On the innovation front, the April issue of Fast Company featured the most excellent "How Ford’s Sync Technology Will Turn It Into America’s Most Surprising Consumer Electronics Company" from Paul Hochman.
A sidebar piece was all about the Sync communications platform from Ford. Copied directly from this "A Look at the Next Generation of Ford Sync" is the instrument panel on one of the new models with the forthcoming MyFord Touch user interface.
So great... car design that mimics and incorporates the best of consumer technology. From the story I really liked this featured quote from Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally...
"It's cool to connect. But it's past cool. It's a reason to buy. We're going to be the coolest, most useful app you've ever had."
And to answer the question in advance, Mulally is quoted elsewhere in the story as saying "we won't do it unless it lets you keep your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel."
This combines with other mention in the piece of how the open system aspect of the Sync system has influenced other areas of automotive development (related to this June 2009 blog post about the company)... very compelling.
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Also from this issue of Fast Company was a pretty interesting story from Ellen McGirt titled "How Adam Carolla Became a Podcast Superstar".
Podcasting has been around for a while, but stories like this along with the companion piece about available podcasts show that it's starting to reach mainstream status.
