FM transmitter borrows iPhone GPS
The ClearScan Live app lets you choose an FM frequency with the iPhone.
(Credit: Belkin)FM transmitters, which let you play just about any MP3 device through a car stereo, tend to offer dubious performance, especially in areas with a lot of radio stations. But Belkin is leveraging the capabilities of the iPhone to improve its TuneCast Auto Live FM transmitter. Belkin's ClearScan Live app for the iPhone and iPod Touch offers a better interface to choose an FM frequency than what's available on the small FM transmitter.
Beyond the improved interface, the ClearScan Live app also uses the iPhone or iPod Touch's GPS capabilities to determine your location, then communicate with a central server to find clear frequencies in your area. Although this feature will make it easier to find the clearest frequencies, it still won't help in dense urban areas where every couple of hundred kilohertz is allotted to a high-power radio transmitter.
Belkin's FM transmitter takes music from your iPhone and sends it via FM signal to your car's stereo.
(Credit: Belkin)Belkin's TuneCast Auto Live will be available this fall, for $79.99. The ClearScan Live app will be free and is designed to work with the iPhone OS 3.0, due out this summer.
