Apps

For those with a commute that can vary wildly in terms of traffic, Google’s got a new solution in its immensely popular Maps app. The company announced Monday that it would be rolling out an update this week featuring a “Commute” tab that allows users to check what type of traffic...Read More»

Leonia, New Jersey, is a small borough of with less than 10,000 residents. It’s located just on the east side of the Hudson river from New York, and it wants to wipe itself of the map. Literally. This isn’t some ill-conceived joke about New Jerseyan self-immolation (they can’t...Read More»

It's happened to all of us: you're driving down the street on a beautiful spring day with the windows down, and something unusual catches your ear. A new squeal, a squeak, or maybe a clunk is coming from underneath the hood. Perhaps it's something simple to repair, like an aging belt. Then again...Read More»

As we tumble headlong into the Era of the Connected Car, one thing engineers are struggling to address is the possibility that evildoers might hack our cars' burgeoning networks. Unfortunately, a new report suggests that automakers have left open a fairly large back door for the bad guys--a back...Read More»

We learned a lot of interesting things in the first decade of the Smartphone Era. We now know that, though nearly all of our friends have mobile phones, few like talking on them. We've learned that "freemium" is never free. And of course, we know that if you really want to make bank in the App...Read More»

It'll probably be another week or two before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration releases its official stats on 2015 traffic fatalities. However, early data suggests a significant uptick from 2014--potentially 7.7 percent or higher. What's to blame for that sharp increase? According...Read More»

Autonomy, electrification, ride-sharing: tomorrow's auto industry is going to look very different from today's. Some automakers and dealers are fighting the tide of change tooth and nail; others, like Tesla, are charging headlong into the unknown, often without much success. A new app called...Read More»

Now, there's something else that Alec Baldwin and Missy Elliot can do with Amazon Alexa: start a Hyundai Genesis. If you're not familiar with Alexa, it's a voice-operated digital assistant, like Apple's Siri, Microsoft Cortana, or Google Now. It runs on a growing family of Amazon devices like...Read More»

Analysts may be feeling bearish about Apple's lack of innovation on the iPhone front, but smartphones aren't going anywhere anytime soon--and neither are apps. On the one hand, that's a good thing, because many of us depend on those apps for navigation, communication, entertainment, and...Read More»

No matter what some politicians say, America is already great at many things--for example, fostering innovation, generating game-changing technology, and finding new uses for Twinkies. However, that's not to say that we don't have room for improvement in areas like energy efficiency, education, and...Read More»

Depending on your perspective (and possibly, your age), Pokemon Go is either the worst trend to hit America since Car Lashes, or it's a fantastic game that encourages sedentary teens and Millennials to get out of the house and be social. No matter which camp you fall into, though, one thing's for...Read More»

Drive away from the showroom in one of the more technology-forward new vehicles—or really now, nearly anything with a luxury badge—and it’s likely you at least have the option to bring some key vehicle functions with you nearly everywhere you go: in the form of an app for your iOS...Read More»

Over the past several years, we've become accustomed to cars with remote keyless entry. Many of us have also gotten out of the habit of using ignition keys to start our vehicles, relying instead on fobs that remain in our pockets or purses. Now, Volvo wants to take things one step further by...Read More»

If you love your smartphone as much as we do, and if you drive a new Ford, we've got some very exciting news: Ford has said that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will both roll out to the SYNC 3 infotainment system this year, as will several other useful features. Over the past year, Ford SYNC has...Read More»

iPhone users, are you using the Apple News app in iOS 9? If so, we have good news for you: The Car Connection is now on Apple News. That's right; we have a shiny new channel with all the important information you've come to expect, and rely on. Shopping for a car? The Car Connection channel on...Read More»

The auto world has been thinking a lot about hacking lately. For years, it wasn't much of a concern, but now that many new cars are connected to telematics networks like Uconnect and OnStar and to cellular networks via dongles attached to their onboard diagnostics ports, our rides are becoming...Read More»

If you live in a city long enough, you get to understand its traffic lights. Some places, they're synchronized, so when your light turns green, you know how fast you can drive and hit the next one without slowing down. When it works right, it's a thing of beauty. BMW has now made the light-timing...Read More»

A couple of weeks ago, two hackers made headlines when they wreaked havoc on a Jeep Grand Cherokee by exploiting a weakness in the vehicle's Uconnect telematics system. (Jeep's parent company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, subsequently issued a recall to patch the security hole.) But as we pointed...Read More»