On the occasion of the NYT winning a Pulitzer Prize for the history/fantasy "1619 Project," Scott Adams reveals why the Pulitzer Prize is meaningless.

And he used to want one (for his comic strip):



I've always remembered what Saul Bellow said about the Pulitzer Prize — recounted in the May 11, 1984, NYT article "PUBLISHING: PULITZER CONTROVERSIES":

For years it seemed that Saul Bellow would never win the Pulitzer, although he was often a serious contender. In addition to ''Henderson the Rain King,'' his ''Adventures of Augie March'' was a finalist in 1954, and ''Mr. Sammler's Planet'' was a 1971 finalist. Both times the board decided to forgo a fiction award.

What a kick in the head! They didn't give the award to somebody else, but to no one.

In ''Humboldt's Gift,'' published in 1972, Mr. Bellow's narrator, Charlie Citrine, is depicted as a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, who nevertheless agrees with Humboldt's assessment: ''The Pulitzer is for the birds - for the pullets. It's just a dummy newspaper publicity award given by crooks and illiterates. You become a walking Pulitzer ad, so even when you croak the first word of the obituary is 'Pulitzer Prize winner passes.' ''

Reminded of that passage soon after ''Humboldt's Gift'' won in 1973, Mr. Bellow laughed and said he thought it would be best to accept the award ''in dignified silence.''

Now, when Saul Bellow died, they did not say "Pulitzer Prize winner passes." They said Nobel Prize winner passes:

Saul Bellow, the Nobel laureate and self-proclaimed historian of society whose fictional heroes -- and whose scathing, unrelenting and darkly comic examination of their struggle for meaning -- gave new immediacy to the American novel in the second half of the 20th century, died yesterday at his home in Brookline, Mass. He was 89.

If you have to be a walking billboard for some prize-bestowing outfit, it's best to be a Nobel ad.

QNX-powered Audi Virtual Cockpit shortlisted for MWC’s Global Mobile Awards

By Lynn Gayowski

2015 has just started and the QNX auto team is already off to the races. It was only last month at CES that the digital mirrors in our 2015 technology concept car were selected as a finalist for Engadget’s Best of CES Awards, in the category for best automotive tech. Now we’re excited to share some other big, award-related news. Drum roll, please… the QNX-powered Audi virtual cockpit in the 2015 Audi TT has been shortlisted for Mobile World Congress’ prestigious Global Mobile Awards, in the category for best mobile innovation for automotive!

The 2015 Audi TT features a one-of-a-kind, innovative, and just plain awesome, instrument cluster — the Audi virtual cockpit — powered by the QNX operating system. With the Audi virtual cockpit, everything is in view, directly in front of the driver. All the functions of a conventional instrument cluster and a center-mounted head unit are blended into a single, highly convenient, 12.3" display. This approach allows users to interact with their music, navigation, and vehicle information in a simple, streamlined fashion. As you may recall, the QNX-powered Audi virtual cockpit also took home first place in CTIA’s Hot for the Holidays Awards late last year.

Props also to our BlackBerry colleagues, who received 2 nominations themselves for the Global Mobile Awards: BlackBerry Blend in the best mobile service or app for consumers category, and Blackberry for BBM Protected in the best security/anti-fraud product or solution category.

The winners will be announced on March 3 at the Global Mobile Awards ceremony at Mobile World Congress. We can’t wait to hit Barcelona! In the meantime, check out the video below to see the Audi virtual cockpit in action.

Tom’s Guide taps QNX concept car with CES 2015 award

Have you ever checked out a product review on Tom’s Guide? If so, you’re not alone. Every month, this website attracts more than 2.5 million unique visitors — that’s equivalent to the population of Toronto, the largest city in Canada.

The folks at Tom’s Guide test and review everything from drones to 3D printers. They love technology. So perhaps it’s no surprise that they took a shine to the QNX technology concept car. In fact, they liked it so much, they awarded it the Tom’s Guide CES 2015 Award, in the car tech category.

To quote Sam Rutherford of Tom’s Guide, “After my time with QNX’s platform, I was left with the impression there’s finally a company that just “gets it” when it comes to the technology in cars. The company has learned from the success of modern mobile devices and brought that knowledge to the auto world…”.

I think I like this Sam guy.

Engadget was also impressed...

A forward-looking approach to seeing
behind you.

The Tom’s Guide award is the second honor QNX picked up at CES. We were also shortlisted for an Engadget Best of CES award, for the digital rear- and side-view mirrors on the QNX technology concept car.

