4 ms·

"Software updates come by way of Wifi. All cars equipped with the new version of Sync will also be loaded with a WIFI receiver, allowing Ford to push software u

by bndw 12y ago

"Software updates come by way of Wifi. All cars equipped with the new version of Sync will also be loaded with a WIFI receiver, allowing Ford to push software updates to Sync" Either the author is confused, or you're literally going to have to connect your car to a WiFi network to receive updates.

exelius 12y ago
That sounds about right, actually. In practice, this shouldn't be a big deal for people who live in a house where WiFi reaches the garage, but I can see it being a PITA for anyone who lives in an apartment.
- vardump 12y ago
  Nearly every phone I've seen in last few years has a WiFi access point feature. So shouldn't be a big issue even for apartment dwellers.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Or set it to look for "linksys".
  - tnorthcutt 12y ago
    How many people actually know how to use that feature, though?
    - untog 12y ago
      Or are allowed to use it by their networks.
    - foofoo55 12y ago
      On a Blackberry Z10 it's just two touches: the first touch gets the main settings menu from the top (I think the same as any Android), then hitting the Hotspot icon. I use this all the time to feed the Internet to my laptop and even a couple pieces of remote machinery. I'd expect to do this to update such a car as well. And I'm really old in HN years. How can carriers know when the phone is acting as a hotspot, and why are those bytes more expensive?
  - bndw 12y ago
    Can't wait to type in $0meSupersTRONGpasSw0rdOnMYco0lca.rt?0UCHSCREENz
  - freehunter 12y ago
    And nearly every phone I've seen in the last few years is attached to a carrier that charges extra for the WiFi access point feature, and even then is limited to 5GB of data. Updating your car over LTE-connected WiFi could cost you a pretty penny.
    - m_mueller 12y ago
      Just ridiculous. Our carriers in Switzerland tried to pull that after iPhone brought that 'feature' to them, but this was quickly ironed out by some actual competition. We have three carriers with somewhat good coverage.
      - freehunter 12y ago
        I know that the US is much larger than Switzerland, but we have four carriers with good coverage. The problem is, there's only one carrier that is both willing and able to be competitive (T-Mobile). There's another one that is willing to be competitive, but due to some technical limitations, unable to (Sprint). AT&T and Verizon are both big enough to not need to compete with anyone (including themselves). And then you remember that AT&T and Verizon used to be the same company...
        m_mueller 12y ago
        I'd argue that in a bigger country there should be more competition rather than less. Of course you have the issue with population density, but if you just look at your densely populated areas, they should allow much more competition than what you have now. Once again it seems to be lobbying leading to monopolies that hamper the economy. People need to start to understand that US style capitalism isn't really deserving its name in many fields - if a market is so skewed it can't be entered anymore, then it by definition can't be a working capitalistic system.
        hga 12y ago
        The flip side is that the build out of a satisfactory nation wide network ought to be a lot cheaper in total in a small country. Maybe even less political depending on how Switzerland's federal system works, e.g. how involved are cantons in telecom regulation, access issues (back haul) etc.? I would also expect Switzerland to have less regime risk than the US.
- bndw 12y ago
  I guess I just expected "over the air" updates, similar to Tesla, given this is a brand new product. Even though it's likely trivial for most to connect their car to a network, I'm sure there will be a subset of that 19-91 audience left out.
  - sliverstorm 12y ago
    WiFi is a heck of a lot simpler than cellular. Just because it can be done by a boutique vendor selling very expensive products (Tesla) doesn't mean it's the top choice of the everyman vendor (Ford).
pistle 12y ago
Look for the "Free wifi here!" signs at your local Ford dealer service parking lot. Seems like this sync process is a point to target for hackers / law enforcement. Imagine turning cars into bugging devices just by doing a drive-by update on Sync. Or the lulz of having the media screen rickroll someone relentlessly.

by bndw 12y ago

exelius 12y ago

That sounds about right, actually. In practice, this shouldn't be a big deal for people who live in a house where WiFi reaches the garage, but I can see it being a PITA for anyone who lives in an apartment.

vardump 12y ago
Nearly every phone I've seen in last few years has a WiFi access point feature. So shouldn't be a big issue even for apartment dwellers.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Or set it to look for "linksys".
- tnorthcutt 12y ago
  How many people actually know how to use that feature, though?
  - untog 12y ago
    Or are allowed to use it by their networks.
  - foofoo55 12y ago
    On a Blackberry Z10 it's just two touches: the first touch gets the main settings menu from the top (I think the same as any Android), then hitting the Hotspot icon. I use this all the time to feed the Internet to my laptop and even a couple pieces of remote machinery. I'd expect to do this to update such a car as well. And I'm really old in HN years. How can carriers know when the phone is acting as a hotspot, and why are those bytes more expensive?
- bndw 12y ago
  Can't wait to type in $0meSupersTRONGpasSw0rdOnMYco0lca.rt?0UCHSCREENz
- freehunter 12y ago
  And nearly every phone I've seen in the last few years is attached to a carrier that charges extra for the WiFi access point feature, and even then is limited to 5GB of data. Updating your car over LTE-connected WiFi could cost you a pretty penny.
  - m_mueller 12y ago
    Just ridiculous. Our carriers in Switzerland tried to pull that after iPhone brought that 'feature' to them, but this was quickly ironed out by some actual competition. We have three carriers with somewhat good coverage.
    - freehunter 12y ago
      I know that the US is much larger than Switzerland, but we have four carriers with good coverage. The problem is, there's only one carrier that is both willing and able to be competitive (T-Mobile). There's another one that is willing to be competitive, but due to some technical limitations, unable to (Sprint). AT&T and Verizon are both big enough to not need to compete with anyone (including themselves). And then you remember that AT&T and Verizon used to be the same company...
      - m_mueller 12y ago
        I'd argue that in a bigger country there should be more competition rather than less. Of course you have the issue with population density, but if you just look at your densely populated areas, they should allow much more competition than what you have now. Once again it seems to be lobbying leading to monopolies that hamper the economy. People need to start to understand that US style capitalism isn't really deserving its name in many fields - if a market is so skewed it can't be entered anymore, then it by definition can't be a working capitalistic system.
        hga 12y ago
        The flip side is that the build out of a satisfactory nation wide network ought to be a lot cheaper in total in a small country. Maybe even less political depending on how Switzerland's federal system works, e.g. how involved are cantons in telecom regulation, access issues (back haul) etc.? I would also expect Switzerland to have less regime risk than the US.
bndw 12y ago
I guess I just expected "over the air" updates, similar to Tesla, given this is a brand new product. Even though it's likely trivial for most to connect their car to a network, I'm sure there will be a subset of that 19-91 audience left out.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  WiFi is a heck of a lot simpler than cellular. Just because it can be done by a boutique vendor selling very expensive products (Tesla) doesn't mean it's the top choice of the everyman vendor (Ford).

pistle 12y ago

Look for the "Free wifi here!" signs at your local Ford dealer service parking lot. Seems like this sync process is a point to target for hackers / law enforcement. Imagine turning cars into bugging devices just by doing a drive-by update on Sync. Or the lulz of having the media screen rickroll someone relentlessly.