Toyota "They did not have any respect for our laws."

I've long been suspicious of Toyota as a company. Of course, I don't trust any corporation. However, foreign companies whose lies result in the death of Americans leave a particularly bad taste in my mouth. Recent comments by a former Toyota top attorney, Dimitri Biller, really brings the point home. Biller and Toyota are now suing each other. Why is Toyota suing Biller? Because he decided break his silence, the very same silence that they apparently thought they purchased from him for $3.9 million in 2007.

Biller has stated, "you have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system." He also stated, "they did not have any respect for our laws," and that "[Toyota had] a culture of hypocrisy and deception." If this doesn't scare people, I don't know what will.

In a ridiculous effort to discredit Biller, Toyota claimed that Biller was a disgruntled former employee who is angry he lost his job. Yeah, I'd be pissed if my company paid me $3.9 million too. Toyota also claimed that Biller did not handle acceleration cases while he worked there. Biller disputed that statement, noting that he worked as the managing attorney for Toyota on a sudden acceleration Lexus case in 2005.

Tuesday Two: Anti-gravity Battery paper

Tuesday Two

There's something crazy about Professor Yi Cui and his research team at Stanford University. No, it's not their lab coats. They are using a nanotechnology to develop an ink to make paper batteries that you may fold into an origami crane, crumple into a ball or simply lie flat on a toilet seat.

The Alter-G G-Trainer is called the anti-gravity treadmill. To me, it's g-rated ("g" as in "great") for giving patients a new lighter than air physical therapy tool that uses goal-directed action to get them back on their feet sooner. It's been successfully employed at military hospitals for orthopedic and neurological uses.

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Epoch-Fail

Again another Epoch-Fail award goes to Toyota for continued unresolved problems with their accelators. This is a PR nightmare that they just don't seem to know how to handle. So far, in my opinion, they have taken the approach of burying their head in the sand and pretending nothing is going on. That is already costing them dearly. I would use the metaphor of a "train wreck", except that is somewhat literal in this case. The disaster isn't over. More recalls might be likely as Toyota is forced to deal with issues beyond the current scope. Here's one example of problems not being addressed on CBS 5 San Francisco.

Tuesday Two: Quantum Motions

Tuesday Two

Here's motion control that doesn't require bright lights, tons of balls, or expensive high speed cameras. Instead, it uses a relatively inexpensive pulsating projector with sensors that record movement patterns at 500 times a second.

Keep those rubidium atoms separated in your quantum computer by using polarized light! Your qubits won't be the same! No longer will they interfere with each other, causing screwy quantum calculations. Quantumfy with assurance!

Epoch-Fail

Apple has had fairly high representation in the as of yet short life of the Epoch-Fail awards. Do I hate Apple? Not at all. They just make themselves such an easy target. Epoch-Fail award again goes to the iPhone 3GS for having what some claim to be broken encryption that will not be able to protect sensitive data.

Some tranny trouble with my G8 GT

Under warranty, I've now had one major issue and one minor issue handled. The minor issue was a scratch on the underside of the front bump cover that was likely put there during one of its test drives...so that doesn't really count.

The major issue is with the transmission. Over time, my G8 GT developed a clunking when I would shift from reverse directly into drive. It was inconsistent. It was more pronounced when the car was cold started. Every once in awhile, the car would actually jerk forward so much that I had to get into the habit of pressing very tightly onto my brakes before moving into drive.

When I first reported the issue to my dealership at 6000 miles, the service dept said that there was no bulletin on the issue even though I did get the service manager to reproduce the issue. I didn't make a stink at that time, though I prolly should've. The problem got worse from there. It got so bad, I couldn't let anyone else drive it.

So, at about 8000 miles I had enough. I took it in. The dealership was claiming that they could not reproduce the problem to the degree I stated. In addition, they claimed that a bulletin from GM (just issued a month before) said that clunking transmission was "normal operation". To me, this was not just operation, but safety (since the behavior of the car was actually dangerous). I insisted that the issue be addressed. I had to include the involvement of the general GM customer service department. After I insisted they keep the car and keep trying, the dealership was finally were able to reproduce the issue and finally realized that something needed to be done.

