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In an effort to catch the arsonists responsible for thousands of burned cars in Germany's capital, and not just that one jealous guy from last year, Berlin police have monitered 4.2 million cell phone connections. They haven't caught a single arsonist. More »
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What is so important that this Italian bus driver feels the need to use two cellphones simultaneously while driving a bus full of passengers with his elbows? Calling technical support on one phone to set his Internet and email settings on the other one. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5802808&view=rss&microfeed=true New York's DMV will implement a two-point penalty on all drivers found guilty of distracted driving this week. And yes, "sexting while driving" counts. We're looking at you Mark Sanchez. [NY1] More »
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Moves to bar drivers from using cell phones have been driven by the mantra that a phone-holding driver is as dangerous as a drunk one. However, a new study found cell phones may actually keep some drivers safer. Here's how. More »
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"They are trained to be careful," transportation secretary Ray LaHood told a caller on NPR when asked if it was OK for cops to use cell phones while driving. They're not, but what could cops be texting each other? More »
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America's top auto safety official says cellphones should come with cigarette-style warning labels about distracted driving, and warned automakers were making the "epidemic" worse with their dashboard gadgetry. Next stop: government mandated thumb socks?. More »
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FACT: Drive while distracted and you will hit a mom and her kid and then be forced to witness the mom watch her kid die. Then you'll kill a mom and her kid will watch her die. Everyone dies. More »
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A California woman drove into a river while talking to her daughter on a cell phone Saturday. The woman asked her daughter to call the insurance company when the car began to sink. They found her body Sunday. [SFGate] More »
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Hey, America! Get off the phone! Get off the phone! Get off the phone! Thank you. That is all. [Big Oak Studios via IGS] More »
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The sales pitch for this thing is priceless: "Looks like a model car? It is in fact a fashionable car-shape mobile phone. FM radio let you keep pace with the nowadays events." Ooh! You don't say! More »
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A man named Dave has wired a cell phone into his car so that it can be started from anywhere in the world. Marginally useless, yes. But also very, very cool. More »
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Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood claims that 15% of all road deaths last year were due to driving while distracted. Texting while driving and other cell-phone-related driver behavior is the focus of a NHTSA summit that began today. Good. [Freep] More »
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The recent release of the Apple iPhone 3GS and the Palm Pre provide a great time for these twenty-two exclusive, high-resolution Jalopnik wallpapers to you, our car-obsessive readership. Take your pick below. More »
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A Detroit legislator is trying for the second time to put a stop to texting while driving in Michigan, pursuing legislation levying a misdemeanor and hefty fine on perpetrators. More »
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If you're squinting at a poorly-rendered map on your Blackberry, turns out you're not alone. According to an industry report released today, up to 8% of Americans are now downloading driving directions and online maps via mobile devices, which equates to a whopping 82% increase over last year. Ironic that mobile map use is increasing just as in-car navigation systems are becoming more common: Are we getting hooked on nav? Full release after the jump. More »
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We apologize for getting your hopes up about the iPhone's GPS capabilities, because with the release just days away, the first reviews of the device are pouring in and there's some bad news about the GPS functionality. Or lack thereof. David Pogue of The New York Times points out that the iPhone 2.0, while it still has real GPS and not the location-based-shenanigans of its predecessor, is not ready to compete with the big boys of the navigation world. More »
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Mercedes-Benz is getting hip with the youngsters by announcing that it will support the Apple iPhone by way of a center-console mounted cradle. The good news about this is that the switching between audio and telephone functions seems to be pretty seamless using the center display and steering-wheel controls. The bad news is that the iPhone's dock is in the center console, between the seats. Even if all of the interface controls can be operated using the vehicle's controls, having the phone in the center console still makes it a pain in the ass to easily remove and replace. Oh, and forget about using the iPhone's GPS. Full release after the jump. More »
