Monthly Archives: August 2015


While it's certainly important to protect our phones and tablets, this could actually have a far more important and far-reaching impact on the ultimate mobile device, our cars

Originally shared by +Kevin Tofel

If it makes mobile devices safer, I'm all for it.

How Qualcomm plans to make phones and tablets safe from malware | ZDNet
A new security approach built into the Snapdragon 820 chip next year will provide protection from zero-day and other malware attacks.


It's neither pretty nor particularly utilitarian, but the +

It's neither pretty nor particularly utilitarian, but the +Nissan Juke is fun to drive

2015 Nissan Juke SL AWD – Don’t Judge This Book By Its Cover
OK, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room right up front. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sadly, when I look at the Nissan Juke, I don’t behold any beauty. In fact, it kind of repulse…


2015 Nissan Juke SL AWD – Don’t Judge This Book By Its Cover

2015 Nissan Juke Platinum AWD - 7 of 27_lzn

OK, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room right up front. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sadly, when I look at the Nissan Juke, I don’t behold any beauty. In fact, it kind of repulses me. Fortunately, I didn’t let my judgement of this little book’s cover stop me from driving the Juke because it actually has a lot to recommend it.

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2015 Tesla Model S P85D – Excellent But Not Perfect

2015 Tesla Model S P85D - 4 of 36-02.jpeg
Nine years ago, I was beginning my career as a professional writer just as a little Silicon Valley startup was emerging from stealth mode to introduce its first product. Taking its name from one of the greatest engineers and inventors of all time, Nicola Tesla, that company reignited the pursuit of battery electric vehicles with a heavily modified Lotus Elise chassis packed with 1,000-pounds of lithium ion cells. It would take another two years before paying customers would finally take delivery of the first Roadsters and another four after that before Tesla would finally deliver its first completely in-house developed product, the Model S. During a recent trip to California I finally got my chance to drive the insanely fast Tesla Model S P85D.

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2016 Honda Pilot – Designed to Fracture Wheels, Not Knees

Pilot SOT Action ShotWhen I was in my high school auto mechanics class learning how to rebuild carburetors, grind valve seats and set the valve clearances on a Triumph TR7, I was already dreaming about being an engineer in the industry and developing new cars. One of the most important lessons I learned from those years in the garage was that any engineer should be required to assemble and service a product before it goes into production. It’s become apparent to me over the past 35 years that few if any engineers have ever picked up a wrench. Fortunately, Honda seems to have heard that message and implemented it in the design of the 2016 Pilot crossover.

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2015 Ram ProMaster 3500 – A Red, Italian-Bred Two-Seater That Really Hauls!

2015 ram promaster 3500 - 5 of 25Another Woodward Dream Cruise has come and gone and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles loaned me a bright-red, two-seater of Italian descent from its fleet to drive. Sadly my ride was not a fancy new Ferrari 488, but rather a Ram ProMaster 3500 which is derived from the European-market Fiat Ducato. While I certainly want to try out the Ferrari some day, for anyone that has ever spent a blistering hot summer afternoon in the eight-mile long traffic jam that is the Dream Cruise, the Ferrari would have been completely out its element anyway. On the other hand, the ProMaster can really haul, making it ideally suited to moving my daughter’s belongings to her new Midtown Detroit apartment.

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