Cars

700 articles on Cars

• Study Shows In-Car Technology Is a Pain-Point For Consumers
  J.D. Power and Associates has put out its 2012 U.S. Initial Quality Study (IQS), and besides Lexus, Jaguar, Porsche, Cadillac and Honda taking the top spots in the annual list, the real story is the level of consumer dissatisfaction with the latest technology fitted to their vehicles. While the study has seen an improvement of 5 ...
  06.21.12

• It's an Airplane, It's a Jet Ski, It's the Electric FlyNano
  The newest electric airplane to make its first flight is squarely aimed at recreational fliers, even those without a pilot's license. The FlyNano turned some heads at last year's Aero Friedrichshafen aviation trade show in Germany thanks to its interesting design. The FlyNano is a miniature electric flying boat, making it essentially an airborne jet ski.
  06.21.12

• Brace for the Apocalypse! Surviving the Worst in an Inland Lifeboat
  First things first. Before worrying about food storage or access to clean water during a major disaster, you need to make sure you get through the first wave safely. But never fear: When the next big tsunami hits, a water-ready modular bunker called the STATIM pod aims to float you above the flooding.
  06.20.12

• Eruption Update for June 19, 2012: Nevado del Ruiz and Popocatépetl
  I thought I'd post a brief update on the action at two Latin American volcanoes as a break from working on this lovely NSF proposal. Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia Quite a few reports have come out of Colombia talking of the continued ash emissions from Ruiz. However, the activity is mostly on the same level as it ...
  06.19.12

• China's Biggest Challenge Is Aerospace
  Aerospace has long been an American bulwark. In most years Boeing is the nation¿s leading exporter. America has more airports, builds more airplanes, trains more pilots, and arranges more of its economy around aviation than any other country, by far. China would very much like a piece of this¿to have Boeings, NASAs, Cessnas, and fully fledged GPS systems of its own.
  06.18.12

• A Start Up Trek - Crossroads
  So the slow progress may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I'm getting a crash course in business, which has been much more fun than it would have if I wasn't motivated by starting a business. I'm slowly learning how to implement my idea much better than if I had just bought the equipment and hung out a sign, which was my original plan. And I got to make a running joke about money market accounts, which has to be a first in the annuals of human history. As I develop a more thought out and serious implementation of my MindGear idea my next challenge will be to do all this and stay within budget. I wish I had planned for a larger reserve.
  06.18.12

• Video: Secret Space Plane Shatters Orbital Record as Chinese Rival Looms
  The second copy of the Air Force's X-37B robotic space plane landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California early Saturday morning, ending a record-breaking 469-day orbital mission. It's an indisputable triumph for the U.S. military and space industry. Much less certain is the X-37's future. Budget cuts, labor woes and the looming specter of a Chinese rival could blunt the diminutive robo-shuttle's orbital edge.
  06.16.12

• Review: 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid Is a Pleasant Populist
  Until I passed the radar-equipped eye of the local constabulary, nobody had noticed the Toyota Camry I was driving. "Do you know how fast you were going?" the officer predictably asked. I was dumbfounded -- before I'd been pulled over, the drive had been a total blur. Outside of speed traps, the Camry beats Buster Bluth ...
  06.15.12

• The Pleasant Populist
  Toyota's latest Camry hybrid is a competent cruiser with a big back seat and unobtrusive technology on the dash and under the hood, but the sedan has a few shortcomings that keep it from being a pantheon of practicality.
  06.15.12

• EcoCAR 2 Challenges Students To Build Road-Ready Hybrids
  One of the most important student car design competitions has returned. EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future features new schools, new cars and a whole new focus. Unlike other student-built car projects, the three-year engineering and design challenge gives college teams an existing vehicle and tasks them with retrofitting it with an innovative and reliable ...
  06.14.12

• Special Ops Tiltrotor Down in Florida: Second Crash in 3 Months
  The U.S. military's most controversial aircraft has crashed -- again. An Osprey tiltrotor belonging to Air Force Special Operations Command went down over Florida Wednesday evening, injuring five people aboard and likely destroying the aircraft. It's the second crash in three months for the controversial V-22 tiltrotor.
  06.14.12

• Why Technical Studies Will Broaden Your Career Options
  Fourteen years ago, as a high school freshman, I had to choose between three options, which already way too early started shaping my life a little bit. In the French education system, I was given the choice between Scientific path, Literature path and Economics path. Already at that time, it was common knowledge that picking the scientific option was likely to give you more flexibility in choosing a college few years later. I suppose my parents and I did not question the common knowledge and I am now glad we did not.
  06.14.12

• BMW Opens Flagship i Store in London, Updates i3 EV
  BMW is diversifying its product portfolio beyond the blue and white crest and the ever-expanding Mini brand, with the introduction of its new i line of vehicles: the i3 city car and the i8 hybrid grand tourer. And with a new brand comes a new marketing tact, beginning with the opening of the flagship BMW ...
  06.13.12

