Category Archives: New Technologies

Stepping into the future with Ford Tech

Ford Sync

I sometimes fear that all the smart brains on the planet are either working with Apple, Samsung, Google or Microsoft. All the technological advances I have seen in the recent past are mobile tech, app tech blah blah. What about the rest? Has all of it fallen stagnant?  Hell, even the Space Program has been scrapped which gives rise to the thought that our advances to outer space will be limited to the moon.

I’m not going to take your time bashing NASA or our lack of will to push for more technological advances in areas apart from mobile tech. I will instead focus on a technology that takes help of your mobile tech and helps you DRIVE better.  Yes, folks driver BETTER and more safely.

I was impressed with the little advances and the big ones that Ford Motor Company has come up with in the recent past in this regard. They are of course, the front runners in electric car development and there are rumors’ that they and Google are working together. This conjecture is purely based on the fact that first Ford Focus Electric rolled off the production lines straight into Google’s lap.

I’m not going to waste your time on speculating what might be brewing there, what i have are snippets on Ford Tech that are going to rolled in their cars. Some might have already found their way in the Ford cars running on the roads, some might just be in production stage but it doesn’t take away the fact that these are some simple but exciting pieces of car technology that you would love to have in your vehicle!

Ford Sync Technology Dashboard

FORD SYNC: Ladies and gents, the name is self-explanatory. But before you put it off as a simple sync tech between your car and phone, I would like to point out that the absurdly simple things that you can do with this not only make your driving experience easier and efficient. It also makes you a SAFE driver.  Let’s face it; we have always been distracted by our phone while driving at one time or the other. Hit a red light and we flash out our phone’s to send a tweet or a reply to a message or answer a call.

Well, Ford SYNC lets us do that without us taking out the phone from our pocket and looking at it to do those tasks. Eyes on the road, hands on the steering wheel and you are controlling the temp of your or answering a call or LISTENING to the text message that you just received.

With Ford SYNC APPLINK you can talk with the apps on your smartphone, I would like to point out here that as of now there are limited apps that support this feature but Ford is working on getting developers for this. I found this feature very exciting because not only you get to control an app on your phone via your voice, it also lets you give in-app commands e.g. “change station” on Pandora and voila that’s what Pandora does!

A heads up for all of you who want to get your hands on this – SYNC is going to feature in Ford’s new SUV Ford EcoSport. Rumors are the launch of car is going to be early Q1 of 2013.

 Ford Sync Hands Free Lift Gate

Ford Hands-Free Liftgate:  This has so far been my favorite feature. It’s not really cut-throat tech and you would probably laugh if if I told you otherwise. But it’s what I call “this is one of those simple features that I have always wanted”. Picture you are out shopping and you come back with bags in both hands and now you have to take the decision of putting the bags someplace while you unlock and open your boot trunk. Well, what if instead of putting your bags down, you just kicked the underside of your car and the trunk door flew open? Cinematic ha? This is exactly what Ford lets you do with their Hands-free Liftgate. Yessir, UBERCOOL.

Ford Sync Ambient Lighting

Ambient Lightning:  This one is just for the kicks. Feeling blue on a Monday? Ford’s ambient lightning lets your car reflect your mood. All the interior lightning will glow blue and you and your car will be drowned in the same mood. The available colors as of now are Ice Blue, Soft Blue, Orange, Red, Green, Blue and Purple.

Pretty neat ha?

 Ford Sync Remote Keyless Entry

SecuriCode™ Keyless Entry:  Carrying keys in this day and age seems a little off; I mean there were sci-fi movies which put us in 2012 as driving cars without needing a steel key to start our machines. Fear not we are there! Instead of a key, with Ford’s SecuriCode™ Keyless Entry you just have to punch in numbers and voila! This eliminates the risk that you forget the keys inside the car or for that matter forget the keys anywhere. The design is suave and yes, no fumbling for keys ever. Period.

Ford Sync Auto Start and Stop

Automatic start and stop: In an economy where the fuel prices are going anywhere but down, this feature Is gold. As soon as you hit the brakes near the red light, the engine switches off and restarts as you lift your foot off the break. Pretty rad ha? All the other features and electrical components will be running, it’s only the engine which will go to sleep.  Goes all long way in saving you cash on the fuel which burns while your car is stationary.

Open XC: This lil’ baby is for the future, it’s an API to your car, which makes it more responsive. It’s like putting feelers inside your car which can communicate with you. The concept so far is to put an advanced operating system in your car which will do all those tasks that you used to do with your smartphone. All the services will be integrated inside the car. Presently the interface runs on a combination of Arduino and Android. And simply because it is part android, it can communicate with your android based smartphone as well. The possibilities of all the apps based on this are humongous. This interface is currently open sourced by Ford and they are hoping more developers will jump in and make this the grand feature in the cars of the future.

Google Drive is finally out, offers 5GB free storage, Google Docs and more

Google Drive is finally out, offers 5GB free storage, Google Docs and more

Google’s much awaited online cloud storage service ‘Google Drive’ is finally out moments ago, after all rumors, leaks and news in the air we’ve got all the information on what Google has to offer us. Google Docs is integrated as part of the online service that allows users to share, collaborate and work on new or existing documents, spreadsheets, PDF’s and more within the framework. Data means portability and keeping the same in mind ‘Google Drive’ offers cross platform functionality over the Web, PC, Mac’s and Android. Big G is still working on an iOS application for the Google Drive, which is still in the pipeline. Google has also taken an initiative for people who are visually impaired by providing access via means of a Screen Reader.

