Car Computer

FJ Car Computer give-away

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The TMC Internet and Telephony Conference and Expo is giving away a ‘Tricked Out’ FJ Cruiser.  No, it’s not mine but I’d like to compare notes with whoever wins it or to hear from anyone who sees it.  The caption says it is the "ultimate connected car of the future" with Bluetooth, GPS, satellite, WiFi, DVD and more.

Toyota My sister sent me another photo of a Blue FJ that had a dog ramp.  I’d like to credit the photo, but I couldn’t find an online reference to the company.

My FJ remains off-line I’m afraid, but progress is being made and I hope to have it back on-line yet this month with a much faster processor and some new capabilites.

Dogramp_2 

Great service from MP3Car.com!

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As I reported earlier, the FJ Car Computer died last week – but – I’m excited to say that I just received a call from the CEO of MP3car.com and he’s offered to help get me back in service, perhaps with an even more powerful computer.  I’m impressed that the CEO would call me this late on a Friday night, and I had a great time geeking out talking about car computers.  That’s customer service!

Car computer update

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I’m taking a little vacation and so I’m on a road trip, though I’m staying connected.  Yesterday was a great day of driving.  Before leaving, I used my Zune Pass software on my car computer to download a couple of new albums and so I listened to music most of the way to my first stop.  I had wireless Internet almost continuously, so when I stopped at rest areas I was able to check email and IM people.  (I’ll write more about that later.)

Unfortunately, the car computer died last night.  It’s had a hardware problem for about a month but whatever was ailing it became terminal last night I think.  So . . . no more webcam updates for awhile.  I’m making this post the old-fashioned way – from a laptop at a Starbucks.  I’m hoping the company that I bought the computer from can help me out with my problem.  They’ve been great so far and this problem has not even made me think about going back to a dumb car radio.

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Car computer as a photography platform

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Today I needed to take a quick photograph outside for an email I was sending to a customer.

Syncing_to_the_networkI used my 35mm digital camera and as soon as I was done, I popped the Compact Flash Micro Drive into the media reader in the FJ’s glove compartment.  When I’m not using it as a media reader, it doubles as a glove box light with this nice blue glow radiating from it.

Using my wireless keyboard, I drug the photos into a folder on the FJ’s computer that automatically syncs with my other computers at home and at work via the EVDO/WiFi connection.

(Note:  All of this was done while the FJ was safely parked!)

By the time I got back to my office, the photos were waiting for me on my laptop.  I did a quick resize of the photo to fit it in the email and a few minutes later, it was off to the customer.

Terry_with_big_daddyBen, thanks so much for letting me take a photo of "Big Daddy!"  You’ve done an AMAZING JOB restoring this beautiful Ford!  I won’t reveal what’s under the hood until you’re ready.

A new car computer in the FJ?

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Marshall Harrison, the "Got Speech Guy", emailed me a link to a new car computer, called the HIPE PC that is on the market.  (Is HIPE PC a good name?  Sounds like Hype PC to me, but they have a great website that reminds me of Dell’s)

I have yet to get my Infill T3 working the way I want it to, and this one looks like it could be a better option.  It’s a lot more powerful – 2.33ghz processor, 2GB of memory, and a 200GB hard drive.  Plus it already runs Vista and it is built with more mainstream components than the Infill.  I also like that the computer is separate from the touch screen, so I could mount it in the back of the FJ, next to the Xbox Elite.

Update and FJ Cruiser Car Computer Photos

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I’ve been really busy lately.  If you are in the communications industry, you know that business is very good and that a lot is happening right now.  I’d love to have the time to comment on it all, but I just can’t right at the moment.

I’m also getting a lot of emails asking what is going on with the FJ Car Computer project.  Besides not having much time, or a heated garage, I’ve been debugging a GPS problem.  The guys at mp3car.com just sent me a new gps receiver and I think that may have fixed the problem, so hopefully in the next few weeks I can move onto the next phase, which will include Vista, more speech recognition and more communications options. 

Without even trying I’ve got the top link for the search on fj cruiser car computer and I’ve made some new friends of people who are wanting to put a computer in their own FJ.  I’m still not ready to write a review of the Infill T3 computer, but I have dumped a bunch of photos in a directory if you want to see what the install looks like.  Sorry, I just don’t have time to make this into a nice slide show right now.

