Motorweek showcased the new 2007 BMW 335i on its program in this weeks broadcast. Their first impression was the usual for the BMW 3 series … they liked it … me too. From the improved economy (staff recorded 30 mpg on a road trip — premium fuel) in a car that can comfortably cruise twisties or highways, to a car that can wiggle through the cones the way a German car is suppose too.
New for 2007, along with design tweaks, is the boost of both horsepower and torque using two variable vane turbos in the 3.0 liter in-line 6 cylinder. The new power launches the non-M series BMW to 60 MPH in 5.3 seconds! Transmissions for the 335i are a manual or paddle shifter automatics. (one tenth slower 0-60) One unique feature to the coupe is the “seat belt feeder arm” — quirky but will probably be appreciated by the aging ‘baby boomer’ buyers? As usual though, the sedan is going to set you back at least $40K while the sharp looking coupe a bit more. There are times I’m tempted to give up on waiting for BMW diesel to show up in the US, and if I do … the 335i will be one of the first cars I test drive.
According to the holiday (Presidents Day) business news , Sirius and XM satellite radio companies are set to announce their merger today. Industry experts have been anticipating this announcement for some time now and according to an article in the NYPost, the “two sides were locked in negotiations over the weekend trying to hammer out a final agreement with an eye toward going public with the merger today in Washington, D.C., where XM is based.”
Anti-trust problem loom as gaining approval could take 15 months, and there is always the possibility of other fine point last minute problems derailing the merger. Combining Sirius and XM would result in a single satellite radio operator with more than 12 million total subscribers. The deal would benefit XM subscribers in bringing them exclusive Sirius content, such as Howard Stern and Nascar, while the Sirius folk would gain XM’s Oprah Winfrey, Bob Dylan and Major League Baseball. The article suggest that more importantly the “deal would also save the two companies nearly $7 billion annually.”
Shares of both companies are low considering that the market has been up substantially over the past year. Shareholders from both companies could use some cost savings cheer would appreciate not having to compete head to head over content and in subscription pricing. Unfortunately for subscribers, a merger offers no competition to keep subscription prices in line and might end up costing more than they initially expected to pay?
EDIT 02/19/2007: Its official — The two U.S. satellite radio providers announced a merger of equals on President’s Day. Under the terms of the agreement, XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius stock for each share of XM they own. XM and SIRIUS shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the combined company.
Hmm … haven’t we seen this before? A movie perhaps — “Armageddon?” According to a group of scientists that met this past weekend in San Francisco, an asteroid (Apophis) will pass uncomfortably close to the earth in 2029. Then only 7 years later will be even closer with the potential for impact. The probability of impact is low, but even passing close to the asteroid could pose risk. Astronaut Dr. Dan Berry commented that “Even if the probability is low of an asteroid hitting earth if it has the potential to have a significant impact then it has to be looked at. It is an absolutely responsible thing to do. In fact, it would irresponsible not to do so.” Some scientists recommend launching a large satellite to rendezvous with an asteroid and believe that the mass of the satellite alone could produce a gravitational pull to change the asteroid’s course. Others believe crashing a craft into the asteroid in hopes that deflecting well in advance could deflect it enough to avoid impact. (see National Geographic article)
Similar to Big Brother utilizing traffic light cameras to photograph and ticket cars going through red lights, here’s another item which is a little more personal. Big Mother … I mean … DriveSync monitors “your car’s” driving habits, or depending who “you know” is behind the wheel … the driver’s habits. Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. has a $300 product being sold at Target.com that can be installed on most vehicles to monitor fleet or family vehicles by GPS recordings. The “non-real time” data is saved on a USB thumb-drive and is removed from the vehicle and uploaded to a secure Internet portal using propriatary software provided by DriveSync. The data is processed into route maps and driving trends and made available on a secure web portal. According to the company, exact data is not plotted, but driving trends and patterns create an overall picture of how the vehicle is used. I won’t be surprised if insurance companies start to offer discounts for those drivers submitting their online logs? I’m sure this is a gift every driving teenager will be asking for … along with Sprint Family Locator cell phone tracking.
