brianus
Oct 17, 03:01 PM
Yes, it's appalling.. ;)
Oh, well, every time I hear someone say they can't see the difference between a standard DVD and an HD-DVD/BluRay disc when shown on a proper 1080p display, I cringe. Perhaps they need to just buy the 25" TV for $200 along with a $25 DVD player, take the money they save and get some laser eye surgery. :D
Actually, with my new HD set up, most family and friends that see it in action are usually awed by it. I have several friends and neighbors that continuously invite themselves over for monday night football and other events. Most of them think it's pretty cool, but would never spend that kind of money on their home theatre setup (I don't think I spent that much, the TV accounted for over half of everything and it was $3600). A couple of them in the past few months though didn't balk at the price and they went and bought one too...
But yeah, I'm an "-ophile" when it comes to audio and video. I don't really fit in with the rest of my family. I have an uncle that's only about 10 years older than me and I let him have a left-over 20" TV when I moved. I told him it's a nice set - only about 3 years old. His only concern was "is it color?".
I know I'm the minority around here when I say this, but I don't own an iPod. :eek: Yeah, it's true... I personally don't care for the MP3 format and the lesser quality offerings of iTunes. If it isn't at least CD quality, uncompressed, I don't want it. And yes, I can hear the difference on my sound system which is a separate setup from my home theatre.
My wife tells me that I'm insane... She's probably right, but what do I care. :D
Well, my dad's the same way with audio. He's a professional sound engineer, so it stands to reason -- he's still got a huge stack of DAT tapes next to the computer. No DVD-Audio though; you just can't find it much anymore.
If most folks not only don't have the knowledge or interest, they also don't have the kind of money to invest in these kinds of hi-def technologies in their early, expensive years (for HD that includes, of course, the enormous televisions required to really get anything from the higher definition). By the time this stuff comes down in price and is more readily available, SD downloads will be more common.
I suppose working in the HD formats' favor is the coming of HDTV, which will be the standard whether we like it or not. Sooner or later DVD-9 will *have* to be superceded by something in a high definition format, else the stuff we download or buy will be crappier looking than the stuff we can watch for free. And, of course, in the mean time the discs themselves will be extremely useful for some types of data storage. I eagerly await the day when, in my job, I can archive a TB of files to eight 200GB Blu-Rays instead of 200-odd DVD-Rs, and I'm sure many small/medium businesses do too.
Oh, well, every time I hear someone say they can't see the difference between a standard DVD and an HD-DVD/BluRay disc when shown on a proper 1080p display, I cringe. Perhaps they need to just buy the 25" TV for $200 along with a $25 DVD player, take the money they save and get some laser eye surgery. :D
Actually, with my new HD set up, most family and friends that see it in action are usually awed by it. I have several friends and neighbors that continuously invite themselves over for monday night football and other events. Most of them think it's pretty cool, but would never spend that kind of money on their home theatre setup (I don't think I spent that much, the TV accounted for over half of everything and it was $3600). A couple of them in the past few months though didn't balk at the price and they went and bought one too...
But yeah, I'm an "-ophile" when it comes to audio and video. I don't really fit in with the rest of my family. I have an uncle that's only about 10 years older than me and I let him have a left-over 20" TV when I moved. I told him it's a nice set - only about 3 years old. His only concern was "is it color?".
I know I'm the minority around here when I say this, but I don't own an iPod. :eek: Yeah, it's true... I personally don't care for the MP3 format and the lesser quality offerings of iTunes. If it isn't at least CD quality, uncompressed, I don't want it. And yes, I can hear the difference on my sound system which is a separate setup from my home theatre.
My wife tells me that I'm insane... She's probably right, but what do I care. :D
Well, my dad's the same way with audio. He's a professional sound engineer, so it stands to reason -- he's still got a huge stack of DAT tapes next to the computer. No DVD-Audio though; you just can't find it much anymore.
If most folks not only don't have the knowledge or interest, they also don't have the kind of money to invest in these kinds of hi-def technologies in their early, expensive years (for HD that includes, of course, the enormous televisions required to really get anything from the higher definition). By the time this stuff comes down in price and is more readily available, SD downloads will be more common.
