Maybe be some bizarre coincidence you personally really do "see so many Minis and Smart FourTwos on the road," but that is not representative of the entire American car population.
Almost the same thing happened to me when I was selected for Jury Duty.
The prosecutor asked me if I'd be willing to convict someone based solely on testimony from the victim (paraphasing). I said "No, there'd have to be some kind of evidence." I was immediately dismissed by the prosecutor, using one of her for-whatever-reason juror dismissals.
Another guy said, "99% of people who are arrested are guilty." He was still on the jury when I was dismissed.
Getting this out of the way: I think is project is really cool and all and he seems like a nice guy.
By what definition is the thing portable? It still needs to be plugged in to play. This "laptop" isn't any lighter than just carrying the monitor and Xbox seperately.
By what definition is this thing a laptop? It has no battery and realistically no one is keeping something that big and heavy on their lap. If I duct tape my monitor to my case is it now a portable laptop?
Way to copy a product that really doesn't work. If they Wiimote worked so well, they wouldn't need the Wii Motion Plus.
Has anyone ever said, "I like using my computer, but I wish I had to spasmodically waggle my wrist more?" I don't think so.
It is possible that the Asus remote is based on better technology (like in the Wii Motion Plus) but my point is it _looks_ like a Wiimote, a product that is actually a binary waggle-or-not sensor combined with an inverse laser pointer.
It is inevitable that every time there is an article about electric cars or fuel efficiency someone has to post "My old car got 500 mpg!!!" They are ALWAYS lying or misremembering.
I owned a 6-cylinder '95 Intrepid with a 3.5L V6 just a few years ago that got a measly 35MPG when I drove with a lead foot?
The EPA estimates that the fuel efficiency of the 95 Intrepid 3.5L to be 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. Unless made a ton of modifications to your Intrepid you are wrong. Even if you 35 mpg number is only highway driving, you're still 11 mpg (46% of the real 24 mpg) better than a real Intrepid.
In fact, what's with mileage going DOWN over the last 15 years?... Who do they think they're fooling?
You'll have to cite some source for me to even start to believe your oil company conspiracy theory. For the same type of car, mpg has stayed the same. A new Dodge Avenger gets the same mpg as your 95 Intrepid. You must mean the average mpg of all cars on the road has increased but that doesn't at all support your conspiracy. There is a simple explanation. More people are driving SUVs and they are less fuel efficient. People like big SUVs and car companies make them. I don't see who is trying to fool who in that case. I have no idea how your post got modded up.
I know nothing about these things or guns in general so maybe I'm off base, but if the bit that makes it swivel engages without being told, what on Earth makes you so confident that the bit that makes it shoot will not engage without it being told?
Because making a gun that doesn't fire when its safety is on is a lot easier than making a robot with wheels that won't roll backwards down the hill when its engine is over heated (that is one of the "uncommanded movements")
I'd be a lot more concerned if it never failed because that would mean they don't know the true extent of its capabilities. From TFA, All three umcommanded movements occurred before it was safety certified. Meaning before it was a finished product. As always, the facts tell the story:
There were three cases of uncommanded movements, but all three were prior to the 2006 safety certification, she says. "One case involved a loose wire. So, now there is now redundant wiring on every circuit. One involved a solder, a connection that broke. everything now is double-soldered." The third case was a test were the robot was put on a 45 degree hill and left to run for two and a half hours. "When the motor started to overheat, the robot shut the motor off, that caused the robot to slide back down the incline," she says. "Those are the three uncommanded movements."
I am not exactly sure what it means to "double solder" something. But obviously double soldering and redundant wiring add design and material costs. They must have guessed they didn't need the redundancy but, diligently they ran the test and it failed. So, now the robot has redundancy. This is how product validation works. If your products never fails during validation you're probably over-engineering them (meaning a simpler/cheaper product probably could be made that meets the requirements). However, when your products fail it is your job to fix the design and rerun the test. This is apparently what happened. I don't see how any of this is news.
I've already got a car that gets close to that:
- Honda Insight - 80-90 mpg in real world I-95 driving (mine)
Sure ya do buddy, sure ya do.
