Archive for the 'GPS' Category

We Made It. Now It’s Time To Visit Trapster HQ…

Trapster, Trapster, Trapster....Trapster, Trapster, Trapster…

We made it…and owe part of our success to Trapster. Don’t use it? Download it now. It’s free, and if you have an IPhone and like to drive…utterly indispensible. Of course, I use it on a Dash Express GPS as well…

…and today I’m off in Polizei 144B to visit Trapster HQ to learn its secrets straight from the source.

Tags: Alex Roy, Countermeasures, GPS, Radar/Laser Detectors, Speed Limits, Team Polizei - Garage, Team Polizei - Miscellaneous, Technology, Too Good To Be True and Vehicles
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NY to LA. Again. Tonight. Team Polizei. Rene Villeneuve. Tim Ferriss. Stay Tuned.

Team Polizei is on the move. Again. With neue piloten.

We’re packing up Polizei 144B and setting off on a cross-country jaunt with race driver and veteran Skip Barber/Audi Driving Experience instructor Rene Villeneuve and the vaunted Tim Ferriss, noted blogger, kickboxer (sport of the future!) and author of the New York Times bestseller The 4-Hour Work Week.

Polizei 144B has once again been freshly, er, refreshed by the Polizei stalwarts at Ai Design, Roy and Johnson are fueled on a cocktail of caffeine, their trademark manic banter and the Mission of Burma DLC for Rock Band (”That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate” being a deceptively tough track.)  We’ll be overnighting in Oklahoma City with 2008 Gumball US champion Jack Wheeler, meeting up with Rene and then setting off for Los Angeles.

Why, you ask? Along the way, we’ll be testing numerous cutting edge GPS/logging/tracking hardware & software, starting with some very interesting gear from Team Polizei’s new allies over at EveryTrail.com, along with a lot of new and as-yet unrevealed gear and tactics.

We’re just on vacation, of course, and we’ll be sharing much more in the hours to come. Tonight. Live tracking. Video. Real-time logging and content. Trapster. Convoys….

More to follow…

Tags: Alex Roy, Bravery, CoEfficient of Cool (CEoC), GPS, Safety and Technology
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Achtung! Pre-Order Team Polizei 144’s All-New Commemorative Athens-Tirana GeoTrack T-Shirt!

“First has a quality all its own,” at least according to Polizei Master Pilot Michael Ross.

Recognize that image? How about the map? Yes, the infamous Gumball ALK CoPilot live GPS track which inspired Polizei 144 uber-kreator Josh Vietze to create our first new shirt design in two years. (Hint: Here’s the back-story.)

In production and weeks away, now you too can pre-order the commemorative Athens-Tirana GeoTrack T-Shirt by clicking through to the Polizei 144 store

Tags: Alex Roy, Alex's Favorites, CoEfficient of Cool (CEoC), GPS, Gumball 3000, Rallies, Team Polizei - Michael Ross and Too Good To Be True
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80 in 40: On The Way to Monterey, Broadcasting Live

I’ve left New York. What started as a ten-day trip to hammer out some business with Alex turned into five weeks of sleeping on his blue velour sectional, plenty of brainstorming, a ton of new friends and adventures the wooly world of startups that I couldn’t conceive of when I boarded that eastbound redeye in Sacramento over 4th of July weekend. But come to an end it has. We’re off to Monterey in 144B. We’ve enlisted the talents of Autoblog’s resident Northern California boy, Damon Lavrinc, to handle additional driving duties. We’re also attempting to warp the poor man’s brain. We’ve never attempted a driveplan that involved meeting an airline flight before, but that’s exactly what we’ll be attempting this time when we pick up Liz Moses.

She claims that she’ll bring some much-needed sense to the proceedings, but we’re a bit curious as to how much sense anyone who hitches a ride in a fake German police car crewed by a bald man, a bearded man and a blogging man could possibly have. Nevertheless, we intend to make our trek a memorable one. We’ll be broadcasting live video from Seero, as well as putting together one of our signature maps. We’ll be ruminating on the nature of driving in today’s America, passing through hamlets large and small as we travel the entire length of Interstate 80 — from the George Washington Bridge in New York to the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, then tooling down 101 through Silicon Valley and south to Steinbeck Country — where we’ll take in the goings on during what’s internationally recognized as the most fantastic collection of automotive events in one weekend. If you call yourself a car guy and haven’t made it to Monterey, mark your calendars. And once you experience it, you’ll want to come back every year.


