The Chevy Volt Is GM’s Knight In Gleaming Chrome And White Plastic
One thing is clear to me now: GM gets it. Government Motors now understands the importance of cutting edge technology. They understand rapid development processes. But most importantly, the once largest auto maker understands the future. If only they had “gotten it” back at the turn of the century, they wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now.
I recently spent some time at a couple GM facilities where in between various PowerPoint presentations mainly about OnStar and the Volt, I was shown several labs and testing areas. All this was neat and about what you would expect: motion simulators, virtual testing, all housed in cold cement buildings. But it was the overall message that instilled hope in me that the automaker born in my hometown of Flint is actually on the right path.
After the grand tour with several fellow journalists we were escorted to a pair of early production Chevy Volts. This is where it all came together. Love it or hate it, the Chevy Volt saved GM and you can’t even buy it yet. Let me explain.
It’s been over a year and a half since I last hooned around in a Chevy Volt. I didn’t spend all that much time driving the Volt this time around. We were limited it a very tiny area and basically made left hand turns the whole way. I did manage to get it up to 68 mph one time but I know, it simply isn’t enough drive time to evaluate it and this report isn’t about that anyway.
The driving characteristics aren’t what most people are going to care about but I’m pleased to report that it’s quite smooth and, well, effortless. The electric motor confidently and silently gets the car up to speed. It’s nothing like the Prius; think golf cart smooth. Simply put, the engine is so good that it’s a non-factor.
In all honesty, it’s the next-gen human interface componentry that makes the Chevy Volt, if you will, the car of tomorrow. This is where GM proves that for the first time in a couple of generations that they have the ability to build a world class automobile.
A GM suit said it best during one of the dry presentations: “The Chevy Volt cannot be a science experiment.” In fact it’s anything but. It features one of the most initiative and powerful user interfaces I’ve ever seen — both inside a vehicle and in the consumer electronic world. This, after all, is what will make or break the Volt. It’s really the only thing GM hadn’t talked about up to this point.
GM approached the Chevy Volt in a radically open manner. After it was unveiled at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, the public was constantly granted looks at the car through various media outlets – - even us. This is unheard of in the generally closed auto industry. Saving face was likely the prime motivation and hopefully it will continue as the new GM regains the public’s attention.
But as the Volt’s launch quickly approaches — it’s still unannounced, but I would bet the farm on November 11 — GM has nothing left to hide. Production models are used for media drives and corporate events. It was all there for our consumption.
The Chevy Volt’s software and connectivity feels like any next-gen car should. I’m saying next-gen because it looks and works like nothing on the market currently. The closest thing available now is the system used in the Prius, but where everything about the Prius feels like the current generation of vehicles at the end of their evolutionary path, the Volt’s is an entirely new beast. The future of the automobile is upon us.
The real value here comes from the dash and center stack. It’s so intuitive that it’s scary. You’re going to be impressed at how simple it engages the operator while keeping it simple. You know, the whole K.I.S.S. concept. Yeah, GM managed to do that, but owners can still get all sorts of bragging and technical info. This is where it gets fun.
The Chevy Volt is perhaps the most connected car on the planet. I can’t think of another even under development that offers such a variety of online services including the Nissan Leaf. Part of the fun stuff is done through the generation 9 OnStar hardware. Facebook integration is just the start. Let your mind wander to the apps and functions employed by the boys from Dearborn but instead of using a tethered cell phone, the service is provided through OnStar.
The Volt takes it even farther with a dedicated iPhone and Android app where nearly anything can be set inside the car — like scheduled charging times and HVAC controls. Fun fact: Normal combustion engine vehicles like the Cruze are getting a similar app. It’s this attention to detail that validates all these little features.
For instance, Andrew Farrah, the Volt’s chief engineer, demonstrated to a few of us how the charging system works. There’s a screen on the Volt’s center stack LCD allowing owners to see what time the Volt will be completely charged and allows for scheduling to reduce strain on the local power grid. This same menu is also available on the smartphone apps. But you would expect that, right? Well, those options would have been good enough for the old GM. The new GM took it a couple steps farther.
When you power down the Volt a quick facts info screen pops up displaying MPG and drive info; there’s a shortcut to the charging options on that screen. It also pops up under certain conditions when you open the door covering the charging port. And you can manually override the scheduled times by plugging in the charging cable, removing it and then inserting it again. This will be confirmed by a certain series of blinks on a dash-mounted LED. Oh and the charging cable also features bright LEDs surrounding the charging port to not only assist in locating the charging port on the Volt, which apparently serves as a great impromptu flashlight in case you, say, drop your keys.
