Autoline #1310: The Button

The Button

iPhone this. Touch screen that. Today we find ourselves in the middle of a design metamorphosis.

The conventional button, which used to be king from kitchen to computer to car, is increasingly becoming the 21st century's version of the dinosaur replaced by so many touch pads and Sof-touch photoelectric switches.

But this week's Autoline spotlights two men and their organizations who are bringing the button back into vogue, at least in the car.

The first is that little blue button on the rearview mirror of so many General Motors vehicles which, of course, is for OnStar. OnStar is the subscription-based communications service that caters to a car and its driver in a variety of ways. Chet Huber, the company's president, sits down with John to discuss the technology, services and as well as its budding competition.

Meanwhile, there's a button that's changing car audio as we know it and it belongs to someone named "Bongiovi." No, not the rock star Bon Jovi but his second cousin who kept the original family name and became a famous record producer in his own right. After nearly forty years in the music business, Tony Bongiovi is brining his engineering prowess to the car with a revolutionary breakthrough that uses software to transform the standard radio in a car into a premium sound system. He talks to John about his new product which you can also see and hear work in a short demonstration in Autoline EXTRA.

And to hear more about Tony Bongiovi's fascinating journey through the music industry of the '60s and '70s with Motown, Record Plant, Media Sound and his own Power Station studios, click on Autoline EXTRA.