Car of the Year Trials a Runway Success

Close down a regional airport for a week, fill it up with the latest and supposedly greatest new cars available, add a heaping helping of car writers and what do you get?

Test Fest, the annual gathering of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), at which they drive similarly-classed vehicles back to back and vote on them, the results eventually helping to name the Canadian Car of the year (CCOTY). more...

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.1 – A Product that Speaks for Itself

Computer-based voice recognition software can be a great tool; Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 got me through a difficult period a couple of years ago after I broke my hand and couldn't type; it rode to my rescue by letting me spend a few weeks as a dictator – at least until I'm confirmed as Emperor and can dictate even more. It wasn't perfect, and using it was a lot slower than I type, but it kept me going.

Now in version 10.1, Dragon NaturallySpeaking not only works with Windows Vista 64 bit, but the company says it's also ready for Windows 7. I haven't tried it under Win7 yet but, in the meantime, NaturallySpeaking 10.1 runs like a hot darn under 64 bit Vista, better than many applications I have that treat the OS as if it's carrying H1N1. more...

 

smart fortwo - Smart? Or Just Politically Correct?

There are many, many good and economical cars on the market today. The "smart" fortwo is not one of them.

The "smart" fortwo is easily the worst new car I have driven. I knew within five minutes, maybe less, of having taken possession of the thing that my week would be an ordeal. And when my time was up I was very happy to turn in the stupidly-designed "black icons on a black background and therefore virtually illegible" key fob. more...

BlueAnt Devices Keep Your Hands on the Wheel

Bluetooth technology is wonderful, and could even be a life saver. But what if your car doesn't have Bluetooth built in? It seems discriminatory to exclude millions of people who have Bluetooth phones but whose cars refuse to pair up with them. Let's pass a law!

Let's not. There's an abundance of Bluetooth-equipped devices that can communicate with such phones, cutting out the "middle man" (the car). Some of these gadgets are handy little earpieces, including a pair of BlueAnt Wireless's devices I've been messing about with, while others can clip onto your vehicle's sun visor, a pair of which (also from BlueAnt Wireless) I've been messing about with as well. more....

Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla Still Good Choices for Economy Cars

I'd forgotten just what great little cars the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla are.

What used to be both companies' entry level – and bread and butter – vehicles have grown up over the decades, getting bigger in every way and far more sophisticated. And that isn't a bad thing; technology advances. One thing that hasn't changed, however, is that endearing simplicity and ease of use that Honda once used in its commercials: "We Make It Simple".

Both companies still do, at least in the lower end of the marketplace. And that's great! more....

Panasonic Lumix Camera Great for Cruising

It's getting hard to keep up with all the innovations in digital photography these days. Pixels are getting more mega almost by the month, you can shoot high definition video alongside your stills, and such things as image stabilization and automatic focusing are getting more sophisticated with each generation.

Panasonic's Lumix DMC-TS1 is a small and cute little beastie that also just happens to be waterproof. What better way to test such a unit in real world conditions than on an Alaska cruise? more...

VW New Beetle and Golf City – Reasonably Sublime to Downright Ridiculous

Volkswagen's entry level Golf City is a nice little car, affordable and comfortable and undoubtedly easy to live with. Then there's the New Beetle convertible.

I got to drive both vehicles back to back, spending about three weeks with them in total – mostly (fortunately) puttering around in the Golf, no pun intended. Well, okay; I did make the pun deliberately. The Golf City restored the good taste for Volkswagens that I'd had before I was infected by the nasty bug. more...

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-ray disc

The animated movie that started it all – "all", as in the trend toward full length animated features – is now available in high def Blu-ray and, as usual, Disney has done a bang up job with the title.

The bad news, such as it is, is that despite the 1080p HD picture and 7.1 channel dts HD Master Audio treatment, the movie still looks its age. You should expect that going in, though, and it shouldn't spoil your enjoyment of what's easily the best version of the movie to date. In fact, despite its having celebrated its 70th birthday a couple of years ago, the colors still look beautifully rich and the picture is nice and crisp, with almost no noise – in all, a lovely transfer. more...

