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Mac Mini and KITT The Knight Rider
As it turns out, the 6.5"x2" Apple Mac Mini is just the right size to fit into a car stereo single-DIN compartment. And Melvin Benzaquen, president of Classic Restorations in Sloatsburg, NY, is already working on Mini Mac Auto conversions.
This clearly changes what Apple and Steve Jobs have seen as the ideal sales pitch for the Mini - from BYODKM (bring your own display, keyboard and mouse) to just BYOC - bring your own car, and let Apple Macintosh add the brain.
(From In-dash Mac Mini)
SF enthusiasts (and present-day late night TV addicts) may recall KITT - the artificially intelligent car on the hit series Knight Rider starring ageless cameomaster Michael Hassellhoff. The voice for KITT - a pimped (that's 'customized', for older readers) black TransAm - was provided by William Daniels. The car both talked and was able to accept voice commands.
KITT - the Knight Rider's Ride
A suitable car equipped with a Mac Mini for a brain shouldn't have any trouble with those features. The Mac Mini supports both voice recognition and voice response, allowing for handsfree operation while driving. It also supports Bluetooth, which means that many of the peripheral devices you may already have (like wireless cell phones, keyboards, mice, etc.) will all work fine in your new car. And of course, the 40 GB of storage has plenty of room for your media.
Check the KITT interior
Other cars in science fiction have advanced features; consider the pizza delivery car from Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snow Crash:
The Deliverator's car has enough potential energy packed into its batteries to fire a pound of bacon into the Asteroid Belt...The pizza box is a plastic carapace now ... there are chips and stuff in there... Each pizza glides into a slot like a circuit board into a computer, clicks into place as the smart box interfaces with the onboard system of the Deliverator's car... the car computes and projects the optimal route on a heads-up display, a glowing colored map traced out against the windshield..."
For more science-fictional car features, see Adaptive Cruise Control and Electronic Number Plate RFID Keeps Tabs On Vehicles. For more on Mac Mini cars (what if you put a Mac Mini in a Mini Cooper - Mac Mini Cooper?) see Mac mini: In-dash, In-car Computing to See Boost from Mini Mac, and Custom Mini Mac Auto Installations press release. Finally, learn more about Apple's Mac Mini.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/13/2005)
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