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  • Peugeot 206+ 1.4 HDi 70 CV, prueba (Parte II)

    Peugeot_206+

    Continuamos con la prueba del Peugeot 206+ equipado con el único motor diesel disponible en la gama, el 1.4 HDi de 70 CV. Ahora que ya hemos visto como se comporta, que consumos tiene ese motor y sus prestaciones, como es costumbre pasamos a hablar del diseño del Peugeot 206+, ya sea el diseño exterior (donde básicamente es un 206 con algunos retoques exteriores) y de su diseño interior (también viejo conocido en gran parte).

    En cuanto al diseño exterior, a algunos de nuestros lectores latinoamericanos seguro que este 206+ les sonará más bien con otro nombre, es decir 207 Compact, un restyling del 206 que se lanzó para latinoamérica y para el que Peugeot encontró un hueco en el mercado europeo ahora que estaban de moda los modelos de bajo coste. Pero la verdad es que han conseguido un diseño exterior bastante bonito y un coche con un precio bastante contenido que es una de las características importantes del Peugeot 206+.

    Diseño exterior

    Peugeot_206+

    Si hacemos un repaso a su exterior, vemos que la base es claramente un 206 pero con focos delanteros alargados y tomados del 207, trasera con pilotos rediseñados y que toman ahora un aspecto más actual y moderno, así como retoques en el paragolpes delantero con un nuevo diseño con la típica parrilla ancha de la marca del león y con el paragolpes trasero que es ligeramente más alto que en el 206 anterior. Además las modificaciones en las defensas y pasos de rueda hacen que el 206+ crezca unos centímetros con respecto al 206 anterior (en concreto 36 mm de largo más).

    A esto hay que sumarle algunos detalles estéticos más como la tapa del depósito de combustible en un símil de aluminio o las llantas que cuentan con un nuevo diseño más actual. Las ruedas que calza de serie el 206+ son de 14 pulgadas, pero nuestra unidad tenía un extra (que viene en un pack) y las equipaba de 15 pulgadas. En general el aspecto exterior, pese a tener como base un modelo ya veterano, tiene un tinte nuevo y juvenil gracias a los retoques que le han dado. Y su tamaño sigue siendo muy útil para callejear o para aparcar en las urbes y podernos mover con bastante agilidad, sobretodo si lo unimos a la fuerza del propulsor HDi.

    Diseño interior y habitabilidad

    Peugeot_206+

    En cuanto pasamos al interior seguimos con partes del 207, puesto que la parte superior del salpicadero es tomada del 207 y la parte inferior es del anterior 206, al igual que el climatizador que es un viejo conocido en la gama de Peugeot y Citroën. Otra parte que viene del 207 es el panel de instrumentos, bastante más completo y moderno que el del 206. La parte superior del salpicadero es de bastante calidad y pese a que en la consola central hay bastantes plásticos duros, en general la calidad es bastante buena sobretodo si comparamos al 206+ con otros modelos de la competencia de tamaño y precio similares.

    Al principio tardarás algo en coger la postura de conducción, pero después de acostumbrarte resulta correcta. No es una berlina ni un espacioso monovolumen, pero durante la prueba y el tiempo que hemos pasado rodando con el 206+ en autopista ha resultado correcto en cuanto al confort, la única pega de los asientos sería que tienen poca sujeción lateral pero es normal en un compacto. Además desde el puesto de conducción tendrás todo prácticamente a mano y en particular me gusta la solución de los mandos en el volante (o más bien tras él) para el manejo de la radio y del control de velocidad y limitador, son muy prácticos.

    Un detalle que no me gustó son los pedales de aluminio, porque aunque vienen de serie junto con el pomo de la palanca de cambios (vieja conocida ya) y el volante de cuero, los veo poco prácticos porque en un día de lluvia resbalan con bastante facilidad y justo durante la prueba nos tocaron varios dias de lluvia intensa y no resultaron muy prácticos para la conducción que fueran de aluminio.

