5,500 people died and 450,000 were injured in distraction-related accidents.  It pointed to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that found drivers were 23 times more likely to get into a some form of accident if they were texting while driving. A study by the same Institute performed in a simulator found drivers engaged in texting has 35 percent slower reaction times.

The CEA concluded, “CEA stands ready to partner with the NTSB and any other organization to advocate for safe driving policies that are based on real-world data, and that enable innovation and embrace personal responsibility.”

Source: CEA

ICE Partners with Phoenix Gold

The In-Car Experts buying/marketing group said it has partnered with Phoenix Gold to provide ICE retail members special pricing and other benefits on Phoenix Gold car audio products.

Other benefits include a group rebate and support for sales events.

Phoenix Gold is an Aamp of America brand. ICE Executive Director said, “”Since the line’s rebirth, our team has kept a close eye on Phoenix Gold’s progress.  Our initial concerns about AAMP’s ability to think and act like an amp/speaker vendor have all but vanished.”

Phoenix Gold was treated as a new partnership, undergoing the same vetting process as a new vendor, said ICE.

ICE is a $280+ million collective, with more than 200 storefronts in over 40 states.   It may be reached at info@incarexperts.com

Source: In Car Experts

Apple Stores See 18K Visitors a Week

Not all of the lack of retail floor traffic can be blamed on the web.  A lot of that traffic has simply been diverted to Apple stores.   The company said Tuesday its 363 stores around the world average 18,000 visitors a week.

The stores enjoyed over 85 million visitors for the recent quarter ended in March, up from 71 million a year ago..

And, if you want to know your user base for iPhone-ready car radios, Apple said that more than 365 million iPhone, iPad and iPod devices around the globe are in use.

Apple revealed Tuesday another record March quarter for the company that announced it doubled its profit from a year ago to $11.6 billion, beating analysts estimates by a wide margin.    Total sales reached $39.2 billion, up from $24.7 billion a year ago.

Even with limited supplies of the new iPad, Apple sold almost 12 million tablets in its latest quarter as well as over 35 million iPhones.

iPhone unit sales rose 88 percent from a year ago and iPad sales jumped 151 percent.

During a press conference Tuesday night, Apple repeatedly stressed that it has more innovation in the pipeline.

CEO Tim Cook said in a prepared statement, “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”

Much of the growth this quarter came from iPhone sales in China.  Apple product sales in the country accounted for about 20 percent of Apple’s  revenues for the quarter.  The company has barely scratched the surface in iPhone sales in China and has not yet shipped the new iPad to the country.

Additionally, Apple stressed the longevity of the iPad as a product and category and claimed the product has a near universal appeal to many demographics and markets including education and business, which the company has yet to mine.

Also during the quarter, Apple sold 4  million Macsr, up 7 percent from a year ago.  iPod sales continued to slide, with 7.7 million units sold in the quarter, down 15 percent from a year ago.

Source: Apple

First Cellphone with Facebook Button: $49

New phones with dedicated Facebook buttons are heading for the market with AT&T taking pre-orders on the first such model called the HTC Status.

The Status was first unveiled in February as the ChaCha, joining another HTC phone with a Facebook button, called the Salsa.

The Status-at $49 with contract–will also be sold through Best Buy.

It gives you a full keyboard, with front and rear facing cameras (5 MP and 1.3 MP). When you push the Facebook button on the bottom of the phone, you are lead directly to Facebook where you can post photos or other contact automatically, depending on what you are doing on your phone at that time.

You can read more about the phone here.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Steve Jobs to Unveil iOS5 June 6

Updated: There’s no word on whether we’ll see a new iPhone next Monday, but we will see the new software for iPhones, iPad and iPods at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference and Steve Jobs will be the presenter.

In addition to showing off iOS5 next Monday, June 6, Apple will also unveil  details on a new iCloud service that is expected to serve up music and movies from the cloud and a new Mac OS X called Lion.

Plus there is a rumored iOS5 feature that may have implications for the car.

TechCrunch has been reporting that the new iOS5 operating system will include Nuance voice technology “fully baked” in the iOS software. Although TechCrunch says the first version of iOS5 won’t include voice control, the feature could be available for developers to use in new apps, says Appolicious.

These are just rumors, but for 12 volters, it leads to some interesting speculation on iPhone control while driving.

To confuse matters, iOS4, we’re told, already offers some limited voice control over phone commands and many search and play functions of the iPod, said a car kit maker.

So we’ll just have to wait until Monday for answers.

While Apple announced it will introduce a new iOS5 on June 6, the actual iPhone 5 is not expected until September.

–Lynn Shannon and Amy Gilroy

Source: Apple, Appolicious, TechCrunch

Apple to Intro Curved Glass iPhone 5: Report

Apple has already purchased 200 to 300 glass cutting machines because the iPhone 5 will have a curved glass cover, say Taiwanese suppliers, according to DigiTimes.

The glass slicing machines are presently being stored at various assembly plants waiting to be pressed into service.