I suppose working in the HD formats' favor is the coming of HDTV, which will be the standard whether we like it or not. Sooner or later DVD-9 will *have* to be superceded by something in a high definition format, else the stuff we download or buy will be crappier looking than the stuff we can watch for free. And, of course, in the mean time the discs themselves will be extremely useful for some types of data storage. I eagerly await the day when, in my job, I can archive a TB of files to eight 200GB Blu-Rays instead of 200-odd DVD-Rs, and I'm sure many small/medium businesses do too.
Chundles
Sep 12, 07:36 AM
hmmmm,
i just tried the same with the swedish store, and its down :)
maby this will be a world event afterall!!
Yeah, but I'll bet it's not the "It's Showtime" splash screen is it? Just the busy connection dialogue box.
i just tried the same with the swedish store, and its down :)
maby this will be a world event afterall!!
Yeah, but I'll bet it's not the "It's Showtime" splash screen is it? Just the busy connection dialogue box.
samiwas
Mar 5, 10:38 AM
Now: corporate contributions are legal money laundering operations. If you follow the money, I pay for goods which go into company funds which are used to contribute to buy Republican candidates who are dedicated to passing corporate-friendly laws that make my air dirtier and my food unhealthier, and that lower my standard of living until they finally ship my job to another country. Nice racket they have going. Has anybody ever noticed that the well never dries of money to buy off our government? I just love watching them cry about regulation; very classy.
Almost took the words right out of my mouth. Anyone who doesn't realize the hypocrisy in the original statement has their head in the sand.
Almost took the words right out of my mouth. Anyone who doesn't realize the hypocrisy in the original statement has their head in the sand.
Some_Big_Spoon
Sep 26, 02:04 PM
Code optimization & tweaking is always good.. very good, but you'll eventually run up against the limitations of the processor. I've been having that issue for the past two weeks here at work. Disk usage hasn't been the problem, it's just me needing more horsepower than the dual G5 can muster.
a C2D MBP would give you what? Maybe a 20% speed bump. I doubt you'd notice except if you used a stop watch. For photographers and Videographers I doubt C2D would bing even a 20% boost as their main bottleneck is the speed of the disk.
Try this experiment: Bring up Activity Monitor and see if the CPU is as 100% if it is not a faster CPU will do nothing for you. On a Mac the CPU is at 100% mostly when transcoding or redering, those tasks will go faster after the speed bump
My gues is that the code re-work inside Aperture will speed things up MUCH more than a C2D could.
a C2D MBP would give you what? Maybe a 20% speed bump. I doubt you'd notice except if you used a stop watch. For photographers and Videographers I doubt C2D would bing even a 20% boost as their main bottleneck is the speed of the disk.
Try this experiment: Bring up Activity Monitor and see if the CPU is as 100% if it is not a faster CPU will do nothing for you. On a Mac the CPU is at 100% mostly when transcoding or redering, those tasks will go faster after the speed bump
My gues is that the code re-work inside Aperture will speed things up MUCH more than a C2D could.
Lacero
Sep 8, 08:22 AM
It was funny to see Kanye dropping F-bombs and seeing self-righteous journalists and media types sitting there soaking it up. Hilarious. I don't think Kanye gave a f#@$.
Schmye Bubbula
Mar 24, 03:50 PM
Ten years, and TheWormyFruit� still hasn't FTFF (http://tinyurl.com/66wkbe3)!
wyatt23
Jan 11, 07:25 PM
I think the "hilarious" part must have slipped me by. :confused:
not me. the video was sooo hilarious. CES = the most prominent electronics show in the world with the MOST HIGH TECH tech you can find. and they allow for a 14.99 POS hack to ruin almost every booth.
