GM Sees a Market For $5/Day Dedicated In-Car Internet 216
An anonymous reader writes "$5 doesn't sound like much for a day of internet service in some contexts: it's less than you might pay for it in-flight, and less than a few espresso drinks if you're lured in by a coffee shop's Wi-Fi service. But not all internet service is created equal; would you pay $5 for a month of in-car internet service if it meant a 200-meg cap, which is (only) 'enough to stream more than 6.5 hours of music?' That's where a new dedicated Internet service from GM starts (also at the WSJ, paywalled), and it's $10 for drivers who aren't also OnStar subscribers. Probably a more likely option for the occasional road trip, though, is $5 per day service (no OnStar requirement) for 250MB of data. Why wouldn't someone just use a smartphone with a data plan, or a dedicated hotspot device? GM thinks they'll be drawn to 'a powerful antenna that's stronger than that of a smartphone, along with a Wi-Fi hotspot that operates without draining a mobile device's battery. That hotspot is on any time the car is on.'"
"GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
"GM thinks they'll be drawn to 'a powerful antenna that's stronger than that of a smartphone, along with a Wi-Fi hotspot that operates without draining a mobile device's battery. That hotspot is on any time the car is on.'
My car also has a 'powerful antenna' for my cellphone and my phone has a Wifi-hotspot and it also doesn't drain the mobile's battery because by cellphone is in its socket and powered by the car battery. I pay 5 bucks a month for unlimited usage already.
We should we pay twice?
$150 MRC for hotspot that doesn't travel with you? (Score:3, Insightful)
I just don't see the cost working out. On top of that if you have the car for 10-20 years it's going to be the same as having an old 8 track. Car NAV systems don't seem to age well, I don't see this keeping up with the times. 5G will be out before too much longer.
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On top of that if you have the car for 10-20 years it's going to be the same as having an old 8 track.
This is not part of Detroit's marketing plan. No one owns a car for 10 or 20 years anymore, for the most part, they simply don't last that long. Want to own a car that long? Look to Europe, and maybe buy a Volvo.
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My daily driver is an 87 F-150 I6 4speed, slow but fuel efficient
AHAHAHAHAHA
only an American would call 5 Liter 2 ton truck fuel efficient
My wife drives a 96 Explorer, her commute is less than 5 minutes
AHAHAHA, I bet your wife is pulling boats to work in her 2 ton truck too, right? No? Groceries? Do they weight 500KG? No ? oh ....
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I think the parent meant a truck that *weighs* 2 tonnes, not a truck with a payload of 1/2 ton. Your F150 almost certainly weighs at least 2 tonnes, and so does the Ford Explorer. 20mpg is not considered efficient anywhere except in North America.
Re: $150 MRC for hotspot that doesn't travel with (Score:2)
Gigantic children! (Score:2)
Why do you need a half ton truck to drop 3 kids off at school? If you like driving trucks, fine. But don't make up nonsense justifications. You don't need that kind of tonnage just to haul children.
Unless they are gigantic, of course. Honestly the first image that popped into my mind when you made your post was that you had three children the size of gigantic granite boulders and you offload them like gravel. While "Like A Rock" is playing in the background.
Re: Gigantic children! (Score:2)
Re: $150 MRC for hotspot that doesn't travel with (Score:2)
"... No one owns a car for 10 or 20 years anymore..."
Each of my Hondas have done at least 10 years. My 1996 Acura is still quit healthy. My 1987 Shadow as well.
I suspect that no one who reads /. Is in the target demographic. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Re: $150 MRC for hotspot that doesn't travel with (Score:2)
"... No one owns a car for 10 or 20 years anymore..."
Each of my Hondas have done at least 10 years. My 1996 Acura is still quite healthy. My 1987 Shadow as well.
I suspect that no one who reads /. Is in the target demographic. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Re: $150 MRC for hotspot that doesn't travel with (Score:2)
You are thinking of a Volvo from the 80ies. Current Volvos are Ford (think Ford Focus, not F150 Ford) and not very sturdy.
