Here’s a killer app

Recently, I forked over $99 to Apple for their .Mac service — a high price to pay, but I really needed the ability to sync my contacts and calendar between my 3 Macs and cell phone. Of course, the system isn’t perfect: it doesn’t really work with my Palm because the Palm doesn’t use iCal.
So, the one thing that I never can use all this syncing for is my to do list and reminders. Even if it did, carrying around my Palm is a bit of a pain because while it is the smallest one they make, it is still too bulky to comfortably carry in my pocket.
So, here’s my big idea, which I freely throw out there for any venture capitalist to work on.
I want to sync with my car.
Now, this isn’t as silly as you might think at first.
My car has built-in Bluetooth and a phone directory. It has a GPS navigation system. And oddly, it has an appointment calendar. But these things don’t really work together. Here’s what I envision: the car should automatically sync with all my other devices via Bluetooth. It should sync all my phone numbers with the phone directory. It should mark the locations of all the addresses in my phone book using the GPS navigation. It should add my calendar appointments to the calendar, and all my to do items should be noted — and should pop up on the screen according to the location I’m driving near. For instance, “Get trash bags” should pop up when I drive a few blocks near the Albertsons. “Check mail box” should appear with a beep when I am heading over towards my PO box. If I have a lunch with Julie at 1pm in Palo Alto, the car should know that it takes 30 minutes to drive there and should remind me at 12:15 and display the route.
The key here is integration. We all have these disparate bits of information and applications to handle them, but they so rarely integrate together nicely. This was, of course, the point of the Newton back in the early 90s, but the paradigm died along with that product. My Palm can handle these little daily bits of info, but doesn’t integrate them together. A to-do is only a to-do, and doesn’t care where you are and how you’ll do it.
We spend so much time in our cars these days, doesn’t it seem more efficient to bring these capabilities into our vehicles rather than a multitude of little gadgets?