If you've clicked play on this driving video from a Ferrari F-430-mounted Nano you've likely already recoiled in horror at the terrible wind noise. The Nano, or any small video camera with an on-board mic for that matter, will pick up horrible, horrible amounts of wind noise when mounted on the front of your car.

The solution? Stick the camera on the rear license plate facing rearwards. That plate is almost always located in an area of negative air pressure so you'll eliminate the wind noise. As an added bonus, the camera will be perfectly located to pick up noise from the exhaust, squealing rear tires and the shocked faces of drivers you've just passed.

Thanks for the tip, Timothy.

The girl was walking across the street on Tuesday when she dropped her iPod. She went back to grab it in moving traffic and was, unsurprisingly, hit by the approaching pickup truck. She suffered a broken leg, but hey, her iPod is OK! Totally worth it. [WESH via The Daily What]

That's not the truck in the accident, in case you were wondering.

The VoiceBox Technologies voice recognition software in the Pioneer units allows users to speak "normally." There will no longer be an exact rhetoric required to achieve a simple task. For example, rather than having to say something long the lines of "Play Artist Green Day," the units can recognize casual conversation like "I want to hear Green Day," or possibly "Play those phat Busta Rhymes beats, yo." [Giz]

The price is $40, and as Jason Chen over at Gizmodo notes, that's is the price of two cheap chargers by themselves. But Incase's combo is all about convenience and luxury. Now, let's see one gold-plated and shaped from carbon fiber! [Gizmodo]

Sergio Marchionne is undoubtedly stocking up on black turtlenecks as we write this. The revived Cinquecento, according to the Fiat boss, is the cornerstone of his attempt to turn the company into "the Apple of cars, and the Cinquecento will be our iPod." The diminutive hatchback has already seen orders in excess of half of the fifty thousand units of goodwill the automaker plans to crank out this year, and they're considering raising full-model-year targets from 120,000 cars to 140,000, at a base price of ten thousand euros. Meanwhile, does anyone know where we can get Abarth tape stripes for a 30 gig iPod? Thanks. – Davey G. Johnson

Fiat wants Cinquecento to be the iPod of cars [Reuters]

Related:
Spy Photos: Fiat 500 Abarth on the 'Ring [Internal]

Though not as common in the Colonies, certain markets utilize a Radio Database System to send song info over the FM band. A new patent by Best Buy utilizes this technology and links it, cleverly, with a "memory storage device," and by that they mean an iPod. This technology comes in handy when you're listening to a song on the radio but miss the name/artist. Just hit a button on the stereo and it will record the song info on your iPod. No longer will you have to attempt to google half-remembered lyrics ("Under bloomin onion I saw you?"). – Matt Hardigree

Best Buy In-Car Stereo Patent Includes Ingenious iPod Integration [MacNN]

Related:
How To Make Your Car Cassette Player useful Again [internal]

Nevermind that silly OEM iPod connection we talked about earlier on the Scion. We've found a way to use your old cassette adapter in a cool and new way. CarDomain.com user JPPadula has done some amazing entertainment tech upgrades to one of the featured rides on his user page, a 2002 GMC Denali. In addition to some neon and electric power enhancements on the SUV, he's also created one of the most ingenious iPod cradle units we've seen. Guess what he used? That's right, all of it's housed in a

"...modded OEM cassette player to accept an iPod. Ipod slides in like a cassette, ejects with the factory button, Custom made Apple button controls PAC SWIX to select source on Kenwood deck using Ipod interface. All fits in OEM cassette player case, mounts like factory, all backlighting retained. Used steel stock lined with suede to make a chassis, cassette mechanism gear assembly for motorization and many hand fabricated slides and levers. Works like a dream."

Joe's GMC Denali [CarDomain]

Related:
The 2008 Scion tC Revealed, Gets Standard iPod Connectivity [internal]

The ability to run your iPod in your car through your head unit (either via the radio faceplate or the steering wheel) is kind of like the Holy Grail to auto-loving audiophiles with a hankering for digital audio. I already drive, eat, drink and e-mail all at the same time, so throwing the iPod into the mix doesn't help much. So any opportunity I've got to use the iPod via the radio interface makes me almost giddy. Given that, I have to say the General's Personal Audio Link system (PAL) is better than what I've currently got, but nowhere near as robust as other systems out there, but at $159 — it's also cheaper than any other system currently on the market as a dealer-installed feature. Given that, I feel kind of bad for the engineer who had to get into the car with us outside of Cobo Hall the other day at the Detroit Auto Show. I mean, it's hard enough trying to ride in the same car as me when I'm driving — but to also have to deal with my eclectic musical tastes — that's more punishment than anyone should ever have to deal with. Check out the video above for more details on the system and for the fun we had the other morning. – Ray Wert

Related:
Audi's Got Some Hot Apple Head Unit Action; Microsoft And Ford Get N'Sync At The Detroit Auto Show And CES, We Get First Exclusive Hands-On: Part 1 [internal]

As you can see from the video above (apologies on the size — we never know how big these things can get) we had the opportunity last week to head down to the super-secret FoMoCo testing and development lab to get an exclusive hands-on with Ford's new infotainment hotness, Sync. The system, created through a joint effort between FoMoCo and the evil geniuses in Redmond will, if you listen to FoMoCo Prez of the Americas, Mark Fields, "revolutionize the automotive industry." While we're not sure we'd go that far, we will say the system is definitely the most robust system we've yet seen for connecting your personal audio and communication devices to your car for in-auto infotainment. The system's just that good.

