A long time ago RJ and I were having a conversation about technology and he made a prediction that cell phones would replace laptops and PC’s.  At the time I thought he was nuts but now I’m starting to think he was onto something!  AEM has this new gadget called the “X-WiFi Wideband UEGO” and it will wirelessly beam engine vitals to your phone!  Can you believe that?  If I told someone about this back in ‘96 they would have had me committed.  Check out the video below to see the X-WiFi in action.

Mitsubishi fans throw your hands up!  COBB Tuning finally dropped an AccessPORT unit for the Mitsubishi Evo X!  It comes in just under 700 bucks and has 126 tuning maps available with undoubtedly more on the way.

Bluetooth cell phone speakers are pretty cool and they help us avoid tickets here in California which is an added bonus but they can still be a pain.  You have to find somewhere to stick them and make sure they’re charge which is really annoying!  However, it seems that Scosche has a pretty cool solution to both problems.  Their solCHAT has suction cups to easily attach to the windshield..and coolest of all is that there is a solar panel on the back (hence the “sol”..for solar) which keeps the battery charged!  Freakin’ sweet…

You read the title.  ARC is on the verge of releasing a downforce measuring device for the consumer market.  Now the next time someone asks you what that silly giant wing on the back of your car is for you can shove their face in the LCD screen of your new downforce meter!  It comes with all the sensors needed to measure air flow over your wing and recommend wing angle adjustments for optimal downforce.  Sounds cool but who is going to use this thing?!  Seriously though you need to do the google translate on the product page and read the description.  You’ll thank me!

Coming soon is the second application of Cosworth’s new stand alone ECU.  The first EC Pro dropped earlier this year for the WRX but come SEMA time we will see the debut of a new Cosworth EC Pro for the Mitsubishi Evo X.  There are a ton tuning and data-logging possibilities with this thing however I’m no where near smart enough to understand them all! As you may have guessed the EC Pro is meant for serious tuners only.  So if you get this you better make sure you know what you’re doing or you know someone (or a shop) that knows what they’re doing!

Pioneer just released an iPhone app dubbled ”AVIC FEEDS“ that adds some extra convenience and functionality to your Pioneer navigation system.  Normally you have the ability to manually enter points of interest to your navigation but with this new app you can find points with your iPhone through the app or via geo-tagged photos and then the iPhone will wirelessly communicate with the navigation system via bluetooth to add those points to your system.  Cool stuff!  Hopefully Pioneer will release something like this for Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices soon.

Press Release:

PIONEER UNLEASHES THE POWER OF ITS IN-DASH NAVIGATION SYSTEMS WITH NEW FREE APPLE APP

LONG BEACH, CA - (September 21, 2009) - Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today releases its first iPhone® application created for use with Pioneer’s new AVIC-U310BT and AVIC-Z110BT in-dash navigation systems. Pioneer’s AVIC FEEDS App establishes a link between the Apple® and Pioneer products, letting iPhone owners find points of interest or search for destinations ahead of time on their phone and easily access them via Bluetooth® from their Pioneer navigation systems. This eliminates the need to jot down or manually enter address information into the Pioneer unit and allows drivers to receive convenient turn-by-turn voice guidance while still being able to use their iPhone for other purposes.

Through independent research, Pioneer discovered that a significant percentage - more than 22 percent - of registered Pioneer navigation system owners also own and use an Apple iPhone.

“We are continually looking for ways to enhance a driver’s experience by providing high quality navigation and entertainment products that incorporate convenience and safety features,” said Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for the mobile business group of Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “After researching what technologies and consumer electronics products our registered owners embrace, we identified a natural opportunity to integrate the features and functions of our navigation systems with Apple’s iPhone.”

Ways to Navigate:
POI Search - Points of interest (POI) searched through Pioneer’s AVIC FEEDS App can be selected by simply choosing the pin drop of the desired location
Take a Photo - Photos taken on an iPhone that are geotagged with geographical metadata such as location coordinates can be saved for future use as a POI
Saved Photos - Geotagged photos sent to users or photos from the internet can be used as a POIs

Destinations created from a POI search or geotagged photos are converted as a phone contact to the navigation system via Bluetooth. Once the phone book is synchronized, the routable contacts are identified by a unique icon that appears next to the contact in the navigation system. By selecting that contact, Pioneer’s navigation system will calculate a route and provide turn-by-turn guidance to that location.

Value of Convenience:
AVIC-U310BT and AVIC-Z110BT owners who want to take immediate advantage of these convenient features can download the Pioneer AVIC FEEDS App for free from their iPhone at pioneerelectronics.com or the iTunes store.

Consumers who have not yet invested in a navigation system or an iPhone can purchase these products for under $700 - the AVIC-U310BT ($599) and iPhone ($99), plus subscription and other fees associated with the Apple device. Pioneer’s AVIC-U310BT is the best value in in-dash navigation, offering robust, full-featured route guidance, CD playback and the convenience of built-in Bluetooth for hands-free calling and iPod/ iPhone control.

The AVIC FEEDS App is also fully compatible with the AVIC-Z110BT ($1,599), Pioneer’s flagship in-dash navigation AV receiver featuring DVD playback, built-in Bluetooth, voice recognition, text-to-speech guidance, an advanced touch screen interface and more.

 

The Series 2 EMS has finally come to H-town.  If you head over to AEM’s website you can now order a Series 2 EMS plug and play ECU for most popular 4-cylinder Honda applications.  Everything from EG Civics to the S2000.  Rejoyce tuners! your new canvas has arrived.

HKS Just dropped a brand new version of their popular EVC boost controller dubbed the EVC-S.  The new EVC-S features a separate display unit from the main control unit which opens up the mounting possibilities tremendously.  In fact, each component of the boost controller connects independently to the control until which makes installing this bad boy a lot easier than previous models.  It also has the same cool design as HKS’ current gen turbo timer.

If you’re planning on turning your brand new Nissan 370Z in to an all out race car then engine management is going to be a big concern.  The Cobb Tuning ACCESS Port is aweome for most street applications but for a racing set up you need a little more depth.  Thats where their ACCESS Tuner software comes in.  It pretty much allows for full on custom mapping for anything you’re trying to do with your Z.  Rumor has it that there is a custom map you can create that will turn your car into a Transformer….just a rumor though…

Cobb Tuning has finally brought their popular AccessPORT ecu tuning application to Honda land.  You can now get the AccessPORT for the 2006-2009 Honda Civic Si.  As you probably guessed by now one of the programmable parameters of the AccessPORT is VTEC initiation but also expect to adjust air/fuel maps and the ability to monitor all your major engine stats.