First of all N series boxes are nothing new, they've been around for quite awhile, but were typically around for sale to resellers to would want to rebrand them. The pricing difference is quite simple to explain on Dell machines. One of the ways OEM's(not just Dell) are able to sell thier machines so cheaply is that they load more than just windows on the machine. All that software that comes with the machine was either given to the OEM for free, because having a "lite" version of something installed on somebody's computer is a great way to generate upgrade revenue, or money was paid out to the OEM for the software to be included. This has to do with why Dell computers come with Roxio now instead of Nero or Easy CD, they got a better deal from Roxio. In addition to the OEM's getting this software for free or getting paid to put it on the computers sometimes they get a kickback whenever the customer upgrades. AOL for instance...when you sign up for AOL using the free trial included with your computer your OEM will eventually get a kickback. In the case of some of the machines, especially at christmas and other major sale times, an OEM might sell machines at cost or below in order to make money off of just extended warranties, the software kickbacks, and accessories sales.
And for those of you who have to find a way to slam microsoft and major corps in every single post remember that since both Dell and HP/Compaq both charge for software support selling a PC full of microsoft and other products that are likely to generate support calls is a great long term source of income;-)
If you want to see a true "single point source" surround sound system. Check out Pioneer's Digital Sound Projector. I think this may also have been featured in a/. story a few months ago.
All this is nothing new, you've always been able to trace a cell phone location by what tower it's connected to. And embedded GPS tracking has been around for quite a while now. Chances are if you bought a phone recently it has "E911" capability; which means your phone has an embedded GPS unit. All phones that have GPS give you the ability to restrict usage of your beacon for 911 use only, now what security they use for that I don't know. And of course you can always turn your phone off. Then even if your phone is off companies have installing GPS tracking units in vehicles for quite a while, I can think of 5+ different companies that offer tracking right off the top of my head. And privately usable versions have been available for at least 2 years.
There are actually a lot of solutions available for those who want MP3 capability in thier vehicle. Some newer vehicles come with line input jacks available(such as the Honda Element). Lots of older lower end aftermarket tape and cd decks came with line input jacks aimed at people with portable cd players and more recently portable MP3 players(see optimus, rampage, pyle, and similar brands). Pioneer and Kenwood, and (to some extent)Sony all offer line input devices that connect to their decks as CD changers(though sony's is rather difficult to find information on). Sony, Kenwood, and Alpine all offer MP3 cd changers, and some sort of solid state changer style MP3 player(Kenwood - music keg, Sony has a memory stick reader, and Alpine is about to release a Music keg style solid state device). Alpine, Pioneer, and Sony all offer indash HDD players. And of course there are the multitude of headunits out there that offer MP3 cd support. And as I've seen mentioned in several other posts there are many other HDD style players that are available(such as Phatnoise...poke around on google there's lots to be found). For those wanting MP3 with your factory headunit many vehicles targeted at younger audiences now have MP3 cd support and some O.E. manufacturers are offering O.E. style headunits for sale in the aftermarket that support MP3(visteon sells one for Ford). Be sure to check out PAC and other companies that make CD changer interfaces for your factory radio many of these now come with line in jacks, in addition to letting you add a CD changer to your factory headunit(see your local car audio shop for help on this one). And if nothing else has worked so far or you just want something cheap that should work on just about any car; you can always go FM-modulated, but don't by one of thos little transmitters. You can get a modulator that basically splices into your antenna line(it plugs into your radio and then your antenna plugs into it) this is much better quality that those portable transmitters and cassette adapters, but still not quite as good as CD(again see your local stereo shop for this).
I'm a member of the Purple Haze team at the Science Academy at LBJ High School(Austin, TX). Our alliance took 3rd at the Lonestar Regional in Houston. Check out our page at robotics.lbjhs.net. It sucks right now but hopefully we'll have pics soon, we've been too busy working on the robot to work on it at all. *begin shameless plug* check out our student run network at stac.org
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First of all N series boxes are nothing new, they've been around for quite awhile, but were typically around for sale to resellers to would want to rebrand them.
