My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on March 12, 2007

I’m a big fan of the ‘movie by mail’ services like NetFlixâ„¢ and Blockbuster Total Accessâ„¢, but recently found out that there is a new game in town: Amazon Unboxed “delivered to your Tivoâ„¢.” The concept is similar in many respects to the service offered by Apple that allows downloads to iTunesâ„¢. (PC and Mac) The iTunesâ„¢ purchases are ordered online and then downloaded; they then can be viewed on your computer screen, exported to video iPodâ„¢ or ported to a TV. (special equipment such as AppleTVâ„¢ or other setups are required) For Tivoâ„¢ owners, the beauty of the Amazon Unboxed feature is that the movie or TV program is downloaded directly to your Tivoâ„¢ unit and is ready to play at the touch of a remote. Very convenient.

Not so quick … there are a few questionable issues:
First, navigating the Amazon Unboxed movie selection isn’t as smooth or intuitive as NetFlixâ„¢ or Blockbuster Total Accessâ„¢. (Apple’s service is good, but requires proprietary software: iTunes) I’m by no means a expert though, as I signed up Monday and have only ordered one movie. (NOTE: sign up before April 30th and get $15 credit towards free movies) The process is pretty simple, but prices are not all that attractive. Each TV program episode is about $1.99 and most movie ‘purchases’ about $14.99. Rentals are downloaded at $3.99 and can be viewed for 30 days. Once you make a selection, the download begins and the movies are sent over your homenetwork to your Tivoâ„¢ unit in about 15 minutes. (file sizes are large so movie will most likely not be available for a while. ie. Tivo movies files are about 2GB) Unfortunately the ability to use the TiVoToGoâ„¢ and Multi-Room Viewing features have been disabled to meet rights holder requirements.
As for the movie quality, mine is as good as it gets on an older Tivo Series 2â„¢ unit — I’m not sure about the new Tivo Series 3â„¢? As for comparisons, Netflixâ„¢ offers limited downloading although I haven’t tried it. I am not unfamiliar with the ease or the availability of movies and tv programs. Blockbusterâ„¢ doesn’t offer delivery over the Internet, but one-ups Netflixâ„¢ allowing renters to return mailed movies to their stores. The big plus is that it also acts as a free movie coupon; customers can rent another movie on the spot. (really nice) Currently this bonus comes as ‘no-charge’ to Blockbuster Total Access customers, BUT rumor (and a recent survey) indicates that they will soon be charging a premium for this service. All in all this new rental and purchase option from Amazon looks to be promising for Tivoâ„¢ owners, although I wish the pricing was more in line with my current Blockbuster Total Accessâ„¢ setup:
*Online Membership: 1 at a time, Unlimited rents @ $9.99 for 1 month + tax and received a coupon once each month for a free rental. (rented 4 movies by mail, used one coupon for a movie and exchanged two in the month of February. Price per movie approximately $1.50 each — that’s hard to beat.)

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Posted By RichC on March 12, 2007

This past weekend was enjoyable; I had an opportunity to be outside, take a few photos and contemplate the work ahead in the yard. The grass and trees were still brown of course, but signs of spring were all around — including the smell.

In Cincinnati, we had a mild December and January for the most part but were hammered with a consistently cold February. In a way it was nice to have the kinds of winter I remember … snow, ice and the steady cold weather that kept winter around. That said, I’m ready for Spring.

For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)

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Posted By RichC on March 11, 2007

EDIT: The Earthrace team hasn’t given up. I’ve posted a 3/12/2007 update over on a new ‘Drupal‘ driven CinciTDI site — in the biodiesel section. (or visit Earthrace.net)
March 11, 2007 Press Release:
Earthrace Limping into First Race Port
Panama City, Panama- March 11, 2007—On 10th March, Earthrace started its attempt to set a new world record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe. Leaving Barbados at an unofficial time of 12:06:26am (UTC), Earthrace set a course for Panama, some 1250 nautical miles away, however just 16 hours later and the boat has been forced to almost abandon the attempt.

Earthrace is running a new kind of carbon propellers that were originally developed for submarines, and they offer reduced vibration and better efficiency compared with conventional blades. The propellers however have struggled with the speeds and loads of Earthrace, and just 16 hours into the first leg have started to fail.

At 1am this morning, and over a period of about an hour, there was a steady and progressive increase in vibration. Using a dive light, the team inspected the props, and according to Earthrace Skipper Pete Bethune, “we were staggered by the damage”. All the blades have sections where the carbon is peeling away, and the entire leading edge of one blade is coming to bits.” The team believes it is primarily cavitation damage, where bubbles form along the edges and tips of the propellers, gradually eating into the fiber. Although why it has happened so quickly on Earthrace remains a mystery.

Boat speed has been dropped to 12 knots and the crew is nursing her on to Panama. Bethune says “right now, the priority is to just get safely in to port, and we are concerned these blades will come to bits before we make it. And of course we’re devastated.”

In terms of the record attempt, Earthrace is currently considering a number of options, and will decide in a day or two whether the record attempt will continue, and is so, with what propellers technology.

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Posted By RichC on March 10, 2007

Quick update: Earthrace (early post) starting their biodiesel powered run west toward the Panama Canal this morning (3/10) and is currently passing the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Although I’m confident in the engineering and design, I’m concerned for the durability of the crew … the surging for extended periods has got to be grueling?

Current position:

Check in over at Earthrace.net.