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No, Ford sold off their interest in Volvo and it's now owned by Geely in China. The Ford-made Volvos are actually some of the best; they share parts with Mazdas and Fords, and all three brands seem to have benefited a lot from the cooperation. Before Ford came along, Volvos had a lot of reliability problems. Sure, they were safe in an accident, but that's not the same as reliability. The newest Volvos, while Chinese-owned (but made in Sweden or Belgium) have excellent reliability.
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The more forward thinking manufacturers are moving to smartphone mirroring and unlimited for-life data service anyway.
Toyota and Subaru both offer MirrorLink on their touch screen systems, so you just plug your phone in and use whatever app you prefer for navigation or music. Never gets out of data, uses your existing data plan, costs you nothing. The built-in sat nav unit is there too, with 8 years of updates promised, but you aren't stuck with it.
Nissan and Tesla offer unlimited mobile data services. Niss
Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
GM got bailed out by the government because it was "too big to fail." Guess what? GM is still "too big to fail."
They can go ahead and try out any screwball idea they want. If it loses money . . . the government will pick up the tab.
It's sort of like a venture capital investment operation . . . except the taxpayers get stuck with the losses, and none of the rewards.
Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
Privatize profits, socialize losses.
Capitalism and communism, finally united in harmony.
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Privatize profits, socialize losses.
Capitalism and communism, finally united in harmony.
Again [econlib.org].
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GM should have been broken up. As soon as any company gets too big to fail, it needs to either break itself up or have the government step in and take it apart.
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You don't need to break it up, just increase the tax rate a smidgen on large firms (revenue over $1B?). Call it "bailout insurance" and dump it into a non-profit government managed fund.
If companies have contributed, then they can make claims at roughly the same scale as they contributed (see government pension plans for a similar setup).
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This is what happens when ...
"journalists" write inflammatory headlines and sheeple don't read the article. (If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn I was at theblaze.com!)
Down in the PR release, it clearly states: For existing AT&T customers, a 4G LTE-equipped GM vehicle can be added to a Mobile Share Plan for $10 per month.
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I stand contrite and corrected.
Now I know I'm not reading theblaze.com... ;)
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I actually installed a RPi-based hotspot in my car with a Verizon stick. It's really nice to be able to access Internet on my laptop and non-3G tablet without bothering to activate a hotspot on my phone.
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And I have a NFC tag that when I drop the phone in the holder, automatically makes sure the Bluetooth is on and the volume is set to max, and the WiFi hotspot is enabled. When removed from the holder the WiFi hotspot is automatically turned off.
Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:4, Informative)
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it also doesn't drain the mobile's battery because by cellphone is in its socket and powered by the car battery.
Shhhhh don't tell them about car chargers or they'll charge us for that too!
Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
How about this: They provide BOTH options and we'll see which one is more popular in 2 years.
Whichever car company makes it easy for my phone to be the brains of the entertainment system, and their screen just be a dumb terminal for my phone's data will get to sell me a new car.
Re: "GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:2)
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Most phones used to have an antenna socket. Maybe some still do.
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How about this: They provide BOTH options and we'll see which one is more popular in 2 years.
Whichever car company makes it easy for my phone to be the brains of the entertainment system, and their screen just be a dumb terminal for my phone's data will get to sell me a new car.
Yeah. Fuck all that advanced air bag and self-parking bullshit. Who needs safety when we can bolt our texting while driving device right into the car for maximum distraction.
Good luck. We're gonna need it with people like you on the road demanding those killer features.
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Because this is Slashdot.
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You go into your phone and activate the hotspot. Done. It's not just easy for nerds, it's easy for my 84 year-old grandma.
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But then what happens when all the phone sanitisers are gone and we get killed off by a plague spread by telephones?
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It's called "teleconference".
Re:"GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not the OP, but I use this booster [amazon.com] in the car. I use the larger antenna and get a huge signal boost. I get 3G where I'd normally only have edge, and a signal in areas where my phone normally reports no signal at all. The booster uses a USB connector to charge, so I have a $10 two port USB charger in the car that supplies power to both the booster and my phone.
The booster only works while the phone is in the cradle, so calls need to be by speaker or bluetooth.
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And you'd use the WiFi in a Taxi rather than relying on your own cellphone? By the time you got it configured your ride is over.
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Depends on your taxi ride and your data plan.
