Slashdot Mirror
Hack Your Ride
LukePieStalker writes "Monday's Boston Globe has a story on the global market for car chippers. The article describes a global subculture of "drivers who reprogram their vehicles and the companies that keep them supplied with high-performance software and silicon chips".
One nice hack: a car chipped-up for the race track can be set back to factory specs for the street simply by pushing the cruise control button."
And the coming of warmer weather is bringing in a new wave of customers to KTR, which was originally owned by Boston rocker J. Geils.
For some reason, I find that incredibly cool.
Maybe the whole purpose of these new mod chips is so drivers can make back-up copies of their cars in case they crash.
Sorry, I'll leave now.
He took a duck to the face at 250 knots.
... doesn't use chips you insensitive clod! (actually, it can run without any fuses installed as well...)
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
If the RIAA gets its way, it may actually become necessary to get your car mod chipped to play bootleg CDs :D
Han: That chip goes there and that chip goes there!
Chewie: *Bwaaaaarrraaugh* (translation: Stuff it, honky.)
I also reply below your current threshold.
Seriously. It's flashing "Overspeed warning off" at me. But some days it says "Warning engine overheating" just as the car starts on a cold day. Or, "Immobilizer!!" when I try to start it. Then it occasionally acts normal, but switches the display from km/l to km-left-to-pump to average driving speed, randomly.
Perhaps it's because it's a French car and takes itself too seriously.
Anyhow, I'm now going to look for someone who can rechip it and give it a new personality, something a little less brie and baguette, more Yvette Lopez, "where d'ya wanna go today?"
Ceci n'est pas une signature
... so, it's not long before I have a taxi cab that turns into a giant robot with the voice of Casey Kasem at the touch of a button? I have been waiting for this day for so long.
*AppleTRON*
I thought a 'car chipper' would be something like a wood chipper, only *much* more ferocious.
Ah well.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
My mechanic hacked my car so the left blinker blinks faster than the right. He also put in that hanging wire below the dashboard hack.
They aren't really chips anymore.
what?? no more Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox??!
What is the world coming to????
'By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes'
They wouldn't be traffic jams anymore.
/karma to burn
They'd be rolling Beowulf clusters.
Don't those Japanese letter stickers work better and cost much less? Then there is always the 5 cent 'resistor mod' that everyone and their brother sells on eBay for 20 bucks......
Repant. Thy end is sheer.
Windows Mobile has detected unidentified hardware, and is unable to find a driver for it.
Restarting...
Seriously, has anyone seen that new show on MTV? I'd like to see whose pimped ride isn't stolen after a year.
-Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow
Then there's the warranty issue. Reprogramming a car doesn't void the warranty -- unless it can be shown that a later breakdown was caused by the new software. Ford Motor Co. spokesman Glenn Ray says one buyer of a new 2003 Ford Cobra learned this the hard way. The Cobra is about as powerful a car as Ford makes, but not powerful enough for this customer. "He put a chip in it," said Ray, "and blew up the motor." The owner had over-revved the engine--something the original software would have prevented.
Somewhere right now, a Slashdot reader is saying to himself "What a dumbass."
And somewhere a Cobra owner is reading about an overclocker who cooked his Athlon and is saying to himself "What a dumbass."
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
Take the stick shift and:
up, up, down, down, left, right, left right, left turn signal, right turn signal, brake, gas
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
So how many chicks would a wood chipper chip if a wood chipper could chip chicks?
www.6502asm.com - Code 6502 assembly or.. DIE!!
To the tune of "Centerfold"
The seals won't hold,
My oil gauge is stuck on cold,
This chip has cracked my manifold,
This chip has cracked my manifold...
'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
I'm lucky enough to drive a BMW M3. My local dealership is also the only regional Dinan (aftermarket mods) authorized dealer/installer.
I've had them add some choice goodies, with no effect on my warranty. Dinan also warrantees their mods specifically. No problems yet. The "Ludicrous Speed" button is my favorite. For some reason, my wife still calls it the "accelerator".
30 wheel horsepower from chipping... haaah.
-Alex
I thought all you had to do, was put one of those idiotic HUGE spoilers, a bunch of stickers, and one of those stupid coffee can mufflers on your car to make it go fast? LOL, some of the cars I see around here sound like a motorcycle under water. Kids today....they don't have a clue what a GOOD motor sounds like........Heck, my stock mustang can out run them. Here's what I do.....I get to a stop light when one of those rice-a-roni cars pulls up next to me...he guns his engine, I gun and brake torque my engine.....Light turns green, he floors it, I quietly make a right turn....lol....Like I'm going to race down a BUSY street anyway.....
Is anyone else waiting for the first Car Virus? "I didn't think I was driving 95 miles/hr, my digital readout said I was doing 55!" or worse,
NEWS FLASH:
The HondaVirus/B will be striking at Midnight, June 4th, causing infected brake systems to lock up (or fail).
How about when they start adding WiFi systems in the car systems? Then you drive-by-infect.
Ok fine, I'm a few years early, but does anyone **really** trust car company software any more than Windows?
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche