CarSPIN

The talk of the automotive world this week has been coming out of Detroit’s NAIAS; however, CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, has been equally wowing enthusiasts.

The annoying lights, inspection-rejection, and ripoff diagnosis and repairs associated with Check Engine lights may be remedied with a new device, the CarMD scanner. Since model year 1996, all vehicles sold in the United States have had the port to plug a scanner into, however, most scanners have been expensive and targeted only at repair shops. CarMD will be targeted towards the individual consumer, and has handy USB plugins to connect the device to your computer. You can reset your system, diagnose a code, and even download repair estimates using CarMD.

Bill Gates was at CES to hawk his company’s automotive plans. They included gadgets such as the Synch, as described by Electronics Supply & Manufacturing magazine:

Gates announced Ford Motor Co. has developed an application based on Microsoft Auto called Synch, a voice-activated program for controlling a wide range of cellphones, storage devices and MP3 players including the Microsoft Zune and Apple iPod. Sync enables users to dial calls and synchronize address books by voice commands and have text messages read out over a car audio system.

Pioneer “turned heads” (as their ubiquitously-published press release reads) with their new in-dash systems. Tested out on Volkswagens and Scions, CES crowds were genuinely impressed. Not only can the system potentially tune in both XM and Sirius satellite radio signals, it features Bluetooth connections for cell phones, a DVD player, plugs into the existing speaker system of your car, and has an advanced navigation system that “learns” your driving habits and suggests routes based on where you are most comfortable driving, rather than arbitrary computer-suggested routes.