The AutoExec Wheelmate Desk on Amazon

Heh. Check out the user photos he...

Review: Scosche motorMOUTH II Bluetooth

I was recently given a Scosche motorMOUTH II (model BTAXS) bluetooth gadget to try out.*The motorMOUTH II is an ingenious idea, one of those "why didn't they think of it sooner!" type things. It is basically a bluetooth headset combined with a stereo mini-jack. Instead of sticking it in your year (that would really hurt) you plut it into your car's aux input. It plays the audio from your phone...

Volt Spotting

I saw this Volt parked in Southfield today. A lovely dark red specimin. Notice how GM is hiding the exhaust. Can you see a tailpipe? The muffler is that light gray thing on the left side. I can't tell where the tail pipe exits, it is well hidden. I'm not sure about the wisdom of the reverse lamp location, it seems like it would get grimy under there from road grime during the winter months....

Disappearing Drive Problem Solved

I have this problem on my Windows 7 desktop PC at home, that from time to time my secondary 1.5TB WD Caviar Green hard drive disappears from the system, as if it wasn't installed at all.It turns out to be a bug in how Windows wakes up SATA drives--there is a time-out, and apparently some large SATA drives don't wake up fast enough, and are assumed to be missing. There is a Microsoft hotfix for the problem here.If your large SATA drive isn't the primary...

Some Double Rainbows

There were some scattered showers this evening, with patches of blue sky, it was very striking. I caught these gigantic double rainbows with my (weak) cell phone came...

Shocking News: Americans Won't Pay More For Electric Cars

From Edmunds Green Car Advisor: About two out of three Americans say they wouldn't be willing to pay more for an electric car than for a comparable gas-powered vehicle, while just 17 percent said they'd pay more than a $5,000 premium for an EV, Nielsen Co. said, citing its September poll of more than 2,300 people. I guess the good news is that about 30% of Americans would pay extra for an electric car--but most of them would not pay more $5,000....

Mahindra Trucks... Still Dead

Despite some sputtering noises to the contrary, it appears to me that Mahindra's plan to import diesel light trucks into the U.S. is still quite dead. In addition to jerking around the dealer network and potential customers, and creating ill will, Mahindra has to overcome a legal battle with its original distributor, Global Vehicles. Also, not to pile on or anything, but while Mahindra may have certified its emissions for the EPA, I have not...

E15: Good For Corn Farmers, Confusing For The Rest Of Us

EPA is announcing today that they are ready to approve E15 (15% ethanol) gasoline blends, but only for 2007 model year and newer vehicles. That's silly.Are gas station owners really going to set aside one or two pumps for E15, and label them?   Consumers would then be faced with 5 types of gasoline choose from: base, mid-grade, premium, E85, and E15.  Some people will be confused and put E15 in pre 2007 vehicles.  Others will be confused...

The Semiotics Of Volt: The Meaning Of "Direct"

GM's clarification about how the Volt powertain has an interesting statement: There is no direct mechanical connection (fixed gear ratio) between the Volt's extended-range 1.4L engine and the drive wheels. Note how GM defines "direct mechanical connection" as "fixed gear ratio".  However, to a technically minded reader this sounds like semantic squirming.    Here is how it works.  There is a planetary gearset.  In the Volt,...

Volt Frenzy, Part III

After doing some reading around, it does seem like the blogosphere overreacted to the news that the Volt's gasoline engine *gasp* can actually help push the front wheels.My conclusion is that it doesn't really matter. Since a gasoline engine was put on-oard to charge the battery, the Volt was never going to be a pure electric car. From the very beginning, it was thought to be a "series hybrid" (gas to electric to wheels), but now we see that it...

The Telegraph Rumor Was True!

A few months back, this article in the Telegraph caused a stir among the Volt followers. In it, Andrew English quotes an Opel engineer working on the Ampera (Euro Volt):"We are considering driving the wheels directly from the petrol engine," says Andreas Voight, an Opel project engineer.Then, The Car Connection, wanting a clarification, went to GM and asked about this. GM responded with two points:"We're definitely not making any changes,"andPeterson...

Edmunds: "GM Lied",

Edmunds' Mike Magrath writes, in very strong terms, about the admission in an online interview that yes, the Volt's gasoline engine can send torque to the drive wheels, if needed.   "flat-out lie to make things look better." This is a devastating PR failure for GM.  After the long and massive build-up for the Volt, and the swearing up and down that it was a "range extended EV", this makes GM look really desperate for public approval,...

Sharron Angle on Dearborn

Sharron Angle, a Republican candidate who is trying to unseat Harry Reid in Nevada, was recorded at a town hall meeting answering a question from a guy concerned about creeping Sharia law in the U.S. The left has latched onto her quote as proof that she's an anti-Muslim bigot and a crackpot.I thought I would get to the bottom of it, so I downloaded and listened to the audio recording (available here) of the event. The remarks of interest start...

Secretary LaHood, Man Of LaMancha

Secretary of Transportation Roy Lahood is advocating bans on in vehicle cell phone use, even of the hands-free variety.   I don't think it is going to happen--people like the ability to make hands-free calls.Much bigger safety gains might be made by training people to follow basic traffic rules, like not driving slow in the left lane, and wearing seatbelts.  Approximately 18% of all U.S. drivers still don't regularly wear their seatbelts!...