Autoblog

Star Wars Prius commercial uses famous droids to sell Toyota's plug-in

Sebastian Blanco — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:57:00 EST

Filed under: Hybrid, Japan, Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Hatchback, Toyota, Electric

Help us, plug-in cars, you're our only hope.

In his original deal with Fox for the first Star Wars movie, George Lucas famously kept the licensing rights for himself. That deal - unusual at the time - has resulted in a huge pile of cash for the filmmaker and the ability for his iconic characters to appear on a seriously uncountable pile of merchandise, hawking everything from the 1977 Toyota Celica to today's Volkswagen Passat (to name just two car-related ones). The latest? The space-age Toyota Prius Plug-In.

Like many odd commercial pairings, this one was intended for the Japanese market. Translation of the ad done by friends of Green Car Reports says that everyone's favorite droids keep their know-it-all/ignorance-is-bliss dynamic in full effect. For example, when C-3PO first sees the plug-in hybrid's J1772 connector, he asks R2D2 if it's the little droid's charger. Goldenrod then asks, "You wanna recharge too?" To which R2 replies in his regular beeps and blorts and 3PO says, "Okay, me too!" They then have a discussion about range anxiety, which makes us wonder if Toyota is hinting that the next-gen Prius will come with Twin Ion Engines.

But you want to see this all yourself, right? Go ahead and do so for the next 30 seconds down below.

Continue reading Star Wars Prius commercial uses famous droids to sell Toyota's plug-in

Star Wars Prius commercial uses famous droids to sell Toyota's plug-in originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ford goes open source, gets students to develop phone apps for Sync

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Technology, Ford

Before we get into the nitty and/or gritty of what Ford is up to with their pending Sync app store, we should share with you a few facts FoMoCo shared with us. In 2010 fully 28 percent of the driving population will be between the ages of 16 and 31. These folks, known as Millenials (though us altecachers still prefer "Generation Y") love their smart phones and social networks the way the Baby Boomers loved the Beatles and Generation X loved moping around and bad tribal tattoos.

As such, the number one access point to the internet is no longer a computer -- it's a mobile device.

Access to your favorite songs and phone numbers is one thing, but what about all those apps you've spent so much time downloading?

Now we turn to Ford's Sync, a piece of software developed with Microsoft's help using the Seattle software giant's Microsoft Auto platform. While on the surface Sync has often appeared as little more than a fancy way to spin songs off your iPod, in reality it's a sophisticated piece of middleware that allows the vehicle to harness the power of a given mobile device. In other words, Sync allows whatever Ford/Lincoln/Mercury vehicle you're driving to act as a controller for your iPhone/Droid/Pre/whatever.

Handsfree access to your favorite songs and phone numbers is one thing, but what about all those fancy-pants apps you've spent so much time (and maybe money) downloading? Are they to be totally forgotten while you're in the car? Admittedly, you might be saying "of course," but Millenials think different. Besides, what if there were smart phone apps that actually enhanced the driving experience? With your hands on the wheels and eyes on the road, how would you access them? Here's a larger point, how does the internet work at 70 mph? Ford thinks it's got the answers to most if not all of these questions.

Continue reading Ford goes open source, gets students to develop phone apps for Sync

Ford goes open source, gets students to develop phone apps for Sync originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation on Android 2.0

Sam Abuelsamid — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:58:00 EST

Filed under: Technology, New Car Reviews

Google maps turn by turn navigation - Click above for high-res image gallery

It's no secret that we've been openly critical of the prices charged by automakers for built-in GPS navigation systems. Frankly, paying $2,000 or more for an in-dash system when you can buy stand-alone navigation units for as little as $100 is ridiculous. Even the newer, larger seven-inch screen units are now down to as little as $250, and even though they aren't tied in to a vehicles' wheel sensors, they tend to be plenty accurate. Now, however, there is a new option that is even cheaper - as in (sort of) free.

It's only "sort of" free because the Google maps turn-by-turn navigation app is built into the new Motorola Droid smartphone (see sister-site Engadget's full review of the Droid here) that recently became available from Verizon Wireless. In this case, you have to sign up for two years of mobile phone service, which includes a data plan. I've been a Verizon customer for a decade and just happened to be up for a biennial discounted phone upgrade. When the Droid appeared a few weeks ago, the plan to wait until the new year for a Palm Pre was discarded. We've now had the chance to play with the Droid and its new navigation software, so follow the jump to find out if it lives up to expectations.

Gallery: Motorola Droid Google Navigation

Continue reading Review: Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation on Android 2.0

Review: Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation on Android 2.0 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google bringing free turn-by-turn navigation to mobile Maps [w/ VIDEO]

Damon Lavrinc — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Technology

Click above to view the video after the jump

If you've been following today's news in the mobile gadget world, you've already heard about the Motorola Droid smartphone powered by the latest version of Google's open-source Android operating system. It's a pretty slick setup, particularly with the new 2.0 OS, but the bigger news (to us) is Google's announcement that it's offering a free, turn-by-turn navigation system built around its popular mobile Maps program.

Available on the Droid (and future Android 2.0 devices), the system features all the functionality of Google Maps -- integrated search by location or business, traffic data, etc. -- but now includes voice-guided directions, satellite and street views (yay!), layers and the ability to search for points-of-interest along the chose route. A dock will be available to mount the device on your windshield and in addition to typing your destination, it also accepts voice searches. Yes, Garmin and TomTom have something to worry about.

Make the jump for a video covering all the features of the new system, and be prepared to pony up $199 for the Motorola Droid (on contract) when it goes on sale November 6th through Verizon. If you're looking for all the latest news on the device and Android 2.0, there's a site for that.

UPDATE: Hands-on video of the system in action added.

[Source: Google]

Continue reading Google bringing free turn-by-turn navigation to mobile Maps [w/ VIDEO]

Google bringing free turn-by-turn navigation to mobile Maps [w/ VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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