I’ve also dumped my Treo and I’m trying the Motorola Q again.  So far I like that it doesn’t hang or get slow like the Treo did.  Is there anything else out there that I should be looking at?  Yes, I’ll try the iPhone when it comes out just to say I did, but I need more than 40 minutes of battery life.  (I don’t believe the story either, so don’t flame me please.)  I’m also not interested in a Blackberry.

I’m still loving my Zune, and the Zune Pass.  There are signs that both Zune and iTunes could one day be DRM-free, which seems to me to make a lot of sense.  (DRM – digital rights management – the stuff that frustrates honest people and does very little to stop real thieves.)  Remember the story about the guy in WWII who lived because he had a bible in his shirt pocket that stopped the snipper’s bullet?  I will say that this guy will probably never trade his iPod for a Zune or any other mp3 player.

After figuring out why I was getting so many emails about the FJ Car Computer Project, I was curious about what other searches bring up my blog and I just discovered that I also have the top link for speech recognition entrepreneur.  Just so you don’t think I’m taking this too seriously, I also have the top link for entrepreneur knitting needles tsa.  I’m going home now!

Repost of Kansas City to Boulder webcam video

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I’ve been asked to repost the Kansas City to Boulder web cam video that I made last year to YouTube.  While driving the FJ Cruiser from Kansas City to Boulder, I had a web cam running that was looking out the windshield.  Every minute a photo was captured, saved, and at the same time posted to my blog in real-time via an EVDO wireless Internet connection.  When I returned home, I took all of those photos and using Windows Movie Maker, I turned it into about a two minute move.

If you look closely, you can see a Landstar Truck (Hi Marshall), the Largest Prairie Dog in the World Place, the Colorado Border and a rest area just outside of Denver.  Also note that there are plenty of trees between Boulder and Kansas City.  As I said before, the drive was a lot of fun and I especially enjoyed getting off the interstate a few times and exploring the farm towns.  The GPS(s) made that easy.  It was also interesting to listen to the farm report on the AM Radio when I didn’t have an Internet connection and couldn’t listen to Internet Radio.

Here you go . . .

(Hmm, if you don’t see the YouTube video above, then there must still be a problem.  Apparently I posted this just as YouTube took a digger.  I can’t access this video or the YouTube site now, though everything else is working fine.  It could be a problem on my side I guess, but if not . . . Wait – YouTube is now working, just not my video.  Here’s a link to the Soapbox posting, which still seems to be working fine.  While debugging this, I did enjoy the Zebroshow’s reporting of the Boston Terror Scare today.)

For more information on the FJ Cruiser Car Computer project, click here.  Unfortunately I’ve been too busy, and there’s just been too much snow for me to do much to it lately.  It has been great to have the FJ in all of this snow though!

P.S. The music is by Most Tuesdays

Kansas City to Boulder Video

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Several people said they would have liked to have made the drive with me last week when I drove the FJ to Kansas City.  Here’s your chance, compressed down from about 12 hours to a minute and a half.  I had my web cam running all the way back from Kansas City to Boulder, saving a photo once every minute.  Most of the time I had EVDO wireless Internet service and I know of at least a few people who kept track of me by watching the web cam live on www.terrygold.com. It really was a fun trip and not boring at all.

Video: Kansas City to Boulder in the FJ Car Computer

Stopin’ at IHOP

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I got an early start this morning and it has been a really nice drive. The leaves are turning and the air is crisp.

I listened to Internet Radio from Kansas City almost to Hays, which says great things about Verizon’s EVDO coverage. I really didn’t expect to have it work for most of the drive, but it has.

The webcam has been posting on 1 minute intervals and when I get home I’m going to turn the trip into a movie, compressed to a minute or two.

I had a great time at the Kauffman event and I’ll write more about that soon. My pancakes should be here in a moment and then I’ll be back on the road.

made it to kansas

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I just crossed the Kansas / Colorado border and the wind started really blowing. I stopped at the Kansas welcome center for a free cup of coffee and a look at their display of Kansas Artists and businesses. My favorite was the Dirt King which you can read about at www.mcm-ks.com. I wonder if I could get an adult size Dirt King?

Back behind the wheel!