If you haven’t seen the mirrors in action, they offer a complete view of the scene behind and to the sides of the vehicle — goodbye to the blind spots associated with conventional reflective mirrors. Better yet, the side-view digital mirrors have the smarts to detect cars, bicycles, and other objects, and they will display an alert if an object is too close when the driver signals a lane change.

In addition to the digital mirrors, the QNX technology concept car integrates several other ADAS features, including speed recommendations, forward-collision warnings, and intelligent parking assist. Learn more here.

Finalist for Engadget Best of CES Awards 2015

By Lynn Gayowski

*Fist pump!* The accolades from CES just keep coming. I'm excited to share the news that the digital mirrors implemented in our 2015 QNX technology concept car have been selected by Engadget as a finalist for their Best of CES Awards 2015, in the Best Automotive Technology category!

With advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) influential in the design of this year's QNX vehicle, replacing the mirrors on the Maserati with digital screens to warn of possible collisions and enhance visibility for the driver was a natural choice.

Not only do the side-view screens eliminate blind spots, they also give a red warning overlay if an obstacle is in the way when making a lane change. If the coast is clear, the overlay is green.

The rear-view display is a wide-angle view behind the car that provides the driver with an expanded picture that's larger than what you'd see with a typical mirror.

Powered by the reliable QNX OS, these digital mirrors could be a feature that helps drivers of the future avoid accidents.

The rear- and side-view video displays in the 2015 QNX technology concept car based on a Maserati Quattroporte GTS offer a complete view behind and to the sides of the vehicle, eliminating blind spots.

If you're attending CES, check out the digital mirrors and the many other ADAS and infotainment demos in the QNX booth: North Hall, Booth 2231.

QNX-powered Audi Virtual Cockpit drives home with CTIA award

Congratulations to our friends at Audi! The new Audi Virtual Cockpit, which is based on the QNX OS, has just won first prize, connected car category, in the 2014 CTIA Hot for the Holidays awards.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Audi Virtual Cockpit is an innovative, versatile, and absolutely ravishing piece of automotive technology. But you don’t have to take my word for it — or the word of the CTIA judges, for that matter. Watch the video and see for yourself:



Created in 2009, the Hot for the Holidays awards celebrate the most desirable mobile consumer electronics products for the holiday season. The winners for this year’s awards were announced this afternoon, at the CTIA Super Mobility event in Las Vegas. Andrew Poliak of QNX Software Systems was on hand and he took this snap of the award:



Visit the CTIA website to see the full list of winners. And visit the Audi website to learn more about the Audi Virtual Cockpit.

QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control wins a Silver Stevie

Lynn Gayowski

The winners of the 11th annual International Business Awards have been announced and I'm happy to share that QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control (ANC) has won a Silver Stevie Award in the software category, for Best New Product or Service of the Year! The awards program honours the achievements of organizations and working professionals worldwide, and received more than 3,500 nominations this year from dozens of countries. It feels great to be chosen as a winner among so many entries.
If you're unfamiliar with QNX Acoustics for ANC, it's a software solution that can dramatically reduce unwanted engine harmonic noise inside the cabin of a vehicle. The software's algorithms for noise cancellation can run on an existing CPU or DSP in the infotainment system, eliminating the need for dedicated hardware controller modules. The end result is significant savings for automakers and a quieter ride for drivers and passengers.
This is the second award for QNX Acoustics for ANC, after a win in February at the Embedded World conference's embedded AWARDs. If you want to learn more about the solution, read our white paper titled A Software-Based Approach to Active Noise Control in Automobiles. Congratulations QNX!

QNX-powered Audi Virtual Cockpit in 2015 Audi TT named finalist in CTIA Hot for the Holidays Awards

Andrew Poliak

This just in! The QNX-powered Audi Virtual Cockpit in the 2015 Audi TT has been named a finalist in the connected car category in the 2014 CTIA Hot for the Holidays Awards. Just in time for the holiday buying season, the Hot for the Holidays Awards recognize the hottest mobile consumer electronics, including gadgets and accessories from entertainment and health to the connected car and home. The awards were judged by a panel of recognized industry experts, media and analysts.

The sleek 2015 Audi TT features a one-of-a-kind combined infotainment and fully digital instrument cluster — the Audi virtual cockpit —powered by the QNX OS platform. With the virtual cockpit, all content from current speed to the next turnoff, is located on one 12.3” display directly in front of the driver’s eyes elegantly blending infotainment and car gauges, in crisp, fast 3D. You can check out virtual cockpit in action below.

Winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 during CTIA’s Super Mobility Week in Las Vegas. The Audi Virtual Cockpit in the 2015 Audi TT is also up for the crowd favorite award where attendees and online users have the opportunity to select their favorite product, so please be sure to vote! Online voting ends Monday, September 8 at 5 p.m. PT.

