iPod Mini Custom Installation In A Ford Explorer

Johnny Mozzarella writes "MacWorld has a nice write-up on Jesse Melchior, an amateur special effects artist and filmmaker, who used his skills to create a custom installation that is worthy of an iPod mini. The article outlines the materials he used such as latex, plaster and dental acrylic to create an integrated dock complete with blue LEDs and Apple logo in his Ford Explorer."

Comments

Battery problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Once this is done, the Explorer becomes like the iPod. When the car's battery runs down, you replace the whole car.

Re:Battery problem

[oscast]

If we're going to follow this analogy, we might as well get it right.

In the rare occurance that the battery go, then Apple will replace the whole truck in less than 3 days for the price ($59.00) of an iPod extended warrenty.

Re:Battery problem

[pballsim]

Once this is done, the Explorer becomes like the iPod. When the car's battery runs down, you replace the whole car.

I throught this was already a "feature" of Ford. Or do the cars even last *that* long...

Re:Battery problem

[TechniMyoko]

actually itll cost 1/3 of the entire car, youll lose any customization of the vehicle cause they'll send you a refurbished one, and itll have someone elses stuff in it.

Re:Battery problem

[oscast]

I had something go wrong with my iPod. I called Apple and the next day, a specially designed (for the iPod) FedEx box arrived at my door with instructions for mailing back. In two days, I had a brand new (not refurbished) iPod.

1) It didn't cost me a cent.
2) I didn't lose any *customization

(*what the heck was that supposed to mean anyways?)

Re:Battery problem

[Spatula Sam]

Yeah, I think I remember reading somewhere that THE EXPLORER'S IRREPLACABLE BATTERY LASTS ONLY 18 MONTHS...

Re:Battery problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Thankfully, the iPod's battery lasts much longer.

Re:Battery problem

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he's talking about custom engraving, but even that's wrong. In that case, they'll pull the back off yours and put it on the new one. But that doesn't stop the trolls from repeating it!!

Re:Battery problem

[Halfbaked Plan]

Actually, you end up with somebody else's beat up truck, which has 276,000 miles on it. Your original truck still had the sticker in the window, and 1,300 miles on the odometer.

Re:Battery problem

[TechniMyoko]

really? I heard specifically otherwise, thats why I said it, not to troll

Re:Battery problem

[Anonymous Coward]

You think $69 is a third of $499? Damn, you Apple-bashers are dumb.

Re:Battery problem

[Anonymous Coward]

And is replacable.

Re:Battery problem

[Anonymous Coward]

" then Apple will replace the whole truck in less than 3 days for the price ($59.00) of an iPod extended warrenty."

Extended warranty?!? YAAS (Yet Another Apple Scam)

Re:Battery problem

[Halfbaked Plan]

Oh, come on. It was supposed to get modded 'funny.'

Or is somebody out there pissed off because they got back a dogged-up iPod in their RMA exchange from Apple?

Why not go all out?

[Drooling_Sheep]

If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

Re:Why not go all out?

[KingOfBLASH]

If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

I'd argue that if you're going to spend $500 on a 40GB Ipod that you would be better off just buying a cheap computer, a very large hard drive, and a touch screen LCD off of ebay, installing your favorite OS, and running it as a frontend to your entire music library. It might cost a little more then $500, but sure beats an ipod mini. Unless of course you don't have that kind of money to spend, and an iPod mini makes sense. <grins />

Re:Why not go all out?

[M.C. Hampster]

Riiiight. Are you going to carry that around rig around?

The advantage of creating a dock for a portable MP3 player is that you can take your music with you, but still have a nice way to listen to MP3's in the car. Plus, your risk of theft is decreased if you can remove the $500 piece of equipment from the car.

Re:Why not go all out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or don't want to do all the work.

Re:Why not go all out?

[Q2Serpent]

you would be better off just buying a cheap computer, a very large hard drive, and a touch screen LCD off of ebay

Unless you want to get out of your car, walk away, and still be able to listen to your music. (No, I'm not suggesting bigger speakers in your car).

Re:Why not go all out?

[PretzelBat]

If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

Even more, if you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with a Ford Explorer?

Re:Why not go all out?

[falcon5768]

very simple.... whens the last car trip you have taken where you get even remotely close to playing 1000 songs? I sure havent come close with my 5gig 1st gen

Re:Why not go all out?

[KingOfBLASH]

Or don't want to do all the work.

Are you implying making the dock wasn't any work?

Re:Why not go all out?

[KingOfBLASH]

I was just pointing out to the parent of my post that if you're going to be spending lots of money on a full fledged ipod vs an ipod mini because you want one, there are other alternatives to listening to your MP3s / AACs in car. Although I didn't see that the iPod could be detached in the article, perhaps I was too blinded by the purdy pictures. < grins />

Re:Why not go all out?

[AKnightCowboy]

very simple.... whens the last car trip you have taken where you get even remotely close to playing 1000 songs? I sure havent come close with my 5gig 1st gen

Geez, I could never imagine filling up 4 gigabytes of space with music. Don't forget to figure in the $1000 for buying 1000 songs off the Apple iTunes store! That stuff adds up quick. I just don't understand how people can afford to have huge collections with 10,000+ songs in them. They must spend every penny on music, no wonder they hate the RIAA!!

Re:Why not go all out?

[M37all1cA]

Some football player named Lawyer Milloy has a custom Hummer that was shown on TLC's Rides, and the car has a dock for a regular iPod. Sorry, but I can't find any pictures to show it....

Re:Why not go all out?

[(54)T-Dub]

99.9% of my 20gig collections comes from ripping CD's that I (or my friends) already own. When spread out over 15 years and multiple people, the idea of collecting 1000 songs is not as painfull on the pocket book.

Re:Why not go all out?

[falcon5768]

Well I have managed to get 1000 songs over the years... but thats like 13 years of buying CDs and stuff... I know people who have 3 times as many CDs and 10,000 songs on their computer... its insain! and I am a music lover!!!!

Re:Why not go all out?

[Cpt_Kirks]

Even more, if you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with a Ford Explorer?

Because Escalades only play pr0n on 15 different screens?

Re:Why not go all out?

[baudilus]

Why not indeed. I had a 6GB Creative Nomad Jukebox, and filled that up QUICK. I now have a 40GB iPod and love it.

It's easy to gather up 10,000 songs when you have a CD collection from two generations of people; not to mention the downloads (purchased *and* free). Ripping CDs and stuff, I currently have 1760 songs, and that's without all the comedy routines and prank calls that i've downloaded, and I'm not even doen ripping CDs. 1000 songs? bah.

The question "How often do you have a car trip where you can play 1000 songs?" is simply missing the point - the point is not playing that much music, the point is, when I want to listen to Disturbed, I can. If I want to hear Tribal Tech, I can. If I want to hear Black Eyed Peas, I can. And I don't have to fumble through 100 CDs while driving to do it. The point is choice, not volume.

Think about it.

Re:Why not go all out?

[djupedal]

>If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

I have a DVD player in my Ranger that can handle data DVDs with MP3s. Approx. 450 songs. This means just as much audio as a Mini iPod. My entire music library sits on 6 discs.

Re:Why not go all out?

[eclectro]

Unless you want to get out of your car, walk away, and still be able to listen to your music

That's why they invented extension cords.

Re:Why not go all out?

[74nova]

Riiiight. Are you going to carry that around rig around?

no. why would i need to carry it around? stick a dvd drive in it and you can stick 4.7GB more of mp3s any time you feel a little bored with the 100GB youve got on there now. not only that, but the UI would be better with a touchscreen, while youre driving, especially. youd have to come up with something like the wheel on the ipod, tho, 100GB of mp3s woudl suck to "touchscreen" through with just buttons.

better yet, stick a nice-sized lcd in the dash and have something you could watch movies or play games with. sure, we arent talking cheap anymore, but ive been thinking about such a project. just my personal tastes. id rather have one installed in the car and not bother with having it removable. i just wouldnt use an ipod in the first place, but having large mp3 storage in my car is a different story.

that being said, i understand his reasons for doing it and it is kinda cool.

Re:Why not go all out?

[74nova]

you could just get an ipod, right? wait... oh, right...

Re:Why not go all out?

[LetterJ]

Though you implied that people are getting their 10,000 songs by downloading them, I actually have about that many ripped from CD. I've bought all my CD's used for several years now. Aside from new stuff, the used CD's I buy average $4-5 each, so my $20-25 investment in music gets me 40-50 songs rather than 20-25.

Half.com and Amazon's used stuff make getting the real CD cheaper than any of the legitimate download services. Plus, I've got the actual album and can control the ripping.

Re:Why not go all out?

[DrCode]

10 miles through Los Angeles?

Re:Why not go all out?

[pyser]

Don't forget to figure in the $1000 for buying 1000 songs off the Apple iTunes store!

You don't have to buy the music from Apple to listen to it on your iPod. I have 3+ days of music in my iPod and I've never bought a single track from the iTunes store. Everything I have on the iPod, I've ripped from my CD collection.

Re:Why not go all out?

[peragrin]

let me guess. You are going to use the Ipod to transfer files over to your car right. or are you just gonna burn lots of dvd's whenever you want to add a single song to the list.

If you are going to setup that system you want, don't forget either a firewire plug to upload files to the cars HD or add a wireless card in the mix, and telll your car to download the files while it sits in the driveway.

Re:Why not go all out?

[radish]

Well I have over 700 CDs, half of which are ripped using something like 50gb. So my 20gb Karma holds only a fraction, and an iPod mini is a mere toy.

Re:Why not go all out?

[AKnightCowboy]

99.9% of my 20gig collections comes from ripping CD's that I (or my friends) already own. When spread out over 15 years and multiple people, the idea of collecting 1000 songs is not as painfull on the pocket book.

But that's piracy. I can understand ripping your own CDs, but ripping your friends' CDs is illegal.

Re:Why not go all out?

[pyros]

tard, it's called fair use. The restrictions of someone having to have the physical media to rip and the costs of transporting the media are what afford us this right to 'infringe.' It's when you add the free global distribution with no media involved that it gets tricky

Re:Why not go all out?

[cdrudge]

I saw that exact show last night on TLC. When I saw this article, the first thing that I thought was, who is Jessie, it was Lawyer that got it. Overall it was a nice job on a H2, but I didn't think he got much for his $100g. The company that did the work was 310 Motoring.

Re:Why not go all out?

[Man Eating Duck]

But that's piracy. I can understand ripping your own CDs, but ripping your friends' CDs is illegal.

Not necessarily. Where I live (Scandinavia) I can legally rip and keep MP3s from my friends' CDs, as long as I rip them in my house, and have had the original in my house at one point. I could also tape them, if I could bear the hassle and squeaky sound of cassettes. If my friend rips a CD for me and gives me the MP3s, that's technically illegal. Go figure.

Re:Why not go all out?

[tedtimmons]

It's easy to gather up 10,000 songs when you have a CD collection from two generations of people

Is that a subtle way of saying "I live at home with my parents, so it's easy to afford music"?

Re:Why not go all out?

[Tingler]

I saw that show a little while ago. I kept thinking the same thing over & over. Why didn't he just get a Phatnoise? Much easier interface IMHO.

Re:Why not go all out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not in the US. Sorry.
If you're Canadian, you can burn as many Glass Tiger and Bryan Adams CDs as you want.

Re:Why not go all out?

[valkraider]

Nope. It's a way of saying "I have been collecting and taking care of my collection of CDs since the late 1980's and I now have more than 600 CDs".

Oh yea, lots of BMG and ColumbiaHouse memberships too...

Re:Why not go all out?

[Halfbaked Plan]

Actually, it's a way of saying 'I have a library card' and 'cakeboxes full of CDRs were on sale last month.'

Re:Why not go all out?

[acariquara]

You know, there IS a joke somewhere. Come on guys, a Ford Explorer and an iPod MINI? Overcompensation meets small-but-huge.

Re:Why not go all out?

[milkman_matt]

I have a DVD player in my Ranger that can handle data DVDs with MP3s. Approx. 450 songs. This means just as much audio as a Mini iPod. My entire music library sits on 6 discs.

Offtopic I know, but you don't have an email address listed, i've got that same DVD player in my silverado, and you're right, the thing is GREAT for toting around a lot of music, my whole setup for the screen, the DVD player, and a custom dash was less than the price of an ipod mini.. (ps: if you check out the pictures, they're a bit outdated, i've since ditched the blaupunkt, which was also a great way to tote a lot of music, for the pyle that you've got, and covered up the hole where the bp was, and moved the DVD to where it cannot be seen, much nicer. also the work was done by ACC in Garden Grove, CA.)

-matt

Re:Why not go all out?

[jred]

You're so cool, I've never heard of any of those bands.

Gravy Train!!!

Re:Why not go all out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well duh.

Re:Why not go all out?

[thatnerdguy]

me too....mostly because the itunes store isn't available in canada yet.

What next?

[WoodenRobot]

What next - an iPod Mini?

Re:What next?

[kalemba]

smart will be introducing a iPod integration option (complete with charger) in their cars in europe next model year

Re:What next?

[GuyinVA]

Didn't VW have a recent campaign with the iPod? I seem to recall you could get an iPod with the purchase of a Beetle, included a cupholder mount, and Belkin charger...

Re:What next?

[xpulsar87x]

they did. good idea, bad car to pair it with. now only if they did that deal with the Golf R32..

Re:What next?

[eoyount]

No - an iPod Mini Mini.

Re:What next?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's fascinating to consider that a small penis is compensated for by a large car but a small music player.

Mini Sales Explained

[swordboy]

It has been expressed here previously that the iPod mini has much less bang-for-buck than the regular iPod, which is only a few bucks more but comes with an extra 16GB.

However, if you simply want to buy a Hitachi 4GB mini hard drive, you'll save as much as $150 if you buy the mini and take the drive out over buying the boxed hard drive product.

Re:Mini Sales Explained

[afidel]

You won't save anything because the mini-iPod edition of the drive doesn't work outside the iPod. There is however another player out there based on the Hitachi drive which has full functioning electronics, and it's cheap to boot! Btw I'm not sure why you would use a mini if you are just going to put it in a huge custom enclosure, the full sized iPod would work just as well.

Re:Mini Sales Explained

[adamjaskie]

Besides which, the full sized iPod is pretty damn "mini" too, IMHO. At least compared to my POS Archos 10 gig mp3 player that uses a full 2.5" laptop drive.

Re:Mini Sales Explained

[Anonymous Coward]

You get more bang per buck by using the 4GB drive out of the Creative Nomad - I use one in my Canon Digital Rebel. The 512MB CF card is now in my Nomad and both perform just fine. Two working products rather than a drive and a mangled iPod mini.

Incidentally, I was under the impression that the iPod mini drive doesn't work out of the iPod. I've never heard of people getting it to function successfully in anything else.

Re:Mini Sales Explained

[Moofie]

Well, gosh! Thanks for expressing it again! I'm far too stupid to have figured that out myself. Thanks for shining your bewildering light of wisdom into my teeny teeny brain.

Re:Mini Sales Explained

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Supposedly many of the commonly used drive access modes have been disabled because Apple DIDN'T want people canabalizing them for cheap Compact Flash microdrives.

Re:Mini Sales Explained

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually if you take the HD out, do a low level format, and then reformat it again (with a FS) it works fine. At least it did in my camera.

Thanks.

shouldnt this be installed in a honda civic...

[Anonymous Coward]

with a shitty tin spoiler bondo'ed onto the body?

Re:shouldnt this be installed in a honda civic...

[Cpt_Kirks]

Sorry, with the 8-Track installed, there's no room left.

Re:shouldnt this be installed in a honda civic...

[TechnoFreek]

actually fiberglass. put your weight into it, and those things just snap off.

Re:shouldnt this be installed in a honda civic...

[dthree]

Pimp my Ride had West Coast Custom put an 8-track in a guys car on a recent episode. Best part was, it was a HOME model.

All that equipment...

[Anonymous Coward]

latex, plaster and dental acrylic

This guy uses all that stuff intimately with his car and gets on the front page of slashdot.

I mention using the same stuff intimately with my girlfriend and she runs away.

pfft.

Re:All that equipment...

[jamieswith]

His girlfriend is made of latex - you insensitive clod!

Re:All that equipment...

[Anonymous Coward]

Either you mistyped boyfriend, or you're supposed to put "girlfriend" in quotation marks. He's an Apple customer.

Re:All that equipment...

[Enigma_Man]

Ya know, I had the same thought :D

no... really...

-Jesse

Re:All that equipment...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, he's the pitcher. His "girlfriend" is the catcher.

Re:All that equipment...

[shinma]

I mention using the same stuff intimately with my girlfriend and she runs away.

And see, that's how I met my girlfriend.

Too Bad You Can't Get One

[USAPatriot]

Due to a design flaw that causes nasty static noises, iPod Mini shipments have stopped cold.

Might as well just get a the full sized iPod or another MP3 player unless you don't mind waiting till July.

Re:Too Bad You Can't Get One

[codeonezero]

Just thought I'd mention that Apple Insider (who parent poster quotes) is considered a rumors site and as such, it may not give accurate or complete information.

So though, people are experiencing problems with iPod Mini this does not necessarily correlate with ipod mini shortage. Not unless Apple came out and said so. Though it is likely that the two are related, there might be a possibility they are not.

I would mark parent post as interesting not informative myself.

Re:Too Bad You Can't Get One

[Anonymous Coward]

is considered a rumors site and as such, it may not give accurate or complete information.

You mean they don't parrot Apple press releases?

Heavens. We better stop reading that site.

Re:Too Bad You Can't Get One

[Anonymous Coward]

That's right, and if you dare to be less than positive while using a real account Apple moderators will mod you down to HELL.

So just watch what you say about our favorite fruit(y) company, OK?

awesome!

[Anonymous Coward]

If only I owned an iPod mini, a ford explorer or had the time to do it!

Maybe Ford would be interested in offering this addition, like VW did with the iPod a while back. Do they still have that offer going in the states?

That just looks tacky.

[Night Goat]

Someone took the already ugly concept of ground effects (neon lights under the car) and put them in the car. I'll pass, thanks. And that big silver bump, it's an eyesore. But, to each his own I guess.

Re:That just looks tacky.

[BandwidthHog]

The term 'ground effects' typically refers to the fiberglass spoilers and skirting that (if done properly) induce downforce under the car to hold it down to the road at high speeds, similar in design and function to that found on Formula 1 racers.

The correct term for neon lights under your car is 'a waste of fucking money.'

Re:That just looks tacky.

[pknoll]

induce downforce under the car to hold it down to the road at high speeds

Sorry to be a pedant, but what skirting ("ground effects") does is induce a partial vacuum, or at least a lower pressure area, within the enclosed underside. The rest of the bodywork produces high pressure over the top of the vehicle, skirting produces low pressure beneath, and Bernoulli does the rest.

The result of all this is increased downforce. FYI, skirting is now prohibited in F1 racing.

Re:That just looks tacky.

[BandwidthHog]

Heh. I swear I started to type the word 'vacuum' as well as the term 'low pressure' but backspaced on both because I didn't wanna misstate anything, so I figured I'd stay generic enough to not be pounced on as an idiot.

Re:That just looks tacky.

[Viceice]

They banned that in F1 ... like all good things.

Re:That just looks tacky.

[pknoll]

You weren't wrong, just inaccurate. =)

Re:That just looks tacky.

[Cyno01]

Yeah, because that matters to peoples FWD '94 civics...

Re:That just looks tacky.

[jcoleman]

Sorry to be a pedant, but you mean that skirting creates a partial vacuum, thus inducing the downforce. The original poster had it fine and you had to go and muck it up with all your "science" and "technical expertise." Such things have no place in a /. discussion. You probably use Windows too, you philistine. ;)

Re:That just looks tacky.

[FredFnord]

So what he said was 'skirting induces a downforce' and what you're saying is 'skirting creates a low pressure area under the car and a higher pressure area over the car and that induces a downforce'.

That's like saying, "No, actually, when you push that button it doesn't turn on the computer. When you push that button it connects two contacts inside the computer, which allows an electrical current to flow through the various circuits inside, thus turning on the computer.'

Yes, you are a pedant, but no, you're not in the least bit sorry to be one. If you were, you wouldn't have 'corrected' him, you would just have posted a quick followup explaining the science.

-fred

Re:That just looks tacky.

[PretzelBat]

Is that why their cars occasionally FLY ?

If you think this is cool...

[C10H14N2]

You should see my custom cupholder/cellphone mount.

Really, guys, is it THAT slow of a news day?

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

You should not be using your CD drive for cupholder/cellphone mounting.

Re:If you think this is cool...

[GuyinVA]

First of all, that's cool that people do that. I've wanted to do something similiar with my Miata, but too lazy to do so. So I gotta give the guy 'props' for doing this (did I use 'props' in the right context? I'm behind on my slang)

But I think that's a whole lot of space to use for such a small device. I woulda made it in the corner or off to the side so i could use that storage space. But to each his own...

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

did I use 'props' in the right context? I'm behind on my slang

You did very well. Next step is to replace the 's' with a 'z' , and change 'the guy' to 'my homie'. Step three is to add the word mad in front of the newly spelled propz.

Re:If you think this is cool...

[GuyinVA]

werd. fo'shizel my nizel, homie. knowwhatimean?

Re:If you think this is cool...

[sindarin2001]

knowwhatimean

I believe it's pronounced "nahmean"

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Eccles]

The car stereo feature I like most, though, that I think I would miss in these set-ups, is steering wheel controls. Aside from the humor value of convincing your kids you can change the stereo by waving your hand (while discreetly manipulating the steering wheel remote with the other), it really does minimize the driver distraction of adjusting the stereo. Are there reasonable installations for this, or indeed in general for other MP3 players (including any CD/MP3 players)?

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually nowadays I think it's become "Ya feel me?".

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, then he needs to start representing.

Re:If you think this is cool...

[LinuxHam]

Check out Pac-Audio for their steering wheel control stuff. I'm waiting for them to release their interface to let me connect an MP3 player to the unused satellite radio port on my Murano. Currently in test, should ship RSN.

Re:If you think this is cool...

[GuyinVA]

iPod remote. I know there is a remote control for the iPod regulars. Can you use the same one for the minis? But the remote control isn't very small. of course you could always take it apart and put into a smaller case and mount it on the wheels...

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey does the Murano by any chance use the same stereo as the 02-04 Altima? I got a custom cable and switch from this guy which was a snap to install, and gives me a nice Aux input for the iPod.

Re:If you think this is cool...

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember once thinking about buying a Miata. I mentioned it to the girl that cut my hair at the time and the first thing she said was:

"Do you like boys??!?"

I didn't get one because they're just a little small, my legs kept hitting the sides of the footwell. If they were 10% bigger, maybe.

But when you're a Miata owner and an Apple customer I don't think there can be much doubt.

So GuyinVA, top or bottom?

Re:If you think this is cool...

[C10H14N2]

Versatile, duh, I mean, like, it's Viringa and all and everyone knows D.C. is full of nothing but Apple-hugging Poli-Sci major bottoms... wait a minute, I studied Poli-Sci... oy gevalt...

Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

Cool. Now you can grove to some cool tunes while you're waiting for the tow truck.

Re:Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the reliability of iPods seems as bad as that of Fords, you could also say it's an extension to the iPod.

At least you can drive to the apple store to get a new one when your old one dies LOLL!!!

Re:Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

grove time?

Did you plant some fruit trees in the back of the vehicle?

Re:Ford Explorer

[parawing742]

That is funny, but Explorers are surprising reliable vehicles. I know several people that are nearing 200,000 miles on them and my dad has a quarter million miles on his explorer and still no major repair work done on it yet!

Re:Ford Explorer

[eoyount]

You know what Ford stands for, don't you? Fix it again, Tony.

Re:Ford Explorer

[theLOUDroom]

You know what Ford stands for, don't you? Fix it again, Tony.

No, that would be FIAT.
Ford stands for:

Fix
Or
Repair
Daily

I have no idea where you got that, there isn't even an 'R' anywhere in the phrase "Fix it again, Tony".

Re:Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

That's really fucking clever.. You spelled FIAT.

Re:Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

I've only got 50K on mine, but I've bad no problems whatsoever with it.

A coworker with a BMW X5 liked to give me crap about the explorer.. Until three months after purchasing the X5, he had electrical problems, and the passenger window refused to go up. It was pretty funny seeing that expensive new vehicle with a garbage bag taped over the window.

Re:Ford Explorer

[Cpt_Kirks]

I always heard it stood for:

Fuckin'
Old
Rebuilt
Dodge

Re:Ford Explorer

[eoyount]

Sorry to reply to myself, but there were supposed to be [dale gribble]...[/dale gribble] tags around that. It must have eaten my angle brackets. Maybe that will make it funny.

Re:Ford Explorer

[FerociousFerret]

I bought a 2000 Ford Explorer and it went through 5 recalls and an unexplainable electrical problem to stopped the windows from working, among other things, that went on for 4 months before Ford service fixed it. After a year, I traded it in.

Re:Ford Explorer

[PretzelBat]

Cool. Now you can grove to some cool tunes while you're waiting for the tow truck.

That's an insult to all Ford owners everywhere...

...

MOD PARENT UP!

Re:Ford Explorer

[doggo]

The windows quit working? Holy shit! You mean you couldn't see out of 'em anymore? Weird. What caused that?

Re:Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

He has a garbage bag for about a week.

You're stuck with an American made behemoth with barge-like suspension, a body that is too heavy for anything short of a V12 turbo diesel, emissions that are only legal because of outdated laws, almost no resale value and styling that is kind of like, oh, a 1970s Jeep Cherokee. All you're missing is the woodgrain :-)

Yeah, you win BIG. At least the seats are made for American-sized asses, and it has a nice cup holder.

Re:Ford Explorer

[Anonymous Coward]

He was quoting King Of The Hill. Dale gets it wrong.

Re:Ford Explorer

[n5vb]

You know what Ford stands for, don't you? Fix it again, Tony.

No, that would be FIAT.

Fscking NOBODY got the King of the Hill reference! I'm disappointed. LOL -Rusty Shackelford

that still won't get me to buy a ford

[MoFoQ]

Between the faulty mini ipod's (as /.'ed a few days ago) and the ford's faulty fuel system and steering column, I think I have been odds with a two bullet russian roulette.

Maybe they should've coupled the mini ipod with the OTHER mini; the mini cooper.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Anonymous Coward]

True story:

I have a friend whose surname is Minhi - Michael Minhi. First son is called Cooper, we had bets on whether the second would be called iPod or Micro...

turned out he was called Steve...

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[neilfein]

Last I saw, audio-in jacks are an option on stock mini-cooper radios. Pretty cool if the FM bands are filled in your area.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[dr_dank]

Maybe they should've coupled the mini ipod with the OTHER mini; the mini cooper.

They deserve one another. My friend's sister has a mini that trashed the engine at 3k miles. There is a little blurb in the manual about not taking the mini in water over a foot deep (which is not very unusual in areas with poor drainage). Went through a huge puddle, hosed the engine, BMW refused to warranty. Nearly 3 grand down the drain.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Enigma_Man]

The real Mini, or the new BMW biggie?

-Jesse

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Anonymous Coward]

The rule of thumb for all cars is don't drive through water more than 6 inches deep. You shouldn't have to read a manual to know that taking a car that low to the ground through water that deep is going to kill it. Now that the engine is repaired, expect a high likelyhood that some or all of the wheel bearings will need replaced in a few thousand miles when they begin to corode and grind down.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to me that the Cooper Mini is a poor choice of car in an area that regularly floods over a foot on the roads. I would guess it's also a poor choice of car if you expect to use it to drive off the road. Although for my own purposes, I found the price made it a poor choice of car for me.

I trust that wasn't moving water. It takes a lot less than a foot of water to lift a full size car and then your local Fire Department people get to put themselves in harms way because some moron thought their car wouldn't float away.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Anonymous Coward]

"There is a little blurb in the manual about not taking the mini in water over a foot deep"

you should NEVER drive ANY car in water over a foot deep. especially not in a compact car! your friends' sister is lucky to be alive after pulling a stupid stunt like that.

sure, spillways are not uncommon out in the boonies, but whenever they get over, say 6 inches, you should definately be going around them.

this can hardly be considered the fault of the auto manufacturers, and id be willing to wager that a ford explorer would do just as bad in a foot of water as any other vehicle. (explorers have incredibly low ground clearence for a so-called SUV)

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[dildatron]

So BMW refused to warranty damage caused by something they told your friend's sister not to do? What's wrong with that?

With a car that small and low, I would expect it would not be able to drive through a foot of water. Water would probably get into the intake and hydrolock the engine.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[dr_dank]

So BMW refused to warranty damage caused by something they told your friend's sister not to do? What's wrong with that?

Nothing. What was so damn comical was how she tried to tell BMW that the car just seized (the tow truck driver advised this, even holding the car at his shop over a weekend so it could dry out) rather than tell what really happened. Of course, BMW finds water somewhere and tells her to pound sand. Certainly has more money than sense.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[karnal]

Just have to ask -- do you know where they put the intake on these things?

Must be pretty low if they don't want you driving through water. When I owned a 95 z28, I purchased an aftermarket K&N air filter + piping, and it sat right in front of my driver's side tire, in a vented box type enclosure. Since it was a conical filter though, I'd probably have to have the car about 3-4 feet underwater for it to suck water into the engine directly... which again, leads me to believe the Mini's have their cold air intake right on the ground, facing forward to where it could scoop all sorts of water up.

Not a good idea.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[dr_dank]

I'd imagine it's around there. With a car that size, there aren't too many places to go with something like that.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Anonymous Coward]

She drove her new mini through > 1 foot of water? That's asking for it!

Sympathy? ZERO.

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[dildatron]

That is funny, both that she did it and that the tow truck driver told her to. Water damage like this is SO easy to spot as you probably know.

If she was going to decieve, she should have at least made a half-assed attempt at it and pulled the spark plugs, drained the water from the cylinders, etc. And then she could explain why the connecting rods are bent and there is water in the oil... :)

Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford

[Anonymous Coward]

your friends' sister is lucky to be alive after pulling a stupid stunt like that.

Lucky to be alive?!? WTF are you talking about? How do you imagine she would lose her life driving through a 1ft deep puddle? She might ruin her shoes walking out of it, but come on..

id be willing to wager that a ford explorer would do just as bad in a foot of water as any other vehicle

Yup, you're a dumbass. Driving SUV's through standing water is a blast. You can get some excellent effects.. kicking water 30ft in the air if you hit it at good speed. It's great for drenching fools on the sidewalk.

All that work...

[blackmonday]

All that work and he still has cables to connect (he doesn't seem to think they're photogenic). I use this FM transmitter called the iTrip that snaps to the top of the iPod 10 gigger and I can hide the whole thing, zero wires. Amazingly (to me), the iTrip uses less battery power than the backlight on the iPod. Appetite For Destruction all night on repeat!

Re:All that work...

[M.C. Hampster]

All that work and he still has cables to connect (he doesn't seem to think they're photogenic).

Huh? I must not be reading this right:

Using the Belkin car charger, I connected it to the iPod mini and placed the iPod into the acrylic piece at the angle I wanted, then flipped the whole piece over and poured another layer of dental acrylic over the protruding edge of the iPod mini and the car charger, creating a perfectly snug fit for the iPod to rest into and connect to the charger.

It sounds like he build the fitting to hold the charger (which he mentions below also holds the line-out for the audio), so he can just slide it into the fitting and it all hooks up. Am I wrong?

Re:All that work...

[amichalo]

If you RTFA, you will note the dock manages all the connections:

connected the iPod mini to my Pioneer car stereo using the CD-RB10 adapter, which connects to the L+R audio output RCAs from the iPod mini using the line-out from the Belkin car charger. I added two extra cigarette lighter adapters to plug in the car charger and the LEDs. Everything was nicely hidden below the center console.

Re:All that work...

[Anonymous Coward]

the whole point of the dock is that it connects to a cable made by belkin which allows the ipod to charge and provides RCA outputs, if you read the article you would see that he connects these outputs to his radio. so placing the ipod in the dock effectively makes all the required connections...

if only the icelink came with such a nice method for connecting it to a VW beetle...

Re:All that work...

[scarpa]

What wires does he have to connect? The dock provides power and a line out jack. I presume the dock is hard wired into his head unit, so all he's got to do is drop it in the dock.

I've been wanting to do this for my car but I lack the creativity and ability. I've tried the iTrip too, wasn't impressed unless in the middle of nowhere.

Re:All that work...

[reaper20]

I have the same cable setup as the guy in the story, and it is trivial to hide those cables underneath existing panels and direct wire the power into the fusebox. I would guess that his cabling is inside that custom mold and then runs to the back of his radio.

The line in to CD changer cables are really good for this, a bit on the expensive side, around sixty bucks.

I've used the iTrip and the Belkin FM thing, and even in a car and with lossy MP3's the sound is remarkably worse than a direct line to the head unit.

Re:All that work...

[blackmonday]

Oops, I LATFP, but didn't RTFA.

Anyways, I stand by the iTrip, much less work. But for the hobbyists, knock yourself out.

Re:All that work...

[blackmonday]

I know I messed up by looking at pics but not reading the article. I actually have that same belkin cable, I use it to charge the iPod. But the built-in audio of that belkin thing sucks. It's not passive and goes through their crappy amplifier.

Re:All that work...

[MrMickS]

It may use less power than the backlight but it still sucks power. I had an iTrip but have replaced it with a Dension ICE>link. This solves the problems I had with the iTrip:

• Power drain. Okay, it's less drain than the backlight but have a couple of 3+ hour journies a week and using the iTrip would make it a gamble as to whether the battery would last.
• Retuning. In the UK the FM band is pretty saturated. I've not been able to find a frequency that was absolutely clear, just a couple that were almost clear. Not practical to change frequencies whilst driving along the motorway network (think freeway - no stopping).
• iTrip power off. There is no on/off switch on the iTrip. It switches on when you attach it to the iPod and off when it detects that there has been no output from the iPod for a little while. If you listen to the odd track that has a quiet part in it, not silent, just quiet the iTrip can switch itself off. Requiring you to flip it off and back on to get sound back again. Very annoying.

So whilst an iTrip may be useful, wired solutions have there advantages.

Re:All that work...

[croddy]

my Neuros has a built-in FM transmitter and goes for much less than an iPod.

and YES, it plays ogg vorbis!

Re:All that work...

[ncc74656]

I've used the iTrip and the Belkin FM thing, and even in a car and with lossy MP3's the sound is remarkably worse than a direct line to the head unit.

The SoundFeeder SF100 has worked well for me...used an iRock 300W before that, but it transmits on only four frequencies that are all in use in some places I've visited. I have no complaints about the sound quality from either of them.

If you're using an RF modulator, make sure you don't have the input signal turned up too high. If you do, the signal will be overmodulated and it'll sound like ass. (One clue this is happening is if the stereo indicator on your radio goes out during the loud bits and comes back on during the quiet bits.)

Re:All that work...

[Jesselovesscripts]

Not for Audiophiles... Radio isn't really that good for high quality anything. I've used the iRock and the iTrip, they both make me want to iVomit. he's getting a real signal. i prefer it too. Even shitty tape adapters to a better job with bass response. It's like wifi vs gigabit ethernet. there are always trade offs.

Re:All that work...

[pete-classic]

The N.W.A. song, or the G&R album?

-Peter

Re:All that work...

[Moofie]

And it's got room in the back for a fucking ham sandwich.

What, no ham sandwich? Then why the hell is it so BIG?

Re:All that work...

[rampant mac]

"my Neuros has a built-in FM transmitter and goes for much less than an iPod. and YES, it plays ogg vorbis!"

Neuros: 5.3" x 3.1" x 1.3", 9.4 oz.
iPod: 4.1" x 2.4" x 0.62", 5.6 oz.

You forgot the BIG and HONKIN' option.

Re:All that work...

[croddy]

it's worth it for the extra features. built-in microphone, line-in recording to WAV or real-time MP3 encoding, FM receiver/transmitter... and it's not *that* much bigger. but it is about half the price.

the neuros is also upgradable -- by swapping backpacks. I can pick an ipod-sized 128MB flash backpack, my 20GB HD backpack, upgrade to a neuros-manufactured 30 or 40GB backpack ... or upgrade it myself with an off-the-shelf 2.5" laptop HDD.

plus, if I hear something I like on the radio, all I've got to do is hit the orange HiSi button, and the next time I sync with my computer, it will look it up on the internet and tell me the artist and title.

can your iPod do that...?

Re:All that work...

[JDBrechtel]

If you want to be nit picky, it's much less quality too.

As these things go...

[rjstanford]

Not all that impressive. I mean, its obtrusive while not being terribly convenient to use while driving. If you want to see some truly ingenious fabrication though, a truly topline car show is the place to see it. And you can usually find a regional one closer to you than SEMA, which is where the best toys are. Adding the mini to a car? Neat idea. But just like the recent running gadget thread, this just proves that the average /. geek isn't that up to date on what's available, and gets impressed easily - kind of like the way that non-geeks get impressed by what /. considers "trivial" product modifications or improvements.

Don't get me wrong, its not bad - just not all that newsworthy. Now, if it included things like tying the existing steering wheel radio controls into the iPod when it was plugged in, and rerouting them back to the radio when it wasn't, then I'd start getting interested. Systems integration can be a lot of work, and a lot of fun - and when you do it right, nobody even thinks about it. That's cool.

Re:As these things go...

[Anonymous Coward]

Having the steering wheel radio controls automatically switch to the iPod? You're letting them off easy..

I want a HUD on the windshield that replicates the iPod display.

Re:As these things go...

[Anonymous Coward]

are all geeks cynical idiots? have we lost the simple appreciation of little things in life?

Re:As these things go...

[On Lawn]

I don't know. And by the end of this I may or may not wind up agreeing with you.

I've been to plenty of custom car shows with truely top line participants. And their work is pretty good. I remember a Hurtz in the dB drag racing competition that had a better custom integrated G4 than the one shown on slashdot here a few months ago. The workmanship was pretty nice, for the $30,000 price tag.

But even then you could tell it was "custom". Wavey plastic that didn't meet the seems well, etc... All to often shoddy plastic work is covered up with carpet (yuck!). Doing plastic work has been the bain of car customization. I think that is why the really cool custom cars do steel, wood, etc... Natural materials that look cooler than plastic but are also much easier to work with. And you know what? It shows.

This person has obviously spent a lot of time on the one piece that he did. Any parts manufacturer could have done this, easier and maybe even cheaper. But the fact is he did it, and it looks (from the pictures) to be better than most custom plastic pieces I've seen. I didn't like his choice of paint, but it looks well done.

And, as for geek quotient, I only wish he wrote up more on his procedure. The coolness of something like this on slashdot is that I can go home and do it too. Only I really don't have an interest in iPods. Its like JunkYard wars v Monster Garage. I like JYW becuase they do things with so little as this guy did. Monster Garage has its own appeal, but geek quotient for makeing me feel like I can do it too, it has very little of.

Re:As these things go...

[Cthefuture]

I was thinking the same thing. This install isn't that clean and looks pretty bad. A nice first try though!

The good stuff is in formed Lexan, Fiberglass, or sheet metal and looks factory perfect.

The type of install done in this article is one of a million others just like it. Nothing special or newsworthy.

Re:As these things go...

[Anonymous Coward]

Get off your high horse and do something 'newsworthy' yourself. It's easy for someone to sit there and criticize something, but it takes a lot more to back up that criticism with something better .

Re:As these things go...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who's says I don't? You don't even know who I am.

Anyway, in this particular instance you don't have to look hard to find better installs.

Re:As these things go...

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw a flower today.

Re:As these things go...

[hotspotbloc]

rjstanford (69735) said:
Don't get me wrong, its not bad - just not all that newsworthy.

Agreed. It would've been nice if there was a step by step guide on how it was made. Less focus on the iPod and more on the building process. I'd like to try something similar but have no idea where to start.

Great...

[Jin Wicked]

(joke)Just what we need, another jackass in an SUV with a blinky detachable electronic gadget to operate while driving and try to get everyone else killed.(/joke)

Seriously though... that seems like a lot of wasted space. It also looks like it would be too easy to accidentally bump it out of the little holder while driving.

Re:Great...

[Doorjam]

anyone who mounts an ipod out of view has lost a few marbles. a dash mount is the only way to go.

Re:Great...

[ticklemeozmo]

It also looks like it would be too easy to accidentally bump it out of the little holder while driving.

You mean, it would most likely be "thrown" from its holder when the owner goes off-roading because, I mean, why else would you buy an SUV righT??

Re:Great...

[The Dobber]

More likely to become disloged when the Exploder rolls over.

Re:Great...

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously though... that seems like a lot of wasted space.

Wasted space? We are talking about SUV owners here, I think space is the last of their concerns.

MIME

[phillk6751]

I Can't See half of the full sized pics in Mozilla due to wrong MIME types. When will these web developers ever learn?

Re:MIME

[Anonymous Coward]

The last picture works, oddly enough. Looks like someone has fucked up the FTP and that's munged the MIME type being presented by the server. What did you expect from a Mac fanboy though?

Re:MIME

[ncc74656]

I Can't See half of the full sized pics in Mozilla due to wrong MIME types.

I don't think it's that so much as that the files aren't named properly. The pix that don't show are missing the ".jpg" extension. Since the server needs that to know to send it as image/jpeg instead of application/octet-stream (or whatever it's using), a simple "mv foo foo.jpg" would fix it.

Re:MIME

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the server needs that to know to send it as image/jpeg instead of application/octet-stream (or whatever it's using)

Not true. Only the most simplistic of servers can only use the extension to select the MIME type. There are plenty of servers that use other metadata. There's no reason you couldn't have an image/jpeg with a name of readme.txt. While that's an extreme example, there are plenty of reasons to decouple the extension from the MIME type.

Re:MIME

[Anonymous Coward]

Its your own damn fault for using an open source piece of garbage. Use a real browser.

Re:MIME

[Anonymous Coward]

That Mozilla can't auto-detect MIME types like every other browser in existance?

Who cares?

(Apparently auto-detecting on application/octet-stream and text/plain - the two common "I dunno" types - is too much of a challenge for the Mozilla Team. This must be why AOL got rid of them.)

latex?

[sulli]

he's a mac user. shouldn't he use BBEdit?

Re:latex?

[Daniel_Staal]

BBEdit does LaTeX. It has built-in macros and syntax coloring for it.

Re:latex?

[Rockin' Az]

I appreciate the attempt at humour, but, as someone else has already mentioned, BBEdit does do latex (not as well as TeXShop, but it does it nevertheless).

When I switched to OS X, it was because Apple made nice notebooks and could do LaTeX, either through LyX, or through a decent LaTeX editor. As it was I found TeXShop and my mind was made up.

When I told a Mac-using designer friend of mine, he was all to keen to help me switch, but was amused by my LaTeX requirement. When he told his older friends at work, they laughed. You see they all switched to Macs back in the early days so they could use desktop publishing software rather than typesetters like LaTeX.

When they heard I was switching to Mac to use a typesetter they thought it was the craziest thing they had heard in years.

Your gag perhaps should have been...

he's a mac user. shouldn't he use Quark?

SIZE!!!

[theLOUDroom]

Could this guy have bought a smaller MP3 player to put into a bigger vehicle?

Let's put an MP3 player the size of a chicklet in an army tank! That way I hav to take my eyes of the road for 10 mintues (potentially destroying several small villages) just to figure out it's doing!


Seriously, am I they only one who find the whole "tricked out SUV" fad retarded?

What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?
Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....

Re:SIZE!!!

[Nasarius]

That way I hav to take my eyes of the road for 10 mintues (potentially destroying several small villages) just to figure out it's doing!

Thank you. That made me laugh out loud :-P

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually do this (only 500HP though) because I am on the road for all but a few days a month, and can't afford to insure and maintain a second vehicle

Re:SIZE!!!

[Lumpy]

sorry, but that is already happening...

Mostly Old farts right now... they buy a reefer truck with a sleeper cab and modify it to have a larger sleeper and a modified tiny 5th wheel to pull their camper. They are ALL over the campsites in the upper midwest..

but it is coming... the only blessing is that they are usually out of reach in proce even for the person that can go buy a Hummer on a whim... which should slow it down quite a bit.

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

>>What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?

Too late :-P

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

"What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?"

I thought it was the right of every geek to at least aspire to, if not own, an 18-wheeler, Car Wars stylee? I mean if you want to point the finger at someone, try Steve Jackson.

I pity those who played OGRE though, they'll all be hawking after M1A1 Abrams...

Re:SIZE!!!

[decaf_dude]

Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....

I take it you've never been to Georgia...

Re:SIZE!!!

[kabocox]

What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?
Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....

Don't give'em ideas.

Re:SIZE!!!

[Murf_E]

hey man you should learn a little bit about SUV's the explorer is the second smallest SUV ford builds and it is more fuel efficient than most large cars. Personnally I have an '88 Bronco2 (the precursor the the explorer) which is very fuel efficient and with 4x4 I can drive confidently on any condition of road.

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, am I they only one who find the whole "tricked out SUV" fad retarded?

Yeah, pretty much. I'm sure you're sitting in front of a PC with a big window hacked in the side and a glowing light stick, fans with LEDs and a polished aluminum case. Maybe even a glowing keyboard.

