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Paul's Time Sink

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Parrot 3200-LS

Paul Westbrook | 11 July, 2008 02:24

Parrot 3200-LSSince is is now a requirement to use hands-free devices for use in cars, I started to look for a solution for our van.  I wanted to find something that would connect to the main headunit, where it would automatically mute the audio, to allow the call audio to be heard.  Also, I wanted the device, when installed, to look releatively stock. The Parrot 3200-LS looked like it would work perfectly.  

I had it installed a few weeks ago, and the install looks nice.  It was easy to configure with my Samsung iSCH-760.  On the Parrot, I went into the setting menu for pairing, and selected Windows CE, and the Parrot displayed a password.  Then on my phone, I searched for Bluetooth devices, and then selected the Parrot 3200-LS.  Once paired, the phone numbers on my phone automatically appeared on the Parrot 3200-LS, so I could select phone numbers directly from the Parrot's interface.

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MSN Direct

Paul Westbrook | 06 April, 2008 22:17

I have been using the Nuvi 680 for several months.  One of the reasons that I bought it was for the traffic information provided by MSN Direct.  I have been unimpressed with the quality of the data.  There are several problems:

  1. There are many areas that don't have coverage.  For example, when driving from San Jose to Sacramento, as soon as we left the local area there was no coverage. Unfortunately, we encountered a traffic delay that we could have been routed around.
  2. Many of the roads that I travel on to and from work are not included in the MSN Direct data.  I only have seen information on interstates and state and US highways.
  3. The data seems to be stale. I have had many occasions when the Nuvi stated that there was a delay, when the delay had already cleared up.

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Nuvi 680 update

Paul Westbrook | 07 January, 2008 20:25

I have been using the Garmin Nuvi 680 for a while now, and I do like it.  There are some things that I don't like about it. 

  1. You can't specify a number destinations and have the Nuvi calculate the best route to all of them.  You can only specify a destination and a single "via point"
  2. You can't specify a road to avoid when routing.  For example, there is no way for you to specify that you want to avoid a particular highway on your route
  3. The traffic alerts do not indicate the time that they were last updated.  It is impossible for you to determine how likely a alert is to still be a problem.
  4. The microphone on the unit, when mounted on the dash is near the windshield.  So, when it is raining out side, it is hard for the other person on the line to hear you.

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Garmin Nuvi 680

Paul Westbrook | 31 December, 2007 21:37

For a little while, I have been looking for a GPS unit for my car.  I didn't want to buy a new stereo, so I was mainly interested in a portable unit.  I also was interested in one that had traffic information available, as our current one in our van doesn't, and it doesn't help when the route takes you through a traffic jam.

I settled on the Garmin Nuvi 680 because it has some key features:

  • Handsfree bluetooth profile (including displaying phone address book
  • traffic information. (The Nuvi 680 using MSN Direct for this information.  This allows the expected time delay to be displayed on the unit.)
  • MP3 player

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TomTom "real world" navigation

Paul Westbrook | 13 July, 2007 16:03

Crave has a post that mentions a patent that TomTom has filed for some some interesting technology.  This patent application describes a navigation unit that displays navigation directions overlaid over video of the surrounding area.

This would allow the arrows that indicate where to turn to be overlaid over the the roads themselves.

I do wonder how funny this will look when the navigation unit looses sync with the GPS satellite.  Will the arrows indicate driving into storefronts?

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Nissan Altima Hybrid review

Paul Westbrook | 30 June, 2007 21:56

Here is a review of the 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid.

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Eclipse Area Shot GPS

Paul Westbrook | 17 June, 2007 22:42

Eclipse Cd5100As I have written before (1, 2, 3, 4) , I am would like to get a single-DIN GPS head unit that is able to control an iPod, satellite radio tuner and can be used for hands free phone calls.  Yesterday, I was just browsing around and I found The Eclipse CD5100.

This head unit has some pretty cool features:

  1. HD radio ready (with an external tuner)
  2. iPod control capable (with iPod adapter cable)
  3. Satellite radio ready (with an external tuner)
  4. USB port, to allow playback of WMA and MP3 files.

