Author: Serkadis

Filed under: Hybrid, Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet, GM, Electric

It was exactly three years ago today that the original Chevrolet Volt concept rolled onto the stage at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. Last summer, we visited a facility in Brownstown Township, MI that General Motors had chosen to manufacture battery packs for the production Chevrolet Volt. In the intervening five months, GM has been busy installing assembly equipment in the formerly empty building and today GM invited the media back to Brownstown to watch the first “official” pack roll down the assembly line.

Starting today, the battery packs are full production-spec units, but GM engineers are still tweaking the management software in an attempt to maximize range and lifespan. Between now and November, the plant will be producing several hundred packs that will be used for a variety of development tasks. Some will be heading straight into the cyclers at the test lab in Warren, MI, while the the rest will be going into the pilot and production verification Volts that will begin rolling out of the Detroit Hamtramck assembly plant by April. More details after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading General Motors builds first Volt battery pack on production line [w/video]

General Motors builds first Volt battery pack on production line [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Move over Roomba. Mint is here! It offers both dry and wet floor cleaning using special motions to systematically clean every square inch. Due to North Star navigation technology, it tracks where it has cleaned and even integrates information from 3 different positioning systems to map and plan how to return and pick up spots not covered on the first round. I’d be glad to relinquish my floor chores to this master Mint.

Mark Montgomery alerts us to yet another case of trademark law being taken to ridiculous ends. Apparently a restaurant/bakery is claiming a trademark on putting a smiley face on a cookie and is suing a cookie store for selling similar cookies:

A key ingredient of Eat’n Park’s case is the lawsuit’s Exhibit A, which shows a circle with two round eyes, a dot for a nose and a perky smile.

Time to start selling cookies with sad faces, and saying it’s all Eat’n Park’s fault that the cookies are so sad.

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NPR (Peter Kenyon)

In Egypt, tourism is big business. Nearly 13 million people visited the land of the pharaohs in 2008, and officials say the global economic crisis caused only a temporary slippage in the numbers in 2009.

A budding eco-travel movement is emerging, almost unnoticed amid the bulging tour buses and packed cruise ships. Its leaders are trying to tap into the skills and knowledge of Egypt’s Bedouins and other tribal peoples, who have been all but ignored by the mainstream tourism industry.

The tourism experience in Egypt is best known for the hordes of tour groups circling the Great Pyramids of Giza or wilting under the desert sun at Luxor’s Valley of the Kings.

Egypt’s annual tourism revenues of nearly $7 billion in 2005 soared to more than $10.5 billion in 2008.

The government has razed shantytowns and swept aside poor villagers in efforts to make the experiences more pleasant for tourists.

Tourists take pictures of the temple of Abu Simbel, south of Aswan, Egypt, in 2008.
Integrating Traditional Communities

But in late October, activists and businesspersons gathered with members of various Egyptian tribes in the remote southeastern desert to celebrate their heritage and traditions, and to explore ways of responsibly bringing people to the Egypt that package tour visitors never see.

The second annual Characters of Egypt festival featured Sinai Bedouins from the eastern hills, Nubian tribes from the south, and the tribes of the western desert from as far as the Siwa Oasis near the Libyan border.

It was a rare opportunity for the tribes to swap songs, stories, food and art, and to debate whether this new eco-travel movement could provide desperately needed jobs without forever changing their lives.

The head of Egypt’s national parks, Mustafa Foudy, said that last concern is part of his job — to see that eco-tourism doesn’t turn into a smaller version of mass tourism.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Until now, the Boxee that we’ve known and tweaked was, at heart, an alpha-level geek toy—technically savvy, but funky to actually use. The just-released beta version makes TV, movies, Netflix, and other web content actually easy to enjoy.

We got a look at some screenshots and video from the unveiling, but we’ve been able to use early release versions of the Boxee beta on both Linux and Windows systems since then. Here’s Howcast’s helpful video, showing off some features and offering tips on getting started

And here’s what’s jumped out at us about this nifty little piece of software.

Click on any of the images in this post for a larger view.

Smoother playback and streaming, at least on Windows

Boxee is meant to be used on a media-minded, HDMI-connected mini-computer (a.ka. a “Home Theater PC,” or HTPC), or perhaps a laptop hooked up to an HDTV. There’s a dedicated device, the Boxee Box coming in 2010 for “under $200.” The Boxee team has also recommended a few devices that are small, relatively cheap, and utilize the NVIDIA ION graphics chip to provide HD-quality video without requiring other high-end hardware.

I’d already built a cheap-but-powerful Boxee setup, but for the beta release, I switched that ASRock Ion 330 to a Windows 7 installation, with Boxee set to load on startup. I did that because Windows is the only platform where Adobe “Labs” Flash 10.1 can offer 3D acceleration for Hulu and other web video streams, and because Netflix requires Microsoft’s Silverlight software to stream—not available, as you might guess, for Linux.