Oh, and the moderators who decided that this clown was "insightful" need to re-read the moderator guidlines. He's not insightful. He's just another whiny-assed liberal who's mad because all he can afford to buy is a 20 year old Buick. Get over it.

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever used an ipod? You don't need to look at it for 99% of all functions.

Re:SIZE!!!

[srvivn21]

Your confidence might be a bit misplaced.

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one tired of the tricked out computer fad? Lets take something that already uses too much power, add lights, over clock it, add more fans and cooling devices, LCD readouts, etc etc etc. It'd be nice to see a trend towards low power consumption computing.

Re:SIZE!!!

[sbowles]

What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?
Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....

... then maybe get a chimpanzee to ride around with you in the truck and name him Bear!

Re:SIZE!!!

[Murf_E]

Yes I know there is a roll-over risk with my truck as with anything that is fairly tall and narrow. but If you know how to drive there isn't a problem. I being a stereotypical teenager have pushed it to the limit and I know that when the bronco 2 rolls over your average car would be sliding. no I don't think that the bronco 2 is the safest vehicle out there but roll-overs are only one problem a vehicle can have

Re:SIZE!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

right. so what's the display for then? the other 1%?

do you have the exact order of all the tracks on your ipod memorized, and you can navigate the menus to find any specific song without ever having to look at it?

Re:SIZE!!!

[Grishnakh]

Maybe he's just sick of the whole "tricked out" anything fad, be it SUVs or computers.

I don't know about his computer, but mine is in a big, sturdy, but attractive black steel Antec case, with no windows or nonfunctional lights at all. And my keyboard is a trusty IBM Model M (beige unfortunately). As an engineer, I could certainly afford some ridiculous windowed case with glowing fans, but I'd rather have something functional and reliable.

Re:SIZE!!!

[theLOUDroom]

Yes I know there is a roll-over risk with my truck as with anything that is fairly tall and narrow. but If you know how to drive there isn't a problem.

Yes it is. It limits your vehicle's cornering ability. It doesn't matter how well you know how to drive, you vehicle's handling capabilities are severely handicapped. Should something bad happen, you have less potential to do something about it than someone driving a decent car.

Besides if you know how to drive, you shouldn't need a 4WD SUV to feel confident on a ROAD.
I feel perfectly confident driving down the road in a CAR, except when somebody else is next to me with their suburban battle tank.

Watch that counter roll!

[hellraiser943]

place bets on how long the site lasts? :)

Re:Watch that counter roll!

[KirkH]

It's hosted on mac.com, so I'd bet it'll last quite a while. :P

Re:Watch that counter roll!

[mirko]

Mac.com usually handles high loads very well.

Seems to me...

[suman28]

This is just another way to have more pileups on the interstate. Why can't people toss all these things in the back and focus on driving?

Re:Seems to me...

[u8nogard]

My wife finds it interesting and amusing as one of these SUVs drives by. She tells me to match and draft off of their speed so that she has something to watch. Now all that is needed is these SUVs to provide a strong enough signal for the laptop and the WIFI connection. Maybe then she will stop telling me how to drive.

Re:Seems to me...

[trosenbl]

because it's a pain to have to climb into the trunk to change songs when you're doing 85.

It looks good

[CrackedButter]

but when i saw it was a .mac homepage i expexted it to be slashdotted, luckily only 20000 of us hit that site. Kudos to the owner for doing it, it looks nice and nobody should really knock the effort he has gone through.

iTrip quality vs Direct Lines

[millahtime]

The iTrip doesn't deliver the quality that you get over the direct lines. It's like the difference between a radio station and a CD. There is a quality difference.

Troll??

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is this at -1?

The article is about iPod Minis and the poster just accurately pointed out how and why you won't be able to buy one currently.

What are the mods smoking today?

Re:Troll??

[Anonymous Coward]

What are the mods smoking today?

Or maybe we should be asking, what aren't they smoking today?

No cables showing because none needed to show

[sjonke]

He doesn't have to connect cables - he's clearly using a built-in dock (or equivalent) line-out connected directly to stereo, giving superb sound quality and no wires showing in his installation.

In my experience FM transmitters sound horrendous anyway. I have doubts that the iTrip is any better. Most (all?) such transmitters are monophonic only, but that's just the beginning of the dreadful sound quality coming from these things, even with a clear channel available.

Re:No cables showing because none needed to show

[afidel]

Nope, the iTrip uses a full stereo synthetic tuned signal, it sounds great as long as the channel is free and your stereo doesn't pick up sideband interference from adjacent channels. Here in Cleveland there is only one channel that meets all of the above conditions with my factory stereo (I would replace it but the Taurus doesn't do standard DIN due to the way the stereo is integrated into the central dash).

Re:No cables showing because none needed to show

[Moofie]

So, it sounds great, if and only if a bunch of things that are beyond your control don't happen.

Noted.

Re:No cables showing because none needed to show

[clbyjack81]

I would replace it but the Taurus doesn't do standard DIN due to the way the stereo is integrated into the central dash

There are some great adapters out there ti fit DIN equipment into oddball dashes. Here is just such an adapter for your Taurus! You'll find it blends in quite well. I used their adapter for a Focus a few months ago. It works quite well.

Bone Thugs?

[nearlygod]

All of that just to listen to Bone Thugs? What a waste.

But it's still cumbersome to use

[Seekerofknowledge]

Ever since I got my iPod, I've dreamt and drooled over the possibility of using it in my car. But I just have never thought up a good way to really integrate it, and I mean fully, like having an easy way to choose songs to play, hit play/pause, change the volume, etc, that is just as easy to use an in dash player that supports mp3's.

Having it sit somewhere mounted is a good start, but you still would have to reach down there and twiddle the buttons. And in an big vehicle like an Explorer? That would get old, quick.

By the looks of the pictures, he is using the line out connector on the bottom. You can't change the volume that's coming out of that right? I mean not from the iPod, therefore you'd have to use the main stereo for that. So you would have two places to reach now, for different activities. You would have reach down to the iPod to change songs and pause, and reach to the stereo to change the volume. That little extra step of deciding where need to reach would be a huge burden when you're going down the interstate at 70mph.

If anybody has thought of a good way to integrate the iPod into a car, I want to know. Right now my setup is using the headphone jack to connect to the aux input of my stereo, and using the inline remote that came with it. I can at least do all functions from one place (the headphone jack can have it's volume adjusted), but I can't really charge it well, because then I'd have a connector sticking out of the bottom *and* top. What I would like is for the iPod to have a docking place like in the article, but still be able to do everything easily, from one place, without needing to look too much. Maybe I need a wireless remote? Maybe I'm asking too much. :)

Re:But it's still cumbersome to use

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure why you'd need to control the volume from the stereo. I have my ipod hooked up to the same pioneer stereo he has and control everything from the ipod. Of course I don't have a nice molded "thing", it just sits in a slot next to the gearshift. Sure you would die if you tried to fuss with it in traffic, but having all of my music right there is good enough. It's great for audiobooks and long albums on road trips.
Oh and please don't get me started on the FM transmitters either. Wired is the only way to go in this case.

Re:But it's still cumbersome to use

[Eraser_]

This would never work, you're right. I sit my ipod in my ash tray/lighter section. I run the cords onto the floor of the passenger side, out of the tangle comes the tape adapter (easily a line-out adapater), and the other side is the iPod remote. I set the volume on the ipod, and use it to play, pause, and switch songs. I reach one whole foot up and use the stereo knob to adjust the volume. This works really really well, as I can hold the remote in my hand and change songs, the ipod is angled so (in daylight) I can see the LCD, and the volume is easily spun down if a song is too loud.

Complicated? Have you seen what people put up with in the case of mounted cellphones and CD changers? I mean, this is a walk in the park. The radio turns itself on when I start the car, all I have to do it push the play button at the same time I release the hand brake.

Re:But it's still cumbersome to use

[elemental23]

I've done something similar with mine. The aux jack on the back of the stereo is run to an adaptor with a 3.5mm jack mounted in the center console, where I run a line to the headphone jack on the iPod. The line is plenty long enough for either me or a passenger to hold the iPod while selecting music.

http://www.mindspring.com/~elemental23/lj/ipod_aux .jpg

(note: the position of the iPod in the picture is just to show it, it usually rests in the space next to the parking brake when I'm driving)

To charge it in the car, I still need to use the cigarette lighter adaptor, but I get around this by charging it at home overnight when it needs it.

Something to listen to while rolling over...

[Lamont]

That iPod mini will sound great while he's flipping over in the inherently unsafe vehicle that is the Ford Explorer.

Re:Something to listen to while rolling over...

[Anonymous Coward]

That iPod mini will sound great while he's flipping over in the inherently unsafe vehicle that is the Ford Explorer.

What do you expect with a name like 'explorer'? ;-)

Re:Something to listen to while rolling over...

[grocer]

I feel obligated to point out that the Explorer is not inherently unsafe. A few points to remember about the Explorer (and SUVs/Trucks in general):

- The roll over issues in the Explorer were the result of two effects: 1) improper tire inflation/tire defects leading to premature failure of the Firestone Wilderness A/T tires. Note these same tires were also used on the Ford Ranger 4x4 and were not recalled because the Ranger had the proper inflation pressure for that tire listed (primary reason) and the improperly wound lots ended up on Explorers (secondary reason) 2) The complete failure of the tire was generally a blow out at intersate speeds which is dangerous in any vehicle. Blow out a tire in anything going 70 and it will roll (or attempt to) unless the driver knows exactly what to do.

- Trucks/SUVs have a higher center of gravity, making them easy to roll over if they are driven like a car and also (until recently and with the Explorer in question) they have sold rear axles. Which when coupled with rear wheel drive, stiff rear springs, a high center of gravity, and someone who thinks their Explorer will handle like the FWD car they just replaced, makes for situation that invariably leads to an accident.

Yes, there was corporate negligance (Ford's choosing tire inflation pressure for ride rather than safety, Firestone's defects and rubber stamping of Ford's choice)...however, that is unrelated to the safety of the Explorer as a vehicle which is not that bad...just don't expect a truck to behave like car (where I think a lot of problems come from)

Re:Something to listen to while rolling over...

[Anonymous Coward]

Idiotic semantics. What does it matter what makes the truck unsafe? If your kid got killed by an SUV, would you care if it was really the rear springs, or the tires, or the driver expecting it to handle differently that caused the accident? "Now, let's not blame the SUV for this, honey..."

Blow out a tire in anything going 70 and it will roll

Not true. Cars don't instantly roll when their tires blow. Their centers of gravity are too low for that. They pull in the direction of the blown tire first, and then begin to slide, and then roll. Much easier and much more time to correct than an SUV.

that is unrelated to the safety of the Explorer as a vehicle

Oh, sure. "If the Explorer had different tires, and a trained driver, and different springs, it wouldn't have rolled." Guess what? All those things are part of the "safety" of a vehicle. You can't discount the driver, the tires, the cigarette lighter, or any other part of the car. They're all factors. If a car has a cigarette lighter that catches on fire when you drive over 70, the car is unsafe for the road. Period. The correct stance is not "SUVs would be safer if people drove them better," it's "SUVs are not safe with average drivers." They're already out there, and people are not taking special SUV driving classes, and never will.

Waste of space

[vurg]

Not really impressive in my point of view. Specifically, there is too much wasted space around the docking point.

Watch where you put...