    Peugeot_206+

    En las plazas traseras mejor dos adultos y no tres, porque pese a que está homologado para cinco personas viajarían muy justas. Por lo demás tiene una altura para la cabeza suficiente y un espacio para los pies correcto, al menos para un utilitario. La visibilidad es buena en todos los ángulos, incluso la visibilidad trasera y es algo que se agradece sobretodo para andar por ciudad.

    Si pasamos a hablar de huecos, el 206+ cuenta con una buena guantera y portaobjetos en las puertas bastante grandes con hueco para una botella de medio litro incluso y además con un hueco en el tren central donde puede albergar un cenicero portátil (que hoy en día abundan) y otro posavasos central trasero. En cuanto al maletero, es un utilitario, y tiene un maletero bastante justo con 285 litros (y eso que aumenta en 40 litros la capacidad del anterior 206) pero bueno al menos tiene formas regulares y se puede aprovechar bien, incluso si no va nadie en las plazas traseras se pueden abatir para conseguir algo más de espacio.

    Peugeot_206+

    Eso sí, me lleve una desagradable sorpresa cuando abrí el maletero y vi atado en un lateral con una goma un práctico kit-antipinchazos, porque el 206 anterior contaba con rueda de repuesto bajo el maletero (debajo del coche) y no entiendo porque al 206+ no se la han equipado. Pero parece ser que en principio sería solo en algunas unidades, porque conozco gente que se ha comprado actualmente el 206+ y se la están equipando. Desconozco si Peugeot recapacitó o es cortesía del concesionario, pero me parece algo necesario.

    En general hay ajustes que son claramente mejorables o equipamientos que no tienen mucha lógica (de eso hablaremos en la tercera parte) pero es ilógico que en un pack cerrado equipe sensor de luces y sin embargo no pueda equipar una radio MP3 y no sólo radio CD (que además es un extra) o el caso de los pedales de aluminio que non son muy prácticos, pese a que venga de serie, al igual que el pomo de la palanca de cambio que con el uso se acaba prefiriendo de plástico antes que ese metal o incluso como lo monta el 3008 recubierto de cuero.

    En la tercera parte de la prueba os hablaremos del equipamiento del 206+, valoración general y los precios (una de sus mejores bazas). En el equipamiento hay ciertos matices como el ESP o la radio MP3 que es bueno tener en cuenta si vas a comprar o un 206+, además de hablaros de los packs porque el 206+ cuenta con menos opciones que su antecesor y con un equipamiento más cerrado.

    Fotos | David Taboada



  • MUST SEE: GLOBAL WARMING AND THE EUROPEAN UNION – THE DAY DEMOCRACY DIED

    Article Tags: UK Independence party (UKIP)

    Several UKIP MEPs speak out against the sham of ‘man-made global warming’, carbon taxes and global pillage and impoverishment.

    The theory of ‘man-made global warming’ has been disproven over and over again by science — study after study. There is absolutely no proof that man-made CO2 heats up the atmosphere. The polar ice caps are at their normal size. No polar bears or penguins are losing their habitats or drowning (in fact, these animals are natural born swimmers….). The world has been cooling since 2001. The recent scandal of CLIMATEGATE was the last nail in the coffin of whatever scientific credibility the theory still had — since it proved the main authors of the IPCC reports systematically engaged in data fudging and manipulation to prove their nonsensical theory.

    Source: climategate.com

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  • Wikipedia Makes Its Funding Goals

    wikipedia.org A while back, Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, posted an appeal for donations to keep Wikipedia on the Internet as a free site. According to Wales, the site is the 5th most-read on the Web worldwide. It has a staff of under 35 people, with a 10 million dollar yearly budget. Wales took the site nonprofit in 2003 (having started in 2001), so donations are all tax deductible.

    In a Wikipedia, and am very pleased that the website will continue to be financially strong.

  • ClimateGate.com

    Article Tags: John O'Sullivan

    Hi,

    I work for climategate.com, a campaign website staffed by dedicated volunteers. We are looking to garner support from you and other like-minded sites in any way you see fit. We seek publicity or other such assistance that you and your readers may be able to give freely to support our latest initiative. We are offering a multi-million dollar legal and financial package as an incentive to whistleblowers from Penn State Uni. who are willing to come forward and give evidence to assist a prosecution of climatologist, Michael Mann.

