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Posts Tagged “

iDrive

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news

BMW iDrive Is Getting More "Updates"

BMW's unholy technological tour-de-force iDrive continues to get additional impressive features. This time around, iDrive is going super-customizable with unique screensavers, backgrounds, sound effects. Of particular interest, via iDrive users will now be able to make performance tweaks like adjusting engine boost levels and transmission shift points. So, how does it work? That's where the fun lies. More »

3:40 PM on Tue Jun 3 2008
By Travis Hudson
2,149 views, 35 comments

geneva motor show

BMW Expands ConnectedDrive, Allows Access To Entire Internet

Remember BMW's ConnectedDrive—the service that gives your in-car information system access to Google Local Search and pairs it up with the navigation system? BMW is taking it one step further by no longer limiting what you can and cannot access with ConnectedDriv, meaning you will be able to browse all of the porn sites you can handle inside your car. There are a few catches, though. More »

3:15 PM on Mon Feb 25 2008
By Travis Hudson
1,501 views, 16 comments

question of the day

Which Design Element Represents Today's Optimism, or Lack Thereof?

With Lieberman out trying to wring a straight flush from three of a kind, today's Question of the Day comes from frequent tipster Sean.
Tail fins reflected the [1950s] era's optimism about technology, as best represented by jets. What design trope would reflect this era's optimism? The iPhone?
Perhaps that would be the iDrive? Or does that represent how technology can make a trip to the supermarket an MIT-grade exercise. What say you?

12:00 PM on Thu Aug 16 2007
By Mike Spinelli
1,091 views, 52 comments

news

Let's Interface: Mini to Get BMW's iDrive

Gabe and his MINIons over at Motoring File are convinced the next Mini Cooper will be fitted with BMW's iDrive interface, which has been the victim of more negative column inches than "Ishtar," "Waterworld" and Lindsay Lohan's dad combined. Interface geeks that we are, Jalopnik's complaints about iDrive have been directed not at the complexity of it, but the manner in which it sucks a driver's eyeballs from the road (a bad move on the New Jersey Turnpike). According to MF, the Mini system will mitigate distraction issues with voice activation. Nonetheless, the Mini's climate control switches will remain on the center stack, which removes one major iDrive sticking point. More »

9:39 AM on Thu Aug 31 2006
By Mike Spinelli
437 views, 6 comments

Latest by nachobel: Does anyone else think that looks like the inside of a submarine? more »

gadgets

Even JD Power Hates BMW's iDrive

Looks like gadget creep is starting to effect luxury cars' quality ratings. As CNET reports, JD Power's Initial Quality survey has begun tracking usability of cars' insides. What they found is that advanced technology systems, like BMW's iDrive, Mercedes's COMAND and Audi's The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, are confusing the hell out of most drivers. They're "difficult to use" and "poorly located," say consumers. The study also uncovered flaws in nav system and HVAC controls, and voice recognition systems that don't. Read on (it's the button on the left). More »

3:00 PM on Thu Jun 22 2006
By Mike Spinelli
444 views, 5 comments

Latest by Mike Spinelli: Actually, iDrive isn't hard to figure out. It's using it on the fly that's distracting. I almost planted an M5 into the rear of a Mafia cement truck in North Jersey while trying to find the Morning Zoo. Next time more »