[Geek_3.3]

... your Quadruple Venti Mocha Turtle Cappachino... one big bump and BAM--unhappy iPod mini coated in sugary goodness... ;-)

Archos

[Sentosus]

The Archos AV 120 player I have is mounted on my steering wheel between the top of the wheel and the horn of my Camaro Z28. It has 1 wire that runs down the back of the column to the turn signal where it splices into the back of my Stereo. I can put on videos or music while riding down the road and it is less intrusive than having to mess with the console between the seats.

Definately safer for my driving and easier to read than the annoying dials behind it like the RPM guage that takes a good 5 seconds to digest.

Re:Archos

[jhoffoss]

Yeah, watching movies while reaching through the steering wheel in your camaro to mess with your Archos is totally safe. Whereas fiddling in that dang console is really hazardous. Why else would car manufacturers put stick shifts down there, within easy and comfortable reach of the driver's right hand...and just imagine, if it were down there, your passenger could change the music while the driver...drives! How dangerous!

Seriously though, how about watching the road instead of how many RPMs your Z28 is whining along at?

Re:Archos

[plastik55]

You don't have to look at the stickshift to use it. Whereas 90% of what the iPod does can't be done without looking at it.

I think you really oughtn't be adjusting the iPod at all while driving, but if you must, better up on the dash (where you might notice something out of peripheral vision) than down near the floor of the car.

Nice

[MrRuslan]

I don't care what anyone here says i think it is pretty cool to have a docking station for your mp3 player in your car...it would be cool if it played trogh the car speakers... didnt RTFA so i dont know if it does...now somone should do that with a Mini Cooper to match better than explorer.

Re:Nice

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I don't know of anyone who's gotten their MP3 player to play "trogh" the car speakers. The technology's just not there yet. But it sure is cool to have that dock so you can pretend that what's on the radio is really coming from your MP3 player!

Re:First Comment!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

As a man you are a FAILURE. Now give me all your lunch money little boy, unless you want to eat this knuckle sandwich!

Ugly and tacky

[Anonymous Coward]

Combining the tackyness of the iPod with the uglyness of the Ford Explorer interior -- a double strike combined attack on good taste.

This is not a troll. This whole install looks grafted and cheap.

Don't you think?

Re:Ugly and tacky

[otis wildflower]

This is not a troll. This whole install looks grafted and cheap.

The _real_ solution is to have a widget that treats the iPod as a CD changer, ala Phatnoise.

That would probably run at least $100 tho, as it'd need to be basically an iPod without the screen, drive and controls...

I'd buy one in a second tho if it were compatible with any firewire ipod and the becker/HK trafficpro.

Re:Ugly and tacky

[eples]

The _real_ solution is to have a widget that treats the iPod as a CD changer

Exactly!

Re:Ugly and tacky

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought it was okay for a first try. Cooler would be integrating a display and set of buttons into the steering wheel. In machined stainless steel or color anodized aluminum, of course.

Re:Ugly and tacky

[ryanwright]

The _real_ solution is to have a widget that treats the iPod as a CD changer, ala Phatnoise.

What, like this?

Re:Ugly and tacky

[PipsqueakOnAP133]

Not like that.

The Dennison iceLink thingie doesn't do much more than make an AUX and possibly a charger for your iPod.

I have a Sony head unit which uses Unilink, meaning that the CD changer can report back the title of the track as well, not just control next/prev track.

Since the iPods don't have a easy way to report song and track information, something like this wouldn't happen anytime soon without a change to the iPod firmware (to add networking, probably through the IPoverFW standard) and a firewire network adapter for communicating to the iPod's OS and your head unit.

In the meantime, you might as well settle for an old P5 or G3 sitting in your trunk and using GnUnilink, an open source hardware Unilink adapter.

Re:Ugly and tacky

[ryanwright]

The Dennison iceLink thingie doesn't do much more than make an AUX and possibly a charger for your iPod.

Have you looked at it at all? It integrates your stereo with the iPod's controls. So you can use your factory steering wheel controls to change tracks on the iPod. If it was nothing more than an AUX and a charger people wouldn't be paying $200 for it.

Granted it doesn't report the song info back to your stereo's display, but integrating control alone is pretty cool.

Re:Ugly and tacky

[PipsqueakOnAP133]

Ah, but note that the parent I was responding to was talking about having it as a CD Changer.

I haven't seen every CD changer but most of the ones I see include the ability to transfer the display data to the head unit, which is what I was commenting on.

Okay, I concede that it's more than just an Aux and charger. It's an aux, charger, and a remote. But adding the remote is almost negligable for me since I could make my own.

If I wanted just to have the control integrated and not all the display info, I'd have just scoped out the lines from the car's remote and then hack it together with an ipod remote for about 3 hours worth of time and $40 (if you ordered a new remote).

And if I was really bored, I got craploads of old microcontrollers. So usng this page: http://www.maushammer.com/systems/ipod-remote/ipod -remote.html
I could do without the $40 and have it done "my way" for just time. (Assuming we all had aux and charger, which can be hacked together as well.)

My tormentor from the school

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound just like that jerk.

I wonder what he's doing these days. Probably pumping gas in some no-hope shithole of a town in order to feed his cheating white-trash wife and 6 kids.

iTrip vs. mp3 vs. CD

[aclarke]

The iTrip is a convenient little piece of equipment, but have you ever critically listened to FM-quality music vs. a CD of the same song? Haven't you noticed how the FM is noticably more muffled, with especially the high notes clipped?

A human with good hearing (i.e. a child) can often hear notes between 20Hz and 20kHz. CDs reproduce sounds in this same range. A well-encoded mp3 has a low-pass filter around 19.3Hz and can more or less reproduce sounds above 16kHz which is more than most of us can likely distinguish, especially with the average stereo.

FM radio, on the other hand, only broadcasts between 50Hz and 15kHz. Despite those fuzzy bass-thumping sounds you hear from the lowered Honda Civic beside you at the stop light (or perhaps that's you), with FM radio you lose the true lows, and you lose the true highs. Everything else in between is also lower quality.

The iTrip is a very convenient device for transmitting your mp3s, but don't confuse it with a "real" solution of hard-wiring your mp3 player into your stereo. I guess if you encode all your mp3s at 128kpbs or lower using Windows Media Player, it won't really matter to you, but if you value sound quality you'll probably soon want something better.

Arggg blue led

[Anonymous Coward]

Those damn blue leds are everywhere arggg!!!!g!

Coincidence?

[cschmidt]

I think he'll regret this whole project when his iPod stops working, his Firestone tires fail and his Explorer rolls.

Re:Coincidence?

[asreal]

But it'll all be worth it to have one status symbol built into another...

Re:Coincidence?

[SwornPacifist]

I think he'll regret this whole project when his iPod stops working, his Firestone tires fail and his Explorer rolls.

I was about to post with a similar theme, "Nice holder, but will it hold when the Explorer rolls over?"

Although I would like to interject, the tires weren't the problem. Ford, for one reason or another (crappy suspension perhaps), told drivers to drive with the tires at a lower-than-normal pressure. The tires don't handle that very well, as quoted by the Bridgestone VP of Overseas sales, "judging from the fact that most of the accidents occurred in Southern states, we estimate that driving in high temperate, at high speeds and under tire pressure are factors in these accidents."

Ummmm

[metalhed77]

The point isn't how much you listen to, but giving you how choice as to how much to listen to. I have 3000 songs in my library. I listen to several repeatedly over the course of the day. I skip over many of them too. Some people don't listen this way, but i'd rather have my whole library at my fingertips. I never know which song i'll want to listen to next.

Re:Ummmm

[falcon5768]

i used to listen that way... then I realized its dunb, its easier to make a few playlists of songs yo uknow you feel like that day and leave the rest home

Re:Ummmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, you're pretty ignorant. I can't say for the parent poster, but I know for me, I have a collection of about 300 CDs, at a low average of 10 songs per cd, there's your 3000 songs. Don't call people who enjoy music thieves, unless you know they stole the music.

Re:Ummmm

[Anonymous Coward]

You have spent roughly $4500 on CD's then. I think you are a liar and a thief.

Re:Ummmm

[plumby]

Well, I've got over 1000 original CDs in my back room, (cost probably over 10,000), built up over the last 15+ years. What's your point?

Re:Ummmm

[plumby]

So it's more sensible to have to decide in advance what you fancy listening to, than to be able to decide at any point? How does that work then?

I sometimes go away from home for 2 weeks at a time. It's great to be able to decide "ooh, I just fancy a bit of mellow jazz to calm me down 'cos the plane's been delayed again"

The other week, I had an 18hr trip back home, and got through probably 14 hrs of music (which is getting on for 250-300 different tracks on that one day alone).

Of course, I could cope with listening to the same tracks over and over again, or decide in advance which 1000 tracks I'm most likely to be in the mood for, but why bother when I can carry my entire collection in my jacket?

Re:Ummmm

[Barlo_Mung_42]

How is that easier?

I just randomize my whole collection and hit play. When I need to stop I hit pause. Later I pick up from where I left off. I only need the one play list because it has everything and this way my music stays fresh and I don't get tired of songs from over use. A month or more may go by before I hear the same song again.
What I always hated about CDs is that after a while I would start playing the next track in my head as the current one was ending and it caused the music to get stale. Having a 13GB random playlist keeps this from happening.

Re:Ummmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah?

I've got about 30 cars in my garage, and 18 big screen TVs. My house is bigger than your town. I am the richest man in the world.

My only problem is that I can't get my damn computer to work right.

-Bill

might not be the first

[Anonymous Coward]

I was watching MTV last night and WestCoastCustom customized a Hummer H2 for a Pro Football player with a place for his iPod. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/busin ess/industries/automotive/8282192.htm talks about "pimp my ride", but it doesn't have any pictures. oh well.

The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[wowbagger]

OK, this guy does some plastic fabrication that anybody with some time can do, and he gets on the main page.

So, if I submit my photos of my '04 Grand Marquis, wherein I have not ONLY added a 30G Neo35 MP3 player, but a Kenwood dual-band transciever plus two extra speakers for it, the antenna for the Kenwood, a second battery, extra power points, a battery isolator to charge the secondary battery, a second power distribution panel, would that make the front page?

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it has to be about something related to Apple that the Apple fanboys can jerk off to.

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[nearlygod]

Yes... If it will run Linux.

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[wizarddc]

Yes. But only if you have pics, of course, which I assume you do, so, post away!

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[Anonymous Coward]

Certainly not if you don't even post a link to your own project... Dumbass.

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if I submit my photos of my '04 Grand Marquis, wherein I have not ONLY added a 30G Neo35 MP3 player, but a Kenwood dual-band transciever plus two extra speakers for it, the antenna for the Kenwood, a second battery, extra power points, a battery isolator to charge the secondary battery, a second power distribution panel, would that make the front page?

No.

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[hexgrid]

So, if I submit my photos of my '04 Grand Marquis, wherein I have not ONLY added a 30G Neo35 MP3 player, but a Kenwood dual-band transciever plus two extra speakers for it, the antenna for the Kenwood, a second battery, extra power points, a battery isolator to charge the secondary battery, a second power distribution panel, would that make the front page?

Replace the 30G Neo35 with either Linux or an iPod, and maybe we'll talk.

Re:The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking

[wowbagger]

But the Neo is running the GPL'ed OpenNeo firmware - does that count?

What if I add that the Neo has every Geeks In Space on it?

