roadcasting

This is something we've practiced at our office, on a small scale. Basically, a contest to see who's "iTrip" can throw a stronger broadcast signal. Picture the scene: 5:30pm, we're all hitting the VIA parking lot at the same time. Kevin gets into his car, turns on his radio/iPod/iTrip to listen to Dave Mathews (or whatever crap he listens to) and he's blasted out by the superior stength of my iTrip, happily broadcasting the latest Crystal Method download. And the car broadcasting wars begin.

So now, this has entered the real world. Roadcasting is a system that allows anyone to have their own radio station, broadcasted among cars in an ad-hoc network. It plays the songs that people want to hear and it transforms car radio into an interactive medium. Roadcasting has emerged as the result of an 7-month project at Carnegie Mellon's Human Computer Interaction Institute.

At VIA, we've un-officially tested the commercially available iTrip, and it's reach seems to be only a few car lengths on the highway. With roadcasting, you'll be capable of broadcasting 30 miles. That's got some fun opportunities - especially to those of us in branding. Imagine a temporary radio station set up at an event, bringing a whole new level of entertainment to those in the area of the event. With a 30 mile radius, you could cover most/all of most cities.

We'll be sure to check this out further - even though for now, it looks like it's just source code, and a concept. And one more nail in the coffin of traditional radio.