Can you explain that? The reason the manual transmission cars get better gas mileage is because it avoids the extra losses of the torque converter.
No I can't explain it, however I'm really interested in learning the reasons why. I understand the inefficiencies of torque converters, but Toyota's RAV4 and FJ Cruiser are two examples where the auto does better than the manual transmission.
It's always been the case that manuals get better mileage than the autos, however modern automatics seem to be making some great progress. One part of the equation may be the way the EPA testing is done; if you're not shifting a manual gearbox at the right point you could be wasting fuel. A computer-controlled automatic transmission could possibly be shifting at optimal points to maximize efficiency. I'm sure it would be possible to replicate that with a manual transmission, but as a driver you can't prescisely locate the point at which the engine is delivering maximum efficiency for a given load.
While not a traditional automatic, CVTs generally do better than a manual transmission (but that's not really relevant to my original comparison).
You mean they chose not to make one. Trust me, transmissions exist that can handle much more torque than a BMW will ever put out
True; but my original statement that "they (BMW) don't make one that can handle the massive amount of torque" is correct. For whatever reason they decided not to offer a manual - it was probably cheaper to use an existing design than design a new one for a single specific model. The 335d is having enough difficulty selling the USA, regardless of what transmission it uses. I'd love to have a diesel sedan myself, but not for $40,000.
Automatic transmissions cannot predict when you are approaching a curve, or a hill, or other vehicles. Gear selection needs to be based on what you are about to do, not what you just did.
Have you driven any modern automatics recently? They've come a long way since the 80s and 90s. They have all sorts of sensors that measure engine load, accelerator position, and vehicle grade and they're much more effective at keeping or putting the vehicle in the proper gear for the task.
I'll have to admit it's not as 'perfect' as I would be controlling a manual gearbox, however 99% of the time it's very effective, and a minor sacrifice for the convenience of not having to shift.
Also the fuel economy isn't always worse on the automatics. Some autos actually do better than their manual brothers.
In the case of the BMW 335d, there is no manual transmission available because they don't make one that can handle the massive amount of torque produced by that engine.
Now despite all the defense I just made for the automatic, my personal preference is for a manual transmission. Unfortunately my vehicles are shared with someone else, and she doesn't like shifting.
I have a modern HP tablet (tx2500 series) that a friend convinced me to buy (got it for a great price). After almost a year of owning it, I still fail to recognize where the tablet functionality is really beneficial. I can type much faster than it can accurately recognize my handwriting, and I haven't found any applications that are truly useful in tablet mode. Sure I have some gimmicky graphics programs that work great and they're fun to show off, but overall it just doesn't do anything special. I think I'd be better off owning both a 15" laptop and a 10" netbook instead of a tablet that's right about in the middle.
iSlates aren't meant to compete with netbooks, they are meant to compete with eBook readers (while in addition offering all the functionality of an iPhone or iTouch).
Pardon my ignorance as I'm new to the Apple rumor mill, but it is my understanding that any iSlate or Apple-branded tablet device is just a rumor. If that is the case, then how can anyone know what this mysterious and unannounced device is supposed to compete with?
All this talk about the shortcomings of previous windows versions is making my head explode!
As an 2000/XP user for the past 9 years, I had forgotten just how painful the past really was. 98/Me was awful, and these comments make me cringe just thinking about all the malware crap that I've had to deal with.
Just recently I bought a tablet PC that came with Windows Vista Home Edition and it really made me a bitter person. I heard there is a tablet version of XP that would work in my case, but no legal way for me to install it. Vista is almost as painful as 98/Me; not only is full of quirks that XP didn't have, it has a completely new interface and new ways to handle common tasks and functions!
I got a Win7 upgrade for my Vista machine, installed it in Virtualbox before completely migrating the rest of my system and it feels just as quirky as Vista.
All these bitter experiences with Windows recently got me looking at Mac and I'm very impressed, enough to the point where I may actually pay the premium to buy Mac hardware from now on.