Heck, I've had 45 minute taxi rides going to the airport in New York. So if I could, say, download a movie for the flight using someone else's WiFi and not use my data caps, why wouldn't I?
Of course, lately, I've seen a lot of airport taxis with a WiFi/Cellular base station in the trunk. A local bus service has it in their busses as well.
On the other hand, GM is twisted--$5 a day for 250MB of data per month? That's a bit more than $150 a month. I can get a be
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And how much do you think they need to charge more in order to recoup the cost (right now the price is varied)? I know that it is not much (if not go over), but I just want to see how others think if they have to pay extra for this kind of service, which does not seem to be needed for those who already have a smart phone with their own Internet connection from their service provider...
Re: "GM thinks" there's your problem. (Score:2)
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I only know this because I was so disturbed by the quality of the XM radio in my car that I had to look it up...
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I test drove 2013 impalla, there was no aux in on the stereo, no ad2p for the Bluetooth that, and the sales guy was like, but OnStar and xm radio are great.
There's an aux-in, it's either in the centre console or in the glovebox. And it'll always be where the SD card is for the map data. As for ad2p, I don't know of many cars that have it today.
Still stuck in an analogue thinking pattern (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes someone is monetizing my mobile internet; no that doesn't mean that I want everyone monetizing it over and over again.
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Truly, this wouldn't be GM putting the buggy whip manufacturers out of business, it's GM expecting they can make everyone buy a buggy whip when they already own a car. I guess this is what we get for bailing out stupid companies rather than letting them die.
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Re:Still stuck in an analogue thinking pattern (Score:5, Interesting)
Given all that we know about GM, can someone explain (aside from the obvious political reasons / TBTF), why this company was bailed out? Romney was correct, it should have been allowed to go bankrupt. In addition, the taxpayer still had to eat a $10 billion loss. [forbes.com] GM management was incompetent to the core. This idea is yet another example of it for all of the reasons you list and more.
The question is would letting GM go bankrupt have resulted in more than 10 billion in losses in terms of lost payroll taxes and increased social assistance benefits for all of the GM workers and all of the assorted companies that also would have gone under?
Further down in the linked article is "On all TARP investments to date, including the sale of Treasury’s shares in AIG, the government has recovered a total of $432.7 billion on $421.8 billion disbursed. " so overall, it doesn't look like all the TARP funds were such a bad investment even from a straight purchase-sale calculation.
Of course, it is much harder to figure out if, long term, this was a good policy - would the economy have been better off to "kill off" the sick or better off in "healing" the sick? Have any of the "sick" been healed or are they still "sick"? Have we ensured similar things don't happen in the future?
I don't have high hopes for answers to these sorts of questions.
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The thing is, that's precisely the wrong argument to make. It's actually the opposite of how it works.
When a company goes bankrupt (chapter 7, liquidation), it doesn't vanish from the economic landscape leaving all its employees without jobs and its
Yes but... (Score:2)
with the coffee shop I still get the espresso drinks, so it is a win win.
That OR (Score:2)
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It is proprietary in that it will only talk to GM's (expensive) service rather than a more general purpose device where you could slot in your own sim card. $5 a day? That's well over double what I would pay my local cell phone provider for the same service.
Re: That OR (Score:2)
Double? I pay ~5$ a MONTH for data.
$5 Day or Month? (Score:3, Informative)
Glancing at the linked article, it sounds like you can subscribe for as little as $5 a month and get 200 MB for the month. As a non-subscription you can pay $5 for 250 MB for 1 day.
In both cases there are more expensive tiers offering more data.
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There are plenty of times when I'd have liked to have rented a hotspot for $5 for the day - one day only - especially if it was a different provider than the one my phone already used.
I own a little FreedomPop (Sprint) device for emergencies now (on the $4 "rollover" plan), and my personal phone is a GPE HTC One on T-Mo, so I've got the spectrum reasonably well covered in case of emergency.
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I hit Goodwill (thrift store) and picked up a home Clear branded WiMax modem/wireless router. The thing runs on 12 volts, so a DC cord instead of the wall wart makes it very mobile on a home dataplan. Clear supports bring your own device at $20 Month to Month. I keep it in the motorhome and use it on summer trips. I check for coverage before departing, as not all destinations are covered.