    Please read our story for more details, it is already being run in the British national press (Climategate: Michael Mann’s very unhappy New Year by James Delingpole)

    Many thanks,

    John O’Sullivan
    www.climategate.com

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  • Timisoara, probably the most beautiful city in Romania

    Symphony Café by Antonius Plaian

    Please post only artistic pictures. Thanks :cheers:

  • Climategate: Michael Mann’s very unhappy New Year by James Delingpole

    Article Tags: ClimateGate, Headline Story, James Delingpole

    As I said yesterday, one of our jobs this year is to wipe the complacent smiles off the smug faces of the lobbyists, “experts”, “scientists”, politicians and activists pushing AGW.

    This is why I am so glad to report that Michael Mann – creator of the incredible Hockey Stick curve and one of the scientists most heavily implicated in the Climategate scandal – is about to get a very nasty shock. When he turns up to work on Monday, he’ll find that all 27 of his colleagues at the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University have received a rather tempting email inviting them to blow the whistle on anyone they know who may have been fraudulently misusing federal grant funds for climate research.

    Under US law, regardless of whether or not a prosecution results, the whistleblower stands to make very large sums of money: it is based on a percentage of the total government funds which have been misused, in this case perhaps as much as $50 million. (Hat tip: John O’Sullivan of the wonderful new campaigning site www.climategate.com)

    Here’s that email in full:

    Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk

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  • ZOMM Keeps Careless Owners In Touch with Their Phones [Dongles]

    Even if you drop your phone down a hole, or trap it in a locked briefcase, ZOMM promises to be there to connect incoming calls. It’s kind of like a leash for those of us prone to abusing our phones.

    Powered by Bluetooth, this hockey puck works as both a wireless speakerphone for inaccessible phones, and as an alarm should you leave your phone somewhere, forget it’s there and start to walk out of range.

    Slated for an official CES release, the device has a rumored $80 price point. Kind of expensive and niche, but could be useful in a pinch. [technabob]







  • Parlaiment from the South Bank: Always the same, always different

    Back to a more traditional urban (London) image … 🙂

  • Searching the Wilkes-Barre “Sunday Independent” 1913-1927

    Tom Mooney wrote a good column for the Times Leader today. It included suggestions on how to go about locating online data for Northeastern Pennsylvania.

    One important bit of information I got from the article is that The Sunday Independent, published in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania from 1906 through 1993, is digitized for the years 1913-1927 and is accessible online at free of charge. The papers may be found and searched at http://www.accesspadr.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/wbsunind. It looks to me like 682 complete papers have been digitized.

    I did a search for the surname, Canfield, and got 16 hits. The following illustration shows the first four of those hits. Click on the image to see all 16 – at the site itself.

    Canfields in The Sunday Independent

    Clicking on the first example, I got the following obituary (screen shot from within the page).
    Theodore Canfield obituary

    Go search on the papers for your ancestors.

  • Mobile Tech Minutes: Consumer ThinkPad Edge on Video

    The ThinkPad brand has long been associated with top-notch business-class notebooks. The famous black notebooks have appeared in conference rooms the world over, and the ThinkPad brand has come to mean fine quality business notebooks. The folks at Lenovo look to bring the ThinkPad into the consumer space, and the ThinkPad Edge is the first effort to get folks to bring the ThinkPad home.

    The Edge is available in three sizes, 13, 14, 15 inch screens, and all have a sporty cover that is available in either glossy black or red. Lenovo has attempted to make a consumer notebook that fits into the high-quality mold of the ThinkPad, and the Edge is a good first effort.

    I have been fortunate enough to receive a ThinkPad Edge prior to launch, and have been using one for a few weeks. In the video I show the build quality and nice design touches that Lenovo has put in this first consumer ThinkPad. The model in the video is the 13-incher, with a glossy (smudge magnet) black lid. I demonstrate the unique features of the Edge, including the nice chiclet keyboard and the inclusion of both a multitouch trackpad and a ThinkPad trackstick.