Running the Boxee beta on Windows 7, I’ve been very, very pleased with both downloaded video files and streaming content. Watching Hulu or other decently-high-quality video is akin to watching standard definition television, while streaming HD videos from Vimeo or YouTube feels like living in the future. Adobe will eventually (we’d hope) add hardware acceleration to its Mac and Linux Flash players, and Netflix may well make its way onto Linux systems. For the time being, though, the specially built Boxee Box or a Windows setup seem like the road to high-definition happiness.

Focus on content, not sites

In the Boxee alpha, when you wanted to watch a movie on Netflix, you launched the Netflix button, then navigated through that app’s own interface to pick a movie or TV episode. When you were looking for a TV show, you’d head to the TV menu, pick the CBS, WB, or Hulu Feeds button (when it worked), then click-click-click to your show, and your episode.

Now when I want to check out that season finale episode of Glee I’ve been meaning to get around to (forever), I can head to TV Shows, start typing in G-L, and select it from the as-you-type results on the right. Boxee will ask if I want to stream this episode through Fox’s own site or Hulu, let me know if they’re ad-supported or not, and give me the alternate option of queuing this episode up, if I’m not ready for the sit-down yet.

It works this way for movies, too. Start typing in H-A-N, and if you wanted to stream Hancock over Netflix, head over and click on it. If you’re on a laptop, or using Boxee’s kinda awesome QWERTY remote in the future, it’s easy, and clicking out two letters on a virtual keyboard isn’t so bad with a standard remote, either.

The very handy Queue

Boxee’s Queue feature makes this find-and-click process even easier. If I’ve added Glee to My Shows, it will automatically show up in my Queue, the right-most column on the start screen. If I happened to see a link to the Hulu page for that episode in my web travels, I could queue it up with a bookmarklet. Or, if I’m really into my serial musical dramedies, I could add Glee to the ever-present pop-up menu. When you get to Glee’s page, the episodes you’ve already watched through Boxee have dimmed titles, which is quite helpful as well.

The Apps and social hooks

If Boxee did nothing but play back your video files and hook up to Netflix or Hulu, it would be, well, XBMC Live, or just an open-source Windows Media Center. What differentiates Boxee is its support for independent app devleopment, giving all kinds of niche, mashup, and just plain cool sites a home on your TV.

There are too many to try and name or catalog here in total, but in my own house, the Facebook and Flickr photo apps have become a relaxing way of keeping up on what friends are up to. Failblog and The Daily Kitten’s apps provide shamelessly effective quick-hit entertainment, and I watched the entirety of The Guild’s third season through Boxee on my TV. If I’m blogging from the living room, I can have Pandora piped through our speakers, or listen to NPR through its own app, or through the RadioTime tuner. As Boxee becomes more available and accessible to the average home, more apps are bound to come along.

And your friends, too, who get hooked up with Boxee will make the experience more enjoyable. Not that I don’t think the Boxee team lacks for cultural cachet, but they’re the only people, out of the 10 I’m friended to through Boxee, that manage to push anything into my recommended/rated feed. When more of your friends and fellow media lovers start using it, you’re bound to enjoy bumping into little surprises on Boxee a whole lot more.

What’s still missing

So Boxee’s taken a big step toward making their software more content-focused and accessible, but they could go farther.

• Hulu can remember where you left off in a video while you’re signed in, and it would be great if Boxee could do that, too—on any video site. This isn’t some overnight JavaScript hack, but, still, it’s one of the last big differences between your DVD/Blu-Ray player and web video.
• Video files that we download from around the internet have a huge variety of naming schemes. Jason’s detailed some techniques for helping the “scraper” in XBMC, and Boxee, recognize and organize your files in his guide to turbo-charging your XBMC installation, but more work on getting Boxee’s local file organizer to instantly locate and categorize TV shows and movies is always appreciated.
• Boxee still includes an automatic torrent downloader, and a web-server-based remote control scheme, but they’re both tucked away deep in the system options. Why not come out of the server room ghetto and make Boxee a remote-controlled BitTorrent champion, just like uTorrent?

Those are our (admittedly positive-minded) impressions so far. Once you’ve had a chance to play around with the latest Boxee, tell us what you think in the comments.

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The word of mouth surrounding Darksiders has generally been positive, but one issue that’s emerged early on is persistent screen tearing in the Xbox 360 version of the game. However, Vigil Games representatives have said that they are aware of the problem, and are working on a fix.

Speaking with IGN, Vigil Games head Joe Madeuira said, “It’s something that’s really not a difficult fix for us and so we’re going to implement a patch to resolve the problem. We’re fairly certain it’ll happen really soon so look out for it.”

