Microsft + Ford VS Apple + VW?? WTF? Will your next car be a PC or a Mac?

I wasn’t going to do it. Yeah I’m talking about the iCar. Wasn’t gonna do it, didn’t want to do it but, due to multiple requests for information and a new Microsoft vs. Apple battle…Here comes the NEW controversy: Is your next car gonna be a Mac or a PC?

Microsoft + Ford vs. Volkswagen + Apple. Ding, ding, ding…

In this corner Microsoft got the voice command down pat and their product is real. Meaning it isn’t vaporware and you can get it in an actual car! Plus its name is not Ford XP or MS Ford 08. It is just a Ford with Microsoft Enhancements. Are you listening to us Apple and Volkswagen?

The whole Iconcept was cool 10 years ago… No wait it wasn’t. Technology and a car should not only be seamless it should have that wow factor. Now we are going to get back to demoing our new on-board computer friend out. We have named him KITT. I hope it doesn’t turn evil and start text messaging our ex-girlfriends @ 3 in the morning. No really, it does voice to pre-set text messages, search for MP3 author by voice and so much more. Pretend to be Knight Rider today.. No wait. That would make you David Hasselhoff… Alright pass.

First The Mac RUMORS via Engadget:

A Volkswagen spokesperson told German magazine Capital that an iCar may be on the way. Steve Jobs and VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn got together in California a few days ago to “plan an intensive co-operation with the building of vehicles.” It might even be called an iCar. This is against a background of chatter we heard floating around last month, but we’re not thinking Apple’s going to get into the car business.

This will probably be another exercise in incorporation, where iPod functionality is integrated into the car as it was on BMW 7 series. We’re hoping it’s considerably more substantial than the iPod integration into the Honda Civic Hybrid, which we’ve tested here and had a hard time getting enthusiastic about.

But if rumors from last month are true, we might see additional niceties on board, such as Wi-Fi and maybe even a Mac mini, totally driving drivers to distraction. Just don’t check your email at 80mph, please. [Capital, via MacRumors]

And Now The Microsoft News via Jalopinik and Gizmodo in that order:

We sent Gawker videographer Alex Goldberg to catch a demonstration of Ford’s Microsoft-built Sync audio system out in NYC yesterday. This is the same system we were so amazed with before the Detroit Auto Show. Check out the above video to see a Ford PR staffer talk to his car, and then blatantly pander to our videographer by sending a text message of “gawker rules” to the Sync-ed up phone — all while showing off this amazingly cool system.[Jalopinik]

OK, Ford, to me and many of you, is not the future. But Jalopnik got a tour of the voice command system’s final release and it’s pretty damn cool. Apparently, It can play MP3s off a thumbdrive, and search for artists by voice command. Nuts! And you can receive and send preset text messages by voice over bluetooth to your cellphone. Wow, Microsoft and Ford, making decent systems together. Those Apple/VW rumors have a lot to live up to[Gizmodo]

Microsft + Ford VS Apple + VW?? WTF? Will your next car be a PC or a Mac?

I wasn’t going to do it. Yeah I’m talking about the iCar. Wasn’t gonna do it, didn’t want to do it but, due to multiple requests for information and a new Microsoft vs. Apple battle…Here comes the NEW controversy: Is your next car gonna be a Mac or a PC?

Microsoft + Ford vs. Volkswagen + Apple. Ding, ding, ding…

In this corner Microsoft got the voice command down pat and their product is real. Meaning it isn’t vaporware and you can get it in an actual car! Plus its name is not Ford XP or MS Ford 08. It is just a Ford with Microsoft Enhancements. Are you listening to us Apple and Volkswagen?

The whole Iconcept was cool 10 years ago… No wait it wasn’t. Technology and a car should not only be seamless it should have that wow factor. Now we are going to get back to demoing our new on-board computer friend out. We have named him KITT. I hope it doesn’t turn evil and start text messaging our ex-girlfriends @ 3 in the morning. No really, it does voice to pre-set text messages, search for MP3 author by voice and so much more. Pretend to be Knight Rider today.. No wait. That would make you David Hasselhoff… Alright pass.

First The Mac RUMORS via Engadget:

A Volkswagen spokesperson told German magazine Capital that an iCar may be on the way. Steve Jobs and VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn got together in California a few days ago to “plan an intensive co-operation with the building of vehicles.” It might even be called an iCar. This is against a background of chatter we heard floating around last month, but we’re not thinking Apple’s going to get into the car business.

This will probably be another exercise in incorporation, where iPod functionality is integrated into the car as it was on BMW 7 series. We’re hoping it’s considerably more substantial than the iPod integration into the Honda Civic Hybrid, which we’ve tested here and had a hard time getting enthusiastic about.

