Bagging the award from Popular Science magazine as a top new technical innovation of the year, the Ford SYNC is a fully integrated, voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system that works with most digital media players and Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones

Staying connected is a way of life today. This is supported by research made by various consumer electronics bodies, magazines and various other analyst media. A research by the US-based Consumer Electronics Association shows that there are more than 200 million mobile phones in the US. Research also shows that more and more new car buyers are looking for the ability to use digital media players in their new vehicles. Ford Motor Co, which developed Sync in collaboration with Microsoft, aims at satisfying this new genre of car buyers who have an eye for innovative technology in their machines. Sync presents an easier and more affordable way to connect to digital media players and Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. Helping to accelerate the trend of in-car connectivity, Sync brings in-car connectivity to the masses.

Sync is designed for voice-activated, hands-free connectivity. There's no need to hang up in the middle of a cell phone call as you enter your vehicle. Simply start the vehicle and touch the Telephone Button on the steering wheel and Sync will instantly connect to a paired Bluetooth mobile phone. Users of Sync are able to browse the music collection on a media player or USB drive by genre, album, artist and song title using simple voice commands, such as "Play Genre Rock," or "Play Track ." Sync also will support Bluetooth audio for streaming Internet radio stations from Web-connected smart phones and PDAs. In addition, it can access songs from PDAs and phones that are equipped to hold music.

Devoid of any monthly charges, Sync uses the devices a person already owns - media players and Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, for example - so there are no additional costs. When paired to a capable phone, Sync notifies the driver of incoming text messages and is able to read them aloud using text-to-speech capability. The system is even smart enough to translate such commonly used text-messaging expressions as "LOL" and "TTYL." Replies can be selected from a list of predefined responses. Once paired using a special, six-digit passkey or "PIN", Sync will remember a phone and can quickly connect. Up to 12 phones can be paired with a Sync-equipped vehicle (with one connected at any given time). When paired to a supported phone, Sync will play personal ring tones. If you've configured unique ring tones to identify specific callers, Sync will automatically play those, as well.

Trained in fluent English, Canadian French and North American Spanish, Sync has been developed as an integrated part of the vehicle design. In fact, the only thing a customer sees is a USB port and a "Sync Powered by Microsoft" badge.

Sync is an on-board computer, with 256 megabyte flash memory and a 400 Mhz microprocessor, loaded with software that seamlessly integrates the vehicle with today's popular portable electronic devices. Since it is a software-based system, it is updatable and should be able to support the devices and services of tomorrow. Unlike some systems, Sync won't become obsolete in a few years.