    I state in the video that the Edge will be available for a starting price of $450, but I have received updated information from Lenovo that corrects that figure. The Edge pricing will start at $549, still a good price for a ThinkPad product. The 13-inch model is available from Lenovo currently, and the 14 and 15-inch models will be available in the second quarter of this year.

    ThinkPad Edge

  • Atom-Based Toshiba, Gateway Netbooks Join Growing Pile of Leaked CES Gear [NetBooks]

    With the Lenovo laptop/netbook CES leak still fresh in our minds, let us consider Toshiba and Gateway this afternoon, and the netbooks we now know they’ll be bringing to the show as well:

    The netbooks in question here are all based on Intel’s N450 “Pine Trail” chip, reports CNET, and were first spotted at Canadian retailer Future Shop. Both are similar in configuration, but not price, with Gateway weighing in at about $285, and the Toshiba at $438. Both models will come standard with 1.66GHz Atom processors, 160GB or 250GB hard disk drives (Gateway and Toshiba, respectively), 10.1-inch screens, 1GB of memory, and Intel’s GMA 3150 Express graphics chip. [CNET]







  • Locomotiva a Vapor – entre Coimbra e Serpins

    Encontrei este vídeo no youtube e como achei interessante decidi publicar aqui.

    Viagem da locomotiva a vapor 0186 entre Coimbra e Serpins.

    Outubro de 2002.

    A viagem começa em Coimbra-B. Gostei de ver a locomotiva a vapor a passar na Beira Rio / Portagem, em Coimbra.

    🙂

  • Leica S2-p revealed and unboxed

    Here’s an unboxing of the new Leica S2-p, done by happy new owner Matthew Harrison. Matthew hasn’t just unboxed his new toy, he’s also written a first impression review.

    [Thanks to Leica Rumors for the tip]


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  • Talkcast this evening at 10pm EST: Best of the year

    Filed under: ,

    Our weekly talkcast (so called because you yourself can call in and talk with us live) is back on the virtual airwaves again this evening at 10pm Eastern, and the topic of the day is the topic of the year: we’ll take a look at our top posts of 2009, from all the news surrounding last year’s WWDC to our most popular tip of 2009 and all of the other stories on the site that floated your boat this (wait, we mean “last”!) year. And we’ll of course talk about the year in apps, discussing both our favorite apps overall and our favorite games of the year.

    Should be fun, so join us, won’t you? To participate on TalkShoe, you can use the browser-only client, the embedded Facebook app, or the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the “TalkShoe Web” button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 — during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8.

    If you’ve got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Gizmo or X-Lite SIP clients; basic instructions are here. Talk with you then!

    TUAWTalkcast this evening at 10pm EST: Best of the year originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • AT&T sued by Washington DC for unused balances on calling cards

    Here’s a superficially curious, but fundamentally quite important, bit of legal wrangling for you. Reuters is reporting that the District of Columbia has filed suit against AT&T Corp for the recovery of unused balances on calling cards purchased from the telecom giant. Estimated at somewhere between 5 and 20 percent of the overall value of the cards, the so-called breakage — leftover credit that customers neglect to use — has typically remained with the carrier as a sort of predictable bonus. The DC Attorney General, however, is seeking to have breakages treated as unclaimed property, which under district law means that after three years they must be returned to the state. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, the decision on this case will set a significant precedent for the future of such prepaid services.

    AT&T sued by Washington DC for unused balances on calling cards originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • State of the World 2010

    Bruce Sterling gives his annual State of the World interview on the Well.

    Quick summary: Something of a downer–we aren’t facing groovy teenage problems like a war or a natural disaster, so much as we’re facing middle aged crises of befuddlement and general worn-down-ness. Your best option is to move to Brazil and join some kind of post-post-modern tribe of artisans and disaster recovery experts.

  • AT&T Moves Goal Post In Latest Luke Wilson 3G Commercial [Commercials]

    With the new year you might have expected an end to the retaliatory Luke Wilson AT&T versus Verizon coverage map ads. You expect wrong. Here’s a new one, now with revised numbers and a new blazer!