DigiTimes says there is no set timetable yet for the iPhone 5, as suppliers are still working to improve yield rates on the glass cover, glass cutting, lamination and touch sensors.

Numerous reports around the Web say the iPhone 5 is not expected to arrive until September.

Also, during the weekend, Apple began revamping its retail stores, placing an iPad 2 next to all products, effectively turning the iPad 2 into a digital sign that displays information about the other products in the store, said TG Daily.

Source: DigiTimes, TG Daily

iPhone 5 May be Delayed

Apple may delay until August or September, the launch of its next iPhone, as the company’s iconic product appears to be under more intense competitive pressure.

A Barclay’s Capital analyst forecast the delay in a research note Tuesday, said The Street. Typically the iPhone is refreshed each June.

Meanwhile the iPhone continues to lose share as new and improved Android phones hit the stores. Checks at stores by BTIG analyst Walt Piecyk showed the 4G Thunderbolt from HTC was outselling the iPhone 4 at 28 percent of the locations, said the Boy Genius Report on March 31.

Android also ratcheted up 7 percentage points in market share from November 2010 to February 2011 in the U.S. It’s now widened its lead on Apple’s iOS with a 33 percent slice of the smartphone market (accounting for one out of every phones sold), said Comscore.

Source: The Street, PC Magazine, Boy Genius Report

Apple iPad 2 Delayed: Report

Those waiting for the new version of Apple iPad will have to hold out even longer. Apple is delaying the launch of the iPad 2 from April until June, due to problems in production at Tawain’s Hon Hai facility.

Reuters sites a report by Taiwanese brokerage Yunta Securities, claiming that “issues,” in production are taking some time to resolve.

A delay til June would result in a sizable reduction in iPad sales this year. Yunta predicts volume would drop to 23 million units from its earlier forecast of 30.6 million units.

The new iPad is expected to offer front and rear cameras with a slimmer form factor and a better display.

Source: Reuters

LG’s G-Slate Gets 3D

LG said its upcoming G-Slate will offer the unusual feature of recording in 3D.

The device will come bundled with red-blue 3D glasses for 3D viewing while shooting, said the AP.

The G-Slate will debut this spring on T-Mobile’s 4G network running the latest Android Honeycomb OS and sporting a 3D 8.9-inch screen.

It uses a rear-facing stereoscopic video recorder with 1080p for HD video capture and a 5MP camera with LED flash. The front facing camera allows video chat over cellular or WiFi with Google Talk.

Electronista notes that LG has a lot riding on the success of the tablet. The company lost over $226 million in the fall and blamed the decline on its failure to compete in top-end smartphones and in tablets.

The G-Slate uses a Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and supports Flash. It delivers 720p HD video playback on the device and has an HDMI output to show 1080p on 3D and HD displays, announced T-Mobile and LG on Wednesday.

The tablet includes 32 GB of internal memory and has a built-in gyroscope, accelerometer and adaptive lighting.

Source: T-Mobile, AP via Yahoo! Finance, electronista

Motorola Shows Xoom Tablet at CES

By Esther Shein
Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless unveiled the Motorola Xoom tablet PC at CES Wednesday, the first device to run on Google’s new Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS.

The Motorola Xoom features a dual-core processor with each core running at 1GHz, delivering up to 2GHz of processing power and a 10.1-inch widescreen HD display. The Xoom is upgradeable to 4G LTE, the companies said.

Consumers will be able to experience HD content on the device, which supports 1080p HD video and HDMI output to display content on larger HD screens, and also comes with Adobe Flash Player. The Xoom has a front-facing 2 megapixel camera for video chats over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G LE, along with a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera to capture video in 720p HD. The Xoom also has a 1280 x 800 display and features a built-in gyroscope, barometer, e-compass, accelerometer and adaptive lighting for new types of applications, the companies said. Google Maps 5.0 with 3D interaction is also included, along with access to Google eBooks and Android Market apps.

The device is also geared at workers and provides constant connectivity, the companies said, for connecting to Gmail or Exchange email, opening and editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations and viewing calendars with broadband speeds. An online connection is available for up to five other Wi-Fi enabled devices through the Xoom’s mobile hotspot capability, the companies said.

The Motorola Xoom will launch in the first quarter as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device with an upgrade available to 4G LTE in the second quarter. It will be sold as a 4G LTE/Wi-Fi-enabled device beginning in the second quarter.

Google Shows First Chrome Notebook

Google demonstrated Tuesday, the first laptop computers to use its Chrome web browser, in a challenge to Microsoft Windows.

With Chrome, computers boot-up quickly, in seconds, and are centered mainly on running web based apps rather than software as in the past. So the devices have limited capacity when off line.

To help keep you online, Google is working with Verizon Wireless to offer free Internet use for up to 100MB of data every month for two years. Users could also sign up for more data with plans starting at $9.99 a month, it said.

The first laptops running the Chrome OS will be delivered mid-2011 by Acer and Samsung, Google announced and other manufacturers are also building the devices, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In the meantime, Google will launch a pilot program to give notebooks running Chrome to certain users, developers, schools and businesses so it can continue to refine the OS.

