Filed under: Etc., Safety, Technology

If you’re truly worried about your teenager and what he or she might get into – or plow into – using a cellphone while driving, then perhaps you might find Cell Cease of interest. If your teen’s phone runs on Windows Mobile and has GPS, Cell Cease will block the ability to make and receive most phone calls if it detects the phone is moving more than 5 miles per hour. Only 911 calls and an allowed numbers list will be able to get through otherwise.

Once installed, Cell Cease makes changes to the software with with a PIN code. While safety is the intended benefit, there are not-insignificant downsides. Running Cell Cease can reduce your usable battery time by up to 20 percent, for one. Even more importantly, Cell Cease can’t tell how you’re moving faster than 5 mph. If you’re a passenger in a car, riding on a bus or train, cruising in a sailboat, or even just walking pretty quickly, it doesn’t matter: your phone is rendered nearly useless. On another note, is there a teen in the world that actually uses a WinMo phone?

[Source: Cell Cease | Image: Ryan Harvey - CC.2.0]

Continue reading New smartphone app automatically cuts usage when driving

New smartphone app automatically cuts usage when driving originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., Government/Legal, Videos

North Korea may be a totalitarian hellhole run by a lunatic with an affinity for women’s M.C. Hammer glasses, but we’ll at least give Dear Leader this: his army of traffic-control maidens is a sight to behold. Stationed at intersections throughout Pyongyang, the uniformed women of the city’s traffic police go about their mission with robotic precision. It comes off as a deadly serious affair – no smiling, no banter – as they point what little traffic there is in the direction it needs to go. And, really, it is serious business: After all, even though there may be traffic lights, there’s little electricity available to power them.

As such, the burden of maintaining order on the roads falls on the shoulders of these often pretty, yet always stern-faced officials. As one oblivious Mini Cooper driver learns in one of the videos posted after the jump (how does one come to own a Mini in NoKo, anyway?), you can get the traffic girls to leave their posts, which are defined by circles drawn in the intersections, if you ignore their instructions. Only they won’t do so until after they complete a formal, choreographed changing of the guard ceremony.

Other observations: in the summer, the blue uniform tops appear to be exchanged for white ones, and the traffic-control stations (at least some of them) are augmented with shaded platforms that presumably make the job somewhat more bearable. It’s all bizarrely fascinating to watch, which you can do in several videos posted after the break.

[Source: Roger Ebert via Twitter | Image: BryanH - C.C. 2.0]

Continue reading Video: Traffic control in Pyongyang

Video: Traffic control in Pyongyang originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Car Buying, Coupe, Performance, Etc.

Just a week ago, the rumor was spread that new TVRs will be coming to the U.S. and that they’ll cook their tires with U.S. engines – but you’ll probably have to wait until this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed to get the details. Now we’ve been told that you can buy remanufactured versions of the Tuscan, Sagaris, and T350, and you don’t have to wait at all!

These old-as-new TVRs are being sold as rolling chassis, the same way you would buy a Superformance or Rossion, and have otherwise been made to comply with U.S. DOT laws. They’re available through Carmel Motorsports in Indianapolis, and all you’ll need to do after a phone call and a cash transfer is show up with an engine or a trailer.

We don’t know where the supply of cars is coming from, however. The “official” TVR isn’t building cars; these are coming from a company called Total Vehicle Remanufacturing. TVR, get it? We don’t know anything about them, but hey, one call to Carmel can answer all your questions if you decide you’re ready for the raw rear-wheel-drive power of what used to be Blackpool’s finest. Hat tip to Alexis!

Why wait for the new TVR? Get one now… but not from TVR originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Holbrook Mohr ASSOCIATED PRESS BLUE SPRINGS, Miss. — Terry McShan isn't thinking about car-sales analyses or excess capacity when he drives by the idle Toyota plant in northeast Mississippi. He's…

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Pravda couldn’t have phrased it better.Nobody, it seems, has told Yuli Edelstein that his ministry is a joke office, one of the many dreamed up by Binyamin Netanyahu when he formed the most bloated …

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By Aron Heller ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM — Israeli police forces stormed the most contentious holy site in Jerusalem on Sunday to disperse masked Palestinian protesters hurling objects at visiting …

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Filed under: Ford, Toyota

Toyota is bracing for lower February sales as its massive recall and the ensuing media storm have cast a shadow over the automaker. Just how low can Toyota go? TheDetroit Free Press says it could see its lowest US market share in over five years this month, with about 12 percent of U.S. sales.

Most analysts anticipate that Toyota will have a very rough month, but the big question on their minds is which automakers stand to gain the most from Toyota’s pain. Edmunds and TruCar reportedly think that winner will be Ford, as they estimate that the Oval will see a 35-percent sales increase. If correct, that’ll vastly outpace the nine to 14 percent increase for the month that was previously forecasted.

Despite Ford’s anticipated performance and projected double-digit gains for the industry as a whole, the market is still struggling. After all, these February 2010 sales projections are increases in relation to the dismal February 2009 numbers, which came as the recession helped deliver the industry its lowest sales levels in 30 years. February 2010 sales are also expected to be generally lower because of the multiple east coast snowstorms that kept customers out of dealerships for much of the month.

[Source: The Detroit Free Press]

Report: Ford to benefit most from Toyota’s woes in February sales totals originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Hamas commander who was killed in a Dubai hotel room was drugged before he was suffocated, police say.

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By ASSOCIATED PRESS President Obama has finished his first medical checkup as president and knows when he's supposed to go see the doctor again — when he's 50. The 48-year-old commander in chief …

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Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Videos, Volvo

March 2, at the Geneva Motor Show, Volvo is promising us “naughty” cars. We have no idea what they have in mind – Sinful sedan? Evil estate? Headstrong hatch? Your guess is as good as ours, but as the video shows, there will be an S60 involved somehow. We hope that lucky gold feline comes along for the ride, too. Follow the jump to check out the teaser. Hat tip to Matthew

[Source: Volvo]

Continue reading VIDEO: Naughty Volvos headed this way?

VIDEO: Naughty Volvos headed this way? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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