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Posted By RichC on March 10, 2007

Donna Lange, circumnavigating solo sailor, has hit two milestones this week. First she crossed her outbound track, which legitimately means she has rounded the world in her 28 foot sailboat, and second, in today’s news … she crossed the equator again … going north this time. She posts to her log daily and the updates can be read on the web at a site maintained by friends (www.donnalange.com and www.donnalange.org), or plotted daily on Google Earth on the communities forum. (be sure to click the daily plot for her log entry for that day)

For some of us who enjoy the navigation part of sailing, Donna shared a little bit of her strategy for her final leg home to Bristol, Rhode Island today:

Somewhere near 2*N the winds will shift to a more
NE direction and I will change course to head for
RI. I will be making adjustments in my course to
improve my angle of approach to RI nearer to Bermuda
so there will be an increase in miles to sail by
a hundred + miles as I vere from the shortest distance
to RI on the great circle to a more rhumline route,
staight on a flat which does not take advantage
of the curvature of the earth. The shortest distance
is the route along the belly of the globe, taking
a curved appearance on a flat chart. A little geometry.

I wish her a safe final passage and appreciate her support for biodiesel as an appropriate marine fuel … thanks Donna … I enjoy communicating with you and look forward to meeting you someday.

As an enjoyable aside, here’s a short video from Donna Lange’s stopover in New Zealand; its actually a well produced ‘special interest’ news clip. Enjoy.

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Tags: donna lange, inspired insanity

Posted By RichC on March 9, 2007

President Bush in his 6 day visit to South America met with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva today and toured a bio-fuel plant that produces clean ethanol fuel from sugar cane. The visit is not without its critics, some political and some concerned that expanding biofuels will risk turning rain forests into sugar plantations. Here at home the same concern is being express from users of corn. (corn prices have risen sharply as ethanol demand grows)

The meeting between the two presidents came as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim signed a deal making ethanol an internationally traded commodity and promoting its production in Central America and the Caribbean. The goal is to “pool the experience and technology of the two countries, who are the world’s biggest producers of ethanol.” President Bush for his part commented, “we come to celebrate a strategic partnership between the United States and Brazil. We see the bright and real potential for our citizens being able to use alternative sources of energy that will promote the common good.” Both leader agree that increasing bio-fuel use will lead to more jobs, a cleaner environment and less dependence on oil. Combined, Brazil and the US produces about 70% of the world’s ethanol, a bio-fuel made from sugar cane or corn. (BBC)

EDIT: I’m including an On The Record segment highlighting ethanol and the President’s trip to South America. The program’s host, Greta Van Susteren, comments on today’s meeting in Brazil and will have a one on one opportunity with President Bush tomorrow. I’m looking forward to Greta’s opportunity to talk with the President since I’ve had the opportunity to exchange emails over the past year. Hopefully she’ll get a chance to mention biodiesel … my prodding.
🙂

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Posted By RichC on March 9, 2007

Thinking winter was nearly over, I topped off my VW Jetta TDI with B99 (100% biodiesel / 1% petroleum diesel) this past week prior to leaving on a regular drive to northeastern Ohio. Unfortunately I didn’t realized that snow was in the forecast or that low temperatures were in the offing. In fact, the low was 11 degrees in Akron on Wednesday night. Nervously on Thursday morning I peeked under the hood to see what the ‘clear’ fuel line looked like — nothing unusual that I could tell?

Thankfully the engine started, so I gingerly headed for my appointment keeping my eye open for places to pull over just in case my fuel filter clogged and starved the engine … all was well. It wasn’t until I stopped that I remembered the B100 sample kept in the ashtray … or whatever the ‘catch-all’ tray is called nowadays. The sample test tube had already warmed a bit, but it still had significant clouding. (photo) I estimated that my biodiesel percentage was about 50/50; I consider myself fortunate not to have been sitting on the side of the road. From personal observation, untreated fifty percent soy-based biodiesel is too high of a percentage to use when temperatures dip into the low teens.

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Posted By RichC on March 8, 2007

An Edmunds 2007 Geneva Auto Show post announced that the 2008 Touareg BlueTDI will be introduced in the US rather than in Europe. The new “selective catalytic reduction” or SCR, system that reduces nitrogen-oxide emissions by up to 90 percent, thus making it what VW asserts is “one of the cleanest diesel engines on the market.” The system is linked to a diesel 3.0-liter V6 TDI that makes 222 horsepower and will meet CARB state standards.

GENEVA — Volkswagen so badly wants to convince Americans to “go diesel” that it says it will forgo a European launch of its new Touareg BlueTDI and instead focus on selling the SUV in North America starting in 2008.

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Posted By RichC on March 8, 2007

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to a new Palm based smartphone and are a fan of Sprint and their EV-DO service (higher speed data), you might want to hold off until May 14 this year. According to Brighthand.com, the new phone will be a smaller antennaless version and will probably replace the 700p. (my current phone) Specifics are not known, but the “p” most likely indicates that it will run the Garnet OS (formerly Palm OS Garnet).

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Posted By RichC on March 7, 2007

Oh-la-la — gimme this in a diesel and I won’t even ask for 4-motion! I spotted these photos on the Cars.com blog from the Geneva Auto show and thought a couple readers would like to navigate over for more. I like it even though the folks at Cars.com commented that “the front and profile seem to be in proportion, but VW just lost us with the bland back end. It looks like every other car on the road, not something unique.”

From a functional perspective though, the new Jetta is about perfect for many American families. The increased size over its A4 wagon predecessor will be a definite plus, especially since the floor folds flat and offers 55 cubic feet of space. The disappointment, in the short term, is that it will arrive in the US as a 2008 model next fall, and probably only as a gasser. (the inline 5 cylinder and performance four cylinder – the 2.0 liter turbo)

For me and many TDI owners, we’ll anxiously wait for the new diesel version … but so far I like what I’m seeing. (its about time)

Check out the other photos over at the gallery or click for a few larger photos:

Category: Automotive, Volkswagen | 5 Comments »
Tags: 4-motion, diesel, tdi, volkswagen