One interesting use of ball bearings I noticed in engines are with a spring as a one way check valve in oil passages... there are a surprising number of them used this way...
Seems we have gone to great lengths to make sure odometer readings aren't tampered with, emissions parameters aren't modified and vehicles aren't "hot wired" - all problems which are unique to ICE and the reason your worried about failed electronics... you can't simply replace a cluster module anymore... or maybe even your light control module...
Well that and your "gas pedal" is controlled by electronics and just actually tells the DME your requested torque demand and it figures out how much it should advance the ignition timing, modify the injected fuel and how much air should be let in... and if you have a turbo the charge pressure... really the engine does nothing without the electronics now....
Even your automatic transmission now days is useless without it's module sanely telling it what to do...
In an electric car though, emissions isn't an issue and there is no complex computing of optimal air/fuel mixture/fuel pressure/temperature control/torque demand through multiple analog and digital inputs while constantly modifying the same outputs in some awkward feedback loop. There is not even a shitty fuel pump. Required electronics could be reduced to be torque demand + current speed -> motor control
Thousands of moving parts is probably accurate on many cars.
Take your standard ZF automatic transmission alone for instance. There are solenoids bearings and rotating clutch packs which are all available from ZF directly as separate parts you can buy, a collection of seals are usually destroyed while getting to them. You can buy overhaul kits but even a proper fluid change usually involves replacing the filters and gaskets. The fluid is even a separate part number. When a CV joint fails, mechanics often don't replace the whole thing but will replace the outer joint and boot. Especially the case with the $400+ hollow VW/Porsche drive shafts. The grease is a separate part as are the clamps that hold the boot. The manufacturer may also recommend replacement of a cotter pin, retaining nut or bolt too. When you do a brake job, you can replace an entire caliper but often you can also get the slide pins and seals separate. This is a very attractive option for expensive multi-piston calipers. If you elect to buy new calipers your old calipers are usually brought back to the parts store where they are sent to a re-manufacturing facility which re-hones the piston shaft and replaces the seals. A modern cylinder head will have multiple valves per cylinder and each valve usually has a valve spring, valve seal, retainers clips etc. If you don't do your timing belt you may find yourself replacing some of these parts along with the head gasket. In many VW engines with variable valve timing, there is an adjuster which has plastic guides that rub up against the cam chain and these seem to be wear items. This chain that connects the cam shaft and its tensioners are in addition to the timing belt and it's respective tensioner components. In the BMWs with VANOS variable valve timing there there are hydraulic pistons with sealing rings around them inside that you eventually need to replace, along with the gaskets because they eventually wear and no longer build the oil pressure required for controlling the VVT. Other BMWs have this cool system called Valvetronic which makes the intake valves have completely electronically variable lift such that the the throttle body under regular operating conditions is wide open and your gas pedal instead controls the intake valve lift. Sometimes this system fails. There are hundreds of moving parts in the head alone many of which can be ordered from the dealer parts counter individually not as part of the head assembly. To get at some of these engine parts you are sometimes replacing a few dozen torque to yield bolts and gaskets. Most engines are water cooled and have a few dozen hoses, thermostat (or two), water-pump(or two, my V6 VW has an auxiliary electric water pump that failed), maybe an expansion tank that you would replace if it's a BMW - all standard maintenance to replace. When you re-add the coolant you might need to bleed the system - I've damaged a couple brass/plastic bleed screws before they are separate parts. Maybe a couple accessory belts are replaced at some service interval. They have tension mechanisms and idler pullies that are often replaced. The alternators and starters on most cars can also be rebuilt and there are even many shops who do them specifically - when you buy a new alternator from a part store they usually take back your old one and send it to a shop to refurbish - they have bearings and voltage regulators as separate parts. Many of the electrical systems on an ICE vehicle are supported by electro-mechanical relays. Perhaps your car has a secondary air injection pump for emissions which is controlled by such a relay - maybe evap purge pump in the fuel tank, the fuel pump itself etc. etc. etc.
