MP3Car.com - iPad Apps for the Car

A must for all icar owners!!

Mr_DJT — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 02:04:40 GMT

http://www.pocketparadox.com/fluxcapacitor/
Just a masive must :)

App for auto pause/sleep??

DrLove — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:26:48 GMT

Hi all.

I use an iPad 1 + Pure i-20 (optical out) in my car and I'm looking for a way to automatically put my device in sleep mode when I turn off the car.
When the i-20 loose power the music pause (or the player crash depending on player) but the navi app is still running even if I "turn off" the iPad w/ the sleep button.

Is there an app @ appstore (or other solution) that could sense AC-disconnect and paus/stop/shutdown all running app's and then put the iPad to sleep?

Best regards L.

XMBC for iOS 4

freeflashstuff — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 16:54:10 GMT

XMBC was released today for all iOS devices. You simply add the source to Cydia and install it. You have to be jailbroken though.

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title...on_iPhone/iPad

I think this would be good as a front end. Now we just need XM reciever control...

"Carputer", 1st Front End for the iOS?

RipplingHurst — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 06:24:10 GMT

Well, it's in Italian, so maybe it does not count?

Here is the link:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/carpu...324499907?mt=8

It looks like he borrowed icons from some well known RR skins? Man are they ugly?

I tested today in the car. No gestures support, so it's pretty much useless. Why transport buttons and volume button? Completely unnecessary.

You can click on the "sfonda" button and the background changes, which is cool, but you cannot choose your own, so that's not so cool.

The led light bar does not seem to follow the sound levels, but it's the coolest idea in this.

Kudos for trying, I say. I couldn't do any of this anyway.

More please! :peace:

igesture

RipplingHurst — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 04:05:57 GMT

Okay so there is now a simpler version of flick tunes, now optimized for the iPad's big screen.

iGesture:

This is how it looks on the iPad:

Without album art:

When the song has album art:

Settings (iPhone screen):

Quote:

iGesture is the best touch/gesture based controller for your iPhone. Now you can continue jogging and simply swipe the screen to have complete control over all of your music and audio. Its also perfect for driving, riding a bike or motorcycle, love making, and a number of activities where you simply can't or don't have time to look at your iPhone.

It works in portrait and landscape mode, you can select backgrounds and of course swipe gesture to control playback. No two and three finger swaps though. You don't have that "made for a smaller screen" feeling, so that is the good part.

$.99

Cheers,

Ripp.

Music Controls

jr4284 — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:41:16 GMT

Many of us already have/use the jailbreak program "Music Controls," and it likely will be obsolete once 4.2 hits the streets, but it should have a review, nonetheless.

What it is:
Music Controls is a jailbreak app available through Cydia that will let you control virtually any audio application on the iPad. It can take over control of iTunes, Pandora, Slacker Radio, XM/Sirius, last.fm, and many more (38 in all), giving them all the functionality that iTunes comes with by default. Pop-up audio controls now work with these 3rd party apps, along with swipe gestures to change songs, just as you would with iTunes, and has built in additional controls you can activate. Album art gets added to the lock screen and optional music controls get pasted along the title bar.

More capabilities that Music Controls provides to control your music:

Task Controls (4.x)
Popup Controls (3.x)
Lockscreen Controls
Headset Controls
Bluetooth Controls (3.1+)
Statusbar Controls (3.x)
Lockscreen Swipe Gestures
Swipe Gestures while the display is OFF

What it costs:
Free trial for 5 days
$4.99 for the software

Review
Music Controls is an essential jailbreak add for in-car iPad use. The app does exactly what the OS did not. The addition of the lock screen controls prevents added touches that were previously needed to control our music. I haven't got to play with the "swipe gestures while the display is off," but the concept definitely intrigues me. Likewise, bluetooth controls should be very handy to anyone that has integrated a controller into their steering wheel.

One rather significant issue is how it handles backgrounding. On its own, it's rather unclear how the backgrounding is performed and what is actively running, thus making it increasingly difficult to "quit" a backgrounded app. Additionally, most of us already run Backgrounder for other applications like Rev, DashCommand, etc. When both are trying to engage the same program (Pandora, for example) it can get a little confusing. Often I don't know if I've ever quit a program entirely.

I also ran into a time code error, where the iPad reported a time different than the Music Controls server, causing Pandora to continually crash. In order to fix this, I had to manually enter the time in the iPad preferences.

Overall, the program is at LEAST worth the free trial, and most likely worth the $4.99 purchase price. iOS 4.2 will make the functionality of the program obsolete, but with no concrete launch date set, $4.99 is a worthwhile investment for this functionality until then.

Flick Tunes iPad developer wants our input

RipplingHurst — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:55:18 GMT

Last week I sent some emails to the Flick Tunes support asking for an iPad version. I then exchanged a couple of emails with David, from the Flick Tunes team. Flick Tunes is the gesture based control of your media in the iPhone OS (now called iOS).

