by David Heyerman on December 21, 2008
- GM – There’s been tons of news lately regarding GM. Most notably, the federal government just approved $17.4 billion in loans to the Detroit giant failure. Along with Chrysler, GM will receive $13.4 billion with $4 billion available in February. Immediate repayment to the government will be required if profitability isn’t shown by March 31st, 2009. In other, more cleantech related news, GM has put a hold on their $349 million dollar plant dedicated to production of the Chevy Volt. Even with this delay, GM vows that they will still meet the 2010 launch date.
- Chrysler – Along for the bailout ride, Chrysler seems to be really hurting. They’ve now idled all manufacturing operations for a month at the least. This is far from the company who back in the summer announced a fleet of plug-in hybrids to be brought to the market by 2010.
- Honda – Just signed a deal with GS Yuasa, a Japanese battery maker. The joint venture will go towards developing lithium-ion batteries for Honda’s hybrids. GS Yuasa will hold 51% of the $170 million deal. In other exciting news, CEO, Takeo Fukui just announced that Honda will have a fully electric motorcycles to the market within 2 years.
- Mercedes-Benz – Mercedes seems to be testing out their options with their recent Concept blueZERO annoucment. The high-end auto manufacturer will be unveiling 3 different models at the Detroit Auto Show in January; an EV, a gas-driven powergenerator/EV like the Volt, as well as a fuell cell vehicle, like the Honda FCX Clarity.
- Tesla - An interesting piece of information comes from the mouth of that dude Oprah leaned on, who also happened to buy the 100th production roadster. Sam Perry, president of startup consultancy Ascendance Ventures, claims that after conversations with CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, the Model S in still on track for an early 2009 reveal as well as a “budget” $30,000 Tesla announcement on the way. Hmm.
- Renault-Nissan – The car company just partnered with Energie Quest Suisse (EQS) to develop an EV network for Switzerland. The plan, like other car network developers is to create a grid of recharging stations throughout the country.
- Bentley – The super lux car brand is going eco. They are expected to launch their first production ethanol model at the Geneva Motor Show in spring of 2009.
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by Jason Wilk on December 13, 2008
- It’s crossed everyone’s mind since the cell phone and text messages collectively became a new standard for communication; why not let people vote via SMS for the Presidential election? Given there is a certain pride that comes with standing in line for an hour to cast your vote, it would certainly increase poll numbers and jumpstart apathetic voters who just don’t feel like leaving the house nor care.
- Well, some Parliament members of Estonia are taking the concept seriously and have approved a law for that might see there next leader elected by texting.
- Voters who want to cast their vote will receive an authorization chip or code that will correspond to their voter registration. As soon as you have followed the proper instructions, send your vote and you’re done. It’s a great idea, although one that probably won’t ever make it over to the states. We’ll just have to wait and see how the first run goes with Estonia. I’d recommend testing it on a mock-election first to test out the system.
by Jason Wilk on November 17, 2008
- All of those who went into the app store on Friday to get the Google Voice Search for the iPhone after reading about it in the news, seeing it on TV, etc were dissapointed to find the app no where to be found.
- Apple didn’t approve it fast enough, and even on Sunday, it is still not in. Rumors are circling that tomorrow is the day.
UPDATE: As promised, the Google’s new app with voice search has finally entered the app store: Grab it here
VentureBeat
by Jason Wilk on October 28, 2008
- Today The Authors Guild
and the Association of American Publishers are teleconferencing today with Google to discuss terms of a settlement in their copyright lawsuit of Google Book Search.
- Google will have to pay at least $45 million for authors and publishers whose in-copyright works were scanned into the system without permission ($60 per author)
- The settlement however is not going to ban Google Book Search, but just bring it back into the legal realm. Its plan are to expand online access to millions of in-copyright publications and find a proper revenue share with authors when Universities or others subscribe to their work.
- The settlement is still subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
TechCrunch
by Jason Wilk on September 24, 2008
Hyped to be the most open platforms for a mobile phone we have seen yet, there certainly seems to be many ‘closed’ restrictions. Here is a quick outline.
- Instand Messaging/ Voip
- As Om point’s out, Google GTalk will launch as the default IM client, but no VoIP will be supported through it. TMoblie will allow third party VoIP apps to work over Wi-Fi, but no 3G support
- Marketplace
- Google will be approving applications to the the Android Marketplace much the same as Apple has done with the ‘Guilty Until Proven Innocent’ approach.
- Tethering:
- TMobile will not be allowing Tethering for computers to connect and go online.
- Bandwidth:
- Although TMobile claims that for $25 a month, you will get the unlimited data plan ($35 for unlimited text), they will slow down your data sessions to 50 kbps after 1GB of use.
- 3G Coverage
- 3G connectivity will only be available for certain cities for the rollout. Check out their coverage map here.
- Design
- The phone design supposedly not changed in 2.5 years. What does that say about the ability for handsets to adapt to the OS?
- Email
- No exchange support. Must have a gmail account to even activate the phone.
Made tiny from: TechCrunch, GigaOm, TFobile
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