Most of this cruft no longer exists in an electric car and there is no equivalent. Sure you can say a typical car has an engine, transmission and axels - but it's a gross over-simplification. Electric vehicles by contrast are actually currently radically simpler.
I wait for consumer protection laws to catch up for electronic devices and software.
We are at a point in time where you can buy access to a service with no commitment of the provider of that service to deliver said service.
A few real world examples: Samsung sells Smart TV cameras for Skype, having the Skype logo up until and after Microsoft releases news that Skype will no longer be available on Samsung Smart TVs - Same cameras only work for Skype on Samsung Smart TVs and there is yet no alternative service. The date for which Samsung had agreement to provide access to Skype services was not defined to the customer and obviously not protected by contract.
Blackberry: BB10 devices received a Facebook update that removed the ability to share images or receive Facebook updates after Facebook ended support for Blackberry. Again, the date for which Facebook had contractual obligations to provide support for Blackberry was undefined which means Blackberry was advertise and sell a smartphone to people under a contract which they get stuck in without being able to do the advertised.
There are thousands more.
If I sold home renovations, used a third party for bathrooms, then midway through providing renovations, my third party decided not to do bathrooms - I would be on the hook.
In the days of the cloud and digital electronics, it's the wild west with no such liability to the consumer. Now we are throwing away smart devices and used electronics where the software to run them has become obsolete by design and we seem to accept that.
Link your Windows live accounts and you kinda just did make your Windows 8/10 PC basically get managed by the Microsoft controller;)
@taustin that AC who says you are doing things wrong may sound a bit brash, you have to acknowledge (to yourself at least) that he is sort of right... if you were running the POS systems connected to a domain controller you have the ability to enforce code signing (app locker), security policies, which updates are pushed etc. - many options which will help protect your employees and customers and if you were running Enterprise, your Windows 7 devices wouldn't even attempt to upgrade and you have the legal entitlement to image and clone your Windows 7 base image onto the POS systems you purchase and bring into your network. If you were really crazy in IT you would have your POS systems as thin/zero clients.
I understand franchises try to force franchisees to buy their chosen fixtures they chose through their purchase channels - guess it's all part of the game.
Don't forget that diesel engines do not run near their peak efficiency due to emissions reasons and even still produce a lot of heat that would not be an output product in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Physics does not suggest he is wrong... Perhaps in the case of generating hydrogen through basic electrolysis, compressing, shipping, storing and burning it - hydrogen will never be efficient... but only in that case... as there is proven hydrogen technology such as the proton exchange membrane fuel cell which DOES WORK and is efficient. It ACTUALLY generates power from water. If we found a huge supply of platinum, physics would not be the problem. Perhaps you are being a bit pessimistic in that you can't imagine a replacement for the Pt catalyst being developed that would enable a lower cost sustainable fuel cell.
Then in 2011 rule 64-028 http://www.electrofed.com/wp-c... "Where the renewable energy system is not intended to be interconnected with the supply authority the system shall be designed so that it is impossible to have both systems connected at the same time."
I think Microsoft will realize their subscription Windows dreams with Office 365 providing cross platform "Windows" as a service. Where "Windows" is the application user experience, not the drivers, kernel, codecs, etc. that only make them money from new PC sales anyway.
If the Windows Store and Apps take off, I guarantee that it will become a cross-platform subscription. You will bring your own hardware/hyper-visor/operating system/etc and install "Windows Services" or interact with them "in the cloud"
I tried to switch to Linux on my work laptop but I kept encountering office documents from with OLE embedded files, power point presentations which still didn't display correctly in Libre Office despite pirating all the Microsoft fonts etc.
I'm back to running Windows because it's cheaper and more tolerable than paying for an Office 365 subscription and there is no viable office suite for Linux
as always s/in the cloud/on someone else\'s computer/g
Sorry I might be mistaken, but doesn't the key need to be shared to the contact in order for the contact to actually use the Wifi, not just a hash of the key. The hash of the key would be useless for authenticating on the network unless the hash itself was the passkey.
