Recent Comments:
Video: MIT develops solar storage "nirvana": energy crisis solved? {Engadget}
Aug 1st 2008 3:09AM Because pumping electricity back into the grid is so wasteful!
Urwerk's UR-202 combines turbines and watches just how you always wanted {Engadget}
Apr 19th 2008 12:46PM I think I like the Opus V more...
http://www.network54.com/Forum/274559/message/1112215571/OPUS+5
Lane splitting in California - for or against? {Autoblog Green}
Mar 18th 2008 11:45PM FOR. The primary reason I see (mainly non riding) folks are against lane sharing is that it forces people to not drive like crap. It forces them to put down the makeup/razor, stop yelling at the kids, put the hamburger down while smoking and talking on the phone...signal before making a lane change, properly check mirrors and blind spots...wow that sure is a lot of work in order to allow someone to lane share! Oh wait, thats what is supposed to be done anyhow.
There is also the fact that someone else is getting ahead that chaps some folks.
Another argument i've heard is that motorcycles are scary and are very dangerous and should not be doing something as insanely dangerous as lane sharing. I have never heard that from a rider, but from my point of view the most dangerous thing is someone driving an SUV with kids in the backseat and a cellphone in hand.
California Kohl's store turns on giant rooftop solar system {Engadget}
Sep 27th 2007 2:02PM Their 25MW solar array averages 4MW.
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 4 {Engadget}
Sep 4th 2007 7:59PM Round 4, Fight!
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 3 {Engadget}
Sep 4th 2007 12:19PM Good stuff
ROUSH Silverado sketch leaked! {Autoblog}
Sep 4th 2007 3:01AM Wow, a blown truck to compete with the Saleen. Neat! Maybe they will even make it a couple thousand dollars less!
I like to have choices when shopping for my ~$60k sport truck...which is why I bought a brand new Ford Lightning in 2003 for $30k. So what did they add to get that extra $30k...
Further, someone should lose their career over this. You don't leak confidential information...period! Its neat that the consumer gets to plan out their purchase decisions further ahead of time but business impacts of leaks are huge enough to kill companies.
PlayStation 3 firmware v1.92 out {Engadget}
Sep 4th 2007 2:51AM I can understand some wording being in the typical 41 page agreement no one reads...but still...how can they alter the console I purchased without telling me what the hell they are doing/did?
Thats like walking outside of your house in the morning and seeing the dealership guys walking away, wrenches in hand, saying they fixed your vehicle for free...uhhh...wtf did they just do?
This should not be allowed.
The hundred gadget giveaway: round 1 {Engadget}
Sep 4th 2007 12:47AM Good stuff!
Ford to dealers: Sell the F-150 and you may get to sell the Shelby GT500KR {Autoblog}
Jul 10th 2007 1:46AM That sure is a sweet ride. Nice styling, performance, rarity, value, an awesome sticker price...too bad it only benefits the dealers. I called up every dealer around me after the initial press release for this machine. None of them knew anything about the vehicle so it took some time for them to get back to me regarding my purchase request. The best I received was an opportunity for my name to be put into a drawing to purchase the car for $xx,000 over sticker.
Being in business and an auto enthusiast, I was truly unimpressed with this response. As a customer (who owns a fleet of F series trucks and an SVT vehicle) the dealerships have effectively stated that my money isn't green enough. Now I do have a firm grasp of how markets play out, but here is my problem with this scenario...
John Yuppy (x 1,000) purchases this ~$55k sticker vehicle for an easy $90k. The dealership takes in roughly $40k and ford takes in about $50k. One of those numbers is almost purely profit while the other is obviously not. If this vehicle is sold via prevailing practices, then it does not benefit Ford to have dealers price gouging (or 'market adjusting'). Ford does not make any more money on the deals, nor do they sell more of the vehicle as it is limited production. I really wish that Ford would just mark the price tag with something more in line with the price they will sell at. I realize they don't want another GT fiasco with vehicles sitting on lots, but myself, J. Q. Public, would much rather provide to the company producing the vehicle and pay to hold the value of the vehicle, rather than pay a 'market adjustment', a gouge, or for the privilege to buy that warm and fuzzy feeling that the COPO, Shelby, and Yenko owners had to wait 20-30 years to truly feel.
The excess funds paid to the dealer have a tendency to get lost in translation when selling the vehicle as the would be buyer goes from attempting to purchasing a $55,000 vehicle to a $90,000 vehicle and the seller’s only excuse is ‘Well, I paid too much.’
My only hope is that the next special edition Mustang, the next special edition to best all other special editions (again), be not named after a prior special edition from before I was born. So maybe, just maybe, I will be able to gladly pay full sticker price for those warm ‘n fuzzies.
p.s. Anyone else remember when the top of the line Mustang…that one with the ~$33,000 sticker that could be had for under MSRP, the one that after all these years still performs almost as well as the GT500…could actually be purchased by walking into a dealership? Those were the days…
