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Planes, Trains, & Automobiles

Are We There Yet? Still Waiting For Decent iPod Car Integration

Even Bob Borchers, Apple’s senior director of iPod worldwide product marketing, calls most iPod car setups an “inelegant mess of cassette adaptors and wires.” Indeed, while Apple aparently doesn’t want to get into the car audio business, they do want to improve the in-car iPod experience: What Apple really wants you to buy is a […] » about 700 words

DeLoreans Are Back In This Future

If the DeLorean looks at all like a Lotus Esprit, it should. Both of them were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and much of the engineering work was done by Lotus founder Colin—to add speed, add lightness—Chapman. Amusingly, John De Lorean also owned a company that manufactured snowcats under the DMC name. Owners and wannabes can […] » about 400 words

Is The Moller Skycar A Fraud? Will I Ever Get My Flying Car?

A recent comment here reminded me to check in on our options for flying cars, now at least seven years overdue. It turns out that Moller International, the folks developing the M400 Skycar aerodyne, are accepting deposits: As a result of the recent successful hovering flights of the M400 Skycar, Moller International is accepting deposits […] » about 400 words

Sweet Vespa Scooter With Sidecar on eBay

Greenstemstudios is selling a sweet-looking 1980 Vespa with sidecar. In gleaming Cinder Red and House of Kolar Black, riding on white wall Continentals, “the scooter gets 60 to 70 miles to the gallon and can easily maintain 60 mph even with the sidecar attached.” The starting price is $3,750. I’m plenty happy with my scooter, […] » about 100 words

Quiet Comfort

That’s me on JetBlue Flight 481 to Long Beach, wearing my noise canceling headphones. Sandee saw me wanting them, so she was especially happy to make them a Christmas present to me. And, with all the flying I’ve been doing lately, I was especially happy to have them. I wanted the QuietComfort 2s not just […] » about 400 words

Competition, Market Position, and Statistics

Watch this video a few times. It’s funny. It’s catchy. It’s kitsch. Now watch it a few times more. The ad, for a Lada VAZ 2109, appeared sometime in the 90s. It reflects the influence of MTV and other cultural imports from the West, but the details betray it’s command economy provenance. The snow appears […] » about 400 words

Lawn Mower Speed Record

It’s late summer and the heat wave killed the grass on your lawn, so what better to do than challenge Bob Cleveland’s record for the fastest lawn mower yet? Not sure your mower has what it’ll take to race down the salt flats at over 80 MPH? Wimp. Utah’s KSL TV quotes Bob saying “we […] » about 100 words

Go Air Scooter, Go

While we’re still waiting for flying cars (or even just fuel efficient cars) I’m keeping track of tiny helicopters like the GEN H-4 and this one, the AirScooter II, pictured above. The company, AirScooter Corporation of Henderson NV, introduces the new craft with a tip of the hat to Igor Sikorsky‘s earliest designs featuring counter-rotating […] » about 500 words

Rocket Cars Make Better Fireworks

I pointed out this Jet Turbine Powered Toyota MR2 a year ago, but now I’ve discovered Ron Patrick’s Jet Powered VW Beatle. The story is well told in a San Francisco Gate article from April (with bonus video), which describes the builder: Patrick is a 48-year-old Stanford-trained (Ph.D.) engineer who owns ECM (Engine Control and […] » about 400 words

Asian Scooter Gangs

The members of this Taiwanese scooter gang might really be cooler than me. Well, they would be cooler if the scooter gangs weren’t also known to be violent: A scooter gang viciously attacked and injured 12 teenagers — three critically — while on a violent joyride in Taipei County’s Tucheng City… The gang of more […] » about 200 words

Morbidly Curious

A friend pointed me to PlaneCrashInfo.com and I can’t help but explore. I was told to start with the pictures (which end in late 2001, and so don’t include recent incidents like the flaming nose-wheel at LAX or the overshot runway in Chicago), but it was the collection of “last words” transcripts from the cockpit […] » about 200 words

Evergreen Aviation Museum

Howard Hughes‘ Spruce Goose now rests in McMinnville, at the Evergreen Aviation Museum. The Goose is as long as a 747 with a wingspan a third again as broad, and for a short few seconds in 1947, it flew. The docent was incredibly pleased to tell us that the tail almost broke off during those […] » about 200 words

DIY Hoverboard

My friend Troy sent along a pointer to The Gadget Show‘s feature on DIY hoverboards. They claim it all goes together with basic tools, a leaf blower, plywood, a bit of pipe, and other various parts totaling about £150. Oh yeah, they also recommend “an insurance policy with good fringe benefits,” and being as British […] » about 100 words

Reva “ElectriCity Car”

How crazy is it that we can get neither flying cars nor (affordable) fuel efficient cars today? Anyway, the Reva (shown above) is a tiny little electric that seats two adults, can go 50 miles on a charge, and fully charges in five hours (two hours gets an 80% charge). It’s an Indian company, but […] » about 200 words

GEN H-4 Personal Helicopter

It’s nearing the end of 2005 and we still don’t have any flying cars like we were promised, but the GEN H-4 personal helicopter looks promising (and dangerous). Here it is in the air, and I might be crazy, but it looks to be controlled by weight-shift (even more photos). OhGizmo says it sells for […] » about 100 words

Fuel Efficient Vehicles

People looking for oversized pickups, ridiculously large Russian Army trucks, even jet powered speedsters have it easy. But what about people who have some understanding of the Hubbert peak and don’t want SUVs? 50+ MPG cars have been available in Japan for 30 years now, and can be bought used in Canada for under$5000. But US law forbids importing them to the US! Heck, the Smart, the super-efficient line from DaimlerChrysler, has been available in Europe (and now Canada) for about ten years now, but it too can only be imported with a lot of restrictions. Don’t talk to me about Priuses, either. They’re selling on ebay for almost $30,000.

Face it, there just aren’t any affordable fuel efficient vehicles in the US.

Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles (Not In The US)

I’m a fan of the Smart, the fuel efficient European roadster that’s smaller than a Mini (see above). It’s coming to America, but indirectly and not without some complexity. Oddly, considering the current energy crisis and that buyers appear to be looking for more efficient vehicles now, there’s a lot of red tape involved with […] » about 200 words

CubeSat Kickstarts New Space Race

CubeSat is Cal Poly’s plan to make space accessible to the rest of us. That is, they want to make it easy and cheap enough to launch satellites that even high schools can get a chance at it. Engadget says they call it “the Apple II of space exploration” (link added). Here, read this: The […] » about 300 words

SUV Sales Slump

Earnings reports from car makers seemed to suggest SUV sales were down last spring, and with gas prices near $3 per gallon in some parts of the country still, nobody should be surprised that Yahoo! is saying interest in SUVs is down — way down — now:

If the Buzz is any indication, then yes. Searches on “hybrids” outrank “SUVs” by a tremendous margin, and it’s the same story with individual models. By far the most popular hybrid is the Prius (not to be confused with “pious,” which is how many owners feel, and can lead to blathering about saving the planet). Interest in Toyota’s gas-miser is more than double that of Search’s most popular SUV, the Hummer H3. Also, the Prius garners nearly 10 times the searches as Toyota’s SUV, the 4Runner. Indeed, it appears the bell is tolling for the 15 mpg club.

Options: SMART and Japanoid K-Cars.