I've had it with Windows. As soon as I can confirm that Ubuntu works on my tablet I'm going to switch. I just installed 9.10 on a friend's Sony Vaio laptop and it was easier than when I installed XP SP2 on that machine - Windows complained about all sorts of drivers missing for the Sony components, and to my surprise Ubuntu 9.10 worked right out of the box!
I gave up on Mac right around the time that System 7.x was upgraded to Mac OS 8. I was bummed because my old Centris/Quadra 610 was too old and slow to work with OS 8, and with my limited teenage budget I was able to get a PC with much better specifications for less than half the price of a decent Mac.
Fast forward to now; I work and have a toy budget. Mac hardware is nice, but still very expensive to the point where I wasn't going to pay the premium.
I have a Dell Mini netbook which has a very nice design with sleek smooth lines, light weight, portability, etc. but an OS that I'm fed up with. I was fine with XP, but Vista and now even Win 7 are just painful to use and maintain anymore. I found a way to get snow leopard on it, and I'm very satisfied! So satisfied in fact that I bought a full sized MacBook Pro; a friend of mine has an older (circa 2007) MacBook Pro that he tried to sell but apparently all the consumers aren't interested in MacBooks that don't have the new unibody design, at least consumers in the NY area.
I think I'm sold on Mac now as I'm just tired of dealing with Windows. Ubuntu 'works' but it too is a hassle to get things the way I like, and to expect my non-technically-minded relatives to use it. Your best bet is to look for deals on used equipment, especially stuff that isn't from the current generation. Apparently there are a lot of consumers who have $$$ to spend on the latest Apple toys.
Try the Aeropress. I have one and it makes one amazing cup of concentrated coffee that you can drink straight or dilute.
Another coffee gadget claiming to make an excellent tasting cup is the Toddy. I haven't tried this yet but it's supposedly good.
For years I drank my coffee with milk and sugar, then trying to be more health conscious I cut the sugar. Not long after that I cut out the milk and can only drink it black now.
Despite the fancy gadgets mentioned above (I also have a decent pump driven espresso machine at home) I'm not too much of a coffee snob. I still drink coffee from an old drip-brew machine; if you want it to come out good just make sure you grind whole beans and use approximately 1 tbsp grinds per 6oz cup of water.
If either Granny or the funds that she bought into have some unreasonably large amount invested solely in AT&T, then perhaps they need a new investment strategy.
As a system admin at a web hosting company, I've put the smack down on more than enough users who thought that "unlimited bandwidth" meant "I can stream hi-def video at 50Mbit/sec all day every day and to hell with anyone else on that segment of the network" to know that if I were to take the side of "the masses" on this issue, it would by hypocritical.
Don't advertise 'unlimited bandwidth' if you don't mean it. If you have some expectation as to what you define as 'reasonable usage,' be upfront and honest about it; unlimited means unlimited. If you don't want someone constantly streaming at 50Mb/s then say so, just don't sell it as 'unlimited bandwidth.'
Sprint has the lowest priced rate plans, without a doubt. I've been with them for over 10 years, and every year or so I think about switching just to try something new, and then I compare the prices of their plans and Sprint always wins.
I don't have time to look up links right now and provide all the input, but doesn't (or didn't) California already have their own separate regulatory structure in place for vehicle emissions? The market in CA for vehicles is so great that the manufacturers will give into their demands so as to not lose a large market.
Offroad motorcycles are a big hobby of mine, and CA has a wonderful regulatory organization called C.A.R.B. which has significantly impacted the manufacturers.
Is it perhaps caused by the fact that Google users are more tech-saavy and are aware of tracking cookies? That may account for the fact that they're less likely to be repeat visitors.
I may be entirely incorrect, but my perception of a Bing user is someone who doesn't know much about the inner workings of a computer; they use Bing because they aren't even aware that they're using a search engine (and they aren't aware of tracking cookies that get planted).
I used to make a lot of money (affiliate program commissions) from naive users who would legitimately get a cookie planted by clicking my ad links, and then return to the site a month or two later and actually make a sale. Users like me who delete cookies after each session wouldn't have been any benefit to me.
Does the Bing cashback program have anything to do with you getting the highest conversion rates from Bing users?