HILARIOUS. i actually laughed out loud almost the whole video. childish yes. hilarious yes.
eye opening? yes. next year you can imagine there will be a few more companies that disable IR ports in public displays.
should gizmodo be allowed at macworld? YES. you think apple is stupid enough to allow something like that to happen? no.
as for gizmodo coming clean. i think that's fine. it was so funny. plus i'm sure not everyone endorsed the prank. it was probably a few people and then they made a blog post.
quit complaining. people are twisting their panties over nothing.
retorts: blah blah blah... presentation. blah blah blah.
not me. the video was sooo hilarious. CES = the most prominent electronics show in the world with the MOST HIGH TECH tech you can find. and they allow for a 14.99 POS hack to ruin almost every booth.
HILARIOUS. i actually laughed out loud almost the whole video. childish yes. hilarious yes.
eye opening? yes. next year you can imagine there will be a few more companies that disable IR ports in public displays.
should gizmodo be allowed at macworld? YES. you think apple is stupid enough to allow something like that to happen? no.
as for gizmodo coming clean. i think that's fine. it was so funny. plus i'm sure not everyone endorsed the prank. it was probably a few people and then they made a blog post.
quit complaining. people are twisting their panties over nothing.
retorts: blah blah blah... presentation. blah blah blah.
Hastings101
Apr 9, 12:22 AM
Go for it! If they deserve it, they deserve it!
Yea, the other people working there deserve to suffer for something one person does :p
Yea, the other people working there deserve to suffer for something one person does :p
diamond.g
Jul 30, 10:53 AM
That's the great thing about a platform like the Volt, or anything like it: you can easily change whatever gives the electricity. Gas not working right? The American public finally getting their asses out of their collective heads about diesel? Just get one the right size, and hook it up to the generator. It works for trains. Small fusion reactors finally a possibility? Bingo!
If GM hadn't ****ed up when they tried bringing diesel cars to the market, it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad. We still have some old M-B diesels kicking around, and probably a good bunch of them run on SVO by now.
Subaru still sells FWD cars, just not in the US or Europe.
Why did you burst my bubble of Subarus awesomeness? :(
Don't forget the dealership markup. Some of the automotive blogs have people complaining that the dealerships are adding a $10k markup to the already expensive vehicle.
If GM hadn't ****ed up when they tried bringing diesel cars to the market, it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad. We still have some old M-B diesels kicking around, and probably a good bunch of them run on SVO by now.
Subaru still sells FWD cars, just not in the US or Europe.
Why did you burst my bubble of Subarus awesomeness? :(
Don't forget the dealership markup. Some of the automotive blogs have people complaining that the dealerships are adding a $10k markup to the already expensive vehicle.
dongmin
Oct 19, 03:08 PM
Do you believe that the perpetual delay of Microsoft's Vista OS is allowing Apple to temporarily grab up some of the markey share? I'm not saying that people who would otherwise purchase a Wintel machine are switching to Mac because Vista is not out, but rather that some percentage are waiting to buy their new Core2Duo machine (or other upgrade to their current box) until they can get an full release version of Vista preinstalled on it.
Just a conjecture, but I thought it was worth considering. I suppose we'll find out in the first two quarters of 2007 when Microsoft decides that they're ready to release that bad boy on the world . . .
[JDOG, your post came in while I was still typing mine . . . sorry for the repeat]We're talking about hardware here, not OS. So Vista should have very little effect on Apple's PC marketshare, unless of course Vista's release encourages people to buy new PCs from Dell, HP, etc.
Just a conjecture, but I thought it was worth considering. I suppose we'll find out in the first two quarters of 2007 when Microsoft decides that they're ready to release that bad boy on the world . . .
[JDOG, your post came in while I was still typing mine . . . sorry for the repeat]We're talking about hardware here, not OS. So Vista should have very little effect on Apple's PC marketshare, unless of course Vista's release encourages people to buy new PCs from Dell, HP, etc.
bushido
Apr 29, 02:25 PM
When it is publicly released.
been using Lion since DP1 as my main OS without problems
been using Lion since DP1 as my main OS without problems
Mac'nCheese
Apr 25, 05:35 PM
The video was hard to watch and saddens me more because a double minority (a black woman) should know better. The irony of this beating should be lost on no one.