Darksiders lets players take on the role of War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The dungeon exploration and combat has led to frequent comparisons with The Legend of the Zelda.

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npr (Peter Kenyon)

With audio (4m 21sec) and photographs.

At this time of year, Egypt’s hotels and cruise ships are packed with thousands of visitors eager to see the Great Pyramids or Luxor’s famed Valley of the Kings. But a quietly growing eco-tourism movement is beginning to bring smaller groups to more out-of-the-way parts of Egypt, the places package tour operators don’t visit.

At the remote Dakhla Oasis, new eco-lodges have sparked both hope and apprehension among local villagers.

Many villagers agree that Dakhla needs visitors to supplement the uncertain agriculture-based economy. But they also worry that large numbers of tourists will stress the fragile environment that has sustained life for thousands of years.

Nasser al-Hamoud, a blacksmith, works from inside an old mud-brick building on a twisting, narrow street in Al Qasr, a village at the northern end of the Dakhla Oasis. At his shop, a giant heaving bellows is the centerpiece of what resembles a medieval blacksmith’s forge.

Al Qasr village lies at the northern end of Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis. A 15th century, mud-brick mosque minaret punctuates the skyline of Al Qasr’s old walled city.
Old walled city of Al Qasr
Peter Kenyon/NPR

Al Qasr village lies at the northern end of Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis. A 15th century, mud-brick mosque minaret punctuates the skyline of Al Qasr’s old walled city.

Hamoud has been smithing here for a quarter-century. He learned the trade from his father, and his own son is now pulling the chain that works the bellows, flaring the red-hot coals where the business end of a small scythe is taking shape.

Hamoud explains that business is uncertain these days. He says farm tools are his bread and butter, but lately, cheap imports from China have flooded the market. He scornfully holds up a thin, Chinese-made shovel blade, and then hefts the weightier, more costly hand-forged version.

Recently, however, Hamoud has begun to develop a sideline in selling large ornamental nails and rustic jewelry to tourists, who have started to visit in larger numbers. He has no idea if this is a blip or a trend.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Eye-Fi 802.11n Pro X2 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)

As well as being the second most famous brown fedora-sporting archaeologist of all time, Dr Zahi Hawass could also run Indiana Jones close in the screen-time stakes. The Director General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities is yet to star in his own movie (although we suspect he would like to), but on the web at least, his appearances are prolific, and always informative and entertaining.

Here we pick out ten of our favourite online video clips starring Dr Hawass. They range from tours of the Great Pyramid together with the leader of the free world, to revelations on the life and death of King Tut, and nostalgic tales of early archaeological digs way back in the days when denim shirts were actually fashionable. If you like these, you can find loads more films featuring Indy – ahem, sorry, Zahi – on the Heritage Key videos page.

See the above page for all the links.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Golden House Publications

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Tesla Motors and Panasonic announced today that they will collaborate to develop next-generation battery cells for use in electric-vehicles.

“Our collaboration with Panasonic will accelerate the development of next generation EV cells, enabling Tesla to further improve our battery pack performance,” said JB Straubel, Tesla’s Chief Technology Officer. “Combining Tesla’s rigorous cell testing and understanding of EV requirements with Panasonic’s cutting-edge battery technology will result in custom cells optimized for use in EVs.”

Tesla said that it will use Panasonic’s battery cells, which are comprised of Nickel-based Lithium ion chemistry, in its new battery packs.

Currently, Tesla’s battery packs are composed of cells from multiple battery suppliers. Tesla says that the new cells will also be compatible with other cell form factors to enable the continuation of its strategy of using cells from other suppliers. Tesla has already delivered more than 900 Roadster to customers in North America and Europe.

– By: Kap Shah

Bikya Masr

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced on Wednesday that 30 countries that possess ancient Egyptian monuments and artifacts will participate in a conference next April in Cairo to discuss the restoration and recovery of the artifacts, especially those removed after the signing of a UNESCO agreement in the 1970s.

The secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, said, “The conference, organized by Egypt, aims at discussing the conditions returning antiquities stolen after the signing of the UNESCO agreement.”

As for the effects looted by colonial powers in the 17th and 18th centuries, Hawass said, “This is a big issue that cannot be dealt with now, and while we think it will be discussed in this conference, it won’t be the main focus.”

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

Region of Rome, Italy | Cultures and Civilizations

Only 17 km northwest of the Eternal City stand the ruins of the rival that almost snuffed out early Roman civilization, long before Caesar or Augustus were born. The great Etruscan city-state of Veii – the big trading power on the Tiber River for centuries – now consists of broken walls, grave-mounds, and rock-cut tombs painted with ancient frescoes.

Veii stands on a volcanic plateau between two streams, at the junction of which stands the “arx” or Etruscan citadel, now call the Piazza d’Armi (“military square”). The city was wiped out by the Romans in 396 BC after a decade-long war.

