How an iPod integrates with a BMW

One of the things I was most looking forward to with my new car was the fact that it features "proper" integration with my iPod Touch. The idea that I could access gigabytes of music, audio books and podcasts on the go was very appealing. Fiddling with an iPod whilst driving is about as dangerous as using a mobile phone. Also on my old car I tried using an FM Transmitter to send the output from the iPod to the car radio using FM. It was rubbish. The problem is that there are no spare frequencies in London and if you go for a long drive the available frequencies change requiring constant retuning. All in all it made it impractical.

The new car features a combined 3.5mm audio jack and USB connector. The advantage of this approach is that it allows the sounds to be routed through to the cars Hi-Fi but also for the control of the iPod to be passed to the cars iDrive Control system. iDrive is far from perfect but is significantly improved since it has stopped being based on Windows CE and has moved to a proper real time OS.

Here we see the iPod Touch hidden away in the Drivers center arm rest.

Another advantage of the combined USB/Audio connector is the the iPod is also being charged when it is connected to the car. So no worries about a dead battery.

The iDrive control screen is in the center of the dashboard allowing either the driver or front seat passenger to operate it using the controller knob on the center console.

The iPod is identified as Audio Aux. As you can see, many of the iPod options are available including all your play lists as well as Artist and Album views.

It is very qucik and easy to zoom up and down these lists by spinning the control know and then pressing it to select.

You will notice that the Audiobook and Podcast views are missing from the menus - but this is not a problem because they are still available in the master list - so an Inspector Rebus audiobook I purchased from iTunes is listed under the artist/author Ian Rankin. Likewise the Russell Brand Podcast I subscribe to is listed under the artist Radio 2.

So it is a little different to the iPod interface but it really doesn't take long to get used to it and then the world is your oyster.

Since I found this information very difficult to find on the Internet let me also include a ...

Mini FAQ.
Q1: Do I need to specify anything when I order my BMW for this great functionality?
A1: Yes. You need to order the optional Auxiliary input port. It was a couple of hundred quid

Q2: Is that it then? I'm ready to rock?
A2: Nope. You will also need a special cable which goes from the iPod Doc connector to a USB and 3.5mm jack. This is where I got mine Cooper BMW on eBay. Should be about £35

Q3: Can't I just use an 3.5mm audio cable?
A3: Of course. But you will have to operate your iPod directly and it will not be charged.

Q4: Will this work for any iPod?
A4: Yup - as long as it has a docking connector. So not the iPod Shuffle. But then the whole point about the Shuffle is that there is no UI so it would be a rather daft thing to do.

Q5: There is loads of stuff on the Interweb saying that the connection is in the glove box and it is free.
A5: That is true - but it is much more basic (essentially the first generation of iPod compatibility from several years ago). To get the cool integration above you need the Aux/USB option.

Q6: Have you tested all BMW Models?
A6: Nope - just my own 520d. But this should all work with new BMW's with the iDrive

Q7: What else doe this Aux/USB port give me?
A7: Well you could do things like copy MP3's to a USB stick, plug it in and play those track through the car stereo. Pretty cool eh?

Q8: What if I have some inferior sub iPod clone?
A8: Dunno. I use and iPod Touch. But the documentation refers to MP3 players rather than just iPods.

New Car

I find it almost unbelievable how much stuff you need to take with you when you have a kid - especially if you are staying overnight. Push chair, Baby Bath, Travel Cot, food, clothes, nappies etc. So Lucy was a big consideration in choosing my new car, a BMW 520d Touring. It certainly isn't a particularly pretty car. Jeremy Clarkson said it looks like it is wearing Dame Edna's glasses. Obviously I don't agree but the front end is certainly quite distinctive.

From this three quarter view I think the car looks very imposing.

In it's Touring (BMW's posh name for an estate) form it looks particularly good from behind.

One of my favorite features is the split rear door which enables you to just open the window if you just need to pop a shopping bag in the back rather than open the whole boot. And also notice the rock star tinted rear glass which makes people think someone famous is in the back seat but really is so that Lucy won't get sun stroke.

Gartner predicts the collapse of Windows

Slashdot is reporting that Gartner has predicted the collapse of Microsoft Windows. It is quite an interesting article.

It talks about the monolithic nature of windows and the bloat of Vista when the requirement is for virtualisation and modularity in order to support differing workloads and platforms. One size does not fit all. In fact it concludes that if Windows 7 follows the current path then Windows will collapse. Being Slashdot many of the MS haters were happy to predict the rise of OSX and Ubuntu as Windows dies and as ever they are way premature. Neither Microsoft or Windows are going anywhere any time soon.