You would think that; however one could argue that black Americans don't repay the goodwill done towards their causes by standing up for other minorities. In fact, you could say that they do the opposite and use other minorities as scape goats for their problems. You could say that but then everyone would just call you a racist.
You would think that; however one could argue that black Americans don't repay the goodwill done towards their causes by standing up for other minorities. In fact, you could say that they do the opposite and use other minorities as scape goats for their problems. You could say that but then everyone would just call you a racist.
iShater
Jul 27, 03:18 PM
The Nissan Leaf list for about $25k to $26k and is an ALL electric vehicle. GM better get their head out of the sand.
Does it have the same options? or looks?
Does it have the same options? or looks?
moiety
Dec 13, 09:52 AM
This is utter ********. The experience is key, and LTE hardware is nowhere near advanced enough to guarantee the experience that Apple would demand for a device the stature of the iPhone.
Remember: we're talking about the company that withheld phone wallpapers on the Original and 3G iPhones because the experience would have been several milliseconds too slow.
Fact: Verizon is not expecting LTE-capable hardware until mid-2011. There's no way Apple magically has an LTE phone ready to go while everyone else won't have one for 6 months.
Fact: Apple declined to integrate 3G into the iPhone when 3G was already available, because the hardware wasn't power-efficent enough. One of the main distinguishing features of the iPhone is its battery life. They're not going to tarnish that image by hacking first-generation, power-hogging LTE hardware into the phone, in ADDITION to CDMA, which is another radio tech they're only now deploying.
These sources are full of ****. QED.
Remember: we're talking about the company that withheld phone wallpapers on the Original and 3G iPhones because the experience would have been several milliseconds too slow.
Fact: Verizon is not expecting LTE-capable hardware until mid-2011. There's no way Apple magically has an LTE phone ready to go while everyone else won't have one for 6 months.
Fact: Apple declined to integrate 3G into the iPhone when 3G was already available, because the hardware wasn't power-efficent enough. One of the main distinguishing features of the iPhone is its battery life. They're not going to tarnish that image by hacking first-generation, power-hogging LTE hardware into the phone, in ADDITION to CDMA, which is another radio tech they're only now deploying.
These sources are full of ****. QED.
womble2k2
Apr 26, 03:08 AM
Why is there multiple vanishing points!?! I believe it is a fake.
Clive At Five
Oct 3, 12:55 PM
Here are my predictions (hold on to your pocket-protectors):
Steve will enter the stage, the crowd will go wild, and he'll work on quieting them with lines such as, "I'd like to get started; we have a lot of great products I'd like to show you..." He'll proceed to talk about iTunes, the iPod, the iTS, so on and so forth, talk about OS X's user base, maybe touch on Leopard. He'll release TelePort (iTV), iWork & iLife as is expected, and finally, after he's done with the usual rambling about how great Apple is, he'll say "We've talked about some great products. We've talked about Mac OS X, we've talked about how to bring iTunes content into your living room... but I wanna talk about one more thing..." and dazzle us with an update to .Mac .
We'll all proceed to connect to MacRumors and complain about how ****** stupid Apple is, yet continue buy every new release of anything they've ever produced.
You know it's true. ;)
Okay, really? TelePort, iWork, iLife, and either the true Video iPod or the PhonePod but not both. If they haven't been updated before the x-mas buying season, MPBs.
-Clive
[Edit:] Fixed spelling and grammar errors. Made myself look good. No content was changed.
Steve will enter the stage, the crowd will go wild, and he'll work on quieting them with lines such as, "I'd like to get started; we have a lot of great products I'd like to show you..." He'll proceed to talk about iTunes, the iPod, the iTS, so on and so forth, talk about OS X's user base, maybe touch on Leopard. He'll release TelePort (iTV), iWork & iLife as is expected, and finally, after he's done with the usual rambling about how great Apple is, he'll say "We've talked about some great products. We've talked about Mac OS X, we've talked about how to bring iTunes content into your living room... but I wanna talk about one more thing..." and dazzle us with an update to .Mac .