;-)
The pricing difference is quite simple to explain on Dell machines. One of the ways OEM's(not just Dell) are able to sell thier machines so cheaply is that they load more than just windows on the machine. All that software that comes with the machine was either given to the OEM for free, because having a "lite" version of something installed on somebody's computer is a great way to generate upgrade revenue, or money was paid out to the OEM for the software to be included. This has to do with why Dell computers come with Roxio now instead of Nero or Easy CD, they got a better deal from Roxio. In addition to the OEM's getting this software for free or getting paid to put it on the computers sometimes they get a kickback whenever the customer upgrades. AOL for instance...when you sign up for AOL using the free trial included with your computer your OEM will eventually get a kickback. In the case of some of the machines, especially at christmas and other major sale times, an OEM might sell machines at cost or below in order to make money off of just extended warranties, the software kickbacks, and accessories sales.
And for those of you who have to find a way to slam microsoft and major corps in every single post remember that since both Dell and HP/Compaq both charge for software support selling a PC full of microsoft and other products that are likely to generate support calls is a great long term source of income
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/article/0,,2 076_4159_48023,00.html
If you want to see a true "single point source" surround sound system. Check out Pioneer's Digital Sound Projector. I think this may also have been featured in a /. story a few months ago.
All this is nothing new, you've always been able to trace a cell phone location by what tower it's connected to. And embedded GPS tracking has been around for quite a while now. Chances are if you bought a phone recently it has "E911" capability; which means your phone has an embedded GPS unit. All phones that have GPS give you the ability to restrict usage of your beacon for 911 use only, now what security they use for that I don't know. And of course you can always turn your phone off. Then even if your phone is off companies have installing GPS tracking units in vehicles for quite a while, I can think of 5+ different companies that offer tracking right off the top of my head. And privately usable versions have been available for at least 2 years.
There are actually a lot of solutions available for those who want MP3 capability in thier vehicle. Some newer vehicles come with line input jacks available(such as the Honda Element). Lots of older lower end aftermarket tape and cd decks came with line input jacks aimed at people with portable cd players and more recently portable MP3 players(see optimus, rampage, pyle, and similar brands). Pioneer and Kenwood, and (to some extent)Sony all offer line input devices that connect to their decks as CD changers(though sony's is rather difficult to find information on). Sony, Kenwood, and Alpine all offer MP3 cd changers, and some sort of solid state changer style MP3 player(Kenwood - music keg, Sony has a memory stick reader, and Alpine is about to release a Music keg style solid state device). Alpine, Pioneer, and Sony all offer indash HDD players. And of course there are the multitude of headunits out there that offer MP3 cd support. And as I've seen mentioned in several other posts there are many other HDD style players that are available(such as Phatnoise...poke around on google there's lots to be found). For those wanting MP3 with your factory headunit many vehicles targeted at younger audiences now have MP3 cd support and some O.E. manufacturers are offering O.E. style headunits for sale in the aftermarket that support MP3(visteon sells one for Ford). Be sure to check out PAC and other companies that make CD changer interfaces for your factory radio many of these now come with line in jacks, in addition to letting you add a CD changer to your factory headunit(see your local car audio shop for help on this one). And if nothing else has worked so far or you just want something cheap that should work on just about any car; you can always go FM-modulated, but don't by one of thos little transmitters. You can get a modulator that basically splices into your antenna line(it plugs into your radio and then your antenna plugs into it) this is much better quality that those portable transmitters and cassette adapters, but still not quite as good as CD(again see your local stereo shop for this).
I'm a member of the Purple Haze team at the Science Academy at LBJ High School(Austin, TX). Our alliance took 3rd at the Lonestar Regional in Houston. Check out our page at robotics.lbjhs.net. It sucks right now but hopefully we'll have pics soon, we've been too busy working on the robot to work on it at all. *begin shameless plug* check out our student run network at stac.org