Specifications based on standardized tests always need to be taken with a huge chunk of salt. Users need to consider what is actually being tested. On the other hand, the absence of standards means that customers cannot directly compare competing products at all. 

Much like tech companies including Apple, Google and Facebook, Ford has launched a developer program for SYNC AppLink. Following a two year private beta with selected developers, the AppLink SDK is now available to anyone that wants to connect their apps to Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

Before Ford will let you distribute apps with the hooks to the car, they will have to check it out and approve to make sure it's appropriate for use while driving. So that means no Angry birds with your steering wheel controls. But we can look forward to plenty more media and location apps that can be controlled by voice. 

We were definitely on the BLEEDING edge in those days

Delphi has come up with a dongle that plugs into the OBD-II port of any car built since 1996 and incorporates a cellular radio. The OBD-II port is an industry standard diagnostics port that can be used for reading out trouble codes, re-flashing ECUs and other tasks. 

Until now only vehicles with embedded cellular radios like GM vehicles with OnStar or Ford's new plug-in vehicles could support this kind of capability. With a cellular device, you can use a smartphone to lock/unlock your vehicle, start it up, locate with GPS and more. This dongle would add that capability to tens of millions of existing vehicles. The big question is how much will the device and corresponding Verizon service cost and has Delphi done their homework on the security side. 

Security will be a big issue.  Until now the only real remote computer security problems with cars have been some demonstrations of cracking into the tire pressure monitoring system and some rare instances of grabbing wireless codes for keyless entry systems.  Anything else required actual physical access to the OBD-II connector. This device would provide that access remotely. I'll sit back and wait to see what security experts think of this after they pound on it for a while. 

He is contesting his ticket based on the premise that he was carrying papers of incorporation in the car and corporations are people, thus meaning there was more than one person in the car. He actually wants to lose the case at this level so he can appeal, ideally all the way to the US Supreme Court. The goal is to overturn the fundamentally flawed premise of corporate personhood. 

Go Jonathan!

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-drowsy-drivers-20130103,0,7459771.story

People don't like to acknowledge it but the truth is that drivers are usually the weakest link in the automotive transportation system. Engineers are working hard to mitigate the risks caused by bad or inappropriate behavior behind the wheel such as systems to detect when the driver is getting drowsy or the car is drifting out of the lane. 

Reshared post from +Mike Elgan

Does leaded gasoline cause crime?

+Mother Jones magazine makes the case that air pollution from leaded gasoline caused the massive US crime epidemic that peaked out in the early 1970s. They also correlate high lead consumption with lower IQ, teen pregnancy and other things.

Does this correlation suggest causation? If so, are other toxins causing other unnecessary problems?

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline

Reshared post from +Ken Kaminesky

Reshared post from +CNET

Why "Podcasts" is the worst app Apple has ever made: