I enjoyed the entertaining look at living ‘green’ last year when the HGTV program “Living with Ed” premiered. (last year’s post) The program was filled with light husband/wife humor and yet offered educational content aimed at getting each of us thinking about our energy use. Personally speaking, its nice to be informed about how we can use energy more intelligently by someone who lives his life with that in mind, and has for many years. Its refreshing not to have someone lecture me that the ‘sky is falling,’ especially when they seem to have a political agenda and are flying on private jets or living in homes using 20 times that of average homes. Currently Ed Begley’s season two is under way and the program has been visiting Ed’s friends’ homes that are adopting as least a few commonsense energy saving measures. Both he and his wife Rachelle do a cute job of ‘acting’ some marital unrest issues as they attempt new projects around their home or envy those of their friends. Perhaps one of the more comical angles of the program that reappears this season is that of their competitive neighbor … Bill Nye (the Science Guy); he is quite the character.
I’ll post a couple links below … until someone is offended … that can be ‘right click/saved as’ for those who want to view quicktime episodes of the programs after they have aired:
In keeping with the alternatively powered ‘bikes’ (see KillaCycle), Sunday “The Crucible” industrial arts school in Oakland California raced their biodiesel powered BMW R1150 RT with a BMW 3 series diesel to a new speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The diesel motorcycle ran th two-way average speed of 210.2.03 km/h. Michael Sturtz rode the bike and can be seen in the video below as a way to “demonstrate the capability of bio-diesel and call attention to the need for automotive technology to integrate environmental responsibility with performance.” He commented that his team of volunteers nicknamed “The Diesel Dozen” has proven “that style, speed, and environmental efficiency can come together in one vehicle with more than 210km/h already achieved with only 22 percent of the emissions of a standard diesel engine. We’re not done with this project, we’ve set the bar for other alternative-fuel vehicles to compete in speed tests – and we expect to get more than 250km/h on our next run!”
I’ve posted on the Wired NextFest in 2006 and attended in 2005 with my daughter, so its only appropriate to comment in 2007. Unfortunately the ‘newsy’ part of this years event is probably the “KillaCycle” electric motorcycle demonstration. The high … let me repeat HIGH … performance electric cycle is impressive without the attached video clip since it has the latest in battery technology from A123 and about 400HP in high torque electric motors. The 600 pound screamer can do 0 to 60 in under one second. (.97 seconds) and a quarter mile speed of 158 mph. That’s fast …. REALLY fast.
Now to the demo … Bill Dube, a government scientist during the day and electric bike builder at night, was talking to a reporter about his custom motorcycle and demonstrated a “burn out†at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It got away from him and accelerated like a bit more like a rocket than a bike and launch Bill after crashing into a Minivan. Hang on … Mr. Dube is ok, although some may question his sanity! “I’m just a bit scraped up. Embarrassed of course. I had not intended the bike to move in the soapy water, just spin the tire.”
Bill Dube Demonstrates the “KillaCycle” – click link for video
A recent post by moderator Brandon C. on the Sling Community blog has highlighted some information on the much anticipated Slingmedia’s “clip + Sling.” In case you don’t know what a Slingbox is, it is hardware component that is usually located at your home or office and broadcasts your local television signal to authorized computers or smart devices on the Internet. (my post from 2005)The Slingmedia software call the Slingplayer is then in control of the Slingbox or devices that might be connected to it. (ie. DVR, VCR, TiVo, cablebox, etc) It works extrodinarily well and is a great way to watch a local broadcast when traveling away from home … when you have broadband access. (“audio only” would well under dial up non-high speed data or cellphone connections)
I own an original Slingbox connected to my TiVo box and find it great for recording a program if I know I’m not going to be home and occasionally watching a ‘don’t miss live’ broadcast. Although I don’t recommend it, it even works well connected to my Sprint EV-DO high speed data cell service from in the car. (see blog posts) If I’m not on my computer, I can easily access this from my Palm Treo 700p and schedule the recording. (TiVo offers online scheduling too, but your Series 2 box much be connected to the Internet and you must schedule the program well ahead of the start time)
Now for the in’s and out’s of the new Clip+Sling. Think of it as a YouTube for the Slingplayer. Noticed I said “Slingplayer” … as the Clip+Sling is a software based component that will work with all existing Slingboxes. The new software will reside on the computer enabling you to record segments and upload them to the special Sling Media website. This site has been designed to share clips, and content provider descriptions, with others much like other hosted media sites. Interestingly, since most Slingbox users have a TV or DVD player on our Slingbox, I suspect some restrictions to preserve copyrighted content that many broadcasts, rented and purchased DVD already have in place? (I’m unsure how this will work?)
The current assumption is that Sling Media will finance the new project with ads placed at the begining of the encoded clips, probably related to the content. Viewers will probably be permitted to embed the clips in their web design or blogs and viewers who want to share video clips with friends will most likely be able to forward a URL link to friends. Brandon mentioned that the Clip+Sling website will also have a comment and rating section included … very YouTube-ish.
I’ll post more when I get the chance to try it out. Here’s a YouTube clip announcing the product.