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With just two weeks left until one of the most car-crazy states in the US bans handset usage while driving, it seems other places are taking note. Dallas, Texas has announced it will be banning handset use in all 651 area school zones. The idea behind the ordinance is understandable, with crosswalks, bus stops and roaming bands of children adding to the usual targets for distracted drivers. But we think enforcing this law may prove challenging. More »
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So all of that talk of TomTom secretly developing iPhone GPS software followed by the revelation of Apple restrictions on such development, has apparently been blown a bit out of proportion. An anonymous TomTom source explained everything to BoingBoing Gadgets. More »
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A study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reiterates a fact made apparent by James Dean in the classic Rebel Without A Cause: teenagers are some rebellious bastards (for no apparent cause). In 2006, a law was enacted in North Carolina that completely banned persons under the age of 18 from using any type of cell phone device, including hands-free Bluetooth headsets, while driving. A study was conducted before the law went into effect, and again after the law was enacted, and yielded some alarming results. More »
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The unofficial happiness between TomTom and the iPhone has taken a turn for the worse, as Apple has more or less forbidden applications from doing what the TomTom application is designed to do. Hidden deep in the iPhone's Software Developer's Kit agreement is a bit of legalese explaining...well, you can read it for yourself. More »
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Since Motorola is the phone of Ferrari, Sony Ericsson has decided to jump on the rest of the dentist-anesthesiologist demo with a Ducati-branded Z770 cell phone. The big difference here is that Ducati bikes are appealing and svelte, while this mobile phone isn't. Like most auto-branded cell phones, the Z770 will include the usual array of screensavers, backgrounds, themes and more featuring the Ducati namesake. The Ducati Sony Ericsson Z770 should be hitting the Italian shelves soon and should make a great companion to the completely unecessary Ducati USB flash drive [TechDigest] More »
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Not a day goes by without a local news report discussing the dangers of driving while talking on a cell phone, but now researchers at the University of South Carolina are taking things one step further by analyzing what goes on in the brain that makes cell phone use while driving so damn dangerous. A series of experiments by Dr. Amit Almor demonstrated that preparing to speak or actually speaking was four times more distracting than simply listening. Another experiment by Almor lead to some findings that could definitely change the landscape for the future of communicating while driving. More »
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The next-generation iPhone is coming soon and one of the big rumors is that the phone will include legitimate GPS and not the half-assed location-based GPS like the current generation. That has some other GPS manufacturers shaking in their boots. One unnamed president of a GPS manufacturer said the prospect of the iPhone with real GPS has him "scared shitless." We're not too surprised by this notion, either. With windshield suction mounts available, there wouldn't be a reason to drop a few hundred on a top-of-the-line GPS navigation unit when your mobile phone can accomplish the same job. More »
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Motorola isn't one to shy away from shilling for Ferrari and this latest cellphone-sports car mash-up is further proof. Motorola has taken its previously boring RAZR 2 V9 cellphone and slapped Ferrari branding on it therefore increasing the sexiness level 10-fold. Normally in our Auto Branding Adventures, we're not one to easily give in to these types of products, but the Ferrari'd version of the V9 is mighty pretty. The checkered metallic patterns and red-everything is a tad drool-worthy for the gadget-fiends out there. More »
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A recent study by Erie Insurance points out a lot of factors that anyone under the age of 60 probably already knows. The insurance company conducted a study surveying 2,127 licensed teenage drivers and came to the shocking conclusion that teens like to talk on the phone, text message and listen to loud music while driving. More »
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Sharing is caring and nowhere is that more important than when it comes to speed traps. We've seen all sorts of backward hacks on how to tell your fellow lover of speed the dangers that await them after the next bend. Flashing headlights, weird waving signals with our hands. Hell, we've even had people fling fries at us through an open window to get our attention. Let's remove the fast food from the equation, shall we? Enter Trapster, a new service giving users the ability to send and receive speed trap information on the fly, by way of their mobile phone. We like the service quite a bit, as it uses cell phone triangulation, GPS capabilities and Wi-Fi to pinpoint the drivers' locations and warn for approaching speed traps. More »
