Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Ford invited us to its swanky Premier Auto Group headquarters in Irvine, California to talk about the future of Sync and demo the latest iteration of their infotainment platform coupled with Sirius Travel Link. According to the company, Sync v2.0 debuts in November, bringing tighter integration with Ford’s syncmyride.com portal, providing owners with in-depth online vehicle health reports. Also in the cards is E911 support, which automatically places an emergency call as soon as the vehicle detects airbag deployment. Sync 3, scheduled to debut “sometime in 2009,” will bring traffic, news, sports and weather to Ford vehicles without requiring navigation or a monthly subscription. On the infotainment front, however, 2009 Ford vehicles with the navigation option can subscribe to Sirius Travel Link for $7 a month, enabling real-time traffic info, coast to coast weather, local gas station listings sorted by price, movie show-times and sports scores. Peep the gallery below for a smorgasbord of screens.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation

Microsoft’s and Ford’s next generation SYNC has official taken us from our origin at Smittenville to the rural outpost of Gobsmacked. The new SYNC adds 911 Assist, SIRIUS Travel Link navigation, and DVD playback on a large 8- or 6.5-inch touchscreen display depending upon the guzzler you choose. The full $1,995 navigation option (or $395 for just the voice-controlled SYNC) is available exclusively on Ford’s 2009 Escape, Escape hybrid, Flex, Lincoln MKS and F150 before rolling out to the rest of Ford’s fleet. A new 10GB hard drive “Jukebox” has also been added which allows you to insert a CD, lookup the Gracenote CDDB info (including cover art) from the pre-installed database, and then rip the audio back to the disk if you choose. Rounding out the features are Sirius Radio (of course); aux-in and USB-in device (yes, iPods) support; voice commands; steaming audio and SMS text to voice read-out from Bluetooth enabled-phones; and several real-time, Sirius Travel Link services such as traffic data, weather detail, sports info, movies listings, and even gas prices at nearby pumps. Timely. Video walkthrough after the break.

[Via Autospies]

Continue reading Video: Microsoft’s next-gen SYNC finds cheap gas then blows our doors off

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Filed under: CES, GPS, Transportation

Sure, Microsoft’s Sync isn’t a half bad addition to the motorcars equipped with it, but this inclusion really gets the saliva glands working. Debuting at CES, the Sirius Travel Link system will enable owners to obtain “up-to-the-minute information and entertainment content through the vehicle’s navigation system.” More specifically, motorists will be able to fetch current gas prices from a database of stations, local, real-time traffic information in 78 markets, coast-to-coast weather information, sports scores and even movie listings. The system will officially launch in the 2009 Lincoln MKS, and while specifics (like pricing) aren’t mentioned, we do know that it’ll be offered in “multiple” Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles by the year’s end.

[Via AutoblogGreen]

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