Like Android, Chrome is licensed to manufacturers for free while Microsoft charges a licensing fee for Windows.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Android Runs Almost 1/2 of US Smartphones

Android now has a 44 percent share of smartphones in the U.S., says NPD.

But Apple has the number one ranked phone.

In Q3, collectively Android phones took the number one slot. Individually, the iPhone kicked BlackBerry out of the top slot. The iPhone’s market share is now 23 percent (up 1 percent) and BlackBerry’s share is 22 percent (down from 6 percent).

“Much of Android’s quarterly share growth came at the expense of RIM, rather than Apple,” said NPD exec director of industry analysis Ross Rubin. “The HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide.”

Also smartphones continue to gain over standard cellphones. In Q3, the top 5 U.S. phones included only one standard cellphone; the rest were smartphones:

1. Apple iPhone 4 (smartphone)
2. BlackBerry Curve 8500 series (smartphone)
3. LG Cosmos (messaging phone)
4. Motorola Droid X (smartphone)
5. HTC EVO 4G (smartphone)

On a worldwide basis, Nokia is the market leader for all cellphones (not just smartphones). Samsung and LG are ranked 2nd and 3rd followed by Apple and then RIM, according to IDC.

Source: NPD

Windows Phone 7 Gets Kindle App

Those who plan to buy a phone running Windows Phone 7 won’t be deprived of a Kindle eReading app.

Amazon said today it is first to announce an eBook app for the new Windows phones. The app will be released later this year with similar functions to other Kindle apps. You get access to over 725,000 eBooks, and you can read your eBooks across many devices—PC, Kindle, Mac–resuming where you left off reading.

The Kindle for Windows Phone 7 was demonstrated today by Microsoft during its Professional Developers Conference, said Amazon.

Kindle apps are already available for leading platforms including the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, and BlackBerry and Android devices.

Source: Amazon

Amazon Intro’s Kindle Singles

You may not know this, but you don’t often see books that are less than 50,000 words. That’s the length needed to consider a work a marketable, printable book.

But now shorter eBooks will be published through “Kindle Singles” a program from Amazon designed to create cheaper eBooks that are only as long as a few chapters of a typical book.

The idea is to cater to literary ideas that are too long for a magazine article but too short for a typical book.

The Kindle Singles section will appear in the Kindle Store and the Singles books will be priced lower than a typical book.

Amazon said, “Today’s announcement is a call to serious writers, thinkers, scientists, business leaders, historians, politicians and publishers to join Amazon in making such works available to readers around the world.”

Source: Amazon

Verizon to Get iPhone Q1 2011: WSJ

The rumors continue that Apple will soon offer its coveted iPhone through Verizon and this time it’s The Wall Street Journal claiming Verizon subscribers can finally get the phone by early next year.

Apple will mass produce the new iPhone by year’s end for delivery in Q1. And Verizon has been adding capacity to its network in anticipation of the launch, said WSJ.

Similar reports emerged in June from Bloomberg and Barclays Capital leading a Barclays analyst to forecast that Verizon will activate 9 million iPhones in 2011 and AT&T will activate 6 million. By contrast, he predicted that AT&T will activate 10 million iPhones this year.

Bloomberg reported that Verizon will get the iPhone in January.

By expanding to more than one carrier, the iPhone will be able to gain share against Android phones which are now the smartphone leaders.

Nielsen said this week that Android took a 32 percent share of newly purchased smartphones in August, surpassing BlackBerry and Apple smartphone share at 26 and 25 percent respectively.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Samsung Sells 5M Galaxy S Phones

Samsung said it has sold more than 5 million of its new Galaxy S smartphones that are designed to compete with Apple’s iPhone.

The Galaxy S phones first became available in June and are now offered at all 4 major U.S. carriers as well as a total of 100 carriers globally.

The success of the Galaxy S will help Samsung revive its market share and reach sales of 25 million smartphones this year, said Samsung according to Reuters. This would boost the electronics company to the number four rank in global smartphone sales behind Nokia, RIM and Apple.

Samsung also unveiled a new smartphone called Wave II running its new bada operating system. It will launch initially in November in France with a 3.7-inch screen, 5MP camera and video recording at a mid-price point to be announced.

Also in smartphones, Hewlett Packard said it will introduce models early next year using webOS (which HP owns after buying Palm earlier this year), said Reuters.

And T-Mobile announced it will extend WiFi calling capability to Android phones starting with the soon-to-be-released T-Mobile myTouch and Motorola DEFY phones. WiFi calling is powered by Kineto’s Smart WiFi app and lets users make voice calls and SMS messages from a nearby 802.11 b/g/n/ station. The new myTouch and DEFY phones, due by the holidays, will ship with the feature ready to use out of the box.

Source: Reuters and T-Mobile

Photo: Verizon’s version of the Galaxy S, called the Samsung Fascinate

Next Page »