Cadillac is giving away an iPad to anyone who purchases a 2013 Cadillac XTS.  The iPad will be pre-loaded with Cadillac’s CUE app, My Cadillac app and OnStar remote link.  The CUE app simulates most of the controls and features of the CUE center stack in the XTS.  It provides tutorials and videos on how to operate each feature and allows you to practice using the features, without worrying that you might break something in your new car.  Having the ability to “test drive” your car (via touch screen and your voice) from your couch is a novel idea and good use of technology.

Cadillac is also adding a “geek squad” of sorts for cars with the CUE system.  These 25 Connected Consumer Experts will be spread out across the US to provide customer assistance and add an extra level of luxury service to owners.

Check out a great video that details this system: http://youtu.be/HVFSMP–cA0

Is this enough of an incentive to test drive this vehicle? Or do you think the company is simply rewarding those who are loyal customers and who would be purchasing the car anyways?

In addition to Facebook’s announcement that they were going public, they also disclosed that they are opening their own app store, called App Center.  This app marketplace will feature both paid and free apps, as the website hopes to take on Apple’s & Google’s app centers.  The App Store will be accessible to the 901 million Facebook users from the web and in the iOS and Android Facebook apps.

Facebook plans to “use a variety of signals, such as user ratings and engagement, to determine if an app is listed in the App Center.”  It will also rate app developers via a ratings metric in Insights.

Facebook’s addition of the App Center is key for potential investors, who will be looking to see how Facebook plans to increase revenue moving forward.  For the full article, go to:  http://www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/technology/gadgetbox/facebook-open-its-own-app-store-763373

Google’s self-driving car got its first license this week in the state of Nevada.  If you’re not totally up-to-date with this amazing computer-driven car – there is a great video here.  Google believes that this car will help save lives, because a majority of the 30,000 people killed each year in car crashes are due to human-driver error, and the addition of computer-driven cars could significantly reduce the number of deaths.

Google’s self-driving car uses sensors to watch cars, pedestrians and other obstacles, with additional technology and software that allows the car to read street signs and signals.  Google’s car also combines a number of technologies included in cars already, such as GPS tracking, wheel motion sensors and radar.

These modified Toyota Priuses are not available to the public yet, but the testing stages are proving that driver assisted technologies are working.

For the full story, go to: http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/10/autos/google-driverless-cars-safety/index.htm?source=cnn_bin

Amazon knows that it loses hundreds of millions of dollars each year on free shipping and free returns, and to be honest, the company is happy to do it since it keeps customers happy.   To make up some of those lost dollars, the company has decided to enter the high-end clothing business.  The reason for this is, shipping costs are about the same, whether it’s a $10 toy or a $5,000 gown, so why not go after the selling items like the gown with the much higher gross profit dollars per unit.  The company is courting designer brands to work with them and not against them.  They currently work with a few big names including: Michael Kors, Vivienne Westwood, Catherine Malandrino, Jack Spade and Tracy Reese.

This past Monday Amazon sponsored and provided a live-stream from the Costume Institute Benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the accompanying exhibit as a way to let designers and brands know their additional fashion-focused direction.  What Amazon has that is very desirable to these clients is a deep back pocket.  So if a designer needs models, photographers, nicer packaging, etc to highlight their clothes, Amazon can provide them.  One of the features being tested is an interactive product image, where the model is spinning and posing to show off the clothes.

The company’s success in this market will not be a slam dunk, as they’ve unsuccessfully tried to make a splash in this market before.  But with a bevy of fashion-focused sites (Zappos.com, Endless.com and MyHabit) they’ve gotten some practice.  For more information, check out the full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/business/amazon-plans-its-next-conquest-your-closet.html

It’s hard to believe, but summer is just around the corner.  Thankfully, Mashable’s tech experts have put together their list of the 6 must-have gadgets that are perfect for summer 2012.