He said he is happy with the number of hits generated by the thread on the Flick Tunes app on the mp3car.com forums and just moved the "no plans" to "considering" developing an iPad version of the application. Nothing is guaranteed, though.

He also asks for some feedback on what the user interface for an iPad version could look like.

I think we can help.

The iPhone version just show the cover.jpg and it fill the entire iPhone screen, like this:

You can see the repeat/shuffle buttons on one side, and the add button and detail button.

Now I think the iPad version could show more stuff, specially since some album art may not scale well to the 9" 1024x1024 screen. Some ideas:

1. Maybe we could have displayed around 3/5 songs of the current playing list? (two previous, one current, two next ones)?

2. Maybe we could have a way to select among playlists? (Same box as above, showing 3/5 playlists at a time?)

3. Maybe we could have a way to control video playback? Maybe we could also toggle rear display (via Apple AV cable?)

4. Maybe we could also display lyrics?

All with big buttons, of course, which is vital while driving.

That's what I'm thinking about right now. Any ideas?

Cheers,

RH.

Traffic and SPEEDCAMS info - Trapster

RipplingHurst — Fri, 28 May 2010 22:29:56 GMT

Quote:

Trapster(R) is a FREE app that alerts you as you approach speed traps, red light and speed cameras, police check points, and other wallet hazards. Join over 5.5 MILLION USERS world wide and submit the location of traps in your area.

From Wikipedia:

Quote:

Trapster is a social networking mobile application and website, provided for free, that maps out and alerts users in real time to the presence of live police speed traps, red light cameras, speed cameras, and areas where police often hide. In addition, it allows users to record trip data and share it via the web, including interfaces with Facebook and Twitter.[1] Trapster was recognized by Time Magazine as one the 10 Best iPhone Apps for Dads in June 2009,[2] and as one of the 20 Sexist Apps for Men by iSmashPhone.com in July 2009.[3] In addition, Wired listed Trapster as the number 1 application in their 10 Mobile Applications that Make the Most of Location[4] and CNET named Trapster as their number 1 free iPhone automotive app.[5]

Pete Tenereillo launched Trapster, the modern equivalent of flashing your headlights to warn other motorists of police speed traps,[8] in November 2007, and by early 2009 had 1/2 a million users signed up. On July 20, 2009, Trapster had signed up its 1 millionth user.[9] Less than a year later, the company claimed to have in excess of 4 million users.[10]

Trapster can use Wi-Fi or GPS to pinpoint the user's current location[11] phones with GPS. and send them audio alerts or text messages when they are approaching a ticket threat. Users report the existence of a trap by pressing the touch screen or using a key combination on the mobile device. To negate the effect of pranksters or the police entering bogus locations, users can verify the locations of existing traps in the same manner.

Trapster gives greater weight to traps that are rated more reliably. Users
can customize the alerts via the Trapster website or the mobile app so that they only receive notifications of conditions they are interested in, such as red light cameras or live police.

Information about static traps, such as red light cameras and speed cameras, stays in Trapster's database indefinitely. Live speed trap locations are kept in the system for one hour, as it is likely that the officers will move on to a new location.

With push notification, this is really cool. I like the caravan/public trip idea (you keep track of where everybody else is in a group ride), but I haven't tested it yet.

Media - Adaptunes: Speed Based Volume Control

RipplingHurst — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:50:21 GMT

Adaptunes

Quote:

Utilising your device's advanced innards for tracking motion, Adaptunes adjusts your device's volume, making it louder as you speed up in your car.
This saves you fiddling around with your device when you come off of local roads and start belting along the motorway.

It does not seem to work with Pandora, for instance. Just with whatever is presently controlled with iTunes...but it looks to work fine, specially for bikers and convertible owners, where idling at a traffic spot and blasting at 70mph is a huge level difference.

Voice control on the Ipad

RipplingHurst — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:45:47 GMT

Okay, just found out about this must have for in car control:

How to enable voice control on the iPad.

Quote:

1.) Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app

2.) Open K48AP.plist in a text editor or a plist editor (TIP: we recommend you just use ifile from Cydia to do the editing)

3.) Under the capabilities area add the following key

voice-control

4.) Reboot your iPad and enjoy Voice Control!

To have more fun with your new voice control:

1.) Navigate to /System/Library/VoiceServices/PlugIns/Base.vsplugin/English.Iproj

2.) Open Help.strings

3.) Change anything that says iPod into iPad

4.) Voice Control will now say iPad instead of iPod

(source)

Of course you have to have SSH enabled.

Very cool but it has it's limitations of course.

You activate the voice command by holding down the home button for a few seconds. I wonder how it's done over bluetooth? It would be great if a voice activated bluetooth mic could be used instead.

