Autoblog

The iPhone has been a hit since its release and Apple has ratcheted up the excitement the last couple of months, as the recently-released software development kit for the phone is already bearing fruit. In a short period of time and on what we'd guess is a very limited budget, one group of developers has designed a cool racing game called Raging Thunder that features quality graphics, a number of cars, and steering that utilizes the iPhone's revolutionary accelerometer. While the game isn't exactly groundbreaking, it demonstrates that we should see some very cool racing games when big-time developers really start to focus on the iPhone. Follow the jump to see the sweet-looking Raging Thunder in action.

[Source: Kotaku]

Recently we reviewed VW's four-door GTI and one of our few complaints was the difficult-to-use nav system. We suggested replacing all the little buttons and dials with a touch screen. Guess what? They listened! VW's design chief, Walter de' Silva, tells Automotive News Europe that starting next year, every VW will have a touch screen interface. Not just those equipped with nav, but every VW made. It's not clear from the story whether this is will be in Europe only or includes U.S.-spec VWs as well.

According to the article, all the car's main passenger-usable systems will be controlled by the screen including climate, radio, entertainment, etc. While we'll withhold judgment on the usefulness or intuitiveness of the system, it will surely go a long way toward giving VW a high-tech look. Could this have been what VW consulted Apple on a few months ago? Or is it just finally the fruition of VW's tech licensing of touch-screen technology from Immersion back in 2005? If so, that could mean the company's new touch screens will have tactile feedback like GPS units that use Immersion's TouchSense technology. Either way, we look forward to seeing how iPhone-like automotive controls work out.

[Source: Automotive News Europe - Sub. Req.]

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has lived a charmed life, and he's giving back to the technical sciences by auctioning off his 2005 350Z special edition for charity. The Woz has a soft spot for the old Nissan Z cars, as he appeared in a commercial for the 280Z back in the day, and he has put together a remake of the old spot featuring his 350Z. The spoof commercial features a rotund Woz rolling across the back yard of his spacial digs in a Segway, while sound from the original commercial mentions that the Apple co-founder has two sports cars. The spoof video ends with the Weird Al version of "Ridin Dirty" playing while the Woz rides off into the sunset, Apple II license plate in full view. The sale price for the car is $100,000, but Woz is also accepting lower offers. Click here to view the "remake" video, and follow the jump to check out the classic original.

[Source: TUAW]

When a new car lists "iPod Jack" in its feature list, you never know just how much of a feature that really is. Sometimes it just means your iPod will play and charge while plugged in to the car stereo, but forget about changing artists or choosing a new playlist unless you fish it out of whatever oddly-shaped hole that's been left for it. And retrofitting for a lot of cars means an expensive stay at the electronics store, or wires that cross from here to there.

Toyota has just released an iPod integration retrofit kit that will make your new auxiliary input look like it came straight from the factory. And it will give you full control of all iPod functions from either the head unit or the steering wheel. Click Read to check out the full press release.

[Source: Toyota]

Awesome. Yeah, that's a good word to describe the Datsun 280ZX. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was busy in 1982 when he made this commercial for the Z car. Not only did he have time to organize the US Festival, he was shilling cars, too. Then there was that other thing he did, involving microprocessors, but that was in flux waiting on the flop of Steve Jobs' Lisa. That wasn't so awesome. The Datsun 280ZX, on the other hand, has gone on to earn vaunted status as a classic performance car from an era when it was still common to see Volaré wagons with the fake-wood vinyl applique everywhere you went.

YouTube strikes again, with these chestnuts from the past. Dig the Chyron text, total-cheese voiceover, and we'd totally forgotten about the "We Are Driven" tagline and text move. The other spot after the jump is the one we'd pick. Nevermind the achingly terrible pseudo-Shaft disco soundtrack and the risqué undertones that aren't very cleverly hinted at, that Z looks amazing in black and gold, kind of a spin on the "Bandit" Trans Ams without the screaming hood art.

Thanks for the tip, k0an!

[Source: Macenstein]

You may remember my giddiness last September when we learned that Autoblog had been seen on the jumbotron behind Steve Jobs in the latest keynote for Apple. While demoing some cool new stuff that Apple's Mail program would be able to do when the new OS comes out, one could see the subject of a few emails were Autoblog post titles. Today we found out why they were there, and as a few commenters speculated back then, Apple's new Mail program will be able to incorporate RSS feeds. The company's latest Stevenote was today, and Autoblog has been featured front and center again in the demo video highlighting Mail's new features. Click this link to visit Apple's demo page for Leopard, the newest version of its OSX operating system. Click the "Watch the Demo" link for Mail and wait until the end when Autoblog gets a much appreciated free plug from his Steveness. Thanks Apple!

Hat tip to everyone who let us know about this!