The highest EPA mpg estimate for highway was 68 mpg using its completely bogus pre-2008 methodology. I'd love to know how your car has a more than 30% mpg improvement than a real Honda Insight.
A damned 'Engineer' in all the title's glory developed my car, and yet half the time a warning light comes on, I'm told to turn the car off, wait a minute, turn it back on and hope it doesn't show up again.
Who advised you to ignore your car's warning light? Surely it wasn't the owner's manual, a qualified mechanic, or the dealer. A warning light indicates that your car has self detected a problem and you should have that problem diagnosed ASAP. Luckily for you, there is the OBD II standard which gives you a common interface to see why the light has turned on regardless of manufacturer. It is possible to have your diagnostic codes checked for free at many places (like Autozone).
Your car's ability to self-detect faults and alert the user to the occurance of faults (rather than just failing for an unknown reason) is surely an example of good engineering.
Glancing at the schematic I don't see anything that jumps out at me as a custom ASIC. I don't know how you would know or not other than google-ing all the part numbers. Surely not all of the components are custom ASICs as the original post claims.
This vehicle is a motorcyle rather than a car (TFA even says so). I can't find which of the 11 pages this is stated in however.
As such, it gets a pass on many safety restrictions from both the NHTSA (if it were actually being produced) and the automotive X-prize. It doesn't look like there are any air bags juding by the picture from TFA. Also, that.11 coeffiecient of drag is a nice number, but there are no rearview or side mirrors. Also, this quote makes me wonder:
Aptera founder and CEO Steve Fambro says sticking your hand out the window of an average car driving 55 mph creates more drag than the Aptera's entire body.
I have a hard time believing that. My hand isn't that large compared to the windshield or one of the tires. Maybe there test subject had webbed fingers. But what difference does it make if you're sticking your hand or of an "average car" or not? Shouldn't the drag caused by your hand be the same?
Why is the rear window so small? It looks like a basketball would barely fit through it. Unless the rear view and side cameras are great you'd have a huge blind spot. TFA even complains about the blind spot even though the author is over joyed with pretty much every other aspect of the car.
TFA suggests there isn't even a pressure booster for the brake pedal so at least you get a quad/calf workout when you drive. How about power steering? I didn't see any mention of that either.
An Excerpt from the article:: "An SC648 chip, with six processors on it, draws around 8 watts of power, which compares to a typical notebook computer CPU needing 100 watts, according to SiCortex CEO John Mucci." Yea, my sister's p4-HT 3GHZ laptop CPU only takes 88 watts max. I guess they meant the average power consumption of the whole laptop, averaging across all models on the market? Well, obviously the statement in the article is bogus. http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL7DT [intel.com]
How can you claim something is bogus by stating one single example? You haven't even taken an average of a few chips like you seem to presume they have!
The 88 Watts that he called out is the Worst Case power consumption. In normal operation the power consumption will be much less. Here are some power consumption numbers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_power_dissipation (100 appear to be a bit high for the average)
TFA doesn't specify whether the 8 watts he is claiming for the super computer's processors is worst case or not. Or even if the 100 watts he is claiming for the laptop is worst case or not. If he is comparing normal operation for the super computer to worst case for a normal laptop that is obviously foul play.
In the end, you would hope a journalist would clarify if the numbers are worst case or not. However, even if 8 watts is normal operation it is fairly apparent that the supercomputer is more power efficient that a normal laptop. This is expected though. Massed produced laptops are not built with the best technology avaiable. Instead, they have the most cost-efficient technology. The supercomputer probably cost tens of thousands (possibly more, the SiCortex website doesn't have pricing). Your laptop probably cost one thousand or less. Claiming that this supercomputer has good power consumption based on comparing it to a normal laptop is like claiming a Formula 1 car is really fast by comparing it to a Toyota Prius. They are built for completely different purposes. He should be comparing his supercomputer to other supercomputers (or normal computers) built with power efficiency as the main goal.
That is only true when the motion of both hands are completly independent of each other. Human brain is doing quite fine with using both hands at once for a single task (trying typing with a single hand or opening a bottle with just a single hand).
