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User: jbradley19

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  1. Re:!canada on Visitors To US Now Required To Register Online · · Score: 1

    Yes, however, only if crossing the border at a land crossing by private vehicle (and also note that this requirement expires this year - July I believe, after which time a passport will be required). If you go by boat, bus, train, or aircraft, a passport is required for entry.

  2. Efficiency or lack thereof on Pushing 800W of Wireless Power at 5 Meters · · Score: 1

    OK, so some aspects of this are pretty nifty... However, some basic math tells us that the efficiency (ratio of power consumed to "send" versus power "received" at destination) is hovering around 5:1 (20-22%) right now. Not exactly the world's greenest technology. I, for one, wouldn't want to wirelessly charge my battery-powered car using this method as I'd be paying for the wattage to power the transmitter, and losing a large chunk of it in the process. Not to mention the increase in greenhouse gas emissions due to higher generating capacity required to compensate for such losses should a system like this ever see wide-spread use. Unless efficiency climbs over, say 90-95%, people just won't want to pay the electric bill just to have the convenience of being able shed the power cord, nor will they want the pollution. The costs are just altogether too high.

  3. Re:Stupid New Cars on Cell Phones Disable Keys for High-End Cars · · Score: 1

    It's not only "new" cars that have this problem. I had a 1989 Pontiac Tempest (also sold as a Chev Corsica) that went through 3 main boards because they would break in half (literally). Now, that car was a simple beast...3 speed auto trans, 2.8 litre V6...but to go through 3 boards?

    Not only that, when we did finally find a board that worked, if you ever disconnected the battery for any reason whatsoever, it would forget how to idle and would constantly stall when waiting for a light to change, or sit there revving at about 2000 RPM...I got some really funny looks from people, that's for sure. It wouldn't re-learn how to idle, and required going to a dealership to get it hooked up to a computer for reprogramming.

    Oh, and our '98 Ford Contour had a wiring harness fail too...caused the car to shut down completely on the Labour Day long weekend 60 miles from home with the windows down. This was on a 3 month old car, and the start of a slew of electrical problems on that car.