This product http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YZATMka...asp?i=108DP1US and the wireless iPod controller part got me thinking about a Mini specific product that would be the cat's a$$.

What if someone made a wireless iPod controller that replaced the manual shifter ****? I would buy that in half a heartbeat.

 

that's a truly brilliant thought.

anyone up to the challenge? huh?

 

What made me think of it is the fact that the shifter **** is very underutilized controller real estate. It is a place in the car EVERYONE knows and can get to without thinking of it. One would think that, given that, it would be a natural place to put controls of one manner or another.

I would probably not put the actual controls right on the top of the controller though since the risk of inadvertant changes are pretty great. Instead, if you offset it to the front of the controller so that it would be easy to manipulate with the forefinger, you would still have an elegant interface without getting in the way. It might even be a good idea to recess the control surface so as to make inadvertant contact more difficult.

 

damn thats really clever.

 

someone will probably patent it off of my suggestion and make a tonne of money. Call it the Edward Teach device, though. If you don't, I'll point out this message board as evidence of prior art and you will understand the suffering that is our intellectual property adjudication system.

 

You mean something similar to this.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-V5xCCyy...info&i=127SK1R

Came out about 5 years ago if I remember correctly.

 

That one is pretty darned close, but the interface is still wrong. Putting buttons on the top of a shift **** is a pretty inelegant interface. Putting an iPod dial on the front or side of a shift **** so it can be manipulated either by the forefinger or thumb is a lot more intuitive.

 

I have the Drive+Play, and was in the process of coming up with some variant of a shiftknob-mounted controller. Alas, the Dragon crept up on me and my limited time, so it's on hold for a bit. The D+P setup works well, all externally mounted pieces are very well constructed. I'll be posting something after I come up with a solution that does not look like it's been tacked together.

 

Fighter jets do that all the time...HOTAS, "Hands on Throttle and Stick". Can do almost everything without moving the hands.

You're right though, amazing no one has considered that for cars. At least the Head Up Display has made it to cars, finally.

 

The partial audio controls on the back of the steering wheel are a much more elegant version of the racerboy **** controls that greg_s linked to, but I think that some sort of fine motor controller like the iPod dial would be perfect for the shift **** since most drivers are right handed.