But if rumors from last month are true, we might see additional niceties on board, such as Wi-Fi and maybe even a Mac mini, totally driving drivers to distraction. Just don’t check your email at 80mph, please. [Capital, via MacRumors]

And Now The Microsoft News via Jalopinik and Gizmodo in that order:

We sent Gawker videographer Alex Goldberg to catch a demonstration of Ford’s Microsoft-built Sync audio system out in NYC yesterday. This is the same system we were so amazed with before the Detroit Auto Show. Check out the above video to see a Ford PR staffer talk to his car, and then blatantly pander to our videographer by sending a text message of “gawker rules” to the Sync-ed up phone — all while showing off this amazingly cool system.[Jalopinik]

OK, Ford, to me and many of you, is not the future. But Jalopnik got a tour of the voice command system’s final release and it’s pretty damn cool. Apparently, It can play MP3s off a thumbdrive, and search for artists by voice command. Nuts! And you can receive and send preset text messages by voice over bluetooth to your cellphone. Wow, Microsoft and Ford, making decent systems together. Those Apple/VW rumors have a lot to live up to[Gizmodo]

Do you want to know the answer to every question?

of Course you do… Who wouldn’t right??

Well This is utterly amazing… I didn’t really grasp how cool it was until I used it… I dialed up 23907 and hit send text message and typed out my text query…ABOUT [topic]

about wikipedia

And I got back a link dumb quick which put me into wikipedia mobile with the word spelled out phonetically and quick links to more information. In a matter of seconds I now know as of August 1st 2007 Wikipedia has 7.9 million articles. 1.932 million are in English….

You can also do NEWS [topic] and pull links for recent headlines.

Wow now I too can be the life of the party… Winner of all things trivia… Geek of all geeks. Yeah the last one is probably the closest to reality. So geek out to yourself but have the option

SMS service GoLive! Mobile now offers a convenient text messaging interface to
the Wikipedia. Text the words about to short code

23907

and you’ll get back a link to a mobile-friendly, shortened Wikipedia page. This is fantastic for quick trivia look-ups on the go - but it does require that you can surf the web on your cell phone. (If only they texted you back the results…) Just beware of GoLive! Mobile’s homepage, which features an annoying “Chat with us!” box that floats back and forth across the screen. Also, your mobile plan’s regular SMS charges apply. [From Micro Persuasion via Lifehacker]

Search Wikipedia and RSS News Feeds via SMS

If your phone isn’t web ready then you can use this pure text message yahoo… quick read this here…AtA

Do you want to know the answer to every question?

of Course you do… Who wouldn’t right??

Well This is utterly amazing… I didn’t really grasp how cool it was until I used it… I dialed up 23907 and hit send text message and typed out my text query…ABOUT [topic]

about wikipedia

And I got back a link dumb quick which put me into wikipedia mobile with the word spelled out phonetically and quick links to more information. In a matter of seconds I now know as of August 1st 2007 Wikipedia has 7.9 million articles. 1.932 million are in English….

You can also do NEWS [topic] and pull links for recent headlines.

Wow now I too can be the life of the party… Winner of all things trivia… Geek of all geeks. Yeah the last one is probably the closest to reality. So geek out to yourself but have the option

SMS service GoLive! Mobile now offers a convenient text messaging interface to
the Wikipedia. Text the words about to short code

23907

and you’ll get back a link to a mobile-friendly, shortened Wikipedia page. This is fantastic for quick trivia look-ups on the go - but it does require that you can surf the web on your cell phone. (If only they texted you back the results…) Just beware of GoLive! Mobile’s homepage, which features an annoying “Chat with us!” box that floats back and forth across the screen. Also, your mobile plan’s regular SMS charges apply. [From Micro Persuasion via Lifehacker]

Search Wikipedia and RSS News Feeds via SMS

If your phone isn’t web ready then you can use this pure text message yahoo… quick read this here…AtA

Can you run Windows Restore from the Command Line?

Our Buddy over @ Bauer-Power had an exciting time running system restore from the command line. Check it out.

I had a computer today that reacted a little funny to an install of McAfee Virus Scan. After the reboot it didn’t agree with McAfee’s OnAccess drivers. Long story short it would give me a BSOD at reboot. I tried Last Known Good, but then it would hang indefinitely. I tried to boot into safe mode (without networking), that was a no-go also, it too would just hang indefinitely. All I wanted to do was a simple system restore!!!

Never fear, Captain Command line is here! I rebooted into safe mode with command prompt. It booted right up. I logged in and like clockwork, got only the command prompt. I ran the following command:

The system restore GUI popped up and I was able to restore to before the install. Thanks Captain Command line.

[Originally Posted On Bauer-Power By El Di Pablo]

If you run into an access denied even though you are an admin trying to access system32:

El Di Pablo said…
Also, if you’re administrator, you can change the permissions from command line (Not from recovery console though). If you’re administrator, you can change the permission for the system volume information by running:

cacls “System Volume Information” /P Administrator:F system:F

Is there any way to improve Edge speeds on my iPhone? Does my iPhone have an antenna?