The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

A little while back, Apple TV Hacks posted on a great idea: one of their readers, Brandon Holland, is using an Apple TV as a carputer. He chiefly uses it as an in-car entertainment center, but it also does double duty as a GPS system using the Road Trip plugin which he has now released over at AwkwardTV. It can read GPS data from "any NMEA enabled GPS via a serial connection such as a USB to Serial adapter or a Builtin Serial Port. Map Quest maps are obtained via expedia.com and both USA and Europe maps are availiable and working!" Unfortunately, it doesn't yet store the maps locally so it presently depends a network connection, but Brandon says he's working on it, and soon expects to have it "so that map packs or trips can be cached for a trip."

Obviously you'll have to hack your Apple TV to make this work, but given its small size and power requirements, the Apple TV seems like a great foundation for a carputer.

[via Apple TV Hacks]

I admit it - I have an almost irrational fascination with carputers, particularly Mac mini-based ones. I've always wanted to build one myself, but have been stopped by: A) The lack of time and money, and B) The fact that a carputer would probably be worth more than my jalopy.

While we've mentioned a few nice examples here on TUAW, one of the biggest problems has always been the relative paucity of GPS mapping applications for Mac OS X. RouteBuddy has been the leading GPS solution on the Mac in the Intel age, but it was lacking some important features. Fortunately, version 1.3 adds two biggies: turn-by-turn routing and voice prompts. RouteBuddy supports a variety of GPS devices and map data from Tele Atlas.

Unfortunately, it's not cheap. RouteBuddy itself is $99.50US, not including maps. Maps for a variety of countries are available, with US-only maps costing $49.50. A demo is available which includes a street level map of Sante Fe for testing.

[via MacVroom]

The guys over at EVDOinfo.com have discovered that current Intel Macs already support 3G EVDO cards. Basically what they did is rip the PCI Express Mini Airport wireless card out of a Mac mini and replace it with a previously activated EVDO PCI Express Mini card taken from a Novatel U720 USB EVDO modem. After installing the recent WWAN update (by bypassing the hardware check), the Mac mini recognized the card and established a connection to the Sprint network. They note that this makes the Mac mini an absolutely perfect carputer (except for some antenna issues).

They speculate that this should work on the MacBook (Pro) as well, but obviously nobody wants to lose Airport connectivity to gain WWAN support. However, this does seem to show that there's no technical limitation to adding EVDO connectivity to next generation Mac portables.

[via Digg]

In preparing our recent carputer post, I came across AMP, the Front Row-like touchscreen interface Sam used for his car based Mac. Designed by author Aychamo with an extensible plugin architecture AMP already has plugins allowing you to import and access your iTunes library, movies, and photos. It even sports a mini-web browser and a war driving interface which lists detected Wireless Access Points. The interface seems to be optimized for a 800 x 480 touchscreen display which is common on the 7" LCDs that are often used in carputers. Aychamo already appears to be hard at work on version 2.0 of AMP and more information can be found on the AMP forum at MP3Car.com

I admit it: I'm a sucker for car computers. The mini just makes so much sense for getting your Mac on while cruising down the highway. Sam Garfield has a beautiful take on the mini based carputer in his Subaru WRX. He's using a touch-sensitive 7" LCD with a Front Row like interface called AMP. It really is a professional looking mod; I think my family may need to keep me away from the car for a while so I don't tear it up.

[Via Powerpage]

Bob Borchers, who is the senior director of iPod worldwide product marketing, told CNET that Apple is interested in making the use of iPods in cars much easier. Apple thinks that the mess of cables and such that accompany current solutions can be done better with factory installed iPod option in cars. He did make clear that Apple has no interest in entering the market of iPod car accessories but that Apple is working with third party vendors to make the experience better.

Also of note is Borchers' statement that Apple is very happy that people are turning their Mac minis into carputers.

No word if the Aero 8 will have an iPod dock or built in Mac mini anytime soon.

[via iLounge]

I'm not much of a car guy, in fact I don't even have a drivers license (hey, I live in downtown Philly so I don't need a car), so it takes a lot to get me excited about cars.

This Prius has overcome my apathy towards cars. A clever person has loaded their Prius with a Mac mini. We have seen such carputers before, but this is a particularly slick integration. A touch screen and Front Row work side by side to impress even the most jaded of passengers.

Best of all? There are videos of it in action on the owner's website. Almost makes me want to get a car. Almost.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

I have no idea what it equals but this guy wants to find out. Many people put Macs in their cars, for a number of reasons (though mostly it boils down to: because I can), the DeLorean Mac mini integration has one unique aspect to it: the screen. Actually, there is no screen, but rather a projector that projects the image from the Mac mini to the underside of the hood. A clever way to make sure that you never operate the computer while driving (that isn't safe for anyone, especially not in a car that can time travel).

Check out the pictures, and the podcast and rejoice in the fact that this post contains only one lame 'Back to the Future' joke.

Thanks, starlightmica.

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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

carputer posts

Road Trip GPS plugin for Apple TV

RouteBuddy 1.3 adds turn-by-turn routing and voice prompts

Current Intel Macs already support EVDO PCI Express Mini card

AMP: Front Row-like Touchscreen Interface

Found Footage: Subaru carputer

Apple wants more iPod ready cars

Mac mini in a Prius

DeLorean + Mac mini equals ?

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