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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.
Don’t Be Surprised If the Police Send You a Phone Notification to Move Over
Don’t Be Surprised If the Police Send You a Phone Notification to Move Over

4 Mar 2020, 17:30 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / The Michigan State Police will send drivers a notification through the Waze app on Android devices and iPhones to let them know they must move over whenever a police car is approaching. The new technology is based on a so-called digital siren, w...

 
Why Android Auto Uses Bluetooth When It’s Connected via USB
Why Android Auto Uses Bluetooth When It’s Connected via USB

4 Mar 2020, 17:03 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / At this point, using Android Auto in a car is possible in two different ways: wired and wirelessly, all depending on the head unit that is installed in the vehicle. Needless to say, the wireless connection is the one that’s more convenient...

 
2000 Mazda MX-5 Featuring Android Auto Is Like a Dream Coming True
2000 Mazda MX-5 Featuring Android Auto Is Like a Dream Coming True

4 Mar 2020, 16:39 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Bringing systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to older cars is quite a challenge, especially because it’s pretty hard to find an aftermarket head unit that perfectly supports each model. In the case of this 2000 Mazda MX-5, the Pion...

 
Spectacular Google Maps Images Show Firefighters Battling a Fire After Car Crash
Spectacular Google Maps Images Show Firefighters Battling a Fire After Car Crash

3 Mar 2020, 19:45 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Google Maps isn’t only a super-useful app that helps you go from point A to point B as fast as possible, but also the home of tons of footage from all over the world, captured either by Google’s own Street View cars or by third-party ph...

 
This Is One of the Best Apple CarPlay Kits for Harley-Davidson
This Is One of the Best Apple CarPlay Kits for Harley-Davidson

3 Mar 2020, 18:32 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / It goes without saying that installing an Apple CarPlay or Android Auto kit on a Harley-Davidson isn’t as easy as it is on a car, as the system needs to have some extra features that would make it appropriate for a motorcycle. And Sony kno...

 
Kind Internet Stranger Fixes One of the Latest Android Auto Bugs
Kind Internet Stranger Fixes One of the Latest Android Auto Bugs

3 Mar 2020, 17:23 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / One of the most recent bugs in Android Auto breaks down the “OK, Google” command, pretty much making it impossible to control the system without touching the screen. And while Google said that a fix was in the works, possibly to be i...

 
Just Don’t Blame Android Auto for the Way It Works on Vertical Car Displays
Just Don’t Blame Android Auto for the Way It Works on Vertical Car Displays

3 Mar 2020, 17:05 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / With support for an always-increasing number of car brands, Android Auto is also optimized for a wide variety of vehicle displays, which in their turn use both common and very unusual aspect ratios and resolutions. Recent updates have also impro...

 
This BMW M3 Drift Missile Promises Full Need for Speed Adrenaline
This BMW M3 Drift Missile Promises Full Need for Speed Adrenaline

2 Mar 2020, 20:03 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / While Need for Speed isn’t a racing simulator whose purpose is to impress the world with how realistic things like handling are, the game features a car customization tool that lets anyone create state-of-the-art models that only skilled desi...

 
Nightmare Experience on CarPlay as Volkswagen, Toyota Drivers Report GPS Issues
Nightmare Experience on CarPlay as Volkswagen, Toyota Drivers Report GPS Issues

2 Mar 2020, 17:49 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / GPS issues hitting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay aren’t necessarily new, but now it looks like more car models are affected, causing navigation apps to become useless behind the wheel. In most of the cases, the navigation apps just lose G...

 
Someone Has Created a Music Player for Android Auto, And It’s Really Awesome
Someone Has Created a Music Player for Android Auto, And It’s Really Awesome

2 Mar 2020, 17:27 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer are three of the most popular music streaming apps these days, so it goes without saying that the majority of drivers use them when getting behind the wheel. But on the other hand, while these apps are really use...

