Yearly Archives: 2012


Engine power has come a long way in the past 112 years 3

Last week +Ford Motor Company announced that the tiny 1.0-liter EcoBoost three cylinder engine that we first saw in the 2010 Start concept http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/23/beijing-2010-ford-start-concept/ in Beijing is coming to America. The first US market car to get the 1.0-liter is the 2014 Fiesta. 

With 123 horsepower/liter, the 1.0 has come a long way from the 999 racer of 1901.

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Is it a euphemism if it exactly describes what happened 1

I love George Carlin's rant against the use of euphemisms in language.  We need to stop putting soft words on hard events. However, reading +Elon Musk's description of the failure of one of the 9 engines on the Falcon 9 rocket that recently completed a re-supply mission to the International Space Station has me thinking.

He referred to the event as a rapid unscheduled disassembly which is exactly what happened.  

Perhaps if he had amended that to rapid unscheduled and disorderly disassembly I'd be less troubled by the turn of phrase.

Or maybe I've just spent too much time working with PR people and I've become somewhat inoculated to language that I hate. Thoughts?

Falcon 9 RUD? Untitled Document
Aviation Week

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Quickly throwing their losing candidate under the bus, core Republicans demonstrate…

Quickly throwing their losing candidate under the bus, core Republicans demonstrate that their real problem is a complete lack of respect for everyone.

Embedded Link

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mitt
TPM Reader JT has a few thoughts on Mitt getting the old heave-ho Honestly, I find this a bit disturbing. I mean, two weeks ago all these people were defending everything Romney said. He lost the elec…

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I wish I could get my pay tripled for being incompetent. 1

I wish I could get my pay tripled for being incompetent.

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

The story of how greedy managers killed the company that made Twinkies.

Poor management, not union intransigence, killed Hostess
Let’s get a few things clear. Hostess didn’t fail for any of the reasons you’ve been fed. It didn’t fail because Americans demanded more healthful food than its Twinkies and Ho-Hos snack cakes. It did…

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This is an example of a real innovation that could justify patents 4

Anyone that follows my commentary, knows that I'm not a fan of patents. I truly believe that the concept has outlived its usefulness and the costs now vastly outweigh the benefits. 

That said if we have to grant patents, this is a great example of the sort of idea that should be recognized (assuming of course that there isn't prior art).  Engineers from +General Motors and the University of Michigan including Paul Najt who I interviewed on several occasions during my years as a journalist at AutoblogGreen have come up with an interesting new way of powering an extended range electric vehicle like the +Chevrolet Volt.

Because of the very short four-year development cycle for the Volt, the engineering team opted to use a conventional and proven 1.4-liter four-cylinder reciprocating engine to drive the generator once the battery has been depleted of energy from the plug. While this setup works remarkably well, it's not necessarily the most efficient setup for running in charge-sustaining mode, hence the Volt's 37 mpg EPA rating in this mode.

During and beyond the development phase of the first-generation Volt, engineers at GM R&D and Powertrain have been working on a wide range of alternative powerplants for use with the ER-EV Voltec system. http://amzn.to/QiSPQF

These alternatives include conventional diesels, Wankel rotaries, hydrogen fuel cells, HCCI and other less well known types. Among those options are free-piston engines http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/industry/5-alternative-engine-architectures#slide-4

There are a number of ways to implement the free-piston concept but all of them involve a piston that "bounces" back and forth between a pair of combustion chambers that alternate firing. While it's possible to use this architecture in a completely mechanical form by linking the pistons to drive a transmission, the patented concept here converts combustion energy to electricity. 

By incorporating magnets and coils into the oscillating piston and the stationary cylinder, the motion can be used generate electricity. A free-piston layout inherently has lower friction than a traditional design. The mechanical simplicity means that engineers can set up a modular configuration several independent engine/generators that can be turned on or  off as needed based on transient power needs.

Because each generator operates independently, there are no frictional losses from the modules that aren't running. The result is potentially significantly improved overall efficiency in charge sustaining mode as well as greater packaging flexibility. It will be interesting to see if this idea ever goes beyond the concept stage. 

