First pic of the contents of the Parrot SK4000 packaging. Comments welcome!

The digital Parrot RK8200 Car Stereo & Bluetooth Handsfree Car Kit is available at the following retailers (Please check with other retailers for availability):

- UK HALFORDS

- FRANCE FEU VERT

- USA in Q3, 2008
CRUTCHFIELD

The Parrot RK8200 is officially “made for iPod”.

For other countries availability stay tuned on Parrot.com and of course Parrotshopping.com

Let’s celebrate! The wireless technology Bluetooth is 10 years old. Today, 1.5 billion Bluetooth devices are on the market: mobile phones, mouse and keyboard… and of course the products from Parrot. Did you know that Parrot is a Associate member of the Bluetooth SIG since June 2000?

Discover our new video celebrating the Parrot products in a 50’s inspired video ! Catch the mouse, dance and enjoy technology ! Hands-free car kit, wireless speakers, wireless digital photo frames … after all, wireless devices will really change our lives !

Download the video

T-Mobile UK will now offer Parrot’s Bluetooth hands free kits to business customers signing up to several of its 24 month ‘Flext’ plans. Business users who buy a Flext 50 or Flext 75 plan on a 24 month contract will receive a free Parrot 3200 LS-COLOR while those who buy it’s Flext 35 plan on a 24 month contract will receive a free Parrot CK3000 EVOLUTION Bluetooth car kit. All offers include free installation at a location of the customers’ choosing.
Click here for T-Mobile UK offer

As part of an agreement with the Italian company Paser, Parrot is now offering a new feature with its Bluetooth Parrot CK3000 EVOLUTION and Parrot CK3100 LCD kits: controls on the steering wheel. This will make it even easier to make calls in complete safety, allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel.

Parrot developed two steering wheel control interfaces :

- Parrot MULTICAN for the multiplexed vehicles
- Parrot MULTICOMM for the other configurations

The controls interface on the steering wheel comes with the cables from the hands-free kit. With the Parrot CK3000 EVOLUTION, this system means that you will no longer need the rotating button to access menus (replaced by the controls on the steering wheel). This will make the kit invisible inside the vehicle. With the Parrot CK3100 LCD, users will benefit from both the LCD screen displaying the menus and the steering wheel controls.

Available today:
Parrot MULTICAN for CK3000 Evolution
Parrot MULTICOMM for CK3000 Evolution
Parrot MULTICAN for CK3100 LCD
Parrot MULTICOMM for CK3100 LCD

Click here to buy Parrot MULTICAN or Parrot MULTICOMM on Parrotshopping.com

This week issue of The Economist runs a deep and rich report on wireless trends.

“The coming wireless revolution. The wireless was once a big, wood-panelled machine glowing faintly in the corner of the living-room. Today’s wireless device is the sleek mobile phone nestling in your pocket. In coming years wireless will vanish entirely from view, as communications chips are embedded in a host of everyday objects.…”

Click here to read the full report (The Economist subscription required)

The Globe & Mail (Toronto, Canada) has a circulation of 420,000 readers in Canada’s largest city.

“If you want the latest in technology, how about a Bluetooth hands-free kit for your vehicle that displays photos in full colour?

The Parrot 3200 LS kit provides wireless hands-free cellphone operation and a 2.5-inch (6.25-cm), adjustable, high-resolution, high-contrast LCD display.

Like all Parrot Bluetooth kits, the 3200-LS automatically mutes the vehicle audio system when a call is placed or incoming and uses the vehicle’s speakers for clear sound.

The 3200-LS also includes both voice-activation and recognition features.”

Click here to read Richard Russell’s review

Washington is to become the fourth US state to ban the use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving.

The law would go into effect Jan. 1, 2008 (same as California). The ticket would cost drivers $101 and it would not be reported to insurance companies. Using a hand-held phone while driving would be a secondary offense.

Drivers would still be allowed to use “hands-free” cell phone devices such as headphones or an earpiece.

According to the 2007 Pemco Insurance Northwest Poll, 85 percent of Washington drivers believe that talking on a cell phone while driving should be legal only if the driver has a hands-free device, or made illegal altogether.

Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., all have laws prohibiting the use of hand-held phones while driving. California passed a similar law that will go into effect in 2008.

Read more about this new law on Seattle post-Intelligence web site and the Seattle Times web site

Your children maybe know what “Bluetooth” is since Christmas day. Some Lego fanatics created a Lego car controlled via Bluetooth mouse using their patented “Bluemagic Host Application Programming Interface“. The Bluetooth mouse controls the direction of the car ! Move the mouse forward and the car moves forward. Move the mouse backward and the car moves backward. Move the mouse left or right and the car turns left or right. How long before we see this system in a real car ?

Learn more about Lego’s Bluetooth applications

Parrot enjoys a successful partnership with Mobicom, Inc, based in the beautiful city of Istanbul. Mr Mehmet Mahruki, the exclusive distributor of Parrot products in Turkey, was a speaker at the Bluetooth SIG press event in Istanbul

Click here to read about the Turkish press event

The Bluetooth wireless technology is designed by a consortium of companies under the banner of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. The team at Bluetooth SIG is promoting the brand and technology all over the world, riding their Bluetooth Lotus Esprit, Bluetooth Mercedes SL and Bluetooth moto! Better gear than Batman himself!

More to see on Bluetooth.com

 

Parrot and its local distributor have launched a web site in Korean, visit it here : Parrotkorea.com