We'll all proceed to connect to MacRumors and complain about how ****** stupid Apple is, yet continue buy every new release of anything they've ever produced.
You know it's true. ;)
Okay, really? TelePort, iWork, iLife, and either the true Video iPod or the PhonePod but not both. If they haven't been updated before the x-mas buying season, MPBs.
-Clive
[Edit:] Fixed spelling and grammar errors. Made myself look good. No content was changed.
lordonuthin
May 9, 10:06 PM
Now my Mac Pro is only getting normal wu's not bigadv units. It was interesting watching the MP and i7980x running side by side, I'll try to get a screenshot later when I get home, they were very close in time per frame at about 3 minutes... hope they get some more bigadv units out for us to run :rolleyes:
zephxiii
Jan 2, 10:35 AM
I for one will be staying with AT&T if and when Verizon gets the iPhone. I'll also be laughing while Verizon suffers the same fate that AT&T did as millions of users hit their network at once. I don't care how "strong" Verizon's network is, I don't think they're ready for the heavy hit they're going to take.
The situation is completely different for VZW than it was for ATT.
Firstly AT&T was the only network provider for the iPhone, this won't be the case for VZW. Secondly AT&T was at the very initial stages of 3G deployment with only a single channel deployed on 1900mhz compared to VZW using their entire spectrum for one network set. AT&T at the time was only using (and still is for the most part) a fraction of their spectrum for 3G.
Though this is Apple's first time messing with a CDMA radio, I wonder how bad they will screw it up? lol.
The situation is completely different for VZW than it was for ATT.
Firstly AT&T was the only network provider for the iPhone, this won't be the case for VZW. Secondly AT&T was at the very initial stages of 3G deployment with only a single channel deployed on 1900mhz compared to VZW using their entire spectrum for one network set. AT&T at the time was only using (and still is for the most part) a fraction of their spectrum for 3G.
Though this is Apple's first time messing with a CDMA radio, I wonder how bad they will screw it up? lol.
D4F
May 4, 09:04 AM
US is really going backwards. Here in Europe I have a HTC desire and iP4 both natively having tethering option... and it works :p
CaptMurdock
Apr 23, 11:46 AM
Unions ... undermine the free market and are ruining state budgets
Cite?
Cite?
TequilaBoobs
Jan 12, 08:45 AM
Wow, I just watched the keynote and my god this guy is hard to stand. I've watched previous keynotes and he never seemed this bad. The charisma he's displayed in the past has been replaced with smugness. He acted like the iPhone was the second coming of christ and we were so lucky that he existed to bring it upon us.
When really, this is probably the single worst keynote for Mac users that he has ever given. No hardware updates. No 10.5 preview. Not even iLife and iWork '07! Plus, very people I know are going to be interested in spending $600 + $60 a month or more to use this phone while plenty of us would love to spend $300 or $400 or even more on a full-screen video iPod. God, I wish this keynote was all some nightmare and in the real one Apple actually gave us something we wanted.
wow jamr u have big balls, coming to macrumors to call Steve Jobs an SOB. that's like going to a kkk rally and saying david duke is retarded. just be prepared to be flamed!
When really, this is probably the single worst keynote for Mac users that he has ever given. No hardware updates. No 10.5 preview. Not even iLife and iWork '07! Plus, very people I know are going to be interested in spending $600 + $60 a month or more to use this phone while plenty of us would love to spend $300 or $400 or even more on a full-screen video iPod. God, I wish this keynote was all some nightmare and in the real one Apple actually gave us something we wanted.
wow jamr u have big balls, coming to macrumors to call Steve Jobs an SOB. that's like going to a kkk rally and saying david duke is retarded. just be prepared to be flamed!
GSMiller
Jan 15, 09:22 PM
I don't know what is more lame...
The fact that Gizmodo actually pulled such a stunt or that Motorola used a presenter with a British accent.
The fact that Gizmodo actually pulled such a stunt or that Motorola used a presenter with a British accent.
kernkraft
Jul 30, 11:22 AM
I think the Volt is a success in terms of meeting its intended design parameters. However, I think the whole notion of the all-electric car and plug-in hybrids are flawed due to our current infrastructure.
