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Updates from December, 2011

  • End of days for radio dial It must be  difficult to work in terrestrial radio. Satellite radio provides so much choice, and MP3 players provide so much music. Market share is no doubt shrinking, and even more so with the popularization of Slacker Personal Radio, which is an Internet service that’s available in-car via smartphones.

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    It allows users to enter a song or artist and then launch a station that features the chosen track as well as other music from the same genre, intuitively programmed to create an ideal song list. A search for Pearl Jam, for example, yields the grunge favourite, followed by music from similar mid-1990s alt-chart toppers. Slacker claims the stations are programmed by real disc jockeys rather than computers.

    Test searches of The Tragically Hip, Lou Reed and others turns up stations that play appropriate, relevant song lists. Available free but featuring premium upgrades that may be worth the money, Slacker combines the best of individual song selection with a programmed song list that retains some flavour of traditional radio all the while contributing to its extinction. $0; visit slacker.com.

    App watches your twelve It’s rare that an Android app exclusive could make iPhone users jealous, but the iOnRoad augmented driving safety app is one of them.

    Mount an Android smartphone running the app on to the windshield and it uses the phone’s camera to provide an extra eye on the road. It monitors traffic, measuring relative speeds between your car and the car in front, and it reports all of this information on-screen. The product provides an advanced collision warning system, monitoring if the car ahead is perilously close. It also features a launch screen for other apps, making the phone easier to control in-commute.

    The app enters the world of behaviour modification, issuing “safety points” to drivers operating at safe speeds and at safe headway distance to the car ahead. Another cool feature is an always-ready snapshot assistant, providing one-button sharing of road photos via Facebook. Winner of multiple awards including an upcoming CES 2012 honour, this app holds great promise. It will probably be available on other platforms soon. But it’s unlikely to be available long at this great price. $0; visit Android Market.


    9:00 am on December 17, 2011
     

  • Lack self control? Consider cellControlThere are a lot of gadgets that help facilitate the usage of one’s mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle. So we applaud Scosche for its cellControl safe driving system, which is designed to completely disable the use of unsafe cellphone applications during the commute.

    Handout

    Scosche's cellControl helps you keep self control.

    Installation is simple enough, with users activating the device online, downloading an app on to the designated mobile device and then installing the unit to the car’s OBD-II interface. The result is that all phone functionality that could distract a driver is disabled when the car is in motion. It can even be configured to disable the usage of phone service unless it detects a hands-free headset.

    The device is perfect for keeping teen minds on the road rather than on Twitter. As for adults who lack self control and need to purchase this product for themselves, they should be very ashamed. Unfortunately, the product is presently only available for Blackberry and Android devices, meaning kids with iPhones can continue on their self-destructive path for just a while longer. $130; visit scosche.com.

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    Refreshing but not revolutionary Sony’s been at it for quite some time with the Xplod MEX Bluetooth stereo series. This means consumers can rely upon the latest iteration, the MEX-BT3900U, to be a good car stereo. The downside, though, is that the series has reached the release-by-rote stage, so the new model does not represent much of an upgrade over its predecessors. It’s a refresh, good for new buyers, but not necessarily good for existing owners.

    The MEX-BT3900U features the series-defining Bluetooth capability, a detachable faceplate and advanced sound software that utilizes an EQ7 equalizer. It also comes with Sony’s Quick-BrowZer and ZAPPIN features, which sort music by artist, album or genre and can play short clips of songs before moving on to the next one, in order to find that elusive song buried on a hundred MP3 USB drives. Speaking of USB, the MEX was among the first to standardize front-loading USB, and it still has it.

    On the whole — and at the price — it’s a good product. But most of its features were present in the preceding MEX-BT3800U, marking this puppy as evolutionary, not revolutionary. $200; visit sony.ca.


    9:00 am on December 10, 2011