First iPad car installation
April 5, 2010 4:31 PM   Subscribe

 


Nth iPad flagged.
posted by DU at 4:37 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


First iPad in blender.

willpex4232: Don't you have anything better to do?
Blendtec (uploader): @willpex4232 Not really.

Ha.
posted by Adam_S at 4:38 PM on April 5, 2010 [15 favorites]


Pimpin!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:40 PM on April 5, 2010


Because the TV in the middle of the dashboard before just wasn't distracting enough.

Speaking of distracting, what's with the installer's Wolfman Jack look?
posted by bearwife at 4:40 PM on April 5, 2010


This is the best ideal ever.
posted by djduckie at 4:41 PM on April 5, 2010


Too bad there aren't any I/O ports so that you could hook it up to the ODB II port on the car. Does the iPad support Bluetooth SPP?
posted by GuyZero at 4:42 PM on April 5, 2010


First iPad in puppet hands.
posted by JaredSeth at 4:43 PM on April 5, 2010


Hmm, that is pretty cool.
posted by delmoi at 4:43 PM on April 5, 2010


Too bad there aren't any I/O ports so that you could hook it up to the ODB II port on the car.

You could probably hook up an ODB II USB or nine-pin DIN port scanner through the external accessory port. You'd have to write some software and it wouldn't be easy, but it doesn't seem impossible.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:52 PM on April 5, 2010


You'd have to write some software...

uh.
posted by DU at 4:55 PM on April 5, 2010 [6 favorites]


My reaction to this is, oddly, the exact same as my reaction to the iPad itself: After reading about it, I thought 'Why would I ever conceivably want that?' and then looking at it and saying 'That looks really fucking cool.'
posted by shakespeherian at 5:04 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]


Jim Lee's iPad fingerpaintings
posted by Artw at 5:06 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


$99 iPhone ODB-II and I wish I had not seen that, because now I want it.
posted by fixedgear at 5:08 PM on April 5, 2010 [5 favorites]


I'm confused, I mean the iPad is obviously designed primarily as a cocaine consumption platform with some other bells and whistles, and how will you be able to blow lines off it when it's stuck upright?
posted by mullingitover at 5:13 PM on April 5, 2010 [8 favorites]


He's a kind of greaser nerd
posted by mert at 5:16 PM on April 5, 2010




Hmm. Cool, but how do you get more content in it other than the iTunes store? I hope it's easily removable to sync with their Mac/PC.
posted by danherwig at 5:22 PM on April 5, 2010


It's OBD-II.
ODB is this guy.
posted by rocket88 at 5:22 PM on April 5, 2010 [3 favorites]


I think it's a nice idea, but the execution might leave something to be desired. The ODB sync as was previously mentioned, as well as a slide mount with a docking port, both for security reasons and so you can sync it with your desktop iTunes, etc.
posted by spacely_sprocket at 5:26 PM on April 5, 2010


metafilter: the next ipad hangout...
posted by infini at 5:30 PM on April 5, 2010




$99 iPhone ODB-II and I wish I had not seen that, because now I want it.

Huh. Who knew?
posted by GuyZero at 5:45 PM on April 5, 2010


All that's missing is a KITT-2000 AI app.

"Michael, sensors indicate that you should take the next exit."
posted by i_have_a_computer at 5:47 PM on April 5, 2010


How shitty would it be to have a not-3g-wifi-only ipad in a car?
posted by Threeway Handshake at 5:50 PM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]


I couldn't listen to the audio since I'm at work, but this raises some questions:
- How does it get charged? If it's always plugged in, that would be bad for the battery, and if you don't drive enough then it would drain while the car was off.
- Can you disable the screen lock on the ipad? Can't on the ipod, and that is a pretty bad experience while driving.
- This needs 3g to work at all.

I give it an A for looks and an F for being well thought out as a car appliance.
posted by jewzilla at 5:51 PM on April 5, 2010


- How does it get charged? If it's always plugged in, that would be bad for the battery, and if you don't drive enough then it would drain while the car was off.

Why would always being plugged in be bad for the battery? Like most rechargeable devices including phones and laptops, once the battery is full the charging circuit cuts out. You're drawing from the DC-in only. And if it's a dedicated in-car appliance, you don't much care about the condition of the battery anyway. A lithium battery is good for several years in storage, and while it's not considered ideal to store them fully charged, you don't really care if for purposes of your application you're always running it off the DC-in.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:59 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


The iPad is a swing and a miss for automotive applications, IMO. It's too big for most people (need a device sized in between the iPhone and iPad -- ideally double DIN), the interface is too fiddly for a driver (little icons, you gotta unlock it every time you start up, there's no thought put into driver safety, no locked out video playback, etc.), there is almost zero integration with automotive systems (HVAC, backup cameras, OBD-II+), it doesn't multi-task (yet) so you can't stream internet audio (e.g., Pandora, Slacker) while you're navigatin', etc., etc., etc.

