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Bogdan Popa

13,289  ARTICLES

Personal motto:

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow" - Jeff Valdez, Stand-up Comedian.

Staff Writer
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Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world, and more often than not, you’ll see him writing about the whole thing with a typing speed that a traffic camera could easily issue a ticket for.

He typically carries both an iPhone and Android device because there’s no such thing as the perfect phone, and he drives a car that some say is blue, others say is green.

His guilty pleasure is finding bugs in Android Auto (cc @Google, you’d better keep an eye on his reports, as these could actually help you refine the experience behind the wheel), and he occasionally tries out all kinds of weird gadgets that many people didn’t even know they exist.

His daily tech arsenal also includes a smartwatch and earbuds because that’s how geeks rock, as well as a laptop that has nothing in common with fruit.

Bogdan’s long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space in the trunk for his kid’s toys, as well as convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as the phones that these two companies build.

When he’s not writing about cars, Bogdan’s probably trying to fit a bike in the 375-liter trunk of his car or posting tech stuff for autoevolution’s sister site Softpedia.
Apple CarPlay 101: Make Your Car Say Goodbye When Turning Off the Engine
Apple CarPlay 101: Make Your Car Say Goodbye When Turning Off the Engine

9 Apr 2020, 13:51 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Apple has designed CarPlay in such a way that the experience overall is extremely straightforward, with the whole feature bundled into iOS at OS level (as compared to Android Auto which is offered as a dedicated app). This means there’s no...

 
2016 Ford Explorer Apple CarPlay Upgrade Is More than Just a New Head Unit
2016 Ford Explorer Apple CarPlay Upgrade Is More than Just a New Head Unit

8 Apr 2020, 15:02 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / As we’ve said it several times before, installing an aftermarket head-unit in a car isn’t necessarily something that only tech-savvy users can do, especially because device manufacturers typically provide all the instructions one needs ...

 
Tesla Lets You Watch Movies After Software Update 2020.12.5, Please Don’t Do It
Tesla Lets You Watch Movies After Software Update 2020.12.5, Please Don’t Do It

8 Apr 2020, 14:29 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Tesla software update 2020.12.5 comes with a Dashcam Viewer, which at first glance is one of the best new features that drivers have been drooling after for so long. This new tool lets Tesla owners watch recordings created by the on-board camera...

 
Your Favorite Android Auto Navigation App Will Feature Speed Bump Warnings
Your Favorite Android Auto Navigation App Will Feature Speed Bump Warnings

8 Apr 2020, 13:04 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Waze, which is currently one of the top navigation apps on both Android and iOS (and obviously, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay) will get a new feature to warn of speed bumps on your route. Support for speed bump warnings is one of the most reque...

 
Free App Calculates How Much You Save on Gas by Driving a Tesla
Free App Calculates How Much You Save on Gas by Driving a Tesla

8 Apr 2020, 12:15 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / A new application called Optiwatt can keep an eye on how much you spend on electricity by charging your Tesla at home, while also calculating your overall gas savings. Currently available online but supposed to make its way to Android and iPhone...

 
Android Auto Broken in Honda Cars, Drivers Blaming Faulty Head Unit
Android Auto Broken in Honda Cars, Drivers Blaming Faulty Head Unit

8 Apr 2020, 11:57 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / There are a million reasons Android Auto isn’t working as expected, and while most of them can be resolved with a high-quality cable, the whole thing seems to be much worse in the case of some unlucky Honda owners. A discussion thread on G...

 
This Smart Garage Stoplight Makes Parking a Breeze, And You Can Build One Too
This Smart Garage Stoplight Makes Parking a Breeze, And You Can Build One Too

8 Apr 2020, 11:17 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Parking inside a garage should be pretty easy, especially when the car is equipped with parking sensors or a reverse camera, but what if you can build your own stoplight to provide assistance as you enter the garage? If this sounds like rocket s...

 
This Samsung Workaround Can Fix Android Auto for You
This Samsung Workaround Can Fix Android Auto for You

7 Apr 2020, 17:19 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / If you’re a Samsung phone owner who also happens to use Android Auto, you probably know that the experience behind the wheel isn’t always the smoothest, as certain things, like the connection to the car, can stop working all of a sudden...

 
New Tesla Update (2020.12.5) Now Available with a Dashcam Viewer
New Tesla Update (2020.12.5) Now Available with a Dashcam Viewer

7 Apr 2020, 14:37 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Tesla has just released a new software update that includes the highly-anticipated Dashcam Viewer, which is presumably one of the most requested features ever. Tesla update 2020.12.5 is available right now as a package that’s close to 330 ...

