If auto shows are about dreams, then the Milner AirCar fits right in. Tucked away in the back basement of the Javits Convention Center with the trucks and SUVs at the New York International Auto Show is the latest iteration in a long line of dreams: the flying car.

This one is from Milner Motors. It's a narrow body car with a folding wing and a pair of 150-hp pusher fans in back. As co-founder James Milner describes it, "We believe that a truly clean-sheet approach to vehicle design can produce commercially viable vehicles that respond to today's environmental and energy needs in a way never before possible."

Every wondered what your early 90s Honda CRX would look like if it got 95 MPG? The answer, it seems, is along the lines of something that might have come out of a homemade sci-fi flick.

Mike Turner, of Ecomodder fame transformed his old Civic into one damned efficient green machine that manages to get 95 miles to the gallon. Those aerodynamic enhancements to the car's exterior reduce the Civic's drag coefficient from 0.34 to 0.17, according to EcoGeek.

Turner also had a headstart with the CRX, which already gets 50 mpg, straight out of the factory doors, and it doesn't hurt that he considers himself a hypermiler, which involves not slowing for turns, cutting the engine while driving, and do whatever else it takes to squeeze out more miles per gallon.

Mio Technology isn't introducing any new navigation devices this year at CES 2008, but it's showing a technology demonstration of new devices that the company will introduce in the second quarter. The new GPS line, called Mio Move, will feature both 3.5- and 4.3-inch screen models. Unlike the existing C series of GPSs, the Mio Move line will be targeted at value-conscious consumers who are interested only in automotive navigation. Mio Move products will lack the media players found on the C series, as well as bicycle and pedestrian modes. Most important--the Mio Move GPSs will be based on new system software developed in-house. We expect to see features similar to those found on Navman GPSs, as Mio's parent purchased the automotive division from Navman last year. Stay to tuned PCMag.com for full reviews as soon as they are available.

For a $10 fee, Dutch web siteYourPND will record your voice via computer microphone and, within minutes, send back files formatted to work on most TomTom devices. They're also reportedly working on adding support for Garmin, Mio, and MyGuide GPS devices. And if you think someone really wants to hear your voice more than their own, the site will also put your files on a USB flash drive and mail it to the unfortunate recipient for $29.

Sounds like a fun little service, especially if it is as simple as it claims to be. But I think this technology could be put to better use saving lives: Someone needs to call Gilbert Gottfried. No one who has his voice blaring out of their GPS will ever fall asleep at the wheel again.

The service is available now for TomTom owners who can also read Dutch. Hopefully YourPND will have an English version of their site online by the time they add support for other GPS devices.

Post by Matt Safford

Paintball has long been considered by some--including me--to be the ultimate first-person shooter. But although the virtual shooters feature vehicles, most outdoor war games have relied on just a few four-wheel ATVs.

But now Funtrak has introduced the Paintball Panzer, the sport's first "armored vehicle." This miniature tank features a 13-horsepower gasoline engine and steel-frame chassis; it works much like the full-size vehicles that inspired it, allowing the driver to cross ditches and climb hills with up to 60-degree inclines.

Though it's designed to be road-legal in the U.K., the Paintball Panzer probably wouldn't work for your daily commute. Prices start at about $18,000, and Funtrak has plans to introduce models designed for Lazertag and Airsoft style war-gaming as well. The Paintball Panzer might require a Pentagon-size budget--but how cool would this be in a game of Capture the Flag?

Post by Peter Suciu

The new VITAS 8000 from Korean auto accessory manufacturer, Freenex, combines positioning capability, turn-by-turn guidance, voice instructions, safety, comfort, and more, into a single device.

The Korea-only in-dash device sports a seven-inch wide touch screen display with a resolution of 800x400 pixels. It is powered by Intel's PXA270 520MHz processor, the first Intel XScale technology-based processor that renders high-performance multimedia acceleration. The VITAS also contain Intel's 2700G5 3D graphics accelerator, which supports 30-fps video playing and 3D mapping functionalities.

The device's standout feature, however, is its Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), which alerts the driver in the event of a deviation from the planned route.

The device's other features include video and MP3 playback, games, karaoke, and a TPEG service for delivering all types of traffic and travel Information. The company has not made any news about pricing or release to markets outside Korea.

Post by Rahul Prabhakar

What with the recent introduction of the kosher cell phone, it seems only fair that another company create an Islamic car, right?

Proton, the national carmarker of Malaysia, has announced plans to do just that. Initially proposed by Iran, the car would be marketed to devout Muslims worldwide, and would include features like a compass that points toward Mecca and specialized compartments for headscarves and the Koran.

"The car will have all the Islamic features and should be meant for export purposes," Proton's managing director, Syed Zainal, told the AP. "We will identify a car that we can develop to be produced in Malaysia, Iran, or Turkey."

Proton is also in talks with Volkswagen and General Motors about possible partnerships.

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, today Pharos Science and Applications, Inc. announced two new additions to its line of Drive GPS. The Drive GPS 250, with an MSRP price of $299.95 features a 4.3-inch touch screen, Navteq maps for the US and Canada preloaded onto a 1GB SD card, and 1.3 million Points of interest. The Drive GPS 150 is a smaller version with the same features and a 3.5-inch screen, and will be priced at $199.95. Both units have 20-channel SiRF Star III GPS receivers and support text-to-speech.

