May 13th, 2013

Japanese Carrier DoCoMo To Pay $50M To Take A 7% Stake In Pioneer To Expand Its Push Into In-Car Transport Systems

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Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has announced it plans to invest around $50M into Japanese digital entertainment company Pioneer Corporation, which makes in-car electronics, to acquire approximately seven per cent of the company. The pair described the investment as “a business and capital alliance”, and said they plan to jointly develop an intelligent transport system for launch this year. → Read More

January 10th, 2012

Watch The Pioneer CES 2012 Press Conference: AppRadio 2 For All

Pioneer’s AppRadio was pretty darn cool when it first launched and now there’s another version with improved apps, improved UI, and improved hardware. We hung out with Pioneer at CES yesterday and here is the raw feed featuring Pioneer’s products including car stereos, AppRadio, iPhone interfaces for your whip. → Read More

January 9th, 2012

Pioneer Announces Android Support For AppRadio 2

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AppRadio has always been a pretty sweet offering from Pioneer, but something important was missing: support for Android. In 2012, however, Pioneer’s new AppRadio 2 platform will support both iPhone 4/4S as well as select Android phones.

It has built-in Bluetooth, which only makes sense in the car, along with two configurable RCA Pre-outs for connecting to aftermarket or OEM amplifiers. The… → Read More

October 26th, 2011

Potternavi: Pioneer Announces 3G-Equipped GPS For Bikes

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Pioneer yesterday announced the so-called Potternavi [JP], a GPS for bicycles that will be available in white or black. Buyers can expect a 2.4-inch color LCD with 240×320 resolution, ANT+ support, an acceleration sensor, a USB port, and 10 hours of battery life.

Pioneer says that the Potternavi not only shows maps and directions but also lets users look for popular spots, for example the… → Read More

October 17th, 2011

5 Product Innovations From CEATEC 2011 In Japan (Video Gallery)

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Truth be told, I wasn’t very impressed with what electronics makers showed at the CEATEC 2011 tech exhibition – especially because a lot of the new products were “leaked” to the Japanese press before the event started.

However, here are a total of five of the coolest innovations Japanese companies showed at CEATEC 2011 in video form, delivered from our friends at Diginfo TV (YouTube channel). → Read More

July 6th, 2011

Pioneer Announces Car Navigation System Specifically Designed For Electric Vehicles

First an Augmented Reality-based car navigation system, now a model that’s specifically designed for electric vehicles: Pioneer has today announced [JP] the AVIC-ZH09-MEV, which doubles as a multimedia entertainment system and comes with a number of functions that are supposed to make the lives of EV drivers easier. According to Pioneer, it’s the first car navigation system of its kind. → Read More

June 22nd, 2011

The Pioneer AppRadio Gets Official Video Demos, $399 Retail MSRP

A month after its official unveiling, Pioneer finally found it fit to release a pair of official demo videos of the AppRadio. However, both are clearly meant for marketing purposes rather than actually showing what it does. Check out the second after the jump. The radio is also now available for purchase $399 at the usual suspects of Amazon, Best Buy, and Crutchfield. Pioneer previously stated… → Read More

June 3rd, 2011

Zypr Releases API That Lets You Control Your Favorite Web Services With Your Voice

Pioneer Electronics today announced a nifty new service called Zypr, a platform that collects your favorite web services all in one place and allows you to control them using your voice — on any connected device. Today, our experience of the Web is fragmented across devices, as we use each device, be it a phone, tablet, etc, for their traditional uses, yet each of them is connected but few of… → Read More

May 26th, 2011

Video: Pioneer's Amazing 3D Floating Vision Display

Pioneer has been working on “Floating Vision” displays for quite a while, and now the company has shown the technology used in embedded systems. The naked-eye 3D display Pioneer recently showed at an exhibition in Tokyo lets users view images or videos “floating” in space – embedded in a prototype car navigation system. → Read More