Want to brag about your hypermiling stats? Owners will be able to access and share all sorts of data on a personalized website along with getting monthly vehicle status reports emailed courtesy of OnStar. It’s like Nike+ for cars.
I’ll be the first to state that the Volt is expensive, but I honestly believe that GM will have no problem moving them from dealer’s lots. It’s that good once you get inside. But remember, GM is in this for the long haul. I was constantly reminded that other vehicles are under development built on the same platform and principles. The powertrain platform isn’t the only that will be carried over to other vehicles. No doubt the UI will be featured in other Voltech vehicles, too.
The Volt isn’t for me. It’s too small and too expensive. It might not be for you. Perhaps the Leaf or the i-MiEV are more your speed. That’s fine. The Volt has already done part of its job. It’s already saved GM.
People have called the Volt a halo car from the beginning where in it’s a car that’s designed to draw the public’s attention, but ultimately push them in the direction of a more affordable option like the Cruze. That may happen for some buyers, but the Volt forced GM to change internally and reinvent nearly ever aspect of how it does business. GM now has a working example of what happens when you think outside the box and respond to future market demands preemptively. In this sense, the Volt has already saved General Motors and it isn’t even available yet.
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The Chevy Volt Is GM’s Knight In Gleaming Chrome And White Plastic
Review: HP Photosmart D110a, the printer with an email address
Despite numerous advancements in printer technology, the fundamental failing of almost every consumer printer on the market today is the necessity to install printer drivers. Usually these drivers are accompanied by all manner of essentially junk software that “helpfully” pop up reminders when your printer is out of ink, or out of paper, or whatever. Hewlett Packard is making what appears to be an honest effort to remedy this situation with their new ePrint solution, as featured in the Photosmart D110a. For a hundred bucks you can email documents to your printer, without loading drivers of any sort.
Features:
- no need to install drivers to print
- print from any Internet-connected device
- scan and copy
- works with HP iPrint app
- MSRP: $99.99
Pros:
- control who can email print jobs with a whitelist of permitted senders
- variety of apps built-in allow printing stuff without a PC
- only 3.26 watts consumed while in sleep mode with WiFi radio on
Cons:
- drivers are required for scanning functionality
- scan-to-email requires configured email client on PC
- no Linux support (yet)
I generally don’t get excited about printers. The only printer I’ve ever really enjoyed was my original DeskJet 500. They just don’t make ‘em like they used to. Thankfully, though, Hewlett Packard is actually trying to innovate the home printer, and I think the D110a shows an awful lot of promise.
The D110a is a small form factor printer / scanner combo. It has 802.11n wireless networking, allowing you to print from any computer on your local WiFi network. It has support for the HP iPrint app, so you can print photos directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch or iPad. And it has a variety of apps built in that allow you to print things without ever turning on your computer: crossword and sudoku puzzles, maps, recipes, and more.
But the real feature of the D110a is that it comes with an email address. This means you no longer need to install any software on your computer to print: you simply email documents to your printer’s email address. The whole thing revolves around the new HP ePrint service. You can add multiple ePrint-enabled printers to your account there, review each printer’s print queue, and more.
The printer I’ve been using has the email address 99ibr28iacgr@hpeprint.com, which isn’t exactly memorable, but once you add it to your address book you won’t need to remember it too often (and you can always retrieve it from ePrint site). Each ePrint-enabled printer is assigned a goofy 12-character address primarily to make it somewhat more time-consuming to would-be miscreants to try to stuff unwanted print jobs down your printer.
Your printer is further protected by a whitelist of permitted senders. It’s trivially easy to add new addresses, and once added they can immediately begin sending stuff to your printer. I tried setting up a single-user group on my Google Apps for Domains account, so that I could have printer@skippy.net print to the D110a, but the way Google Apps handles those groups does not work with the ePrint service: all jobs sent to printer@skippy.net failed to print because it looked like more than one recipient was included on the message.
The printer will only print jobs if it’s the only recipient of the message. As explained to me by HP, this is actually a security feature, and it’s one of those “Oh yeah, I should’ve figured that out myself” situations. If I email a photo of my daughter to the printer and several family members, and then one of those family members hits Reply All, I don’t really want their reply printed out, do I?