2010 Mustang Freshened, but Still Packs Muscle

The original muscle car finds itself facing serious competition from the government-controlled domestic car industry as the Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro vie for a slice of the Pony car market the Mustang once had to itself.

Perhaps that's why, for 2010, the Mustang has been freshened somewhat, though not enough to be considered a major redesign. And that's okay. Other than a rear end that should have been left in the 1960's, it's a car that doesn't need a lot of refining. Besides, this market segment isn't all about refinement, it's about muscle and fun – and in that regard the 2010 Mustang does a fine job. more...

Headphones Promise Ear Relief for Gamers, Flyers

Headphones. You can get them big and small, snuggling in your ear, on your ear and around your ear – some that cancel outside noise and some with microphones built in so you can talk with them as well as listening with them.

What to choose? Well, naturally, it depends on the job you're trying to do. And for that reason, I'm focusing this column on two very different types of headphones for two different applications.  Both work well, and both are easy on the ears. Able Planet's TrueFidelity PS500MM multimedia stereo headphones sell for a hundred bucks and claim to be focused on preventing hearing loss among young people, while Audio-Technica's $220 QuietPoint ATH-ANC7b Active Noise-Cancelling  headphones are an over the ear type of phone that claims to cut 85% of outside noise. more...

Hyundai Adds a Dash of Élan to Elantra

Hyundai has certainly come a long way from the days of rust-prone and underpowered econoboxes like the Pony and the Stellar. Heck, they're even taking on the luxury makers now with their excellent Genesis sedan, just like the Japanese some 20 years ago.

The new five door Elantra Touring is a sportier, yet still eminently functional and practical version of the Elantra sedan that not only ups the styling ante, but which also has a little fun injected into it as well. more....

Hard drive, Turbo Stick offer "Tera-riffic" Storage and Fast Surfing on the Go

In the world of computers, there's always something new being introduced that claims to be the next greatest thing. And that's great! Heck, as someone who plays with and writes about such tools and toys all the time, it's great job security!

This week's "playing with and writing about" involves a cellular phone device that brings the web onto the road with you and a new and supposedly "green" hard drive meant for Enterprise applications. So if you're in charge of Star Trek's starship, this might be for you! more...

Mazda 3 and MX–5 A little – and a lot of – Driving Fun

Mazdas are a blast, even if you don't go beyond their most basic entries. And if you do go beyond –  to the fabulous MX-5 roadster, for example – it's a blast heard around the world.

The most basic entry is the Mazda 3, the Sport version of which I reviewed a few months ago and fell madly in lust with. And you can get a reasonable dose of "Zoom-Zoom" for even less money, as I discovered when I spent a few days with the most basic of 3's. more...

New Bose System Claims to Take iPod Docks to the Next Level

Bose considered its latest product a big enough deal to premiere it in New York City and, to paraphrase the song, if they can make it seem like a nifty product there it just may seem like a nifty product anywhere.

Though yet another iPod stand/speaker system may not seem like something worthy of  shouting from the towers of Manhattan, Bose’ new SoundDock 10 Digital Music System is a pretty compelling product, a $599 ($680 Canadian) audio system that not only holds your iPod or iPhone, but which the company hopes you'll use as your primary audio system. more...

Toyota Venza Blends the Line Between Car, SUV

Take a Toyota Camry, feed it Wheaties to help ensure it grows up nice and tall and what might you get? The Toyota Venza.

Venza could be referred to as a true "crossover", as opposed to merely a marketing moniker to keep the envirodudes from picketing Toyota dealerships for having the audacity to offer SUV's to people who want them. It's a skillful blend of car and SUV, giving you the best of both worlds. It's at heart a Camry, which considering the car's success and reputation is a good thing, but it's higher and offers wagon-like/SUV-like storage space for those times when you want to haul stuff. more...