As long as we burn fossil fuels to get the electricity, the electric car is just sweeping the fossil fuel/pollution problem under the rug by putting the "dirty" side of power consumption out of sight (back at the power plant). Also, there's no way our current power generation infrastructure could support even a fraction of the population switching to electric cars. California already has rolling blackouts - if people stopped burning gas and switched to electrics, the problem would get drastically worse.
I think electric cars are a dead end for the present...At least until our entire power grid makes large-scale switches to alternative energy, and there is no timeline for that currently. Also, there is currently no guarantee that practical fuel-cell systems will ever be truly affordable or mass-producable. The current offerings are all extremely expensive, proof-of-concept vehicles with short useful lives.
We'd be better off with diesels or diesel hybrids. People don't want to admit it, but those are currently our best options IMO.
I really wish I didn't sound so cynical, but that's the picture as I understand it.
Very valid points! My only point to add would be that BMW already makes diesel cars that use the company's EfficientDynamics technology to regenerate wasted energy. In the end, what might solve our energy crisis is the combination of alternative energy, frugality on the user end and trying to capture and re-use as much energy and energy-intensive (to make) products as possible. To me, there is no great difference between a hybrid and a BMW diesel that stops in stationary traffic. Of course, in city centres, using a purely electric drive helps to keep the air clean, which is something that diesel engines are not good at.
Well, they should research capacitors then, never wear out, and charge veeeeewy quick. Like EEstor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEStor)
Very good point. And not without a bit of irony as Rudolf Diesel patented his engine in the U.S. (608,845), and we don't use it - though that's because of the Oil companies, not the car companies.
I agree we should use the diesel. After the apocalypse, you could make your own fuel from zombie bodies!
Used vegetable oil or quality diesel would be a start...
True on the economies of scale bit - although the batteries are always going to be pricey.
I keep hammering the same point here, but the Volt would see a quite significant fuel economy boost by switching to a diesel engine to charge the batteries and run the motors. Sort it out, US car companies...it's not like we don't sell diesel here.
I heard it that the reason why BMW stopped selling diesel cars in the US was that the engines failed, due to the very poor quality. In Europe, you can get quality fuel, but in the US, diesel is still the fuel of trucks, primarily.
Just one statistics: in continental Europe (not in the UK), new diesel cars have been outselling petrol ones for almost a decade, despite the premium.
That's the great thing about a platform like the Volt, or anything like it: you can easily change whatever gives the electricity. Gas not working right? The American public finally getting their asses out of their collective heads about diesel? Just get one the right size, and hook it up to the generator. It works for trains. Small fusion reactors finally a possibility? Bingo!
If GM hadn't ****ed up when they tried bringing diesel cars to the market, it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad. We still have some old M-B diesels kicking around, and probably a good bunch of them run on SVO by now.
Subaru still sells FWD cars, just not in the US or Europe.
You may easily change the source of electricity (actually, you cannot, it mainly comes from coal and oil in the US, I think), but so far, there is no decent technology available to solve the problem of storing electricity. Batteries suck and the Volt still uses ancient batteries that you would find in all sorts of consumer products. That is a car, running on laptop batteries (or AA's, if you prefer).
Why did you burst my bubble of Subarus awesomeness? :(
Don't forget the dealership markup. Some of the automotive blogs have people complaining that the dealerships are adding a $10k markup to the already expensive vehicle.
You shouldn't have any impression about Subarus. They really have the traction of a train (AWD ones, of course - why would you buy anything else?!), but everything else is just midrange quality at best.
I've had a 1998 Impreza estate several years ago and it was OK. Recently, I've had a 2007 Legacy Outback from work. Nice glass on the top and good traction, but I have no intention of trading a BMW or Mercedes for it the next time. The interior is low quality and Subaru has no understanding of fuel efficiency, it seems. OK, it's a 2.5L engine, automatic and AWD, but still... 25 imperial mpg?!
