Tag Archives: news

Reviews

The new Tesla electric is a screamer

You may or may not have heard about Tesla Motors – if you haven’t, you’ll soon get an earful, and not just from me. There are plenty of other people (Wired News, Wired’s Autopia, Jalopnik, LA Weekly, New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, SF Gate, Washington Post, CBS Evening News, American Public Media’s Marketplace, CNET News, Newsweek) singing the praises of this amazing electric sports car. Here are just a few highlights:

  • 100% electric
  • 0 to 60 mph in about 4 seconds
  • 250 miles per charge
  • Equivalent consumption: 135 mpg
  • Gorgeous styling, amazing responsiveness
  • Truly innovative
  • Rule-breaker
  • Have a look at the tech specs for the other details

Tesla Motors just held a launch party for this amazing car – in CA, where it is based and funded by Silicon Valley millionaires. The event was invitation-only: selected potential buyers and journalists got the special invites, and each of them got chauffered around in the hot little roadster.

With all the excitement surrounding it, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that it’s amazingly energy efficient given its capabilities. Yes, you read correctly above: its equivalent consumption (in miles per gallon) at the current cost of electricity is 135 mpg. It costs about a cent per mile to drive!

If you want to see it in action, CBS News has a video posted alongside the article right here. It also features the Governator – Arnold himself – in the passenger seat, getting a really fast test drive around the hangar where the launch party took place.

Of course, there are also tons of photos available. I posted a few below, and there are a ton more on the Tesla site.

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Reviews

New Skype for Windows 2.5

Skype has just released version 2.5 for Windows 2000 and XP. This new version includes the following cool features (on top of existing ones):

  • Send SMS messages directly from Skype to contacts’ cellphones.
  • View and call your Outlook contacts directly from Skype. This is really cool!
  • Auto updates: Skype will automatically update itself – no more downloads and installs.
  • Purchase SkypeOut credit directly from Skype – users won’t have to log onto the site and do it there. Nice!
  • Quick and easy overseas calling: pick the country and dial the number.

Those were the advertised features. Here are the unadvertised ones:

  • In their bid to get more profits, I see they’ve made it much easier for people to purchase ringtones right within Skype. Go to Tools > Rington > Get Latest Ringtones.
  • Similarly, they’ve made it easier for people to purchase accessories. Go to Help > Get Headset.
  • They’ve introduced Contact Groups, which allow you to place your contacts in pre-defined or custom groups – this means less clutter on the Contacts List.
  • The changes made to country codes have also spread to the Edit My Profile window, where the country of your phone number for home, office and mobile is now selected by clicking on the little flag next to the number, and choosing your country from the drop-down menu. This is pretty cool after all.

Now for some problems:

  • My existing list of Skype contacts disappeared after the upgrade. Suddenly, I had no contacts! Where did they go? I really don’t feel like entering them in there again. Five minutes later: decided to sign out of Skype and come back in. Bingo! My contacts re-appeared out of thin air… Strange!
  • The “view your Outlook contacts” feature didn’t work as expected. First, it’s not automatic, you have to import contacts. When I tried it, I had to allow Skype access to Outlook through the dialog box that came up during the Import operation. Then, the contacts didn’t display in Skype. I had to select the View > View Outlook Contacts feature in order to view them.

And some things that worked as advertised:

  • Tried the international calling with the keypad. Sure enough, they placed a drop-down menu listing the country codes right there. It’s helpful for those folks who don’t know how to dial international codes. I’m not sure how helpful it is for me, but I guess they’ve made it foolproof.
  • Sent an SMS to a cellphone in Romania, and it worked. Cost near 13 cents for the message, and when I pressed Send, the status changed to Pending, then after 15-20 seconds, changed to a checkmark, indicating it was sent.

And some things that worked but weren’t advertised:

  • My photo always disappeared after I upgraded to a new version of Skype. I’m relieved to see they’ve finally managed to fix that problem. My profile’s photo was still there when I checked my profile.
  • I see the Video feature is still in Beta. I wish they’d take it out of Beta already and make it available on the Mac as well. The video quality is really good when compared to any other messaging app out there (other than iChat).

Overall, this is a solid upgrade. I like this new version. But then I guess I’m biased toward Skype, and I’ll tell you why. The benefits are clear when one uses the application: great audio, great video, reliable connections, and, my biggest pet peeve, NO ADS, thank God!

I abhor the MSN, Yahoo and AOL Messengers for that very reason: I can’t stand their ads. They stick little banner ads everywhere, bombarding me with them. They flash, they pop up, and they’re completely annoying and distracting. I am truly grateful that Skype hasn’t succumbed to that disgusting practice, and I hope they never do!

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Reviews

Some really cool news and products

Wired News is running a great FAQ on Intel’s Dual Core processors – what’s on the market now, and what’s going to get here pretty soon. Bottom line – if you’d like some fast laptop processors, wait until the Merom line gets on the market, which will be late August. Perhaps some laptop makers (Apple included) will allow us to pre-order?

The Economist has an insightful article on the history of the PC and what awaits us in the future. Bottom line: some of the basic PC functions, like email and the web, are being relegated to other devices/appliances. The PC’s functions are changing, but that’s not to say its popularity is diminishing.

Western Digital has put out a new mini-HD called the Passport Pocket, at 6GB for $100, that can automatically sync itself to certain folders on your computer, will automatically encrypt the data, and will allow you to enter contact and reward info that will be useful in case you lose it. Only this information will be visible to strangers. Nice!

Merriam Webster has come out with a USB Dictionary and Thesaurus that they’re storing on a 256MB hard drive. The tool comes with a few freebies as well: a phonetic spell correction, a grammar guide, confusable word alerts, and a crossword puzzle solver. Alright!

You’ll finally be able to use that RDS function (RD-what?!) on your radio, with the Kensington iPod FM Transmitter with RDS. What this means is your car’s radio will now be able to display the artist and song info, so you won’t have to endanger yourself and others on the road by squinting at the iPod screen. Very, very nice!

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How To

Getting back to Archimedes

In 1906, a German scholar discovered some of Archimedes’ long lost works in a medieval prayer book. A 10th century scribe had transcribed them from an even earlier manuscript, but in 1229, the pages were erased and used to make a prayer book. Normally, I haven’t got anything against prayer, but I think a priceless piece of history is worth more than a medieval prayer any time, period.

At any rate, science can now rectify this reckless destruction of knowledge. Using a synchrotron, which accelerates electrons to nearly the speed of light to produce x-rays, and has only a 50-micron wide beam, Stanford physicists can read under the misbegotten prayers to get at the hidden knowledge of the Greek mathematician. Gives a new meaning to reading between the lines!

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Thoughts

Apple's notebook market share is now 12%

Among other news, like their 48% rise in profits, helped by the iPods, Apple has also proven the dominance of their hardware and software market by achieving a 12% share of the notebook market. That’s double its previous share of 6%, as measured from June of ’05 to January ’06. Over 75% of the new notebooks sold used Intel processors, which showed, beyond a doubt, that Apple’s move to Intel chips was the right one.

If you’re sneering at 12%, and saying that Dell or some other PC company might have more, think about why people buy Dells. Not one person I’ve talked with who owns a Dell says they love it. They buy Dells because they need them for their work. On the other hand, people buy Apple computers because they love the design. It’s a gut decision, not a business one. And as billions of beer bellies show, the gut wins every time. Expect Apple’s share of the market to continue to grow, and Dell’s to decline.

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