The actual access device could store a hash of the key to validate if the provided key is valid instead of storing the key, but if it is checking the provided key matched the hash exactly without actually hashing it, the hash is now the key...
If it is able to share a key, it must be stored in reversible encryption. There are tools for Windows (and pretty much every other operating system) to recover the saved keys. I think the only thing that makes Windows 10 unique is that it saves these keys "in the cloud" and allows you to share them across systems. Sort of like Google Chrome saved passwords.
Since the Windows Drive Model hardly changed between Windows versions I've not found a driver that existed in Windows 7/8 that didn't currently work in 10. I even got the serial port connected touchscreen in my vista era General Dynamics notebook working on Windows 10. Sometime an MSI installer would check the Windows version (fix with Orca) or need to be run in "Compatibility Mode" - but I have all sorts of long unsupported hardware running in Windows 10.
The real kick will be when an automatic Windows update screws everything up and Microsoft says "Not our fault" - but I anticipate this will be a crap-shoot with both supported and unsupported apps and hardware the same... the difference being that the "supported" hardware may become unsupported or possibly get a fix after the impact has already been noted.
I bought the Microsoft Cordless Bluetooth Elite desktop package when it first came out. It was twice the price of the non-Bluetooth version... a considerable premium most "I just want a wireless keyboard" people wouldn't pay. Cool thing is the included Bluetooth receiver actually stored the keys and operated in HID mode even before the operating system booted.
Problem is time and time again consumers will buy the cheaper option... cheaper keyboard, cheaper cell phone charger etc.
I lived in the UAE for a couple years. There is a mountain in AlAin and mountains up in the Fujeriah/Musandam area... but the real reason I thought this was a joke is because the infrastructure there is not designed to handle rain. Whenever it rains, cars wreck and overturn due to poor road drainage and ceilings collapse - see the AbuDhabi airport as an example. That's why I thought it was a joke... not that building a mountain is impossible or anything. They are well on their way to making a trash mountain between Sharjah and Dubai... if they could just convince people not to litter on the streets it would already be complete.
Canadian here. Our politicians have been done whatever they can to be America's hat for a while, so we get copyright notices from our duopoly carriers on top of paying a levy to the Canadian Private Copying Collective of $0.24 per unit for 40min+ Audio Cassette tape, and $0.29 per unit for CD-R, CD-RW, CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDisc...
Latency and packet loss from any source to any destination? or withing the access network itself?? I mean if the company peers with many upstream transit providers via BGP they really aren't in control of average latency at all when it leaves their network. Also latency and packet loss will be higher during periods of congestion. Forget that most modern switches don't really even have buffers on 40g and 100g interfaces so when you aggregate you can still have discards when over the second you are nowhere close to 100gbps...
Smaller font on the TV, in the guides, on the browser etc. are much clearer and easier to read. Sure maybe useless for cinematography and cartoons... but after having a 4k TV for a few months I wouldn't go back.
Losses?? What do you mean losses??? It's not like they will have storage backing every single purchased "copy" of the flick. They will make money in the proverbial "Hand over fist" sense of a few dumb sheep.
And although it will be "4k", it will most likely be delivered over adaptive streaming and with some major loss-y compression where favorable meaning during the hours of 6 and 10pm the video quality may be less than a good old fashioned DVD.
The worst part about such crapware is that when installing it, I may be aware of the bundled crapware... but whoever is using the computer after I install the software may update and install the crapware. It's especially annoying when the software is updated weekly and has pop-up reminders and the crapware is opt-out. I'm looking at you Java installer *shakes fist*
Or even more obviously, the operating system is responsible for connecting the input method to the security hardware... so if the operating system is able to for example log the touch screen presses...
Slashdot Mirror
One interesting use of ball bearings I noticed in engines are with a spring as a one way check valve in oil passages... there are a surprising number of them used this way...
Look up BMW Valvetronic or an exploded diagram of a ZF automatic transmission.
