Car PC Hacks Review

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(More customer reviews)This is not a book about how to hack the controllers in your car's engine to make it go fast, burn different fuel mixtures, etc. Just like the title says, it is about car computers-and this means everything from actual onboard computers, to audio and video configurations. Like the other books in the "Hack" series, this is not a long narrative about Car PCs, it is simply a book full of 75 projects arranged by topic. Some of the tamer projects include installing headrest video screens, listening to email on the road once you've rigged up your computer to receive free wi-fi, installing a back-up camera and screen, receiving satellite TV, and rigging a free GPS-based navi-system. Of course, since all this stuff is power-heavy, there's also a bunch of hacks on how to strengthen your car's electrical system. To give you an idea, one of the hacks shows how to install a heavier-duty alternator. Throughout the book there are plenty of instructive diagrams, cross references to other relevant hacks in the book, and lots of links to web addresses where further instruction and freeware can be found.
There are seven chapters in Car PC Hacks, each covering a different way to turn your car into a functioning computer with cupholders. Amazon does not show the complete list of hacks, so I do that here:
Chapter 1. Car Power Basics
1. Understand Car Electrical Systems
2. Prevent Electrical Fires
3. Gauge Your Wires
4. Connect Your Wires
5. Calculate Your Car's Battery Life
6. Upgrade Your Car Battery
7. Add New Power Connectors Throughout Your Car
8. Use a Huge Capacitor to Sustain Power
9. Upgrade Your Car's Alternator
10. Add a Second Car Battery
11. Put Home Power Outlets in Your Car
Chapter 2. Automotive Audio Entertainment
12. Get a Headful About Your Car Audio
13. Install a New Head Unit
14. Get Computer Audio into Your Head Unit
15. Amp Up Your Computer Audio
16. Make a Very Cheap AUX-in
17. Reduce Your Audio System's Noise
18. Control Your iPod with Your Car Stereo Knobs
19. Tune Your PC for Radio Reception
20. Record Radio Shows
21. Listen to Email, Weblogs, and RSS Feeds on the Road
22. Find Out What Was Playing on the Radio
Chapter 3. Automotive Video Entertainment
23. Understand Video Connectors
24. Choose Your Screens
25. Install a Headrest Screen
26. Install a VGA Touchscreen in Your Dashboard
27. Install a Sun Visor Screen
28. Install a Motorized Fold-out Screen
29. Install a Fold-Down Ceiling-Mounted Screen
30. Supersize Your Fold-Down LCD Screen
31. Turn Your Laptop into a Fold-Down or Dashboard Screen
32. Connect a Car PC to Your Factory Screen
33. Install a Rearview Mirror Screen and Camera
34. Boost Your Video Signal for Multiple Screens
35. Customize Each Passenger's Video
36. Tune in TV in the Car
37. Receive Satellite TV While Driving
38. Play DVDs with Your in-Car Computer
39. Put Multi-Channel DVD Surround Sound in Your Car
40. Install a Video Game Console Computer in Your Car
Chapter 4. In-Car Computers
41. Choose an in-Car PC Hardware Platform
42. Power Your Car PC
43. Start Up and Shut Down Your Car PC
44. Reduce the Boot Time of Your in-Car Computer
45. Keep Your Computer on During Engine Cranking
46. Turn On Your Car Computer Before You Start Your Car
47. Boot Your Car Computer on a Schedule
48. Choose an in-Car PC Software Platform
49. Install Windows on a CompactFlash Card
50. Power Your Portable Devices in the Car
51. Install USB Ports in Your Car
52. Build an in-Car PC
53. Build an in-Car Macintosh
54. Install a Mac Mini in Your Car
Chapter 5. Car PC Interface Options
55. Control Your Car PC with a Keyboard and Mouse
56. Control Your Car PC with a Handheld Remote
57. Control Your Car PC with a Touchscreen
58. Car-Enable Clunky Applications
59. Listen to What Your Car Computer Is Saying
60. Control Your Car PC with Voice Recognition
61. Find More Ways to Control Your in-Car Computer
Chapter 6. Wireless Connectivity and in-Car Internet
62. Get Online in Your Car
63. Make Your Mobile Phone Hands-Free with Your Car PC
64. Transfer Data to and from Your Car PC
65. View Real-Time Traffic Data on the Road
66. Videoconference from Your Car
67. Use GPS on Your Car PC
68. Find WiFi Hotspots on the Road
Chapter 7. In-Car Applications
69. Plug into Your Car's Built-in Computer
70. Put a Video Jukebox in Your Car Theater
71. Choose Your in-Car Navigation Software
72. Play Thousands of Games by Emulating Video Game Consoles
73. Use CENTRAFUSE as Your Car PC Frontend
74. Use Neocar Media Center as Your Car PC Frontend
75. Use FrodoPlayer as Your Car PC Frontend


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A car PC or carputer is a car tricked-out with electronics for playing radio, music and DVD movies, connecting to the Internet, navigating and tracking with satellite, taking photos, and any electronic gadget a person wants in a car. All these devices are managed and controlled through a single screen or interface. The only place car PC enthusiasts can go for advice, tips and tools is a handful of hard-to-find Web sites--until now. Car PC Hacks is your guide into the car PC revolution.

