The built-in ability to set up sequences based on various triggers is very useful.  When I stick it in the car dock, it automatically turns on bluetooth, connects to my BT speaker, turns off wifi and turns up the volume. When I arrive home, my location is detected and BT is turned off and wifi comes on to connect to my home network. As I walk into the office, the tethering app is launched and ring volume is adjusted all without any user intervention. 

Very cool.

While every automaker is actively developing better batteries and motors, they are also pouring resources into tweaking that old standby, the Otto-cycle piston engine. As powerplants like +Ford Motor Company's EcoBoost, VW's TSI and +General Motors EcoTec engines are proving there is still plenty of room for efficiency improvement at a much lower cost premium than batteries. I think we'll be driving liquid fueled vehicles for decades to come. 

Reshared post from +Earth – add & share 🙂

Aurora over White Dome Geyser

Sometimes both heaven and Earth erupt. Colorful aurorae erupted unexpectedly earlier October 2012, with green aurora appearing near the horizon and brilliant bands of red aurora blooming high overhead. A bright +Moon lit the foreground of this picturesque scene, while familiar stars could be seen far in the distance. With planning, the careful astrophotographer shot this image mosaic in the field of White Dome Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in the western USA. Sure enough, just after midnight, White Dome erupted — spraying a stream of water and vapor many meters into the air. Geyser water is heated to steam by scalding magma several kilometers below, and rises through rock cracks to the surface. About half of all known geysers occur in Yellowstone National Park. Although the geomagnetic storm that created these aurorae has since subsided, eruptions of White Dome Geyser continue about every 30 minutes.

Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Howell
Explanation from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121017.html

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

If Obama had done anything remotely this slimy, Fox "News" and the rest of the right-wing press wouldn't stop shouting about it. But hardly any of the so-called liberal media are giving it even a second glance, largely, I believe, because they're afraid of being called partisan. 

Reshared post from +Arianna Huffington

New study: "An outsized financial sector expansion can actually reduce economic growth…" 

Unfortunately the only part we missed was some autobahn seat time in the R8

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/04/06/first-drive-2008-audi-a4-on-the-autobahn-and-in-ibiza/
http://green.autoblog.com/2008/04/05/first-drive-2008-audi-a4-3-0-tdi-quattro/