Slashdot Mirror

Nope.

The flying car we were promised parks in my garage and in the parking lot at my office, the mall, and the grocery store.

Source for this promise?
My guess it that it was just some BS that you promised yourself.
Most old concept art for personal flying vehicles are small helicopters or cars with wings.

Flying car 1
Flying car 2

Can they solve the problem of the record skipping in my car?

I know you're joking, but for those who don't know, they actually did try record players in cars many years ago. They were very expensive and had lots of drawbacks.
http://gajitz.com/road-tunes-w...

With all the drunk drivers on the road, every buggy should have a dash cam and automatic emergency services notification.

And it is probably worth considering a backup camera while you're doing the install.

These people at least have GPS:
http://thefw.com/horse-and-car...

This buggy has lots of electronics:
http://gajitz.com/literal-hors...

If I was the NSA, I wouldn't want all those data streams slipping through the cracks.

Interestingly there was at least one bicycle design which claimed that frame shape could influence comfort:

http://gajitz.com/riding-a-rou...

I don't know why no EV manufacturer has thought of this:

Build a small generator / fuel tank into a TRAILER that you can hook up to your EV. This gives you the best of both worlds: for short, around-town trips, you leave the range extender trailer at home; but, when you want to drive long distance, just hook up the trailer and you can travel an arbitrarily long distance. Given the incredible efficiency of EVs, it's likely that a well-designed range extender trailer could give you several thousand kilometres of range.

Others have thought the same thing:

http://gajitz.com/little-gener...

I think the challenge is that it takes a lot of power to keep an EV running at highway speeds. If the Nissan Leaf can travel 85 miles on a 24KWh battery, then it needs 18KWh to travel 65mph -- so a generator needs to sustain 18KW. Still doable in a trailerable generator, but it will add weight to the car and reduce gas mileage.

Though I wonder if renting a $20,000, 3000lb 20 KVA generator would be much cheaper than just renting an entire car?

Wouldn't have any "mind control" device a similar effect? Like, i.e games or prosthetic limbs. That would give a more practical use (and reach a far bigger audience), while keeping the benefits.

I may not buy magnets because some parents are stupid enough to give high power magnets to kids?

RTFA. The recall is for a particular type of magnetic toy, not "high power magnets" per se. Its one thing to sell potentially dangerous items - its another thing to package them as toys*.

Also - as someone has pointed out elsewhere - there is a particular problem with older kids using these to make fake tongue piercings - so its not just parents giving them to babies and toddlers who will swallow anything.

Plus - this threat isn't immediately obvious. There have been magnetic toys since the year dot - but not ones that were (a) small enough to swallow and (b) still powerful enough to clamp your intestines together.

Remember that when idiots scramble their intestines, the cost of fixing the mess will still make its way through to your tax and/or medical insurance bill.

* I remember a 1930s book of science experiments for kids that included such gems as making a carbon arc torch from the graphite rods out of batteries using - wait for it - a variable resistor made from two stones in a dish of salty water to cut 110V mains down to 50V**. What could possibly go wrong? They did tell you to wear sunglasses.

**Not only did they skip Health and Safety assessments in those days, I suspect they skipped the "will it actually work?" assessments, too.

my favorite is this:

http://gajitz.com/1950s-radioactive-science-kit-most-dangerous-toy-ever/

The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab

Honestly, the HUD can be very useful. I've seen a few stories about companies working on augmenting reality to help people drive.

For example at night, in fog, or in rain infrared and other sensors can see things that you can't. the HUD could show you were these objects are. Things like lines on the road, cars, pedestrians and even show you where they are headed. I know I've been driving a few times where I really couldn't see where I was going because fog, or rain had come in really quickly, but it was more dangerous to stop as someone would have hit me from behind. If my car was augmenting reality and could see things I couldn't and show a representations to me that would have made things safer.

I know someone is going to say where's the proof, so:
http://gajitz.com/heads-up-gm-developing-augmented-reality-driving-system/

They [collectors, hobbyists] can rebuild it them. They have the technology. Heck, people even work to rebuild the ancient Harwell.