There are some concerns, though, not the least of which is safety. Distracted driving, such as talking on the phone while behind the wheel, is already a serious risk, and checking e-mail while driving could only be a greater danger. Also, the company doesn't have its pricing and distribution down yet. At US$399 for the unit and $49 a month, it's hardly an impulse purchase, particularly for families that already have been overcharged for in-car DVDs.

Still, in-car access seems a natural. Ultimately, besides providing access to content (hopefully only by passengers), this also will help us program our cars on the fly and create new applications like real-time road condition reports added to navigation systems (something that's already available but still fairly crude.)

Bottom line: We don't know if Autonet will succeed, but it opens the door to some intriguing possibilities.

Comeback player of the year

HomePlug technology creates home networks by using existing in-wall electrical wires. Introduced several years ago, it was overwhelmed by Wi-Fi - why spend the same amount of money (or more) to use HomePlug when you can be wireless? Plus, until recently, HomePlug was slow.