As long as we burn fossil fuels to get the electricity, the electric car is just sweeping the fossil fuel/pollution problem under the rug by putting the "dirty" side of power consumption out of sight (back at the power plant). Also, there's no way our current power generation infrastructure could support even a fraction of the population switching to electric cars. California already has rolling blackouts - if people stopped burning gas and switched to electrics, the problem would get drastically worse.
I think electric cars are a dead end for the present...At least until our entire power grid makes large-scale switches to alternative energy, and there is no timeline for that currently. Also, there is currently no guarantee that practical fuel-cell systems will ever be truly affordable or mass-producable. The current offerings are all extremely expensive, proof-of-concept vehicles with short useful lives.
We'd be better off with diesels or diesel hybrids. People don't want to admit it, but those are currently our best options IMO.
I really wish I didn't sound so cynical, but that's the picture as I understand it.
Very valid points! My only point to add would be that BMW already makes diesel cars that use the company's EfficientDynamics technology to regenerate wasted energy. In the end, what might solve our energy crisis is the combination of alternative energy, frugality on the user end and trying to capture and re-use as much energy and energy-intensive (to make) products as possible. To me, there is no great difference between a hybrid and a BMW diesel that stops in stationary traffic. Of course, in city centres, using a purely electric drive helps to keep the air clean, which is something that diesel engines are not good at.
Well, they should research capacitors then, never wear out, and charge veeeeewy quick. Like EEstor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEStor)
Very good point. And not without a bit of irony as Rudolf Diesel patented his engine in the U.S. (608,845), and we don't use it - though that's because of the Oil companies, not the car companies.
I agree we should use the diesel. After the apocalypse, you could make your own fuel from zombie bodies!
Used vegetable oil or quality diesel would be a start...
True on the economies of scale bit - although the batteries are always going to be pricey.
I keep hammering the same point here, but the Volt would see a quite significant fuel economy boost by switching to a diesel engine to charge the batteries and run the motors. Sort it out, US car companies...it's not like we don't sell diesel here.
I heard it that the reason why BMW stopped selling diesel cars in the US was that the engines failed, due to the very poor quality. In Europe, you can get quality fuel, but in the US, diesel is still the fuel of trucks, primarily.
Just one statistics: in continental Europe (not in the UK), new diesel cars have been outselling petrol ones for almost a decade, despite the premium.
That's the great thing about a platform like the Volt, or anything like it: you can easily change whatever gives the electricity. Gas not working right? The American public finally getting their asses out of their collective heads about diesel? Just get one the right size, and hook it up to the generator. It works for trains. Small fusion reactors finally a possibility? Bingo!
If GM hadn't ****ed up when they tried bringing diesel cars to the market, it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad. We still have some old M-B diesels kicking around, and probably a good bunch of them run on SVO by now.
Subaru still sells FWD cars, just not in the US or Europe.
You may easily change the source of electricity (actually, you cannot, it mainly comes from coal and oil in the US, I think), but so far, there is no decent technology available to solve the problem of storing electricity. Batteries suck and the Volt still uses ancient batteries that you would find in all sorts of consumer products. That is a car, running on laptop batteries (or AA's, if you prefer).
Why did you burst my bubble of Subarus awesomeness? :(
Don't forget the dealership markup. Some of the automotive blogs have people complaining that the dealerships are adding a $10k markup to the already expensive vehicle.
You shouldn't have any impression about Subarus. They really have the traction of a train (AWD ones, of course - why would you buy anything else?!), but everything else is just midrange quality at best.
I've had a 1998 Impreza estate several years ago and it was OK. Recently, I've had a 2007 Legacy Outback from work. Nice glass on the top and good traction, but I have no intention of trading a BMW or Mercedes for it the next time. The interior is low quality and Subaru has no understanding of fuel efficiency, it seems. OK, it's a 2.5L engine, automatic and AWD, but still... 25 imperial mpg?!
baryon
Sep 29, 07:55 AM
If the garage is detached, what does he do when it's raining?
You know, like, use an umbrella, or, like, run.
You know, like, use an umbrella, or, like, run.
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