According to this article/blog/posting, the blue lights come on when the signal is red, so police can clearly see that the traffic light is actually red, enabling them to identify drivers who run a red light. Unless, however, you're referring to another example (I searched briefly, but couldn't find any info on blue lights replacing green lights)
There's more to the story than what you see in the slashdot summary - don't make any uninformed assumptions.
The guy apparently did try pulling the car out of gear and into neutral, but it didn't do anything (many auto transmissions are electronically controlled and have failsafe mechanisms to prevent desctruction). He also tried shutting off the ignition - but this vehicle like many other fancy new vehicles doesn't have a key ignition. It's a button, and when pressed while driving it won't turn the engine off. Buried in the owners manual is a single sentence that essentially says that in order to turn the engine off while driving, you have to hold the button down for three seconds.
Now I've never gone 120MPH on a congested roadway, but I could only guess that when you're trying to avoid hitting anything, it's not a simple task to 'reach down and pull the floor mat off the pedal'
Although recently I had the accelerator pedal stick to the floor on a 2009 F-350 diesel. It happened as I was accelerating from a complete stop. I immediately pressed the brake to the floor which prevented me from shortening the wheelbase of the Civic in front of me, but with 650 lb-ft of torque it was still accelerating. I was able to lift the accelerator with my foot and bring it back up.
So where does the remaining 10K go? If it's to the person setting up red40K.com, you can count me out. $3000 for a balloon, $10K for the person organizing the website?
I was a happy Sirius subscriber for about six months. I noticed during the time I owned it, a handful of my favorite stations were being downgraded to lower bitrates, causing a noticeable degradation in audio quality to the point where I couldn't take it anymore.
At the time, it was heavily marketed as being high-tech radio, but I found it rather annoying that the talk radio stations sounded worse than century-old AM radio. At least Howard got some bandwidth for some decent quality broadcast.
Its funny how when people look at someone making $$ they always focus on the REWARD and never on the RISK
Risk in Real Estate? I've seen those informercials late at night promising $100,000 a year - Real Estate always goes up so there's no risk, especially when you don't have to put any of your own money on the table!
And thats not even including the taxes, insurance, $$ spent on improvements, interest paid on the loan the investor took out (flippers almost always use OPM in order to stay liquid), the points you get raped for by mortgage bankers on a residential deal
Let's not forget the 6% commission for the REALTORS
Slashdot Mirror
Can you explain that? The reason the manual transmission cars get better gas mileage is because it avoids the extra losses of the torque converter.
No I can't explain it, however I'm really interested in learning the reasons why. I understand the inefficiencies of torque converters, but Toyota's RAV4 and FJ Cruiser are two examples where the auto does better than the manual transmission.
It's always been the case that manuals get better mileage than the autos, however modern automatics seem to be making some great progress. One part of the equation may be the way the EPA testing is done; if you're not shifting a manual gearbox at the right point you could be wasting fuel. A computer-controlled automatic transmission could possibly be shifting at optimal points to maximize efficiency. I'm sure it would be possible to replicate that with a manual transmission, but as a driver you can't prescisely locate the point at which the engine is delivering maximum efficiency for a given load.
While not a traditional automatic, CVTs generally do better than a manual transmission (but that's not really relevant to my original comparison).
You mean they chose not to make one. Trust me, transmissions exist that can handle much more torque than a BMW will ever put out
True; but my original statement that "they (BMW) don't make one that can handle the massive amount of torque" is correct. For whatever reason they decided not to offer a manual - it was probably cheaper to use an existing design than design a new one for a single specific model. The 335d is having enough difficulty selling the USA, regardless of what transmission it uses. I'd love to have a diesel sedan myself, but not for $40,000.
Automatic transmissions cannot predict when you are approaching a curve, or a hill, or other vehicles. Gear selection needs to be based on what you are about to do, not what you just did.
Have you driven any modern automatics recently? They've come a long way since the 80s and 90s. They have all sorts of sensors that measure engine load, accelerator position, and vehicle grade and they're much more effective at keeping or putting the vehicle in the proper gear for the task.
I'll have to admit it's not as 'perfect' as I would be controlling a manual gearbox, however 99% of the time it's very effective, and a minor sacrifice for the convenience of not having to shift.