We’ll see you on the shores of the Pacific. Meanwhile, consider 80 in 40: NY/SF a go.

Tags: GPS, Law Enforcement, Team Polizei - Garage and Technology
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Gumball 3000 Update: Team Arbuckle 1st to Buttonwillow!

God bless Gumball 3000 2008’s Team Arbuckle, who’ve proven their professionalism

with an astounding lead over the rest of the field.

More to follow…or check out the coverage over at GT Spirit.


Tags: Alex Roy, CoEfficient of Cool (CEoC), GPS, Google GEO, Gumball 3000 and Rallies
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Alex Roy Reviews Top Secret Audi R8 “Blackbird”

Shot just days before this Audi R8 - appropriately code-named "Blackbird" - was shipped to the start of this year’s Bullrun, Alex Roy interviewed the car’s anonymous owner on what even he admits may be the most technologically advanced rally car on the road.

Can you say, "liquid-cooled, infra-sonic, pulse generator?"

Tags: Alex Roy, Bravery, Bullrun, Countermeasures, GPS, News, Rallies and Technology
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Geotegic. Piaggio. What We’ve Been Up To.

A little taste of just one of the projects we’ve been working on. A small piece. Just wait. Check out Seero.com while you’re trying to figure it out. Johnson’s involved. And a few others. Just a couple.

Tags: "The Driver", Alex Roy, Alex's Favorites, Books, CoEfficient of Cool (CEoC), GPS, Google GEO, News, Rallies, Rumors, Team Polizei - Garage, Team Polizei - Miscellaneous and Technology
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Polizei 144B vs Car Thieves! Pyrrhic Victory Ensues.

Polizei M5 144B was attacked by New York’s infamously skilled car thieves last night whilst briefly parked on the street. Yes. I’m an idiot, but I’ve parked 144A and B - fully stickered - on numerous streets in dozens of countries throughout the world, and never had a problem.

144B won, of course, surviving with only a broken passenger window, a well-abused yet-still-functional ignition cylinder, and the loss of but two of its four Garmin GPS units.

Given the surreal deterrent effect our Polizei livery has had on both law enforcement and civilians in the past, I’ve been grappling with the psychology of these particular thieves. The questions:

Continue reading ‘Polizei 144B vs Car Thieves! Pyrrhic Victory Ensues.’

Tags: Alex Roy, Bad News, Charity, Crimes, GPS, Idiots, Team Polizei - Garage, Team Polizei - Miscellaneous and Technology
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Houseboat = Worst Of All Worlds. A GPS/Radar Detector?

I’ve never understood houseboats. Bad houses, worse boats. How many seemingly congruous combo "things" have ever been as good as their separate components? TV/VCR’s? No. TV’s can last decades, yet VCRs seldom last 5 years. TV/DVD players? Same problem. SUV’s? If you want a sports car yet need a truck, even a Porsche Cayenne Turbo isn’t as good a sports car or truck as the Porsche Cayman S and Ford F-150 you could buy for the Cayenne’s $115,000+.

Nine out of ten illegal cross-country racers agree…the $400 Valentine 1 Radar/Laser Detector is El Jefe. Numerous excellent GPS units are available from Garmin, Tom Tom and Magellan starting at $200.

Continue reading ‘Houseboat = Worst Of All Worlds. A GPS/Radar Detector?’

Tags: Alex Roy, Countermeasures, GPS, Law Enforcement, Team Polizei - Garage, Team Polizei - Miscellaneous and Technology
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1982. Knight Rider. A Shadowy Show About A Script That Didn’t Exist…That I Loved. 2007. Knight Rider. Remade. Butchered. The History. The Legacy. The Betrayal. (Long)

Before I comment on the upcoming Knight Rider remake, behold the fantabulous opening credits to the original 1982 series.

After the jump, we shall go deep into Knight Rider’s surreal genius, starting with the even more fantabulous opening credits to the 1983 season, then discuss the merciless destruction of the fondest memories of every every car loving American male between 30 and 40 years of age

Continue reading ‘1982. Knight Rider. A Shadowy Show About A Script That Didn’t Exist…That I Loved. 2007. Knight Rider. Remade. Butchered. The History. The Legacy. The Betrayal. (Long)’

Tags: Alex Roy, Countermeasures, GPS, Idiots, News, Radar/Laser Detectors, Safety, Team Polizei - Garage, Team Polizei - Miscellaneous, Technology, Tragedy and Vehicles
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