Packing MP3 players, handheld devices, computers and video-on-demand systems gives you a pile too heavy to carry. But add a car and put them together, you've got a powerful and mobile multimedia center requiring no lifting. The next time you give kids a lift, you won't hear, "Are we there yet?" Instead, expect "We're there already?" as they won't want to leave the car while playing video games from multiple consoles.

Car PC Hacks is the first book available to introduce and entrench you into this hot new market. You can count on the book because it hails from O'Reilly, a trusted resource for technical books. Expect innovation, useful tools, and fun experiments that you've come to expect from O'Reilly's Hacks Series.

Maybe you've hacked computers and gadgets, and now you're ready to take it to your car. If hacking is new and you would like to mix cars and computers, this book gets you started with its introduction to the basics of car electrical systems. Even when you're unclear on the difference between amps and watts, expect a clear explanation along with real-life examples to get on track. Whether you're venturing into car PC for the first time or an experienced hobbyist, hop in the book for a joy ride.

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Big Book of Windows Hacks Review

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(More customer reviews)§
Despite Microsoft's claims that their vaunted "focus groups" and client experience consultants have allowed them to offer us painless computing, you and the rest of the world know it isn't true. Waiting for Windows XP or Vista to boot up and shut down certainly are irritations in themselves worth a hack or two.
As you can imagine, this is a large book. That is not just the number of pages (650) but also the format -- of the fold-flat variety. This big book of hacks is easy to work with physically.
The editorial review on this page describes the contents well except that I would alter "contains more than 100 hacks" to "contains almost 200 hacks." Quite a difference.
The writing is clear and informed. I'm sure you have read many of Gralla's magazine contributions over the years. Be sure that the book is not all text. There are plenty of illustrations and even photos (for the hardware hacks) to guide you. The hacks themselves are directed at all versions of Windows, with the focus on XP and Vista.
Consider this book a compendium of all those tips you always rip out of your computer magazine subscriptions to save -- then lose track of. Here they are, all in one place, not easily lost given the size of this book!
§

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Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things: How to Turn a Penny into a Radio, Make a Flood Alarm with an Aspirin, Change Milk into Plastic, Extract Water and ... a TV with Your Ring, and Other Amazing Feats Review

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(More customer reviews)This book isn't / doesn't include 1500 uses for vinegar or how toothpaste gets rid of pimples.
Nope, this book and it's sequel (Sneakier Uses ... ) is chock full of simple gadgets and science experiments you can build in your home using coins, magnets, leaves, etc. Any boy and a lot of girls would love to spend time with a parent, uncle/aunt or godparent putting this Spy Stuff/Survival Equipment/Home Security Systems together.
Included are sneaky sources of power (a battery using coins or fruit); how to scavenge wire (to connect your sneaky battery to something); how to use Mother Nature to help you survive in the wilderness; build radios, amplifiers and wireless microphones (baby monitor?); lights, alarms, telescope. There is also a "Green Lantern" magic ring to control the objects you make.
So let's see: Build useful stuff for the home, office, outdoors; spend time with your kids; teach them some science, creativity, frugality, recycling, how to protect themselves, how to survive. That makes this quite a full package.
When I let one youngster read the table of contents it elicited a series of "ooo's" from him. But you can judge for yourself by using the "Search Inside" feature above.
Just the entry on making your own form-fitting ice pack to place on your strains and sprains makes it worth the price!
As for some previous comments, they are cynical and have no soul and no imagination. They knock the book as nothing more than common sense. I'd like to have seen one make a radio from a toilet paper roll and a penny with no directions, just common sense. I've got a fairly broad science background and it wouldn't occur to me, particularly not in a pinch of, say, no electricity due to approaching hurricane and I want to hear the warning broadcast. Using a plastic bag and plants to get drinking water is common sense? As for web sites, who is going to think: "Gee, I need to fix the chip in this picture frame. I've got some milk. Maybe I can log on and find a web site that will tell me how to make a maleable plastic compound out of milk." Common sense just isn't all that common, anyway.