Sync features two main methods of connection and three bundled applications. On an integration level, it's got a software-upgradeable bluetooth system and a USB connection. The USB connection, in and of itself is pretty amazing — allowing you to connect any mass storage device via a USB cable to a 400 MHz system plus 256 MB of on-board flash RAM. But unlike systems which run the mp3's (or in the case of the Sync system, any unprotected music files) off of an on-board hard drive (think Chrysler's MyGig system), Sync lets you play them off of the drive itself — no muss, no fuss. That means whether you've got an iPod, a Zune or whatever — as long as you've got a USB cable, you're golden. But that's not the only way you can get music onto your audio system — the bluetooth system will let you do it as well. And not only does it let you stream mp3's off of your phone — it'll let you play internet radio via any device with Windows Media Player. But wait, wait — there's more.

You see, there are already a few systems out there with head unit integration — and don't get me wrong, that's cool — in and of itself, that's almost like the "Holy Grail" for iPod audiophiles with auto-integration on the mind. However, there's something cool that sets Sync apart. Sync has one hell of an advanced voice recognition system — letting the driver play songs simply by depressing a voice activation button located on the steering wheel and speaking aloud the artist, album, genre — or even the song title. And, as you can see from the above video, it actually works. But this ain't the only thing it can do — check back in a few hours and we'll bring you the second part — phone and communication device integration. – Ray Wert

[Sync My Ride]

Related:
Ford And Microsoft Get In "Sync" To Offer Wireless Internet In Your Car [internal]

...but we never thought it was this small. But for real, maybe it's just Steve Jobs' car and he's carrying the next version of the iPod, "the Giganto," to CES on top of his car. Or maybe it's just a guy in England who photoshopped an iPod onto the roof of a car. – Ray Wert

AppleMini [Flickr]

Related:
Last Huzzah: Mini to Show Sidewalk Edition Convertible in Detroit [internal]

Audi has not limited the use of its AMI to the Apple player. Additional cables will also be made available, including one with a standard 3.5mm jack and a USB 2.0 compatible jack coming in 2007. In the case of the iPod, it also charges the unit while it is plugged in to the AMI. Once plugged in, the device will then appear in the MMI s navigation. Simply press CD on the MMI controller buttons and you have your choice between your MP3 device (iPod in this case) or CD changer.

So there you go, if you're one of the 14 people who have an mp3 player not made by Apple — you may even be able to plug it into Audi's system at some point in the future. It looks like we'll be looking forward to having the chance to get some of that head unit action ourselves. – Ray Wert

[Gallery]

More pictures and the full interview [Fourtitude]

Related:
Nevermind The Horsepower: Buy A Ferrari 599, Use Your IPod [internal]

The most interesting feature is...

...that the car will come with an iPod dock connector connection as standard so you will be able to plug your iPod in and listen to it on the Fiorano's Bose speakers straight away.

Ferrari 599 Fiorano Now Availible, Comes With iPod Connection [Sybarites.org]

Related:
Steve Jobs Speaks: The IPod Is The Thing In 70% Of Cars [internal]

Best iPod Accessory Ever: Combination Breathalyzer, FM Transmitter [Gizmodo]

Related:
Steve Jobs Speaks: The IPod Is The Thing In 70% Of Cars [internal]

"70 percent of the new cars sold in the US offer iPod connectivity as an option."

That's true — 70% of car models do offer it, but how many of them come equipped with it — and does showing a Chrysler 300 make sense, especially considering the well documented issue of the loss of aux-in when you go for the upgraded radio? Also, aren't they kind of pushing MyGig almost as a competitor to the iPod — at least in the car space? Just asking — maybe the Giz'll have the answers for us later on.

Apple Showtime Coverage [Gizmodo]

Related:
More iPod [internal]

...jumping on this here bandwagon? Oh wait...they've got MyGig...and...yeah. What about Toyota and Honda? No clue.

As for availability — it'll vary. GM will offer iPod connections on all 56 of its models, the General said it would offer the "personal audio link" at dealerships for less than $160 plus installation as early as October for the Chevy HHR, and the other 56 models when they get around to it. FoMoCo's system'll be called "TripTunes Advanced" and as is befitting its "Way Forward" plan, provided little detail on price or timeframes other than to say the system will be added early next year to certain unnamed '07 models.

Ford, GM, Mazda to see more iPod Integration [Gizmodo]

Related:
Apple Wants to iPoditize Your Ride [internal]