Daily Archives: January 19, 2012


Automotive News managing editor Phil Nussel provides an good analysis of the announcement…

Automotive News managing editor Phil Nussel provides an good analysis of the announcement from the National Academy of Sciences on the closing of its Toyota investigation.

The major flaw from NAS is in saying that there are untraceable electronic faults that can cause problems. Having spent 17 years working on automotive electronic control systems, I have to humbly disagree. Hardware and software bugs can be enormously difficult to diagnose. But given enough time and effort, they can eventually be traced. Software and processors are discrete systems that can only do what they are instructed to do. Stuff doesn't just happen. Sooner or later a systematic approach will determine the root cause.

Where we have a real problem is on the regulatory side where NHTSA has not kept up with the rapid pace of development in the auto industry. They need more experienced engineers to conduct investigations. They also need to be given complete access to source code for all control software in new vehicles. While I'm a proponent of open source, for a number of reasons that isn't a viable option in the auto industry. But outsiders do need to be check out the code as part of an investigation. Investigators also need to understand the development tools used to produce and test code.

Unfortunately the current fiscal state of the US government and republican resistance to any additional spending or expansion of government operations means none of this is likely to happen. Oh Well.

#automotive #safety #automotivesafety

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Why auto electronics remain a concern after the Toyota recalls
Let's say it one more time: Electronics or software glitches played absolutely no role in Toyota Motor Corp.'s recall of some 8 million vehicles in 2009 and 2010 after reports of unintended ac…

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If all I wanted from my news outlets was just a straight regurgitation of the "facts"… 1

If all I wanted from my news outlets was just a straight regurgitation of the "facts" from a single source, I would simply peruse sites like PRNewswire and corporate media sites to read press releases.

When I read a story put together by someone claiming to be a journalist or even just a humble blogger, I want some actual honest analysis of what it means and some fact checking. When I got involved in online media several years back, I always tried to provide some of that analysis even when just aggregating stories that originally appeared elsewhere. Unfortunately many online outlets are increasingly getting robbed of a truly unique editorial voice as they grow larger, effectively making them pointless. Much to my chagrin a former employer of mine is among them with a recent story being robbed of all analysis by an editor so that it is now nothing more than a precis of the press release.

So sad.

#badediting

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Where do your "representatives" stand?

Where do your "representatives" stand?

Reshared post from +Alexander Howard

At day's end, +ProPublica reports more Congressmen publicly oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act

What has happened online today is unprecedented. As a result of the stand that that O'Reilly and many other organizations took, I saw stories about SOPA and PIPA bills on the evening news (along with the Daily Show and Colbert Report, on now) for the first time today.

Afterwards, my parents asked me about why Wikipedia and Google were protesting. Thankfully, I was well briefed: http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/11/sopa-protectip.html

Moreover, at day's end ProPublica's Web application, "SOPA Opera," told an important tale.

This morning, according to ProPublica, U.S. Senators and Representatives were 80-31 for SOPA and PIPA this morning.

At day's end, SOPA and PIPA now have 68 supporters and 71 opponents.
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

The +OpenCongress Whip count tells a similar tale.

33 for PIPA, 36 against it.
http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act_Senate_whip_count

These bills have not been defeated — Senator Reid maintains that PIPA is slated to come up for a vote next week and Rep. Lamar Smith says he'll hold a markup of SOPA in February — but the context for their consideration is forever changed.

#sop #pipa #netfreedom

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Who in Congress Supports SOPA and PIPA/PROTECT-IP? | SOPA Opera | ProPublica
A comprehensive list of where members of Congress stand on the Stop Online Piracy and PROTECT-IP Acts.

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