>> http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/20/t...-of-us-auto-i/

Oh how I wish a branch of Maemo would go in this direction.

>> http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/s...me-2010-fords/

Driver tries to check
E-mail, IM, last missed calls
Three months hospital

That's why a simple hud and voice recognition/feedback system would be best.

Haha useful but I don't think I'll ever buy a Ford so...

They do it now with one hand on the wheel while looking down at a cell phone that they are trying to type on using the thumb of the other hand... I see it four or five times a day... in rush hour traffic.

The genie is out of the bottle. People are going to check e-mail and VM. The methods required to do it safely is another matter that I feel Maemo could help provide for.

Voice recognition, text to speech, and a universal in-box would be a start.

Interestingly, all those are available right now on Symbian devices...

Not many people use them, but they are there and usually bundled with the default firmware.

Saw this on Gizmodo today, and immeadiatly thought that something similar would be doable on the tablets, what with Canola and Carman.

Because it would involve (often followed by the sounds... screech, smash, and boingggg.)

I'm talking about a 4, 5, or even 7 inch touch screen. Preferably portable... One of the flaws I see with M'soft's Sync is it is built in. People are resistant to sharing personal information with an inanimate object that is often stolen.
Also, lengthy trips that would benefit from a personal navigator often involve more than one mode of transportation. When a long trip over several days does involve just a car, most people like to review the road traveled and preview the road yet to come. They would pro'ly prefer to do that in the comfort of a hotel room or over dinner. Not sitting in the parking lot of the holiday hotel.

If on the hand Microsoft's intent is to treat the car as just another smart gadget that needs to communicate with all our other smart gadgets in our future smart gadget world, Maemo needs to be there as well.

I'm thinkin' Symbian, not so much.

I just got a Ford Fusion through my work. So far it seems like a fantastic car. For those saying they wouldn't buy Ford, why? It tied and most recently surpassed Honda and Toyota in initial quality. Admittedly, for years they couldn't hold a candle to those two, but times have changed.

Anyways, I have a Blackberry right now but have an N900 on order. The Blackberry has limited functionality with the Sync system on board.

I would love it if the N900 had ANY functionality. Does anyone have any idea if it will be as easy as pairing my N900 with the Sync system and going from there? The N900 is not currently listed as a supported device here: http://www.nsapp.fordtechservice.dea...N_iop_1_30.pdf

I can't imagine that all the devices on that list built custom software for the Ford/MS Sync system. Microsoft must be leveraging some sort of standard Bluetooth protocol for use in the Sync system.

If no one has experience with this, I'll be the guinea pig when my N900 arrives (sometime in the next decade).

I have a fusion sync is pretty awesome. Works fine on my n95, n97, e71. Would love some type of control like this on my n900 when it comes for my older civic.