Communications

GM's OnStar seems to have a few aces up its sleeve, and will finally show its cards at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in January.

In addition to showing off the new Cadillac CUE infotainment system and the Chevrolet Volt's smart grid, home connectivity, and energy management applications, GM appears to be doubling down on the telematics and infotainment space. In a Volt research vehicle kitted out with Verizon 4G LTE connectivity, OnStar will demonstrate some upcoming prototype cloud-based streaming technologies.

The telematics company demonstrated video chat using 4G LTE connectivity at last year's show, but this … Read more

BMW announced today that drivers of vehicles equipped with BMW Online will be able to access Yelp in their cars.

That's right, the love-it or hate-it user-contributed review site is the latest app to make it into BMW's suite of application integrations. But this time, drivers will be able to Yelp with or without an iPhone.

Thanks to a change earlier this month with BMW Online, drivers will be able to download the Yelp application directly to their vehicles. Unlike Pandora and Mog app integrations, users won't need to have or use their iPhone to access Yelp. … Read more

It's not just celebrities who can make cash tweeting about products--Toyota is offering its customers $500 gift cards to tweet about their new cars.

Toyota has launched its second annual Shareathon program that lets customers earn a little extra cash for tweeting about their plans to buy a new car. To participate, shoppers need to register on Toyota's Shareathon Web site by December 21 and tweet a scripted message to their followers. If they buy or lease a new Toyota vehicle by January 3, 2012, they'll receive a coupon code redeemable for a $500 prepaid debit card … Read more

USB 3.0 has gotten the green light for becoming a standard offering on Intel-based Windows PCs next year.

The USB Implementers Forum announced this week that the upcoming "Ivy Bridge" 7 Series Chipset and other Intel chipsets have achieved USB 3.0 certification. Chipsets are support silicon that work in tandem with the main processor.

USB 3.0, aka SuperSpeed USB, delivers up to 10 times the data transfer rate of USB 2.0, as well as improved power efficiency.

Intel's Ivy Bridge silicon, due to ship in Windows PCs in the April-June time frame, will … Read more

XyBoard tablets will launch at Verizon stores on Friday, as Verizon takes another shot at selling Motorola tablets--now sleeker and faster.

Stores contacted in suburban and downtown Los Angeles Thursday night said "live units" will be available for the first time Friday and units should be available for purchase.

Update: A Verizon spokesman said today that the tablets would be in "all stores by Monday, Dec. 12." But he added that some stores have them and are selling them on Friday. Three stores randomly contacted by CNET in Los Angeles have Xyboards on display and available for purchase. Same for stores randomly contacted in Ardmore, PA and North Dartmouth, MA.

The tablets are a fairly radical redesign. The 10.1-incher is iPad 2-thin (about 9mm) and has squared-off corners. While the 8.2-inch design is a first for Motorola.

Xyboard salient specs:… Read more

In recent years, auto manufacturers have been scrambling to integrate mobile applications with their vehicle's infotainment platform. Renault decided to cut to the chase and integrate a tablet in the vehicle.

R-Link is a voice-activated telematics platform that controls vehicle functionality and integrates native and smartphone-based social media, entertainment, navigation, and community applications on its 7-inch touch-screen display. When the new system debuts on the Renault ZOE and Clio in 2012, it will already contain 50 applications, and will integrate approved smartphone apps.

Drivers will be able to download new apps directly to the vehicle's tablet from the … Read more

With an exterior skin that doubles as a digital display, an augmented-reality cockpit, and Internet and inter-vehicular connectivity, the Toyota Fun-Vii concept is about as pie-in-the-sky as concept cars get.

However, explaining with words and photos hardly does this concept justice. I had to see it in motion to understand everything that Toyota expects the car of the future to do. In the video below, you'll see tight smartphone integration, augmented-reality gaming, a holographic digital concierge in a De Stijl-inspired tube top, and an amazing (if not tremendously improbably) implementation of vehicle-to-vehicle networking. The video also shows off the Fun-Vii's electrified power-train with wireless charging, its autonomous driving mode, and lots of people dressed in white. Check it out below. … Read more

Using a vehicle's existing Bluetooth and audio technology, researchers have figured out how to block smartphone use by people behind the wheel, while passengers can text, talk, and tweet away.

Distracted driving is being tackled by state legislators, mobile carriers, and auto manufacturers with a disjointed collection of laws, apps, and hands-free technology. But wouldn't it be a lot easier if smartphones can tell when the their owner is behind the wheel of a car and just shut down all the tempting features?

Mobile operators such as Sprint and T-Mobile are employing technology to do something similar, but … Read more

How many Kindle Fire tablets has Amazon sold? While we don't have an official answer from Amazon, a market researcher that has been tracking sales of the 7-inch Amazon tablet offered an estimate today.

"Our estimate is that Amazon.com has now sold 850,000 units direct from the Amazon.com site. Total sales would be substantially larger," Carter Nicholas, CEO of eDataSource said today. Amazon may have sold as many as 2 million or more so far when you consider all sales channels."

Those other sales channels would be national retailers like Best Buy, where … Read more