Pioneer AVIC-F500BT

Pioneer wants to get its hands in the auto navigation and auto multimedia market with the creation of the AVIC-F500BT. Pioneer calls the F500BT a “hybrid”, and that word is getting thrown around a lot within the auto industry, it applies to this automotive device as well.

After all, the AVIC-F500BT is a mix of many devices. First of all, it is a fantastic navigation system. There are mapping functions that can be viewed in both overhead and moveable 3D. The screen is a 5.8 inch touchscreen, and the directions are text-to-speech enabled by street. The database includes maps of the United States, Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii.

Second, the AVIC-F500BT is a Media Center. There is an auxiliary audio input for personal audio and communication devices. It can accept portable devices with a USB connection and SD memory cards. As soon as anything is attached, such as a memory card or iPod, it will recognize it for the user to interface.

The AVIC-F500BT also has the advantage of voice control that allows users to control their iPod players and Bluetooth enabled cell phones. The voice controls for the music allows for such commands as “Play Rolling Stones”, and you can even specify an album. As for the vocal phone commands, all a user has to do is say: “Call John Smith”, and the F500BT will ask the user which specific phone number: mobile or home.

Night Vision Glasses makes driving at night much easier …

Darkness not only removes light from the scene when you’re driving, it also takes out contrast, leaving a night driver with the bright spotlight cast by the car’s headlights, and any other place where light is cast by streetlights, a full moon, billboard lights, etc. It’s a light/dark world with no degree of shade or contrast. High-end sports watch maker tag heuer has recognized that the ability to see varying degrees of light and dark can add that contrast and have created a pair of Night Vision glasses to help drivers to see – even when no light is cast. Here’s how they work:

Originally designed to help drivers in the 24 Hours of LeMans auto race, the Tag Hauer glasses amp up contrast by correcting the low-light short-sightedness of the human eye, which only sees about 10% at night. The pale yellow lenses offer constant clear, sharp vision with a very high light transmission rate in order to contrast dark blue and green surroundings without changing color perception. In addition, the lenses are anti-reflective to reduces glare and increase sharpness, taking added strain off the eyes.
The titanium frames come Wide and Panorama, and have anti-slip elastomere arms to keep them on your head.

Other designs include infra red glasses to see better in the harsh light environment of snow or beaches where ultra violet rays and infra read heat are reflected in the eyes up to 80%.

No word on pricing, but for those who make living on the road or at the beach or snow (like Ski Patrol), these glasses are easily must have tools of the trade.

CallMe Prism-I

While driving down the highway one day, I had this fantastic idea for an inter-auto communication device. This way, you can communicate with the guy in front of you and sent messages like “you’re driving too slow”. I had this idea that all license plates could be something like phone numbers to communicate between cars.

However, since most people have cellular phones now, you could probably just call the car in front of you. How would you know the phone number? Just suction cup the CallMe Prism-I to your rear window.

This device is simply a programmable LCD that is solar powered, and can store about ten numbers. Apparently, the CallMe Prism-I is probably not designed to be an inter-automobile communication system. It is a way for desperate guys or girls to proudly display their digits to anyone passing by.

So its actual intended use could be real handy. After all, I can’t count how many times I’ve lost the opportunity to chat with a sexy pedestrian simply because I couldn’t give her my number before the light turned green. Also, I’ve lost count of all those times I’ve seen a beautiful driver and was unable to obtain her number for the aforementioned reason.