[Source: Apple]

Associated Press Business Writer Tom Krisher makes a few good points about how the Big Three (or 2.5 if you prefer) could stand to learn from Apple's comeback. Well, ok, one good, though not exactly new, point. We've all heard it, if not said it ourselves. It's all about the product. Just like Steve Jobs saved Apple in 1998 with the innovative, highly-desired iMac, American carmakers need their own hotcake vehicle. And in reading Krisher's article, you get the impression GM, Chrysler and Ford have been paying attention.

"I admire (Apple's) pure understanding of the brand and the type of customer they're going after, and married to that, a product and a design strategy that they do not veer off of," said Mark Fields, Ford Motor Co.'s president of the Americas.

"We're really trying to be more like companies like Apple, where we can innovate and move faster," said Mark LaNeve, vice president of sales, service and marketing for General Motors Corp.

"I think a fresh, creative mind is something that you can appreciate and focus simply on some complicated things," said Eric Ridenour, chief operating officer of DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group.

So where's the automotive version of the iPhone? Is it GM's Volt? Ford's Interceptor? The Chrysler Nassau? Just like with Apple, only time, and the free market, will tell.

[Source: The Associated Press via Yahoo Finance]

The first Autoblog Podcast Relaunch Sweepstakes received a grand total of 121 submissions over the course of a week. In less than two days, the Autoblog Podcast Relaunch Sweepstakes #2, the prize for which is a 2GB iPod Nano, has attracted over 100 submissions. Obviously you all are catching on to the fact that these are some good odds.

Entering the Autoblog Podcast Relaunch Sweepstakes #2 to win a 2GB iPod Nano is super simple. Listen to episode #51 of the Autoblog Podcast for this week's secret keyword that's announced during the show. Email the keyword along with your name, age and address to abresearch at gmail dot com. Bamb! That's it. You've just entered the sweepstakes. We'll accept submissions through 12AM EST on Wednesday, December 26th, at which point we'll randomly select the winner. Check out the official rules here.

This is the second sweepstakes in a series of four, so we've got two more iPods to give away after the 2GB Nano finds a new home. Please subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes so you're sure not to miss any of the upcoming episodes. A free iPod hangs in the balance.

An entirely new Autoblog Podcast will debut later today when we post the 50th episode, and to celebrate we're giving stuff away! We'll be giving away iPods of various sizes over the next four episodes of the podcast, and we're starting with an iPod shuffle. After all, what better prize could we give away than a new iPod on which you can listen to the new Autoblog Podcast?

Entering the Autoblog Podcast Relaunch Sweepstakes will be simple. Just listen to the podcast and sometime during the episode we'll tell you a keyword. Take that keyword and send it back to us in an email addressed to abresearch at gmail dot com along with your name, age and address. We'll accept entries for the first Sweepstakes up until 12 AM on Wednesday, December 20th. At that time we'll randomly select an entry from the group and award that lucky listenter with an iPod Shuffle. We'll repeat the sweepstakes for the following three episodes and the iPods will get bigger and better as we go.

The 50th episode of the Autoblog Podcast will debut later today, so we suggest clicking here and subscribing to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes so you don't miss it. The Autoblog Podcast can be found in the Games and Hobby category under Automotive in iTunes' Podcast Directory. We'll also have the episode available for you to listen to directly on the site.

More rules:

• open to residents of the U.S. who are 18 and older
  
• you can enter each of the four giveaways once
• you can only win one of the four giveaways
• only submissions with the correct keyword and the entrant's name, age and address will be considered

You can read all the nitty gritty official sweepstakes rules after the jump, as well. If you're a long-time time listener of the Autoblog Podcast, thank you! If not, subscribe to the podcast, check us out and maybe win an iPod!

Many motorists find an iPod as essential a driving companion (for better or worse) as a cup of coffee or loose change. Unfortunately, many drivers in the UK found themselves without a viable solution for marrying auto with iPod thanks to a decades-old law that prevented the use of FM transmitters in cars. The only other options, using a cassette-tape adapter or hard-wiring a connection to the stereo's line-in, were either moot or too expensive.

TUAW, our sister-site, is reporting that Britain has decided to alter the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1949 that originally banned these FM transmitters because their use constituted operating radio equipment without a license. A new amendment has been passed that will go into effect on December 8th and allow the use of FM transimitters like the Griffin iTrip, arguably the most popular one of its kind. The new approach was hastened by a British consumer market demanding use of their iPods while driving. While not all FM transmitters will be approved for use in the UK, those that pass the muster will carry a CE mark indicating they're A-OK for sale. We hear Britain, however, is a pretty densely populated place, which means that spare stations on which these transmitters can operate might be hard to come by anyway. Bollocks.

[Source: TUAW]