Now you can access contacts (but don't try to make a call...lol), or more importantly, ask you ipad to play a song, album, genre, shuffle, etc.

and more:

Play artist by...

Play playlist...

What song is this?

Play more songs like this...

This combined with flicktunes (gesture based transport control) maybe all that you need for now.:)

Themed Spring board as a front end

RipplingHurst — Wed, 26 May 2010 06:21:12 GMT

Okay, so I've been playing around with the iPad and trying to know it better. Since some of the things are more developed for the iPhone platform, I took my j/b 3G and use it as a test mule for things to come.

To use the iPad in the car I think we'd need a front end. By that I mean not a complete system like Ride Runner or CF, but something with big buttons from which you can launch all the apps you want to use in the car, while at the same time leaving room/pages on the springboard. Springboard is the iPhone application that manages iPhones main screen:

This is what it looks like, very similar to the iPad one:

The difference being that the iPad one rotates (you can make the iPhone rotate too, if you want to, by j/b it).

Now those are relative small icons, and not very conducive for use while driving. Even if you have fewer icons, the application keeps them "organized", that means you can't space them out if you want to, like in Windows.

Ideally we'd have a car front end, like RR and CF that would manage music, video, navigation and all the other stuff, specially notifications from other apps like text messages, ebay, facebook, etc.

However, maybe you can tweak the Springboard to act just like a front end perhaps. Not like a full fledge front end, but a pretty good looking one, if you know graphic design. This tweak could be just a new "theme" applied to the spring board, just to make it look the way we want to, without by itself changing it's behavior or functions in any way.

So I just installed Whitoken theme on my iPhone. It's very cool and it really works. Installation can be pretty involved, but it was fun doing it, and I learned a lot about the iPhone OS in the proccess. I liked iToken specially because it works so good under direct sunlight, it's unbelievable. I always requested creamy, opaque white with black fonts as the main background/font theme from skin developers, but I was never listened. So yeah, baby, this color combo ROCKS in direct sunlight.

These are screen caps taken from my iPhone (hold the home button and hit the sleep button).

As you can see, instead of 20 something small icons (AND TEXT) on the main screen, we have 2 main big icons on each page (with 3 regular icons, but more spaced), plus 3 on the dock below, and the shortcuts for other pages at the top. And more importantly, big text, when relevant.

I haven't mod the theme much if at all. There's a lot of silly things I don't like, "safari, surf the internet", I don't need a description in most cases...So this needs a lot of cleanup. But it's a start.

The only thing I changed was the Game section, which I plan to be my "in car section". I edited the stupid game app and to get beat the traffic (awesome app) app there instead.

I have more than one hundred apps, and they are all organized under HOME/APPS/MEDIA/GAME categories. So when you click "apps" on the top menu, or slide the screen sideways, you get to the APP section/page and the top left button saying "APPS, view all" opens a category folder holding all your apps.

The idea is to get to the in car page/section, dock the phone and launch the main apps (nav/traffic/pandora plus one more) from that section. You can navigate to the media section and launch videos/you tube/ipod section with music podcasts etc. it also has big buttons. If you launch Pandora and hit the home button, it will go to the background (if you have the backgrounder app) the music will keep playing while you're send back to the main "in car" section above, where you can launch other apps.

This works best if you can dock your iPhone in the dash, with some ssort of holder, so that the screen sits firmly within sight.

If you're in the mood for media playing, browsing, etc., then it's much better to launch something like flick tunes, or other gesture based app (see this section) and you'll have a much better interface to manage while driving. But if you decide to quit that and launch any other app, you'd rather have a cleaner interface with big buttons and text, wouldn't you?

So that's my idea.

What do you guys think? What sort of problems I'm not seeing? Have no idea how the iPad would look like, but I'm focusing on the iPhone first. If anything it makes the iPhone look cooler, IMHO. :lol:

GPS - Harry's Lap Timer

RipplingHurst — Sat, 22 May 2010 15:38:54 GMT

A GPS based lap timer, Harry's lap timer pro, with similar functionality as Centrafuse's own Laptimer.

Quote:

- Speed up for data transfer between Trainer and LapTimer
- Lap data transfer between all LapTimer versions using Bluetooth
- Introduced a standard XML scheme for data transfer (.hlptrl/.hlptrz, .poil/.poiz)

Content - Police Scanner

RipplingHurst — Sat, 22 May 2010 07:15:15 GMT

5-0 Radio HD: Police Scanner + Music for iPad

(50% off today, for 4.99!!)

Why not? I think it's great to use in the car.

Just bought, add some local Police and Fire scans to my favorites. Nothing too dramatic happening, lost dog, loud teenagers, etc. so I started listening to LA and Chicago feeds..whoa. Instant action.

You can also chat with other listeners over tweeter (just login). Could hear some Australian police chatter too, and Japanese air traffic control, not sure how this works, but it does.