About opening jars you are definitely right, but about typing I have to disagree. If you are a halfway decent typist you have the layout of the keyboard memorized. A multi-touch display is only useful if the content it displays changes (making it impossible to memorize). To point at two different things you'd have to:
1)Search for the first object you want to point at (with your eyes)
2)Point at it
3)Take your eyes off the first object and search for the second object
3)Point at it
As stated above, the keyboard (or keyboard and mouse) overcome this problem because you've memorized the keyboard layout (making searching for key unnecessary).
If it were better to use 2 pointers, we'd all be using two mouses right now. We easily have the technology to enable you to use 2 mouses at the same time now, but no one is doing it because it's not useful. (Disclaimer: there may be some bizarre case where someone is using 2 mouses but there aren't any that I am aware of.)
The code to connect the Wiimote to your PC was already written by some other guy (you can find out who if you follow the links on the first guys website). The Wiimote was already capable of detecting IR light. The only hardware that he "hacked" was to make a pen light. Which is simply a power source, a current limiting resistor, a switch, and an IR LED.
I haven't seen the white board software. Is there a video on the blog? There is an error loading the page for me. But I am guessing it turns the output of the Wiimote driver into a mouse.
I think the usefulness of multi-touch displays is limited. Try writting with two pens (one in each hand) at the same time and tell me if you are writting faster and more accurately than if you only have one pen. Or try the old, rub your stomach while patting your head. It seems to me humans are much more efficient at moving one hand at a time.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe be some bizarre coincidence you personally really do "see so many Minis and Smart FourTwos on the road," but that is not representative of the entire American car population.
Trucks and mid-size sedans are by far more popular than compact cars. Source: http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2009/01/the-top-10-best.html
About 20 to 30 thousand Mini Coopers and FourTwos sold last year. The Ford F Series sold half a million trucks last year. Sources: http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/25/u-s-smart-fortwo-sales-so-strong-penske-wants-15-000-more/ and http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6271167/car-news/2008-mini-cooper-us-sales-hit-a-new-peak/index.html.
Almost the same thing happened to me when I was selected for Jury Duty.
The prosecutor asked me if I'd be willing to convict someone based solely on testimony from the victim (paraphasing). I said "No, there'd have to be some kind of evidence." I was immediately dismissed by the prosecutor, using one of her for-whatever-reason juror dismissals.
Another guy said, "99% of people who are arrested are guilty." He was still on the jury when I was dismissed.
Getting this out of the way: I think is project is really cool and all and he seems like a nice guy. By what definition is the thing portable? It still needs to be plugged in to play. This "laptop" isn't any lighter than just carrying the monitor and Xbox seperately. By what definition is this thing a laptop? It has no battery and realistically no one is keeping something that big and heavy on their lap. If I duct tape my monitor to my case is it now a portable laptop?
There is no battery. You'd need an enormous one to run the Xbox and the monitor for an extended period of time.
Way to copy a product that really doesn't work. If they Wiimote worked so well, they wouldn't need the Wii Motion Plus. Has anyone ever said, "I like using my computer, but I wish I had to spasmodically waggle my wrist more?" I don't think so. It is possible that the Asus remote is based on better technology (like in the Wii Motion Plus) but my point is it _looks_ like a Wiimote, a product that is actually a binary waggle-or-not sensor combined with an inverse laser pointer.
The EPA estimates that the fuel efficiency of the 95 Intrepid 3.5L to be 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. Unless made a ton of modifications to your Intrepid you are wrong. Even if you 35 mpg number is only highway driving, you're still 11 mpg (46% of the real 24 mpg) better than a real Intrepid.
You'll have to cite some source for me to even start to believe your oil company conspiracy theory. For the same type of car, mpg has stayed the same. A new Dodge Avenger gets the same mpg as your 95 Intrepid. You must mean the average mpg of all cars on the road has increased but that doesn't at all support your conspiracy. There is a simple explanation. More people are driving SUVs and they are less fuel efficient. People like big SUVs and car companies make them. I don't see who is trying to fool who in that case. I have no idea how your post got modded up.