I like the online encyclopedia called Wikipedia even with the continuing flap over disputed posts and ‘insider corrections.’ (check out the wikiscanner which monitors which ip addresses edit which articles regularly) The volunteer writers and editors still do a pretty good job of indicating articles which are questionable and deserve scrutiny. I doubt referencing a Wikipedia entry is ever going to be consider completely authoritative, but for day to day information it has become as commonplace for me as using ‘Google.’ Thankfully most article with questioned ‘neutrality’ are marked for discussion and readers are aware that the entry could be bias. To the point of the post … yesterday Wikipedia had it’s 2 millionth ‘English’ article submitted — El Hormiguero. Considering that El Hormiguero is a Spanish television program, it is ironic that ‘it’ would be the 2 millionth ‘English’ article?
😉
Filled my VW Jetta TDI with B-20 this week at the Mt Gilead I-71 exit 151 Sunoco and have noted that prices have worked back over $3/gallon again. Fuel economy the past week in mixed driving was 41.8 MPG.
Taking a look at tropical weather it looks like a new storm is cranking up in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly headed toward the Louisiana/Texas coast. For the first time ever, Oil Futures trading today the price hit $80/barrel … prepare for pricey fuel oil and gasoline. (Palm Treo 700p photo and Flickr2Blog cellphone post)
In keeping with ‘preliminary’ planning for the Cincinnati/Columbus Ohio area TDIFest for 2008, another possible conference hotel is the ‘new’ Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. (see previous post) The larger and more extravagant 400+ room King’s Island area hotel/lodge is exceptionally nice, but will more than likely reflect higher pricing than what the group is use to.
If the TDIFest is truly going to be a family affair the included activities such as arcade, multiple shops, restaurants and even a Starbucks coffee, along with an integrated water slide activity center would be nice. Unfortunately I’m just not sure how many families will travel with Volkswagen TDI focused members to justify the expected higher room price? Anyway it was another facility to look at and thought I would include a few photos from our visit to the Great Wolf Lodge.
I would be remiss in not mentioning 9/11 as the United States remembers the 6th anniversary of the attack on America. In many areas of our country, there were 4 pauses for reflection in silence today. In my moment of silence, I recalled that terrible day as I was getting my son off to school. Thinking of him (and my daughter) I gave thanks for their safety before praying for the many families suffering loss. Moments and images came alive again as I watch a few clips on the television from that day. Hopefully remembering such a brutal attack will give our nation and its citizens resolve to diligently secure our country while pursuing al-Qaeda and those advocating terrorism around the world. My thanks to all those who serve and have served the call of our United States; you are the nation’s true patriots.
EDIT 9/11/2007 PM: Since I watched a few short segments today of those speaking to General Petraus who briefed congress on the situation in Iraq, I thought I would include remarks from Sen. John McCain — he could not have been more clear. Well stated.
Motorweek, the PBS long running automotive program, reviewed the 2008 Honda Accord this past week. The host John Davis didn’t offer any time tables, but indicated that “hybrids are no more but a clean turbo diesel engine is waiting in the wings.” It will be nice to have a little competition for the Volkswagen’s TDI models, especiall if they are priced where most families who want a diesel can afford one. From early press and blog reports, Honda diesels may set a new benchmark for efficiency?
Volkswagen unveiled its new small city car entry they call the “UP!” It will compete with the FIT from Honda and the Yaris from Toyota. It is interesting in that the new small entry reverts to the rear engine vehicle that built VW — the original beetle. According to what I’ve read today, the “Up!” could well be headed to North America. The head of Volkswagen of American, Adrian Hallmark, told Automotive News that VW rarely shows a concept that isn’t likely to be produced. “If the Up! is approved,” Hallmark said “the American subsidiary is ‘highly interested’ in the car.”
I enjoyed the entertaining look at living ‘green’ last year when the HGTV program “Living with Ed” premiered. (last year’s post) The program was filled with light husband/wife humor and yet offered educational content aimed at getting each of us thinking about our energy use. Personally speaking, its nice to be informed about how we can use energy more intelligently by someone who lives his life with that in mind, and has for many years. Its refreshing not to have someone lecture me that the ‘sky is falling,’ especially when they seem to have a political agenda and are flying on private jets or living in homes using 20 times that of average homes. Currently Ed Begley’s season two is under way and the program has been visiting Ed’s friends’ homes that are adopting as least a few commonsense energy saving measures. Both he and his wife Rachelle do a cute job of ‘acting’ some marital unrest issues as they attempt new projects around their home or envy those of their friends. Perhaps one of the more comical angles of the program that reappears this season is that of their competitive neighbor … Bill Nye (the Science Guy); he is quite the character.
In keeping with the alternatively powered ‘bikes’ (see 
I’ve posted on the 
A 
To the point of the post … yesterday 
I would be remiss in not mentioning 9/11 as the United States remembers the 6th anniversary of the attack on America. In many areas of our country, there were 4 pauses for reflection in silence today. In my moment of silence, I recalled that terrible day as I was getting my son off to school. Thinking of him (and my daughter) I gave thanks for their safety before praying for the many families suffering loss. Moments and images came alive again as I watch a few clips on the television from that day. Hopefully remembering such a brutal attack will give our nation and its citizens resolve to diligently secure our country while pursuing al-Qaeda and those advocating terrorism around the world. My thanks to all those who serve and have served the call of our United States; you are the nation’s true patriots.