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Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things is a valuable resource for transforming ordinary objects into the extraordinary. With over 80 solutions and bonus applications at your disposal, you will be ready for almost any situation.Do you know how to make something that can tell whether the $20 bill in your wallet is a fake? Or how to generate battery power with simple household items? Or how to create your own home security system? Science-savvy author Cy Tymony does. And now you can learn how to create these things and more than 40 other handy gadgets and gizmos in Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things. More than a simple do-it-yourself guide, this quirky collection is a valuable resource for transforming ordinary objects into the extraordinary. With over 80 solutions and bonus applications at your disposal, you will be ready for almost any situation. Included are survival, security, self-defense, and silly applications that are just plain fun. You'll be seen as a superhero as you amaze your friends by:* Transforming a simple FM radio into a device that enables you to eavesdrop on tower-to-air conversations.* Creating your own personalized electronic greeting cards.* Making a compact fire extinguisher from items typically found in a kitchen pantry.* Thwarting intruders with a single rubber band.By using run-of-the-mill household items and the easy-to-follow instructions and diagrams within, you'll be able to complete most projects in just a few minutes. Whether you use Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things as a practical tool to build useful devices, a fun little fantasy escape, or as a trivia guide to impress friends and family, this book is sure to be a reference favorite for years to come.

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Smart Home Automation with Linux (Expert's Voice in Linux) Review

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(More customer reviews)You can easily invest a lot of time and money into Home Automation (HA) projects only to find they don't work as anticipated. This book records the extensive experience of the author in HA and a hence could be a good investment to help you avoid or at least reduce frustration and improve your chances of successfully and enjoyably harnessing hardware and software to improve your quality of life. To gain the maximum benefit from this book, you need to be competent at installing hardware and wiring it up as well as doing web page development and scripting. Linux/Open Source Software is the main HA vehicle covered for a number of reasons- the inheritance from Unix of applications doing one thing and doing it well, the ability to use scripts to integrate key applications, and finally the ability to customise applications to your needs due to the ready availablity of source code. While there are plenty of illustrative snippets of code throughout the book, there are no complete examples provided, nor are copies of the source code provided from the publisher's site. You may find this acceptable given everyone's home automation solutions are unique, but I'm sure many would appreciate seeing how a HA solution is integrated. Then again, perhaps the author was concerned about the security risk to his HA implementation! To the author's credit, security concerns are regularly addressed throughout the book. Comprising just 7 chapters, with no appendices and an adequate index, this book still does a commendable job of covering the many aspects anyone planning HA needs to consider before investing in any hardware.
The first chapter jumps straight into how to use X10 hardware to control electrical appliances and lighting with plenty of practical information for those interested in setting up their home using this protocol. Other competing or complementary techniques, i.e. C-Bus, Ethernet and InfraRed are also briefly covered.
Chapter 2 looks at how to hack appliances such as game consoles, Linux powered WiFi Routers and NAS devices (with particular attention given to the Slug aka NSLU2, laptops, Arduino, Lego Mindstorms) and includes links to relevant hacking sites.
Media has chapter 3 dedicated to it; how to source your media, extract, store, distribute and control it.
Considerations on the best way to wire your home and locate servers and access points are covered in chapter 4, based on the more difficult two storey dwelling scenario. Irrespective of your dwelling construction, there are plenty of points raised in this chapter for consideration to help you implement a reliable, non-intrusive and reasonably secure HA solution.
Chapter 5 covers the various communications technologies that can be used to good effect for your HA implementation, with IP Telephony (Skype and Asterisk), email, voice, web access, and SMS all included. Techiques on how to process email, web and SMS based communications are covered, including suggestions on how to reduce the risk of security breaches.
I found chapter 6 on Data Sources particularly interesting, with the author covering ownership and the associated legal issues with personal use and how these become even more restrictive with family use and wider distribution. The chapter then goes on to look at how you can collect useful public data to assist your daily life, such as access to public transport time tables, traffic, weather, TV and Radio content and how you can use these with private data from calendars, webmail, Twitter and Facebook for personal automation.
Of particular interest for those skilled in coding, the final chapter covers how to integrate HA technologies with Minerva, showing in detail how to configure Minerva and its components to provide a secure HA solution that requires minimal maintenance by using device and application abstractions.
While there are no appendices, the book has an adequate index, but the real gems can best be found by reading through the book. Thanks to a reference in chapter 6, I finally found some Linux logging software for my weather station!

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Every amateur and professional Linux user in the world has the opportunity to remotely control their home and the gadgets in their home, and this book shows them how! A practical look by Steven Goodwin, the man behind the Minerva home automation suite. With large numbers of people now using Linux on netbooks in their homes, there is a huge audience for home automation using Linux.