Seems we have gone to great lengths to make sure odometer readings aren't tampered with, emissions parameters aren't modified and vehicles aren't "hot wired" - all problems which are unique to ICE and the reason your worried about failed electronics... you can't simply replace a cluster module anymore... or maybe even your light control module...
Well that and your "gas pedal" is controlled by electronics and just actually tells the DME your requested torque demand and it figures out how much it should advance the ignition timing, modify the injected fuel and how much air should be let in... and if you have a turbo the charge pressure... really the engine does nothing without the electronics now....
Even your automatic transmission now days is useless without it's module sanely telling it what to do...
In an electric car though, emissions isn't an issue and there is no complex computing of optimal air/fuel mixture/fuel pressure/temperature control/torque demand through multiple analog and digital inputs while constantly modifying the same outputs in some awkward feedback loop. There is not even a shitty fuel pump. Required electronics could be reduced to be torque demand + current speed -> motor control
Thousands of moving parts is probably accurate on many cars.
Take your standard ZF automatic transmission alone for instance. There are solenoids bearings and rotating clutch packs which are all available from ZF directly as separate parts you can buy, a collection of seals are usually destroyed while getting to them. You can buy overhaul kits but even a proper fluid change usually involves replacing the filters and gaskets. The fluid is even a separate part number.
When a CV joint fails, mechanics often don't replace the whole thing but will replace the outer joint and boot. Especially the case with the $400+ hollow VW/Porsche drive shafts. The grease is a separate part as are the clamps that hold the boot. The manufacturer may also recommend replacement of a cotter pin, retaining nut or bolt too.
When you do a brake job, you can replace an entire caliper but often you can also get the slide pins and seals separate. This is a very attractive option for expensive multi-piston calipers. If you elect to buy new calipers your old calipers are usually brought back to the parts store where they are sent to a re-manufacturing facility which re-hones the piston shaft and replaces the seals.
A modern cylinder head will have multiple valves per cylinder and each valve usually has a valve spring, valve seal, retainers clips etc. If you don't do your timing belt you may find yourself replacing some of these parts along with the head gasket. In many VW engines with variable valve timing, there is an adjuster which has plastic guides that rub up against the cam chain and these seem to be wear items. This chain that connects the cam shaft and its tensioners are in addition to the timing belt and it's respective tensioner components. In the BMWs with VANOS variable valve timing there there are hydraulic pistons with sealing rings around them inside that you eventually need to replace, along with the gaskets because they eventually wear and no longer build the oil pressure required for controlling the VVT. Other BMWs have this cool system called Valvetronic which makes the intake valves have completely electronically variable lift such that the the throttle body under regular operating conditions is wide open and your gas pedal instead controls the intake valve lift. Sometimes this system fails. There are hundreds of moving parts in the head alone many of which can be ordered from the dealer parts counter individually not as part of the head assembly. To get at some of these engine parts you are sometimes replacing a few dozen torque to yield bolts and gaskets.
Most engines are water cooled and have a few dozen hoses, thermostat (or two), water-pump(or two, my V6 VW has an auxiliary electric water pump that failed), maybe an expansion tank that you would replace if it's a BMW - all standard maintenance to replace. When you re-add the coolant you might need to bleed the system - I've damaged a couple brass/plastic bleed screws before they are separate parts. Maybe a couple accessory belts are replaced at some service interval. They have tension mechanisms and idler pullies that are often replaced. The alternators and starters on most cars can also be rebuilt and there are even many shops who do them specifically - when you buy a new alternator from a part store they usually take back your old one and send it to a shop to refurbish - they have bearings and voltage regulators as separate parts. Many of the electrical systems on an ICE vehicle are supported by electro-mechanical relays. Perhaps your car has a secondary air injection pump for emissions which is controlled by such a relay - maybe evap purge pump in the fuel tank, the fuel pump itself etc. etc. etc.
Most of this cruft no longer exists in an electric car and there is no equivalent. Sure you can say a typical car has an engine, transmission and axels - but it's a gross over-simplification. Electric vehicles by contrast are actually currently radically simpler.
I wait for consumer protection laws to catch up for electronic devices and software.