But it's so close you can almost taste it. It's got a great touch screen, a stable OS, and a mobile internet link that's going to obsolete lesser devices pretty quickly, including GPSes, radar detectors, and satellite radio.

Apple needs to get into the auto market, in ernest, ASAP!
posted by LordSludge at 6:01 PM on April 5, 2010


I wonder how long it will take until there's a first car accident while fucking around with the first iPad installed in your car.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:07 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


Threeway Handshake: "How shitty would it be to have a not-3g-wifi-only ipad in a car?"

That was my first though too, but you could pair it with a MiFi or Overdrive style device and get Internet connectivity that way.
posted by aerotive at 6:11 PM on April 5, 2010


Apple needs to get into the auto market, in ernest, ASAP!

He hooked an iPad up to a McIntosh so this is close.
posted by hal9k at 6:27 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm too afraid to search for that at work, but has anyone posted photos/videos of using an iPad as a pad yet? Bonus points if they use inoffensive blue liquid. Super-bonus points if they feature someone comfortably riding a bike as if it simply were not there.
posted by qvantamon at 6:36 PM on April 5, 2010


$149 wifi OBDII dongle.
posted by fixedgear at 6:40 PM on April 5, 2010


First iPad car installation...to be followed by the first iPad fatality?
posted by alexei at 6:51 PM on April 5, 2010


Show me the first iPad em dash and I'll perk up. Cars do little for me but I can obsess over typography for hours.
posted by Babblesort at 7:34 PM on April 5, 2010


As soon as I first saw video of the iPad going through it's paces I had a feeling it's real potential was not an awkward laptop or unusually heavy e-reader, but as a smooth-as-silk generic touch interface to custom hardware, like mixing boards, DMX lighting, machinery control, etc. I read someone from Ontario drove to Buffalo the first day they went on sale to purchase several for elevator diagnosis and servicing. They had already finished writing the controller app days earlier.
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:35 PM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]


This is so badass. He can listen to Pandora in his garage using his home wifi!

Totally worth the 500 bucks.
posted by special-k at 7:39 PM on April 5, 2010


gratuitous self-link: first known LEGO iPad stand.
posted by verb at 7:47 PM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]


Next: First iPad in crash.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:32 PM on April 5, 2010


real potential was not an awkward laptop or unusually heavy e-reader, but as a smooth-as-silk generic touch interface to custom hardware, like mixing boards, DMX lighting, machinery control, etc.

AC-7 PRO: DAW Control Surface For iPad
posted by ericthegardener at 8:40 PM on April 5, 2010


fourcheesemac: “First iPad to be hacked for root access. F**k yeah!”

Beautiful! Now I want to see Debian on that motherfucker. Get to it, gents!
posted by koeselitz at 8:56 PM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]


Start the countdown to smashed car window, destroyed dashboard.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 9:02 PM on April 5, 2010


GuyZero: “Too bad there aren't any I/O ports so that you could hook it up to the ODB II port on the car. Does the iPad support Bluetooth SPP?”

Indeed. I like to use the ODB II port most of all because it tends to preserve the "natural flow" of the music.
posted by koeselitz at 9:10 PM on April 5, 2010


First iPad in blender .
posted by Western Infidels at 4:35 PM on April 5


What's astonishing about that is while he's smashing it to get it to fit in the blender, there's a point at which the screen is fractured into thousands of pieces and he's bashed about a 30-degree bend into it, and suddenly you can see that the virtual keyboard has come on (portrait mode). That keyboard is fully software, which means at that point the iPad is still at least roughly functional. Either that is one fantastically durable device, or it's a mockup with a transparency under the glass. I sort of doubt the latter.

I just hope the pulverized dust he dumps out in the end doesn't give him cancer or some hideous respiratory ailment; he wasn't wearing breathing protection. I wouldn't have done it without a full hazmat suit with a positive-pressure air supply.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:48 AM on April 6, 2010


I hope the car has good air conditioning, because there have been reports of iPads overheating in the sun.
posted by FreezBoy at 6:13 AM on April 6, 2010


I hope the car has good air conditioning, because there have been reports of iPads overheating in the sun.

Ouch. Good thing I'm waiting for a second gen model...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:45 AM on April 6, 2010


Beyond OBD-II applications, I'd love to see this used to display real time engine and driving data (could the accelerometer be used to calculate cornering Gs, for instance?) and eventually used to control spark and fuel distribution on the fly in home-built engine management systems like MegaSpark. That'd be cool as snot, and it'd sure show up those hosers in their fancy GT-Rs.
posted by saladin at 8:38 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]




Let me just say that it's pretty easy to confuse OBD and ODB, OK? Alos, bda tpying.
posted by GuyZero at 10:02 AM on April 6, 2010 [1 favorite]


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