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Podcasting Hacks: Tips and Tools for Blogging Out Loud Review

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(More customer reviews)This is one of those books that aren't meant to be read cover to cover. Skim through it, though, because otherwise you might miss out on some great tips -- especially if you think you know it all about podcasting.
The book starts out with some great basic information --how to listen to podcasts. I think a lot of people forget this part -- they hear about podcasting, listen to a couple (usually Adam Curry), and jump right in. And you can tell, because their podcasts sound like it. You have to read before you can write, and you have to listen before you can podcast. Then you get some basic tips about your first show, and sounding professional. These first two sections should be read by everyone, especially those getting ready to start their first podcast.
After recording your first podcast, listen to it critically. Then take a look at the table of contents of this book, and find out what you can do to make it better. Chapter 3 tells how to set up a home studio (with little expense) and control noise. Chapter 4 talks about something that I hadn't even thought of -- establishing a format for your show. I spent a lot of time in college at the campus radio station (9-10 AM weekdays, 10-11 Friday nights), so I am familliar with formatting, so I did it almost subconsciously with my own podcast. It does make things go a lot smoother when you're recording -- you don't have to sit thinking "What's next?" all the time.
Chapter 7 is another one that everyone should read -- Publicity. You podcast to be heard, so you should know what to do to be heard. I thought I had my bases covered here, but I got a few other ideas that I'm getting ready to try out on my own podcast.
The book is full of good advice for podcasters of all levels. They actually went out and talked to podcasters and technology folks to get some great ideas. That's the real benefit of this book -- they talked to these people so you don't have to spend a lot of time researching. They've tested out the microphones and mixers. And they're willing to tell you when an inespensive solution works as well (if not better) than spending a lot of money on better equipment. I'd love to have a Pro Tools setup for my podcast, but until I get a lot more money saved up (or someone decides to donate), I'll be using the headset microphone and Audacity to do my own podcast. But this book has shown me a lot of things that can improve my podcast now, and has given me a few things to shoot for later.

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Podcasting does for Internet audio listeners what TiVo does for television viewers--it puts you in charge of when you enjoy a program. Podcasting is a web-based broadcast medium that sends audio content (most commonly in the MP3 format) directly to an iPod or other digital audio player. You subscribe to audio feeds, receive new files automatically, and listen to them at your convenience.

As you can imagine, podcasting is taking the "blogsphere" by storm. A podcast is a professional-quality Internet radio broadcast, and like blogging and HTML before it, this revolutionary new way of publishing to the Internet has become the new outlet for personal expression.

If you've got Internet access and a copy of Podcasting Hacks, you can find out just how easy it is to listen to and create your own Internet audio programs. With Podcasting Hacks, Jack Herrington, a software engineer with 20 years of experience developing applications using a diverse set of languages and tools, delivers the ultimate how-to of podcasting for anyone looking to get the most out of this hot new medium.

Since August 2004 (the month that iPodder.com editor Adam Curry considers the start of podcasting), audio blogging has exploded. Podcasts cover every conceivable topic, including sex, relationships, technology, religion, home brewing, recreational drugs, rock 'n roll, food, entertainment, politics, and much more. There were podcasts from the Democratic National Convention in Fall 2004, and some programs on Air America and NPR are also podcasts.

Podcasting Hacks offers expert tips and tools for blogging out loud--for transmitting (and receiving) audio content worldwide with ease. This groundbreaking volume covers both entry-level and advanced topics perfect for aspiring and experienced podcasters. Herrington shows you how to get started, create quality sound, use the right software, develop a great show, distribute a podcast, and build an audience. More advanced topics include audio editing, podcasting on the go, and even videocasting.

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Wi-Fi Toys: 15 Cool Wireless Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment (ExtremeTech) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was hoping that this book would help me boost my Wi-Fi signal around the house, since the reception downstairs is a little weak. Well, it did show me how to boost my signal - for up to 20 miles! Ok, seriously, long distance wi-fi is one of the 15 projects in this book, but my solution was actually in building the high-gain antenna project in chapter 4, which did indeed solve my reception problems.
The book is very well written, and has plenty of photos to guide you along the way. The projects are definately cool, and there are plenty to keep us geek types busy.
If you are using wireless networking, I would encourage you to take a look at this book.

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This ultra-cool volume invites readers to tap into your inner geek and build seventeen ultra-cool wireless devices including a solar powered access point, a wireless picture frame that dynamically changes its own photos, and even a wireless car-to-car audio and video system
With a few simple tools, some off-the-shelf parts, and this book, readers will be creating wireless devices they never thought were possible-toys that certainly can't be found at the local computer store
Written by the cofounder and members of the Southern California Wireless Users Group, this book provides readers with hands-on instruction and insider tips and tricks from those who are on the bleeding edge of wireless technology
New addition to the ExtremeTech line of books-books for serious technophiles

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