Autoblog

If you haven't already entered to win the Grand Prize of our 2007 Holiday Sweepstakes, click here to do it now. The prize of a DashDAQ Series II is worth $695, and it's more than just a computer for your car. Read more about it on the DashDAQ website, click here to enter, and read the official rules. We'll be randomly selecting a commenter as the winner at 12:00PM EST, Monday 12/17/07. Good luck!

Today is our final 2007 Holiday Sweepstakes, and we hope you've enjoyed what we've had to offer so far. We think today's prize, however, is the biggest one under the tree. One randomly selected commenter on this post will receive a DashDAQ Series II valued at $695! This open source computer for you car can do almost anything. Out of the box it can display a gauge cluster in a variety of skins, show and clear diagnostic codes, and pull up data points from any of your car's sensors. But it's open source, so what the DashDAQ can do is only limited by the third-party applications that are developed for it. The Series II model won 9 SEMA International new product awards last month, and it's a more robust model than its predecessor with more processing power and additional inputs (two serial connecters, two USB ports and an SD card slot). Read more about its capabilities at DashDAQ's website, but make sure to enter to win it first.

NOTE: Because the DashDAQ Series II is our Grand Prize, we'll be accepting entries through 12:00PM EST on Monday, 12/17/07.

How to Enter: Just leave a single comment on this post (if you leave two or more, all will be disqualified).

Simple Rules:

• 1 winner will be randomly selected at 12:00PM EST Monday, 12/17/07
  
• You may enter today's sweepstakes only once
• Only residents of the United States are eligible
  
• You must be at least 18 to enter

Click here to view official rules and come back every day this week around noon to see what else we're giving away. Happy Holidays from your friendly neighborhood Autoblog!

NOTE: We have already randomly chosen 1 winner for yesterday's sweepstakes and will be in contact shortly. Feel free to enter today's sweepstakes if you're eligible, and if you happen to be a previous Holiday Sweepstakes winner, your entry in today's sweepstakes will automatically not count.

Last year at the 2006 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, we reported on a unique piece of hardware called the DashDAQ. It looks like a third-party sat nav, but it's actually an open source Linux-based computer that suction cups to your windshield. Commenters at the time went ga-ga over what could be done with the DashDAQ after plugging it into their OBD-II port. Unbeknownst to us, the company was listening and returned to SEMA in 2007 with the actual product that just went on sale a couple weeks ago.

Called the DashDAQ Series II, the $695 production model walked away from this year's SEMA Show with nine new product awards. The DashDAQ is still as open source as it was last year, but has grown up a bit and added more processing power and more inputs in the form of two serial connecters, two USB ports and an SD card slot. Any type of sensor can be plugged into the unit and its data displayed as long as you've got drivers for it. Out of the box, though, the DashDAQ can display a gauge cluster in a variety of skins, display and clear diagnostic codes, and show you data points from any of your car's sensors while simultaneously logging them for future analysis.

One of the big knocks against the DashDAQ last year was that despite looking for all the world like a navigation system, it didn't have the hardware or software to perform that function. Well, it still doesn't, but they have addressed the issue by making it simple to plug in a third-party GPS unit. A company named Elektrobit is currently developing sat nav software for the DashDAQ, but you can of course use other Linux-based GPS programs. Since it's open source, just imagine the possibilities. You could have your car's true speed or even lap times clocked accurately via GPS just like the pros, but for thousands less.

We're going to have one of our more computer literate bloggers take a DashDAQ Series II for a spin in the near future. In the meantime, the company, its engineers and software designers are listening, so tell them you think.

[Source: DashDAQ]