Via GreenCar Congress http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/11/fpla-20121125.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29

US 8261860 B2 Hybrid powertrain system using free piston linear …
US 8261860 B2. Hybrid powertrain system using free piston linear alternator engines. Paul M. Najt, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. (US); Tang-Wei Kuo, Troy, Mich. (US); Rodney B. Rask, Grosse Pointe Woods, Mi…

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Even when Apple supports standards, they often don't do it right 3

Ford SYNC and MyFord Touch connectivity offer the ability to read incoming text messages from paired phones that support the function.

iOS 6 is supposed to support MAP, but it doesn't seem to work. I could see the functionality on the C-Max Hybrid's phone screen, but when I tried to send one of the canned text messages with my paired iPhone 5, it didn't go through. According to a Ford representative, Apple did not implement MAP according to the specification. Ford is currently looking at making its cars work with Apple's particular Bluetooth implementation for text messages.

My own experience trying this with an iPhone was also unsuccessful. Other than that, the C-Max is a very cool vehicle. 

Reshared post from +CNET

Ford's Prius-beater hybrid boasts better handling and power. We named it a CNET Editor's Choice:

2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid
With fuel economy in the high 40s and a roomy interior, the 2013 C-Max Hybrid looks equivalent to the Toyota Prius, until you get behind the wheel and tap the extra power.

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November 23rd is the International Day to End Impunity. Speak out against the authorities…

Reshared post from +Electronic Frontier Foundation

November 23rd is the International Day to End Impunity. Speak out against the authorities who kill, threaten, and imprison people for exercising their right to free expression.

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Ending the Culture of Impunity | Electronic Frontier Foundation
November 23rd marks the 3rd anniversary of the Amptaun massacre, the day on which 58 people, including 32 media workers, were murdered in the Philippines while traveling in a convoy with the family an…

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The +Electronic Frontier Foundation has some good ideas on patent reforms for s…

The +Electronic Frontier Foundation has some good ideas on patent reforms for software

At Defendinnovation.org, the EFF has posted some good proposals on software patent reform. These ideas are an excellent start, but frankly I don't think they go far enough. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that we'll see any change anytime soon. 

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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Thirty years ago this fall, The Who ventured out on what they said would be their… 4

Thirty years ago this fall, The Who ventured out on what they said would be their final tour

As so often happens, it was a case of famous last words.  Instead of retreating from the road and focusing on recording some albums in the studio, the band's 1982 album It's Hard proved to be the last new album for nearly a quarter century. 

On October 9, 1982, several friends and I ventured to Toronto in a decrepit VW Bug (is there any other kind?) to see the band live for what we thought would be the last time. It was a fantastic show, and the band continued on through the fall, finally wrapping up the tour with a show at Maple Leaf Gardens that broadcast live on TV and simulcast on one of the Toronto FM rock stations.

We all know how those famous last words about a farewell to touring turned out.  Three decades later, with John Entwistle having joined Keith Moon in succumbing to drugs, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are on the road again with a batch of backing musicians. While Pete and Roger have been the heart of the band for half a century, I find myself having a hard time seeing this as The Who anymore.  

I still love the band's music and consider much of it some of the greatest rock ever made, but I won't be in attendance as they roll into Joe Louis Arena in Detroit tonight. 

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Dennis Simanaitis on useful and not so good automotive tech

The great Dennis Simanaitis comments on some current automotive technology and whether it is good or bad. I largely agree with his assessments. However, in the case of lane departure warning and park assist, while neither is really needed, the tech at the heart of these capabilities are building blocks to future autonomous driving capability. 

While I love to drive, I see autonomous vehicles as an important development for safety and efficiency in the future. 

HIGH TECH, WHY TECH
AVOWED TECHIE though I am, some modern automotive offerings have me wondering. Here are my current citations in both categories, High Tech and Why Tech. Rear view camera. High Tech! … Contin…

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