 
G-Style Dynamic Rear Lamp for Mercedes G-Class Should Be Standard Equipment
G-Style Dynamic Rear Lamp for Mercedes G-Class Should Be Standard Equipment

7 Apr 2020, 12:49 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / If you’re in the market looking for some very unique ways to customize your G Wagen, look no further than these G-style dynamic rear lamps created by the engineers over at DMP Car Design. As one of the cars with millions of fans all over t...

 
Android Auto Blocked on Phones from Top Android Device Manufacturer
Android Auto Blocked on Phones from Top Android Device Manufacturer

7 Apr 2020, 12:26 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Just like all the other Android apps, Android Auto can be installed from the Google Play Stores in countries where it’s supported with a simple click. But as it turns out, this is not longer the case for LG phone owners, who discovered tha...

 
The Latest Waze Version Fixes Annoying Notification Bug on Android Auto
The Latest Waze Version Fixes Annoying Notification Bug on Android Auto

7 Apr 2020, 09:57 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / The most recent Waze version appears to resolve an issue hitting Android Auto users and causing the upcoming turn notification bar to go away when changing screen. More specifically, the bug was discovered a few months ago when users noticed tha...

 
Super-Cheap Parking Sensors Built at Home with an Arduino
Super-Cheap Parking Sensors Built at Home with an Arduino

5 Apr 2020, 20:49 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Parking sensors have become a must-have these days given the crowded cities we live in, but instead of paying hundreds of dollars to get them installed in your car, why not build your own at home? This is what someone on reddit actually did as p...

 
Someone Has Enabled CarPlay on a Gen 1 Chevrolet Volt with Stock Touch Screen
Someone Has Enabled CarPlay on a Gen 1 Chevrolet Volt with Stock Touch Screen

5 Apr 2020, 20:22 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / As many Gen 1 Chevrolet Volt found out the hard way, installing an aftermarket unit inside this car isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do, but even with the right modifications, the end result would still look a lot different from th...

 
Google Releases App Update That Could Fix Critical Android Auto Bug
Google Releases App Update That Could Fix Critical Android Auto Bug

5 Apr 2020, 12:50 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / One of the most widespread issues in Android Auto right now concerns the broken voice commands, as drivers can no longer use this input method to perform things like setting a new destination in the navigation app or playing music in Spotify hands-...

 
Android Auto Random Disconnect Bug Hitting One More Car Brand
Android Auto Random Disconnect Bug Hitting One More Car Brand

5 Apr 2020, 12:12 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / We’ve known for a while that the experience with Android Auto can be either flawless or a complete nightmare, and as it turns out, some unlucky Peugeot owners are getting a taste of the latter. Several reports published by Peugeot drivers ...

 
Subaru Owners Hitting a New Critical Error on Android Auto
Subaru Owners Hitting a New Critical Error on Android Auto

4 Apr 2020, 20:28 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / A number of unlucky Subaru drivers are now struggling with a new error on Android Auto that makes it impossible to use the app regardless of phone, car model, or cable used for the connection. A thread on Google’s forums reveals that the A...

 
This Is How Tesla’s New Dashcam Viewer Is Going to Work
This Is How Tesla’s New Dashcam Viewer Is Going to Work

4 Apr 2020, 20:06 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / One of the new features coming to Tesla owners in the next software updates is Dashcam Viewer, a new tool that allows them to view footage recorded by the on-board cameras right inside the car. If you’re a Tesla driver, you certainly know ...

 
This CarPlay Hack Makes an iPhone Save the Parking Location When Leaving the Car
This CarPlay Hack Makes an iPhone Save the Parking Location When Leaving the Car

4 Apr 2020, 19:40 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Apps like Apple Maps can already remember where you parked you car, but what if you can configure CarPlay to send a notification to your iPhone to show the parking location? The whole thing is possible with the Shortcuts app that comes pre-loade...

 
This Arduino-Powered Self-Driving RC Car Is a Reminder the Future Looks Good
This Arduino-Powered Self-Driving RC Car Is a Reminder the Future Looks Good

4 Apr 2020, 19:08 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / The things that an Arduino board can power are only limited by our imagination, and with a little work, this little piece of technology can end up doing amazing things. A 16-year-old, for example, has created a self-driving toy car that’s ...

 

Stories by Bogdan Popa