Slashdot Mirror
Coming Soon, Roadcasting
ByteWoopy writes "from Wired.com 'Stuck in traffic and sick of Howard Stern, you may soon be able to tune in to the music collection of the person in the car in front of you. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing an ad hoc networking system for cars that would allow any driver to broadcast music to any other vehicle within a 30-mile radius. Developed by a group of current and former master's students at the Human Computer Interaction Institute, the Roadcasting project would allow drivers to stream their MP3 music collections by Wi-Fi or similar technology to any other vehicle within range that is equipped with compatible hardware and software.
'"
Of course, the FCC and RIAA will be all over this.
'Public performance'
'clogging the spectrum'
'private radio stations'
May be a good concept, but the implementation will be a bitch.
Am I the only one to see a problem here? Why should I potentially buy such an audio sharing system if no one else has one? The classic chicken and egg problem!
Plus, the broadcaster's association as well as copyright holders would be lobbying against it. See how Apple had to cripple itunes music sharing?
--- Eat my sig.
I doubt your neighbouring drivers have any better taste in music than whatever station is repeating the same drivel they call music on the air. Sadly, there's a reason (other than sheer repetition) why "top 40" are there - people do like songs like that.
In the same vein, your taste in Chinese rap probably doesn't appeal to many people driving around you either.
Doing the Right Thing should not be preempted by making a buck.
Instead of a point-to-point application, this tech must become a P2P medium to have any value. Not only do populations of neighboring cars change constantly, quickly, and with little warning (use your blinkers!), but who wants to interact with the mostly random person in the car next to you? Maybe a cocommuter friend somewhere else in a 15-minute pod of traffic, but not the mostly random guy picking his nose and karaoking to "Sister Christian" in the Hyundai that just cut you off.
Meshes of short-range, low-power highway devices can, instead, form a medium layer in a TCP/IP network. Nothing about the neighboring cars' identity matters, just that they support the protocol, and have enough spatial density. Then they can bridge the gap to high bandwidth hops to the Internet. Along the way, they can aggregate traffic data, which can inform traffic jockeys and drivers to optimize flow (though, ironically, reduce necessary density). This project is a nice demo, but it needs to get buried in the protocol stack before the rubber really meets the road.
--
make install -not war
<snide whiney voice>The RIAA isn't going to like this one!
The RIAA isn't going to like this one!
The RIAA isn't going to like this one! </snide whiney voice>
Get a grip! The RIAA doesn't like anything unless it involves holding performers as chattel slaves, manufacturing hideous pop and rolling around naked in huge piles of money. The Grammys are a sham, just like the Oscars and it's all about promotion of the crap they want you programmed to like and buy. When actual consumers are able to pick and choose music in a broadcast then they have broken the chains of the RIAA, whose members regularly engage in payola.
It is probably considered a great sin by the RIAA when you turn up your stereo and other people get to hear your music for free (and you just thought it was people bitching about you being inconsiderate!) They've probably got an army of mad scientists (or severerly ethically challenged) working on some way to prevent public performance and free music in the parks, etc., and one day the only music you will enjoy will be chosen by their board and driven directly into your auditory nerves and you will enjoy it, because you'll have no choice in the matter.
Have a nice day.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
This is easily the dumbest thing I've seen all day.
In fact, there is only one reason why I like it....but it's a big reason.
The RIAA is bound to hate it, and drive themelves into seizures trying to regulate/kill it.
And anything that drives the RIAA crazy and wastes their time is aces in my book.
^_%
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
FCC, RIAA, and the bible thumpers will never allow this.
FCC:
Uncontrolled language and content. They get on Howard Stern for some little crap. What about the Hippy who scream obsenities from his VW bus about conspiracies and how much weed he smokes? They'd never allow it.
RIAA:
You think they'll allow free playing licenced music? Also, pirated music will get played and they'll get their panties in a bunch.
Bible Thumpers:
All the free thinking and freedom of speach will drive these guys crazy. Now any idiot with a radio will have access to swearing and sexual content potentially!
"Oh noes! Sexy talk! Won't anyone think of the children!?"
Pretty Pictures!
Hey, it might be nice to have words to go with the whuump whuump whuump from the car next to me...
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
This actually seems like a much more useful application: hands-free CB radio. Something that lets drivers communicate with each other.
The main reason asshole drivers exist in such painful proportions is that they don't face any consequences. If they did any of those things outside the context of a motor vehicle, like, say, in a crowded store, the very least they'd get would be numerous angry stares. The boiling hatred of those affronted is a powerful motivator. On the road, most people aren't gutsy enough to honk at an asshole driver, and asshole drivers don't even notice lights flashed at them.
Imagine if that blissfully vacuous bleached-blonde soccer mom hears, "Get out of the passing lane, you retarded hosebag!" Now imagine if she hears that from twenty people in a one-minute period. Only the very dullest of idiot drivers will have such a thick skin that they can ignore an unending flood of insults and invectives.
But social pressure isn't the only application. If we make this an actual network, then sell simple voice-activated little boxes which hook into this network whenever the driver says things like "Report Alabama JDT 8771, swerving and aggressive driving," and let law enforcement keep a database of such "reports" so they can go have a talk with someone who has, say, fifty reports against them, we can bring some responsible driving back to the roads and save some lives (and commuting time).
The Internet is full. Go away.
Slashdot humor value aside, I think it would be a tremendously bad idea to give drivers this sort of inter-car communication. Can you imagine the road rage one would invoke by streaming "FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!" into someone's vehicle instead of a simply giving him the finger? Talk about dangerous freeways.
What is your penile percentile?