1. Chapter 1 Car Power Basics

   1. Hacks 1-11: Introduction

   2. Understand Car Electrical Systems

   3. Prevent Electrical Fires

   4. Gauge Your Wires

   5. Connect Your Wires

   6. Calculate Your Car's Battery Life

   7. Upgrade Your Car Battery

   8. Add New Power Connectors Throughout Your Car

   9. Use a Huge Capacitor to Sustain Power

   10. Upgrade Your Car's Alternator

   11. Add a Second Car Battery

   12. Put Home Power Outlets in Your Car

2. Chapter 2 Automotive Audio Entertainment

   1. Hacks 12–22: Introduction

   2. Get a Headful About Your Car Audio

   3. Install a New Head Unit

   4. Get Computer Audio into Your Head Unit

   5. Amp Up Your Computer Audio

   6. Make a Very Cheap AUX-in

   7. Reduce Your Audio System's Noise

   8. Control Your iPod with Your Car Stereo Knobs

   9. Tune Your PC for Radio Reception

   10. Record Radio Shows

   11. Listen to Email, Weblogs, and RSS Feeds on the Road

   12. Find Out What Was Playing on the Radio

3. Chapter 3 Automotive Video Entertainment

   1. Hacks 23–40: Introduction

   2. Understand Video Connectors

   3. Choose Your Screens

   4. Install a Headrest Screen

   5. Install a VGA Touchscreen in Your Dashboard

   6. Install a Sun Visor Screen

   7. Install a Motorized Fold-out Screen

   8. Install a Fold-Down Ceiling-Mounted Screen

   9. Supersize Your Fold-Down LCD Screen

   10. Turn Your Laptop into a Fold-Down or Dashboard Screen

   11. Connect a Car PC to Your Factory Screen

   12. Install a Rearview Mirror Screen and Camera

   13. Boost Your Video Signal for Multiple Screens

   14. Customize Each Passenger's Video

   15. Receive Satellite TV While Driving

   16. Play DVDs with Your in-Car Computer

   17. Put Multi-Channel DVD Surround Sound in Your Car

   18. Install a Video Game Console Computer in Your Car

4. Chapter 4 In-Car Computers

   1. Hacks 41–54: Introduction

   2. Choose an in-Car PC Hardware Platform

   3. Power Your Car PC

   4. Start Up and Shut Down Your Car PC

   5. Reduce the Boot Time of Your in-Car Computer

   6. Keep Your Computer on During Engine Cranking

   7. Turn On Your Car Computer Before You Start Your Car

   8. Boot Your Car Computer on a Schedule

   9. Choose an in-Car PC Software Platform

   10. Install Windows on a CompactFlash Card

   11. Power Your Portable Devices in the Car

   12. Install USB Ports in Your Car

   13. Build an in-Car PC

   14. Build an in-Car Macintosh

   15. Install a Mac Mini in Your Car

5. Chapter 5 Car PC Interface Options

   1. Hacks 55–61: Introduction

   2. Control Your Car PC with a Keyboard and Mouse

   3. Control Your Car PC with a Handheld Remote

   4. Control Your Car PC with a Touchscreen

   5. Car-Enable Clunky Applications

   6. Listen to What Your Car Computer Is Saying

   7. Control Your Car PC with Voice Recognition

   8. Find More Ways to Control Your in-Car Computer

6. Chapter 6 Wireless Connectivity and in-Car Internet

   1. Hacks 62–68: Introduction

   2. Get Online in Your Car

   3. Make Your Mobile Phone Hands-Free with Your Car PC

   4. Transfer Data to and from Your Car PC

   5. View Real-Time Traffic Data on the Road

   6. Videoconference from Your Car

   7. Use GPS on Your Car PC

   8. Find WiFi Hotspots on the Road

7. Chapter 7 In-Car Applications

   1. Hacks 69–75: Introduction

   2. Plug into Your Car's Built-in Computer

   3. Put a Video Jukebox in Your Car Theater

   4. Choose Your in-Car Navigation Software

   5. Play Thousands of Games by Emulating Video Game Consoles

   6. Use CENTRAFUSE as Your Car PC Frontend

   7. Use Neocar Media Center as Your Car PC Frontend

   8. Use FrodoPlayer as Your Car PC Frontend

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The tool on the cover of Car PC Hacks is a wire cutter. Following the invention of wire came that of the wire cutter, a tool similar to pliers, with sharpedged cutting jaws like scissors. Pliers were invented in Europe around 2000 BC to grip hot objects, principally iron. Over the centuries, many different kinds of pliers have been developed specifically for new inventions, including horseshoes, fasteners, pipes, and electrical and electronic components. Wire cutters, like other kinds of pliers, are comprised of two handles, a pivot, and a head section with gripping jaws or cutting edges. Conventional wire cutters utilize a compression-type cut in which the blade edges collide, pushing the wire out of the way. The long handles relative to the short nose of the cutters amplify the force in the hand's grip on the wire. The tool on the cover also has stripping abilities and may alternately be referred to as a wire stripper. It has an additional center notch that makes it easier to cut insulation from a wire without cutting the wire itself.

Genevieve d'Entremont was the production editor and proofreader for Car PC Hacks. Rachel Wheeler was the copyeditor. Mary Brady and Claire Cloutier provided quality control. Lydia Onofrei provided production assistance. Ellen Troutman-Zaig wrote the index.

Hanna Dyer designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a photograph from the Stockbyte Work Tools CD. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's Helvetica Neue and ITC Garamond fonts.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Keith Fahlgren to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Helvetica Neue Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. This colophon was written by Lydia Onofrei.