The CarChip
“New gadget reveals car’s secrets to the mechanically challenged”:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/135251937_ptreviews12.html ["via Boing Boing":http://boingboing.net]
bq. The basic CarChip ($139) stores up to 75 hours of data and generates tables and graphs that show trip duration, minute-by-minute speed, average speed, maximum speed and incidents of heavy acceleration and braking. If your “check engine” light comes on, CarChip will tell you what’s wrong รณ in plain English. If the problem doesn’t look serious, CarChip can reset the check-engine light so that you can see whether it crops up again (sometimes it’s a fluke).
My trusty Accord is too old to support the “CarChip”:http://www.davisnet.com/drive/products/carchip_products.asp, but I’m sure my wife’s car would have the necessary OBD 2 connector and obviously any new vehicles we buy down the road are going to work with it. While I’m not exactly a car tinkerer (beyond the occasional oil change), I am definitely a computer geek and having a “black box” for my car does have a certain appeal.
Looks like you can currently order the CarChip for $125.10 at “thecarchip.com”:http://thecarchip.com.
