Sometimes, you have to wonder at how SonicBlue marketing could have blown it so badly. Check out this article in the Daily Texan, a student newspaper for U.T. Austin.

Engineers said at a symposium Tuesday that MP3 downloads from computers to car stereos may be possible within the next decade.

The 34th International Symposium on Microarchitecture brought 350 engineers from around the world to exchange the latest ideas in microprocessor developments, held at the Capitol Marriott and the University.

*sigh*

You also have to wonder at the quality of symposium research - 30 seconds with Google reveals several products that allow MP3 downloads from computers to car stereos.

The article is very non specific, but perhaps they were talking about some kind of mobile broadband approach to this.

Rob

I really have to wonder what those Longhorns are smokin' over there...
With all the high-tech that is (and was) in Austin, you'd think they'd have a better grasp on the world.
IBM has done several things like the gridded processors they speak of, though not exactly. I worked on the Gigaprocessor (GP) at IBM here in Austin and that became an MCM with 4 GPs on one die. Screaming fast and all four processors talked to each other to level the load. The marketing hype claimed it was able to push through the amount of data equivalent to a DVD's worth in one second. And I *know* UT has plenty of research and co-op students over at IBM... I think we even have some Longhorns here in the office, you can spot them because they wear that nasty burnt orange color all the time...

I didn't check the link, but I think they are refering to mp3 streaming on demand... I have heard talk of that and am not aware of any current products (just the infrastructure would take half a decade to build).

I have heard talk of that and am not aware of any current products

Well, in New York and other big cities there was Ricochet (256K wireless). If I remeber correctly, there was an idea on this board to write a Napster clone for Empeg and use Ricochet to stream over the serial port. If Ricochet was still around, I think this could still be done. This further proves that Empeg is the ultimate car audio device.

...for the next beta of the empeg player sofware to be released.

Sorry, but if I didn't make the comment, someone else would have. But Please do keep up the good work guys!

--Ben

If Ricochet was still around, I think this could still be done.

Slashdot linked to this story about the Ricochet network potentially being brought back online by a Denver company. They plan on marketing it as an alternate to dialup in areas not serviced by other broadband options (Plenty of pockets of those here in Colorado Springs), and pricing it at $39 to $49. And this right at the perfect time, as Earthlink bought my CDPD provider Omnisky.

I think this is what they were really referring to ... transmitting music via broadband to your car, which you're driving.

I'm sure the jack-*sses at the Daily-Toxin were just a little less diligent in their research (and interviews) than any real newspaper would be. Remember, these guys are journalist majors who spend most of their time researching Jenna Bush's daily activities.

Greg

Easy there Aggie-Lover.