We are at a point in time where you can buy access to a service with no commitment of the provider of that service to deliver said service.
A few real world examples:
Samsung sells Smart TV cameras for Skype, having the Skype logo up until and after Microsoft releases news that Skype will no longer be available on Samsung Smart TVs - Same cameras only work for Skype on Samsung Smart TVs and there is yet no alternative service. The date for which Samsung had agreement to provide access to Skype services was not defined to the customer and obviously not protected by contract.
Blackberry:
BB10 devices received a Facebook update that removed the ability to share images or receive Facebook updates after Facebook ended support for Blackberry. Again, the date for which Facebook had contractual obligations to provide support for Blackberry was undefined which means Blackberry was advertise and sell a smartphone to people under a contract which they get stuck in without being able to do the advertised.
There are thousands more.
If I sold home renovations, used a third party for bathrooms, then midway through providing renovations, my third party decided not to do bathrooms - I would be on the hook.
In the days of the cloud and digital electronics, it's the wild west with no such liability to the consumer. Now we are throwing away smart devices and used electronics where the software to run them has become obsolete by design and we seem to accept that.
Consumer protection laws better catch up.
Nah too cool. How about #666633 or another baby poop color?
Ban all non-underwriters laboratories certified batteries from sale? Deny insurance claims caused by non-compliant batteries?
Link your Windows live accounts and you kinda just did make your Windows 8/10 PC basically get managed by the Microsoft controller ;)
@taustin that AC who says you are doing things wrong may sound a bit brash, you have to acknowledge (to yourself at least) that he is sort of right... if you were running the POS systems connected to a domain controller you have the ability to enforce code signing (app locker), security policies, which updates are pushed etc. - many options which will help protect your employees and customers and if you were running Enterprise, your Windows 7 devices wouldn't even attempt to upgrade and you have the legal entitlement to image and clone your Windows 7 base image onto the POS systems you purchase and bring into your network. If you were really crazy in IT you would have your POS systems as thin/zero clients.
I understand franchises try to force franchisees to buy their chosen fixtures they chose through their purchase channels - guess it's all part of the game.
seems it's been done with small boats... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Heavy, well balanced, AWD with lots of controllable torque... might not end as badly as expected...
Don't forget that diesel engines do not run near their peak efficiency due to emissions reasons and even still produce a lot of heat that would not be an output product in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
Physics does not suggest he is wrong...
Perhaps in the case of generating hydrogen through basic electrolysis, compressing, shipping, storing and burning it - hydrogen will never be efficient...
but only in that case... as there is proven hydrogen technology such as the proton exchange membrane fuel cell which DOES WORK and is efficient. It ACTUALLY generates power from water. If we found a huge supply of platinum, physics would not be the problem.
Perhaps you are being a bit pessimistic in that you can't imagine a replacement for the Pt catalyst being developed that would enable a lower cost sustainable fuel cell.
I'll just leave these two links here:
In 2009 it looked like everything was reasonable...
https://www.esasafe.com/assets...
Then in 2011 rule 64-028
http://www.electrofed.com/wp-c...
"Where the renewable energy system is not intended to be
interconnected with the supply authority the system shall be
designed so that it is impossible to have both systems connected
at the same time."
I think Microsoft will realize their subscription Windows dreams with Office 365 providing cross platform "Windows" as a service. Where "Windows" is the application user experience, not the drivers, kernel, codecs, etc. that only make them money from new PC sales anyway.
If the Windows Store and Apps take off, I guarantee that it will become a cross-platform subscription. You will bring your own hardware/hyper-visor/operating system/etc and install "Windows Services" or interact with them "in the cloud"
I tried to switch to Linux on my work laptop but I kept encountering office documents from with OLE embedded files, power point presentations which still didn't display correctly in Libre Office despite pirating all the Microsoft fonts etc.