While much of Etruscan culture is lost to us, visitors to Veio Regional Natural Park can still find plenty to see and wonder at, including the town gates or Porta Ponte Sodo (5th century BC), the Temple of Apollo (7th century BC), the Tomb of the Roaring Lions, and the Tomb of the Ducks (also 7th century BC), which is Italy’s oldest painted tomb.

In addition, the oak-filled park contains notable Roman-era structures, such as the Villa of Livia, as well as the medieval village of Isola Farnese.

But the tombs and their secrets attract more than archaeologists and tourists to the Veii region. Tombaroli – tomb raiders – come in the night to loot the graves of the long-dead, pre-Roman people of Italy.

The brushed-aluminum LED-lit C9000 is not just the handsomest slender TV at the show, it comes with the most innovative Wi-Fi remote control—one that looks suspiciously like an iPhone and feels suspiciously like a Samsung phone.

Why a Wi-Fi video remote? So you can watch a Blu-ray on your TV while checking out the game in your hand, of course. Maybe you’ve never had that problem, exactly, but this product seems like a step in a new direction, rather than just a “we did it because we could” kind of thing.

The remote connects over your Wi-Fi network to control the TV (also on the Wi-Fi network), much like iTunes Remote works on an iPhone. The screen is vibrant and high-contrast, though it is LCD, not OLED. As you tap buttons on the screen (which I believe is resistive, since Samsung wouldn’t confirm capacitive) you feel a little vibe, haptic feedback that is now common on phones from Samsung and LG. I wish the remote itself felt a little more sturdy; there was a hollowness to it that makes me worry about it sliding off the coffee table. Still, I was impressed by its simple setup and lithe manipulation. It’s like they finally found a good thing to do with all of those feature-phone interfaces nobody needs anymore.

What do you do with it? As you browse channels, it’s actually using the TV’s own tuner to render video, which it downgrades and sends to the remote in more-or-less realtime. If you like something, you just tap a control and its on the big screen. If you want to tap into a DLNA server on your network, you’ll see it and all its bounty. Samsung wouldn’t confirm what kind of files it would decode, but did say that they would support 1080p resolution on video files.

The only problem with the remote is it’s something that could be replaced by an iPhone app in about 12 seconds.

All of this, and I still haven’t gotten to the TV. Sure, slim TVs are kinda old hat by now, but I really like this one, because it has all of its interface engineering built into the base, not some ugly outboard set-top box. Want to wall mount it instead? The base pops off, and attaches to the back of the TV, making it slightly thicker, sure, but not by much, especially so close to a wall.

There’s no price on this baby yet, but since it’s clearly a vanity project—and it natively supports 3D, like most primo TVs at CES this year—you know they’re going to sell it to the celebs and high rollers first.

In an attempt to beef up the performance of its sports cars, Lotus is considering an advanced dual-clutch transmission for future vehicles and is considering the possibility of selling it to other companies.

According to AutoCar, the automaker has submitted a patent application for a lighter, simpler and more compact dual-clutch transmission system.

As seen from the picture, the gearbox will be an 8-speed unit with seven forward gears and reverse. While the application has been submitted by Lotus Cars, sources say that the transmission will be developed by Lotus Engineering, meaning Lotus could be studying the possibility of selling the transmission to others.

As AutoCar points out, the unit could be used on the next Lotus Elise.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoCar

Al Ahram Weekly

With photo.

The early years of the 20th century altered forever Egypt’s political and social life. It was at that time that what is now called “public opinion” came into being. The newspapers and later on the radio were essential in shaping people’s views, but there was something too: the tram.

Mohamed Sayed Kilani, a contemporary historian, elaborates: “When the inhabitants of the capital began to mingle, as a result of the introduction of the tram, public opinion began to take shape and influence the ruling apparatuses.”

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

2010Jan7: Turkey and Syria agree to the joint construction and management of a dam on the Orontes River, which runs along the Turkish and Syrian border (TRT). Hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterners have been displaced because of a 3-year drought, which has devastated the agricutural sector. The scarcity of water has led to resentment by Syria and Iraq against Turkey, which is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have enough water. Turkey is a water superpower, according to Hussein Amery, an expert on Middle East water management and a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. The upper tributaries of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are located in Turkey and dams have been built on rivers, reducing the flow of water to Arab countries that are downstream (NPR).

References: NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122365133&ps=cprs; TRT http://www.trtenglish.com/trtinternational/en/newsDetail.aspx?HaberKodu=8904a24c-00fd-4745-9c13-fe7092cc7f9f

Image Description: Orentes River. Credit: syriapath.com Image Location: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hama-orontes-river.JPG Image Permission: The copyright holder of this work, hereby releases it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.