The iPhone app that lets you use your mobile to drive a car

Do you remember when James Bond escaped a sticky situation in Tomorrow Never Dies using his remote-controlled car? Well now technology has jumped from the world of fiction to reality.

Computer scientists in Germany have developed an iPhone application that turns the smartphone into a remote control for their self-constructed car.

The driver can operate the steering, brakes, and accelerator pedal with just a few strokes of the mobile's touchscreen.

The iPhone application has a steering wheel, brake and acceleration pedal, which connects to the car

The Autonomous Car is wired to the hilt with GPS, Wi-Fi and laser 3D sensors

A video camera placed on the dashboard transmits a signal to the iPhone, which allows the 'remote driver' to see everything in front of the car and adjust the car's movements accordingly.

The commands are transmitted from the iPhone via radio to the power transmission in the car. The user can park a car on the ground level as far away as the fourth floor of a building.

Both the remote control and car dubbed 'Spirit of Berlin' were constructed by the Artificial Intelligence Group at Freie Universität in Berlin.

The group is investigating how autonomous vehicles could change our lives in the future.

Professor Raúl Rojas, who directed the project, said we could one day all be dropped off and picked up by driverless taxis, which would remove the need for everyone to have their own car.- www.dailymail.co.uk

Watch the remote-controlled car in action...

Computer beep codes: What those beeps mean

Since I'm the "computer expert" among my friends and family, I often get those late night phone calls and e-mails asking me what's wrong with their computer. I'll be honest. It does get quite frustrating and annoying at times when people start off with "What did I do?" I understand that they're only asking me because they trust I can do a good job, and they really don't have anyone else to turn to.

When I start fixing a computer, 99% of the problems I see are software related. Most of the time it is you, the user that wrecks, breaks, crashes, or kills your computer. Sorry, I have to be blunt about it, but it's true. New processors, hard drives, video cards, memory and motherboards are just inanimate objects we can lay blame to.

Most of the time the main problem with these broken computers I tend to are due to too many programs loading up at start up. All those little programs add up, and sometimes eat up all the system resources.

Every now and then though, I do see a hardware problem and the first thing I do when I turn the computer on is listen to how it beeps.

When the computer makes those funny sound via the system speaker, it's not doing it because it wants to be heard. The computer is trying to talk to the operator/technician and tell them what's wrong. In testing computer components on and off for the last three to four years, I find that almost all motherboards adhere to the IBM BIOS standard beep codes... I think a few OEM's have developed their own or use Phoenix or AMI beep codes, but for the most part motherboard manufacturers uses the IBM based ones because they are grandfathered in.

Beep Code:	Description of Problem:
No Beeps	Short, No power, Bad CPU/MB, Loose Peripherals
One Beep	Everything is normal and Computer POSTed fine
Two Beeps	POST/CMOS Error
One Long Beep, One Short Beep	Motherboard Problem
One Long Beep, Two Short Beeps	Video Problem
One Long Beep, Three Short Beeps	Video Problem
Three Long Beeps	Keyboard Error
Repeated Long Beeps	Memory Error
Continuous Hi-Lo Beeps	CPU Overheating

So as you can see, if your computer doesn't start up and starts beeping away like a mime you can start the process of figuring out what is wrong by stopping for a second and listening. From a single beep which tells you everything is okay, to three long beeps which indicate a keyboard error to the siren like Hi-Lo beeps that tell you the CPU is overheating - listening to your computer is good!

As you become more and more experienced with computers, friends and family will naturally start to bring sick computers to your door to fix. When that happens, or when your own machine suddenly stops working, try listening to it first and see if it tells you what's wrong. If you are able to diagnose the problem just by listening to it, you will surely impress all your computer friends! - http://www.pcstats.com

Share Internet Connection Wirelessly, Without a Router

If you have more than one computer or a Wi-Fi phone at home, but no Wi-Fi router, you can still share your Internet connection wirelessly from the PC that's hooked to your modem. The gist is that the main PC broadcasts its Internet connection over its Wi-Fi card and thus acts like a router itself, allowing other devices to connect.

For step-by-step instructions, click here for Windows Vista PCs, here for Windows XP, and here for Macs.