😉
Here are couple more photos (click for larger) while heading up Interstate 71 just south of Columbus Ohio this past week. The storm was pretty impressive as it first coated roads, trees and house with a thick coat of ice followed by snow. From Columbus south the February 13-14 front started with ice and then added a bit of snow on top; the northern part of Ohio was less ice and more snow. Credit is due to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) as they did an outstanding job of pre-salting and clearing the roads.
After purchasing a highly rated iGrip Palm Treo holder over at Treonauts, I decided to try it our with my Treo 700p on my trip from Cincinnati to Northeast Ohio this week. One of the features that intrigued me was that the camera lens was not covered, so I tried it as a dashboard video cam? (below) Hey, it works … I only wish the quality of the Treo 700p video was better. (Did I mention we received a little snow and ice this week?)
🙂
Security on personal computers could be under more risk that most of us assume, if a recent Dark Reading article is correct. A study by the University of Maryland reports that the average computer on the Internet is attacked every 39 seconds. Interestingly most of the attacks are of the brute force style, looking for weak user names and weak passwords.
The article reports, “many attackers used dictionary scripts to guess the usernames and passwords. “Root” was the top username guess, attempted twelve times as often as “admin,” the second-most guessed password. Attackers also looked for other obvious and popular usernames, such as “test,” “guest,” “info,” “adm,” “user,” “mysql,” “oracle,” and “administrator.” To crack the password, the attackers would re-enter or attempt variations of the username. About 43 percent of the attempts were re-entering the username, and other combinations included username plus “123.”
Perhaps the best advice comes from the man who headed up the study, Michel Cukier, who says that weak passwords are still a major target of attackers. “If you don’t do something about this, you have a high probability of being attacked.”
I’ve been posting Donna Lange updates into Google Earth since she started her solo sail toward Rhode Island from Cape Horn. If you are interested in seeing her progress, visit the Google Earth Community forum and look for Donna Lange in the Current Events section. (debated if it should go in a different section but by posting in this section it remains on the front page longer) Once you find the ‘post,’ you’ll have a chance to click the link that will either open the Google Earth program on your computer, if you have downloaded it, or use the Google Maps web site (less attractive IMHO) and bring up the plots in Google Maps. Either way the plots and log entries for each day will be there (click the position ‘pin’). It’s a good way to stay abreast of Donna’s daily sailing progress and read her log.
Discovery Channel will be rebroadcasting the Bio-diesel Man episode on the program “Dirty Jobs” with Mike Rowe. Tune in on either February 13th at 9PM, February 14th at 1AM or February 17 at 1PM.
A local Trenton Ohio school and weather related story made national news this weekend; Trenton is a small town only a few miles away, so it caught my attention. FoxNews reported that two teenage girls posted a fake weather closing last Monday on the Edgewood City Schools website, something Matthew Brodericks’ characters could be seen doing. (Wargames and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) Edgewood City Schools Supt. Tom York said he discovered the posting when he logged on to write his own announcement that school would be delayed for an hour because of an extreme cold snap. “I didn’t make that call and I’m the guy who does, so I knew something was up.”
The two Edgewood high school students, whose names were not released, were charged in juvenile court Friday and face expulsion. The company that runs the website, RCH Networks Inc., said the system was not hacked into because no security breach was detected. Administrators said the girls must have somehow obtained the password. RCH helped the district track down the girls by supplying the identification numbers from computers that accessed the system so that authorities could then track to the girls’ homes. There’s a lesson here for all those would be pranksters … and its not using overseas proxies or public access computers.
😉
According to the holiday (
The probability of impact is low, but even passing close to the asteroid could pose risk. Astronaut Dr. Dan Berry commented that “Even if the probability is low of an asteroid hitting earth if it has the potential to have a significant impact then it has to be looked at. It is an absolutely responsible thing to do. In fact, it would irresponsible not to do so.” Some scientists recommend launching a large satellite to rendezvous with an asteroid and believe that the mass of the satellite alone could produce a gravitational pull to change the asteroid’s course. Others believe crashing a craft into the asteroid in hopes that deflecting well in advance could deflect it enough to avoid impact. (see 
Similar to Big Brother utilizing 
After purchasing a highly rated iGrip Palm Treo holder over at 
Security on personal computers could be under more risk that most of us assume, if a recent 
