Posting photos on Flickr is like personal reporting.

All cool, but my one big problem with the site is that it is very Flash intensive. Since I use Firefox (see my post below), and don’t have Flash installed on it, it can be a problem. Jeezz, Typepad can create a site in DHTML, or whatever, that’s pretty feature rich. Seems like there has to be a better way than an evil Flash U.I. Granted, it’s not so super-evil as to not work at all without Flash installed, but you can’t take advantage of some of the more advanced features like little pop-up dealios used to annotate an image.

Update: 2005_18_01
I’ve been uploading photos over the past few days, and have noticed that when re-naming the photo using their Flash application in IE it "crashes" all the time. Ugh. Keep it simple. Another thing is that the ads look like part of their UI. Very confusing. Oh, and I just now noticed (since it doesn’t show up in the UI unless you mouse over the area), is that you can add a description to the photo instead of just commenting on it like I have been doing. Doh! Make the UI elements obvious.. not some sort of treasure hunt. That said, pretty cool.

Update: 2005_18_01 later in the day
Late breaking new… don’t use Flash (or at least IE with Flash). Use Firefox with no Flash plug-in installed, and the site works fine with the exception of the more advanced features.

I’ve noticed that one of the things that Flickr does so well is design. They make your photo layout look pro. So you’ve got MoveableType, Flickr and Apple doing some cool design these days. More on this later.

Most GPS receivers these days are USB, but this post on the MP3Car.com forums says, "…then I decided to go with a deluo serial gpsr, my favorite. because it’s serial, it powers on as soon as my computer does and usually has a strong signal by the time windows boots (depending on location) the Delorme usb one wouldn’t start tracking until software was loaded." Since the motherboard I’m going to spec will have a serial port, I think I’ll get a serial GPS receiver. Here’s a link to a serial Deluo GPSR.

Perhaps the touchscreen will suffice as the only input device for CarPC applications. However, I doubt this. What would be the killer text input device would be a battery-powered, lighted, RIM-style, bluetooth-enabled micro keyboard like the vaporware pictured on the right, but I have not been able to find one of these. Check out the MP3Car.com’s forums on input devices. Here’s my lame list of keyboard candidates.

1. LITE-ON SK7551 — It’s cheap at NewEgg, it’s got a built-in pointing device (one of those rubber nubbers), but it’s IR, is not especially small and has no backlight. I have older model that I have used with my home music system, and it works pretty well. Heck, this is what I’ll probably install since you can’t go wrong for $20.
2. Stowaway Bluetooth Portable Keyboard — Made by ThinkOutside. Hella expensive ($150), no light,  PDA/phone mount that would just get in the way.
3. Zippy EL-610 — Linked to J&R’s product page. Relatively cheap, but wired. Here’s a review.
   

I still haven’t decided which frontend I am going to use on my CarPC project, so I’ve created a list below of the frontends I have found. This list is based on the traffic the frontends get on the MP3Car.com’s frontend forums. The name of the frontend is linked to the frontend’s website, and I’ve also included a link to the frontend’s forum subgroup at MP3Car.com.

1. Media Engine — CarComp’s Car-Computer Interface. Written in Visual Basic. Has the most posts on the forums. Looks to be supported by donations ans is skinable (forums, screenshots).
2. FrodoPlayer — Frodobaggin’s FrodoPlayer. Hey, with a name like that, maybe I gotta use it (forums).
3. MediaCar — Created in Europe I think (forums).

The other frontends I have found so far that don’t have a lot of traffic on the MP3Car.com frontend forums are: Mobile Media Center, NeoCar Media Center, PyCar, MediaCruiser and Centrafuse.

The CNX-P1260 is a DC-DC regulator designed for AutoPC use. It connects on one side to the DC source (the car battery) and on the other to your PC, amp and touchscreen. It includes a startup/shutdown controller, so for example, you can have it automatically power down the PC 4 seconds after the ignition is turned off. Although some AutoPC power supplies have shutdown controllers, I haven’t found one that has the ability to power the touchscreen and turn on the amp. It’s about $85 at MP3Car.com.