Contributors

The following people contributed to Car PC Hacks:

• Terran Brown [Hack #52] is a Project Manager at a leading international outsourcing company working with large Blue Chip customers. He has worked in the IT industry for eight years in various technical roles in wide-area networking and server support. His technical background led to his interest in car PC technology, and he is now one of the more recognized enthusiasts from the U.K. His web site is http://www.letscommunicate.co.uk.

• David Burban [Hack #60] is a high school junior in Los Angeles. He taught himself VB, but after a brief hiatus from programming, he matured on to Delphi. He now enjoys programming in Delphi in his spare time. Besides making NaviVoice and GammaControl, David Burban has also created software for showing car PC information on text LCD displays. His web site can be found at http://www.whipflash.com/vamr/.

• Lionel Felix [Hacks #4, #24, #29, #52, and #53] has worked in IT Systems Strategy for 10 years, designing and building enterprise networks and data centers. He has been tinkering with cars, car stereos, and computers since before he could drive or get online without adult supervision. He is currently consulting on various enterprise IT projects and providing IT executive coaching, and he continues to do terrible things to innocent vehicles and computers. He can be reached in his garage or at [e-mail].

• Zoran Horvat (a.k.a. Zorro) [Hack #63] has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry. He started developing software applications on the legendary Commodore C64. For 14 years he worked as a Software Engineer, Architect, and Project Manager. Now Zoran works as a freelancer, developing applications in C#, Visual Basic, C++, and Java, as well as web applications in DHTML. One of his favorite hobbies is in-car computing, and he developed PhoneControl.NET (http://www.phonecontrol.net) for linking mobile phones and car PCs. You can reach him at [e-mail].

• Jirka Jirout [Hack #53] is an IT Manager at Metro Holland BV. He has been building electronic circuits and toys since he was 10 years old. He first learned to program on the ZX Spectrum and some obscure Eastern-bloc computers in the former Czechoslovakia, and eventually moved on to Windows PCs and then Macintoshes. His other hobbies are antique cars (especially the Tatra), photography, and building ship models. Jirka lives and works in the Netherlands with his wife and daughter.

• Kevin Lincecum (a.k.a. FrodoBaggins) [Hacks #64 and #75] started working with computers at age 10. He spent his time ripping apart hardware and software for kicks, and overworking his parents' phone lines on BBS systems (the precursors to the Internet). Having worked in the IT industry for nine years now, he has developed a love of programming, especially for car PCs. He is the developer of the popular frontend with the funny name, FrodoPlayer. All of his programs can be found online at http://www.frodoplayer.com. Kevin also asks that you visit his blog site at http://www.teabaggins.com, where you may find a slice of Frodo that many people don't get to see. And if you need him in a pinch, look no further than the MP3Car.com forums, where he spends a whole lot of his time keeping the "noobs" and veterans in line as an admin (when his wonderful wife Joanna will let him, and when his three cats, Marble, Sable, and Amy, give him any peace).

• David McGowan [Hack #73] received a B.B.A. in Management Information Systems and a minor in Computer Science from the University of Mississippi. When he is not working on CENTRAFUSE (http://www.fluxmedia.net), David can be found building appraisal-management systems for large lenders. Some of his other work includes a Java-based document management system, corporate intranet software, and a web-based appraisal delivery system. Recently David has spent most of his time writing in C#, but he is no stranger to Java, C++, or VB. When he's not programming, you can find David snowboarding in the Sierra Mountains or riding waves on the beach. You can contact him at [e-mail].

• Paul Peavyhouse [Hack #65] has reluctantly enjoyed working at Microsoft since 1998, in the Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) and Conferencing fields. His CS experience came from creating the Night55 Vibe/Sonique MP3 player while failing out of Montana State University. It was here, while working on the MSU "Double Black Diamond" Solar Vehicle Project, that Paul learned enough electronics skills to be mistaken as the Unabomber by the authorities. His web site is http://www.swooby.com/pv/, and his Nissan 350Z car PC project can be seen at http://www.swooby.com/z/navpc/.

• Tor Pinney [Hacks #5 and #68] is a writer, traveler, cruising sailor, and entrepreneur. His book Ready for Sea! (Sheridan House) is an authoritative manual for outfitting modern sailboats for long-term voyaging and living aboard. Tor founded the world's first Internet-focused international yacht brokerage, Anchor Yacht & Ship Sales (http://www.anchoryachts.com), developing original techniques to list, promote, and sell yachts online around the world. Tor is presently traveling and writing full time. His web site is http://www.tor.cc.

• Jacob Riskin [Hacks #64 and #70] is an entrepreneur who cofounded and ran Static.com (now http://www.akimbo.com) as its CEO from 1995 to 2001. Jacob has over 14 years of experience in advanced programming design for online systems, and he codesigned Static's core technologies, including its P2P distributed file network, game synchronization tool-box, and client/server interface. Prior to founding Static in 1995, Jacob worked in the magazine publishing industry on a prominent video game magazine, Gamefan.

• Silvio Fiorito [Hack #49] spent six years working as a software engineer for various startups and large corporations in the Northern Virginia area during the height of the dot-com boom. After getting bored of writing code all day, Silvio decided to change pace and return to his studies just as the bubble burst. Along with impeccable timing, Silvio also has a love of tinkering with the latest and greatest in technology, keeping his car PC in a constant state of development. He is currently majoring in Information Security at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. You can contact him at [e-mail].

• Stéphane Monnier [Hack #74] is a thrill-seeking software developer based in Massongex, Switzerland. After retiring from his early career as a Swiss champion Go-Kart racer, he moved on to a career in high-voltage-control engineering. He is the author of Neocar Media Center (http://www.neocarmediacenter.com), one of the most popular car PC applications. He would like to thank Cyril (Gore), NMC's main debugger, as well as all the users from CarMedia.org and MP3Car.com who have helped with the application. He is most thankful that his girlfriend Joanna lets him code as much as he wants to. You can contact him at [e-mail].

• J.P. Stewart [Hacks #67 and #68] is a Computer Engineer from Washington State with eight years of experience in writing custom online tools. He is currently working for an industry-leading software company building and breaking software. When not at work, he is usually busy either out taking pictures of the northwestern U.S., working on some current multimedia/home entertainment project, working on some other online tool for his web site (http://www.jpstewart.org), or working on software for his car PC.

• Adam Stolarz [Hack #72] did the photography for Car PC Hacks. A home-schooled high school student, he's also a skilled writer, a computer technologist, and a budding artist. He spends an inordinate amount of his own time and others' money on video games. He can be reached at [e-mail].

• Jason Tokunaga [Hack #71] has a background in aerospace engineering but has made the jump to the sexier field of Project Management. He has worked in the software industry for the past six years, on projects ranging from distributed networking and streaming media delivery to enterprise-class applications. A die-hard video enthusiast, he's currently managing an unreasonable number of projects in the Web/IT division of a major studio. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley.