Product Description
Roll up your sleeves and get ready to totally tech-out your ride! Geek My Ride is the first do-it-yourself guide to installing a variety of awesome projects that will turn your ordinary vehicle into the ultimate tech rod! Car hacker Auri Rahimzadeh guides readers through 15 cool projects, complete with tools, skills and step-by-step instructions. Geek My Ride goes way beyond factory options and teaches readers how to install a custom car PC, with Wi-Fi, I… More >>
#1 by Michael D. Hiscox on July 2, 2010 - 6:49 pm
I won’t argue that there is some worthwhile stuff in here, and there are mentions of product names and websites that may prove useful. Many will even find the information presented worth the purchase price.
However, don’t purchase this book thinking you are getting anything close to 400 pages of content. To begin with, there are many pictures, each using up half a page. That sounds good, right? Nope, the pictures show such things as an ethernet cable, a Dremel sanding bit, a picture of an extension cord and a pcture of how to use a measuring tape to measure a piece of Velcro.
More depressing, you get to look at these pictures several times, as well as read much of the content over and over. Each chapter is written as if there were no preceeding information, so you’ll get to read the same information about the same products and techniques multiple times.
You know those little plastic plugs that go into A/C outlets to keep toddlers from poking pins in them? Did you need a description of them? How about a half-page picture of 4 of them artfully scattered on a table? How about multiple half-page pictures of them? How about for the extension cords, the sanding bits, etc.
I was expecting to get a 400 page book with 400 pages of information. It’s nowhere near that. You may still find it worthwhile, but I found the repetition lame and unprecedented and personally resented being hoodwinked.
Rating: 2 / 5
#2 by John Matlock on July 2, 2010 - 7:06 pm
I don’t want all this stuff in my car. So why did I get this book? Because I want a lot of this stuff in my delivery vehicles.
I don’t much care about a game console. Not true, I do care, I don’t want it there. But a PC, a GPS, internet connection, and a printer make good sense. This would make a lot more sense than simply having people calling in all the time on their cell phones.
One I liked about this book, was that it had all the information I needed from the technology, through installation, through the actual use. While I’m not going to do the installation myself, now I have a feeling of what the technician has to go through and I’m a lot less likely to get snowed by what he says.
The first guy I talked to about doing this wanted to sell me an industrial grade PC for several thousand dollars. Instead the cases and other components discussed here tell me how to get the job done with a small fraction of the cost.
The other thing that I liked about this book is that each project or device is separate and free standing. I didn’t need to read about the audio visual system to find out what I needed to know about putting the PC in the vehicle.
For me this book did exactly what I wanted. That’s all you can ask of a book.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by TechGeek on July 2, 2010 - 8:18 pm
This is a great guide to installing all sorts of cool technology in your vehicle. In particular, I was interested in integrating a game console into the back seat for those long trips out east, so the Game Cube example was what drew me to the book.
I have been pleasantly suprised to find all my questions answered here, and have come to realize that there is more than I was expecting in terms of getting the power requirements right. Regardless, it was all covered, and written in a very friendly and easy to understand manner.
I agree with another reviewer’s comments about using velcro as one of the primary ways of securing things in the car, although that is certainly not the only method covered. For me, the use of velcro is a sound, inexpensive method for getting the job done, and I don’t have to worry about ripping everything out when the time comes to sell the car, when we want to move the Xbox easily to and from the car and into the house, or if I simply want to move it to the trunk when I am parked somewhere where I dont necessarily want to “advertise” my high-tech gear.
The author does make some assumptions about potential readers, so if you have never built a PC before, you may want to tackle that before you dive into some of these projects. A little experience with basic wireless networking will help too, although the steps are outlined fairly well in the text.
All in all, this is a great solution for the do-it-yourself reader who wants to add these sorts of projects to his or her vehicle. I imagine there are certainly more ellaborate (and expensive) solutions, and if I wanted to go that way I would heed the author’s advice to stick with the pros. Even if you don’t like the author’s particular example or method, he generally gives you the right approach to take if you are a little more adventurous and want to take things a step further.
Bottom line: If you have a screw driver, some extra time, and have always wanted to add these sorts of projects to your vehicle, this is the perfect guide.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Mark A. Farver on July 2, 2010 - 8:51 pm
The book is a collection of ideas and where to go for more information. Many of the ideas end with “get a professional.”
A lot of material is literally cut and pasted into other chapters of the book. Everytime velcro is used there is a picture of “Scoring the plastic to make the velcro stick better”. In fact velcro seems to be the primary mounting technique for everything. There are plenty of warnings and trivia that have little to do with the subject matter. “What is Bluetooth” for example.
The DIY projects are pretty beginner level and do not go into how to install stuff while still making it look nice. Most of the authors installation pictures look pretty sloppy. “Adding a USB hub to the dash” is a 6 page project. (cut hole in ashtry, glue in hub, wire hub to computer) The chapter on “Integrating a Game Console” is 14 pages long but could be summed up in “Get a TV, get a game cube, velcro game cube to floor (don’t forget to score the plastic), connect to TV.” etc.
I bought this book for the “building an auto-tracking in-car satellite TV unit” listed in the reviews. Its not in there. The coverage of satellite TV is basically: “its available, its expensive, and you should have a professional do it.”
Frankly I’ve bought a lot of books over the years, this would be the first one I ever considered returning.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by Richard Cohn on July 2, 2010 - 11:04 pm
I found this book clear and easy to read. I especially liked the OBD-II listing in the back, where I found my car with ease. The wireless music synching chapter was very cool, and so was the extensive list of resources in the back.
The book starts out with the basics: power, heat, cabling. Then there are “beginner” chapters which introduce you to different projects (computer, game system, dvd player). The “advanced” chapters build on those and get into the real nitty gritty of neat projects for cars.
All in all, a very well-rounded book, and the author is willing to help on his web site, where you can post questions and comments. He already responded to mine, so that’s cool.
Rating: 5 / 5