Gear

Starting Something

A New James Bond Trick for Your Car

UD - Viper SmartStart Rain. You forgot what it looked like. But here it is.

Gets you thinking about winter. Coats. Scarves. James Bond's car.

The mad geniuses at Viper are right there with you, and today they dropped a bombshell—you can now start your car with your phone. The Viper SmartStart iPhone App is here.

Say you're out on a date and there's a chill in the air. Just pull out your phone with flourish, and the SmartStart app will unlock your car from afar, start it…and the heat starts blasting. And suddenly you look like some sort of chivalrous gentleman from the future.

Or maybe your friend called—he's at the garage, and really needs to get the tiger out of your trunk. (Your business, not ours.) You can pop it open without even leaving your Monday meeting.

Here's the catch, such as it is—the app itself is free, but you have to get the actual SmartStart system installed in your car, which will set you back a couple hundred, then the account will cost you about 30 bucks a year.

But in the future, that's like 30 cents.

Elsewhere on the Daddy

More Gear