May 25th, 2011

The Pioneer AppRadio: Select iOS Apps In Your Car's Dash For Less Than $500

Here it is, ladies and nerds: the Pioneer AppRadio. As the name implies it’s centered around applications in a smartphone-ish sort of way. All the big boys are here: RDIO, Pandora, and Google Maps along with the driver-centric apps of INRIX and MotionX-GPS Drive. This is possible through the Pioneer AppRadio iOS app that serves up data and app access to the head-unit from a connected iPhone… → Read More

May 12th, 2011

Discussion Table: Pioneer's (Awesome) Take On Microsoft's Surface (Video)

Yesterday, Pioneer unveiled the WWS-DT101 Discussion Table [JP], which is essentially the company’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface – just bigger and better. The main component here is the 52-inch multi-touch “interactive” LCD display with full HD resolution that supports up to 10 points of contact simultaneously. → Read More

May 11th, 2011

Pioneer Teases About Making Our Dash Smarter

Well, well. We were wondering when Pioneer was going to clear the air about the so-called AppRadio we spotted in the FCC and later detailed a few weeks back. Looks like all will be revealed come May 25th. → Read More

May 9th, 2011

Pioneer Shows Augmented Reality-Powered Car Navigation System

Pioneer in Japan announced [JP] a number of new car navigation systems today, but the AVIC-VH09CS took the cake: it’s what the company calls the first in-dash car navigation system ever to make use of Augmented Reality. And by the looks of it, the device produces some pretty cool results. → Read More

April 26th, 2011

Exclusive: The Pioneer AppRadio Will Put The Look Of iOS On Your Dash

Pioneer is about ready to launch a car audio head unit that features an GUI remarkable similar to iOS, complete with apps, iTunes, and iPhone connectivity. Meet the Pioneer AppRadio, model number SPH-DA01. This unannounced double-din head unit hit the FCC database yesterday and a tipster wrote in to answer many of our questions. Obviously, given the name, this is a radio designed around iPhone and… → Read More

April 25th, 2011

Pioneer SPH-DA01 AppRadio Docs Hits The FCC Sporting An iPhone-ish Center-Mounted Button

Fresh Pioneer Corporation docs just landed in the FCC database of a so-called AppRadio, or as it’s named in one document, iPhone Control Receiver. The unit, SPH-DA01, has a whole host of testing documents in the database but only two are are all that interesting. The user manual names this device AppRadio and then there’s an unflattering picture that shows a center-mounted iPhone… → Read More

April 5th, 2011

Pioneer Announces Wireless Speaker Specifically Designed For The Elderly

Pioneer announced [JP] the VMS-700-K for the Japanese market today, a wireless speaker specifically designed for elderly people. The idea here is to place the device right next to the user when watching TV so they can adjust the volume the way they like, without potentially harassing other family members. → Read More

March 24th, 2011

Sound Wing: Pioneer Announces Their First HVT Speaker

In the fall of last year, Pioneer introduced the HVT (Horizontal-Vertical Transforming) technology [PDF, in English] during CEATEC 2010 in Tokyo. HVT makes it possible to “drastically reduce the thickness of speakers” and keep down unwanted vibrations – all without losing audio quality, according to Pioneer. → Read More

March 8th, 2011

Pioneer Announces New Receivers, Airplay In Top Model

Today, Pioneer announced four new A/V receivers to join their VSX line. All of the new receivers are smartphone compatible with an optional Bluetooth adapter, and can stream audio from the devices. The top end model, the VSX-1021 ($549), is the one to get as it has a ton of connectivity to smartphones and computers, and is compatible with Apple’s new Airplay. → Read More

January 27th, 2011

Sharp & Pioneer Resurrect The Pioneer Elite Display Line

(My son a few years back in front of a 60-inch Pioneer Elite plasma. He *loved* it.) There was a time when the Pioneer Elite display was the cream of the crop, the top dog, the big kid on the bus, you know, the best damn TV available. But even having the best color and black level reproduction on the market, the expensive line couldn’t withstand the recession and the onslaught of cheap LCDs… → Read More

January 11th, 2011

Pioneer Prototypes Android-based Cyclocomputer (Video)

