GPS: Cab Drivers Strike Over GPS

We like GPS technology. But not anybody does...

Philadelphia cab drivers are PROTESTING a requirement by the Parking Authority to force them to install GPS gadgets in their cars. The GPS unit would enable customers to see if the driver is padding the fare by taking an indirect route, and has a panic button telling police the location of the car. Cab drivers say the GPS units cost too much, and would create traffic jams along routes preferred by GPS software.

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Source: The Raw Feed

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Foursprung: The Nokia CK-20W Multimedia Car Kit

Nice car integration - for your mobile and more...

What can this do? More like what can’t this do! The CK-20W puts “communication, music, navigation and push-to-talk” into your hands—the same hands that should be on the steering wheel instead of diddling with this.

No matter. A compatible phone with bluetooth A2DP can stream music to the device instead of playing on the phone’s tinny tiny speakers. iPods or other MP3 players can also be plugged in through the included cable.

If you’ve got the Nokia Navigation Pack LD-2 and the included “Route 66 Mobile 7” software that works on Nokia S60-based phones, you can hook those two up to the car kit also.

Lastly, push-to-talk allows you to hit the button on the CK-20W instead of on your phone to activate your PTT functionality.

Both the car kit and the navigation pack should be out by Q3 2006.

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Source: Gizmodo

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Foursprung: What is Bluetooth?

We often report on Bluetooth-enabled gadgets. Have you ever asked yourself what the heck is this bite? Here is some background.

It seems unlikely that when Danish King Harald Blatant united sworn enemies in the Middle Ages he could have ever predicted the influence of his actions or the postmodern use of his name — translated "Harold Bluetooth" in English. Seen as the electronic equivalent to the king's unifying influence, Bluetooth is a new technology that allows different devices from different manufacturers (and, in the case of cell phones, different providers) to "talk" to each other on a shared wireless platform. Essentially an ultralow power radio signal, Bluetooth allows wireless access to certain devices within about 30 feet. This all sounds complicated and, perhaps rather boring, but the net effect of this technology is added flexibility and convenience for those who frequently rely on handheld electronic devices such as phones, cameras and PDAs. According to Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, "Bluetooth was founded on the principles of low power, low cost, security and ease of use."

The advantage of Bluetooth-enabled devices is that Bluetooth is a standard operating "system" for lack of a better word. Various devices from diverse manufacturers can communicate wirelessly. Foley notes, "In many cases, involved companies may be competitors or have nothing in common except for Bluetooth. For example, Bluetooth makes it possible to use your favorite Microsoft keyboard with an Apple Power Book." Also, with a Bluetooth-enabled camera (or camera/phone) you can wirelessly transfer photos to any Bluetooth printer and get instant prints. You can also compare and synchronize calendars in your PDA and transfer files, music or photos from camera to computer or computer to computer or from phone to phone. With Bluetooth-enabled phones you can wirelessly transfer contact information, meeting requests and e-mail messages to other paired devices.

From an automotive perspective, Bluetooth offers the ability to utilize your personal cell phone through an in-car system. Cars like the Chrysler 300C, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Saab 9-3, Toyota Prius and others offer Bluetooth as a factory-installed feature. Other automakers that currently offer Bluetooth capabilities include Acura, Audi, BMW, Bentley, Cadillac, Dodge, Ferrari, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus Maybach, Mitsubishi, and Nissan. Expect many more models to offer Bluetooth by the 2006 model year. What makes Bluetooth so appealing (in addition to ease of use) is its relatively low cost. For example, Chrysler's system is called UConnect; the option costs about $290 and consists of a Bluetooth receiver (mounted out of sight), a microphone and a small control pad mounted to the dash.

Aftermarket kits are also available if you're not in the market for a new car. A company called Parrot makes several adapter kits as does Motorola and others. The kits are very affordable with prices starting well below $200.

Even if you do opt for an aftermarket system, Bluetooth offers all the safety and convenience of a factory-installed car phone combined with the freedom of a handheld cell phone. The user must have a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone in order to take advantage of the in-car feature, but those phones are becoming more and more common and are not significantly more expensive than phones without Bluetooth (some Bluetooth phones are even less expensive than a phone without the feature). Cell phone makers such as Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony-Ericsson currently sell phones with Bluetooth capabilities.

With a Bluetooth phone, you can make and receive calls from your car using your existing cell phone number. You use minutes in the normal way and the charges show up on your regular cell phone bill. But perhaps the best feature is that to make and receive calls on your Bluetooth phone, you don't need a docking station or hard-wired connections. OnStar has a similar feature, but it requires that you have an OnStar-equipped car (usually a General Motors product) and you must use Verizon as your cell phone carrier. Even then, your car will have a separate phone number and you will have to forward your cell phone calls to your car phone. With Bluetooth, if your phone is on and somewhere in the car, you will be able to make and receive phone calls. No call forwarding is necessary as the phone "sees" your car like any other external accessory — similar to a wireless headset. If the car's interface or your phone allows the use of voice commands, you can make and receive phone calls while in the car without having to touch any buttons.

The application gets even more interesting for motorcycle owners, as the availability of a Bluetooth-enabled helmet makes it possible to talk on the phone while piloting a bike — not that we're endorsing that kind of thing. In cooperation with Motorola, Italian helmet maker Momo has developed a Bluetooth helmet that not only looks cool, but has an integrated speaker and microphone. This is not unlike preexisting technology that allows bikers in close proximity to talk to each other via two-way radio technology, but clearly the ability to make and receive phone calls pushes the technology forward by leaps and bounds. The BMW System V helmet uses similar technology but is a full-face helmet which makes talking on the phone a more realistic endeavor.

While the potential for Bluetooth technology seems almost limitless, its introduction into the automobile could prove to be more than just convenient. Both the federal and local governments have been increasingly scrutinizing the wisdom of letting motorists talk on the phone while driving. Bluetooth could be a technology that offers a safe compromise between those who want to exercise their inalienable right to yak on the phone and those whose job it is to protect us from those who yak on the phone while piloting a two-ton chunk of steel and glass.

Ease of use combined with increasing availability leads us to believe that Bluetooth will soon become as common as big hair at a Bon Jovi concert. If you're shopping for a new phone, PDA or camera, find one with Bluetooth capability. In the end it will make your life that much easier.

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Source: Edmunds.com

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Foursprung: Crazy Spinner Exhaust Tip

What more to say on this? Do we really need this?

At first we thought the Spinner Exhaust Tip would suck the exhaust out of the engine faster, resulting in more horsepower, but no. It’s just another one of those pimp-my-ride thingamajigs that attracts attention to the driver, nonverbally saying things like, “arrest me,” or, “I’m an asshole.”

The Spinner Exhaust Tip is available in two styles, Flare and Turbine, and it spins just like a pinwheel, propelled by the exhaust stream. If you really floor it, the thing bulges out of the exhaust pipe, telling everyone that you’re going fast and making a lot of noise, in case they didn’t notice. It’s all yours for $44.95.

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Source: Gizmodo

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Foursprung: BMW to bring stop-start system

It is intelligent to learn from your mistakes. It is quite more intelligent to learn from the mistakes of others.
But some don't. BMW brings what Audi had long ago in A2 TDI and dropped it.

Autocar reports that BMW plans to launch its Automatic Engine Start/Stop System next year - one of the fuel economy and emissions reduction components of its "Efficient Dynamics" technology package, as the company aims to meet its commitment to the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers 2008 CO2 emissions reduction targets.

Officially called "Auto Start/Stop," the system automatically switches off the engine when the car comes to a standstill. As soon as the driver puts in the clutch or depresses the gas pedal, the engine restarts automatically. BMW's "Intelligent Software" links together the various sensors required with the starter motor and the alternator control to make the process work.

Auto Start/Stop, along with BMW's High Precision Injection (lean-burn direct injection) and Brake Energy Regeneration technologies, will appear across a broad model range, with the Start/Stop technology to be introduced in four- and six-cylinder 1-, 3- and 5-Series models.

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Source: Autoblog

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Cadillac: Now on XBox 360

What do you do if you don't sell cars but want more drivers for your car? For GM one way to achieve this seems to be engaged in video gaming. It's a perfect match: cars that do not sell on a console that does not sell...

Cadillac announced today it would offer a free, promotional content pack for Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox 360. The package includes all the accoutrements needed to race Caddy’s three high-performance V-Series models: the 400hp CTS-V, 469hp STS-V and 443hp XLR-V. What’s more, gamers who can finish in the top 100 in any of the models on the virtual Nürburgring Full F1 Circuit can gain “Cadillac Elite” status, which will probably entitle them to certain privelages (prizes, downloads and some such) at some undetermined point in the future. No word on the existance of any hidden vid-game easter eggs or, say, cheat codes for a 1964 Coupe deVille or 1979 8/6/4-powered Seville. Well?

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Source: Jalopnik

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Foursprung: The Road to Relaxation

Look forward to sitting in your car in the future. There will be one more reason to spent more time in your gagdet collector.

Automotive seat producers are in constant pursuit of clever new ways to pamper the posterior.

Seats currently are available that are heated, cooled, ventilated and covered with innovative new fabrics to improve comfort. Lumbar adjustments are increasingly common, and some luxury cars offer seats with gentle massaging mechanisms.

At the recent Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit, Leggett & Platt Automotive Group displayed a concept seat that takes the massage feature to a new level.

The “full body massage” seat offers a Japanese-style shiatsu massage with a series of four balls that rotate just behind the seat foam. The balls move up and down and rotate in a circular motion with varying degrees of intensity, depending on how deep a massage the driver wants.

Similar seats are available now for home use at various specialty retailers.

Leggett & Platt's seat was set up at the Congress directly in front of a computer screen, allowing the occupant to customize the massage. How these features would be integrated into a production application remains unclear, as there are no contracts to date.

But Peter Hoehne, vice president-sales and marketing worldwide for Leggett & Platt Automotive, says the full massage seat will be ready for production in '08 or '09 model vehicles.

Leggett & Platt produces massage seats with rollers that gently move up and down for several vehicles currently in production, including the Audi A8, Volkswagen Phaeton and Ssangyong Chairman.

The first application for the massage seat was the Cadillac DeVille, in 1998, Hoehne says.

At that time, the seats came from the Schukra Automotive plant in Windsor, Ont., Canada. Leggett & Platt purchased Schukra in 2000, and the plant remains the world's largest producer of automotive lumbar support devices, Hoehne says.

Based in Carthage, MO, Leggett & Platt has 19 facilities worldwide and 3,800 employees. Its specialty is coil springs.

The therapeutic value of a massage seat should not be overlooked, Hoehne says. For those with back problems, sitting behind the wheel for long commutes can be extremely painful. A massage seat improves blood circulation around the discs of the spine.

“The pain comes when you're sitting still, and there's no blood flow,” Hoehne says, adding that reduced fatigue makes drivers more attentive.

“Our mission is to make people better drivers,” he says.

The seat generated plenty of interest at the Congress, albeit some from conference attendees looking for a soothing break after a full day on their feet.

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Source: WARD'S AutoWorld

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Foursprung: CLEVER concept car

Another one showing us the features of tomorrow.