Handheld/Vehicle Interfaces

[unfortunateson]

Frankly, the fact that he needed to do this shows that the aftermarket auto industry is not doing its job. My car and my handheld constellation need to talk to each other:

• Very few audio head units have a front jack for aux input. You can dangle an adapter cable out the back (on most models this means you can't use a CD changer), but that's butt-ugly. Otherwise you're at low-fi FM transmitters or cassette adapters
  
• For that matter, why shouldn't it be two-way on the audio link? Record off-the-air onto the MPS, eh?
  
• My PDA should be able to get odometer readings from the car easily for expense reports (a GPS may substitute, but it doesn't talk to my PDA well either). [Hmmm... should the Mobil Speedpass let my PDA know what it's spending on gas and McD's?]
  
• What kind of communication do I want with the car? I don't know. Perhaps just a USB 2.0 jack on the dash, although that's not peer-to-peer. IEEE 1394? Is Bluetooth good enough for hi-fi audio? Do I want all cars to be wardriving units?
  
• I hesitate to mention M$'s AutoPC. Let's just leave it at that.
  

There's obviously lots of room for Automobile-Area Networks, but few folks are doing anything about it.

Re:Handheld/Vehicle Interfaces

[zod1025]

Very interesting points you've brought up...

Industries need to realize that more and more folks already have PDAs and MP3 players...hopefully we'll see a growing number of 'appliance' level devices start to interface rather than attempt to do everything themselves.

As long as designers are focused on making their products the *complete* experience for the user, and don't design them to work well with anything else a user might already have, then they are going to miss out on providing the benefits that geeks desire (like, as you mentioned, walking up to the car and having useful stats and functions offered up to your PDA).

In-dash iPod docks are one thing... but built-in personal-area networking is quite another. Let's get some of THAT on the slashdot front page!

Re:Handheld/Vehicle Interfaces

[elemental23]

Very few audio head units have a front jack for aux input. You can dangle an adapter cable out the back (on most models this means you can't use a CD changer), but that's butt-ugly.

It's not so bad if you set it up right, with the adaptor cable going to a 3.5mm jack mounted in the dash or center console. The jack is almost unnoticable when the iPod isn't plugged in. I just did this in my car. While it's not as nice as the set up in this story, it doesn't look too bad and works great.

Re:Handheld/Vehicle Interfaces

[Anonymous Coward]

You're exactly right. It seems most of the car audio industry is too focussed on putting more lights, LCDs, and motorized faceplates on their head units than actually providing the real features want and need. Personally, I see very little advancement at all in head units. Pioneer is probably the only exception, but to get anything that I want, I'd have to spend $500-$1000 on a head unit, which in my case is unacceptable.

I'd like a head unit that has a front mounted aux input and a rear aux input that does not require an expensive $200 adapter box to do something so simple as route an audio signal.

I'd like a head unit that allows me to control my iPod with its controls and perhaps even display the song or provide an iPod-like GUI.

Put this in the $200-300 price range and I'll buy one in an instant.

Mini Custom?

[Pan T. Hose]

I am not sure if I understand it correctly. Does a mini custom install mean a somewhat standard install more or less or what?

Re:Mini Custom?

[Anonymous Coward]

custom install of an ipod mini.

((ipod mini) custom install)

The other MINI

[stryders]

Aparently MINIUSA was quite annoyed that VW and the New Beetle beat them to the punch with the iPod promotion. Especially since as others have said, '03 and newer MINIs can take a $40 acessory from the dealer and get an aux input, or you can use the cd changer wiring with a Denison Ice Link which allows control of the ipod through the head unit + steering wheel audio controls.

iPod Lounge

[fsterman]

The iPod lounge forums has a shitload of these. Some ranging from hacks to good, professional jobs like this story. Of course you could just get a Smart car, since it has an iPod option. Of course it is only for Europe, which is crap since I really want one, and it is kinda an antithesis to the Explorer.

MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[rthille]

I'd love to see someone make a small box that sits in my trunk or under my seat that acts like a CD Changer. Yeah, I know about the PhatBox, but I don't see the need for the removability at such a high cost. Something more like the YAMPP-3, but with WI-FI.
Heck, I'd even be willing to drag an ethernet cable out to the car (hey, a drop in the Garage isn't out of the question) to load up new MP3s over paying ~$800 for the 20GB Phatbox.

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[wizarddc]

Why do you need a wireless connection? I'm not being snarky or anything, I'm actually interested. Does you head uint have a wireless connection that your mp3 box could talk with? Or perhaps some kid of remote control situation?

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[hackstraw]

What about one of these?

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[satterth]

A wireless connection could be handy so one can update songs in the car in the garage from the home computer.

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[Anonymous Coward]

jam a xbox with a 120 gig drive (the biggest it can handle). if you got linux running on the thing im sure you could get a 802.11 card working on it.

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[bbdd]

well, if cost was no object, there is a phatbox with wi-fi coming sometime...

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[rthille]

Yeah, but i already ruled out Phatbox because of the price...
Heck, if cost was no object I'd just commission the device exactly how _I_ want it. :-)

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[rthille]

The other reply to you is what I'm thinking. When I drive home and park in the driveway or the garage, my car queries my home server for any new MP3s and updates the 'local cache' in the car, without me having to do any work.

Re:MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive...

[wizarddc]

That's a fantastic idea. See, I'm glad I asked. You could program your playlist for your drive to work in the morning from your house, and then possibly the drive home at night from your desk at work. Ingenius.

Subaru

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got a fairly simple setup in my Subaru Impreza, my 30G iPod sits in it's case/belt clip thing in the cubbyhole on the right of the steering column with the remote going behind the steering column into an FM Modulator to the stereo.
This means that the remote is conveniently located next to the turn signal, so it's even easier to operate than the stereo volume without getting distracted. No power as of yet, but it wouldn't be too challenging to add

ipod deck?

[ahector]

I've got the Belkin charger/line out in my car. It works well and plugs right into the stereo... but it's not that slick. I have to control the ipod to change songs, etc. and then use my cd deck to change volume. I want a deck that I can buy that acts as an ipod dock. You just slide that ipod in like an 8 track and then the deck has normal controls for volume, track selection, etc. and a display that shows song titles, etc. If it had a radio too I could care less about not having a CD player in the car. So you get to listen to the ipod, control it easily.. it gets charged... When you leave the car just eject the ipod, grab it and go! Something like this would be popular, wouldn't you think?

Re:ipod deck?

[humuhumunukunukuapu']

Alpine is coming out with an interface that will allow one to control an iPod from the deck, complete with OSD of titles and all...


http://www.macnn.com/news/22778

In-dash iPod dock

[laird]

This is a really sweet car mod, but what I really want is to be able to buy an in-dash car stereo into which I can dock the iPod and use the stereo's controls.

Alpine has announced one that's close, but it has the iPod on an external cable. I'd rather not deal with the iPod and cable floating around inside the car.

Another iPod install - Infiniti G35

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.6mt.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2085&S earchTerms=ipod

Nice work.

You mean, like this?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.alpine-usa.com/company_info/press_relea se/010804_ipad.html

ALPINE DEBUTS WORLD'S FIRST CAR AUDIO HEAD UNITS THAT ALLOW TRUE INTEGRATION WITH iPod

TORRANCE, Calif, January 6, 2004 -- Alpine Electronics of America, Inc., the industry-leading manufacturer of high performance mobile electronics, will demonstrate at CES the world's first solution that enables consumers to connect and control their iPod from their in-vehicle sound system....

In-dash MP3 Players?

[Anonymous Coward]

I must be missing something, but aren't there in-dash MP3 players available now that interface with external storage devices?

Alpine has it - Control through the head unit

[niusj]

Visit Here for a press release. The unit will be available later this year. It integrates all control through the head unit, via the dock connector. You can tuck the iPod away inside the glove box. Still requires you to take your eyes off the road and look at the display of the receiver, however. Until Alpine comes out with an easy-to-install aftermarket heads-up-display...

Re:Alpine has it - Control through the head unit

[Seekerofknowledge]

That's sweet. Does the song info on the display actually correspond to what is playing on the iPod? (The Hook Me Up part in the picture.) I didn't know the dock connector could send that type of information.

But, nice, that is exactly what I'm talking about.

Oh, and about taking your eyes off the road -- you know what I meant. With this unit you're taking your eyes off the road to look at a nice bright LCD display with only a few lines of text, and not the tiny screen on the iPod. There is a big difference. Well I guess you could say the iPod's screen is a decent size, but the tiny font is what makes it hard to see. (Plus it's black on white, instead of white on black)

One more thing off topic:
Cool, I actually got a response to a slashdot comment with information that could help me in real life :)

Re:Alpine has it - Control through the head unit

[bbdd]

or, try one of these icelink units. very cool. keep your stock head unit and your optional steering wheel controls. they also sell mounting brackets that require no drilling into the car. nice if you are leasing...

Re:Alpine has it - Control through the head unit

[jo_ham]

The dock connector is essentially a custom firewire port - it can pretty much do anything you want it to that you could do with FW plus a few other things, like line out, which will no doubt be a set of extra pins on the connector that a normal firwire port will ignore (it only connects 6 of the contacts) but that other devices like the iPod dock take advantage of.

It sounds like Apple has planned this sort of function (interoperation with 3rd party kit) from the beginning.

Spinners

[unformed]

36" chrome rims too...

Don't forget the spinners.

Interior Design

[iBran]

Silver trim in a beige interior? Ack!

Ford needs some Queer Eye, ASAP!

you're absolutely right

[SuperBanana]

That little extra step of deciding where need to reach would be a huge burden when you're going down the interstate at 70mph

You're absolutely right. I had to stop driving manual transmission cars because I couldn't deal with the complexity...having to press a pedal AND move a lever? All while braking or tapping the gas?

But then, I didn't find automatics much better. One pedal for stopping, one for going? Aaaaa! What insane trickery!

Re:you're absolutely right

[Seekerofknowledge]

No it's more like:

You're driving down the interstate, and a song comes on that's extrememly loud, or your cell phone starts ringing, and you need to turn down the volume (yes you could pause for the cell phone, but what about the song?). Either way you're already distracted and not thinking about driving.

You reach for the iPod instinctively, woops, can't turn down the volume from that thing (remember, he's using the line out).

So you remember, oh yeah, have to work the volume from the stereo unit. So you reach up there, change the volume, and finally get back to what you were doing.

Yes, it's a nitpick. Yes, it's not that huge of a problem. But yes, it's just something that I wanted to point out that has bugged me before. I can easily see the situation above taking a couple of seconds, which is enough to warrant some thought.

Re:you're absolutely right

[Frac]

Maybe you just need to stop instinctively reaching for the ipod. I wouldn't know, since I never bothered with reaching for the ipod in the first place... Adjusting the volume for the ipod is not too different from adjusting the volume for the radio or the cd player.

More impressive

[radiophonic]

To really impress me, take the whole iPod apart, mount the internals in the dash and the controls in the steering wheel. Now, that is functional integration. In it's current state, it's an over-glorified coffee cup holder.

Of course, you'd need a heck of a long USB cable to upload.

Sort of Geek My Ride

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

The dudes on "Pimp My Ride" would have taken this way farther.

A design flaw

[Brown Eggs]

But will this holster for the iPOD keep it in place when the Explorer invariably flips over? :P

Mini-vans!!

[Cyno01]

I've seen mini vans around with spoilers and air dams. Just as bad if not worse IMO.

Confusing about apple

[eadint]

This is what confuses me about apple theyve got a great product (ipod, ect) and a chance to breack into a compleatly untapped market ala the icar. an apple package that integrates ipod GPS onstar and maybe eaven infrared or adaptive cruize control this could be a major comodity. but where is apple, not there.

