First look: HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR platform

Whenever I hear the word “ripple,” I think of ice cream: butterscotch ripple, chocolate ripple, lemon ripple, and (yum) strawberry ripple. Well, the video I'm about to show you isn’t about ice cream, but it is about something that’s just as cool and just as sweet: the Ripple mobile environment emulator.

Ripple already supports multiple platforms, such as BlackBerry 10 and Apache Cordova, allowing developers to preview how their apps will look and function on a variety of mobile devices. And now, thanks to extensions provided by the QNX CAR development team, it will also emulate how an app looks and performs in a vehicle infotainment system.

Simply put, the same tool that helps app developers target mobile platforms will also help them target the car.

QNX Software Systems will offer this modded version of Ripple as part of the HTML5 SDK for the QNX CAR platform. The goal of the SDK is simple: to help mobile developers and automakers work together on creating apps for in-vehicle infotainment systems.

If you’re a developer, you’ll be able to use the Ripple emulator and its associated Web Inspector to perform JavaScript debugging, HTML DOM inspection, automated testing, and screen-resolution emulation, all from the convenience of a web browser. You’ll also be able to modify your apps and view the results without having to recompile — simply edit your source code and hit refresh in the browser. You’ll even be able to perform remote debugging on the evaluation board or final hardware used by the automaker, again from the same browser environment.

Enough from me. Let’s get the complete scoop from my colleague Andy Gryc:

Read More

Sweden January 2013

Volvo V60 Plug-In Dashboard

January was a record month for Plug-In cars in Sweden with 174 units sold and possibly the first time that the EV's got more than 1% share in the general market.

The Volvo V60 Plug-In is building momentum since it was launched in November, rising now to #2, just five cars behind the Prius, so it won't be a surprise to see soon a new leader in the swedish models ranking, which would be a comeback for the home maker since the first place in 2010 of the C30 Electric, this month that goal already has been achieved as a brand, Volvo got 35% share against 33% from Toyota.

A good month too for the Nissan Leaf at 29 units, enough to pass the Renault Kangoo ZE and break into third position.

On a side note, it's strange as Renault doesn't invest more in scandinavian markets, as these are promising countries regarding EV's, maybe the french maker is waiting for the right car (Zoe) to go in, but they sure are loosing opportunities here...

Pl	Sweden	Jan	YTD	%	'12 Pl.
1	Toyota Prius Plug-In	58	58	33	1
2	Volvo V60 Plug-In	53	53	30	6
3	Nissan Leaf	29	29	17	3
4	Renault Kangoo ZE	24	24	14	2
5	Volvo C30 Electric	9	9	5	4
6	Citröen C-Zero	1	1	1	8
	TOTAL	174	174	100

Source: Bilsweden

Read More