Europe has shown us three-wheel vehicles in the past. Many have been Fiats and Triumphs with one wheel fallen off. But the CLEVER concept car is intentionally three-wheeled: It's a prototype two-passenger urban vehicle that's fuel-efficient, low-pollution, and relatively safe. The CLEVER, or Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport, is the creation of nine European research and industrial partners.
So what is the CLEVER? For starters, think "three-wheel motorcycle in a rain-proof bubble, plus safety, fuel efficiency, and low emissions." The technology behind the CLEVER is a tubular frame (aluminum, with plastic bodywork) that protects the driver and the passenger, who is seated (not straddled) immediately behind the driver. It uses a 218cc compressed natural gas (CNG) engine from Rotax, an enlarged version of the gasoline powerplant in the BMW C1—a fascinating two-wheel motorcycle-in-a-bubble that protects the driver in spills and rollovers.
The engine has a reported fuel economy of 108 mpg (2.6 liters per 100 kilometers) with a range of 125 miles or 200 km from its twin six-liter carbon fiber tanks. These are cousins to SCUBA tanks, removable in the prototype, so the tanks could go to the fuel if need be. Carbon dioxide emissions are a third less than those of traditional passenger cars, in part because the CLEVER burns less fuel. Acceleration for the CLEVER is 7 seconds from 0 to 40 mph, with a top speed of around 60 mph, or 100 kph.
Although it has three wheels, the CLEVER tilts like a motorcycle going through turns. On a motorcycle, the rider learns through trial and error how much to tilt the bike in turns, to maintain stability. The CLEVER automatically controls tilt with a microprocessor-based controller and hydraulic actuators.
The CLEVER is just 1 one meter wide, which is 20 inches narrower than the smallest ultracompact car (such as the Smart car) and 3 feet narrower than most passenger cars. That means the CLEVER is more maneuverable, and you could fit several of them into a single parking space. In a burst of optimism, a press release from the University of Bath talks about "the possibility of narrower lanes for such vehicles." Remember when Segway zealots thought they'd get special lanes?
The effort was funded by the European Union and began in 2002, with the concept car being completed this spring. Some of the partners include the University of Bath, England; the Technische Universitaet in Berlin; the Institut Francais Du Petrole in Vernaison, near Lyon, France; Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP); the Institut Fuer Verkehrswesen – Universitaet Fuer Bodenkultur, in Vienna; and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, A.K.A. BMW.

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Source: TechnoRide

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Car Audio: New mobile receiver from Dual

There is supposed to be more and more Microsoft in your car. Be careful. This one supports MP3 players but no Apple iPod. How can this be successful?

Microsoft takes another step into your car's dashboard with the first car radio that works with PlaysForSure players, the Dual XDMR7710, shipping in July. This $250 (street) unit and two siblings from Dual will be the first car radios that connect to most portable music players (except, of course, Apple's) and stream content from the player, including subscription-music-service downloads.

The XDMR7710, the flagship of the line, has a motorized faceplate that drops down to reveal a large LCD. It tunes in AM/FM, plays MP3 and WMA CDs, hooks up to XM Satellite Radio (via an optional external device), and has a line-in jack.
Most important, though, by adding a $100 external USB adapter to the EAUSB20, users can plug in any current or recent music player using a standard USB 2.0 cable. The connector recharges the player, and transfers track and artist information along with the music.
In our brief demo, Dual showed us MP3 downloads and subscription-service music streaming to the head unit from an iRiver and a Philips player; both players were controllable by the head unit. The XDMR7710 and its siblings can sort and select music by artist, album, genre, or playlist.
The PlaysForSure certification is a Microsoft guarantee that any two PlaysForSure devices can communicate with each other and play music, including monthly-subscription-service downloads and protected-content song downloads. Nearly every music player currently made is PFS-compatible, with the exception of Apple iPods. A short-term solution, included in the Dual radios, is a separate line-in jack that accepts music from iPods but doesn't let the radio head unit control the iPod. Dual's product manager, Rob Sutton, said Dual hopes to have an iPod solution in the future, but he wasn't able to provide details.
Two cheaper models, the XDMP680 and the XDMR6850 (prices not yet set), will have the same functionality, but the faceplates aren't motorized; they are removable for theft protection. These may be better for cars in which the drop-down faceplate would obscure some of the console controls.
All three radios use the standard single-DIN cutout, about 2 by 7 inches, that works on virtually every removable car radio. Each has small (not tiny) buttons, as is the annoying norm for virtually every replacement car radio currently offered.

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Source: TechnoRide

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In-Car entertainment: New DVD player from Kenwood

The is a new multi media device from Kenwood featuring everything you need for multi media in your car.

If you haven’t jumped on the incredibly safe DVD-player-in-the-car bandwagon just yet, Kenwood may have something in the woodworks to change your mind. Their VDR-55 plays standard DVDs and DVD-Rs, as well as CDs loaded with your quality collection of MP3 and WMA files. They’re even hawking a special cable to connect your iPod directly to the unit, totally making the use of CDs obsolete. Kenwood’s also releasing the LZ-702IR 7-inch screen in conjunction with the VDR-55. With a resolution of 480x234, the VDR-55’s $522 partner in crime will actually be available first, sometime later this month (in Japan, of course) while the $427 VDR-55 won’t hits stores until late June. Better check to see if your insurance premiums are affected by having an entertainment center installed in that sweet ride of yours.

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Source: Gizmodo

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Foursprung: Michelin Tweel in motion (video)

Remember Michelin's development in wheel technology?

It's been well over a year since Michelin unveiled its take on the future of the tire, the airless Tweel. The odd-looking invention pairs a replaceable outer rubber layer with a central alloy hub joined by polyurethane ribs. Judging by this video, it would appear that the tire manufacturer is continuing to develop its concept, testing it on a variety of vehicles in a number of different environments.

And here is the video:



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Source: Autoblog, Metacafé

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Foursprung: new telematics service providing real-time traffic information

There is a new telematics service providing real-time traffic information.

While you're finishing up that second cup of coffee at home and browsing the news online, delivery trucks already on the freeway are sending automated traffic reports that could help speed you to work when you're ready to go.
It's all part of the Dust Network unveiled on Tuesday by Inrix Traffic Services, a Microsoft spin-off, at the annual Telematics Detroit forum.

Inrix says it can predict traffic up to a year in an advance using Bayesian statistical analysis, which uses historical evidence and observation help you infer the odds of something being true. In plain English, the level of traffic flow on I-70 west out of Denver in a light drizzle the day before Thanksgiving in 2004 is probably a good predictor of what traffic will be like on Wednesday, November 22, 2006, if it's raining.
The company explained how the Dust Network, so named for how much information you'd collect if every speck of dust had sensors and communication, will connect data. Since dust is too small for affixing logos and antennas, Inrix instead chose 500,000 commercial fleet, delivery, and taxi vehicles already equipped with two-way communications. (In exchange for the data, Inrix will give the fleets a cut rate on traffic-information reports.) The speed and position reports can generate map overlays that show traffic flow in real time, and will be stored for use in the Bayesian engine for future rush-hour reports.
The traffic reports will be available to automotive OEMs, Web portals, in-car navigation suppliers and portable-navigation-device manufacturers. Inrix announced its initial partners: TeleAtlas, Cingular, MSN, Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom, as well as a coming generation of Microsoft SPOT watches.
Inrix told us it has the majority of the markers of portable GPS devices signed on, although you'll likely need to purchase a new GPS device; the DUST Network won't be available as a firmware update. At least one major automaker will announce the service by summer's end. The NavTraffic service sponsored by NavTeq and XM and available on several car models (Acura and Cadillac) and Pioneer AVIC radio/nav systems won't have it; it's not an Inrix partner. (NavTeq competes with TeleAtlas.)

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Source: TechnoRide

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Car Audio: Retro radio with ultra modern features

This one is really cool. I love this retro style, especially combined with modern features.

Love that old interior in your restoration project but can't live without satellite navigation, MP3 and Bluetooth? Becker's Mexico "Classic" radio looks old on the outside but packs the latest techno wizardy behind its piano black lacquer faceplate. This $1,895 head unit can read your cell phone's SIM card or a Compact Flash or SD card filled with music. It also features its own 2GB flash card that stores nav data for over 34 countries. Built-in Bluetooth gives you handsfree calling, as well. Thanks to Becker you can now combine that classic look you love with your modern high-tech toys you can't live without.

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Source: Autoblog

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Foursprung: Microsoft Promotes Its Mobile SmartParking Solution

Here are some ore visions of our gadget future.

You have a meeting downtown. You're late. Traffic is terrible. You try an alternate route, and it's worse. Your nerves fray.

You get to the address of the meeting and start looking for parking. There's nothing on the street. You try to find a parking garage, but they all have signs that say "full." You pound the steering wheel and growl like a dog.
You go around a few more blocks, burning gas, spitting CO into the atmosphere, helping ensure that Atlanta will be a coastal city by 2020.

Desperate, you park illegally and run to the scheduled conference room — finding no one there and no note saying the meeting room had been changed.

All of that is an information problem, and it could be solved by a new set of emerging data.

In fact, this new data — gleaned from location-based cellphone systems and big Wi-Fi networks — could change urban planning, alter the way residents interact and make cities more efficient.

In most major cities, cellphone companies have begun turning on technology that uses signals from cell towers and sometimes global-positioning satellites to pinpoint the location of cellphones. At the same time, metropolises such as San Francisco, Houston and Philadelphia are plowing ahead with plans to build citywide Wi-Fi networks. Each node in a Wi-Fi network would know how many computers were connected to it.
There's an unintended consequence to both those developments: mountains of data about where people are at any given time. The cell system can know where cellphones are — and most adults these days have cellphones. A Wi-Fi system knows where people are working on their laptops, give or take the percentage that are just perusing MySpace.

We're talking about anonymized, high-level, aggregated data — so it's not about invading your privacy and tracking individuals.
That data can then be put on a map to show how a city's population moves and changes through the day. Technologists think it's a way to put a city on the Internet so people can interact with it.

"We're trying to create a human-computer interface with cities," says Assaf Biderman, a scruffy graduate student in the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The lab, led by MIT professor Carlo Ratti, is a good place to see what might be coming. The researchers started with Graz, Austria — because the Austrian cellphone company cooperated.

At regular time intervals, the MIT researchers collect the pings from Graz cellphones. Biderman and his partner, Andres Sevtsuk, show me how this looks when mapped. You can see Graz wake as people turn on their phones, each represented by a tiny dot. You can see how the dots cluster in suburbs and neighborhoods in the morning. As rush hour nears, the dots begin flowing to business districts. As the clock ticks, the clusters shift and move.

The researchers pull up a similar map of the Wi-Fi network that blankets MIT. As they speed up the time, you see where students and faculty move their laptops. "Activity in the academic buildings shifts to dorms only after 11 p.m.," Sevtsuk says. "That's typical for MIT, but not for other parts of the city."

So what's this good for?
Some possibilities are straightforward. City planners, real estate developers, retailers and so on can see where people go at what times, helping them make better decisions about roads, buildings and services.
Drivers could see traffic patterns and detour around jams. During a disaster, officials might be able to see in real time that people are jamming one way out of town, and send them a different way.

The real fun would come once cities and companies layer other data and services on top.

A simple one: Manhattan taxis. Each might have a wireless gadget that constantly pings the city's system with its location. Hailing a cab would mean flipping open your cellphone, seeing on a map if a taxi is close, and shooting that driver a wireless request to get picked up.

Then there's parking, which has to be one of the great human and natural resource sinkholes in modern life. In April, Houston approved a contract to install 1,500 parking meters that will connect to the Net via Wi-Fi, for now, so users can pay by cellphone or credit card.

But let's say Houston upgrades each meter with an infrared sensor that can tell if a car is parked in its space. Then the meters could use their Wi-Fi connections to tell the city which spaces are open. At the same time, a driver could use her cellphone to tell the city she's looking for a space. Since the system would know where she is, it could show her the nearest free spaces.

In fact, as Sevtsuk notes with a grin, the system could let a driver know the location of other nearby cars that are also looking for parking spaces. "Then you could see your competitors and decide which one you could get to first," he says.

Now, that could get interesting.

Finally, there's the problem of arriving late to a meeting and finding the room has been changed. Once a city is online, it can flip text messaging on its head. Now, text messages break down location, going to the recipient no matter where he or she is. MIT is experimenting with a system that leaves messages in a particular room or place. Anyone who arrives there gets that message on his or her cellphone or computer.

In MIT's version of the future, you'd head to that meeting downtown and the city would route you around traffic. You'd get into town and the city would guide you to a parking space. And if the meeting had moved, you'd get to the room and your phone would buzz with a note telling you where to go.

Of course, something like this can be abused. Hackers will find a way to track an individual's movements. Companies will leave spam messages for Cialis in conference rooms. But all in all, it looks like new information might help solve some veryold problems.

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Source: USA Today

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Foursprung: Ferrari speaker towers

Wow!