Also the fuel economy isn't always worse on the automatics. Some autos actually do better than their manual brothers.
In the case of the BMW 335d, there is no manual transmission available because they don't make one that can handle the massive amount of torque produced by that engine.
Now despite all the defense I just made for the automatic, my personal preference is for a manual transmission. Unfortunately my vehicles are shared with someone else, and she doesn't like shifting.
Crisco is nasty, but lard sandwiches are pretty tasty (especially if the lard is leftover bacon grease).
Tom Green is so 90s. Don't you mean Steve-O?
I have a modern HP tablet (tx2500 series) that a friend convinced me to buy (got it for a great price). After almost a year of owning it, I still fail to recognize where the tablet functionality is really beneficial. I can type much faster than it can accurately recognize my handwriting, and I haven't found any applications that are truly useful in tablet mode. Sure I have some gimmicky graphics programs that work great and they're fun to show off, but overall it just doesn't do anything special. I think I'd be better off owning both a 15" laptop and a 10" netbook instead of a tablet that's right about in the middle.
iSlates aren't meant to compete with netbooks, they are meant to compete with eBook readers (while in addition offering all the functionality of an iPhone or iTouch).
Pardon my ignorance as I'm new to the Apple rumor mill, but it is my understanding that any iSlate or Apple-branded tablet device is just a rumor. If that is the case, then how can anyone know what this mysterious and unannounced device is supposed to compete with?
As an 2000/XP user for the past 9 years, I had forgotten just how painful the past really was. 98/Me was awful, and these comments make me cringe just thinking about all the malware crap that I've had to deal with.
Just recently I bought a tablet PC that came with Windows Vista Home Edition and it really made me a bitter person. I heard there is a tablet version of XP that would work in my case, but no legal way for me to install it. Vista is almost as painful as 98/Me; not only is full of quirks that XP didn't have, it has a completely new interface and new ways to handle common tasks and functions!
I got a Win7 upgrade for my Vista machine, installed it in Virtualbox before completely migrating the rest of my system and it feels just as quirky as Vista.
All these bitter experiences with Windows recently got me looking at Mac and I'm very impressed, enough to the point where I may actually pay the premium to buy Mac hardware from now on.
I've had it with Windows. As soon as I can confirm that Ubuntu works on my tablet I'm going to switch. I just installed 9.10 on a friend's Sony Vaio laptop and it was easier than when I installed XP SP2 on that machine - Windows complained about all sorts of drivers missing for the Sony components, and to my surprise Ubuntu 9.10 worked right out of the box!
Fast forward to now; I work and have a toy budget. Mac hardware is nice, but still very expensive to the point where I wasn't going to pay the premium.
I have a Dell Mini netbook which has a very nice design with sleek smooth lines, light weight, portability, etc. but an OS that I'm fed up with. I was fine with XP, but Vista and now even Win 7 are just painful to use and maintain anymore. I found a way to get snow leopard on it, and I'm very satisfied! So satisfied in fact that I bought a full sized MacBook Pro; a friend of mine has an older (circa 2007) MacBook Pro that he tried to sell but apparently all the consumers aren't interested in MacBooks that don't have the new unibody design, at least consumers in the NY area.
I think I'm sold on Mac now as I'm just tired of dealing with Windows. Ubuntu 'works' but it too is a hassle to get things the way I like, and to expect my non-technically-minded relatives to use it. Your best bet is to look for deals on used equipment, especially stuff that isn't from the current generation. Apparently there are a lot of consumers who have $$$ to spend on the latest Apple toys.
I remember the best example of a Y2K bug that I've seen was the arrival/departure screen at my local airport. JANUARY 1, 19100
Another coffee gadget claiming to make an excellent tasting cup is the Toddy. I haven't tried this yet but it's supposedly good.
For years I drank my coffee with milk and sugar, then trying to be more health conscious I cut the sugar. Not long after that I cut out the milk and can only drink it black now.
