MyFord Touch comes to Ford's biggest trucks and you can now use the touch screen with gloves on.
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But software bugs in a car can range from simply annoying to downright dangerous.
I worked with automotive embedded software systems as an engineer for 17 years and making sure the software is robust and reliable is one of the toughest parts of developing modern cars. In fact, it's one of the main reasons it still takes so long to bring a new car to market.
Being an early adopter in consumer electronics is a lot easier than in the car business. Hopefully, Fisker owners will be patient and the engineers will address these problems quickly before it does irreparable damage to the brand reputation.
#fiskerautomotive #software #electronics
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Dead Fisker Karmas: One May Be A Fluke, But Is Two A Trend?
First off, just to be clear, the photo above is NOT a dead Fisker. It shows the 2012 Fisker Karma we road-tested three weeks ago parked in front of a Tesla Motors dealer in Los Angeles. But while our …
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Ouch! Another bit of bad news for Fisker
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Fisker Karma car dies in Consumer Reports testing
DETROIT (Reuters) — A $100000-plus Fisker Automotive luxury car died during Consumer Reports speed testing for reasons that are still unknown, leaving the struggling electric car startup with another…
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Lead, follow or get out of the way! The entertainment industry seems intent on the least desirable fourth option, litigation. The problem with that is that though it might work in the short run, over time they will get run over if they don't get out of the way.
Reshared post from +Tim O’Reilly
Hilarious takedown by +Nathan Torkington of the insanity that drives media piracy, in which protecting old business models takes precedence over inventing the future.
In his wonderful Four Short Links column (IMBO one of the best sources on the net for interesting, provocative links), Nat posts a link to a script for adding Torrent links to IMDB, and summarizes it as follows:
"Add Torrent Links to IMDB (Userscripts) — a glimpse at what the Internet could look like: from the site you research movies on, with one click you could then launch the download. If only the company that ran the movie research site had rights to the OneClick patent and the ability to offer movies for download. Oh wait, those aren't the barriers. If only the movie companies would cease being nutjobs insisting on flogging their DRM-hobbled nags when the black market has x264 racehorses for less. They're not competing on price, they're not competing on convenience, they're competing on the expected value of litigation. Now that's a business model!"
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Four short links: 8 March 2012 – O'Reilly Radar
Add Torrent Links to IMDB (Userscripts) — a glimpse at what the Internet could look like: from the site you research movies on, with one click you could then launch the download. If only the company…
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Noted racetrack impresario Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports reportedly wants to build a replica of the Nurburgring in the desert outside of Las Vegas. For any true car nut, a pilgrimage to the 'Ring is definitely of the lifetime To-Do list, especially on one of the open days when you can pay $20 to drive a lap of the 13.1 "Green Hell' I've been fortunate enough to do that three times in life, most recently in 2010. http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/06/2011-buick-regal-first-drive-in-germany/
While it would certainly be cool to have a replica of the famed track, it just wouldn't be the same without the trees. On the other hand it would be a much more affordable way for automakers to test their cars than going all the way to Germany.
http://jalopnik.com/5891398/man-wants-to-build-exact-copy-of-nurburgring-in-nevada
That's me driving the lead car
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Carbon Motors has a very bold plan to create the first purpose built police cruiser but right now it's not looking good for the company's future. The Department of Energy has rejected its application for a $310 million loan under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. After an initial flurry of loans to Nissan, Ford, Tesla and Fisker in 2009, the program has slowed to a crawl in part as a result of GOP criticism.
While Carbon Motors had some very interesting ideas including powering the E7 with the awesome BMW 3.0-liter turbodiesel six, it's debatable whether the company could have succeeded commercially over the long run. After a long period where the old Ford Crown Victorias were dominant in the police car market, there is now a significant amount of competition including the Chevy Caprice, the Dodge Charger and the new Taurus and Explorer based Police interceptors from Ford. All of these vehicles are significantly more fuel efficient than the old Crown Vics and the companies building them will probably be around for a while.
My guess is that Carbon will soon follow in the footsteps of Bright Automotive and shutdown unless someone else steps up with a lot of funding.
#cars #carbonmotors #police
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Carbon Motors Corporation – Purpose Built Police Car, Police Vehicle, E7
Home of the world’s first purpose-built law enforcement patrol vehicle, the 'E7'. More than just a car, it's designed by law enforcement, for law enforcement.
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We can lay the blame for this at the feet of T-Mobile for starting this HSPA+=4G marketing BS. AT&T just raised it to new heights. Unfortunately for many AT&T customers what you call it is irrelevant when you can't get a network connection in the first place.
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http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/8/2853128/in-a-triumph-of-marketing-at-t-upgrades-apples-iphone-to-4g
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Yet another demonstration of the security theater that is the TSA
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Oh, great. 'Nude body scanners' foiled by simply attaching contraband to your side.
Some guy claims that those "nude body scanners" can't see metal when it's attached to your side because both metal and the background show up as black.
If true: Wow!
Props to +Lisa Miller
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It's about time that Apple at least acknowledged the possibility of some patent licensing deals. Now about that pricing.
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Apple seeks up to $15 per Samsung, Motorola Android phone sold in proposed settlement
Apple is currently locked in dozens of lawsuits around the world with various Android vendors, but the Cupertino-based company is apparently willing to
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