Both units are expected to be available at major retail outlets in the coming weeks. We'll have a hands-on review over on PCMag.com in the near future.

Post by Craig Ellison

We can get behind pretty much any technology that makes the real world a bit more like the Star Wars universe, so Nissan's inclusion of a friendly, dashboard-based robot was a real selling point in this video for the company's latest concept car, the Pivo2.

"We have data that happy drivers' accident rates are drastically lower than depressed ones, so this robot stays there to make sure the driver is happy always," said Nissan chief designer Masato Inoue of the R2D2-esque 'bot.

The surprisingly endearing dashbot, Pivo-kun, is just one of a handful of extremely cool innovations that make the video worth watching, including the car's parallel-parking-free, 360-degree cabin-turning radius.

Car thieves better think twice the next time they're looking to make a quick buck. According to USA Today, General Motors will equip 1.7 million of its 2009-model vehicles with a technology that enables officers to remotely slow down the engines of stolen cars through the OnStar mobile communications system. "The system...is a big move toward reducing what GM says are as many as 30,000 pursuits around the country every year. Up to 400 people die in accidents involving chases, according to PursuitWatch.org, an activist group."

The OnStar system already has an integrated global-tracking device, which can be used to find stolen vehicles. However, this new technology will allow police officers to stop those stolen vehicles—with the owner's permission, of course. Here's how it would work: a police officer notices a stolen vehicle drive by them. Police can then ask for OnStar intervention, and then the OnStar operator will inform the driver of the stolen vehicle that the engine will begin to slow to idle speed, which can happen in a matter of seconds. The brakes and power steering will still work, since you don't want these car thieves to ram into another car or anything.

PursuitWatch.org President John Phillips says "GM's system shows potential so 'we don't have to play Russian roulette with police officers and the public.'"

Every year PC Magazine's editors scour the showroom floor at DigitalLife and compile a list of the dozen or so best products being showcased at Javits that year. The ceremonies have just wrapped up for 2007. Here's what we picked.

Just think how much more pleasant NYC would sound if those annoying cab honks were replaced with MP3s!

The Horntones FX-550 System is said to be the "first mobile audio system that supplements the sound of a vehicle's horn function by sounding any MP3 audio clip." The system consists of the FX-550 music player, the AP-150 audio amplifier and the rugged SR-100 speaker. The player has an MP3 capacity of 256MB and has 9 preset buttons, all of which can be assigned a "theme" to vary what you want your horn to play.

To add songs, go to www.horntones.com to configure your system with the site's "Virtual Player." Then, save those songs onto a USB thumb drive. Plug your thumb drive into the FX-550 player, and you're ready to go! You can even upload your own custom tones.

The Horntones FX-550 System ($250) is now shipping and can be purchased at www.horntones.com.

Mark it on your maps: Connellsville, Penn. is home to the first police department on record to debut a retooled electric 2000 Chevy Impala police cruiser, which they revealed to the public on Wednesday.

The collimation of three years of work by Coherent Systems International, the car is said to run for 8 hours on a 2-hour charge from a 240-volt outlet. Additionally, developers say the cruiser will cost 35-cents a day to maintain while a gas fueled police car costs more than $3.50 per day to maintain (not including gasoline).

The initial gutting of the Impala started with removing the transmission, motor and all other equipment that could not be powered by electricity. As far as the car's interior goes, the standard gearshift was replaced with three buttons (forward, reverse, and neutral), and a computer screen replaced the speedometer.

Though no one will put a price tag on how much the conversion cost overall, the Coherent VP said that parts alone for this "prototype" ran around $75,000. For the long haul, though, their goal is to make the fuel-injection/electric conversion process affordable.

Via Engadget.

A couple of months ago, state legislatures drafted bills to outlaw D.W.T. (driving while texting). Makes sense, considering how dangerous it is to not only talk on a cell phone while driving, but to text as well. That's why I couldn't believe on SciFi Tech today that this product actually exists. It's called the MobileGear WheelDesk, a desk that attaches to your vehicle's steering wheel. Use the included nylon straps and buckle to keep your laptop locked in place on the desk while you're checking e-mail or reading blogs.

Even though the company doesn't recommend that you drive and write e-mail at the same time ("When you are ready to drive to the next appointment, simply remove the desk from your steering wheel and store it inside your Auto Exec desk or on the passenger seat") I bet there are people out there who will try to do so. That's just asking for danger.

The WheelDesk sells for $19.95.

Whistler, BC will become the home of twenty hydrogen fuel-cell buses, in time for the 2010 Olympics, in nearby Vancouver. The zero-emission vehicles, manufactured by New Flyer Industries, will run four-times the price of a standard diesel bus, at $2.1 million, a piece, will hold 97 commuters, each (37 sitting, 60 standing), and have a top speed of 56 mph. The fill-ups are pricey too, running as much as $1,200 a day, according to TreeHugger.

The first bus in the fleet will get a month's worth of road testing, next July. The remaining 19 will arrive in British Columbia December of the following year, and will likely be greeted in Whistler by a new Hydrogen refueling station.