Art.Engine is a limited edition speaker system from Ferrari. This mammoth of a speaker tower includes Wi-Fi and digital amplification. It stands 47 inches high and 16 inches wide. It is available in a wide variety of colors that would perfectly match that Ferrari you happen to own. The frequency range is 40Hz…

…Wait, it doesn’t matter what the frequency range is because this speaker costs a blistering $20,000. Hell, this is more of an ass-reaming than the Apple Hi-Fi boombox that was released a while ago. I’m sure this speaker sounds nice, but will you honestly be able to live with yourself if you drop $22k on a single speaker-tower?

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Source: Gizmodo

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Foursprung: Pioneer's DEH-P810 Bluetooth-equipped car stereo

Not a senstation, but a really nice car stereo with Bluetooth connectivity for several purposes.

If we had a car, we'd be all over Pioneer's new DEH-P810 Bluetooth-enabled head unit, which allows you to stream audio from your BT-enabled musicphone or the odd BT-sporting MP3 player directly to your sound system. This will be an especially attractive model to Windows Mobile 5.0 device owners, who have recently been able to cut the headphone cord thanks to the folks over at xda-developers, but still need a cassette adapter or FM transmitter dongle for listening in their cars. Little else is known about the specs on this unit, but the "phone" button would indicate that it can also route calls through your speakers, so it may include an embedded mic as well. We saw the DEH-P810 online for about $660, but the price was in yen, so we're pretty sure you're gonna need to import for now.

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Source: Engadget

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Mitsubishi: The iMitsubishi

Mitsubishi Japan has announced the play edition of the "i" eye car it looks similar to DaimlerChrysler's compact Smart car. The Play edition comes with a slot for inserting the iPod Nano once connected you can control the Nano from the navigation screen's touch panel. The "i" comes with a navigation system which has a 7" touch screen and a 30 GB hard drive. However you cannot play audio and video files via the hard drive. It also has a CD player which can play CD-R/RW discs but does not support MP3 discs. This is really interesting you have a choice of two colors Pearl White and Black which you can choose depending on your iPod's color. The car comes with total six speakers, 4 speakers in the back / front and 2 front tweeters.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, Mitsubishi , Apple, iPod

Source: Newlaunches.com

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Foursprung: EPIA Wheel Case Mod

Well, I prefer Apple Macintosh design, but this is also nice - for a PC...

Case mods are the geek’s neverending fodder, like mana from heaven. Sometimes it’s bland, but now and then you get a nugget of juice, like this awesome wheel mod, from PC modder Micke “GoTaLL” Gustafsson. The “EPIA Alloy Mod” comes with a brake disc, red caliper, EPIA SP13000 LVDS motherboard/processor, 512MB of Crucial Ballistix memory, and a picoPSU.
Hell, if you’re a racer that moonlights as a computer nerd, this one’s for you.

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Source: OhGizmo!

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Foursprung: The Mother of all head units

Are you tired of integrating one gadget after another? Here is the all-in-one-solution.

If you're looking to play almost every audio/video format known to man in your car, even MiniDiscs, then Pioneer has just introduced a whopper of an in-dash system that may be perfect for you (well, if you live in Japan, that is). The AVIC-VH009MD in-car multimedia system, which takes over the high end of Pioneer's Carrozzeria lineup, features a 5.1 channel amp, dedicated TV tuner, GPS receiver with birds-eye view, and a head unit that contains a 7-inch screen and plays back DVDs, CDs, MDs, and MP3/WMA files as well as DivX-encoded videos. Also new to the Carrozzeria line is the AVH-P90DVA, which also has a TV tuner and 7-inch screen, but *only* supports DVDs, CDs, VCDs, and the aforementioned codecs plus AAC, but not MiniDiscs or navigation. The all-in-one system will go for a cool $3,200, while the AVH-P90DVA costs $2,300, although if you want to listen to tracks from your cellphone, you'll have to forgo a lot of these niceties and stick with the Bluetooth-equipped AVIC-S1 that we brought you the other day.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, MP3, DivX, USB, multi media

Source: Engadget

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Foursprung: The Sesol HiPAD

The idea is nice. But to call Microsoft Office a "productivity" application sounds strange to me. Why should I use this if I can integrate a Mac into my car?

The networkable wireless HiPAD will be launched by Sesol sometime this month. It runs on Windows XP and features GPS navigation and T-DMB functionality. Great for those on the go, since the OS runs productivity applications like the Microsoft Office suite. When in the car, it can be used to navigate around - just attach it to the right hand side or install it on a window pane. A small screen at the bottom offers some relief from nasty traffic jams with shows via T-DMB. The HiPAD weighs just 1.2kg and comes with a 10.4” TFT LCD screen.

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Source: Ubergizmo

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Foursprung: Driver Fatigue Bracelet

Let your car decide if you are able to drive.

We were pretty frakin’ tired waking up at 5:30 in the morning to hack through LA traffic to get to E3 last week. This alert driver fatigue wrist device could have saved us from all those near-misses.

"The device comunicates with an RFID tag positioned in your car and only starts to detect whether you are tired when you are in your car. The device can be bent to fit your wrist, and has memory to stay in position, to ensure it will not fall off."

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Source: Gizmodo

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Sony Ericsson: Car-kit integrates not only voice but music

The cellphone manuifacturer Sony Ericsson offers a well-thought car integration kit for their mobile phones. The HCA-60 does not only the standard integration of phone calls via your car-stereo. You can also listen to the digital music stored on your music-enabled cellphone via the integration kit.
Nice feature for EUR 150.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, Sony Ericsson, cellphones, MP3

Source: Auto, Motor und Sport (german only)

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Foursprung: New Oscillating Piston Engine

There was developed a new Toroidal Engine in California.

Rotoblock, a startup company, is developing a new toroidal internal combustion engine: the Oscillating Piston Engine (OPE). The company has also signed a letter of intent with Apollo Energy Systems, a manufacturer of lead cobalt batteries and akaline fuel cell systems (earlier post), to develop a hybrid electric drivetrain with integrated OPE engine.

The OPE is one of a number of toroidal internal combustion engines currently under development, including the MYT engine (earlier post), the VGT RoundEngine, the Rotary Opposed Piston Engine (ROPE), and the Trochilic engine. Multiple designs for toroidal engines extend further back in time to the Tschudi engine (1968) and earlier.

A toroidal engine is one in which the power pistons rotate in a perfectly circular chamber with the drive shaft at the geometric center. (A torus is the doughnut-shaped surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle about an axis coplanar with the circle.)

One of the theoretical benefits of the design is a dramatic increase in power-to-weight ratio compared to a conventional reciprocating piston engine. The Rotoblock engine fires 16 times on one revolution of the crankshaft, compared to a V-8’s four times per crankshaft revolution, for example.

The original patent for the OPE was issued in 1993, with four follow-ons for specific applications, including the use of the OPE as the genset for a series hybrid (awarded 1994).

Rotoblock acquired the original OPE prototype engine and rights from the inventor (Dr. Monti Farrell). The company in now on its second-generation implementation of the technology.

The current Oscillating Piston Engine design incorporates four pairs of pistons, each alternately attached, via two opposed oscillating adjacent thrust disks, to two coaxial driveshafts extending from one face of the cylinder block.

The thrust disks use coaxial shafts and a dual scotch yoke mechanism to couple the motion of the oscillating pistons to a single crankshaft.

The round cylinder block containing the pistons, connecting discs and coaxial output shafts continuously rotates in a counter-clockwise direction, with a 90° rotation for every complete revolution of the rotating crankshaft. This action is accomplished by a four-to-one ratio gear reduction mechanism that couples these two components together.

Rotation of the cylinder block causes a pair of inlet and exhaust ports, as well as two diametrically positioned spark plugs, to regularly appear in the intervening spaces formed between the faces of the oscillating pistons as they move back and forth through 22.5 degrees of axial rotation within the confines of the toroidal cylinder housing. The movement of the pistons form combustion chambers of variable volume in the toroidal cylinder.

Rotoblock had intended to show its 1st-generation OPE during the New York International Auto Show las month, but the display case that contains the prototype OPE was damaged in shipping.

The company is putting its 2nd-generation design through testing in its Santa Rosa, California, facility.

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Source: Green Car Congress

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Foursprung: Wheel Turns Your Bike into a Moped

Not a car gadget, but a gadget to make your vehicle a motorized vehicle.

A new invention by RevoPower brings the two together. The Wheel is a device that easily converts most bikes into 20 mph mopeds, managing to pack a gasoline-powered 23cc, two-stroke internal combustion engine into the space between a standard wheel's spokes. The engine provides a boost at the flick of a switch, claiming that it'll hit 20 mph on a flat surface while coaxing 200 miles per gallon from the engine. While we aren't crazy about either the two-stroke or gasoline internal combustion part, it seems like a pretty nifty device, and if it will get people out and about on two wheels instead of four, all the better. Set to hit the shelves in late 2006 or early 2007, it'll set you back about $400 US to turn your bike into a moped.

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Source: Treehugger

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Foursprung: Taylor-made luggage for your car

I really like taylor-made things.
And here are some for your car. At least if you drive a BMW 5 series or 7 series, a Mercedes E or S class), or be so lucky to drive an Audi A6 or A8.

Rimowa cases have been around for just as long as cars. With more than 100 years of experience in the design of high-quality luggage, Rimowa is now offering made to measure car luggage sets especially for BMW (5 series and 7 series), Audi (A6 and A8) as well as for Mercedes (E and S class).

Each of the exclusive sets is perfectly tailored to the standard empty car boot of these models. Just like a jigsaw puzzle, the famous aluminium cases with the grooves can be stowed in such a way that the volume of the car boot is used and filled out ideally.

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Source: Rimowa

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Jaguar: Advanced TFT instrument cluster on the new XK

Jaguar awarded Visteon Corporation with the development of an advanced instrument cluster for the all new Jaguar XK.

The instrument cluster features an advanced high-resolution 3.8-inch colour quarter Video Graphics Array (VGA) display based on thin-film transistor (TFT) technology.

Visteon designed the Jaguar XK instrument cluster to deliver enhanced vehicle information to the driver while delivering superior styling. Featuring a large TFT screen, the cluster allows Jaguar to differentiate its driver information interface through function, features and appearance.

The instrument cluster houses two main round dials in chrome and tube design. White gauges with green illumination are placed at either side of the advanced high-resolution display, which is based on TFT technology capable of 262,144 colours. Using a powerful 32-bit processor, three multiplex networks and the graphics controller, the high quality 256-color display is split into several zones to allow easy access to driver information such as vehicle body functionality, gear selection, cruise control information or tire pressure warning.

The Jaguar XK TFT instrument cluster combines minimalist design with state-of-the-art functionality. The cluster has been developed by Visteon engineers based at Visteon's technical centre of excellence for electronics in Basildon, United Kingdom.

Visteon also offers a LCD builder tool which eases definition of display content. The tool supports a more efficient implementation of the different displays and screen layout variants during the development of the instrument cluster. This offers a major benefit as it allows the car manufacturer to personalise and implement display changes during the development phase, while eliminating manual specification and data coding errors.

Other Visteon technologies on the Jaguar XK include the starter control unit manufactured at Visteon's Cadiz plant in Spain, the Satellite Radio System supplied by Visteon Altec (Mexico), the complete cooling module which is manufactured in (Basildon, UK) and chassis components (Swansea, UK).

Offering innovative technologies supported by global manufacturing and integration expertise, Visteon delivers advanced and cost-efficient solutions to the increasing electronics content in the cockpit and at the overall vehicle level.

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Source: Visteon

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Lotus: Seats become cheaper, lighter and healthier

Will it be more comfortable to drive a Lotus?

Group Lotus has introduced a completely new style of seating for its 2006 model year Elise and Exile ranges. Using the ProBax design less foam is needed and the seats also put the driver's body in an upright, correct position. Unusually, for what has to be regarded as an advance in technology, the new seats are cheaper and not as complex as their predecessors. The company is the first vehicle manufacturer (VM) in the world to use the ProBax design, which enables it to employ less foam and to remove weight. Other VMs are said to be evaluating the concept.

ProBax, the patented idea of prosethetist Donna Jackson, is simple in that it involves the correct positioning and density of the foam in order for the driver to maintain the correct posture. Its technology changes the dynamics of the underlying foam seat without changing the structural elements. Mechanical devices in seats can lead to seemingly greater comfort but they do not position the body correctly. By subtly tilting the pelvis of the seat occupant, ProBax directly alters the body's posture by realigning the spine and ensuring weight is borne by the skeletal structure rather than the muscles.

