Convergence.  It’s been one of the holy grails of the electronics industry for quite some time.  The idea is simple enough - empower one device to act as a central point of reference for multiple devices and/or incorporate those multiple devices into one mega unit that does it all.  Depending on what portion of the industry you look at, the ideal concept of convergence might be a single point of control or reference, for multiple devices.  By approaching convergence as a many-to-one scenario, it allows individuals to choose their own devices according to preference or need.  Instead of being forced into using an all-in-one device that may not have all the features desired, a control device would simply make use of what devices the user has brought with him or her.

As a case in point, Volkswagen has been working on an automobile computer that takes devices such as the iPod and Treo, and provides a single point of control for them.  The concept, named Gypsy, is a separate project from the in-car media center project that Microsoft and Volkswagen introduced at CeBIT.  Volkswagen’s Electronics Research Lab (ERL) is working with Google to utilize Google Earth as the mapping system of choice, and sees the system as being extensible through the use of widgets.  C|Net has an interesting, if lightweight, video of the Gypsy product in action.  It only scratches the surface of what is possible, but it brings to mind what will one day be possible.  The roadblocks to successfully implement such a wide-reaching device are abundant, but given a common set of communication standards, and a lot of luck, we can hope for the best.

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