I have been running Vista for about 4 months on my home machine and I have been enormously disappointed. Of course there are some nice features (the Windows Photo Gallery is a great improvement and I love the DVD creator) but the performance when running on a super fast Quad core machine with 3 gigs of memory is nowhere near what I was getting from my previous single core AMD box with just one gig that was running XP. I am also getting up to 3 BSOD crashes per day with analysis of the dump files showing no clear pattern. That is aside from the hangs and the lock ups. But I have stuck with Vista in the hope that SP1 will resolve many of the reliability and performance problems when it hits Windows Update later this month.

If that little rant sounded bad - that isn't my biggest problem with Vista. What winds me up the most is that in it's flurry of new features and pretty new UI it hasn't actually made my life any better. In fact many of the things I do day in day out now take many more steps that they did on previous versions. I find the nannying UAC throws undesired prompts at some really basic operations and the redesigned file explorer slows down navigation unless you are using the prescribed Vista directories (Pictures, Documents, Video etc). Unfortunately some of us need a bit more granularity that that. In short it appears that Microsoft has done its own thing without seeking or responding to feedback from their customers.

But I don't think Service Pack 1 is going to be able to do much about that.

One comment on the Slashdot thread that I particularly liked was from Johannesg who writes; "And one day, someone will ask "what operating system are you running that on?", and despite being a card-carrying geek with a 4-digit slashdot ID, you will be forced to admit "Uhm, I'm not actually sure." Because it won't matter anymore."

Getting your gun off

For my 40 birthday present my brother in law Stew took me and a couple of mates for my first experience of clay pigeon shooting.

The ear plugs aren't particularly attractive - but very necessary.

I shot 19 out of 50 clays. Apparently that is "rubbish". It was a cracking day out though. Maybe these toffs aren't so stupid after all.

Demilitarised Zone

Some time ago I wrote about the dilemma I had making our main living room safe for Lucy. The fact is that we have a environment that is virtually impossible to make child friendly. 3 computers, loads of wires and cables, loads of plugs and sockets, bookcases, rubbish bins, guitars. Basically - carnage. So I decided on a rather orthogonal solution. Rather than make the whole room baby safe - why not divide the room into the safe side and the dodgy side. For a divider I found the Summer Infant Super Wide Safety Gate. So on Lucy's side she has sofas, toys and a big TV to watch "In the Night Garden" on.

And then on the other side of the fence is Ali and my Office. The sad thing is that Lucy's safe side if far bigger so it make us feel like the cages ones :-(

Trinitron Gone

A sad day - Sony has announced the end of their Trinitron line of televisions. Here is an Obituary on Slashdot. The first Trinitron I used was around 30 years ago when my mate Matt had one as a monitor for his BBC Model B Micro computer. The last one I had was a 32 inch widescreen which I bought in 2000 with the money I received for working in Lotus Support on the night of the Millennium (incidentally - money for old rope - nothing went wrong apart from a minor problem with an unsupported cc:Mail X400 gateway).

I say the last one that I had - but actually I still have it. For various reasons I have upgraded to a new Sony Bravia flat screen LCD. It is actually about the same size as the old Trinitron - the difference is that the new Baravia is all picture. The problem is that the old Tele is still in perfect working order with a brilliant picture - but you can hardly give them away. I can't stand the thought of just throwing such a loyal old friend in a skip - so if anyone out there is willing to give it a good home then you can enjoy owning a bit Trinitron history.

Which Greek God are you?

Haven't seen one of these for a while. I'm still basking in the fact that my Muppet was Kermit. Anyway - this is a little more high brow.

You are the god: Ares

Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera and is the God of (savage) war. Ares is one of the gods that takes no sides regarding the battles of mortal man. He readily takes human life and is driven by bloodshed without remorse. Wielding a spear and associated to animals like the dog and the vulture, Ares is feared by men and envied by other gods. He was fearless, good-looking and impulsive. Interestingly, he was secretly making love to Aphrodite, Hephaestus' wife at the time. This was soon discovered by Helios and revealed to the other gods residing on Mount Olympus in aims to humiliate the adulterers. Ares has never married, and although his real love and passion is war, he still gets around. Homer references Ares in the Illiad, whereby Ares sided with the Trojans as they fought against the Achaeans. He was wounded by a spear from Athena, and later Ares flipped sides after discovering his child, Ascalaphus. Ares cried at this moment.

I am the Ancient Greek God:

Ares

Greek Gods Quiz

Matt's Domesday

I got a phone call from my best pal Matt a few days ago. He said "I'm sorry I can't come round tonight - I'm on Richard and Judy." For the few people who don't know, Richard and Judy are a bickering married couple who have risen to national treasure status on the back of their daytime and early evening cheesy chat shows. Matt making an apperence on their show was, to put it mildly, unexpected.

However, it turns out that the invitation came becasue of Matt's long involvement in the Domesday Online project with his Dad, Prof. John. (Incidentally trivia fans, you should refer to Domesday Book and not The Doomsday Book). Channel five is not noted for it's coverage of medievil history so it was very refreshing to see a piece that was both interesting and educational.