ProBax seat allows the driver to maintain the correct natural curvature of the spine for longer, keeping the head closer to the head restraint. It is said to also eliminate reverse pelvic title, minimise pressure under the coccyx, manage the Ischial pressure points, limit pressure under the hamstring muscles and provide support for the pelvis. The back cushion design has been created with a channel running vertically to "receive" the spine in a softer material, thus reducing pressure on the vertebral column.
ProBax thus enables the VM to do away with lumbar mechanisms, thus decreasing weight and saving cost.

Tests have also shown an improvement in blood flow of up to 30 per cent over the previous Lotus seat. This is something that should result in improved driver alertness. Group Lotus is said to have been impressed by the results of extensive testing with people of various shapes and sizes. Steve Swift, head of vehicle engineering has stated, "the improvements are extremely good". Initial impressions would indicate the validity of this.

The limited depth of the seat cushion in a Lotus has been a particular challenge for NuBax, the company behind ProBax. It believes that having overcome this, designing the seating for conventional saloon cars should be relatively straightforward. Having launched ProBax early in 2005, NuBax has now entered into a number of collaborative agreements for the further development of the concept in not only the automotive field but also aviation and other sectors such as workplace and school seating.

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Source: all4engineers

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Foursprung: Sirius announces sleek new Sportster4 radio

This is a really beautiful device with satellite connectivity.

To prove that there is still life in the world of consumer electronics outside of videogames and laptops, Sirius broke up today's monotony by announcing an updated version of their Sportster series of Plug and Play satellite radios with 44-minute buffers. The Sportster4, which is small enough to easily transport between home and car, maintains the same recording capacity and features as its predecessors, but adds a new vehicle dock that includes an auxiliary input for your MP3 player. Additional niceties include 30 presets, bundled remote, favorite artist alerts, and game reminders to keep you updated on score changes. Look for the Sportster4 later this month for around $170, with accessories like boombox docks soon to follow.

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Source: Engadget

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Foursprung: Porsche Boxter and VW winners in Feng Shui study

The ancient chinese art of living "Feng Shui" can be adopted to life in the streets - according to a british study.
Here you can read that it can help to calm down the driver by creating a harmonic environment in his car.

This effect is not limited to large luxury limousines. The Nissan Micra for instance is very good according to the Feng Shui rules.
But best to this - related to several criteria - are nominated Porsche Boxster and VW Passat. The test drivers of these cars have come to the traffic jungle much more relaxed...

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, Feng Shui

Source: Auto, Motor und Sport (german only)

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Cellphones: Now also from Fiat

Cellphones are perfect gadgets. And there are lots of car branded cellphones on the market like the Nokia 8800 from Aston Martin. Now there are also some from Fiat. It's a shame to compare the Fiat phones with the Aston Martin ones, isn't it? Hopefully the Fiat phones are better quality than their cars.

Agnelli heir Lapo Elkann’s penchant for cocaine and transvestites hasn’t dampened his brilliance in marketing the Fiat name and logo to a new generation of Europeans. He started with track jackets and shoes, and — according to a story on Carscoop — has moved on to electronics. A new line of Fiat-branded cellphones will show up in boutiques across Italy this month, in a novel package that includes a brushed-aluminum piston as a base. They’re a perfect tie-in with Fiat’s intention to roll-out Bluetooth across its model range.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, cellphones, Fiat

Source: Jalopnik

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Foursprung: Don't forget to show us your gadgets!

Just for you as a reminder:

Dont forget our great Foursprung contest. Send us your gadgets and show us your Foursprung.

Competition is open until 25th May. Send your pics and description here.

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Ford: Considering plug-in hybrids

Maybe you can charge your Ford at home in the future...

Ford is considering building hybrid vehicles with plug-in capability, according to a report today by Reuters. “We have nothing to announce today, but yes, we are keenly looking at it,” CEO Bill Ford said at an investor meeting today. Plug-in hybrids enable owners to use an electrical outlet at their home to charge the battery of their car, instead of burning gasoline in the car’s engine to generate electricity.

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Source: Leftlane News

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Satellite Radio: Alpine launches XM Radio Navtraffic receiver

Also Alpine Electronics joins the game of XM Radio.

We've all been there - you've just zipped past the last exit for a couple of miles on your morning commute, you sail over a rise and find... brake lights, as far as the eye can see. If only you'd known the jam was there, you could have taken that exit. If only... Well, here's a gadget that can help!

Alpine Electronics launched this week a new XM Satellite Radio XM Navtraffic data receiver module, the HCE-100XM. Connected to the equally evocatively-named NVE-N872A Alpine nav system (pictured), the new unit provides continuously updated traffic information on top of the nav system's turn-by-turn directions.

Traffic coverage is currently available in 31 major U.S. metro areas (by subscription). Traffic alerts include:

* color-coded traffic congestion levels along major highways
* incident icons along the route, for congestion-causing traffic accidents or road construction
* re-routing options for faster, more efficient routes.

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Source: Autoblog

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GM: New concept car (with video)

GM showed a new concept car combining several new technologies.

General Motors has been toying with hydrogen fuel cells and the drive-by-wire concept for many years, but take a look at the video below and you’ll notice that the company actually has a working prototype. GM calls this Hy-Wire vehicle the first drivable concept car to use hydrogen fuel cell and by-wire technology.

Maybe now that the Detroit behemoth’s SUV sales have gone down the shitter, it will get serious about designing some sensible vehicles for a change. But let’s be sensible about being sensible: the thing’s turtle-slow, going from zero to 62 mph in 16 seconds.

And here is a video about it:


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Source: Engadget

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Foursprung: Two Speed Supercharger Drive System

Antonov displays a two speed supercharger drive system.

While this first commercial application from Antonov's broad range of patented technologies will be demonstrated in two high performance vehicles, a Mercedes and Ford Mustang, the high volume potential for the device lies in its ability to enable engine downsizing, opening up the application of superchargers to mainstream vehicles. Other Antonov technologies on display at Engine Expo that are available for licensing and high volume production include the compact 6-speed automatic transmission system for front wheel drive passenger cars. In January this year, Antonov announced an agreement to develop this transmission with Great Wall Motor Company Limited.

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Source: all4engineers

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BMW: Video of thermal vision system in action

BMW has released a video of BMW 7 Series with Night Vision System with FIR (infrared) camera in front air dam.



Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, BMW, thermal vision

Source: YouTube

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Foursprung: VW Jetta converted to SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil)

Cool - a Jetta converted into a Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) vehicle...

One lesser-known movement in green car technology is converting diesels to run on SVO, or Straight Vegetable Oil. Unlike biodiesel, which is produced by chemically modifying vegetable oil so that it can be used in a diesel vehicle with no modifications, SVO requires a second fuel system for the vegetable oil in addition to the standard diesel fuel system. Also, one doesn’t operate and fill up an SVO vehicle like a normal petrol or diesel car. It sounds like a lot of work, so why are more and more people kicking up the veggie quotient of their diesels’ diet? We decided to look into it.

No automaker offers an SVO-powered vehicle in its line-up, so tapping a press fleet for a quick evaluation was out of the question. Fortunately we stumbled upon Chuck and Tom Norton, a pair of sibs who run Turtle Plastics, an eco-friendly plastics business in Lorain, OH. The Norton boys recently had a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDi converted to run on SVO. Though Tom’s the primary driver, Chuck was happy to hand over the keys to their “Vega Jet” for a spin last week and helped us understand what it’s like to own and operate a vehicle that eats out of a dumpster. Let us explain…

Vegetable oil can be found in abundance throughout our daily lives. It’s the can of canola or pint of peanut oil in the back of your kitchen cabinet. It’s also the vat of boiling grease in which fries are drowned at your local family restaurant. People who own SVO vehicles often get their fuel for free from restaurants, literally taking it right from the grease dumpster out back. This gives SVOs their reputation as dumpster divers, but it also means an SVO vehicle can potentially pay for its $2,000-$3,000 conversion in less than a year thanks to free fuel. Owners shouldn’t count on free grease as a given, but America’s appetite for fried foods knows no bounds so the supply seems virtually limitless.

Read the complete article with more pictures and deeper information on how it works and hy someone would choose to convert a vehicle to run on SVO here.

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Source: Autoblog

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Foursprung: Next Generation of head-up displays

Here comes the next generation of head-up displays.

With the improved head-up display (HUD) Siemens VDO is demonstrating how the safety, comfort and convenience of future virtual displays in the driver's direct field of vision can be realized. A modular concept, new optical variants and a reduction of the installation space enable adaptability to every vehicle class.

The head-up display provides important driving-related information, such as speed, navigation data and warnings directly in the driver's field of vision. This allows the driver to concentrate more completely on traffic. This in turn leads to increased safety, as it takes an average of one second to read the information on the navigation system, which at 50 km/h means the vehicle already has traveled approximately 14 meters. With the improved HUD, system safety, comfort and convenience will no longer be only reserved for luxury class vehicles, but also will be available for smaller models.

The challenge in accomplishing this was to decrease the installation space requirements and system costs of the head-up display by roughly half. Even with the restricted space in the cockpit, there has to be at least a minimum amount of room for the optical system in order to project a virtual image. A display generates an image that is guided to the windshield using several mirrors. Like glancing in a rearview or side mirror, the driver sees the virtual image, but not as a flat, static picture on the windshield. Rather, the driver perceives it as "floating" over the hood at a distance of about two meters.

New in the second generation HUD is that drivers can now adjust the position of the virtual display to their seat position. This enables the driver to adapt the display to his own height for a more comfortable viewing angle.
This additional comfort is made possible by using a new mounting for the mirror installed in the head-up display, which allows the mirror to be tilted and the projected height of the virtual image to be adjusted. By employing various optical versions, the head-up display can be developed in line with the automobile manufacturer's specific requirements.

In smaller vehicle models, a variant with only two mirrors and one lens is feasible. The optical components project the driving information from a thin-film transistor (TFT) display to the windshield, which is then magnified. In particular, a lens - a new optical component - ensures the virtual image attains the necessary size, definition, sharpness and optical fidelity with a smaller number of magnifying mirrors, thus reducing the system volume.

Despite the new head-up display's reduced volume, the driver sees a high-quality image in a horizontal format about 9 by 20 centimeters in size. Due to the size, improved display resolution, sharper color contrast and more variability in the color schemes, the image is even more readable.

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Source: all4engineers

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Foursprung: Show us your gadgets!

You are a Foursprung reader. You know what Foursprung is and what it means to live Foursprung.

Did it happen that you read our great news on car gadgets and thought "Really nice. But you should see what I have!"
So this is your time.

Show us your Foursprung and send us some pics of your car gadgets including a short description why and how you use it. The more detail the better!

Winners will be announced here and can expect a really nice surprise.

It's up to you: show us how much Foursprung do you have and how well it fits into your car!

Competition is open until 25th May. Send your pics and description here.

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Foursprung: BMW and Renault car warning each other

BMW and Renault are going one step ahead in vehicle communication and safety. Until today the cars do more or less not communicate to external and/or other vehicles. There are several telematics service for repair or rescuing funtions but there is no communication to vehicles - from the same brand or others.

Now BMW and Renault started to develop car-to-car communication systems for enabling cars to exchange data - i.g. warning each other. BMW describes a szenario in which a driver passing an accident location notifies about this just by pressing a button. The traffic control center gets the GPS coordinates of the accidents. In addition to this the dangerous spot is communicated to other vehicles heading for the location.

The experience from the cooperation shall also be provided to the Car-to-Car Communication Consortium - consisting of eight car makers and twelve research partners trying to build an industry standard based of worldwide harmonized readio frequency for the car-to-whatever communication.

The cooperation is part of the European research project "Global System for Telematics" (GST).This project supported by the European Community is meant to develop an open architecture for interoperable telematics applications.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, BMW, Renault, telematics

Source: golem.de (german only)

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BMW: Aiming for your brain

Is this the future of marketing?

