Airbiquity is the data link technology behind Ford Sync. What is exciting you ask? You can use any cell phone from any carrier to get 800bps of data to your telematics solution. Even if you have a nasty phone carrier like ATT or Verizon that doesn’t permit tethering, Airbiquity's technology will use your Bluetooth hands free profile to pull down the data you need or make an emergency call. In my opinion 800bps will cover the majority of remote data needs until you reach a broadband link. Lots of innovative stuff can be done with technology at very low costs due to the ability to leverage consumers existing devices.
Talk about this on our forums here:
Today we are on the ground in Las Vegas getting ready to kick off our video coverage of CES. While the CES vendors setup their booths.
We were invited to attend Telematics seminar about 17 miles outside of the city which has round tables, panels and debating the future of communications and technology in cars. We have already heard some interesting things today that I will write about more as the day progresses.
The hottest debate of the morning, as it always has been, is what role can carmakers play in Telematics? How can carmakers play with rapidly evolving consumer electronics products driven by massive economies of scale and a tremendous selection of features and vendors.
What value-add do carmakers really bring to car technology? Should they just have core safety features, vehicle data outputs, input devices and get out of the way for aftermarket devices?
Designed with the supprot and feedback of our community, the fusion brain guys have done it again – At midnight EST today they released version 4 of their fusion brain control center.
Improvements over Brain v3:
16 Digital Outputs
13 Analog Inputs
Selectable Power Source (USB or 12vDC Jack)
30% smaller form factor (70mm X 45mm)
Better power filtering and protection
Ability to update firmware via USB
Ability to update firmware via ICSP header in event of bootloader corruption
Improved signal routing for analog inputs
Pulse Width Modulation, 256 steps with 42uS minimum pulse width (may need firmware update, provided free and uploadable over USB)
Previous versions of the fusion brain have been used for:
We think not. Our users have been doing internet radio in their cars for years (at least 2005) . We will most likely stop by their booth to “hear” how this compares to competing solutions like Panodora.
It is hard to beat 160kb radio streams from stations like Radioparadise . In my opinion current miRoamer streams sound HORRIBLE!
Now what would really be cool is to have an accelerometer or some other
sensor built into the steering wheel so the image always rotated and
was rendered based on the steering wheel position. I bet there is a
patent there. :) That woudl sell some dual core CPUS. Talk about it here.
Magden has a current business model of selling an x86 PC with their linux gauge software. I can see how this would be great for people who don't want to integrate their own apps and want the power of a computer in their car with less setup hassle. We strongly encouraged the magden team to consider the sale of their software and hardware to the community, even if they release it with little or no support. Talk about this on our forums.
Some people call OLED the next best thing in display technology. Manufacturers report very high levels of contrast and lots of sunlight readability. What do you think? Is OLED the next home run in mobile car computing and telematics display technology? Talk about this on our forums here.
We go for a drive as the Cruisecast team shows us the guts of their prototype device and an example of their buffering technology. Talk about this on our forums:
The CEO of Raysat/Cruisecast (AT&T partnership) gave us a 20 minute technical explanation on the satellite, antennas, transponders, compression and how they have made CruiseCast “cruise” . A product overview can be found with the interview of Cruiscast’s President . There are more technical details in our CruiseCast drive test video.
Even thought this isn’t super techie, we decided to take a few minutes to check out rescue tape since they won an award this year.
Where was wardrobe in this scene? My collar is sticking up and my shirt is wrinkled. Expect a blast of videos over the next 2 days. I slowed down editing a bit to attend a three day
wedding over the weekend.
At Azentek's SEMA booth, we interviewed Donnie to hear a little bit about their new navigation smart mirror product. Windows Mobile devices really don’t fall in mp3car’s sweet spot, but this is an interesting form factor for a PND. Without giving it a full run through or a drive test, this mirror seems like it would be perfect for users who wants something that works out of the box.
So What is happening with their car computing efforts? Azentek is no longer bringing their original double din car PC into production and are starting on a brand new double din model which will be on display at CES, but not available for purchase until Q1 or Q2 2009.
The main features of this redesigned product set for release at CES will be increased tolerances to environmental and shock extremes as well as the ability for users to upgrade the Intel processor. More details will be available at CES.
Azentek also confirmed that Centrafuse is their software platform of choice and they will be using that in a modified Azentek branded form for the release at CES.
AT&T & RaySat kick off satellite service “CruisecCast” for the car. Mp3car interviews RaySat’s President, Winston Guillory in HD.
In a three-part HD video interview, mp3Car interviews AT&T’s and Raysat’s “CruiseCast” executive team today.
We are going to kick this off this three-part interview with President, Winston Guillory. Later this week we will post the rest of the interviews with their Chairman & CEO as well as a drive test through the Vegas streets. The CruiseCast team was also kind enough to show us all the innards of their prototype hardware, which we will share with you later in the week as part 3.
Mp3car typically focuses on mobile computing applications. The reason why this fits on our blog is that Brian from Palmer Performance has ported his car PC OBD and performance application to the iphone. This is a two part interview. The first part is going to be a tour of his new iphone application. We will follow this up later in the week with a tour of his carpc installation and the features of his car computer software. Brian has made some interesting hooks in his windows application that will allow for integration into roadrunner, centrafuse or other applications. Talk about this on our forums here
The Chinese manufacturer Bluestar has been making double din all in one units for a few years now. Online carPC retailers digitalww and hipepc have stocked blue star's products in the past but those retailers have now closed up shop.
We expect to test samples within the next few months to see if this something mp3Car will offer in the store. So far so good!
Michael, product planner at Hyundai gives some specs on the
New Hyundai genesis. He talks about Apple in the car, the future of car computing and connector services as well as the tour they
have planned with Rides Magazine in NY city. Talk about this on our forums
Today we are on the ground in Las Vegas getting ready to kick off our video coverage of CES. While the CES vendors setup their booths.
Designed with the supprot and feedback of our community, the fusion brain guys have done it again – At midnight EST today they released version 4 of their fusion brain control center.
We think not. Our users have been doing internet radio in their cars for years