It was also very nice that Matt gave such a brilliant performance given how potentially nervous one could get appearing on live national TV. Although I'm pretty sure that he is still wearing the makup.

Awesome and frustrating

My lovely wife kindly got me a Sanyo Xacti HD1000 digital movie camera for my 40th birthday. Now that our baby is just about to turn one year old and has started moving about and doing funny things it will be nice to capture some of them. And there is always the chance of getting on You've Been Framed if she falls over.

Unlike many movie cameras the Xacti is tiny and has a docking bay making it just as easy to synchronise with the PC as a stills camera. Until recently video cameras used tapes which were heavy and awkward. Re writable DVD's were also popular but their size and shape adversely affected the shape of the camera. Some even feature a built in hard disk. But the Xacti uses SD cards for storage. This is great because they are cheap, small and use minimal power which in turn allows the camera to be so little despite still being very capable.

As you can see it has a reasonably large 2.7 inch screen and supports full HD at 1920 x 1080. If you have a 8Gb SD card it can store about and hour and a half at top quality or 5 hours of standard TV quality. Pretty impressive.

The problem is that Ali ordered the camera and the 8Gb SD card at the same time - but so far only the camera has arrived. And the only spare SD card I have is 128Mb which can only record about one and a half minutes. So I have Smallest and Lightest full HD camera in the world with nothing to record onto! How frustrating. Hopefully the 8 gig card will arrive soon.

Engineer vs. Manager

A man in a hot air balloon realised he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted,
"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The woman below replied,
"You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist.

"I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."

The woman below responded, "You must be in Management."

"I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

Life begins at forty

I still remember being 16. I quite distinctly recall my clear understanding that anyone over the age of 30 was utterly pointless and totally incomprehensible. In fact Logan's Run should have been a documentary rather than a film. Myself and my best mates Matt and Phill used to spend hours plotting the downfall of the fascist Thatcher government, being proud Yorkshiremen supporting the Miners Strike (despite not really knowing what it was about), worrying about our untimely demise by atomic bomb due to the Cold War and generally setting the world to rights. However, perhaps the principal focus of our attention was the general desire to beat the system and resist the corrupt and cynical grasp of "The Man". OK, perhaps our principal focus was actually on girls and our seemingly endless quest to gain the attentions of one - but after that it was beating "The Man". Our future plans mainly revolved around our inevitable successful career as rock stars (our band was called The Strangled Wombats) whilst simultaneously writing worthy but witty novels and moonlighting as peace campaigners for CND and humanitarians bringing parity and fairness to the Third World. In short we were stupidly idealistic, impossibly opinionated and of course girlfriend less.

So what would my 16 year old self make of me now I have hit 40? I guess he would see me living with a huge mortgage in a twee suburb of London and think I had been a traitor to my Yorkshire roots. He would bristle at my "ostentatious" BMW since it is "Only a badge and that car could buy a house in Hull". I'm quite sure that he would be disappointed that the music career didn't pan out but disgusted that I ended up working in IT and worse still for a behemoth like IBM (perhaps softened by the fact that I work in the cool Lotus bit). I guess he would be ashamed that I had followed convention and got married rather that just "living in sin" but be secretly relieved that I had a kid since that showed that he was definitely going to get a shag sometime in the future. I'm sure he would be baffled that I spend money on white goods but quite chuffed to see I have a garden shed. And he might even like the goatee beard. But probably not. 16 year olds are a very difficult crowd to please.

Fortunately I don't judge myself like Mini Me. In fact I'm well happy to be 40. So happy I had a party with my twin sister. This was the invitation (don't worry if you didn't get one - the room was limited to 90 people for fire regulations - so not being invited doesn't mean I don't like you. Necessarily.)

Here are a few pictures from the party. We made some poster sized copies of some pictures from when we were little - so here are my sister and I in front of a picture of ourselves from when we were small and black and white (taken by my Mum).

This was the band that played the party. They are called Beautiful Losers (clicky clicky for Myspace Page). They rock!

Here I am approving of the band.

Here are Andy, Heather, Richard and Johanna.

This is most of the legendary indie rock band Angelfield. Lynne, Ian and Brian. Brian gave me a birthday card with a cartoon stegasaurus saying "From one dinosaur of rock to another". Respect :-)

Here are Helen, Pete and Alexis.

Ali (with the bag) talks to Simon and the band at the bar.

Oh dear - comedy headwear has come out!

Various folks start "cutting a rug".

Me and my idealistic foil Matt may have moved to London and forgotten our idealistic past but at least we both have cool goatee beards.

And despite what Mini Me might have though - being married is pretty cool ;-)

And so is the Beemer ;-)

What could have been

So it looks like Yahoo! is going to reject Microsoft's takeover bid of $44 Billion. The co branding opportunities between the behemoths would have been quite interesting. Here are a couple of suggestions from the Photoshop Funsters at Vallyway.com.
First the predicatable Blue Screen of Death jape

But my favorite ... Moo!