I have not tried to manually spoof an SMTP transaction to see if I can send stuff to the printer. If that’s the kind of thing you want to do, knock yourself out. I’ve already changed my printer’s address, so the one displayed here is no longer being used.
Changing the address is super easy to do, which is helpful.
I’ve had no problems emailing documents to the printer. It accepts files up to 5 MB in size. As for supported file formats, from the ePrint FAQ:
What attachment file types are supported?
The HP ePrint service will print email attachments for the following file types automatically:
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Excel*
- Text files (.txt)
- Images (bmp, jpg, png, gif, tiff)
*It is strongly recommended that you preview documents in Excel before printing.
I’ve sent pictures from my iPhone and several computers using my GMail account. I’ve sent a variety of documents from my GMail account to the printer and have not had any trouble.
When you move beyond printing, things change on the D110a. If you want to scan, you need to load the drivers, which loads the print monitor utility to tell you you’re running out of ink. The printer’s touchscreen interface lists an option to “Scan to email”, implying that the printer can scan an item and email either a PDF or JPG to someone for you. Alas, this is only accomplished by using your computer as an intermediary. The item is scanned and sent to your computer where it is added as an attachment to a new email message in your email program. That’s great if you use an email program. I use webmail exclusively, and so don’t have an email client configured on any of my computers. The scan-to-email feature failed with a pretty obscure error message for me every time I tried it.
Interestingly, the built-in web server on the D110a provides a “Web Scan” feature, allowing you to scan a document without installing the drivers. This is, of course, way too geeky for the average user to try (let alone find), but it’s there if you need it.
For a hundred bucks, the D110a is a solid little printer. Being able to email documents to your printer is a surprisingly useful function. If you don’t mind loading drivers to use the scanning feature, it’s an even better deal. More ePrint-enabled printers are coming from HP in the months ahead, too, so if the D110a doesn’t do it for you, keep your eyes open.
Product Page: HP Photosmart D110a
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Review: HP Photosmart D110a, the printer with an email address
Teen Accidentally Texts Sheriff In Search of Weed [Bad Ideas]
When texting one's drug dealer, certain rules of etiquette apply: Don't explicitly name the product. Keep any identifying personal details out of it. And make sure you're not accidentally texting your local sheriff. Whoops! More
MAKE 23: Matt Gryczan interview
Life-long maker Matt Gryczan conceived of and documented the how-to for the Gyrocar in the current issue of MAKE, Volume 23, and I had the privilege of meeting him and his family at Maker Faire Detroit in July. Matt worked the MAKE booth with us all weekend, and his enthusiasm for sharing knowledge never waned despite the long hours. We recently asked him 10 questions about his inspirations, the Gyrocar design, and the future of Michigan. Here's what he shared with us.
1. Tell us about yourself. How did you get started making things?
When I was in fourth grade, my older brothers at Christmas got the Kenner toy kits for making things: the two that come to mind were the hydrodynamics set and the skyrail set. From then on, I was hooked on technology. Soon after, I followed instructions in an old book from the local library on how to build a battery and solenoid, and I've been making things from scratch ever since.
2. How did you go about coming up with and designing the Gyrocar?
I'd seen a photo of an antique toy of a jockey riding a horse that was kept upright by a string-pull gyroscope, and I thought it would be fun to make a contemporary version that was battery powered. Anyone who has played with a string-pull gyroscope knows how quickly they run down.
iSAVE: Airbags Attached To The Outside Of Cars
I am not sure if this is a good way to protect pedestrians, but a team of Japanese researchers developed them: airbags for use on the outside of vehicles. It may sound bizarre at first, but this is not some silly experiment. The air bags (or special car body panels, to be more exact) are the brain child of several Hiroshima-based companies and the local university.
Dubbed iSAVE (sigh…), the airbags deflate rapidly upon impact, just like conventional airbags, to soften the effects of a crash for pedestrians. The prototype car equipped with iSAVE that you can see on the pic above was shown earlier this week and is said to be the first of its kind. iSAVE can be used with electric cars only.
The research team behind the airbags says it expects to sell up to 50 units by year end for 3-wheeled cars before fully commercializing them in 2011 for four-wheeled vehicles. The iSAVE system for 4-wheeled cars will likely be priced at $17,800.
