During the holidays, millions of Americans will pack up their families and go for long drives to visit friends and kin. Along the way, they'll enjoy the scenery together, share stories and the miles will fly by in familial bliss. Yeah, right.
Instead, if you're lucky, the kids will be in the third row of the minivan/SUV playing video games with wireless headphones on while Mom or Dad drives and you nap. If you're not lucky enough to have such devices in your vehicle, fire up your iPhone (you do have one of those, right?), and download Punch Buggy Mobile.
It's the iPhonified version of that age-old game we've all played. Spy the designated car, score a point. The old-fashioned version was good for at least 15 minutes or until someone lost count of the score and a fight ensued. That's where Punch Buggy comes in. It keeps track of up to three players' scores and expands the game past one particular car to a whole list of them. Spot a MINI Cooper, score two points. Spot a yellow MINI Cooper, score four points. Etc, etc.
There's a both free and pay versions of the Slug Bug applet, the latter of which costs .99ยข and gives users a chance to win real prizes by spotting the company's Ca$h Buggy out on the open road.
Ford's latest promotion for the Flex really has nothing at all to do with the Blue Oval's big crossover, but it's still cool. Available for iPhone and iPod touch users, the Flex Photo Lab is free and allows Apple gadget owners to do things like adjust the brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation of images, as well as add special effects like add glowing lines or kaleidoscopic effects to photographs. What's the connection between a big station wagon and photo retouching software? Both are intended for tech-savvy consumers, says Ford. There is a tie-in built into the app. There's a "Discover Flex" functionality that allows users to tour the vehicle's interior and exterior, and iPhone users can use the "Locate The Flex" feature to beat a path to the nearest of Hank's stores. Rather than trifle with becoming an iPhone/iPod Touch developer, Ford farmed out the task to the Tao Agency, and now that we can spiff up shots on these mobile devices, we're tempted to trade our DSLRs and fancy lenses.
Here's another iPhone application that demonstrates that soon there is nothing you won't be able to know if you have just one device. DevToaster has created an app called Rev that reads information straight from the OBD-II port on your car and displays it on your iPhone. When it's fully operational, Rev can display things like vehicle speed, RPM, fuel consumption, calculated engine load, and a host of other parameters. You'll even be able to check and reset engine and error codes. The only hitch is that you need an OBD-II/WLAN interface that can beam the information from the port to the phone. DevToaster is working on that now; in the meantime, you can download Rev Lite at their site and we have a feeling California's going to work on more phone-centric activities to ban.
Audi feels that its customer base is smart, sophisticated and tech-savvy, which is why it should love a well designed game for the iPhone that features the 2009 Audi A4. Note the well-designed bit, because that's key. Audi had Denver's Factory Design Labs whip up a driving game that uses the iPhone's accelerometer as a way to steer the new 2009 A4 through slalom courses. The German automaker boasts that development took just two weeks, though after trying the free download ourselves, we think Audi might want to keep that quiet. Game development normally takes much longer - think years - so the two-week gestation of the "Audi A4 Challenge" is rather apparent. In a word: craptacular. The top-down graphics are boring, and controlling the vehicle might unintentionally accelerate the iPhone right out of your hands. Adding further frustration is speed control that's got two extremes; the scale equivalent of 35 mph, or stopped. While the game is free, it's not worth the time you'll waste. Perhaps they should let the MMI guys have a crack at it?
We've known for a while that the new iPhone 3G would have the magic of GPS, but we didn't fully realize how that power might benefit car owners. While we've seen a few semi-cool, car-centric applications available for the device -- from mpg calculators to maintenance reminders -- this program could prove the most useful for the forgetful among us.
After parking your car at a crowded shopping mall, users of G-Park tell their iPhone where their car is. When they wrap up their shopping, the application will provide directions back to the car.
PosiMotion says their application will even work on the first-generation iPhone, though without the accuracy of GPS.
There's no word on when the application will be available or what it will cost, but avoiding the shame of wandering parking lots for hours looking for a tan Camry is worth any price.
