

IPad + Car = pretty cool car hack - davidedicillo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnIXfoSU6I

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proee
I was actually planning on building my own car pc - had all the parts ordered
and ready to install....

Then I got word that one of the employees that works for my father-in-law
killed two people via a head-on collision because he was watching a movie
using an in-car dvd player while driving. The accident was terrible, and I
believe the driver who caused the accident literally watched the victims burn
up in flames inside their car.

Subsequently I decided to sell all my car computer parts on ebay so that I'm
not a hazard to other people on the road. The temptation for me to fiddle with
a computer while driving is probably too high.

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icefox
Driving is one place where tactile feedback _really_ matter and touch screens
are a POS. If the driver has to take their eyes off the road to change the
radio station somewhere someone will get in an accident and die. On my G35 I
really do not like how all of the radio preset buttons are smooth and flush
next to each other no matter how 'nice' it looks. It makes it near impossible
to push the correct one without looking. I added little bumps via super glue
so I would know which button is which without having to look.

Going out of your way to add a generic ipad that is designed to require you to
be looking at the screen and not the road is a bad mix. You could use it as a
glorified screen and have special software that always ran and connected to
the car via the usb port (exists on the iphone) and didn't let you do anything
when moving that would be in a step in the right direction. Still, adding a
distraction to the driver is usually not worth the risk.

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patrickk
It probably wont be long before someone find some cool place in their home to
mount the iPad too. I'm thinking something like an iPad mounted flush into a
coffee table at a slight angle so you can control your home theatre, lights,
read the morning newspaper and check your TV listings. Or how about mounted
into the kitchen wall to stream TV or get weather updates? Along the lines of
this, except with an iPad:

[http://hacknmod.com/hack/ikitchen-diy-touch-screen-wall-
moun...](http://hacknmod.com/hack/ikitchen-diy-touch-screen-wall-mount-
computer/)

~~~
prawn
I thought that a magnetic fridge mount (as long as it didn't mess with the
internals of the device) could be good. Attach the iPad to your fridge and
then use recipe apps like Jamie Oliver's.

~~~
patrickk
It might be more convenient to mount it under a cabinet, so that you can
easily access it when cooking and baking. Something along the lines of this:

[http://www.instructables.com/id/Kitchen-PC-with-laptop-
twist...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Kitchen-PC-with-laptop-twist/)

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a-priori
That mod is a car accident waiting to happen.

~~~
jrockway
So is yelling at your kids, driving over 30mph, etc., etc.

~~~
PostOnce
Yelling at your kids while driving isn't necessary, nor is a computer, which I
suppose is the point. Unnecessary distractions cause collisions.

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jsz0
I'm planning to do the same thing in my car. Good iPod integrated headunits
are expensive so if you don't mind a little DYI work this would actually be
cheaper and more functional. I'm going to wait for the 3G unit to get GPS.
Glare is going to be a big factor though. Not sure how well these anti-glare
screen covers work.

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tshtf
Soon after I started driving, my father said at every point in time I should
have a mentally planned "exit path". That is - some way to escape oncoming or
concurrent traffic that is not aware.

As more hacks like this come out, and with the amount of distracted drivers, I
think the best "hack" for driving is knowing to escape someone using an ipad
or an iphone coming at a closing speed of 200kph.

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Griever
As a bit of a CarPC enthusiast, I am interested to see how long this holds up.
I have fabricated my own touchscreen into my car and did all the work to make
it look as factory as possible, however it takes a lot of time to make sure
that everything holds together. Honestly, from the clips they showed, it
really doesn't seem that the iPad was made to stick in there if the roads got
a bit turbulent. I have seen people's touchscreens fall out from not being
properly secured into the dashboard (including my own from a particularly
rough driving experience...)

Ultimately, I think it's pretty cool but the iPad interface is not a very safe
one to use while driving. This is why I always, always, always install a
dashboard frontend like Centrafuse or RoadRunner on mine to make navigation
simple.

Aside from all that stuff, I am pretty curious to see a) how the iPad holds up
on the car battery, and b) how well the screen illuminates during sunlight.
Both of which are always interesting problems to work through when building
your own CarPC.

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mcdowall
Nice. Puts the BMW iDrive to shame ;)

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hussong
I have a feeling that a car in broad daylight is a place where a glossy
display can become rather annoying.

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dkokelley
Wow. Soundman. These guys are in my town. I pass them on the way to work. I
hope they got the data version so they can use maps. Regardless of the
distraction potential, I think it's a pretty clever hack. Let's just hope he
doesn't get distracted and kill me on my way to work.

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jonursenbach
Is it just me or does this guy look like Mack from It's Always Sunny In
Philadelphia?

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ryanpetrich
I thought the same

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kadavy
For a few short moments while watching this video, I forgot how much I hate
cars.

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ww520
How long before people are going to break into cars to rip off the IPad?

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CamperBob
As bad as smartphones were before Apple came along with the iPhone, car
audio/navigation is a thousand times worse. Whoever turns out to be the Apple
of autosound will have a license to print money.

