Recent Comments:
VW IROC Concept unveiled! {Autoblog}
Aug 24th 2006 5:04PM Forgot to add:
At last VW are doing meaner looking head lamps instead of the fairground ride horse nostrils that seemed to be their new styling signature as I said here
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/01/spy-shots-2008-volkswagan-tiguan/#comments
VW IROC Concept unveiled! {Autoblog}
Aug 24th 2006 4:13PM Front is great, even down to the clamshell hood but the back end looks like the original design/concet sketches for the Golf 5.
By that I mean that initial design sketches always have bigger wheels, filled out arches, more extreme rake, look chopped etc and the sketches for the golf 5 looked awesome, much like the back end of this IROC. Of course the production versions are toned down but I can't help feeling that this should be the back end of the golf 6 and the IROC should keep the front but change the back somehow.
Is there another competing technology war going on? {Engadget HD}
Aug 22nd 2006 11:14AM Thomas, I have a panasonic 8 series 50" plasma and depsite my nanny leaving it on TWC music channels for hours a day where the static images with borders would be expected to produce burn in, I have seen absolutely no evidence of it and believe me, I have checked obsessively. Of course I was worried when I found out that this is what she was doing but I let her continue after seeing no burn in. Not even immediate, temporary image retention.
Phosphor application in plasmas has improved dramatically recently so, if my experience is typcial, no one should be worried about burn in in today's plasmas.
Jeep Compass gets dissed by consumer panel {Autoblog}
Aug 3rd 2006 1:37PM Profile's not too bad, looks like a current RAV4 and I can see potential CRV and RAV4 owners buying this.
I'm not so sure that the mass market cares about trail rating and all that.
GM will debut Hybrid Silverado and Sierra late next year {Autoblog}
Aug 3rd 2006 11:27AM I live in nyc but was raised in the UK where any large "truck" such as a range rover, x5 etc enjoys much higher sales of the turbo diesel version over the gas versions.
Now seeing as pick ups are more utilitarian than SUVs, why don't they all come with diesels as standard? Is it because gas was traditionally so cheap that there was no need to do this?
BTW laserwizard, I'm pretty sure that the hybrid tech that GM are working on with BMW and I think DC is within the transmission so could easily be used with gas or diesel engines. Don't be so quick to condemmn.
Spy Shots: 2008 Volkswagan Tiguan {Autoblog}
Aug 1st 2006 4:00PM As I and Jay Miller said, they went down the wrong path with this and their latest models.
Those two pics chewy don't inspire confidence for me.
Spy Shots: 2008 Volkswagan Tiguan {Autoblog}
Aug 1st 2006 1:27PM On the contrary. I would say that styling that appears to be exactly what you'd expect a small VW soft-roader to look like is a very bad thing.
I used to be a big fan of VW (my first car was a MK1 1.8L Golf GTI - so much fun with lots of bottom end "grunt" for a small engine - but big in those days in a 1700lb body) but cannot stand this evolutionary, relatism in their designs.
It's almost as if (and I thnk this comes from the Golf's design evolution where they thought they had to keep key design elements) they have to reference large parts of previous designs as if to let ppl know that this is still a VW. If the design did not work then it gets worse when you try to retain it.
The current theme for the headlights bugs me because they look like bug eyes instead of mean looking hooded eyes. Yet, apparently, they are going to retain this as a design theme for future models.
Patrick LeQuemont used to be design chief for VW in the late 80's/early 90's and though some of the recent Renault designs have missed the mark, at least he was not afraid of trying something new.
VW design needs to be Bangled because BMW were in a similar design path (but at least their cars looked lean and mean and not fat and bloated) and realy needed a shake up in the design department.
Having said all that, this looks more like a squashed Highlander.
New Tahoes are sitting on lots longer {Autoblog}
Jul 31st 2006 5:38PM r.yo! Ha! I've been waiting to use that one for years so not as spontaneous or as brilliant as Dorothy Parker. I did not know that quote so thanks for that.
New Tahoes are sitting on lots longer {Autoblog}
Jul 31st 2006 10:55AM r.yo, while your grammar cannot be faulted, I do believe that your vocabulary could be improved somewhat. Did you mean to use judicious instead if judicial?
By way of example allow me use the following phrase:
"Wear rubber gloves if you judicious by hand".
Can you see that by using the word judicial the above sentence no longer makes sense? I hope so.
LCD vs Plasma rages on {Engadget HD}
Mar 6th 2006 4:40PM LCDs used to be much worse than plasma, primarily due to very high black levels, response time, and innacurate color reproduction, especially at the white end of the spectrum (LED back lights should cure this). Today, they are much much better in all aspects and I would not dissuade anyone from buying an LCD even though I have in the past and I own a current gen 50" panny plasma.
There can be glare issues with plasma - we live on the west side of Manhattan by the river so we get a lot of light but this does not make anything unwatchable and it is really only bright sunlight directly reflecting off a back wall that you notice.
With respect to burn in, our nanny leaves the plasma on TWC music channels for a few hours daily which means that I have a static image on screen for many hours a day every day. Absolutley no signs of burn in. I guess I could get here to turn off the plasma and just leave the receiver on but with no burn in and the 60,0000 hours to half brightness, why bother?
With LCD blacks being grey, that is mitigated in a well lit room so for the most part this is not an issue. Unless you like watching in a darkened room which I know a lot of ppl do.
The biggest issue is still response time because the specs that manufacturers give out are still grey to grey so you are not getting real world response times.
I'm going to stick with plasma until SED comes out in >50" size and then prolly jump to that.
