Hands-free

Jawbone has built a reputation for producing slickly designed Bluetooth headsets and the company's latest flagship model - the Jawbone ERA - continues that tradition. The ERA is an exceptionally lightweight package that has 25 percent more audio output than previous models, an updated version of NoiseAssassin noise cancelling technology, an onboard processor and flash storage, but its the first ever inclusion of an accelerometer in the unit that has really grabbed attention. So is this a case of tech for tech's sake or does it actually add up to a better headset? We've been putting the ERA through its paces to find out. Read More

Despite research by automakers such as Audi and events such as DARPA's Grand Challenge, we're still waiting for fully autonomous cars to chauffeur us about town. Volkswagen has presented a new system called Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP), which is a link between existing driver assist technologies and completely automated vehicles. While still being monitored by the driver, TAP allows semi-automatic driving on a highway at speeds of up to 130 km/h (80 mph). Read More

Jabra says that its new FREEWAY in-car speakerphone is the first to offer virtual surround sound through a three speaker configuration that provides quality audio when making and taking calls or listening to music. The unit sports dual microphones with noise cancellation technology, can be paired with more than one mobile phone and will even switch itself on when you get in the car. Users can control much of the device's functionality by voice commands and the claimed battery life is pretty impressive, too. Read More

Portable Bluetooth speakerphones that provide a hands-free way for drivers to stay in touch while on the road are nothing new. Nor are voice-controlled Bluetooth speakerphones with text-to-speech capabilities to read out the name of a caller. But the new SuperTooth HD adds a something new for social networking tragics on the go in the form of a SuperTooth Handsfree Assistant feature that allows drivers to compose and send Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and SMS messages, all without taking their hands off the wheel. Read More

The wireless gurus over at Parrot have just announced the company's latest car receiver, the Asteroid, and from what we can see so far it looks pretty sweet. In addition to the usual the bells and whistles you'd expect from a modern day system – like geo-location, hands-free music listening, and hands-free telephony – the Asteroid has thrown an unexpected element into the mix. It's running on Android. Read More

Ted Cardenas, Director of Product Planning for Pioneer Electronics , likes smartphones. Much as he likes, them, however, he feels that they’re too small and require too much attention for use while driving. That’s why, today at CES in Las Vegas, he unveiled his company’s new in-dash navigation systems. Pioneer has partnered with Aha Internet Radio to bring online social media services such as Facebook and Twitter to the system, which actually reads drivers their text messages, traffic updates and other text-based information aloud as they’re driving – along with playing a swag of online radio stations via Pandora. Cardenas also presented the Smart Cradle, an earlier-previewed dash-mounted iPhone holder that enhances GPS-enabled apps. Read More

SYNC is Ford's in-vehicle communications and entertainment system that lets drivers make hands-free phone calls, and control things such as their music player via voice commands. Instead of trying to cram more and more functions into SYNC’s virtual brain, Ford engineers have taken a more flexible approach – they’ve created smartphone apps that drivers can control through SYNC, using voice commands or steering wheel buttons. Existing SYNC systems will first require a download of the AppLink software, which will debut on 2011 Ford Fiestas. Read More

A recent New York Times print advertisement for the Ford Edge crossover included barcodes that, when scanned by a mobile phone camera, provided readers with access to Times articles on style and technology. It’s part of a techy advertising campaign for the Edge, which will be the first vehicle to feature the likewise-techy MyFord Touch system. Touch is built around Ford’s existing Windows-based SYNC communications and entertainment system, and allows drivers to use the dashboard as... well, pretty much as a big smartphone. Read More

The Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo has recently developed and demonstrated a peculiar pair of headphones that can precisely detect a user's eye movements without a camera, and use those movements to control electronic devices such as mobile phones and portable music players. DoCoMo started working on this idea back in 2008 by adapting an electrooculogram (EOG), a medical device used for measuring eye response, to their purposes. An EOG works on the principle that the human cornea has a positive electrical charge. As the user looks to the left or right, the charge shifts in the space between the user's ears – a change that can be easily detected by appropriate sensors. Read More