Monthly Archives: June 2012


Back in the mid-90s as an engineer at a major global automotive supplier, I spent… 2

Back in the mid-90s as an engineer at a major global automotive supplier, I spent way too many hours analyzing and drafting software patents for slip control systems (anti-lock brakes, traction control and vehicle stability control).

At the time a factor of 10x for the time spent on the patent vs actual development was probably on the high side, we certainly wasted a lot of time on patents. 

I watch today's battles between Apple and the rest of the mobile industry with a mix of bemusement and anger. When I first went to work after getting my mechanical engineering degree, we didn't even really think about patents for the control software, just the hardware we were using.

Once we started making some market inroads with a new system we developed, we learned that our major competitor had a ton of software patents that they were threatening to use against us (sound familiar?). A significant chunk of the engineering effort over the next 12 months was spent going back and tweaking our control algorithms just enough to get around the patents without significantly impacting performance. 

Unlike the Apple vs et al situation today, we were fortunate enough to learn about the potential problems early enough that we could avoid any litigation. We ended up filing a ton of software patents of our own so we ended up in a mutually assured destruction scenario with the competition. Needless to say, none of this actually made the product better, it just made work for IP lawyers and increased the engineering cost of the system. 

Thus I've been a staunch opponent of software patents (and increasingly all patents) ever since. 
#patents  

Reshared post from +Electronic Frontier Foundation

From Defend Innovation: "I'm a co-inventor on 7 patents, and know a bit about how silly software patents are. Most of them do not protect innovation. When it takes 10x longer to do the patent paperwork than to come up with the invention in the first place, how innovative is the thing you are patenting anyway?"  Join the movement to get software patents out of the way of innovation: https://defendinnovation.org

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Defend Innovation
The patent system is in crisis, and it endangers the future of software development in the United States. Let's create a system that defends innovation, instead of hindering it.

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Not so long ago, the idea that we could have road-legal pony cars like the  +Chevrolet Camaro… 2

Not so long ago, the idea that we could have road-legal pony cars like the  +Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and +Ford Motor Company Shelby GT500 producing 580-662 hp and getting around a race track at these kinds of speeds would have been deemed ludicrous. 

Now both of these venerable machines are running with the exotic big boys. 

The Camaro in particular gets a huge benefit from magneto-rheological dampers that previously have done wondrous things for various Ferraris, the Corvette ZR1 http://www.autoblog.com/2009/05/11/review-2009-chevrolet-corvette-zr1-goes-to-hell-and-back/ and the Cadillac CTS-V http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/03/review-2009-cadillac-cts-v-supercar-performance-everyday-driv/

A big thumbs up to the GM engineers that originally developed these continuously variable dampers back in the 1990s. 

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2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 vs 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 – On Track – Automobile Magazine
The fight for pony-car supremacy has been raging for decades. Chevrolet Camaro versus Ford Mustang is a duel without a definitive ending. Read on to learn more about the 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and …

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+Automobile Magazine Pits the 2013 +Ford Motor Company Shelby GT500 against the…

+Automobile Magazine Pits the 2013 +Ford Motor Company Shelby GT500 against the 2012 +Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Milan Dragway. Plenty of smoke, shredded tires and thrust ensue. 

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2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1 vs 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 – At The Strip – Automobile Magazine
Ford and Chevy enthusiasts have long built up tension by trying to settle which car company is king at the drag strip. Find out which high-power pony car, the 2012 Chevy Camaro ZL1 or 2013 Ford Shelby…

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It really doesn't matter how accurately these guys have reproduced the external… 3

It really doesn't matter how accurately these guys have reproduced the external appearance of  +Lamborghini Murcielago, putting a mere 2.2-liter Toyota four-banger in it is just plain wrong. The fact that it takes 9 seconds to get to 60 mph probably won't matter much in Beijing traffic, but driving a car like this is almost as much about the glorious noise it makes as the way it goes.

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Culture | The Best Lamborghini in China is Not Actually a Lambo | China Car Times – China Auto News
One company decided that Lambo's are just too expensive in China, Lambos cost serious money in the People's Republic, the base Gallardo starts at 3.5 million

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[American Voices]

Reshared post from +The Onion

[American Voices]
"To be honest, I'd be a little embarrassed if my iPhone knew I was using public transportation."

Sid Johnson
Temp Secretary

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Latest Apple Maps Leaves Out Mass Transit
The latest mobile operating system for the iPhone and iPad has drawn criticism for omitting public transportation options from its Maps application.

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This a really weird promotional video for the pizza vending machine that was announced… 1

This a really weird promotional video for the pizza vending machine that was announced last week. However instead of re-shooting it, the Italian company that makes the machine just dubbed it into english. 

Unfortunately the idea that the dough is made from scratch from flour and water inside the machine in just a couple of minutes is not at all appealing to me.  A good dough needs time rise a couple of times to develop flavor.  We make pizza at home all the time and good crust takes some time.

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+Ford Motor Company SYNC changed the way infotainment was done in cars by letting…

+Ford Motor Company SYNC changed the way infotainment was done in cars by letting drivers bring their existing devices into the car and upgrading over the life of the car. 

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Computer History Museum Inducts Ford Sync
Ford's first-generation Sync product will be the latest addition to the Computer History Museum in San Jose, the company plans to announce on Monday night.

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While this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans ended up being a bit of a disappointment…

While this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans ended up being a bit of a disappointment from a purely competitive standpoint thanks to the early retirement of the +TOYOTA s and the cancellation of the Peugeot race program earlier this year, it was not a total waste.

In fact it was quite a strong demonstration of the message that American Le Mans Series CEO Scott Atherton has been spreading since at least 2008. Ever since the launch of the ALMS Green Challenge that year, Atherton has been playing up the relevance of Le Mans-style sports car racing to manufacturers of road cars.

For five years +Audi International and later +Peugeot  have been demonstrating the ability of diesel engines to provide before performance and fuel efficiency. Here in the US, a plurality of the competitors run on cellulosic E85 and the Dyson Racing team has been running biobutanol for two years.

This weekend in France, Audi and Toyota both demonstrated the performance and efficiency of hybrid power while +Highcroft Racing and the +Nissan DeltaWing showed the possibilities of light weight, low drag and downsized engines, all of which will factor into new cars in the coming years. Next year we will see the first hydrogen fuel cell car run at Le Mans.

What advancements have we ever seen from NASCAR? If we are going to race cars, the Le Mans approach is definitely the way to go.

#Lemans #fuelefficiency #americanlemansseries #alms  

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Green Fuels Forecast
Green Fuels Forecast, web-based coverage of the alternative fuel automotive sector including batteries, electric and hybrid drive, diesel, hydrogen and biofuels

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While +Audi International has justifiably recieved plenty of credit for today's…

While +Audi International has justifiably recieved plenty of credit for today's victory at Le Mans with the R18 etron some congratulations should also go to +Porsche and especially the +Williams F1 team

Williams and its Williams Hybrid Power subsidiary actually created the electro-mechanical flywheel system for F1 cars. In 2010 Williams licensed the system to porches where its efficacy was proved in the 911 gt3r hybrid over the past 2 years.

A job well done all around!

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Porsche Racing Tech – Porsche 911's GT3R Hybrid Flywheel
Porsche's latest 911 race car uses an electric hybrid system with a flywheel for energy storage.

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