If you thought Android can be used just to power phones, tablets, TVs or similar devices, think again: Pioneer is now using the Google OS (version unknown) in the development of a “next-generation” cyclometer. It helps users track four main parameters: speed, cadence, heart rate, and power. → Read More

January 3rd, 2011

Pioneer Japan Outs Stylish Cordless Phones

Everybody may own at least one cell phone nowadays, but that doesn’t mean fixed line networks are dead. Case in point: Pioneer Japan’s TF-FN2000 [JP], a new series of cordless phones that will be available in black, white and red. → Read More

October 27th, 2010

Pioneer Announces Another Two 3D Blu-Ray Players

The 3D boom knows no end. Pioneer Japan today announced [JP] two Blu-ray players supporting 3D content, the BDP-LX54 (pictured above) as the high-end model, and the BDP-430. Apart from Blu-ray discs, the players are also compatible to the following formats: DivX HD, MKV, WMV, MP3, WMA, and JPEG. → Read More

October 25th, 2010

Pioneer And Buffalo Show World's First BDXL-compatible PC Blu-Ray Burners

BDXL is now entering the computer market, too. Pioneer Japan today announced [JP] the BDR-206MBK, the world’s first Blu-ray burner for PCs supporting the new format. The internal device is compatible to BD-R XL discs with three (100GB) or four layers (128GB) and BD-RE XL discs with 3 layers (100GB). → Read More

September 29th, 2010

Pioneer Announces Two New Speaker Systems

Pioneer announced two new speaker systems for DJs and music producers. Both systems are active reference, and product studio quality sound in a compact package. Expect to pay for this level of quality of course, the 5-inch DJ05 will set you back $899, and the 8-inch S-DJ08 will cost $1199 when they come out this January. Check out the press release after the jump. → Read More

May 24th, 2010

Pioneer bringing Pandora to the dashboard with new iPhone app

Pioneer is taking a big step in bridging the two landmasses of Internet radio and vehicle entertainment. By utilizing a free iPhone app, Pandora Link, the company is bringing Pandora to two of its latest systems, the Pioneer AVIC-Z120BT and AVIC-X920BT navigation systems. Simply run the app and connect the iPhone to head unit with the USB cable; the in-dash radio system will then displays all of… → Read More

May 20th, 2010

Carnaby: Pioneer's very special car navigation mini robot (videos)

What do you get when you cross a car navigation system with a wacky mini robot? You get Carnaby [JP], a very special piece of hardware developed by Pioneer and robot venture iXs. The in-car robot may look weird, but it actually serves a good purpose: it makes car navigation systems more accessible for the elderly and those with hearing disabilities. → Read More

May 11th, 2010

New Pioneer speaker system can link to 2 iPods or iPhones

Pioneer is about to release yet another iPhone-compatible speaker system. The company yesterday announced [JP] the XW-NAC1 in Japan, a speaker system that can connect to and alternately play music from two iPods or iPhones. The XW-NAC1 has two iPod/iPhone docks that charge these devices simultaneously. → Read More

April 27th, 2010

Pioneer outs four "Works with iPhone" certified speaker docks

iPod speaker docks are still big business and Pioneer just announced three solid high-end contenders. Whether you’re looking for an audio-specific model or a feature-packed system, one of these models will likely fit the bill — as long as you can pony up the cash for the high admission cost. → Read More

April 20th, 2010

Pioneer lets you control its new Blu-ray players with your iPhone

Pioneer may have shut down its display business to focus on producing more car-related equipment instead, but that doesn’t mean they have given up on the home entertainment segment altogether. In Japan, the company today unveiled a number of new devices actually, including Blu-ray players [JP] that can be controlled with the iPhone/iPod touch. → Read More

March 24th, 2010

AS-iP70: Kenwood's iPhone/iPod-compatibe 7-inch "multimedia system"

Kenwood Japan has announced [JP] the AS-iP70 today, a swiss army knife of sorts for various media. The device serves as a dock for your iPhone or iPod but can also be used as an AM/FM radio, music player, alarm clock, and a digital picture frame – thanks to its 7-inch LCD screen. → Read More