    You see, while it is indeed a completely new commercial, the data advertised within experiences a subtle change. One that centers on 3G. Now the AT&T commercial showcases that the 3G network covers 230 million Americans, keyword 3G.

    For the before we must go to the video tape:

    Just a subtle change, and I only point it out today with the hope that it will inspire someone, somewhere, to parody these commercials, post haste. If they don’t, I fear we may have experience Luke Wilson and his never-ending collection of tweed blazers for all of 2010 as well. Editor’s Note: Clarified the subtle numbers change above. Thanks for the comment. [CNET]







  • Custom Electric Guitar Lets You Strum a Koopa Troopa

    Koopa Troopa guitar

    From the imagination of an anonymous musical engineer comes the simultaneously coolest and nerdiest custom electric guitar ever made: Behold, the Koopa Troopa shredder.

    This first popped up on Reddit through a post by one of the anonymous Creator’s friends (via Joystiq), and it seems its skyrocketing popularity has spurred said Creator to make a Reddit account of his own, where he’s provided a few more details on how the guitar works.

    “Just to clear this up. The guitar is right handed,” he writes. “I play it so the Koopa is on its back (it’s been stomped). When it is on a guitar stand it’s walking about. Just pretend Mario jumped on the Koopa Troopa and chose to hold it for too long so it’s escaping.”

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  • Detroit News: Chrysler sues multiple states over dealer laws

    Filed under: , ,

    So you’re Chrysler, and you hop into the Chapter 11 pool. While you can wash away some of your past sins with a bankruptcy-protection filing, the deal with Chapter 11 is that you’ve got to come up with a way to get out of your financial pickle and return to profitability. Part of the Chrysler plan to keep its head above water was divestiture of 789 dealers, a very unpopular idea with the rejected sales organizations.

    When adversity strikes, what else is there to do but unleash legislative changes and legal challenges to and fro like archers’ arrows? Recent changes to dealer laws in Oregon, Maine, North Carolina and Illinois contradict bankruptcy code and are unconstitutional. The laws allow the states to block Chryser granting a new franchise or relocating an existing dealership into a market once belonging to a rejected dealer.

    Chrysler has fired off a lawsuit in Manhattan bankruptcy court naming eight parties as defendants, including the Oregon Attorney General, secretaries of state in Maine and Illinois, and other transportation officials. The filing argues that the laws would force Chrysler to give consideration to the dealers for rights that they do not have, and furthermore, the dealer rejections were approved as part of the sale to Fiat.

    [Source: The Detroit News]

    Detroit News: Chrysler sues multiple states over dealer laws originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • La magia de los desguaces y los coches abandonados

    nyt_dubai_580.jpg

    No sé a ustedes, pero a mi me atraen los lugares en donde se venden cosas antiguas y si son coches, o algo que tenga que ver con coches, mucho mejor. De vez en cuando, me encuentro en Internet con ciertas páginas que nos muestran desguaces abandonados, con coches que en otras épocas tuvieron mejor una vida, pero que ahora yacen abandonados a su suerte esperando algún alma caritativa que los rescate.

    Muchos de ellos, ya están en fase más que terminal. No hay rescate posible para tonelada y media de herrumbre, literalmente. Es posible encontrar algunos ejemplares en más o menos buen estado, pero siempre hay que pensar que el costo de una restauración va más allá. Los coches antiguos consumen dinero, de la misma manera que consumen aceite, aunque la gran mayoría de ellos posiblemente ni siquiera vean otra vez una carretera.

    Los coches abandonados también tienen su “atractivo”. Entre los lugares que visito frecuentemente (virtualmente, claro está) está el sitio de Lost America. Un fotógrafo llamado Troy Paiva, ha retratado mayormente coches y estaciones de servicio abandonadas en el desierto del oeste norteamericano, frecuentemente de noche.

    Otro sitio son fotos en Flickr dedicado a coches abandonados en calles de todo el mundo. English Russia nos trae imágenes de un desguace ruso, con algunos modelos en buen estado, mientras que en la mismísima Dubai se sorprendían por la cantidad de coches abandonados en su aeropuerto, unos ¡3.000!