Posted By RichC on December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas all. We had a nice day relaxing at home and enjoying presents, cookies and each other’s company. Unfortunately I notice a “diesel fuel smell” in the garage when my daughter parked her 2001 VW Jetta TDI in the other night … so I took part of the afternoon to investigate: a leaking fuel injector pump.
Hmm … $$$ … but on the other hand its well over 100K and has been pretty solid for 7 years.
Posted By RichC on December 23, 2008
Although I’m pretty fond of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI clean-diesel when it comes to highly efficient, yet enjoyable to drive, transportation, Ford might have a winner if they can build and price the new Ford Fusion Hybrid attractively. Their new 2010 mid-sized vehicle is going to be the most fuel efficient mid-sized car sold in the U.S. receiving a 41 city, 36 highway EPA rating, although an LA Times reporter was getting 52 mpg during the auto show. It would be great to see an American company produce attractive and efficient cars … how about a clean-diesel hybrid next?
Kicking Tires blog: “Ford has introduced a slew of new technology that allows the Fusion Hybrid to achieve those numbers, including a nickel-hydride battery that is smaller, lighter and produces 20% more energy. Improved regenerative braking technology manages 94% energy recovery as well.
Test drivers have reported different mileage numbers for the Fusion Hybrid, ranging from low 30s to low 50s. Largely, this fluctuation depends on the driving habits of whoever sits behind the wheel.”
Posted By RichC on December 23, 2008
My daughter’s good friend Nora headed home for Christmas in Seattle about the time heavy snow socked in all, but the most capable of winter vehicles … you know … snowmobiles, large 4×4 trucks, Jeeps and Smartcars! (thanks Nora for the great iPhone photos of your dad’s car that I’ll post below)
Posted By RichC on December 22, 2008
The drugstore sector stumbles at the market open on Monday after Walgreen’s (WAG) announced that their profit fell 10 percent in its fiscal first quarter. Traders responded with selling shares even after acknowledging the shortfall was due to “the costs opening more than 200 new store.” The company answered the loss with a plan to slow the opening of new stores in order to save $500 million during the recession.
Walgreen, Rite Aid and CVS after Monday’s Market Open
CNBC hosts talked JPMorgan healthcare analyst Lisa Gill Monday as the market opened and she offered opinion on drugstore and associated pharmacy sector.
Cost saving in this sector favors manage care companies like pharmacy benefit manager Medco, Express Scripts and CVS, which control most of the mail order pharmacy business in the U.S. The 90-day mail prescription rather than 30-day drugstore prescriptions along with automation continues to be the most efficient way to cut cost for customers and their healthcare insurance companies.
Posted By RichC on December 21, 2008
I was updating a small video project this weekend and have been struggling with a way to boost the gain on a USB Snowball microphone used for voice overs. Thankfully there are a couple links for the updates that at least give it boost on the Mac and Windows computers — unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a gain for Linux (right click/save as for zip files using the links below).
Posted By RichC on December 19, 2008
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.Posted By RichC on December 18, 2008
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?
Posted By RichC on December 18, 2008
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).
Posted By RichC on December 17, 2008
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)
Posted By RichC on December 16, 2008
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.