Alpine has the owner’s manual for the KCA-420I (620k pdf) Alpine-to-Ipod interface available on their site .
Category Archives: Technology
Another Review of the Alpine KCA-420i iPod Interface Adapter
Crutchfield Advisor – Digital Music & MP3 Players – Review of Alpine KCA-420i iPod Interface Adapter
Crutchfield reviews the KCA-420i Alpine-to-Ipod adapter. The only real complaints are the lack of a true scroll wheel and the inablility to display info on more than 512 playlists or more than 255 tracks in a single playlist.
BPL From Central Virginia Electric Coop
The Central Virginia Electric Coop (CVEC) is offering Broadband Over Power Line (BPL) service in parts of Nelson and Amherst counties. I think it’s great that rural areas are getting broadband, but I don’t think BPL is the right way to do it because of the RF interference caused by BPL. I like the nTelos Portable Broadband better, but it isn’t currently available in the same area as CVEC’s BPL.
Playlist: Review: Alpine KCA-420i iPod Interface
Playlist: Review: Alpine KCA-420i iPod Interface
Playlistmag.com reviews the Alpine KCA-420i interface which connects and Ipod to a 2004 or later Alpine Ai-Net car receiver. They liked the interface but found some quirks/limitations. As I write this, it looks like Crutchfield has the KCA-420i in stock. Personally, I think I’ll wait and see if the 2005 Alpine receivers fix the quirks/limitations.
DARPA Grand Challenge 2005
DARPA has announced that the 2005 Grand Challenge will be held October 8, 2005, and the cash prize has increased from $1 million to $2 million dollars.
Site With Vintage Toy Robots
The website robot1968 has vintage and tin robots for sale.
Beagle 2 Mars Probe was too big of a risk
The BBC is reporting that the investigation of the Beagle 2 Mars probe found that the probe was too big of risk and there were not enough checks and balances built into the system.
Robot Protest
The “Robots” at the University of Wisconsin staged a protest.
DARPA wants cars that think for themselves
Wired News is reporting that DARPA wants to try building cars that can think for themselves and learn from their mistakes.
Final Papers of DARPA Grand Challenge Teams
DARPA has posted the final papers of each of the DARPA Grand Challenge teams.
DARPA Grand Challenge Race Results
The race took place, and none of the teams came close to finishing the race. The Red Team went the greatest distance – 7.4 miles. The results are available from DARPA – (pdf file).
Videos of Team Ensco From Washington Post
washingtonpost.com Technology: DARPA’s Grand Challenge in the Desert (Macromedia Flash)
The Washington Post has several videos of Team Ensco, a northern Virginia team, building and testing their vehicle. They also have some photos of some of the other vehicles.
The Darpa Grand Challenge Teams Have Been Chosen
Teams Have Been Chosen (pdf file)
The selected teams are listed below in official starting order, based on results
from the QID:
- (22) Red Team – Pittsburgh, PA
- (21) SciAutonics II – Thousand Oaks, CA
- (05) Team Caltech – Pasadena, CA
- (07) Digital Auto Drive (DAD) – Morgan Hill, CA
- (25) Virginia Tech – Blacksburg, VA
- (23) Axion Racing – Westlake Village, CA
- (02) Team CajunBot – Lafayette, LA
- (13) Team ENSCO – Falls Church, VA
- (04) Team CIMAR – Gainesville, FL and Logan, UT
- (10) Palos Verdes High School RoadWarriors – Palos Verdes Estates, CA
- (17) SciAutonics I – Thousand Oaks, CA
- (20) Team TerraMax – Oshkosh, WI
- (15) Team TerraHawk – Gardena, CA
- (09) The Golem Group – Santa Monica, CA
- (16) The Blue Team – Berkeley, CA
Grand Challenge Update
Axion Racing, Digital Auto Drive (D.A.D.) and Team TerraMax completely traversed the Qualification, Inspection and Demonstration (QID) course for the first time Thursday.
Thursday (3/11) Grand Challenge Qualifying Results (pdf file)
If you have a big dish, you can watch coverage of the live race Saturday, 3/13. Details are listed below.
Satellite Feed
On Saturday, March 13, DARPA will provide same-day coverage via satellite of the Grand Challenge start and highlights at the following times:
- Live coverage of the start: 6:30 – 8:30 Pacific/9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Eastern
- Video news release: 11:00 – 11:30 a.m. Pacific/2:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern
- Coordinates: AMC 9, Ku, Transponder 03, 36 MHz, downlink frequency 11760.000,
downlink polarity vertical