QNX acoustics technology shortlisted for 2014 embedded AWARD

Okay, first things first. I didn't get the capitalization wrong. The name of the award really is spelled that way. I thought it odd at first, but I'm getting used to it. And besides, who am I to complain? After all, I spend a good part of my life promoting a product whose name is spelled all uppercase, and... where was I? Oh yes, the award!

Every year, the folks who organize the embedded world Exhibition&Conference hold the embedded AWARDs, which honor the most innovative software, hardware, and tools for embedded developers. And this year, the competition judges selected QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control as a finalist in the software category.

If you aren’t familiar with our ANC solution, allow me to provide an overview — which will also help explain why the embedded AWARD judges are so impressed.

Automakers need to reduce fuel consumption. And to do that, they employ techniques such as variable engine displacement and operating the engine at lower RPM. These techniques may save gas, but they also result in "boom" noise that permeates the car's interior and can lead to driver distraction. And who needs more distraction?

QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control can integrate 

seamlessly into a vehicle's infotainment system.

To reduce this noise, automakers use ANC, which plays “anti-noise” (sound proportional but inverted to the offending engine tones) over the car's speakers. The problem is, existing ANC systems require dedicated hardware, which adds design complexity, not to mention significant Bill of Materials costs. And who needs more costs?

Enter QNX Acoustics for ANC. Rather than use dedicated hardware, QNX ANC provides a software library that can run on the existing DSP or CPU of the car's head unit or audio system. This approach not only reduces hardware costs, also enables better performance, faster development, and more design flexibility. I could go on, but I will let my colleague Tina Jeffrey provide the full skinny.

Did I mention? This wouldn’t be the first time QNX Software Systems is tapped for an embedded AWARD. It has won two so far, in 2006 and 2004, for innovations in multi-core and power-management technology. It was also a finalist in 2010, for its persistent publish/subscribe messaging. Here's to making it a hat trick.

A Porsche you could talk to

The third installment in the CES Cars of Fame series. Our inductee for this week: a very connected Porsche 911.

Paul Leroux

I have a confession to make. The day before QNX Software Systems unveiled this technology concept at car at 2012 CES, I leaked the news on the On Q blog. Mind you, the leak was unintentional. I had been editing a post that described the car and, instead of hitting Save, I hit Publish by mistake. Dumb, I know.

I immediately took down the post and informed my colleagues of the error. Fortunately, my RSS feed didn't give me away, and the launch, which had been strictly under wraps, went ahead as planned. But boy, did I feel stupid.

Now that I've got that off my chest, let's see what the hubbub was about. The car, based on a Porsche 911 Carrera, came equipped with an array of features built by the QNX concept team, including one-touch smartphone pairing, high-definition hands-free calls, rear-seat entertainment, and a digital instrument cluster.

So, you ready for a tour?

The car
Let's start with the exterior. Because man, what an exterior:



The instrument cluster
Once you got behind the wheel, the first thing you saw was the instrument cluster. But
this was no ordinary cluster. It could dynamically reconfigure itself — in response to voice commands, no less. It could even communicate with the navigation system to display turn-by-turn directions. And it was designed to honor the look-and-feel of the stock 911 cluster:



The head unit
To your right, you could see the head unit. Here is the unit's main screen, from which you could access all of the system's key functions:



And here's another screen, showing the system's media player:



The front-seat control of backseat infotainment
The Porsche also showcased how a head unit could offer front-seat control of backseat entertainment — perfect for when you need to control what your kids are watching or listening to:



The voice recognition
The Porsche was outfitted with cloud-based voice recognition, which let you enter navigation destinations naturally, without having to use artificial grammars. Check out this Engadget clip, taken at an AT&T event in New York City:



The car also included features that neither words nor pictures can capture adequately. But let me try, anyway:

One-touch Bluetooth pairing — Allowed you to pair a phone to the car simply by touching the phone to an NFC reader embedded in the center console; no complicated menus to wade through.

Text-to-speech integration — Could read aloud incoming emails, text messages, and BBM messages.

High-definition voice technology — Used 48KHz full stereo bandwidth for clear, high-fidelity hands-free calls.

The car also ran a variety of apps, including TCS hybrid navigation, Vlingo voice-to-text, Poynt virtual assistant, Weather Network, and streaming Internet radio from Pandora, Nobex, Slacker, and TuneIn.

