Jim Bray, CFP Automotive Editor

Smart fortwo - Smart? Or Just Politically Correct?

Now, before I go on, I should advise owners of the smart fortwo to stop reading now or risk getting your feelings hurt – and isn't "feelings" what the "smart" is all about?

BlueAnt Devices Keep Your Hands on the Wheel

Bluetooth, as most of you know by now, is a wireless standard designed so that electronic devices can "talk" with each other. It's only good for short distances, apparently conceived of originally as a way to replace the RS232 cables that link computers and peripherals, but it has become much more than that.

Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla Still Good Choices for Economy Cars

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".

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Headphones Promise Ear Relief for Gamers, Flyers

TechnoFile.com

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.

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.

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

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!

Toyota Venza Blends the Line Between Car, SUV

TechnoFile.com 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.

Lincoln MKZ and Ford Fusion – Variations on a Theme

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….

BodySound Claims to Keep Home Theater Sound inside the Home Theater

TechnoFile.com 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?

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.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 – A Healthy Upgrade

TechnoFile.com 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.

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.

Panasonic Brings Portability to Blu-ray players

TechnoFile.com With Blu-rays making inroads in the consumer marketplace, it was inevitable that someone would introduce portable players that let you take your HD discs on the road with you.

Chrysler’s Aspen a Big, Brawny Hybrid

TechnoFile.com 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 on and I'll tell you about my week in the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid, a big and luxurious hauler.

Popular Lexus Ute Gets a Brand New Suit

Lexus' most popular model has undergone its first major restyling and reengineering, a process designed to keep it current and competitive.

VW Jumps into “Cute Ute” segment with Tiguan

It's cute and it's a ute – and Volkswagen is hoping to score a share of the popular small SUV market with its new Tiguan.