Because making a gun that doesn't fire when its safety is on is a lot easier than making a robot with wheels that won't roll backwards down the hill when its engine is over heated (that is one of the "uncommanded movements")
I am not exactly sure what it means to "double solder" something. But obviously double soldering and redundant wiring add design and material costs. They must have guessed they didn't need the redundancy but, diligently they ran the test and it failed. So, now the robot has redundancy. This is how product validation works. If your products never fails during validation you're probably over-engineering them (meaning a simpler/cheaper product probably could be made that meets the requirements). However, when your products fail it is your job to fix the design and rerun the test. This is apparently what happened. I don't see how any of this is news.
Sure ya do buddy, sure ya do.
The highest EPA mpg estimate for highway was 68 mpg using its completely bogus pre-2008 methodology. I'd love to know how your car has a more than 30% mpg improvement than a real Honda Insight.
Who advised you to ignore your car's warning light? Surely it wasn't the owner's manual, a qualified mechanic, or the dealer. A warning light indicates that your car has self detected a problem and you should have that problem diagnosed ASAP. Luckily for you, there is the OBD II standard which gives you a common interface to see why the light has turned on regardless of manufacturer. It is possible to have your diagnostic codes checked for free at many places (like Autozone).
Your car's ability to self-detect faults and alert the user to the occurance of faults (rather than just failing for an unknown reason) is surely an example of good engineering.
Glancing at the schematic I don't see anything that jumps out at me as a custom ASIC. I don't know how you would know or not other than google-ing all the part numbers. Surely not all of the components are custom ASICs as the original post claims.
As such, it gets a pass on many safety restrictions from both the NHTSA (if it were actually being produced) and the automotive X-prize. It doesn't look like there are any air bags juding by the picture from TFA. Also, that
I have a hard time believing that. My hand isn't that large compared to the windshield or one of the tires. Maybe there test subject had webbed fingers. But what difference does it make if you're sticking your hand or of an "average car" or not? Shouldn't the drag caused by your hand be the same?
Why is the rear window so small? It looks like a basketball would barely fit through it. Unless the rear view and side cameras are great you'd have a huge blind spot. TFA even complains about the blind spot even though the author is over joyed with pretty much every other aspect of the car.
TFA suggests there isn't even a pressure booster for the brake pedal so at least you get a quad/calf workout when you drive. How about power steering? I didn't see any mention of that either.
The 88 Watts that he called out is the Worst Case power consumption. In normal operation the power consumption will be much less. Here are some power consumption numbers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_power_dissipation (100 appear to be a bit high for the average)
TFA doesn't specify whether the 8 watts he is claiming for the super computer's processors is worst case or not. Or even if the 100 watts he is claiming for the laptop is worst case or not. If he is comparing normal operation for the super computer to worst case for a normal laptop that is obviously foul play.
In the end, you would hope a journalist would clarify if the numbers are worst case or not. However, even if 8 watts is normal operation it is fairly apparent that the supercomputer is more power efficient that a normal laptop. This is expected though. Massed produced laptops are not built with the best technology avaiable. Instead, they have the most cost-efficient technology. The supercomputer probably cost tens of thousands (possibly more, the SiCortex website doesn't have pricing). Your laptop probably cost one thousand or less. Claiming that this supercomputer has good power consumption based on comparing it to a normal laptop is like claiming a Formula 1 car is really fast by comparing it to a Toyota Prius. They are built for completely different purposes. He should be comparing his supercomputer to other supercomputers (or normal computers) built with power efficiency as the main goal.
The code to connect the Wiimote to your PC was already written by some other guy (you can find out who if you follow the links on the first guys website). The Wiimote was already capable of detecting IR light. The only hardware that he "hacked" was to make a pen light. Which is simply a power source, a current limiting resistor, a switch, and an IR LED. I haven't seen the white board software. Is there a video on the blog? There is an error loading the page for me. But I am guessing it turns the output of the Wiimote driver into a mouse. I think the usefulness of multi-touch displays is limited. Try writting with two pens (one in each hand) at the same time and tell me if you are writting faster and more accurately than if you only have one pen. Or try the old, rub your stomach while patting your head. It seems to me humans are much more efficient at moving one hand at a time.