Wireless Wonders

No news, just comment about mobile phones and services, from a veteran practitioner...3G, GPRS, WAP, Bluetooth, WiFi, etc...

Thursday, September 14, 2006

WiFi enabled car...

Contrary to my previous post about car kits for mobile music (including ipods), I realised a simpler solution, at least it seems simpler. Why not allow the car radio to sync with my music library via WiFi? Every night it could "wake-up" and download any new tracks from my PC via WiFi, then I don't have to mess around with any devices.

Of course, DRM protection of the music is a potential problem, but not an insurmountable one. Not sure about other houses, but certainly my car on my drive is within the WiFi hotspot around my home.

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Social Networking with a Mobile...

With all the various networking tools (e.g. Linked In) and other ways to interact with each other via the Web, it seems an obvious idea to extend this to the mobile. It would be great to allow swapping of "business cards" via Bluetooth, which is already possible, but to allow Web services to tag themselves on to the card. For example, if I'm in Linked In, then by swapping a business card with another Linked In user, the Linked In service would be able to detect this swap and make a link. An app on the phone could detect business cards and pass this up to a network service which does the necessary "registration" with Linked In.

The idea need not be limited to swapping via Bluetooth. Users who connect via any means, such as IM, could swap cards.

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100 ideas e-book coming soon...

Apologies to those still waiting for the e-book of the 100 ideas. It's in the pipeline. I want to add notes to the original postings in light of any developments in the industry or further reflections, so it isn't just a cut-and-paste from my blog. I anticipate finishing this by end of October.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Mobiles and Car Radios

I recently bought a Harman Kardon - Drive+Play (HKDP) ipod adaptor for my car radio. It works with factory-fitted radios via a wired RF injection, the auxiliary input or via a CD changer interface, if one exists and is compatible. The HKDP has its own user interface, including a thumbwheel that works in a similar fashion to one on the ipod. There's also an external LCD display that can be conveniently located on the dashboard to enabler easier and safer operation. The ipod itself sits on a cable in the glovebox (or nearby wherever the main HKDP "brains unit" is fitted).

It struck me that there don't appear to be any similar adaptors to enable music-capable mobiles to play through the car stereo. In fact, given the fiddly nature of many mobile phones, trying to play music in the car would be a challenge without something like a HKPD with its auxiliary display and thumbwheel.

There needs to be a standard interface to hook up mobile phones with car radios to enable:

1. Music playthrough
2. Easy hands-free operation
3. Use of auxiliary controls (e.g. steering wheel audio controls)
4. Trickle charging

Given the mobile's historical connections with car radios, this seems to be a neglected part of the story in recent years. Perhaps Motorola need to go back to making car radios to show us how it's done - an integrated user experience with the mobile would be nice thanks!

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