 
How Much Would You Pay for a Rare Harley-Davidson Floppy Disk?
How Much Would You Pay for a Rare Harley-Davidson Floppy Disk?

1 Mar 2020, 19:49 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / The tech revolution has made floppy disks obsolete, and with everyone using cloud storage services these days, it’s very clear that the world is migrating towards more convenient solutions. But floppy disks have a very special place in eve...

 
Choosing the Apps to Be Displayed in Apple CarPlay Sidebar Is As Easy As ABC
Choosing the Apps to Be Displayed in Apple CarPlay Sidebar Is As Easy As ABC

1 Mar 2020, 17:23 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / By default, Apple CarPlay does not allow users to select what apps they want to show up in the left sidebar, pretty much because the system is designed in a way that relies on user interaction with the installed apps. In other words, the apps di...

 
The 2016 Dodge Charger SRT Really Can’t Get More Realistic Than This in GTA V
The 2016 Dodge Charger SRT Really Can’t Get More Realistic Than This in GTA V

1 Mar 2020, 15:38 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Car mods have been around for a long time in a wide variety of games, but the bigger challenge for everyone, especially when building customizations for racing simulators, was to make handling feel as realistic as possible. This is without a dou...

 
Three Android Auto Features Apple CarPlay Also Needs
Three Android Auto Features Apple CarPlay Also Needs

1 Mar 2020, 13:45 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / There’s no doubt Apple’s CarPlay has improved a lot in the last 12 months or so, and it’s all because the Cupertino-based iPhone maker decided to remove some restrictions and provide third parties with access to more features. ...

 
Don’t Even Think About Buying a Driving License from Facebook
Don’t Even Think About Buying a Driving License from Facebook

1 Mar 2020, 12:07 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / The attacks launched by cybercriminals these days are getting a lot more sophisticated, and the British authorities now warn that online scams are often launched on social networks like Facebook and Instagram. The United Kingdom’s Driver a...

 
You’ll Have So Many Questions After Watching These Weird Images on Google Maps
You’ll Have So Many Questions After Watching These Weird Images on Google Maps

1 Mar 2020, 11:32 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / The Google Maps car capturing weird stuff in street-level imagery is by no means something uncommon, but from time to time, we still come across photos that are pretty hard to explain. The footage you see here was captured by the Google car on t...

 
Dealer Update Said to Break Down Android Auto on Subaru Cars
Dealer Update Said to Break Down Android Auto on Subaru Cars

1 Mar 2020, 11:15 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Installing Android Auto updates is quite a Russian roulette, as instead of getting the improvements promised in the latest releases, drivers could end up being unable to use the system completely. At the same time, dealer software updates could ...

 
A New Android Auto Version Is Now Available with Highly-Anticipated Improvements
A New Android Auto Version Is Now Available with Highly-Anticipated Improvements

23 Feb 2020, 19:28 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / Google has just released a new version of Android Auto, and judging from the release notes and the early feedback from users who rushed to install it, this one brings not only several highly-anticipated fixes but also a new feature that's welc...

 
Jailbroken iPhones on iOS 13 Now Let You Play Games, Watch YouTube on CarPlay
Jailbroken iPhones on iOS 13 Now Let You Play Games, Watch YouTube on CarPlay

23 Feb 2020, 18:13 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / CarBridge is a jailbreak tool that enhances the existing version of Apple’s CarPlay with new functionality, including support for games and YouTube videos. One of the biggest drawbacks, however, was that it only worked on older iOS version...

 
This Ferrari 812 Won the Race in Forza but Somehow Finished Second
This Ferrari 812 Won the Race in Forza but Somehow Finished Second

23 Feb 2020, 16:57 UTC · By: Bogdan Popa / A Ferrari winning a race in a racing game isn’t uncommon, but on the other hand, a Ferrari winning a race and then finishing second is certain something that you don’t see too often. And yet, it happens, as one unlucky fellow discove...

 

Stories by Bogdan Popa