Stolarz - Car PC hacks: Tips & tools for geeking your ride--Cover. - Includes index

Damien Stolarz is an entrepreneur who has spent over half his life making computers talk to each other. He cofounded Static.com (now http://www.akimbo.com) in 1995, and in his long tenure as Chief Technology Officer he led the development of numerous technologies, including a direct-dial online service, networked multiplayer games, and peer-to-peer cost-reduction software for video streaming. In 2002, he left to start Robotarmy Corp. (http://www.robotarmy.com), a software consultancy and R&D house that develops large-scale media delivery software, amongst other secret projects. In 2004, Damien founded CarBot, Inc. (http://www.carbotpc.com), which designs and manufactures in-car entertainment computers and accompanying software. Damien is the author of Mastering Internet Video (Addison-Wesley). He holds a B.S. in Computer Science/Engineering from UCLA.

Damien loves email and is good about responding. You can reach him at .

The following people contributed to Car PC Hacks :

Thanks to David Brickner, the editor of this book, who is even more laidback than I am; Rael Dornfest, who originally took up my offer for the book and whose efficiency I admire; Jessamyn Read, who created all the diagrams; and my brother Adam Stolarz, who took the photos for the book under cruel and unusual deadlines.

Thanks to the production team at O'Reilly: Genevieve d'Entremont, Jessamyn Read, Keith Fahlgren, and Lydia Onofrei.

Thanks to Nat Wilson, who runs http://www.mp3car.com and knows so much about in-car computing that I trembled when I read his critiques. (Fortunately, it turns out I was on the right track most of the time.)

Thanks to Kevin "Frodo" Lincecum for writing great software and thus helping to create the market for car PCs.

Thanks to George Dean, a brilliant engineer and creator of the CarBot software architecture. I owe him a great debt of gratitude for making this book and CarBot possible.

Thanks to all the CarBot contributors, old and new: Mark Dixon, Jason Tokunaga, Matthew Wright, Zack Aaron, Jeremy Stolarz, Zack Gainsforth, Andrew DelGatto, Josh Bandur, Ashley Hoffman, Jim Baker, Chris Welch, Edwin Khang, Raffi Krikorian, Roger Killer, and Michael O'Reilly.

Thanks to Kalani Patterson and Michael Morena for their brave alpha testing of the prototype CarBot PCs.

Thanks to Robert Rucker, Aaron Matthews, and Alex Fox from Good Guys in my hometown of Canoga Park, who endured days and days of questions about car installations, customer preferences, and the 12-volt market in general. Special thanks to Robert, who did all the hard parts of my Mac Mini installation .

Thanks to the installers at Pacific Stereo in Woodland Hills, Jose Balz, Rene Beltran, and Jesse Alvarez, who gave my minivan more power, more treble, and better rearview visibility.

Thanks to Clint and Casey from Street Performers in Reseda, who did a fantastic job of modernizing my 1950 Nash Ambassador.

Thanks to Cliff Leeper and Joe Hegener from SyndicateAuto.com in San Diego for doing such a gorgeous install of Robert Baizer's CarBot.

Thanks to Lionel Felix for all his feedback as a reviewer and contributor, and for helping me get Carhacks.org running and keeping me rolling on the floor laughing. And speaking of comedy, I also have to thank Jeff Munsey, who did a thorough job of reviewing the manuscripts and cracking me up at the same time.

Thanks to Raffi Krikorian, who fixed so much of the imprecision in my exposition and taught me that voltage is more like a rock on a cliff than water in a hose.

Warm thanks to Tim O'Reilly, who has created a delightful playground for inventors and technology writers such as myself.

Thank you Dr. Darius Sankey for many years of kind guidance and support for my professional ventures.

And finally, thanks to my family, who is happy to have me back after my latest book-writing adventure.