Today Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced, at CTIA, Sprint® Drive FirstTM . The android based app created by Location Labs will cost $2/month and is designed to: Lock the driver’s cell phone screen and redirect calls to voice mail. Block text-message alerts and auto-respond to the message sender that the driver is currently unavailable. Allow [...]
Archive for the ‘Safety + Security’ Category
Sprint Offers Android Based Distracted Driving App err… App to Reduce Distracted Driving
March 22nd, 2011 
Jeff Shariat 
Posted in Apps + Products, Safety + Security, Telematics 
Tags: android, apps, automotive, distracted driving, DoT, Emerging Tech, safety, Safety + Security 
Comments OffYour Car Can Be Hacked And Its Going To Get Easier To Do
March 14th, 2011 Jeff Shariat Connectivity is awesome. Connections and communication between electronic systems, both wired and wireless, have allowed us to continue to advance technology to unimaginable heights. From TVs, to the internet, to satellite communication communication between technologies enables new and advanced functionalities for users. Every telematics platform in existence is built upon this idea. Until recently, cars [...]
Posted in Emerging Tech, Etc..., News, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: api, apps, automotive, convergence, Emerging Tech, gps, hacking, infotainment, iphone app, News, onstar, Telematics Comments OffLaHood Still Looking at Cell Jamming Technology for Cars
November 30th, 2010 Jeff Shariat Ray LaHood has once again shown a tendency to want to completely block technology in the car. “There’s a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones and we’re looking at that,” Raymond LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation said during a discussion during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” This will never happen. Ever. There are to [...]
Posted in Apps + Products, Emerging Tech, Etc..., Featured, News, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: apps, automotive, DoT, driver distraction, Emerging Tech, infotainment, iphone app, mobile, News, safety, Safety + Security, security, Sync, tech, Telematics Comments OffApp Spotlight: SafeCellApp – Get Paid to NOT Use Your Phone While Driving
October 14th, 2010 Jeff Shariat SafeCellApp (not to be mistaken with the ‘radiation blocking’ SafeCell) has taken an interesting approach to smartphone app usage and distracted driving. Instead of blocking features, the SafeCellApp will pay you $1 per 100 miles (it’s really 1 point per mile and 100 points per $1 aka $.01 / mile) you drive without violating texting [...]
Posted in Apps + Products, Emerging Tech, News, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: apps, automotive, distracted driving, driver distraction, mobile, News, tech, Telematics 2 Comments »Ford Sync Fact Sheet
October 4th, 2010 Jeff Shariat Download the Ford Sync Fact Sheet PDF 1-Pager or read it all below. Overview Ford SYNC®, co-developed with Microsoft and using Nuance Communications voice recognition technology, allows customers to bring digital media players and Bluetooth®-enabled mobile phones into their vehicles and operate the devices via voice commands or with the steering wheel’s redundant audio controls. SYNC is an agnostic [...]
Posted in Apps + Products, Emerging Tech, Featured, Ford Sync / Touch, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: automotive, convergence, Emerging Tech, Ford, ford sync, Ford Sync / Touch, Sync, technology, Telematics Comments OffTexting Bans, Can They Work?
October 4th, 2010 Jeff Shariat Distracted Driving is the biggest buzzword of the automotive world and rightfully so. The influx of technology and information available to drivers offers an almost infinite number of reasons to take your eyes off the road and that is the opposite of what any of us want. To that end many states have enacted a [...]
Posted in Etc..., Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: distracted driving, driver distraction, NHSTA, safety, tech, Telematics, texting, texting ban 2 Comments »Guide-by-Touch Navigation Systems
September 28th, 2010 Jeff Shariat The concept of tactile feedback (I think technically this isn’t haptic…anyone?) is not new, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of a tactile system being used to give directions. PopSci is reporting that University of Utah (UofU?) is working on a system that would use physical feedback to alert drivers of a need [...]
Posted in Emerging Tech, News, Safety + Security Tags: haptic feedback, navigation, safety, safety and security, security, tech Comments OffDriver Distraction Series Earns Pulitzer Prize
April 19th, 2010 Jeff Shariat If you haven’t been keeping up with Matt Richtel’s New York Times series of articles on driver distraction now would probably be a good time to start. The Pulitzer Prize committee (it’s a committee, right?) has awarded a Pulitzer Prize to: Matt Richtel and members of The New York Times Staff for incisive work, in print [...]
Posted in News, Safety + Security Tags: automotive, driver distraction, new york times, News, tech, technology, Telematics 1 Comment »Hacker Uses Telematics System for Revenge
March 23rd, 2010 Jeff Shariat Alright, that headline is a bit much… It’s true though and re-raises some security concerns… Apparently Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, was laid off from the Texas Auto Center and decided he’d use a telematics system installed on some cars sold at that auto center to be very annoying. He used the system to activate the horns [...]
Posted in Apps + Products, Safety + Security Tags: apps, automotive, Emerging Tech, infotainment, Safety + Security, security, Sync, tech, technology, Telematics 4 Comments »Driving Distracted (With a Badge?)
March 16th, 2010 Jeff Shariat Matt Richtel at the The New York Times talks about the ever growing number of police, fire fighters, paramedics, etc that are weaving through traffic at high speeds while talking on a cell phone or radio and typing on a laptop or navigation system. Ambulances and police cars are becoming increasingly wired. Some 75 percent [...]
Posted in Etc..., News, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: distracted driving, driver distraction, first responders, News, safety 2 Comments »Ford Sync Feature Spotlight: Security
March 10th, 2010 Jeff Shariat Convergence is awesome and our smartphones are becoming more and more the central hub of our technology ecosystem (particularly the mobile ecosystem). That being said, I’ve always wondered how far we can go with convergence before losing my phone becomes a bigger problem then not being able to access x or y through my phone [...]
Posted in Emerging Tech, Ford Sync / Touch, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: automotive, Ford, Ford Sync / Touch, security, Telematics 3 Comments »Will Toyota’s Issues Shine Spotlight on All In-Car Electronics?
February 24th, 2010 Jeff Shariat 
Yesterday I spent some time listening to Ray Lahood be questioned in the Senate hearings over Toyota. Today I’m listening to the Toyota executives. It’s pretty clear that this is not good for Toyota, but what the future holds nobody knows. The responses across the board are basically, We’ll start doing everything we weren’t doing. [...]
Posted in Etc..., Featured, News, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: DoT, Ford, Ford Sync / Touch, infotainment, Ray LaHood, Safety + Security, Sync, tech, Telematics, Toyota 2 Comments »Transportation Secretary ‘LaHood fears spread of in-car technology’
February 10th, 2010 Jeff Shariat Detroit News reports: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is concerned that a host of technologies in new vehicles are distracting drivers. “Some of these car manufacturers are putting all these gadgets and bells and whistles that are going to distract people — and we’re trying to get gadgets and bells and whistles out of their hands [...]
Posted in News, Safety + Security, Telematics Tags: convergence, DoT, Ford, News, regulations, Safety + Security, technology, Telematics 1 Comment »
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