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Complete PC instead of a Car Stereo
An anonymous reader submitted linked to a PC that fits in your
car stereo slot. It's a bit spendy at $1k, but its got CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB,
Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA, more. And besides being
powered by your car, it also has built in GPS. Lots of interesting
hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their
cars then me ;)
They should have used a slot-loaded optical drive instead of the tray. It would be less of a jump for people to grep if it was more like a regular car cd-player.
removeable faceplates stop ZERO car thefts. that removeable faceplate doesnt slow them down or even deter them because replacement faceplates are very very easy to come by. the only safe solution id to undock the whole stereo... or better yet, add supplimental insurance and hope it keeps getting stolen.
I leave my car unlocked all the time and never remove the faceplate to my autopc. but then I dont park where my car can get ripped off, or broken into. nor do I live in a crappy neighborhood. It's choices...and I found the easiest is to keep the car unlocked so I dont have to pay for windows or doors and have my insurance company buy me a new stereo every X months.
removable face is NOT anti-theft. the only car stereo I have ever seen that is anti theft is Blaupunkt. if you remove the stereo fromthe car next power up it display's STOLEN STEREO, enter 6 digit pin. and you have 3 tries to enter the pin, after that the stereo is trash. and yet it still didnt stop them from getting stolen... Thieves are the stupidest people on the planet... otherwise they would actually have jobs.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Anyone else notice the operating temperature of this thing is 0C-50C. I hope that no one buys this thing somewhere it freezes. You would think in a car stereo replacement they would design the thing to handle freeze...
Ian