Sorry to say there’s no video available at this point (I looked everywhere).
Via Asahi Shimbun [JP]
Portable Sewing Machines For Sweatshop Workers, Foursquare ‘Checks In’ STD Free
There's a load of great tech news happening out there every day, and, unfortunately, we just can't cover it all. Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.
- The knee-slappers over at The Onion have another spoof newscast this week, featuring an imaginary, portable sewing machine called the Smart Stitch that "lets sweatshop employees work on the go." We wouldn't be the least bit surprised, however, to see that thing actually go into production IRL. [From: The Onion]
- In a good-hearted but poorly thought-out move by MTV and Foursquare, users of the game-like social network will now be able to "check in" at their local free clinic and get a badge for coming away STD-free. Luckily, users won't be faced with a 'Chlamydia' badge, but rather one that reads 'GYT' -- the acronym for the initiative Get Yourself Tested. [From: Huffington Post]
- If you're using Chrome and have eagerly clicked over to your Gmail to check out the new 'Priority Inbox' feature, you may have noticed a ceaseless stream of ragtime music emanating from your speakers. It's just a bug that can be ironically surpassed by employing a non-Google browser for your Gmail instead. [From: Valleywag]
- Whether you're a part of the 4chan army or just a casual glutton for /b/tard punishment, you've probably seen the Awesome Smiley from time to time. But, unlike LOLcats and Jessi Slaughter, the Smiley didn't actually emerge from 4chan; it sprang from the mind of video game designer Chris Ainsworth, who gives a history of this meme-tastic icon to Geekosystem. [From: Geekosystem]
Got a tip? In need of more choice links like these? Drop us a line on Twitter and check out our Tumblr blog.
Portable Sewing Machines For Sweatshop Workers, Foursquare 'Checks In' STD Free originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Best Buy Getting Into The Used Game Market
Look out GameStop, there’s a new gun in town. And it’s got the brick and mortar locations, name recognition, and marketing power to give you a run for your money. Ol’ blue and yellow is moving into the used game market starting this week and I think some competition will only be a good thing.
Up until this point, GameStop has pretty much been able to do whatever they want in the used game market. From paying less then half of retail and then selling it as used for $5 off the full price, to other dodgy market practices, gamers have had a love/hate relationship with GameStop. Admittedly, Best Buy hasn’t always been everyone’s favorite company, but competition is good – hopefully Best Buy with either be a better choice, or at least force GameStop to stop some of their less savory practices.
Best Buy is launching their new program this week, starting with a massive buy up of used games in about 600 locations. In fact, they are making the deal even sweeter starting the 29th, when you’ll get a $20 Best Buy gift card along with the value of your games (on certain games). You’ll be able to trade-in your games at the customer service desk, or at the dedicated trade-in desk at certain locations. I would have gone and checked this out for you myself, but my local stores aren’t on the list of 600 locations. For more information you can check out Best Buy’s website.
From the press release:
“The expansion of our trade-in program reaffirms our commitment to consistently pursue new ways to bring a better gaming experience to consumers,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager for the home entertainment group at Best Buy. “Fall marks the launch of several highly-anticipated gaming titles and new technology, and we’re thrilled to provide gamers with innovative ways to connect with the games they love.”
Consumers can now bring their previously played video games into Best Buy and trade them for an instant Best Buy gift card to use for purchasing anything in the store, including any game or gaming accessory. Soon, they will be able to purchase a pre-owned game as well.
Those who take advantage of the new Trade-In program in store can visit the Customer Service desk, or in select locations a dedicated Trade-In desk within the gaming department, to turn in their games. Best Buy will continue to offer a similar program online at BestBuy.com that enables customers to get estimates for their games, mail them in for free and receive a Best Buy gift card 7-14 days later. Trade-In prices in-store will match the prices shown online.
For more information on Trade-In at Best Buy and to locate a store currently participating in the program, visit www.bestbuy.com/gametradein. Stay connected to Best Buy Gaming via Twitter and Facebook at Twitter.com/RZGamersClub and Facebook.com/BestBuyGaming.
Mag Gun Is Like A Game Gun Crossed With A Wiimote
I’ve tried out a few of these gun-like controllers in my time, from the silly (just a controller shaped like a gun) to the awesome (pico-projector built-in), and of course everyone loves the Redneck Techie and his Game Gun. But variety is the spice of life, and this Mag Gun has a different system than all of them that may make it worth a look.
