IMS ILane Bluetooth Headset - Bluetooth Bonanza! - Truck Tronics

  |   truck Electronics ims Ilane We've got some cool new gizmos for your truck that take advantage of the Bluetooth short-range wireless protocol, which was looking dead in the water for a while there but then came roaring back to life as part of the hands-free cellular revolution. If you've been seeing more people than usual walking around like zombies, apparently talking to themselves, then you're already familiar with the increasingly popular Bluetooth cell phone earpieces, but there are other options for hands-free cell phone usage in your truck. For instance, the cell phone carriers offer Bluetooth car kits (most of them intended for professional installation), which typically include a base unit, microphone, five-watt speaker, and dashboard control panel, which may include an LCD screen with caller ID. If you want the safety of a hands-free phone in your truck, simply go to the website of your cellular carrier and search for "car kits" or talk to your local mobile electronics specialist. That's hands-free telephone, but what about hands-free (and "eyes-free") e-mail? A Canadian company called IMS has just debuted a device called iLane, which is compatible with BlackBerry, Treo, and other select smartphones. iLane is powered by your cigarette lighter and does not require additional installation. Once your Bluetooth device is recognized, iLane takes over. It establishes contact and then reads a summary of each incoming e-mail aloud in a male or female voice, either through the car kit, your headset, or the device itself. With iLane you can pretty much handle your e-mails the same way you do on the desktop while keeping your hands on the steering wheel. You can listen to the whole message and then reply, or you can forward it or delete it. It also allows you to customize how you want different types of messages handled. First off, if you don't want to be bothered by every random e-mail chain letter, dopey co-worker joke, or piece of spam while you're driving, you can make your own rules and use smart filters to only let the important messages get through, while the unworthy get an auto-reply or an automatic forward. This seems like a viable hands-free approach for e-mail. Pricing was unavailable at press time, so please visit www.ilane.com for info.