It just happens to be one of the many options. When using it, I can plug in my VOIP phone adapter too. My mobile of
Sounds Familiar (Score:4, Insightful)
For over a decade the Automotive industry has been trying to tie mobile Internet access into very rigid platforms that add to the cost of the vehicle. These systems are usually obsolete by the time they make it to market and are not easily upgradable in the field. With the wealth of cell phones and other in-car add-ins (tom tom etc.) The value of these auto industry developed systems becomes less and less important. Sure, there's a "bling" factor to them but don't forget that you'll want it updated to something else about as often as you upgrade your cell phone. That means that supporting things like BlueTooth and USB/iPhone connectivity and integration are where the industry should be, not trying to build out another island of isolated electronics.
It's just not worth it (Score:2)
Car built-in stuff generally isn't worth it. Modern cars can easily last 20 years (my last one did). The inbuilt radio in that car is now positively archaic - FM/AM/LW with a tape player. The same thing will happen to in-car satnav systems, in-car wifi hotspots - within the car's useful life they will fall so far behind they may not even be usable (updates for that satnav? a hotspot that is what 9600 baud WAP over GSM is today when compared to 4G?)
Today all I want built into the car is an amplifier with som
Re: Sounds Familiar (Score:2)
Car systems are usually outdated even before the vehicle hits the market as the industry is used to a 5-6 year development cycle. So 18 months is not "already".
In-car charging anyone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, for maps (Score:2)
For maps 200MB is a fair amount, usually you are driving around the same areas and maps are heavily cached (and all of the modern mapping frameworks for mobile devices are vector based so they can send a lot of data for just a little bandwidth).
In fact T-Mobile today gives you 200MB/month free if you buy a T-Mobile iPad.
However having a cap is very bad, because maps integrated into a car will be relied on, and if near the end of the month it suddenly shut down it could easily leave you stranded. Hopefully
OnStar proves there's a market (Score:2)
But, GM is not floating this concept out of sheer ignorance. They already have hooks into a certain collection of consumers who don't know crap and subscribe to OnStar because operating a GPS themselves is too complicated. GM marketing executives are sitting in board rooms laughing at how much money they are still getting out of these subscriptions while cellphones would seem to have made OnStar obsolete. This internet package is
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the target customer, here, would be the same one that buys a 'smart tv' instead of using a computer and a tv monitor together.
note: there are more dummies in the world than smart guys. we are a tiny tiny minority in the world.
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the target customer, here, would be the same one that buys a 'smart tv' instead of using a computer and a tv monitor together.
note: there are more dummies in the world than smart guys. we are a tiny tiny minority in the world.
I bought a smart TV. It didn't cost much more than a regular TV - there are plenty in the budget category now. It has hassle-free built-in support for Netflix HD and Amazon Prime HD, both supporting surround sound. I didn't have to spend ages setting up a media PC, leaving it running all the time, showing other people how to use it, stuffing it into an already cramped space.
There's a difference between being a 'smart guy' and being judgmental to others just because you personally don't see the value in some
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There are people (I like to call them retards) who buy a new car every 2-3 years... They're not concerned with how much the car costs; only what their monthly payments are... They're not concerned with what gadgets are in the car and how functional or useful those gadgets are going to be in 5 years... As soon as the 'new car smell' fades away, it's time to buy another one... These are the people who will gladly get the internet option...
(sorry for any retards I've inadvertantly insulted).
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Think how valuable that chump list is.
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Some people have OnStar just because of the crash reporting stuff - it's not just for GPS. That's actually a pretty valuable service for someone older or driving alone a lot.
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Some people have OnStar just because of the crash reporting stuff - it's not just for GPS.
Although the satellite connection of OnStar offers service in some places you can't get cell phone service, there aren't very many such places.
So, as long as you have a bluetooth connection in your car, your car can dial your phone when you are in an accident. I know not every car that supports bluetooth has the "crash dial 911" feature, but every Ford sold today does, and I suspect a lot of other manufacturers not named GM are similar.
