The US military’s DARPA research agency is sponsoring research under the Biofuels-Cellulosic and Algal Feedstock program. Its goal is to develop the technical capability and commercial experience to produce an affordable JP-8 surrogate fuel from algae, in order to create a wider range of options if some of the US Army’s Corps of Engineers’ predictions come true over the next couple of decades. JP-8 is the fuel used by the US Air Force; Army vehicles also use it as an option, which can simplify the supply chain. Bids solicited were via the Broad Agency Announcement and 17 bids were received by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, VA.
Using Treo to “Press It” post a cellphone photo that only has a little personal meaning to a few of us … and my friend who sent us the cotton for our Christmas tree many years ago.
EDIT: Hmm, PressIt didn’t work and will have to edit to post?
A few months ago my daughter and I enjoyed listening to comedian Brian Regan together. Since then, I’ve mentioned his reasonable clean comedy act (at least everything I have heard) to several friends who continue to point me to the audio and video segments that tickle their funny bone. I noticed a slew of Brian Regan YouTube clips and have wasted more minutes than I care to admit; I’ll include a reenactment (modified video) of one of my favorites: The Ironing Board (below or LINK, in case it gets removed by YouTube).
Caroline McCarthy with CNET News offered up some thoughts on how Twitter and company Evan Williams, CEO could best eventually monetize their traffic and users. In an interview on Blip.tv, she talked about the rapid growth of this microblogging and social network company AND which companies stand to best use Twitter for marketing their product and content.
I’ve noticed that in subscribing to someone as a “follower,” I tend to remove people/companies who post too much or in heavy batches — like a half dozen “tweets” in a row, but only once occasionally paying much attention. Obviously content is important too. Personally I prefer content to Twitter than isn’t just a repeat of an RSS feed. It will be interesting to see how this latest social networking trend goes. (video below)
Volkswagen announced the availability of its 4Motion all-wheel-drive system for the Golf TDI in Europe … but not in North America, of course. The drivetrain is exclusive to TDI models utilizing the manual-transmission variant of the 2.0L TDI clean diesel engine. The fuel efficiently is down about 8 mpg from the FWD only model, but still an impressive 43 mpg. The top speed is said to be 128 mph with a torque of 236 lb-ft at 1750 rpm. It would be nice to have this option in the U.S., although the translated price of €26,500 would be well over $30,000 at today’s exchange rates.
The somewhat irreverent automotive program Top Gear, with its opinionated hosts, generally does a pretty good job of bashing wienie cars with electric motors, but James May in a recent episode offered a different opinion. He had the chance to test drive the Honda FCX Clarity and film a report with guest Jay Leno. The FCX Clarity is the hydrogen fuel cell car being test marketed in California (the only place) by Honda and is perhaps the future of “motorcars.” (just keeping the British flavor)
The fuel cell provides power to electric motors which provide enough power to create about 130 HP and can push the four door Honda to 100 mph. Interestingly Mr. May offers a pretty positive review of this electrically powered car — quite the surprise from someone who is a bit more interested in performance oriented cars powered with an internal combustion engine. In this episode, Mr. May travels from the UK to Los Angeles, California and puts the Clarity through its paces below.
According to a WSJ article in Monday’s paper, the Chinese company BYD is demonstrating their new F3DM which runs off batteries today. This “EV” can be charged from a regular electrical outlet and will be marketed to cab operators and other potential fleet customers. They plan to have their all-electric vehicle in showrooms in China by the end of the month according to the companies executives. Interestingly they also plan sell the car in the U.S. — and as early as the second half of 2010.
The car is primarily electric but is a “real car-sized” vehicle. The BYD’s F3DM also has a small gasoline engine that is used to generate electricity if the battery runs dry, strictly for recharging. Some people question whether the leap to electric cars makes sense in China, in part because most of China’s electricity comes from “dirty” coal-burning power plants.
According to the article, China’s government intends to support the electric vehicle push through research-and-development subsidies for auto makers and tax breaks and other incentives for consumers. They also plan to build battery-charge stations and other public infrastructure but haven’t commented on how much the Chinese government will spend.
Lost an entire post last night and figured I had better look at the new “dashboard” for WordPress a little bit more carefully.
I’ll include a photo from my Treo on this test post using TwitPic (FYI — they just started a blog today) as I headed into Red Lobster to have dinner with my daughter (yes, that’s her VW TDI).
😎
The US military’s DARPA research agency is sponsoring research under the Biofuels-Cellulosic and Algal Feedstock program. Its goal is to develop the technical capability and commercial experience to produce an affordable JP-8 surrogate fuel from algae, in order to create a wider range of options if some of the US Army’s Corps of Engineers’ predictions come true over the next couple of decades. 
JP-8 is the fuel used by the US Air Force; Army vehicles also use it as an option, which can simplify the supply chain. Bids solicited were via the Broad Agency Announcement and 17 bids were received by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, VA.
Caroline McCarthy with 