You wouldn’t know it from anything the firm has said in public, but neuroscientist professor Steven Rose has spilled the beans: BMW wants to get inside your head.

Actually, to be fair, it only wants to get inside your head if you’ve got (or are likely to amass) the funds to buy a BMW. It probably doesn’t give a monkey’s cuss what happens in your head if you’re in socio-economic segment D or E.

The company – like others such as fizzy drink maker Coca Cola – has set up its own "neuromarketing" laboratory. It wants to know more about what makes us tick so that it can get better and more sophisticated at marketing. These firms want adverts that appeal to us not simply on an emotional or psychological basis, but on a physiological level too.

Today’s best efforts – such as Jaguar’s expensive attempts to polish up its brand – are crude Pavlovian things at best. Flash up images of attractive young people doing sultry things in expensive clothes and shiny cars, repeat the word “gorgeous” over and over, throw in the Jaguar leaping cat at the end. Repeat until “Jaguar” and “gorgeous” are inextricably linked, hopefully erasing associations between “Jaguar” and “retired duffer in tweed jacket”.

According to boffins in the US, up to 95 percent of consumer decision making is unconscious. Studies at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas involved students in brain scanners taking the "Pepsi Challenge". The scans showed that people could express a verbal preference for Coke even if their brain scan showed they got a bigger, more pleasurable kick from slurping Pepsi. The conclusion being that brand preference can be much stronger than we realise – it can tie into the sense of self. If you see yourself as a Coke drinker rather than a Pepsi drinker, perhaps because of the bundle of social associations that the choice entails, then that decision overrules the fact that on a completely rational level you actually have the opposite preference.

Nobody yet knows how to make an advert that will switch your preferences on or off – to make you junk your liking for the hot-selling SLK in preference for the underwhelming Z4, say. But firms like BMW aim to find out if this principle might pan out in practice.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, BMW, neuromarketing

Source: Auto IT Blog, Image via www.zorno.de

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Foursprung: Infrared system helps pilots and drivers see in fog a nd at night

Isn't this similiar to what became a disgrace for DaimlerChrysler in a press presentation? I think this will work better.

A European research project has developed a prototype infrared-camera system that substantially enhances human visual perception in poor visibility conditions such as fog, heavy rain and at night.

The system doubled airline pilots' ability to detect obstacles in tests simulating poor visibility, and in road tests it boosted automobile drivers' vision up to 400 per cent. It could eventually be used aboard commercial airliners and in cars to improve safety.

As Pierre-Albert Breton of Thales Avionics, a partner in the SEE project explains, poor visibility causes flight delays, diversions and cancellations, as well as accidents. Studies also show that far more automobile accidents occur at night than during the day.

In the IST-funded SEE project, which ended in December, researchers developed two types of sensors, one detecting the short wave infrared band and another the long wave. Combining complementary data from the two cameras, the system produces a more complete image than either sensor could produce on its own.

"The challenge was to develop a low-cost technology to detect all the elements that would be visible to the naked eye in good conditions and display them to the driver or pilot on a screen," says Breton.

Since foggy weather is difficult to predict, "An important step was to develop a simulator to validate the system's feasibility in a broad range of visibility conditions, with airline pilots using the simulator," says Breton. "We wanted to determine if pilots would accept the system."

"Feedback from pilots was very useful," says Breton. "They told us the system was very effective for detecting other aircraft on the runway. The planes are very hot, so the infrared systems pick that up very well." The system improved pilot visibility of obstacles by about 100 per cent, says Breton. "So, if a pilot could see an obstacle at 300 metres with the naked eye, the system would allow seeing it at 600 metres, giving more time to react."

In November 2001, a passenger flight crashed into a forest on a night landing approach into Zurich, killing 24. Could the SEE system have prevented it? Maybe, says Breton. "It allows the pilot to see the landscape and detect obstacles earlier, but the system is not magic. Simulation showed it to be less effective in landings. Due to the speed of an approach, a visibility gain of 50 per cent or even 100 per cent is not as significant as it is in runway taxiing," he says.

SEE researchers also conducted tests on cars driven in real, foggy conditions, says Breton. The dual cameras, weighing 15 kilos, were mounted on the car roof, with an electronic system for piloting and recording in the trunk. The system improved human visual perception by at least fourfold, says Breton. "It was really effective at detecting a person or an animal on the side of the road." This could help drivers see pedestrians or cyclists in poor visibility conditions, a major source of accidents, he says.

BMW, one of the project's eight partners, is exploring low-cost applications of the system to improve automotive safety. "This would certainly be a marketable feature," says Breton. However, he says, the current system's cost of 5,000 euros – a cockpit system would cost far more – makes it impractical. Work is planned to bring down the cost.

For aviation, the next step is to use pilot feedback in developing a complete cockpit simulator, for more extensive tests with pilots, says Breton. He estimates it will be at least another ten years before the system could be installed on commercial airliners. "There is still a lot of testing and refinement to be done."

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Source: Information Society Technologies

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Foursprung: No more broken antennas in the car wash

This is nice, but aren't antennas integrated to the car's windows today?

Imagine a trip to the carwash without that feeling of panic when you realize you’ve left your radio antenna up. That worry could become a thing of the past thanks to a new, flexible material developed by University of Maryland engineers that can be used to manufacture radio antennas that bend, but do not break. It contains nanometer-sized particles of iron and strontium.

The new material, a lightweight, plastic-like composite, will also render rigid cell-phone antennas obsolete and make future antennas smaller and more efficient.

Peter Kofinas, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UM’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, developed the material in a “chemistry shake-and-bake process” resulting in a self-organizing polymer containing nanometer-sized particles of two metals, iron and strontium.

Chemical engineering undergraduate student Joshua Silverstein and graduate student Ta-I Yang also worked on this research.

The substance possesses magnetic and dielectric properties and can be used to make antennas that can be formed into any shape.

“The new material will allow for more freedom in the creation of the next-generation of devices, which will have lighter, smaller, more efficient design and aesthetic appeal now that a straight, brittle metallic antenna does not have to be incorporated,” Kofinas says.

For instance, by making a cell-phone case out of this material, the case
could then become the antenna, resulting in a smaller cell phone with better
reception, he says.

Kofinas’ work is still in the research stage, but the U.S. Air Force is interested in the material for use in protective covers for radar equipment and other types of shielding for electronics. The Air Force recently awarded Kofinas a $367,000 grant for further research.

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Source: physorg.com

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GPS: Never loose your car again

Never loose a car again...

By installing BounceGPS collateral protection units in vehicles with higher risk loans, BHFC, a lender in Phoenix, Arizona, has been able to reduce loan portfolio risk and speed the recovery of vehicles with delinquent loans.

BounceGPS for Collateral Protection is an advanced vehicle tracking system that can be discreetly installed in cars, trucks, construction equipment and other mobile assets. It is produced by DataLogic International, Inc., a provider of GPS-based mobile resource management and secured mobile communications. Its low-cost and effectiveness provides an affordable method for automotive finance companies to mitigate loan portfolio risk by reducing the likelihood of loan default and speeding the return of delinquent collateral.

When repossession is required, BHFC merely contacts the BounceGPS operations center, provides the VIN of the vehicle and the BounceGPS team does the rest. The location of the vehicle is determined and a repossession company is notified, resulting in an efficient, cost-effective recovery. Unique to BounceGPS is the Predictive Positioning feature which assists repossession agencies by identifying the time and place for a repossession.

"Since using BounceGPS we've had to repossess at least a dozen vehicles. In some cases those cars were recovered in less than 30 minutes from contact to recovery. To say we're getting value for our investment is an understatement. And we're seeing a significant reduction in delinquency on BounceGPS equipped vehicles," says BHFC Owner Tom Medaglia.

BHFC has successfully executed rollout of BounceGPS for Collateral Protection to more than 100 collateralized vehicles and continues to add new units monthly.

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Source: Telematics Journal

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Foursprung: Saving the planet - fast

This is a nice electric car - busting classic sports cars...

Ian Wright has a car that blows away a Ferrari 360 Spider and a Porsche Carrera GT in drag races, and whose 0-to-60 acceleration time ranks it among the fastest production autos in the world. In fact, it's second only to the French-made Bugatti Veyron, a 1,000-horsepower, 16-cylinder beast that hits 60 mph half a second faster and goes for $1.25 million.

The key difference? The Bugatti gets eight miles per gallon. Wright's car? It runs off an electric battery.

Wright, a 50-year-old entrepreneur from New Zealand, thinks his electric car, the X1, can soon be made into a small-production roadster that car fanatics and weekend warriors will happily take home for about $100,000 - a quarter ton of batteries included. He has even launched a startup, called Wrightspeed, to custom-make and sell the cars.

But Wright isn't some quixotic loner. He's part of a growing cluster of engineers, startups, and investors, most of them based in Silicon Valley, that believe they can do what major automakers have failed at for decades: Think beyond the golf cart and deliver an electric vehicle (EV) to the mass market.

Indeed, the race for the new consumer EV has already begun: Just a year ago, Wright was working for his Woodside neighbor Martin Eberhard, co-founder of Tesla Motors, a startup that has 70 employees and a major investment from PayPal founder Elon Musk, which is building a mass-market rival to the X1. Wright left, believing he had an even better idea.

Beyond that, startups are forming to equip new "plug-in" hybrids that run almost entirely on their electric motors. And around the country, a handful of other exotic EVs are showing up on the road -- including George Clooney's new ride, a $108,000 commuter coupe that's just 3 feet wide.

The more that cars become technology platforms, the more the future plays into the hands of people like Wright and Eberhard. "Automakers can't do this," Eberhard says. "If you drill into the complexity of an electric car, it's not the motor, it's the electronics and battery system, which car companies aren't good at."

Adds Musk, "The time is right for a new American car company, and the time is right for electric vehicles, because of advances in batteries and electronics. Where's the skill set for that? In the Valley, not Detroit."

Wright's garage-born heroics are, in many respects, long overdue. After all, electric cars predated the gasoline combustion engine. But they soon headed for museums, replaced by gas engines. A mid-1990s wave of all-electric cars was short-lived -- GM (Research) spent more than $1 billion to introduce a short-lived electric vehicle -- and were soon replaced by Toyota's hot-selling hybrid gas-electric Prius.

So how do you build the EV of the future on a six-figure budget when GM couldn't do it with more than $1 billion? For starters, you get all the basic parts off the shelf, starting with a chassis. Wright found one he liked in the Ariel Atom, a blazing-fast custom British roadster. By itself, all the hardware in the X1 is nothing new. The X1's real secret is how Wright engineers it all to keep the car in optimum race mode whenever you hit the accelerator.

Last November, Wright towed the X1 to a racetrack near Sacramento to see how his prototype would do against a Ferrari and a Porsche. On paper, a win seemed guaranteed. But he hadn't yet run the car full out.

In the first matchup, the X1 crushed the Ferrari in an eighth-mile sprint and then in the quarter-mile, winning by two car lengths. In the second race, against the $440,000 Porsche, the two cars were even after an eighth of a mile. But as the Porsche driver let out the clutch in a final upshift, his tires briefly lost traction. The X1, blazing along in its software-controlled performance mode, beat the Porsche by half a car length.

It never occurred to me that I would lose," says Kim Stuart, the Porsche's driver. "It was like a light switch. He hit the pedal and was gone."

So what now? Wright isn't sure himself. Only 50 or so people have driven the car, and Wright has just begun to hold his hat out for potential investors. With $8 million in funding, he says, he is convinced he can put a consumer version of the X1 into production that meets federal safety standards, has a 100-mile range, and recharges in 4.5 hours.

To bring any EV to the masses, of course, will require much improved battery technology. But a handful of startups backed by Valley VCs are claiming that big advances are just around the corner. Menlo Park-based Li-on Cells claims that its technology will double the performance of lithium-ion batteries for about half the cost.

Thus, the X1 and the Tesla could be just the things to throw the EV race into high gear. As battery prices drop and performance improves, the cars could come within reach of a wider audience. And if oil prices keep climbing, more and more consumers will demand alternatives that are punchier than a Prius.

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Source: CNNMoney.com

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Foursprung: Shiny Diamonds, Like the Eyes of a Cat in the Black and Blue: Ice Rims

I don't really think that this is Foursprung. It's more of the dark sides of "Pimp my ride". But maybe some of you want to know...

