I got to put a lot of miles on the three development cars during 1990 and 1991 and from the first turn behind the wheel, it was clear this was no ordinary front-drive car. I've long believed that performance cars should split the workload between the front and rear wheels. That's especially true today as cars have been much more powerful than they were in 1990.

The turbocharged Isuzu four cylinder in the Elan only produced 160 hp so it was relatively manageable for front drive. More importantly, the chassis wizards at Lotus led by Roger Becker and Ken Miles did some really neat stuff with the suspension geometry to make this machine behave like a proper rear drive Lotus. Under lateral loads, the outside rear wheel would toe out to help counter the inherent understeer. The bottom line was remarkably neutral handling and the rear end could even be kicked out when pushed hard. 

As it happened, at the time this Top Gear was filmed the ABS was under development. Unfortunately, the high cost of producing the Elan meant heavy losses for Lotus and in mid-1991, the car was discontinued, just 6 weeks before the ABS was due to start production. 

As fun as the Elan was to drive, the build quality wasn't nearly as good as Goffey described it. Each of the three cars we had had leaky tops other fit and finish problems. They also had a nasty tendency to overheat in hot weather unless you kept them moving to maintain airflow through the radiator. Before long, Lotus changed direction and started development of the Elise.

via: http://jalopnik.com/can-a-legit-sports-car-ever-be-front-wheel-drive-464786742

http://www.techhive.com/article/2030042/why-i-switched-from-iphone-to-android.html

More recently +Lex Friedman has been spending a month with a Lumia 920 while he parked his iPhone. 

One of the key takeaways from Andy's series was:

An iPhone is a delight fresh out of the box and for the life of the device. An Android phone is a delight starting around…week two, after you’ve made a bunch of minor adjustments that change it from “Good for the majority of users” to “great for you, personally.”

On the other hand, Lex Friedman found that time spent with a Windows phone wasn't necessarily a good thing. While Microsoft maintains similar levels of control of its mobile platform to Apple and it has some really cool interface features, it is also sorely lacking in a many areas like notifications and app quality. 

I've used iOS and dabbled with some Windows phones, but I'll be sticking with +Android. 

If you're interested in learning more about all three platforms, both series are well worth a read.

Reshared post from +Alexander Howard

From last year, but, unlike a chocolate Easter bunny that you kept that long, still good.

Ford is sponsoring a competition for developers to create mobile apps that help drivers use less fuel using the open-source OpenXC connectivity platform. Check out OpenXC at http://openxcplatform.com/ and learn more about the Personalized Fuel Efficiency App Challenge at http://ford.challengepost.com/

Reshared post from +Green Car Reports

Ford has launched an app design contest to find a better way of estimating your gas mileage. 

Reshared post from +Atheist ®

~Bonnie