Rock out to Modest Mouse in your Mustang: Amazon.com music service arrives at Ford

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Amazon.com is bringing its Cloud Player music service to vehicles equipped with Ford Sync AppLink, including new Mustangs, Fusions and F-150s. That means Amazon Cloud Player users with an Android phone can connect their app to Ford Sync, pulling up their entire music collection. In other words, no more CDs cluttering the glove box. “We… Read More…

Never text and drive again: Ford inks deal with Glympse for hands-free location sharing

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Texting and driving continues to be a big problem, despite powerful public service announcements condemning the practice. Now, a new technology from Seattle startup Glympse and auto maker Ford could help to wipe out texting from behind the wheel. Basically, the new service allows drivers to share their location information with friends and family members… Read More…

Driver distractions: Study shows how smartphones keep our eyes off the road

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While smartphones are helping us stay connected like we’ve never been before, it’s quickly becoming a big problem for driving distracted. In an interesting study done by the auto industry’s top lobbying group, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, 5,000 car owners were polled about their driving habits and the numbers reiterate the fact that our increasing… Read More…

BMW picks INRIX to help drivers maneuver through traffic gridlock

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Earlier today, we told you about a new partnership that integrates the real-time location sharing information from Glympse into the dashboards of new vehicles from Mercedes-Benz. But Glympse isn’t the only Seattle tech upstart linking arms with a big German car company at the Telematics Detroit conference today. In other news from the show, Kirkland-based… Read More…

Auction Edge makes another buy in bid to upend used car business

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A couple days ago we told you about Auction Edge, the stealthy Seattle startup which is looking to transform the way automobiles are sold at auction. At the time, we reported that the company — led by startup veteran David Weld — had acquired Auction Pipeline of Spokane. We also noted that it planned to… Read More…

Startup vet David Weld looks to transform used car business with Auction Edge

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Seattle entrepreneur David Weld is fast at work on a new company called Auction Edge that’s coming on the scene in a big way, already gobbling up Spokane-based Auction Pipeline and eyeing several other acquisitions as it builds out a software platform for the wholesale automotive market. We first came across the company in a SEC filing, which… Read More…

Ad giant WPP invests in auto survey company Enprecis

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Enprecis has been around for about six years, quietly growing its business for collecting consumer information related to automobiles. But the Seattle company, which employs about 30 people, is expanding its profile these days with a $2.9 million round of financing led by advertising giant WPP. Enprecis CEO Richard Counihan said the funding marks the… Read More…

How car dealers embrace, and erode, the web

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We may finally be seeing how business, when faced with a technological threat, adapts. Not by changing practices. But by waiting until it can develop antibodies to overwhelm the intruder. Twelve years ago, I bought my first car online. Routine as it might sound now, it was a Big Deal back then. The web (still… Read More…

The 21 coolest spots in America to charge your electric vehicle

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Ford is in the midst of a major PR campaign to drive support of its new Focus Electric and C-MAX Energy electric vehicles. And what better way to build buzz than a top 20 list of … charging station locations? Yes, that’s right, EV charging stations are so much cooler than your traditional gas station…. Read More…