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GPS Snitch, on one hand, could be viewed as a device for an over-protective parent. But on the other hand, it could be extremely useful for busy metropolitan areas where you never park in the same spot. GPS Snitch attaches anywhere in your car and only needs to be connected to a 12V power source. It then uses GPS and cellphone technology to pinpoint the location of the vehicle. More »
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You should be well aware of your own state's laws regarding use of cellphone while driving, but how about those Aussies? A recent report shows that police in Victoria have managed to wrangle approximately $5 million worth of revenue from silly drivers talking on the phone. They way the Aussies take the fines is an interesting one. More »
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The Lamborghini-branded Asus ZX1 smartphone finally made its debut at the truly badass European trade show going on. No, not the Geneva Motor Show, but CeBIT, the consumer electronics show. This smartphone looks much sexier than I originally imagine and is loaded to the gills with features as well. More »
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The NASCAR season is well under way and Sprint is gifting its NASCAR-fan subscribers with a free mobile service. NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile is an application that displays all kinds of NASCAR information including rankings, video clips, live audio, driver statistics and more. Forget about my NASCAR, opinions, pro or con—this is a pretty nice service and Sprint deserves some credit, especially since they're sponsoring the whole damn NASCAR Cup thing, anyhow. Don't you just love brand leveraging? More »
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Nokia is the latest manufacturer to try its hand into the traffic tracking and communication area. Unlike the other methods, Nokia's traffic shenanigans uses an existing gadget: your GPS-enabled Nokia cellphone. More »
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Just when I thought Garmin was too busy releasing a relentless number of GPS navigation systems, they come out of nowhere with the Nuviphone, a full-blown cellphone based around a GPS core that's set for a third quarter release this year. No word on the carrier or price. With a variety of carriers and manufacturers marketing their own gimpy solutions to GPS on cellphones, what does this phone mean for the industry? Quite a bit, actually. More »
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The iPhone has been dabbling in the automotive world since its release last year, but getting the little bugger fully in tune with your vehicle, when it lacks any kind of integrated solutions, can be a pain in the ass. The Apple fiends at iLounge did the iPhone-touting world a favor by putting together a comprehensive guide to integrating the iPhone into a car. This is a thorough attempt to solve one of the biggest problems with the iPhone: the fact that you can only use the headphone jack or Bluetooth to handle the phone functionality, and not the bottom dock adapter that handles everything else, therefore requiring multiple gadgets for voice and media car integration. More »
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Anycom is touting what it believes is the world's first solar-powered cellphone car speaker system, complete with Bluetooth wireless technology. You know, I'm thoroughly sick of all of the "world's first" labeling that gets thrown around, but I'll reserve that for a separate rant. Fact is, this "world's first" device isn't too shabby. More »
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Samsung and CSR, a wireless tech company, are partnering to develop a new GPS solution that may slash the costs of producing cellphones with legitimate GPS receivers, replacing the triangulating and location-based services that companies like Verizon are currently hawking to customers. But the question remains: Will people actually use their mobile phones for navigation while driving? More »
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If you didn't dislike drivers who spend all their time in the car chatting away on their cell phones before, a new survey from the University of Utah is going to push you that much closer to grabbing a tire iron and smacking the crap out of their X3 (in places where Cell phone driving laws don't exist). The study shows that drivers on cell phones drive about 2 mph slower on congested roads, thus slowing down every driver behind them. What makes them slower? More »
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(The 10th amendment of the US Constitution created a patchwork quilt of state laws related to driving, which is why Jalopnik sorts through the red tape to bring you detailed guides to driving topics such as teenage driving, speed limits, open containers, dehorsing and lemon laws.)
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Chicago's ban on cellphone usage in cars is under attack from a grubby lawyer, and surprisingly, the grubby lawyer has a bit of a point. A 2005 city ordinance banned the use of cellphones while driving. Since then, police have been illegally ticketing drivers talking on cellphones, or so says Blake Horwitz, the attorney who has sued the city of Chicago more than 100 times. More »
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Ferrari, which some would describe as a "luxury manufacturer" is teaming up with Motorola, which others would describe as "cheap junk" — for a prancing-horse branded cellphone. The Motorola Z8 RIZR will be the sliding phone getting a little love from FRRI. I'll go easy on Motorola, the Z8 is a decent handset. More »
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