All cars built since 1996 incorporate an On-Board Diagnostics system which conforms to the OBD-II standard (some background here). As a hacker, this means that our cars come with a port that lets us access the computer that controls all the sensor and actuators that make our cars do their thing. With a laptop, a fairly inexpensive cable, and some (sometimes free) software, we can learn all kinds of neat stuff about what our cars are actually doing. The amount of information available varies from car to car, but some simple data logging functionality is universal to the OBD-II standard. This can let us trouble shoot problems, find subtle flaws in our car's operation that we may be able to improve on, and sometimes even add new features to our car!
I'll be offering a short introduction to data logging via the OBD-II port, why its important, and what we can do with the information we've obtained. There will be a live demonstration, fancy graphs, and some bonus stuff that will help transition into some more advanced tuning topics. I expect the class portion to take around an hour, with time at the end for everyone to see if they can get some logs off their own cars.
Check back here soon and I'll post a date/time once I prepare some sample logs and organize a presentation :)