I'm back to running Windows because it's cheaper and more tolerable than paying for an Office 365 subscription and there is no viable office suite for Linux
as always s/in the cloud/on someone else\'s computer/g
Sorry I might be mistaken, but doesn't the key need to be shared to the contact in order for the contact to actually use the Wifi, not just a hash of the key. The hash of the key would be useless for authenticating on the network unless the hash itself was the passkey.
The actual access device could store a hash of the key to validate if the provided key is valid instead of storing the key, but if it is checking the provided key matched the hash exactly without actually hashing it, the hash is now the key...
If it is able to share a key, it must be stored in reversible encryption. There are tools for Windows (and pretty much every other operating system) to recover the saved keys. I think the only thing that makes Windows 10 unique is that it saves these keys "in the cloud" and allows you to share them across systems. Sort of like Google Chrome saved passwords.
Since the Windows Drive Model hardly changed between Windows versions I've not found a driver that existed in Windows 7/8 that didn't currently work in 10. I even got the serial port connected touchscreen in my vista era General Dynamics notebook working on Windows 10.
Sometime an MSI installer would check the Windows version (fix with Orca) or need to be run in "Compatibility Mode" - but I have all sorts of long unsupported hardware running in Windows 10.
The real kick will be when an automatic Windows update screws everything up and Microsoft says "Not our fault" - but I anticipate this will be a crap-shoot with both supported and unsupported apps and hardware the same... the difference being that the "supported" hardware may become unsupported or possibly get a fix after the impact has already been noted.
I bought the Microsoft Cordless Bluetooth Elite desktop package when it first came out. It was twice the price of the non-Bluetooth version... a considerable premium most "I just want a wireless keyboard" people wouldn't pay. Cool thing is the included Bluetooth receiver actually stored the keys and operated in HID mode even before the operating system booted.
Problem is time and time again consumers will buy the cheaper option... cheaper keyboard, cheaper cell phone charger etc.
I lived in the UAE for a couple years. There is a mountain in AlAin and mountains up in the Fujeriah/Musandam area... but the real reason I thought this was a joke is because the infrastructure there is not designed to handle rain. Whenever it rains, cars wreck and overturn due to poor road drainage and ceilings collapse - see the AbuDhabi airport as an example. That's why I thought it was a joke... not that building a mountain is impossible or anything. They are well on their way to making a trash mountain between Sharjah and Dubai... if they could just convince people not to litter on the streets it would already be complete.
Canadian here. Our politicians have been done whatever they can to be America's hat for a while, so we get copyright notices from our duopoly carriers on top of paying a levy to the Canadian Private Copying Collective of $0.24 per unit for 40min+ Audio Cassette tape, and $0.29 per unit for CD-R, CD-RW, CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio and MiniDisc...
Latency and packet loss from any source to any destination? or withing the access network itself?? I mean if the company peers with many upstream transit providers via BGP they really aren't in control of average latency at all when it leaves their network. Also latency and packet loss will be higher during periods of congestion. Forget that most modern switches don't really even have buffers on 40g and 100g interfaces so when you aggregate you can still have discards when over the second you are nowhere close to 100gbps...
Smaller font on the TV, in the guides, on the browser etc. are much clearer and easier to read.
Sure maybe useless for cinematography and cartoons... but after having a 4k TV for a few months I wouldn't go back.
Losses?? What do you mean losses??? It's not like they will have storage backing every single purchased "copy" of the flick. They will make money in the proverbial "Hand over fist" sense of a few dumb sheep.
And although it will be "4k", it will most likely be delivered over adaptive streaming and with some major loss-y compression where favorable meaning during the hours of 6 and 10pm the video quality may be less than a good old fashioned DVD.
The worst part about such crapware is that when installing it, I may be aware of the bundled crapware... but whoever is using the computer after I install the software may update and install the crapware. It's especially annoying when the software is updated weekly and has pop-up reminders and the crapware is opt-out. I'm looking at you Java installer *shakes fist*
Or even more obviously, the operating system is responsible for connecting the input method to the security hardware... so if the operating system is able to for example log the touch screen presses...
Exec admits he doesn't need guys who know storage because the abstraction "cloud" somehow provided storage experts "in the cloud"