Help, in the form of upgraded software, is in the mail for about 300,000 owners of 2011-12 model-year Ford vehicles with MyFord Touch, company officials said Monday.
Ford’s objective is to simplify the graphics and refine the way the system responds to touch and voice commands. While some customers like it, others have expressed confusion or frustration over the first generation of the infotainment and control screen.
Surveys published by J.D. Power and Associates and last week by Consumer Reports magazine gave Ford lower marks across the range of its model lineup …

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook games star Zynga has opened an online playground where users can enjoy hit titles without having to visit the world’s top social network.
Zynga.com launched with CastleVille, Words With Friends, CityVille, Hidden Chronicles and Zynga Poker, along with a promise of lots more social games by the San Francisco-based firm and outside developers.
“Zynga.com is designed to make it easier for you to play with friends,” Zynga founder Mark Pincus said in a blog post.
“We’ve invested heavily to build a network and infrastructure tuned for delivering social gaming …

If you can’t stand the thought of using a Symbian phone in this day and age, but can’t resist the allure of having a 41-megapixel camera in your pocket, fret not, hope is here.
Jo Harlow, Nokia’s executive vice president, told a Finnish newspaper that the company would be bringing the Nokia PureView 808′s camera sensor to a Windows Phone device.
“I can’t say precisely when, but it will not take very long,” she reportedly said, based on a rough translation of her words.
Given Microsoft’s control of the operating system, it’s …

The Chevrolet Volt, which sells in Europe as the Opel Ampera, has been named European Car of the Year by automotive journalists from 23 countries.
The award was made Monday on the eve of the Geneva auto show. The Opel Ampera made its European debut at the Geneva, Switzerland, show in 2009.
General Motors marketing chief Joel Ewanick tweeted Monday morning that the award represents “sweet vindication for the most sophisticated technology on the road.”
The award came three days after GM announced it would suspend production of the Volt at the Detroit-Hamtramck …

On the eve of what may well be the launch of a brand new iPad from Apple comes some new analysis from Forrester Research on the current competitive landscape in tablets — or lack thereof, as the case seems to be.
In short: despite the rush of tablets that have come out in the past year, many built on Google’s Android OS, Apple has managed to continue to run away with the competition, and how has 73 percent of the tablet market. No Android tablet maker, it notes, has more than …