BodySound Claims to Keep Home Theater Sound inside the Home Theater

What's a home theater without the type of big, rumbling bass and powerful main speakers that can shake your room with the sound of exploding planets, screeching tires, zooming aircraft or ricocheting bullets? Not much, and that's the kind of home theater I love.

What, however, if you live in a condo where the room might be suitable for such a home theater setup, but the walls aren't, and any volume over a particular level goes right through them to rattle the neighbors' cages and cause neighborhood angst? That's the idea behind BodySound, a series of comfortable-appearing home theater furniture pieces that comes with the surround sound system built right in. more...

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Lincoln MKZ and Ford Fusion – Variations on a Theme

Whether you want your car luxurious or mainstream, the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans are nice pieces of work.

I spent nearly back-to-back weeks with the four cylinder Fusion and the V6 MKZ, both of which were new 2010 models, and came away more impressed than I had expected to be. What really surprised me was that I actually preferred the lower end Fusion; I thought I'd be struck by lightning….

Both cars share the same basic underpinnings, but they look and act very differently. The Fusion is Ford's mainstream midsize sedan, built to go head to head with the likes of the Honda Accord, Volkswagen Passat, Toyota Camry and the like. And it does a fine job of it. more...

Porsche Ups the "Sport" Quotient in Sport Utes, Automatic Trannies

Porsche continues to tweak its lineup, making it sportier all the time. To illustrate this, they've added a GTS version to the Cayenne, and a new "automatic" transmission that's anything but shiftless.

The GTS version of Porsche's popular SUV does up the sportiness ante over the garden variety models, offering such upgrades as the option of fitting the big sport ute with a six speed manual transmission. And speaking of transmissions, I finally had a chance to put the Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe seven speed double clutch transmission through its paces, which came wrapped in the new Carrera 4 Cabriolet. more...

Adobe Creative Suite 4 – A Healthy Upgrade

Adobe's popular Creative Suite is back with more power and ease of use than ever.

Adobe is like the Kleenex of the software world, in that its name has become ubiquitous and even some of its products are now spoken like verbs. One doesn't manipulate photographs, for example, one "Photoshops" them – and Acrobat files are an industry standard. more...

Focusing on a Ford and a Honda you Really "Odyssey"

"Fun to drive" may not be everyone's priority, but if an everyday vehicle also has some of that factor built in it can certainly make life with it more pleasant. Such is the case with a couple of 2009 vehicles that, while nowhere near "all new" or "all fun" are still worth a look if you're shopping for a compact sedan or minivan.

The sedan, the Ford Focus, is a pleasant and well-equipped, if "style-challenged" vehicle that performs better than you might expect considering its niche near the lower end of the market. And the minivan, the 2009 Honda Odyssey, is about as nice a way to haul people and their stuff as you can get. more....

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Trackle Promises to Organize Searches, Send You Updates

Have you ever missed getting that important score from the Big Game, or had your own big game rained out because you didn't get the weather forecast in time?

Trackle promises to change all that – at least as much as can be guaranteed in a world in which Murphy's Law has yet to be repealed. And the folks behind this web-based application promise more than that, too, including online tracking of stocks with – assuming the "tracklet" has the functionality – insider trading info that could make you savvy enough to be appointed as financial czar in the Obama administration. more....

Chrysler's Aspen a Big, Brawny Hybrid

Is a HEMI hybrid an oxymoron or a pander to political correctness? And is the idea of any large SUV being a comparative gas sipper really feasible with today's technology? Read the tale of my week in this big and luxurious hauler and you can decide for yourself.

And while I don't think the approximately $8000 premium it costs to get into a hybrid (though you get more standard equipment on the hybrid) justifies the gas savings, the Aspen hybrid did save me some gas in my unscientific calculations: instead of costing an arm and a leg to fill it to merely cost an arm and a thigh. Maybe you could say it brought a thigh of relief… more...

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