Next trend - Android in cars

I really recommend that car manufacturers should consider adding mobile phone dock in cars, so that mobile phones can be provided with unlimited electricity and stand firmly on the panel.

Since Google phones provide better and better GPS navigation, in order to let these electricity consuming monsters work as long as possible, mobile phone dock should be considered as regular equipment in cars. Furthermore, in the future, I bet there will soon be some system communication interfaces that come along with these smart phone docks, so that iPhone or Android phone developers can use these API to communicate with cars - no matter the car status or identification, to prevent unauthorized driving.

Recently I saw a Benz car interior photo. There was a computer screen showing Google search portal. I don't know what operating system it was running, maybe Android or Linux. No matter what it was, I believe there will soon be some application markets targeted for in-car-use. And that's what I am engaged in.

Soon in the early summer, I will release my first version of car tracking system. Please stay tuned and I will update at any time :-)

Root HTC Magic and install new ROM easily

Thanks to these guys's efforts, so I can root my HTC-Magic with few pains.

(Steps below only fits to HTC Magic 32A edition)

1. I strongly recommend making "golden card" by using Mac, trust me, it is really easy to make it. Here is the article to make "golden card" on Mac.

• http://bloggadgets.web.id/techno-blog/how-to-create-a-goldcard-with-mac-or-linux-for-rooting-ht-03a.html

If you have installed Android SDK on your Mac, you can just begin from section "Create a goldcard image file"

2. Then switch to Windows platform, because we have to install a RUU update file below.

RUU_Sapphire_HTC_Europe_3.04.401.2_HTC_AT_test_signed_NoDriver.exe

Please download it(You can find it in http://shipped-roms.com/), make sure HTC sync is connected to your HTC Magic, then you can run the .exe file above to install RUU.

After install European version of RUU. Your HTC Magic will reboot automatically, it needs longer boot time than usual, please be patient. Now you have totally rooted HTC Magic.

-- If you are satisfied with rooted HTC official ROM, you can stopped here. But why we root? It is because we like new stuff and adventure! Please go further steps --

3. After reboot completed, please mount it to your Mac, copy

• recovery-RA-hero-v1.6.2.img
• update-hboot-1762007-signed.zip

into your mobile device sdcard. Then unmount USB mode, keep USB line plugged.

4. Open your shell, change directory to /platform-tools.

In shell window, type

./adb devices

to make sure Android Debug Bridge connect to your device. Please be aware that if you install "EasyTether" on your Mac, it will cause adb not to list devices, you can follow the FAQ here to solve this problem: http://www.mobile-stream.com/easytether/android_faq.html#adbmacosx

5. Next type

flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-hero-v1.6.2.img

to flash new recovery. It completes quickly, then shutdown mobile device.

6. Press power + home button together to boot into recovery mode. Scroll menu to "Flash zip from sdcard", press navigation ball to show zip file list. Now you can see the other file "update-hboot-1762007-signed.zip" shown on the list. Press navigation ball to install it, follow instruction shown on screen to complete installation.

7. Shut down and press "power" + "volume down" button, reboot into fastboot mode. You should the following version info:

SAPPHIRE PVT 32A ENG S-OFF H

HBOOT-1.76-2007 (SAPP10000)

CPLD-12

RADIO-6.35.08.29

(Font in red color is what you need to pay attention to)

-- Milestone notice: After this you can install any ROM you like, good luck. --

8. Now my HTC-Magic runs Cyanogen MOD v.6, it is my recommendation for you.

But it needs quite a few more complicated steps to install it, you can refer to

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Magic for more details.

Please follow introductions above to install new ROM. As a MAC user, it is important to have "fastboot", but it is not shipped with Android SDK. You can download it from http://developer.htc.com/adp.html#s1

This will help you a lot during the procedures.