Productopia | On Location

Smartphones and tablets and phablets and apps; that's all that occupied my mind last week at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a tradeshow that attracted more than 72,000 visitors from over 200 countries. It was a busy several days, as multitudes of products were launched and myriad trends were spotted. We've already looked at what the Twitterverse took in; here's a sampling of what @MollyMobile saw. (At left are some cool cases and tablet keyboards from Belkin.) Read more

Last week, I drove out to New York's Bear Mountain State park for the International Motor Press Association's (IMPA) "Spring Brake" event, at which a variety of manufacturers have a selection of cars and SUVs for IMPA members to sample throughout the day. The only bad thing about the event (which was blessed with ideal driving weather: warm temps and sunny skies), was that there were more cars on hand than there was time to sample every one. So I mixed it up, trying out rides that ranged from around $20,000 to well over $300,000. Read on for a quick take on each one.

While I was there, I also taped an appearance for Gary Gastelu's Fox Car Report on FoxNews.com, which you can watch below. Gary aptly describes the event as "speed dating for auto journalists." Can't say I disagree. Have a look and weigh in on the cars in the comments.

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We had a video crew tag along with us at the New York Auto Show last week. You've already seen our chat with the COO of Terrafugia as she gave us the skinny on the company's Transition flying car.

In addition to that, we shot a couple of additional videos spotlighting the interesting green cars on display, ranging from the hot-selling new Toyota Prius C, to BMW's wild-looking i3 and i8 concepts to one of the coolest surprises we found down on the show's lower level, the new electric DeLorean (yes, you read that right).

Then we went and looked at cars on the more premium end of the scale. We check in on Land Rover's 25th anniversary in North America, climb into the awesome new Bentley Continental GTC V8 convertible, and find our inner Tony Stark as we marvel at the most unlikely, most luxurious vehicle of the whole show. It's all posted below. Read more

When it retired the venerated Panther rear-wheel drive platform last year, Ford lost more than the beloved Lincoln Town Car. Panther underpinned the Ford Crown Victoria, which, while discontinued for retail sale after model year 2007, continued to be produced in the all-important Police Interceptor configuration until last year, when Panther production finally ceased altogether.

To borrow a term that is used a little too cavalierly these days, it is entirely reasonable to call the Crown Vic an icon. For many, it and "police car" are interchangeable terms. Anyone who drives knows that sinking feeling you get when your rearview mirror fills with the visage of a Crown Vic wearing the telltale black grille. Suddenly, you discover the speed limit and hope you don't see red-and-blue lights. But with Ford's ubiquitous patrol car accepting the proverbial gold watch after decades of service, how would the automaker follow up? Earlier this week, we drove the two vehicles that will fill the Vic's very big shoes, the 2013 Ford Police Interceptor sedan and SUV. Read more