TEXT AND DRIVE With This New Gadget

Here’s our favorite gadget for this week:

Beanco Tech’s new “Mobile Home” device that pairs to your iPhone and to your car’s bluetooth connection. You clip this little device on your visor and forget about your phone.

Press the button when you’re ready and it activates Siri through your vehicle’s speakers. Text, take notes, etc… hands free.

Check it out at http://www.beancotech.com/mobilehome/whatitis/

Follow the “Buy Now” prompts on their site you’ll be redirected to Amazon to buy it for $79.

Sounds like a bargain.

Winter Car Storage Tip #1

It’s that time of year again. Time for half of the country to put the fun cars away and get ready for cold weather driving.

Here’s our first off-season storage tip:

Always hook up a battery tender to your vehicle to make sure the battery stays properly charged while put away for an extended period of time.

Standard trickle chargers tend to over-charge a battery, so go with a professional battery tender for best results.

Here’s our favorite:

You can get this one at batterytender.com for $69.

Happy Motoring

New Texting While Driving Study by AT&T

According to a study commissioned by communications giant AT&T, the “high” you get from using your mobile device is akin to being addicted to drugs. What drug? The active substance in this new “drug” is happiness-enhancing dopamine.

The study, conducted by the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and the “Texting & Driving … It Can Wait” campaign, found that more and more people are demonstrating compulsive behavior — dubbed “cell-phone addiction” — with three-quarters of people admitting to at least glancing at their phones while behind the wheel. That’s despite 90 percent of people reporting that they know better.

“We compulsively check our phones because every time we get an update through text, email or social media, we experience an elevation of dopamine, which is a neurochemical in the brain that makes us feel happy,” Dr. David Greenfield, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and founder of the Internet and Technology Addiction, said in a statement. “If that desire for a dopamine fix leads us to check our phones while we’re driving, a simple text can turn deadly.”

There is good news, however. According to the research, phone addicts can successfully rehab themselves. “Those who are most likely to text and drive are also the most likely to take steps to stop,” AT&T said in a statement. “And 82 percent of people who take action to stop texting and driving feel good about themselves.”

To help people stop this dangerous behavior, AT&T is promoting its free DriveMode iPhone app, which activates automatically at 15 mph, silences text-message alerts and automatically responds to incoming messages letting the sender know the user is driving; it also notifies parents if the app has been shut off.

Fall Driving Tips : Leaves on Roadways

Beauty becomes a beast: The danger of wet leaves

The colorful fall leaves on the trees are beautiful – as long as they are on the trees. Wet leaves covering a curve on a road… not so pretty. Once the leaves start falling, especially due to rain, they can become a serious driving hazard. Wet leaves can be slippery, reduce traction and also cover road markings, making it difficult to determine shoulder and lane widths. When travelling on a road that is covered in wet leaves, increase the distance between your car and the car in front of you and allow additional stopping time. Allowing for more time for your trip is never a bad idea either, as you’ll be less inclined to rush.

Happy Motoring