Much has been made of the Mac Mini since it was announced just a couple of days ago, but one of the coolest applications I’ve seen of the new unit is as an in-dash unit for automobiles.

And sure, you could leave OS X on it. But given this is a Linux pub, I’ll take a moment to suggest one of the PowerPC-based distros such as Yellow Dog. I’m sure it would work like a champ, and you’d have the power of Linux everywhere you go.

Mounting it in the dash would save some headaches such as running cabling from the trunk or other suitable mount point to the front of the car, which would be required for a full-size PC and even most compact PC systems. Mount an LCD panel to the dash — with or without a touchscreen — and a USB hub nearby and you’ll be able to plug and play all sorts of devices from keyboards and (preferably gyro) mice to memory and cameras. Use a wireless USB adapter and make yourself a roaming web/application/streaming media server. Install a webcam with a mic and set yourself up with a fully-featured roadtrip journal. Tie it all together with GPS. Then, of course, we have the wardriving capabilities.

All without having to balance a laptop on your knees. Or sweating said laptop falling to the floor during a sudden stop…

It’s devices and thinking like that which bring us closer to turning cars into roving WLANs, kind of like what we see in Cory Doctorow’s Eastern Standard Tribe. Maybe instead of flash mobs we’ll see flash LAN parties, where game tournaments will be set up in mall parking lots. Scavenger hunts and capture the flag sessions will sprawl across entire cities. And across it all, checking out your competitors or watching the game unfold will be a simple matter of firing up a wireless connection and accessing the mobile web and streaming media servers of other vehicles in range.

That would be a blast.