Cloud Storage has already been a part for mobile and desktop users via leading providers like Evernote, DropBox, Box.net and others. Dropbox had introduced its link share feature to its app for all platforms earlier today, we also mentioned the innovation part that had to be in place for Google Drive to be a success. Searching for documents should no longer be a hassle as multiple search options include search via keywords, filter type, date, file type and much more. To make it even peppier Google has introduced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology integrated to its search mechanism that would allow text within images or scanned documents to be visible across search queries. The feature is still developing and is in its early stages that should get improved as the service evolves.

Google Drive starts initially with 5GB of free storage space for users. The premium paid variants start with 25GB at $2.49/month, 50GB at $4.99/month and massive 1TB at $49.99/month. To expect even more out of your paid storage, you get an upgraded Gmail account with 25GB storage upon subscription.

Google aims at integrating the cloud service seamlessly towards all its products and platforms. Google+ users can add photos directly to posts from their ‘Google Drive’ accounts. The feature would also be witnessed across Gmail to attach files, documents, and more straight from the web. The platform would soon be widespread with third-party developers already working in place to add new stuff.

Google Drive can also be added as an app for Google Chrome via its web store. We’ve got enough of news and things to experiment for today, do checkout this new service at http://drive.google.com/start/

Download Google Drive for Android, click the link below to begin download. If you have already tried the app, please share your view by dropping by a comment.

Download Google Drive for Android from the Google Play Store

(Requires Android 2.1 or higher)

Download Google Drive for Android from the Google Play Store

Scan the QR Code or click the image to begin the download

via Google Blog

Gorilla Glass 2 to be showcased at CES 2012

Gorilla Glass 2 to be showcased at CES 2012

Every now an then we see our mobile devices and smartphones using the Gorilla Glass technology. The highly toughened and scratch resistive product developed by Corning Inc. The company plans to release an upgrade to this excellent technology by launching Gorilla Glass 2 at CES 2012. The concentration lies on smaller form factors, sleek design, and portability with unification to larger formats for consumer electronic devices. The product would inherit the existing set of features and benefits with a view to deliver added durability and scratch resistance protection. The segments that would benefit with Gorilla Glass 2 technology include education, auto, entertainment, and home appliances sector.

Corning’s Gorilla Glass technology led the company to a mass boom at CES 2011 making it the most spoken about establishment. The Gorilla Glass has already been incorporated with a majority of 30 brands and design integration onto more than 575 different models. The product details are planned to be available by Monday, 9 Jan 2012 via an official announcement.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0MhSIFgW9U[/youtube]

Get ready for a hands on experience on few devices for display on the Corning booth that include:

  • An 82-inch advanced multi-touch LCD display that features Corning Gorilla Glass as a durable, touch-sensitive, and elegant cover glass.
  • Touch-enabled automobile interior and home appliance center simulators demonstrating the enhanced user interface experience that thin, durable glass can enable in new design applications.
  • A centerpiece, Gorilla Glass-covered video wall, flanked by Gorilla Glass fabricated sound speakers, projecting the latest in Corning specialty glass technology news.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Near Field Communication is the most talked about platform to be integrated across various mobility channels as means to serve variously transactional and useful resource needs across various segment.

Before discussing the benefits of the same let us try to know what exactly it is. Near Field Communication can be described as enabling transactions, data exchange, information and encrypted transfer between 2 devices within a proximity of few centimeters, NFC is a being integrated across various gadgets, devices which include handhelds, tablets and other platforms.

NFC is a co created  and founded by NFX  and Sony Corporation in 2002.

Google Wallet one is the 1st creation and actual implementation of NFC wherein a user can use his mobile device as a credit or a debit card to do a transaction or make a payment while not actually carrying the physical card, people are still new to the technology and are skeptical on its implementation and usage.

Considering the Indian Market and large consumer base across mobile phones Nokia India and Ra.one (a Red Chilies Production Movie) were first to implement the same with their brand campaign and media strategy.

Ra.one Zones were created across 400 City Wide Nokia Priority stores to make the campaign a success, media that was pushed included promos, trailers, wallpapers, ringtones and so on.

However NFC is not yet found across all devices and mobility gadgets. It involves an NFC chip to both at the sender and receiver end to enable the communication.

It is also said that the technology has a wide scope to push media from various vendors or ad agencies while a transaction is being done, an example for same can be a $50 discount coupon on a purchase made through the upcoming mode of payment or just using it for the 1st time.

The implementation segment is vast allowing products like Appliances, Food, Entertainment, Travel, Shopping, Etc. to promoted across malls, stores and so on.

Also NFC is to be a among Top Media Trends for 2012 as Per Mashable’s Founder Pete Cashmore which were discussed during Mashable’s Media Summit 2012.

Major Players Like Apple and competitors like Samsung, Blackberry, and Nokia are also working on the same.

Symbian Belle and a Few Symbian Anna Devices Comprise of the same as well which includes Nokia E6-00, Nokia 600, Nokia 700 and Nokia 701 Smartphones

NFC based phone are ought to range within a price band of $200-$250 being economical and can be made of for mass usage.