Despite the fancy gadgets mentioned above (I also have a decent pump driven espresso machine at home) I'm not too much of a coffee snob. I still drink coffee from an old drip-brew machine; if you want it to come out good just make sure you grind whole beans and use approximately 1 tbsp grinds per 6oz cup of water.
If either Granny or the funds that she bought into have some unreasonably large amount invested solely in AT&T, then perhaps they need a new investment strategy.
As a system admin at a web hosting company, I've put the smack down on more than enough users who thought that "unlimited bandwidth" meant "I can stream hi-def video at 50Mbit/sec all day every day and to hell with anyone else on that segment of the network" to know that if I were to take the side of "the masses" on this issue, it would by hypocritical.
Don't advertise 'unlimited bandwidth' if you don't mean it. If you have some expectation as to what you define as 'reasonable usage,' be upfront and honest about it; unlimited means unlimited. If you don't want someone constantly streaming at 50Mb/s then say so, just don't sell it as 'unlimited bandwidth.'
Sprint has the lowest priced rate plans, without a doubt. I've been with them for over 10 years, and every year or so I think about switching just to try something new, and then I compare the prices of their plans and Sprint always wins.
Rail is still huge in the USA. As far as I know, it's still the most efficient way to move freight.
Offroad motorcycles are a big hobby of mine, and CA has a wonderful regulatory organization called C.A.R.B. which has significantly impacted the manufacturers.
Silly fool, California's the best place on Earth, and as a result nobody is ever going to leave!
PS - After a five year break, I'm actually looking forward to returning.
I may be entirely incorrect, but my perception of a Bing user is someone who doesn't know much about the inner workings of a computer; they use Bing because they aren't even aware that they're using a search engine (and they aren't aware of tracking cookies that get planted).
I used to make a lot of money (affiliate program commissions) from naive users who would legitimately get a cookie planted by clicking my ad links, and then return to the site a month or two later and actually make a sale. Users like me who delete cookies after each session wouldn't have been any benefit to me.
Does the Bing cashback program have anything to do with you getting the highest conversion rates from Bing users?
According to this article/blog/posting, the blue lights come on when the signal is red, so police can clearly see that the traffic light is actually red, enabling them to identify drivers who run a red light. Unless, however, you're referring to another example (I searched briefly, but couldn't find any info on blue lights replacing green lights)
The guy apparently did try pulling the car out of gear and into neutral, but it didn't do anything (many auto transmissions are electronically controlled and have failsafe mechanisms to prevent desctruction). He also tried shutting off the ignition - but this vehicle like many other fancy new vehicles doesn't have a key ignition. It's a button, and when pressed while driving it won't turn the engine off. Buried in the owners manual is a single sentence that essentially says that in order to turn the engine off while driving, you have to hold the button down for three seconds.
Now I've never gone 120MPH on a congested roadway, but I could only guess that when you're trying to avoid hitting anything, it's not a simple task to 'reach down and pull the floor mat off the pedal'
Although recently I had the accelerator pedal stick to the floor on a 2009 F-350 diesel. It happened as I was accelerating from a complete stop. I immediately pressed the brake to the floor which prevented me from shortening the wheelbase of the Civic in front of me, but with 650 lb-ft of torque it was still accelerating. I was able to lift the accelerator with my foot and bring it back up.
So where does the remaining 10K go? If it's to the person setting up red40K.com, you can count me out. $3000 for a balloon, $10K for the person organizing the website?
Welcome to NJ! Our beaches will blow you away!
Eh, someone with his intellect could easily go get a job on Wall Street. Then he could make millions just as unethically, but legally.
I was a happy Sirius subscriber for about six months. I noticed during the time I owned it, a handful of my favorite stations were being downgraded to lower bitrates, causing a noticeable degradation in audio quality to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. At the time, it was heavily marketed as being high-tech radio, but I found it rather annoying that the talk radio stations sounded worse than century-old AM radio. At least Howard got some bandwidth for some decent quality broadcast.
Whatever you do, DON'T go to adtrap.com
Risk in Real Estate? I've seen those informercials late at night promising $100,000 a year - Real Estate always goes up so there's no risk, especially when you don't have to put any of your own money on the table!
Let's not forget the 6% commission for the REALTORS