1. Eton Rukus Solar – This sleek, little number is great for sharing music (via pairing wirelessly with your phone) and gets any party going, especially because it doesn’t need an outlet or batteries.
2. Jawbone Jambox – This product is good for wireless, portable audio and speakerphone calls.
3. Pebble Watch – If you are an on-the-go individual and will be spending a lot of time running, swimming, biking and multi-tasking this summer, this watch allows you to access your smartphone apps from your wrist.
4. WowWee Cinemin Slice Pico Projector - This projector allows you to project movies from your smartphone or tablet, video games and photos anywhere that is dark.  The projected image can get up to 60 inches.
5. Cannon Powershot G1 X – This camera excels at shooting photos in challenging situations.  It has a retro design but it’s compact and is great for aspiring photographers who want to try out a more advanced camera than a point and shoot.
6. Eco Terra Rugged and Waterproof Boombox - Boomboxes are making a comeback and this one allows you to keep your smartphone or MP3 player protected from all of the party or environmental elements.

Tykoon aims to teach kids a different way of thinking about and using money.  The company is launching its first mobile app for iPhone, which will feature a “platform for earning, saving, giving and spending, the latter which includes kid-friendly access to a curated and controlled Amazon store.”  The company’s goal is to give kid’s a real platform in which to learn how to properly and responsibly  handle finances.

Kids will be able to earn cash and rewards by performing tasks, chores or hitting certain goals from their parents.  Parents will also be learning, as they will have to set up the services, provide reward amounts for each task and then make good on the payment upon completion.  The difference between this app and other allowance-tracking programs, is there is a “kid friendly” Amazon store that parents can customize and enable and disable categories, there is also an option for kids to donate some of their earnings to the World Wildlife Foundation or Habitat for Humanity.  Kids can then learn to either save their money, donate it or spend it in the store.  There is even a social aspect that allows kids to snap smartphone photos of items they want and add it to their wishlist.

This app is geared towards 8 to 12 year olds, but there is a plan to add a bank-issued, preloaded debit cards in 2013, which will then expand the platform to teenagers.

To learn more about this app, go to: http://www.tykoon.com/

Will you and your kids be trying this free service out?

Punchcard is a digital version of paper loyalty cards, which have been less popular over the years due to the easy ability for people to take advantage of the cards.  The Punchcard app allows customers to take photos of their receipts in order to get their loyalty “points,” which then equates to cash payouts or other rewards directly from the merchants.  Though this app is not the only one on the market, their marketing is a bit different.  They’ve “turned on” loyalty programs for millions of locations across the US, even if the merchant hasn’t requested it.  The company believes that this seeding technique will build their business faster than their competitors (Facebook just acquired loyalty play Tagtile, Google acquired Punchd, Perka and Perkville).

Currently the app works at 15 million locations in the US.  As users snap photos of their receipts and input them into the Punchcard system, they earn cash, freebies and rewards (usually on the 10th purchase).  The company currently offers two tiers of service “(one for $29/month, another for $99/month), which provides businesses with access to an analytics view into who their customers are, and an automated re-marketing program that pushes offers back to customers to incent them to buy again. The solution works best for retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, and other local businesses that want to increase the frequency of their customers’ purchases.”  The company boasts “huge conversion rates” from the app download to usage and repeat usage.

For more information, check out: http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/27/barely-3-months-post-launch-loyalty-app-punchcard-live-in-15m-locations-nears-profitability/

There have been rumors and leaks for the past few weeks, but Google Drive has officially launched.  Google Drive, is Google’s new 5GB cloud-storage service that stores 30 different file types including PDFs, HD Video, and Illustrator & Photoshop images.  This product also integrates directly with Google Docs and allows you to access and collaborate on files (in real time) from anywhere.  The ability to work with others in real time (adding to and commenting on PDFs, images, video files, spreadsheets and documents) is going to be a huge advantage for the company. 

The product will also include a smart tagging feature, which allows users to tag items stored on their drive, so that the next time you do a search for a similar file or image, the tagged item will show up in your search.   

Finally, Google Drive will user image recognition, so when you drag and drop photos from a recent event or vacation and you want to do a search for that location later, those photos will show up, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which will also allow Drive to recognize text in scanned documents, making your searches easier and less time consuming.

Google is giving all users 5GB of storage for free! But if you need more, there are several tiers to choose from: 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage also expands to 25GB.

Check out Mashable’s full walk through of the product at: http://mashable.com/2012/04/24/google-drive-hands-on/