The point
The point of this car wasn't simply to be cool, but to demonstrate what's possible in next-gen infotainment systems. More specifically, it was designed to showcase the capabilities of the QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment. In fact, it did such a good job on that count that the platform took home the 2012 CES Best of Show award, in the car tech category:

Panasonic goes global with QNX CAR platform

Paul Leroux

In the automotive market — or any market, for that matter — a product platform must be judged by its flexibility. After all, the whole point of a platform is to help you create multiple products or product lines, each with its own distinguishing features, while reusing as many components as possible. Done right, a platform lets you target multiple price points, multiple consumer segments, and multiple geographies, in the least time and at the least cost. If that doesn’t define flexibility, I don’t know what does.

Which brings me to Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America. They’re an international supplier of infotainment systems — Chevy MyLink and Chrysler Uconnect are just two of their products — and they need this kind of flexibility to deliver localized solutions  to their OEM customers in North America, Europe, and Japan. To help achieve it, they use the QNX CAR platform.

Flexible by design: MyLink supports
a touchscreen, voice commands,
and steering-wheel buttons.

To quote Scott Kirchner, vice president and CTO of Panasonic Automotive Systems, “we wanted a platform that would let us quickly customize our infotainment systems for a variety of markets and customer requirements — the QNX CAR platform, with its modular architecture and support for mobile connectivity standards, provides the inherent flexibility we were looking for.”

That quote comes from a press release issued just a few minutes ago. To read the release in its entirety, visit the QNX website. But before you click, remember also to visit the Chevy website, where you can find out more about the MyLink system. And did I mention? MyLink has been building quite the trophy case, what with the Best of CES 2013 Award it won in January and the CTIA Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Award it won in May.

Chevy MyLink system.
Images: Chevrolet

Chevy MyLink drives home with CTIA Emerging Technology Award

by Paul Leroux

There's nothing better than going home with first prize. Except, perhaps, doing it twice. Back in January, the QNX-based Chevy MyLink system earned a Best of CES 2013 Award, in the car tech category, for its intuitive user experience, smartphone connectivity, and instrument-cluster integration. And just recently, MyLink pulled another coup: it took first place in the "Automotive, LBS, Navigation & Safe Driving" category of the 2013 CTIA Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Awards.

If you're new to the E-Tech Awards, they honor innovation in wireless products and services. A panel of industry experts, reporters, and analysts conduct the online judging, which selects winners based on functionality, technological importance, and overall “wow” factor.

Congratulations to our friends at Chevrolet! And kudos for bringing such a successful system to market.

For more information on the awards, read the blog post from CTIA. For more information on Chevy MyLink, visit the Chevrolet channel on YouTube.

Image source: Chevrolet

QNX-powered Chevy Mylink drives home with 2013 Best of CES award

Congratulations to the infotainment team at Chevrolet! Their next-generation Chevy MyLink system has just won a Best of CES award, in the car tech category. The competition judges were particularly impressed with MyLink's user interface and integration with the car's instrument cluster.

The MyLink system was one of two QNX-powered finalists in this year's competition; the other was Garmin's K2 infotainment platform.

Chevy plans to roll out the new version of MyLink later this year.

Two QNX customers, Chevrolet and Garmin, shortlisted for 2013 Best of CES awards

Who doesn't love to win an award? Last year, for example, we were absolutely thrilled that our QNX CAR application platform drove home with a Best of CES award. Heck, I'm still excited!

But here's the thing. All of the products and services that QNX offers are designed with one goal in mind: to make our customers successful. The more our customers succeed, the more QNX succeeds. Which is why I am doubly excited today. Because not one, but two customers have nabbed finalist spots at this year's Best of CES awards for their QNX-based products: Chevrolet for its second-generation MyLink system, and Garmin for its K2 infotainment platform.

Congratulations to our friends at Chevrolet and Garmin — I'll be rooting for all of you!

The winners of this year's Best of CES awards will be announced today, at 11 am PT.

Day one of CES — so far so great!

The QNX booth was like a mob scene. I think Phil Hetherington, senior director of the QNX acoustics group, hit the nail on the head when he said, "it's like a mosh pit in here." (He meant it in a good way. ;-)

I'm so proud and happy for the guys who spent their Christmas vacation working on the car. People are absolutely clamoring over each other to see it. I think there were more pictures taken of the Bentley than of the attractive talents in all other booths combined.

CES is a show like no other. Even as I write this I know I am missing something exciting on the show floor.

So with this in mind, I bid everyone adieu. I'll get some more shots today.



One of three demos in the Elektrobit booth (3220 North), showcasing the QNX CAR application platform.


Another example of what happens when you put two world-class suppliers together — Elektrobit and QNX, of course.