Oh bugger. Did we really need 28” dubs embedded with your choice of zircs or diamonds? Apparently, some company called Yokebir thinks we do, and they’ve delivered their 924 Shock & Awe Series to do just that. We doubt that the “924” has anything to do with 924 Gilman Street, but we’d love to see what the teenage punkers hanging outside the club would think of these. In our day, they would’ve been done in like Jello Biafra. But the kids these days, with their Travis Barkers and whatnot, well, we just don’t know. And that, frankly, makes us a little sad.

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Source: Jalopnik

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Foursprung: Networking in the Driver’s Seat

A nice conclusion of all the opportunities of being online on the road.

As motorists look toward spring break and the upcoming summer driving season, automakers are transforming the family car from simple transportation into rolling entertainment and information centers.

Tired of watching endless car commercials on TV? How about an entire TV channel brought to you by an auto maker? Whether chasing big game in Africa or rushing to the school softball game in the suburbs, Land Rover wants you to tune into their broadband TV channel, the first created by an auto maker.

“We intend to cover a wide range of extraordinary activities,” Steve Hobbs, editor of the Go Beyond Web site, said in a statement. The four-hour Go Beyond TV channel uses material from both Land Rover’s One Life magazine and six original content partners, including Discovery Channel, The Royal Geographical Society and Biosphere Expeditions.

Initially, both the Web site and TV channel will be seen at Land Rover dealerships and major auto shows, such as the New York Auto Show, which kicks off this weekend. Eventually, the car company hopes to make the TV channel available for download to Apple iPods or the Sony PSP.

The concept hopefully will expand the car maker’s image, according to Phil Popham, Land Rover’s managing director. The Web site and broadband TV product are designed to improve the dealership environment while driving more customers to the company’s online destination.

If watching broadband TV about your car isn’t enough, how about tapping into the Internet using a Wi-Fi connection from Scion’s latest concept car? Most car makers describe their autos as sexy, powerful or fun, but “menacing?”
Scion’s new FUSE Sports Coupe has a “menacing presence” with headlamps that “glare at you”, all wrapped in dark undertones. For consumers not frightened away, the Scion is packed with video and networking wonders.

Video can be downloaded to the car and displayed on two 10.5-inch monitors on the front dash. Along with Wi-Fi connectivity, passengers can IM friends. The FUSE's drive-by-wire technology is part of a trend away from mechanical connections to autos powered as much by software as cables, according to Thilo Koslowski, a Gartner auto technology analyst.

While onboard DVD navigation systems have been available for some time, a number of companies, such as XM Satellite Radio and GM’s OnStar, are offering drivers real-time satellite navigation. XM NavTraffic GPS systems will be available in the Acura RDX, Infiniti G35 and Lexus LS sedans. The system is factory-installed already in all Acura RL and Cadillac CTS models.

XM NavTraffic delivers real-time traffic navigation for drivers in 31 U.S. markets. Along with continuous traffic information, drivers see a color-coded map indicating how fast traffic is moving on any route. The data comes from a mix of police reports, commercial traffic companies, road sensors and aircraft, according to XM Satellite.

Cars are evolving into ‘vehicle probes’ using radar, laser and satellite information to gauge traffic, according to Koslowski. And with such advances cars must process a greater amount and wider variety of data. An average auto contains 40 processors and keeps track of engine, audio, satellite, wireless and other input, the analyst said.

Due to the ratcheting up of data processing, a number of auto makers, mostly European, are creating mobile servers linked by fiber optics. BMW, Mercedes and Cadillac are just three companies experimenting with fiber optic communications, Koslowski said.

Acura’s RDX and BMW are just two of the latest auto manufacturers supporting the iPod. As iPods, phones, DVDs and CDs become as common as radios, car makers will move to device gateways which integrate the many gadgets.

With greater opportunity for driver distraction, auto makers are also investigating ways to lower the level of distraction, according to Koslowski. Among the possible solutions: speech controls, speed controls (some devices may not work if you are traveling over 50 mph, for instance) and haptic feedback where the steering wheel might vibrate to get your attention.

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Source: Internetnews

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BMW: Next-generation telematics

Hopefully this system works better than the technical gadgets of Mercedes-Benz and somebody but more an eye on it that on their design...

When it's not building neck-numbingly bad seats, or eye-wateringly ugly executive saloons, BMW is actually quite a clever company.

It's got next-generation telematics right. The best way to improve safety is to share up-to-the-second data about road conditions with the cars that are actually on the road. And the best way to do this without needing to violate the laws of physics is to adopt a peer-to-peer system, in which cars communicate directly with their neighbours, rather than going via acentral control point.

Of course it helps to have a central co-ordinating point as well – partly to collate data and to send it to vehicles that are out of sight of other cars, but also to check whether the data from any particular car is trustworthy.

This is how BMW's XFCD (Extended Floating Car Data) system seems to work:

"A vehicle with XFCD which is stuck in a traffic jam and has been given the information over the radio can register that the information is correct, so it is not reported to the traffic centre again."

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Source: Auto IT Blog

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Foursprung: Route Planning Enhancement Predicts Traffic Flow

Forget about traffic jams and slow traffic...

Fleet Management software provider integrates predictive traffic speed data from LandSonar into route planning application to improve route accuracy. This integration means customers will be able to develop daily route plans based on a clear understanding of likely traffic congestion.

GEOCOMtms, a global provider of Fleet Management solutions for local pickup and delivery, announced today that it is licensing key technology to make its A.MAZE Fleet Management platform to up the ante on planning tool accuracy. The company has signed a comprehensive licensing agreement with LandSonar, a leading supplier of network delivered predictive traffic products, for its LandSonar Predictive Speed (LPS). LPS expresses forecasts of traffic speed on most roads in the continental US integrated into NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas map data. It provides highly accurate, complete traffic pattern and speed information at the road segment level by time of day and day of week. When used in A.MAZE, it enables GEOCOMtms clients to consider real-world traffic speeds when developing daily routing and scheduling plans hours, days, or weeks in advance.

“For most fleet operators, efficiency, timely pickup, and stated delivery are an absolute requirement,” said Michael Nark, president and chief executive officer of GEOCOMtms. “These operators have to perform within strict time-windows set by their customers despite the challenges of rush hour causing unpredictable delays. A.MAZE Planning, a component of A.MAZE
Fleet Management, helps companies avoid delays by leveraging the traffic information provided by LandSonar to create routes that meet all time-specific service requirements. The combination of LPS with the best-in-class capabilities of A.MAZE Planning mean GEOCOMtms customers will have the most accurate route planning solution on the market.”

LandSonar has been at work for over three years collecting billions of open and proprietary historic GPS and sensor observations to develop a highly accurate predictive capability. Leveraging this capability, the company offers a suite of traffic products for advanced planning, risk mitigation, and intelligent routing sold primarily to automated vehicle logistics (AVL), location based services (LBS), device manufacturers, and product developers in need of verifiable speed and traffic forecasts. The company continues to enhance accuracy and model the impacts on predictive traffic with continued data acquisition, scientific discovery, and delivery infrastructure development.

“Our solutions go to the heart of ensuring efficient, appropriate use of fleet resources,” said Jonathan Hubbard, chief executive officer and co-founder of LandSonar. “Successful route planning is key to these objectives and requires accurate speed forecasts. We all know that posted speed limits aren’t what really happens. Real speeds and routes mean real dollars in customer satisfaction, time savings, and efficiency. Only LandSonar can accurately forecast traffic for all the roads GEOCOMtms customers drive.”

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Source: Telematics Journal

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Foursprung: Thieves Using Laptops To Steal High Tech Cars

This is really not nice, guys. Take care of your rides!

The ballsy blokes suspected to have stolen two of Becks’ BMW X5s did so by using software on a laptop to hack into the car’s computer. Once in, they opened the doors, started the ignition, and drove away with the feeling you only get when you steal from a guy who can afford it—not that we know whatthat feels like, or condone theft in any way.

The software, which takes 20 minutes to get past the car’s built in protection, is going real popular real fast as carmakers are starting to rely solely on software to protect their autos.

However, we suspect the thieves were actually in there looking for Posh and Beck’s “home videos”, and when they couldn’t find it the first time they tried their luck again. You know where to reach us!

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Source: Gizmodo

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VW: Biometrics in EcoRacer

The use of biometrics gives a lot of opportunities if mature enough.

Volkswagen’s weird lightweight diesel sports concept, EcoRacer, has collected together a few currently promising technologies in its cockpit, not the least of which is the use of fingerprint biometrics to unlock the “sports” driving profile.

As VW says, “If, for instance, your 18-year-old son or daughter with little driving experience wants to drive the EcoRacer, it is possible to activate a mode in which the sports car does not develop its full power, the top speed is electronically reduced, and ESP is always active.”

This sounds wise enough, but in fact biometrics are not really reliable enough for a safety-related control system. As one recent article highlights, many fingerprint readers can be fooled with relatively crude replica fingers made out of readily available materials such as Play-Doh.

As any computer security expert will happily confirm, all access control systems rely on one or more of only three different kinds of security measures, called factors: something you have (like a key); something you know (like a PIN or a password); and something specific to you as a person (a biometric measure like a fingerprint).

Security systems that use only one factor – a key, for example – are generally considered weak, since an attacker has to breach only one defence. Combining two factors is better - it may be easy to steal a key, but may be much harder to steal a key and then to guess a password. This is why the UK has recently moved to chip and PIN to cut down credit card fraud.

Relying on a single-factor biometric control is not too clever, given the current state of the art in peering at fingertips. Fortunately the EcoRacer is not a production vehicle, nor is it likely to become one with all its bells and whistles intact. Which is a good thing for those with 18-year-old offspring to protect.

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Source: Auto IT Blog

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GPS: Land Rover navigates airplane

This is really cool. Using the in-car GPS to navigate a plane.

In a publicity stunt whose failure would surely overshadow the on-camera mishap experienced by Mercedes while demoing their Brake Assist Plus last year, the Land Rover marketing team loaded a 2006 LR3 onto a C-130 cargo plane and had the pilots fly from France to Corsica using only the SUV's navigation system. Luckily for Team Land Rover, the flight originating in Nice went off without a hitch, and the resulting three-minute documentary will be available online to showcase the nav system's ability to to guide drivers (or pilots) even off-road. Meanwhile, earthbound drivers in the UK, birthplace of Land Rover, are still unable to use their own GPS receivers to avoid driving over cliffs and into rivers.

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Source: Engadget

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Foursprung: LED license plate holders

Maybe also good for a flirt in the streets?

Hmmm, what uses will people find for a license plate holder that displays scrollable messages? You can enter up to 120 characters into one message, and the plate holder stores up to 5 messages.

Programming the plate is easy to do even while you are in the car by using the wireless remote. There’s no display on the remote itself, so it may be hard to see what words you’re spelling out.

Available now for $49.99. Just don’t blame us if you’re pulled over for having “die pigs!!!” on your plate.

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Source: Gizmodo

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Audi: Q7 best gadget car

It not really news for us that Audi is THE brand and the Q7 the best SUV on the market.
Also TechnoRide states out it's technological and gadgety qualities praising its Blind-Spot Detection, its MMI as the best controller, the improved Active Cruise Control, Collision Warning and much more of the Q7's features.

Really nice. Read the complete detailed article here


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Source: TechnoRide

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Foursprung: Build a robot car and win $ 2M

Are you into cars and gadgets and you have a little bit more talent for building technology? So this maybe your chance - if you want to support the U.S. military.

The Pentagon's Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which sponsored two "Grange Challenge" autonomous robot car competitions, announced today an URBAN CHALLENGE. The new "DARPA Urban Challenge" calls on scientists, engineers and robot hobbyists to build computer-controlled cars and trucks that can DRIVE BY THEMSELVES THROUGH A CITY. The big race takes place November 3, 2007. The winner gets $2 million once again, second place gets $500,000 and third place takes home $250,000.

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Source: MSNBC via The Raw Feed

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GPS: Garmin StreetPilot 2820 with MP3 player, XM, and Bluetooth

Anything missing in this GPS-called all-purpose device?

