Because you know it’s going to be outmoded the moment you drive it off the lot. Even so, I’m having fun with my Prius. It achieved an impressive 46.0 mpg in the first 300 miles, although I have virutally no skills as a hybrid driver – other than watching the consumption gauge obsessively and driving more slowly than my dead grandmother to make sure I don’t waste an ounce of gas. Good thing I got the Bluetooth because – with a cell phone to my ear, eye on the gauge – I’d be a dead man by now. Nevertheless, I am a jealous man, knowing that the plug-in version is just around the corner. (Yes, I am a sucker for gizmos. Yes, I already want the new iPhone.)
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8 Comments
1. Lem:Roger, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have your plates showing so clearly like that.
Couldn’t you photoshop PJAMAS instead?
Jun 27, 2008 - 7:56 pm 2. Barry Dauphin:Well as computers go, where are we with hybrids? Is this like an old ,a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro_II”>Kaypro computer or is it the first Mac? I’m betting the former. The car industry still awaits Gates and Jobs.
Jun 27, 2008 - 8:08 pm 3. Barry Dauphin:Well as computers go, where are we with hybrids? Is this like an old Kaypro computer or is it the first Mac? I’m betting the former. The car industry still awaits Gates and Jobs. (Link fixed)
Jun 27, 2008 - 8:10 pm 4. david foster:Some Gates & Jobs, to be sure, but lots of Henry Ford and Andy Grove, riding the learning curve:
Production efficiency + low price = high volume = more efficiency = lower price = more volume =still more efficiency (rinse & repeat indefinitely)
Jun 28, 2008 - 6:43 am 5. jemima:The opposite of green–buying all the latest gizmos.
Jun 28, 2008 - 8:43 am 6. Greg Marquez:Am i the only person who read the bumber sticker as Recharge Gelt . org?
Jun 28, 2008 - 9:28 am 7. ObeliskToucher:“…other than watching the consumption gauge obsessively…”
The next thing to be regulated by the Nanny State… “Consumption gauges can only be displayed when the vehicle is not moving…”
Jun 28, 2008 - 11:26 am 8. Alex Reed:Toyota/Lexus will also bring out lithium-ion batteries (lighter, more powerful, better/longer charge than current nickel-metal hydride batteries) probably with their first plug-in vehicles in 2010.
Here’s an item from Edmund’s Green Car Advisor blog that gives a good roadmap of their development plans. You can also check up on the plans of other manufacturers in this area by clicking on various of the brand names in the right hand column.
The new clean diesel engines (Bluetec from Mercedes that will be in Volkswagen & Audi too, starting this autumn) sound like another good possibility in the interim.
The iPhone is wonderful — a difference not of degree, but of kind, and the 3G will really zip along. It’s a curious experience too — much more intimate in a way than other gadgets that we use. I think it’s the multi-touch user interface that does it — somehow using your fingers (think finger painting) to make it work is much more immediate/direct/close in.
But the new iPhone is almost here, and the true tech aficionado (o.k., addict) is always thinking ahead to the next rumored wonder. So,….. I’ve been hearing again lately about the oft-rumored Apple (Mini-?) Tablet which is supposed to run Leopard (OS 10.5.x), use an advanced version of the multi-touch user interface that makes the iPhone go, probably have iPhone capability in it too, and be somewhat larger than the iPhone, but not as big as a laptop screen. Possibly arriving in autumn, 2008. Sigh…..
Jun 29, 2008 - 12:21 am