Autoblog

When Apple's low-cost Mac Mini computer debuted, it wasn't long before industrious hackers took advantage of its small form factor to create some incredible in-car installs. There have always been some major limitations, however, to installing a Mac Mini in your dash, the most significant being how to interact with it. Driving around with a keyboard and mouse in your lap isn't very ergonomic. Enter the new AppleTV, a device that despite having only been on the market for a week or so has become the most hacked Apple device ever. It has not, however, been installed in a car yet. Here's why it should be.

The AppleTV is a device that's designed to be used in conjunction with a Mac or PC running iTunes, which, let's face it, most computers do. It connects to your desktop via an 802.11 wireless connection and syncs video and music purchased from the iTunes Store onto its own 40GB hard drive. In essence, it acts much like a screenless Video iPod that syncs wirelessly with your computer. Instead of connecting it to an HDTV as it was designed, one could easily envision hacking the video input of a car's in-dash screen to accept the video output of an AppleTV. If successful, you could theoretically pull into your garage and wirelessly sync the video and music on your desktop computer to your car (assuming the range of your wireless network reaches the garage). Once on the road, all of the AppleTV's functions are controlled via a tiny Apple Remote, so there's no need for a keyboard, mouse or other exotic input device.

For those of us who have hopped on the iPod bandwagon and are searching for content with which to fill our iconic little music devices, may we direct you to the iTunes Music Store where a free video preview of the upcoming Daytona 500 has been made available for our viewing pleasure.

This featurette includes interviews with the drivers, clips of 2006 test cars and some never-before-seen archived footage. Our buddies over at TUAW even noticed that the video is categorized under the heading “NASCAR 2006 Races”, which implies stock car racing might be bump drafting its way onto our iPods in an even bigger way sometime in the near future.