New Car Gadgets and Products: April 2006

More new-car gadgets and products

Driver: Parallel Lines, Vol. 1, $9.99

Atari's Driver: Parallel Lines puts your Xbox or Playstation 2 and you in the driver's seat of a Hollywood-style driving game. And now, Apple's iTunes service puts your ears in the same realm with the release of the video game's soundtrack. The songs include classics from Public Enemy and Grandmaster Flash, ready to download into your iPod and play back while you're at the real wheel. Wait, are we supposed to be running over pedestrians in sync with the throbbing soundtrack? Better call GEICO - or see www.atari.com or iTunes for more information.

 

 

Corvette Multi-Function Watch, $62

It's about time you stopped showing up late for Corvette car shows, trader events, and your hair-transplant appointments. But how can you pay homage to the world's best-loved sportscar while maintaining proper chronologicality? We suggest a Corvette watch - crafted in stainless steel (unlike the car itself) and water-resistant, too. With its own collectible steel case-use it to keep your speeding tickets someplace special? - this timepiece will make you the envy of the poor bastards still telling time by the sun. See Amazon's jewelry section for yours.

 

 

Garmin Mobile 20

Navigation systems help you get where you're going with a minimum of wrong turns and puzzled looks at the gas-station attendant when she tells you to "make a right at the Big Chicken." But nav systems aren't cheap either - and who needs one more piece of electronics to tote around? Hence the idea for the new Garmin Mobile 20, a navi-system add-on for the latest range of smartphones that turns your Nokia, Windows Mobile, or Treo 650 into a GPS with turn-by-turn navigation. The Garmin unit has an integrated phone mount that also has Bluetooth speakerphone features built in to allow you wireless headphone use while on the road. Data cards store map information for North America or Europe . Garmin promises the Mobile 20 will be available in July 2006; pricing hasn't been announced.