Car systems to be locked in? (Score:2)
What bugs me about this is that I imagine that anything built into the car that could use internet connectivity will be locked into using the GM $5/day network, even if the widget in question is gaining access via Wifi to the OnStar wifi network and will not allow you to choose your own wifi (mobile hotspot, tethered phone, municipal wifi, etc).
For some reason I see a bunch of greedy bastards putting internet-aware applications into the car and then trying to squeeze you for the internet to make them work.
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Like Netflix on Xbox requiring Live...
Gm Executives are Stupid. (Score:2)
What is this 1998? A dedicated hotspot in the car? I can buy a portable hotspot that works better and is cheaper for service PLUS has LTE so it will be faster. Oh and It's also on my same phone bill so I have one bill.
This is more proof that GM is a has-been company that only makes medicore low grade products and is hell bent on staying that way.
Hey GM, Want to be a leader again? Shot for the highest quality and offer a 10 year 150,000 mile warranty that covers EVERYTHING as standard on your cars. nob
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Odd, my Honda's all have 10 year warranties as a normal warranty, and they extended the warranty on the engine to "forever" because some engines had a casting problem in the engine block.
GM only ever told me, "your fault for buying GM, yes we know the intake is defective and allowed water in the oil to burn out the bearings, we will repair it for full retail cost because you actually drove the car. GM cars are not mean to be driven"
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Odd, my Honda's all have 10 year warranties as a normal warranty
Your Honda might have a 10 year "power-train" warranty, but not a 10 year "bumper-to-bumper" warranty, which is the type the GP was referencing.
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That doesn't make sense. If a maker of an unreliable car had long warranties, they would end up paying out a lot of money on warranty work. The rational thing for a car maker with an unreliable product to do is to have the shortest warranty possible.
Cars or mobile entertainment facilities? (Score:2)
Hey GM, you know what car I'd like to buy? A brand new, 1992 Toyota Pickup (Hilux). Brand new. I'd prefer locks and windows that engage manually. I'd prefer that I wasn't beeped at incessantly if my seat belt is not clipped in or my lights are on. I'd also like to have physical switches that control heat, etc.
I do not want an internet plan.
I do not want an "infotainment" system.
I do not want cameras mounted all over.
I do not want a tailgate that automatically deploys for anything.
I do not want a steeri
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There is nothing in an old pickup that can't be put back into like new or better condition. For less then the price of a new truck. (or a then/than troll).
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Okay, I know, I have a huge lawn that people keep walking on, but really, why is there NOBODY that sells basic vehicles that aren't loaded with all sorts of "safety features" that simply provide a safer way to do unsafe things while you drive? Hell, you can't even buy a light-duty pickup anymore (though they might still classify them as such). I am in a vehicle to move myself and optionally some other materials from point A to point B. I don't need to be entertained. I don't need a computer to tell me how to drive. I just want to go somewhere.
I'm not sure what you mean by a light duty pickup. Considering your questioning of their availablity, I'd wager you mean something smaller than a "full-size" 1/2 ton truck. If that is the case you have 3 options. 1. Nissan Fronteir 2. Toyota Tacoma and coming back in the fall is 3. Chevy Colorado / GMC Canyon. A new one of these will have way more bells and whistles than that 1992 Toyota.
You can still order the "work truck" versions of 1/2 ton trucks and get them without all the power options on the seat
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Are you at ALL familiar with the Hilux they're speaking about? There is a very good reason to want THAT specific pickup over any other. It's immortal.
See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... [youtube.com]
Parts 2 and 3 also available.
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Frontier, rust magnet. Taco, fucked over Hilux. Chevy, I've known too many Chevys.
The old Nissan hardbody was also a rust magnet but it came with the unbeatable KA24 engine. The Hilux was nigh-indestructible and trivial to work on. But just say no to Chevy, they're designed to disintegrate and to be a PITA to work on. They use gigantic steel rivets to hold in the window regulators for fuck's sake. Give me a bolt, or an Aluminum rivet, please. PLEASE.
Only in Latin American markets can you get a decent fuckin
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Don't forget the Hilux options for "Able to float out to sea and still run afterward" and "building demolition device"
GM would charge a LOT for those features and they wouldn't actually work.