This demo replicates an impressive infotainment unit created for Audi using the QNX CAR application platform and EB street director.


EB street director and QNX CAR application platform — up close and personal.


Such an honor to be recognized again at this year's CES show!


Solowheel was a big hit! It's a gyro-stabilized electric unicycle that can be used as you would an electric bicycle. www.solowheel.com


Shooting our own video was really challenging as it was so hard to get 5 minutes in the Bentley. When we did, we still couldn't keep people away from the car!


Alexandre James, from the QNX concept design team, moved smoothly from software developer to company spokesperson.


Mark Rigley, concept design team lead, looked a lot more refreshed than he did last week when the car was still in a work in progress.


It seemed almost everyone wanted to capture the excitement of the new QNX technology concept car. Here's Andy Gryc, the perennial spokesperson, giving one of many demos throughout the day.


While the Bentley Continental was the bell of the CES ball, the Jeep Wrangler (2012 QNX reference vehicle) still did the job of capturing people's interest.


Sheridan Ethier, the hard-working manager of the QNX CAR engineering team, talked nonstop about the technology that he and his engineering group create.

Sound "bytes" from CTIA Wireless 2012

Several of my colleagues went to CTIA Wireless this week, and yes, they took the connected Porsche with them. No surprise there, of course: we’ve also taken the car to CES, MWC, BBW, and numerous other events. (Sorry, I’m really into acronyms today.) The Porsche, with its QNX-powered mobile connectivity and HD hands-free audio, seems to impress people no matter where it goes, and the reaction at CTIA was no different. In fact, the folks from Black Enterprise were so stoked, they awarded the car a CTIA Best in Show award. How cool is that?

Here’s a snap of the award, sitting on the car’s dash:



Meanwhile, Boonsri Dickinson of BYTE met up with Andy Gryc to ask him about QNX’s vision and technology for the connected car. Here's a video of their conversation — in the Porsche, of course:



Andy didn't spend all of his time in the passenger seat. Both he and Derek Kuhn also participated in connected car panels moderated by automotive journalist Doug Newcomb. The panels included "Apps in Automotive: The Future of In-Car Content" and "Can We All Just Get Along, for the Consumer's Sake?". From what I've heard, both sessions were taped, and I hope to post a link to the videos next week.
 

QNX and its customers nab finalist spots in 2012 Telematics Update awards

Every year, the world's top automakers and automotive suppliers vie for a chance to win a Telematics Update award. In 2011, for example, Audi, BMW, Hyundai, OnStar, and Toyota took top honors in categories such as best infotainment solution, best safety technology, and best cloud-based application.

These companies may have won in a variety of categories, but they share one thing in common: they all use the QNX platform.

As with 2011, so for 2012. If you look at this year's shortlist, you'll see that several QNX customers and technology partners are again in the running. The finalists include GM, whose MyLink system is up for best global infotainment solution, and OnStar, whose FMV system is up for best aftermarket solution.

This pattern is nothing new. Back in 2009, for example, more than 50% of the Telematics Update award winners either worked with QNX as a technology partner or used the QNX platform in their in-car systems.

And did I mention? QNX itself is up for a Telematics Update award this year! The QNX CAR 2 application platform, which drove home with a Best of CES Award in January, is a finalist in the industry newcomer category.

Two of the QNX-powered systems shortlisted for this year's Telematics Update awards:   

GM MyLink and OnStar FMV

It's hard to know what pleases me more: that QNX has been singled out for an award, or that QNX has once again helped its customers make the shortlist. Either way, I'm stoked.

The winners will be unveiled June 5, just prior to the Telematics Detroit show. In the meantime, my congratulations to all the finalists.
 

Audi A8 drives home with best connected car award

This just in: Connected World magazine has announced the winners of its first annual Connected Car of the Year awards, and the Audi A8 has won top prize in the ultra-luxury category.

According to Connected World, the awards honor vehicles with technology that strikes the right balance of safety, convenience, and infotainment. The magazine's editorial team decides the winners.

The Audi A8's infotainment system, dubbed the MMI, is based on the QNX Neutrino OS. The MMI offers some extremely cool features, including 3D navigation powered by Google Earth and a touchpad that lets you input destinations names by tracing them with your finger.

Here, for example, is a photo of the navigation display:



And here is a photo of someone using the touchpad, known as MMI Touch:



Both these photos were taken at a QNX Automotive Summit that took place in Stuttgart in 2010.

Connected World also handed out awards to the Ford Focus, Chrysler 300, and Cadillac XTS. These cars won in the small, mid-size, and luxury categories, respectively.