Garmin just announced their all singing, all dancing StreetPilot 2820 for cars and motorcycles. You get the usual 2D or 3D navigation features with WAAS-enabled 12 parallel channel GPS and FM TMC traffic info, but then Garmin goes deluxe by including a built-in MP3 and audio book player with remote control and some sweet, sweet Bluetooth wireless with mic and speaker for hands-free cellphone calling within your motorized cage. Slap on an XM smart antenna and the 2820 delivers XM Radio broadcasts or XM NavTraffic with weather information and enhanced routing around accidents and construction to boot. Like it on two-wheels? Then the 2820 doubles-up to deliver waterproof navigation via audio prompts to bikers equipped with Bluetooth helmets -- sorry, no mention of A2DP Bluetooth Stereo audio support for two-wheelin' danger music. The unit measures-in at 5.6 x 3.2 x 2.0-inches with a big 3.8-inch, 454 x 240, 64K TFT touchscreen display. A USB interface enables some custom uploads of points-of-interest, safety cam locations and presumably your audio files to some type of unspecified on-board storage. Available starting June pre-loaded with North American maps (a Euro version will be available too) for a luxurious $1,184.60 -- man, with that kind of attention to detail in the pricing you'd think they could include the specs for on-board storage or perhaps let us know if it features DAP integration like some other GPS receivers we've seen!

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Source: Engadget

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Foursprung: Much more efficiency on mixed-alcohol fuels

This makes the use of mixed-alcohol fuel much more efficient.

A Texas A&M chemical engineering professor has developed a process to convert biomass to a mixed alcohol fuel that contains more energy than fuel ethanol. He has also developed a compact Brayton-cycle engine (the same thermodynamic cycle employed by jet engines) capable of being powered by any type of fuel—including his MixAlco mixed alcohol fuel.

Prof. Mark Holtzapple projects that his StarRotor engine, which is being developed by a company of the same name, could deliver efficiencies of 49–55% applied in a passenger car—about 2.5 to 3 times more efficient than a conventioanl gasoline engine.

The StarRotor engine. In the classic Brayton-cycle engine, ambient air is pressurized in a compressor, passed to a mixing chamber where fuel is added, and then ignited in an expansion chamber. It then expands through a piston/cylinder.

As applied to gas turbines, the Brayton engine has a compressor, a burner and an expansion turbine. Ambient air is compressed and passed through a heat exchanger for pre-heating. The pre-heated charge goes to a combustor where fuel is ignited, and the hot compressed air then flows to an expander where the thermal energy is converted to shaft work. The hot exhaust gases from the expander are sent to the heat exchanger where they are cooled and then discharged.

Brayton cycle engines have a high power density (hence their use in jet aircraft), compared to the lower power density of Otto (spark ignition) and Diesel engines.

The major challenge in implementing Brayton cycle engines, according to an analysis done for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency by Holtzapple, is to find a means to process large volumes of air to achieve a desired power output.

Traditionally, this is accomplished using dynamic (i.e., axial or centrifugal) compressors and expanders. The devices, however, require very high speeds—e.g., 100,000 rpm for a 30kW unit—to develop the desired pressure and flow. They also operate efficiently at only one speed, and are affected by changes in air density.

The patented StarRotor Brayton cycle engine uses gerotors for both the compressor and expander. (A gerotor is a positive displacement pump mechanism that delivers a known, predetermined quantity of fluid in proportion to speed.)

The StarRotor compressor has an inner gerotor with n teeth and an outer gerotor with n + 1 teeth. As the gerotors rotate, the void that opens draws air in through the inlet port. As the rotation continues, the void closes and compresses the air. When the air is compressed enough, the compressed air exhausts through the outlet port.

Because the void opens n + 1 times per revolution of the outer gerotor, the gerotor compressor is able to process enormous volumes of gas in a very compact size. The expander operates similarly to the compressor, except in reverse.

The gerotor teeth must be dry—lubricants are not compatible with the high temperatures. To prevent wear and friction, there must be no physical contact between the teeth of the inner and outer gerotors. StarRotor employs an inexpensive surface treatment to minimize gas leakage through the small gap, and an external synchronization mechanism ensures proper motion of the inner and outer gerotors.

The StarRotor, according to Holtzapple, can offer power ranges from 50W to 50,000kW. Lower-power versions employ a single stage that compresses air from 1 to 6 atm. The medium-power engines employ a second stage that compresses air from 6 to 36 atm. The high-power engines employ a third stage that compresses air from 36 to 216 atm. The power density is improved by using small-diameter rotors that rotate rapidly.

MixAlco. The MixAlco process converts biomass into organic chemicals and alcohols with a multi-stage process that includes lime pretreatment, non-sterile acidogenic digestion, product concentration, thermal conversion to ketones and their subsequent hydrogenation to create mixed alcohol end products.

We can use anything that biodegrades. If you put it outside and it rots, we can use it. So we can use trees, grass, manure, sewage sludge or garbage.

—Mark Holtzapple (The Eagle)

The MixAlco process consumes about 90% of the raw material substrate, and the process recycles all of its water and primary reagents. It can be tuned to produce the chemicals most in demand at a given time.

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Source: Green Car Congress

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Foursprung: Charge your cars battery from inside the car

This is quite comfortable. You don't have to leave your car for charging the battery.

I would never have thought boosting a car’s dead battery this way was possible. Then again I don’t actually own a car so there’s probably a lot of other stuff I don’t know. The Charge-n-Start is an 8-foot cord that uses both car’s cigarette lighters to recharge a dead battery unlike a regular jumper cable that requires you to pop the hood and clamp directly to the battery itself.

The Charge-n-Start can also function as a battery tester. It includes an illuminated LCD screen that will indicate the current charge level of the battery while it’s plugged into the cigarette lighter.

You can find the Charge-n-Start on Sahalie.com for $29.00.

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Source: OhGizmo!

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Hybrids: Test drive videos and buying tips

Do you think of buying a hybrid but you can't decide for one?

Edmunds.com posted some nice test drive videos of

- 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
- Lexus GS 450h
- 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid vs. the 2005 Toyota Prius Hybrid

and a long-term test of the Honda Insight.

Just click here for the videos.

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Source: Edmunds.com

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Foursprung: Sirius video service

Established already for radio comes visual now.

In an announcement that is being described as a victory for couch potatoes worldwide, Sirius execs at the recent Morgan Stanley Global Automotive Conference claimed that despite rumors to the contrary, Sirius Video will indeed be a live, streaming service (as opposed to delivering cached content). Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin gave the example of a Nickelodeon-loving rugrat -- whose traumatic Spongebob-downtime will soon be mercifully limited to the short walk between couch and minivan -- as the type of customer who will benefit from live broadcasts. Although we've known that Sirius was planning to roll out a video service for well over a year now, this is the first time anyone has been able to pin down the suits on a launch window, with Senior VP Bob Law citing a "post-CES 2007" target for the initial rollout.

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Source:

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Hybrids: New York hybrid cabs

If they make it here they will make it anywhere. And it makes sense. The stop-and-go situations as in the big city traffic is what hybrids are perfect and most efficient for.

New York and San Francisco employed a group of hybrid sport utility vehicles as a test for a few months recently, the move received good reviews from both customers and cab companies. The SUVs were Ford Escapes, and they were a combination gas-electric models that were US$4,000 more each to purchase.

Customers reported being pleased with the ride and with the green nature of the hybrids. In general, the SUVs were more comfortable than what customers were used to riding in when they hailed a cab.

One of the main questions was whether the batteries would stand up to the withering punishments of the mean streets of two of America's largest cities. The answer seems to be yes, as all are approaching the 100,000-mile mark with their bodies and peripherals intact.

Cab owners reported a savings of up to US$31 on fuel and US$5 for air conditioning for each 300-mile shift. In addition, the brakes were lasting longer than the gas-only counterparts, mainly because the electric engine has a secondary function as a backup braking system, taking much of the strain off the "real" brakes.

Representatives of cab companies in both cities also were pleased with the environment-friendly nature of the hybrids.

Other big cities, including Chicago and Las Vegas, will soon employ hybrid taxis of their own.

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Source: Mobile Mag

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Foursprung: Cellphones to avoid accidents

A good idea. But I think a better idea would be to concentrate on driving instead of chatting on the telephone.

Demetrius Thompson was struck, twice, by drivers distracted while chatting on their cellphones. Instead of understandably getting mad or sensibly suing the drivers for millions, he instead founded the company Global Mobile Alert which developed a system called MyMobileAlert.

MyMobileAlert tracks the cellphone via GPS as its owner drives about their business. When the system determines the chatty driver is approaching within one hundred feet of a stoplight or a certain distance from an intersection, the cellphone will emit a loud 'chirp' to notify the driver who can then take any appropriate actions.

The only requirement for MyMobileAlert is a GPS-capable cellphone; the issuing wireless company would install the necessary software. So far the system has been demonstrated in cities such as West Hollywood, California.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, cellphones, GPS

Source: Autoblog

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Foursprung: Military Driver Vision Enhancer

Maybe a little bit oversized functionality for civil use but nice technology.

As the world seeks to reduce the 30 to 50 million annual road trauma victims, it’s interesting to note the latest development in driver aids from the US military. A wide range of frontline combat and tactical wheeled vehicles are to be fitted Driver Vision Enhancers (DVEs). Utilizing a Low-Power Uncooled Infrared (LPUIR) detector, thermally compensated optics and an 800 by 600-pixel active matrix liquid crystal display panel, the DVE provides drivers with the ability to see clearly at increased distances, regardless of light level, adverse weather conditions and battlefield obscurants, such as smoke and dust. The DVE will provide enhanced situational awareness, target and ambush detection and vehicle tracking, and allows ground support elements to better keep pace with night vision-capable combat forces.

The systems will be installed on the family of M1 Abrams Main Battle Tanks, Stryker Interim Armored Vehicles, Light-Armored Vehicles (LAV) and M113 Armored Personnel Carriers engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

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Source: Gizmag

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Prius: Behind the scenes

The first and our most reported on hybrid is worth to have a look behind the scenes.

Satoshi Ogiso doesn't look or act like a brash automobile executive. With an ill-fitting suit and spiky hairdo, his hands flutter bashfully across his face as he talks of "difficulties," "challenges" and "problems."

The 45-year-old engineer refuses to brag about his accomplishments. But as chief engineer of the hybrid Prius, Ogiso has helped Toyota revolutionize the auto industry.

By making huge long-term investments in gas-saving technologies that U.S. automakers pooh-poohed, Toyota has proved that corporate environmental consciousness can be wildly profitable.

"What has made this revolution possible is that Toyota is a company with a focus on technology, because we think innovation is the future of our company," Ogiso said in an interview. "So we cannot fall behind. We are trying very hard, and it is very difficult."

Ogiso's humility is typical of Toyota. Its world headquarters in Toyota City, a quiet industrial city 150 miles southwest of Tokyo, has a deceptively modest demeanor: The nondescript, 13-story building looks like it might house a midsize insurance firm in any American suburb.

But Toyota is expected to overtake the nearly bankrupt General Motors this year as the world's largest automaker. While GM and Ford are closing factories and losing billions of dollars annually, Toyota is expanding at a red-hot pace around the world.

For years, Toyota recorded solid growth because of its dependable, fuel-efficient cars such as the Camry. Then, in the 1990s, while U.S. automakers were building bigger and bigger SUVs and trucks, Toyota threw itself into hybrid gasoline-electric research, investing more than $1 billion in the then-little-known field.

Executives at GM, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler derided the hybrids as money-losers and lagged in producing their own models. Toyota pressed ahead, and its resulting hybrids -- the Prius, the Highlander SUV and Lexus RX400h, as well as a half-dozen other hybrid models sold only in Japan -- now dominate the market, accounting for about 80 percent of U.S. hybrid sales.

Hybrids make up only 3 percent of Toyota's overall world sales, but the buzz resulting from their success has added to Toyota's public image as a trend leader.

"Toyota is willing to make investments to gain technological capability, not just for guaranteed returns on investment, like the Big Three," said Jeffrey Liker, the author of a recent book, "The Toyota Way."