Simple mount point for smart phone... (Score:2)
I have a Toyota Prius from the year before the Aux port was added (pisser). But, the one thing I really need, is a place to put the freaking phone. My solution is a phone case and some velcro tape on the center console (on the radio) and on the back of the phone. A few seconds to plugin the charger and stick the the phone to the console.
No stupid suction cup phone holders that don't stick properly or block visibility or don't fit the phone right so it falls out or whatever.\
It also works well when I want
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Actually, Velcro was good enough to help kill the crew of the Apollo 1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A... [wikipedia.org]
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Bullshit... The Velcro was only flammable in a high O2 atmosphere. Pretty much anything made with hydrogen in it at all will burn in a high oxygen environment. Heck even non-hydrogen containing materials will burn well if the temps get hot enough.
Can we please stop (Score:2)
comparing everything to coffee?
"and less than a few espresso drinks"
or more expensive then a few, depending.
GM: Welcome to 1995 (Score:2)
I actually use a 4g modem for my primary home internet. I have a cute little USB-powered fob that acts as a hotspot, and it has an external antenna port if you need a better signal.
And yes, I take it with me when I go on road-trips - I'd trade it in a heartbeat for "real" broadband a
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So what, exactly, does GM view as its market for this particular scam?
AOL users. They're out there.
And Telsa will never be a problem. LOL (Score:2)
This actually makes sense. (Score:2)
What a car needs (Score:2)
Some sort of standardized magnetic mount
QI Charging
Wifi Link or some standard to link to displays that can work on existing phones
Bluetooth, handsfree, audio, steering wheel controls, vehicle information
Some Wifi accessible storage
All potentially open standards.
Past that a Bluetooth GPS might be useful.
Lets face it phones update every couple years cars not so much. Pretty much a 1080p touchscreen and some bluetooth and let people with a clue deal with powering it.
Has GM ever, um seen, a modern mobile phone? (Score:2)
Has GM seen a modern mobile device? Oh they are magical things indeed! Maps, GPS, instant messaging, email, music streaming, podcasts, MP3s, even streaming live TV and video, almost anywhere.
And with bluetooth, all of that can be streamed right into the car audio system. Or you can use an aux cable, truly the tail of the magic fairy.
The best part, all of that is included with my phone plan. As much as a I want. Oh sure there's a cap, but exceeding it by a huge margin still wouldn't hit this $150 a m
Nope (Score:2)
I wouldn't pay for internet in the car. I wouldn't have internet in the car if it was free. There are times when I just want to be away from idiotic SPAM, endless trivia and other distractions, and one of those times is when I drive a car. In fact, I'd prefer if everybody else on the road also stayed away from unnecessary distractions and concentrated on driving safely.
I Can Rent a Whole Car (Score:2)
With discounts, I can rent a whole car for $10 a day. Why the fuck would I spend this much for additional internet? Hell, I can already utilize my smart phone or iPad (3g) from the vehicle.
Just what we need.... (Score:2)
yet another in car distraction, courteous of GM. Looks to me like a solution trying to find a problem. What, exactly, would one do with in-car internet? Catch up on the latest House of Cards episode while barrelling down the freeway at 70 mph? Fill in your fantasy football picks? While driving....in a car....possibly at high speed...certainly with a lot of distractions.
Do you think that maybe, just maybe, we could leave the internet behind until we're done driving? It's one thing to be surfing the web over
Re:32GB is useless because of DRM (Score:5, Informative)
Are there still cars with built in storage?
Ford included a whopping 10GB hard disk in their fanciest tech package 5 years ago. You can't get that now. Instead you get a USB port in the center console.
I've got a 64G low profile thumb drive plugged in with most of my music collection. Standard MP3s, no DRM issues. There are *other* issues -- the system has only so many slots to hold metadata, so if I add too many songs it will freak out and re-index the USB each time I start the car. But as long as I don't exceed some limit it behaves just fine.
For my purposes anyway, no storage and USB is far superior to built-in storage.
Re:My honest response to $5/day for 250MB (Score:5, Insightful)
You'll pay for it. Either now or with the next bailout when that bomb drops.
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Well, that was a thought out and reasoned post with an articulate response to the reason for bailing them out.
I think people like you just get angry in complex situations because you lack the ability to grasp anything about 3rd grade level.