OBD - DashCommand

RipplingHurst — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:34:59 GMT

DashCommand 2.0

OBD - Rev 2.0

RipplingHurst — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:33:08 GMT

True. Here's Rev2.0 link.

And some pictures:

Media Front End - Flux Tunes

RipplingHurst — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:55:59 GMT

Another one designed specifically for driving, but it's simpler (less options on the settings, apparently) than others. FluxTunes.

Quote:

FlexTunes is a lifesaver, maybe literally, when you’re on the freeway and can’t take the time to look at the iPod screen to change songs.

- Tap to pause/restart
– Slide left and right to change tracks
– Slide up and down to adjust volume
– Slide two fingers left or right to change playlists
– Slide two fingers up to play music from your whole library
– Slide two fingers down to select playlists/albums/songs

Traffic Info - Beat the Traffic

RipplingHurst — Thu, 20 May 2010 06:48:20 GMT

Another great app: Beat the traffic HD...It's like TrafficCAMs for RR, only for the ipad and besides local CAMs, it displays maps too.

Some screenshots:

And it's free!

Media Front End Control: Flick Tunes

RipplingHurst — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:21:26 GMT

First app that comes to mind: Flick Tunes.

Quote:

FlickTunes lets you keep your eyes on the road & control your music by touch! Because it provides you with a bold, clean, yet uncluttered, interface combined with intuitive touch and gesture-based controls FlickTunes is simply the safest and most effective way to control your music on the go.

Perfect for use in the car, on the treadmill, at the gym or while jogging. Use it anywhere you can't afford to spend time futzing with your music player! You won't ever need to take your eyes off the road again.

FlickTunes is more than just a music player, however - it�s your music player. Choose your own font. Choose your own orientation. Choose your own gestures. Choose a default playlist and more! We give you the power to remake FlickTunes however you see fit. But only if you want to, it�s already super simple to use by default. Change it, don�t change it. Whatever you want.

It�s So Easy To Use Right Out Of The BoxFlick Left: Advance to the next song.

Flick Right: Go back to the previous song.
Swipe Up or Down: Toggle between play & pause.
2 Finger Flick Left: Skip forward 30 seconds.
2 Finger Flick Right: Skip back 30 seconds.
2 Finger Swipe Up: Increase volume.
2 Finger Swipe Down: Decrease volume.
3 Finger Flick Left: Flick and hold for Fast Forward.
3 Finger Flick Right: Flick and hold for Rewind.
3 Finger Swipe Down: Start (or restart) the default playlist.

And It�s Incredibly Customizable Too

❖Auto-Lock > Allow While Playing: Set whether the device is allowed to auto-lock while music is playing.
❖Auto-Lock > Allow While Paused: Set whether the device is allowed to auto-lock while music is paused.
❖Controls > One Finger Controls: Assign each single finger gesture (tap, flick left, flick right, swipe up, swipe down) to any action you want.
❖Controls > Two Finger Controls: Assign each two finger gesture (tap, flick left, flick right, swipe up, swipe down) to any action you want.
❖Controls > Three Finger Controls: Assign each three finger gesture (tap, flick left, flick right, swipe up, swipe down) to any action you want.
❖Controls > Gesture Indicators: Set whether a brief popup indicator should appear to show you which gesture you activated.
❖Controls > Volume Gesture Sensitivity: Control how much the volume changes in response to the volume gesture action.
❖Controls > Gesture Recognition Threshold: Control how much movement is required before a flick or a swipe is recognized.
❖Playlist > Default Playlist Name: Specify the playlist* you want to use when the default playlist gesture is activated.
❖Playlist > Default Playlist Shuffle: Set whether the default playlist should be shuffled or not.
❖Playlist > Default Playlist Repeat: Set whether the default playlist should be repeated or not.

ETC.

It shows lyrics too, etc. Sounds like a great app, going to test it soon. Not sure if it's good for the iPad, but for the iPhone sounds great.

Also, not sure if it works for video, and it surely is not a front end with access to other functions (NAV, Pandora, etc.)...so that's it for now.

Better than that ugly iTunes interface I think.

Car related Ipad/iPhone apps - while driving

RipplingHurst — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:14:26 GMT

So while Centrafuse and RideRunner are not yet ported for OS-X/iPhone OS, we can maybe list here what apps could be successfully used in a car while driving.

Generally apps that are meant to select and play media while jogging or on a treadmill or bike are the next best thing short of a fully fledged front end. Some remote control apps have a great overall design (display media info and big buttons like a front end), but they of course require another computer to be controlled by it.

Also, if you have suggestions about settings to avoid having to swipe from left to right everytime you want to access the iPad/iPhone (specially if it's charging while in the car, why would you need to logon?), and other battery, display and overall settings for in car use would be great to post here.

So what we have now?