• From Baja to BC In a Nissan Leaf EV
  Tony Williams is embarking on a journey up North America's west coast with nothing but a Nissan Leaf and a map of EV charging stations. Williams, who runs the LoveMyLeaf.com enthusiast website, is departing today from Tijuana, Mexico and heading up the coast to San Diego. With eight overnight stops in California, Oregon and Washington planned ...
  06.12.12

• Review: 2013 BMW M6 Convertible
  BMW fanboys ritually enrapture themselves over the small blue, purple, and red "M" badge that designates the brand's hulkier strains. But these are divisive times for the Bayerische Motoren Werkes' in-house performance shop. The 7,104 "M" cars which made their way into U.S. driveways last year are but a sliver of the nearly quarter-million vehicles sold ...
  06.11.12

• M Plein Air
  The M6 is all grown up, with a big, sophisticated drivetrain, copious bells and whistles, all the pesky baggage that comes with middle age.
  06.11.12

• A Start Up Trek - Now Official
  I've left off a lot of stuff off here, so maybe this needs to be a two - parter. Oh, and here is the bad news. It looks like the deal will fall through for the space I was going to rent. That's unfortunate after all that work laying out the store, but its also an opportunity to find an even better space. I've gotten more than a few e-mails from Huntsvillians following this series, and those e-mails telling me they waiting for MindGear to open always seem to come when I'm worn down from all this effort. Let me ask all of you to e-mail me what parts of town you'd like to see MindGear open. I've been looking around the Research Park area but this is a good opportunity to find out if I'm in the right area. I'll be working with a corporate real estate agent this week I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!
  06.11.12

• Real-Time Traffic Info Gets More Real
  Most ¿real time¿ traffic reports are outdated by the time they¿re delivered, or they¿re so scattershot that they have nothing to do with the course you¿ve set. But BMW thinks it may have a better solution in the form of a new service called Advanced Real-Time Traffic Information (ARTTI) that promises to deliver traffic info faster and more accurate.
  06.07.12

• Taking Out The Trash: The Next Wave of Biofuel
  How food waste can be turned into energy at a fraction of the cost of disposal, and with minimal by-products.
  06.07.12

• The Biggest Bang of the 20th Century: The 1912 Eruption of Novarupta in Alaska
  June 6 marks the 100th anniversary of the largest eruption of the 20th century, yet many people have never even heard its name. Volcanologist and Eruptions blogger Erik Klemetti paints a sobering picture of this relatively recent and record-breaking volcanic cataclysm.
  06.06.12

• The Buttons Are Back on Ford's Most Popular Model
  Ford has taken the wraps off the 2013 F-Series pickup and there's something familiar inside: buttons and knobs. Rather than outfit the new (and optional) MyFord Touch-equipped center stack with the same capacitive controls fitted to the Edge and Explorer, Ford opted for standard switchgear. But why?
  06.04.12

• A Start Up Trek - Creative Commons
  So in summary creative time is good. Here I was able to work out the interactions of the different aspects of MindGear, and develop my drawing skills a little. I have to put off doing a better sketch because financial and budgeting and marketing tasks are still sitting on my desk. And finally I realize I'm about to embark on an experiment. I'm creating conflict by disagreeing with my girlfriend in public in a blog article. Next week will show how well that goes.
  06.04.12

• The World's Largest Boeing Takes Flight
  Boeing's largest airplane began passenger service today as Lufthansa enlisted the service of the new 747-8 Intercontinental on a flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Washington, D.C. The newest 747 is a bigger, quieter and more efficient version of the iconic jumbo jet that first flew passengers under the Pan Am banner back in 1970. The 747-8I uses much of the same technology found on the 787 Dreamliner, along with an all-new wing and engines.
  06.01.12

• BMW Developing Handwriting Recognition, Gesture Controls
  Audi may have been the first automaker to integrate a touch pad into its infotainment systems, allowing users to simply draw letters rather than tediously scroll through an alphanumeric list to input an address or point-of-interest search. But BMW refuses to be left behind, and in addition to a new iDrive controller with integrated touch pad, the automaker is working on new gesture-based controls that are unlike anything we've seen in a production vehicle.
  06.01.12

• Ford's 'Sync' Driving Data to Provide Insurance Discounts
  State Farm is expanding its Drive Safe and Save usage-based insurance program to include cars equipped with Ford¿s Sync telematics system. Also known as ¿pay as you go,¿ usage-based insurance programs look at how many miles drivers put on their cars and calculate premiums accordingly.
  05.31.12

• Rigid Roads Can Reduce Fuel Consumption
  A new study predicts that repaving US roadways with firmer surfaces could save up to 273 million barrels of crude oil each year. Researchers at MIT used mathematical models to examine the forces at work when a rubber tire travels over a road surface and found that cars and trucks must use slightly more energy on ...
  05.31.12

• Ash Falls on Manizales as Colombia's Ruiz Ramps Up Explosions [UPDATED]
  I might have guessed that just after reading an article about how USGS geologist left Colombia this week after helping set up monitoring for Nevado del Ruiz that the volcano do something. Sure enough, today the volcano experienced a series of explosions that produced ash that fell on the city of Manizales, ~30 km from ...
  05.30.12