The Mag Gun is compatible with 360 and PS3, and has buttons all over it which correspond to the face and trigger buttons on the controllers. The left analog stick is there under your left thumb, but the right analog stick (usually used for aiming) is simulated by a system that’s so simple I’m embarrassed Nintendo didn’t think of it first.
The controller has a wide-angle camera in its tip, and to calibrate it, all you have to do it point it at the center of the TV. It then (if my analysis is correct) simply tracks the luminance image of the TV (it’s a distinctive rectangular shape, obviously) and uses that to determine where the gun is pointing. That’s very smart! It has all the same drawbacks and advantages of the Wiimote, which just uses IR instead of the TV’s visible spectrum. It’s actually a very smart system, I’m impressed!
The Mag Gun just passed through the FCC, so it’s not really being marketed or branded yet, but depending on its real-life performance, you might actually see these at your local Toys R Us or GameStop.
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Mag Gun Is Like A Game Gun Crossed With A Wiimote
Sony’s Little Netflix-Streaming, MKV-Playing Netbox [Sony]
A diminutive black box with an equally quiet announcement, Sony's netbox is their take on the Roku box: It streams Bravia Internet Video (read: Netflix and Amazon), is DLNA-compatible and plays MKV and DivX files streamed across your local network. More
Finally Official: The TiVo Slide QWERTY Remote
The TiVo Slide isn’t a secret and on the surface, it’s really not all that innovative. It’s just the classic TiVo peanut remote shrunk down a bit with a sliding QWERTY keyboard added. But how is it in practice? Pretty much the best thing on Earth.
We can pretty much all agree that a proper QWERTY remote is long overdue. It’s a chore using on-screen keyboards. Personally, more times than not, I’ve avoided the search functions all together because it’s takes five minutes to type in something like “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” But it’s just not searches anymore. Most set-top boxes besides the very basic cable provider’s units offer so many more features, but on-screen keyboards often hinder and almost nullify their use.
That’s where the TiVo Slide comes in. It gives TiVo owners a fantastic alternative to on-screen keyboards with a bonafide QWERTY experience. Wherever in the TiVo system you want to type, it simply works as you would expect: Netflix, YouTube, Search, Blockbuster, and setting up network connections. It’s wonderful and suddenly all these extra functions are actually useful.
The TiVo Slide is as nice as you’d expect from TiVo. It’s about 2/3 the size as the standard remotes and feels just as solid if not slightly more. It’s a fine kit.
People criticize TiVo for a few things these days — high price, slow to update, and so on — but I’ve never heard anyone complain about the TiVo experience. In many ways, TiVo is like Apple in the “it just works” department and the Slide isn’t anything different. There’s zero lag with text input and the Bluetooth range is about 20-30 feet. There’s really nothing to install, either, besides plugging-in the Bluetooth adapter. Sneaky TiVo already pushed the necessary software to all the boxes so the Slide is good to go right away.
The Slide is clearly a fundamental shift for not only TiVo but really the whole set-top box industry. The TiVo ecosystem is such that the company could release this remote for multiple platforms at once. It works with the new Premier boxes, the HD/HD XL line, and the Series 3. Seeing though as it’s basically just a dual-device remote (TiVo & TV), it’s a bit pricey at $90, but the added functionality makes quite a case for the price.
The Slide is a wonderful evolutionary step in remotes, but it still lacks a lot of the options found on a modern remote: computer setup macros, rechargeable batteries, RF signals, and IR blasters. Hopefully now that TiVo added the capability to their devices, companies like Harmony and URC can out their own universal versions, too. TiVo isn’t the only A/V device that’s QWERTY-friendly after all. Vizio has a line of HDTVs with a similar slider remote and the Boxee box will ship with a QWERTY remote later this year. There’s even Windows Media Center that could use a more mainstream remote as well.
It’s only a matter of time before other providers and set-top box makers follow TiVo’s lead for the zillionith time and build their own version. Just think of all the functions a QWERTY remote can bring to your TV. Finally all those silly apps like Twitter, Facebook, and games make sense. So next year about this time when you’re using a cheap (and less expensive) Comcast or DirecTV knockoff, don’t forget who started the revolution.
The Slide is available starting today on TiVo.com and should hit your local Best Buy store this weekend. $90.
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Finally Official: The TiVo Slide QWERTY Remote