Re:Confusing about apple

[bbdd]

this was recently the subject of a funny april fool's joke.

ICELink, too!

[rjung2k]

Don't forget the Denison ICELink, which lets you connect an iPod directly to a third-party head kit as well as to your existing OEM car audio system.

Acura

[kcm]

I know Acura is one carmaker trying to do this.

I can't say it's 100% geek-approved in terms of full-functionality, but it's a damn good start. Yeah?

Same thing, only different

[Anonymous Meoward]

• One iPod for Christmas: $0
• One Belkin TuneDok for the cupholder: $16
• One Griffin iTrip for the FM: $30
• One car charger: $10
• Spending less time and money that some idiot who desperately needs to trick out a poorly engineered vehicle: Priceless.

I WANNA GIVE PROPZ TO MY NIGGZ

[Anonymous Coward]

In the hood of saouth central. Word up niggz how yall doin rite now?

Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

The HD works fine in all PDA's and many cameras. It is stuck in IDE mode but can be hacked (firmware reflashed) to enable it to switch modes as a normal CF device would. Please stop spreading disinformation or at least stop pretending you nkow what you are talking about.

Re:Wrong

[afidel]

Hmm, according to everything I have read it can't. For instance this thread from dpreview says that the card can't be made to do modes other than IDE. Now if you can point me to a site with info on replacing the Apple firmware on the drive controll electronics with a version that works I would be very interested.

Re:Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/mddownld/hdp cinst.htm

To get the updatesd firmware and flash util (windows only). (not listed as the ipod drive, listed as the 4GB microdrive)

How to reflash the HD firmware from a windows computer.

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techd oc s/CBD730A1B7F8CA4586256D5000676A7E/$file/X022504.p df

Re:Wrong

[afidel]

The first one links to the driver for windows CE devices, not a firmware update. The second one links to an aparantly dynamic page that no longer comes up but searching the site for X022504.pdf shows no hits. Furthermore the Tech Library and downloads portions of the site list no such files.

Where's the usability?

[gestalt_boy]

While I don't think the mod is really aesthetically pleasing, it doesn't seem to be very user-friendly either. So he got the thing to charge? Great. He doesn't show in his pics the cord he has to connect to the audio out of the iPod because I bed a plug sticking out the top would be pretty ulgy. Also, he doesn't show himself USING the iPod. It doesn't look like it'd be easy to reach forward and control the little controls/display from the drivers seat while driving. Not only bad design, but unsafe too.

Re:Where's the usability?

[phillymjs]

I don't know about the iPod mini dock, but the iPod dock has a minijack for line-out output. The mini can use the full-size iPod dock, because it uses the same connector.

If the stereo in the Explorer has an aux input or this guy got a cable that turns the CD changer connection into RCA L & R audio-in jacks, he could easily have the iPod tied into the stereo.

I have a slightly similar setup in my car. but I currently only route the audio signal into the stereo via the iPod's headphone jack. I keep the iPod in a closed storage compartment and control it via an RF remote. I do plan to run power into the compartment as well, to keep the iPod charged. All I really want is a backlit remote display that I can mount somewhere that displays the track info, etc.

I do agree with your criticism that this guy's mini looks to be in an awkward place to safely control while driving.

~Philly

has been done before

[brocheck]

Just saw this on TLC last night.

Apparantly 310 customs/west side customs (or whatever) basically did something almost exactly like this (but for a regular iPod) on a H2 (hummer) brought in by some NBA star. Slide the iPod into the dock and it played on the stereo. Needless to say thats not all they did to the H2 but I thought I should mention that.

One thing is it probably cost a LOT more than he spent on his Ford Explorer doing it himself :)

I feel sorry...

[FurryFeet]

Not only has he invalidated his car's warranty (for unauthorized modifications), and he's gonna get sued by Apple for unauthorized use of their logo, but now he's getting slashdotted.

Re:I feel sorry...

[KGD22]

The only way Apple could sue him is if he was making money using their logo. As he cleary states, he created this for his own use. If he went out and started selling the console WITH the logo, than of course they have grounds to sue. Do you have an Apple sticker on your car? If you truly believe your comment, than you must be SCARED TO DEATH about getting sued for having that on there. Good luck friend! BTW- I think the design is great. For the people who don't like it, please feel free to create you own and be sure to post them up. I'd be glad to comment on them and how much "better" they are!

F.O.R.D = Fix It again Tony?

[dubious9]

Huh? Why don't you make like a tree and get out of here.

Not a good deal

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet the Ipod's headphone port breaks when the Explorer rolls over.

Money Money Money

[Katieminna]

How to stay rich by keeping up with technology: 1) Create a way for people to play Mp3's in their cars. 2) Install the player in a popular vehicle. 3) Make sure the manufacturer of the Mp3 player charges a lot for each song downloaded so you get a kickback from them. 4) Give a little money to the RIAA so they won't say you're trying to rip of record producers........Anyone else smell setup?

Better

[Anonymous Coward]

Or Maybes its:
F^cking
Owner
Realy
Dumb

Re:Better

[Snocone]

No, it's

F^cker
Only
Runs
Downhill

or

Found
On
Road
Dead

Adding a long line here so the @(#&$!!! error message "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 3.4)" will go away, preferably to taunt whoever the goof is that thought annoying us with that message was a good idea andnowwerejustdegradingintoacompletelymeaninglessb igrunonwordandwhatonearthareyoureadingthisfordonty ouhaveanythingbettertodoforcryingoutloud.

Stop modding the parent as redundant!

[KingOfBLASH]

I posted this when there were only a handful of comments under the original story. Just look at the time stamp. Any stories which say the same things are redundant, and not visa versa.

iTrip...

[Macgrrl]

We bought an iTrip and spend so much time channel surfing to get a strong signal that I am now looking into getting the stereo in the car upgraded to get an audio in port.

The available frequencies are typically used for community/tourist radio in Australia.

Alpine's iPod ready Head Unit

[ende]

Alpine is coming out with a HU this summer that will allow you to plug your iPod in, and store it in any location (glove box, center console, trunk, etc..) and the HU will display the song info and allow you to control the iPod. Google for more information, here is a quick link to their press release.

Nice site

[Safety Cap]

It would be even nicer if the guy knew a little bit about proper user interface design and didn't open the links in another window by default. Breaking the back button is a bit annoying.

Hell, if my grandmaw knows how to right click and choose "open in a new window," I think pretty much anyone can do it on their own if they so choose.

Re:Nice site

[porkchop_d_clown]

I take it you've never seen a .Mac web site before? I'm pretty sure that's a straight export from iPhoto -> .Mac. No HTML required.

Re:Nice site

[Safety Cap]

Makes me wonder why someone would use (pay for?) an application that renders poor code. That's like using MS Word to make web pages: it works, but makes pretty nasty, non-standard code.

Just want to clear a few things up...

[reelmagik]

It's nice to read all the positive, and not so positive comments people have said about what I did. I want to clear a few things up for all the negative people out there...

-There are no wires to attach or add because the Belkin car charger I integrated into the design has an audio line-out built into it, which I used to run directly into my car stereo via an adapter. The music plays through the car speakers at perfect quality. Yeah, I still control the volume throught the car stereo but HOW HARD IS THAT? Come on people.

-The blue LED lights were added ONLY for one reason: TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE DAMN THING IN THE DARK AT NIGHT WHILE PLUGGING IT IN OR CHANGING SONGS.

-It can not "fly" out of the console because if you had actually read what I wrote you would see that I made it so the iPod fits very snugly into it, making it able to lock it in place and push on the buttons or scroll through songs very easily without it so much as moving. There is no way it would ever wobble around, or even fly out.

-It is not difficult to use, or awkward in any way...the thing sits right where my hand rests over the console and it takes no effort to press any of the buttons.

-I am NOT the kind of guy who "tricks out" his car just to look cool, especially not with an explorer. While I do like the car, I only made it because I wanted to use MY iPod in MY car while I was driving, and that was it. It's a hell of a lot better than carrying around 400 cd's. For those of you who remarked about it being unsafe...How safe is it to look through all your cd's trying to find the one that has the one song you want to hear while trying to watch the road at the same time? With the iPod, I can make up song lists I want to hear before I even leave, or while I'm just sitting in the car at a red light or in traffic, or even just let all 1000 songs play in random order. Anyone who actually OWNS an iPod knows how easy it is to use one.

I personally don't care what any of you negative people think because I didn't make it to please you, I made it for myself. I enjoy using it and that's all that matters. Until I see pictures of your installs that are any better or more practical than mine, maybe you should think twice about bashing it.

Could this have been done better? Of course! I'm the first to admit that. I started rethinking and redesigning it after I installed it. I made the thing on a whim and didn't take the time to completely think out EVERY practical application, I just wanted to make something to play the thing in my car til I came up with something better.

I'm glad there are some people out there who did enjoy it and maybe got some ideas of their own. Thanks everybody!

Re:Just want to clear a few things up...

[tuxedobob]

Next up, figure out how much it would cost you to do it for someone else. Then see if anyone would want to pay you for it. If you can get it cheap enough, there's probably a market for car/Apple product modding in this manner. This seems like the second story on slashdot in the last month involving a car and some Apple product. (First was an iBook? I think?)

Re:Just want to clear a few things up...

[Anonymous Coward]

I love the install. Can you share a little more info on where and how to purchase the materials you used?

USED CDs ARE STEALING FROM ARTISTS

[Anonymous Coward]

Just as bad as downloading illegal MP3s

Re:USED CDs ARE STEALING FROM ARTISTS

[gryphokk]

(sorry, can't help feeding the troll)

Just like selling used cars is stealing from GM, right?

The fact that you can re-sell a CD if you no longer enjoyed it, (or never enjoyed it) is one of the things that adds value to the physical media.

If I couldn't even consider legally re-selling a CD, then why the hell would I consider buying one?

Get real, bubba. Garth Brooks tried that same argument and made a public fool of himself. (actually, he tried collecting royalites on useds). They already got their royalty from the original purchaser. That CD is now that purchasers property, to listen to, rip to MP3, play frisbee, scrape dog poop off the floor, or re-sell (hopefully not after using to scrape dog poop).

Now, if you want to bring in the idea of buying a CD, ripping it, THEN selling, you might have a point.

But if comb your hair just right, no one will notice ;-)

Not that great

[aflat362]

It looks nice, but from a practical perspective - The ipod is sitting vertically which would make it difficult to see the screen (not to mention, the tiny screen) when you are looking from above.

I have my 40 GB iPod in an angled holder in my car. It is nice to have the angle, but controlling the iPod while driving isn't that great. Especially if you have 7,000 songs and you want to get to a specific album. You have to make about 15 revolutions on the scrolley wheel to get even close to what you're looking for

It would be cool if there were a car stereo inteface made specifically for controlling the iPod in your car. Nice big screen, volume and track switching, etc. Could have a custom cable run from it to the iPod. you know, the audio / data controller plug thing. Kinda like the remote control that comes with the iPod (20 and 40 models) but way better.

thats right

[mike55]

Timothy is completely right. Thats my opion, too.

Rockin

[Scyblade]

Now all you need is to create a G5 dock so that you can create l33t appz "On the go!"

Denison ICE-Link

[noelp]

ICE-Link from Denison allows you to plug your iPod (both mini and normal) into both a OEM and aftermarket head unit and control it using the CD changer controls.

With my Sony I have the multichanger so can have the iPod and the CD-Changer at the same time.

Works a treat. This is probably too late in the post to get seen - but if you do see it, mod it up and pass it along.

ICE-Link