"Toyota believes that 10 years from now, its hybrid technology will be like the Windows platform is now -- most cars will be a version of hybrid," said Liker, a professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan. That gamble is "probably correct," he added.

In many ways, the Prius project appears to be a textbook example of Toyota's much-vaunted, much-imitated internal management system and its mantra of kaizen, or continuous improvement, in which top executives steadily ratchet up performance standards for their employees, while also listening closely to suggestions and emphasizing consensus.

The project was the brainchild of Toyota's chairman at the time, Eiji Toyoda, a member of the company's controlling family, who had an unusual obsession with energy saving. The secretive project, known internally only as G21, was at first not meant to be a hybrid.

Ogiso was one of the original team of about 100 engineers selected by Toyota chiefs in late 1993. "We didn't know much about the idea," he said. "Our only instruction was that it should achieve a fuel-efficiency improvement of 50 percent, and it somehow should be the 'car of the 21st century.' "

The insistence on fuel efficiency was highly unusual. At the time, the price of oil averaged below $15 per barrel, Americans were snapping up ever-bigger SUVs, and saving gasoline seemed like a politically correct anachronism.

But Toyota's chairman convinced his top executives that environmental issues were a long-term threat, said Takehisa Yaegashi, a chief of the Prius project in the mid- and late 1990s who later became chief of all Toyota alternative power-train projects.

"In those years, discussions were going on about the hybrid program, but we thought it was quite clear that global warming was a challenge we would have to take up," said Yaegashi, who now is a semi-retired consultant for the firm.

In September 1994, the G21 team first heard hints from top executives that it should consider hybrid technology, which had been tainted by its association with an earlier, failed project to build an electric car. That December, management came with a thunderbolt -- instead of a 50 percent improvement in fuel efficiency, the new car would need a 100 percent improvement.

The team protested that this would be impossible with a normal internal combustion gasoline engine. Fine, the response came. So you'll have to make it a hybrid.

In August 1995, Toyota's new chairman, Hiroshi Okuda, came with another thunderbolt -- instead of the previous target date of December 1998, the project would have to be completed by December 1997.

The team worked feverishly, canceling all vacations and working through most weekends, and divided into two 12-hour shifts, working around the clock.

They had several crises. At first, the electric motor's battery was very sensitive to high temperatures, and it would malfunction when heated up by the gasoline engine next to it. "For a long time, we couldn't solve that," Ogiso said. "It was very difficult."

After that was fixed, a full-scale prototype vehicle was plagued by malfunctions. "It would hardly go 100 meters," Ogiso recalled.

The tight-knit team of Yaegashi, Ogiso and the others finally succeeded in beating the deadline by two months. The Prius was launched on the Japanese domestic market in October 1997. Three years later, it came to the United States.

Last year, Toyota sold 110,400 Priuses in the United States and Canada and 43,600 in Japan. U.S. and Canadian sales of other Toyota hybrid models totaled 40,300 and Japanese sales were 14,500.

Yaegashi calls hybrid technology "the key to two issues -- the global environment and the development of world energy resources. I do not understand why U.S. manufacturers are not so keenly working on hybrid technology. Are they more optimistic about global warming or the supplies of oil?"

John Cleveland, vice president of IRN Inc., an auto industry consulting firm in Grand Rapids, Mich., said Toyota views environmental concern as simple business logic, not "do-gooderism."

Toyota has been the most explicit automaker "about the environmental challenge facing the auto industry because it has always had such a long-term perspective, ever since the days of Mr. Toyoda, when he started the company with a 50-year business plan," Cleveland said, referring to Kiichiro Toyoda, who founded the company in 1938 as an offshoot of his family's textile loom business.

"Now, they're starting to realize they have an almost $200 billion market (capitalization) based on a carbon energy source that's diminishing, and they're wondering, 'What's our company going to be worth 50 years from now, when oil may be much more scarce?' " said Cleveland, whose company's client list includes several Toyota parts suppliers. "So they're the most aggressive about developing alternate technologies."

By Wall Street's main yardstick -- the company's share price levels -- Toyota is the world's ninth most valuable company, and is now worth more than double the combined value of GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler.

Japanese analysts agree that even by Japan's standards, Toyota is unique.

"Toyota is a model company in the field of environmental management and resource productivity," said Ryoichi Yamamoto, a professor of environmental materials design at the Institute of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo.

Yamamoto cited Toyota's steps to improve the recyclability of its cars, its reduction of waste and pollution in its manufacturing plants, and its focus on fuel efficiency. "Other companies are trying to imitate it, but they have not yet reached the same level," he said.

Some environmentalists disagree.

"Toyota is two-faced," said Yurika Ayukawa, director of the climate change program at the World Wildlife Fund of Japan. "It wants to be seen as an eco-company, as environmentally committed, but it's really just business as usual."

Ayukawa noted that Toyota has joined with U.S. automakers in filing lawsuits in state and federal court seeking to block California's landmark 2004 rule ordering all automakers to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the cars they sell.

Masayuki Sasanouchi, general manager of Toyota's environmental affairs division, defended the company's attack on the California rules.

"We understand climate change is a federal issue, so we don't think California has a right to legislate it," he said. "We don't believe carbon dioxide is the same as a pollutant, and for this reason it's not covered under the Clean Air Act," he said, referring to the 1977 law, amended in 1990, that gives California the right to set air-quality standards different from the federal government's rules.

In fact, Toyota probably would benefit if the new California rule goes into effect in 2009 as scheduled, because its cars produce less emissions than its competitors' cars. But some analysts said Toyota seems to have bowed to larger political concerns, calculating that by allying with the politically powerful Detroit automakers on the anti-environment lawsuits, it could defuse pressure in Congress for anti-Japanese tariffs.

"Toyota is hypersensitive to the potential for protectionist backlash," Jeffrey Liker said, pointing out that Toyota's exports from Japan to North America are growing fast, reaching 940,000 cars in 2005, up 16 percent from 2004.

Environmentalists also have criticized Toyota for using hybrid technology to boost the horsepower and acceleration, rather than fuel efficiency, of its new Lexus RX 400h and Highlander hybrid models.

And under U.S. fuel-efficiency rules, the high mileage of the Prius helps Toyota comply with fleet averages even as it launches gas guzzlers like a larger, beefed-up version of the Tundra, its big pickup.

For Toyota, whose U.S. sales are soaring while American automakers' sales are slumping, there is never time for bragging.

A hybrid version of the best-selling Camry will be released this autumn. Ogiso said his team of engineers is working on a new version of the Prius and other hybrid projects.

"We need to continue working hard," Ogiso said. "We need to be making drastic improvements."

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, Toyota, Prius, hybrids

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Foursprung: Car shaped tent for living in the streets

This is real living-in-the-streets. I knew tents for car roofs. But this is crazy.

For those who believe that streets are for people as well as cars, here is the ultimate hybrid: a tent that looks like a car. Artist Michael Rakowitz says: "(P) LOT questions the occupation and dedication of public space and encourages reconsiderations of "legitimate" participation in city life. Contrary to the common procedure of using municipal parking spaces as storage surfaces for vehicles, P (LOT) proposes the rental of these parcels of land for alternative purposes."

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Source: Treehugger

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Hybrids: Advanced system by GM, DaimlerChrysler and BMW

It is not that often that these three car makers cooperate. But for advancing hybrid technology they do and seem to be successful.

Daimler Chrysler, GM and BMW are providing more detail on the new advanced hybrid system the three companies are co-developing.

Because of its low- and high-speed electric continuously variable transmission (ECVT) modes, the system is commonly referred to as the 2-mode hybrid. However, the system also incorporates four fixed-gear ratios for high efficiency and power-handling capabilities in a broad variety of vehicle applications.

During the two ECVT modes and four fixed-gear operations, the hybrid system can use the electric motors for boosting and regenerative braking.

The four fixed gears overlay two ECVT modes for a total of six operating functions:

1. Input-split ECVT mode, or continuously variable Mode 1, operates from vehicle launch through the second fixed gear ratio.

2. Compound-split ECVT mode, or continuously variable Mode 2, operates after the second fixed gear ratio.

3. First fixed-gear ratio with both electric motors available to boost the internal combustion engine or capture and store energy from regenerative braking, deceleration and coasting.

4. Second fixed-gear ratio with one electric motor available for boost/braking,

5. Third fixed-gear ratio with two electric motors available for boost/braking.

6. Fourth fixed-gear ratio with one electric motor available for boost/braking.

The full hybrid system has an overall mechanical content and size similar to a conventional automatic transmission, yet this full hybrid transmission can operate in infinitely variable gear ratios or one of the four fixed-gear ratios.

An electronic control module constantly optimizes the entire hybrid powertrain system to select the most efficient operation point for the power level demanded by the driver.

Traditional hybrid systems typically have only one torque-splitting arrangement and no fixed mechanical ratios (“one-mode” hybrids). Due to their less capable mechanical content, one-mode hybrids need to transmit a significant amount of power through an electrical path that is 20% less efficient than a mechanical path, according to the three.

This usually requires a substantial compromise in vehicle capability or reliance on larger electrical motors, which can create cost, weight and packaging issues.

The use of the four fixed mechanical ratios within the two ECVT modes reduces the power transmission through the less efficient electrical path. Consequently, the electric motors are more compact and less dependent on engine size.

The combination of two ECVT modes and four fixed gear ratios eliminates the drawbacks of one-mode hybrid systems to allow for efficient operation throughout a vehicle ’s operating range, at low and high speeds. It also allows for application across a broader variety of vehicles. It is particularly beneficial in applications that require larger engines, such as towing, hill-climbing or carrying heavy loads.

Existing internal combustion engines can be used with relatively minimal alteration because the full hybrid system imposes no significant limitation on the size or type of engine. It enables the three global automakers to package internal combustion engines with the full hybrid transmissions more cost-effectively and offer the fuel-saving technology across a wider range of vehicles.

Initial applications are suitable for front-engine, rear- and four-wheel-drive vehicle architectures, but the full hybrid system has the flexibility to be used in front-engine, front-wheel-drive architectures in the future as well.

General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and the BMW Group have formed a cooperative effort called the Global Hybrid Cooperation, which is actively developing this next generation hybrid powertrain system. Currently full hybrid systems are under development for front- and rear-wheel-drive passenger cars, and light-duty truck and SUV applications.

Related news: Foursprung, P4MR, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, GM, hybrids

Source: Green Car Congress

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Audi: Roadjet with coffee maker

Unfortunately only a concept. But a very beautiful and gadgety one from our premium car brand.

These days we treat our cars like mobile homes. We've had the music player, the hands-free phone, the TV - now there's the first coffee machine.

The WMF espresso machine features in Audi's latest concept car (the Roadjet) and sits neatly in the central arm rest between the passenger. WMF claim their machine is "fully functional" and "provides fresh coffee at the touch of a button". Now presuming you'll have to top this up before you set off on a journey, I would be very worried about a spillage occuring during a traffic slowdown.

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Source: Tech Digest

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Foursprung: Customizable turn-signal tones

Is there really a market for this?

On old cars, turn signals blink as a mechanical switch opens and closes. I know this because in my old 1972 Ford LTD, I once took the blinker mechanism apart (well, why not?) and found a motor that spun a little disk with electrical contacts arrayed around it, like a slow distributor. All this mechanical switching fed a mechanical relay, which you could hear click inside the car when the blinkers flashed on and off.
But new cars are all electronic. Rotating motors don't run blinkers, and the electronic relays are silent. So the click you hear when you're inside the car is also electronic, which means the noise could be made to sound like anything. Today, most cars make a nondescript clicking noise of some sort, but as this PR piece tells us, that click is actually carefully engineered by PhD scientists in white lab coats, employing the latest combination of psychoacoustic principles as well as the marketing manager saying, "I don't know, I think it needs to be more 'zing' than 'ping.'"
I exaggerate. But the point is that when the car's computer is sending an audio signal to a speaker, it can send anything. So why not a snappy tune? Why not a different tune or sound for each driver? Why not a pleasing tune, for just a few bucks a month, to replace the grating sound of fingernails being clipped that ships with your car for free?
Don't get me started on the seat belt warning chime.

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Source: CNET.com

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