The one feature that I wasn't sure of is called Area Shot GPS.  After looking into it, I know that I wouldn't want this head unit.

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Car Talk on iTunes

Paul Westbrook | 06 June, 2007 11:25

CartalkNPR's Car Talk is now available on the iTunes Store as a podcast.  This makes listening to the show on your iPod easier than this hint.

[via Autoblog]

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New Navigation Mode

Paul Westbrook | 24 May, 2007 23:36

Yesterday, it cost $50 to fill up our van with gas.  This got me thinking that I should be using our navigation system to help reduce our gas usage.  The navigation unit will give the most direct route to the destination, so this should reduce mileage.

The only problem with this solution is that the route doesn't take into account whether the route is the most efficient for our car.  For example, the most direct route may be on city streets, while our car may not get the best mileage on those roads.

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links for 2007-05-15

Paul Westbrook | 15 May, 2007 02:21

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Ferrari F1 cars

Paul Westbrook | 24 March, 2007 00:28

This is a pretty cool commercial for Shell, where various historic Ferrari Formula 1 cars are racing through cities around the world.

This is making me look forward to the San Jose Grand Prix this summer.  (I know that Formula 1 is not the same as Champ Car.)

[via Autoblog]

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Traffic on Google Maps

Paul Westbrook | 01 March, 2007 13:20

Google Maps just added real-time traffic data to their maps.  With a quick glance, you can tell which roads are congested.  To view this information while looking at a map or at driving directions, all you need to do is click on the "Traffic" button.

There are a couple of features that I would love to see added:

  1. When the returned driving directions use roads that are showing slow traffic, there should be an option to regenerate directions to avoid those roads.
  2. When viewing driving directions, there should be a "Notify of Traffic Problems" button.  When you click this button, you would be able to enter your cell phone number.  Now, if any of the roads included in the driving directions experiences a slow down, a text message would be sent to your cell phone, with that warning.

[via Google Operating System]

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VoomPC

Paul Westbrook | 03 February, 2007 22:34

VoompcThe VoomPC looks like a computer that I would love to install in my car, when ever I have the time and money.  It has a 1.5GHz x86 processor, USB 2.0, FireWire Ethernet, PCMCIA and CardBus ports.  In addition, it has VGA and S-Video outputs.

If I were to install something like this, this is what I would include

  1. VoomPC, running Linux
  2. EVDO CardBus card for network access
  3. USB GPS receiver
  4. Google Earth Plus for displaying current position (It doesn't apper that Google earth will do turn-by-turn directions.)
  5. 4" - 7" touch screen custom mounted into dash.
  6. USB XM radio receiver

[via Gizmodo]

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JVC KD-NX5000

Paul Westbrook | 13 January, 2007 15:41

Jvx-Nx5000One of the problems with after market navigation systems, is that they require an external, often flip out, monitor.  There have been several headunits only available in Europe that integrate a navigation unit into a single-DIN headunit.  For example, the Blaupunkt Travelpilot, and the Harman/Kardon Traffic Pro are mainly available in Europe.

The JVC ND-NX5000 is a single-DIN headunit with navigation.  It has a 40GB drive, where 15 GB is reserved for navigation maps, and the rest is available for audio or video content.  The built-in 3.5" screen can also be used for watching DVDs or other video content on the hard drive.

[via Engadget]

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Alpine KCE-300BT

Paul Westbrook | 13 January, 2007 15:10

Kce-300BtI have mentioned that several car headunits that allow hands-free talking on your cell phone over bluetooth.  These usually were missing some feature that I wanted like, iPod controls, or satellite radio controls.

Now Alpine has announced the KCE-300BT.  This is an Ai-NET component that will connect to any of the newer Ai-NET compatible stereos, and allow you to have hands-free conversations on your Bluetooth cell phone.  The caller id information will appear on the headunit display.

Since most of Alpine's headunits are Ai-NET compatible, this will allow the hands-free functionality, with all of the other extra features that I want.

[via Engadget]

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