My Car PC – Installing Android Auto

After the successful Beta stage of my Car PC build I could not add anything much due to workplace commitments. However one thing that fascinated me was the introduction of Android Auto by Google.
Still the problem in adopting Android Auto into my setup was that it is compatible only with the Hardware manufactured by partnering manufacturers and there was no way to obtain details about developing a head unit app by an average person. Of course the community quickly began to reverse engineer the workings of Android Auto mobile app and the provided Simulators and quickly surfaced an open source head unit app for Android Tablets working in OTG mode. Going on that direction, I was almost about to put Android x86 and port that so called head unit app into x86. Yet a web search for that app suddenly pointed to a recently announced desktop head unit app by Google itself.
So I reinstalled the Windows 7 Embedded platform with required components (This time approx. 1.5GB image) installed JDK (which is a prerequisite for Android SDK) and Android SDK tools (which provides adb.exe) along with Android Auto desktop head unit app and Google USB drivers.
Still I’m using my old startup sequence of launching Centrafuse Auto from my own custom shell application. And made a batch script to forward tcp:5277 in adb and then launch the head unit app. I have then added this as an Application plugin titled as Android Auto to Centrafuce app. While in this video I have to accept the annoying Debug authorization prompt on my mobile   I have get rid of that by selecting the checkbox for "Always allow from this computer". Only caveat with this setup is that I have to click on Maximize button to adjust the head unit app to screen since I’m running at 800x600 resolution. It also has a title bar on top of the screen yet. But apart from that it’s almost as the authentic Android Auto experience from that point onwards.

And the usual disclaimer that goes with any project of this nature:
The method depicted in this post is only experimental and if you choose to follow the same you are fully responsible for any damages that may arise as a result. Also always stay fully aware of driving conditions and always obey applicable laws. In case system may become unstable and unresponsive do not try to handle you mobile while driving.

[Posted with Windows Live Writer™ 2012 on Windows 10 64bit]

Google Similar Images. Since a picture worth 1000+ words.

:-)
Google has recently launched the Google Similar Images feature which is an experimental service from Google Labs that lets you find images that are similar with an image you select. For example if you do a Image search for “Jaguar”  You might receive something like below.

Now If you meant about the ‘cat’ You could click On Similar Images. (Notice the similar features of the images. Background color etc..)

Or more pictures of the brand of car. (Notice the similar features of the images. Background color Car orientation, Color etc… In fact all are different versions of same image…)
Well That’s the example of Google themselves. Now I’m going to do few of my own searches.
Hmm well what does I search? Since I was fond of flowers recently let’s try some flowers.
Search for Water Lily.

Now If I wanted to see Pink Water Lily (නෙළුම් මල්). (In fact single pink water lily on mostly dark back ground.)

or White water Lily (ඕලු මල්) (In fact single white water lily on mostly dark back ground.)

It’s very easy.
Now If I was looking for pictures with only one Pink water Lily it would be really difficult with just Image search.

Now Let’s try about Cherry blossom flower

Hmm I think I like to have similar Images to 1st results. (Single cherry blossom flower on white back ground.)
Oops.

Well 1st 2 pictures are OK. but rest? Well in fact it seems there are no any similar pictures of my cherry blossom flower and considering the image features we may consider the rest is similar to cherry blossom flowers. After all Google bots are just poor bots.
Hmm So what next? Well I do really like to have a feature that would let us to upload our own Image to Google and do a Similar Image search.
References/Links:
Hard at play in Google Labs with Similar Images and Google News Timeline
Google Similar Images
[Posted using Windows Live Writer on Windows 7 Beta]