A lot of time was supposedly wasted because the GM technical service didn't have the staff assigned to handle any issues in the NorCal region (something to do with the restructuring that was going on at the time). Finally, an engineer was assigned to the case and determined the issue was mechanical. The dealership followed Detroit's instructions, replacing a bunch of parts deep inside the tranny.

All said, the dealership had my car for two weeks. The issue was much less obvious afterward. There is still some tendency for the tranny to engage a bit aggressively when going from reverse to drive, but at this point, that seems to fit the "normal operation" mentioned in the GM bulletin. At least I don't have to be concerned with it jerking forward.

Now that the car is over its 10K mark, everything seems to have broken in.

My Cool Apps for Android Smartphones

Android has thousands of apps. Many are worthy of mention. This is a list of ten that I thought are cool, though not necessary. Most are simple and to the point with full functionality:

Tips Calculator by KajaBo Mobile is a simple tip calculator based on the bill before tax. Most tip calculator apps do not determine the tip based on the pre-tax bill, even though this is customary. This app even calculates how much each person owes for multi-party bills.

GPS Speedometer by Char Software, Inc. is a cool little app that keeps track of one’s near current speed (in the car), average speed, and a few other data points.

Quick Settings by Sergey Shafarenka allows the user easy access to basic Android smartphone settings on one screen.

Google Sky Map by Google Inc. displays are real time image of the night sky constellations based on whatever direction the smartphone is pointed.

Thinking Space by Charlie Chilton helps in developing and recording thoughts and ideas. This is helpful for abstract problem solving or getting through writer’s block.

Ringdroid by Ringdroid Team let’s you splice up your MP3 and iTunes music to create custom ringtones.

Barcode Scanner by ZXing Team will read any barcode. If the product is found in the database, it will show information and reviews.

AttachEmail by gasoline allows the user to attach files to emails being sent from the Android smartphone.

GDocs by WildArt will access your gmail GDocs account and the documents you have stored there.

Superpages by Idearc Media LLC is the link what some may call real yellow pages online these days.

Epoch-Fail

In this special edition, I hereby give the Epoch-Fail award to AT&T for their recent nonsensical lawsuit to stop Verizon from advertizing a truthful comparison between their respective 3G network coverage areas. Needless to say, this lawsuit did nothing but highlight the pathetic nature of AT&T's 3G coverage.

According to Paul Thurrott,

AT&T, of course, is the exclusive US carrier for the Apple iPhone, and—as any iPhone user will tell you—AT&T's 3G network is tiny, ill-equipped to handle the iPhone's voluminous data traffic, and often completely unavailable.

There has been several news stories in the Silicon Valley area (home of Apple and Google) which have highlighted AT&T's much complained about network, including non-3G problems, such as frequent dropped calls (issues that may have been carried over from the Cingular days). Among 3G complaints, speed (slowness) is one of the major issues. AT&T has said they are in the process of upgrading their network right now. However, why would a company put forward such a poor product at the heart of one of the world's technological centers?

It almost goes without saying that the lawsuit was thrown out of court (already!). Can't sue the truth away from the public eye!

Paul Thurrott concludes,

[AT&T's] 3G network is widely considered the be the shoddiest of the major wireless networks in the United States, a fact that was coincidentally confirmed this past month in the latest issue of Consumer Reports, which rated AT&T's overall cell phone network as the worst of the major carriers.

My Ten Most Useful Android Apps (and one Outlook Plugin)

The Samsung Moment is a good Sprint smartphone that runs on the 1.5 version of the new Android OS. One great function is that it offers direct syncing with the user’s Google accounts. However, for some reason, Sprint didn’t include enough applications on the Moment. It is fully functional off-the-shelf, but it just seems to be missing stuff that experienced smartphone users would want. Fortunately, the Android Market has more than enough apps to quickly add most (if not all) functionality that one might expect from an advanced smartphone.

This is my Ten Most Useful Android Apps for Samsung Moment (and really any other Android smartphones) in no particular order:

• Android Backup Tool by Marigold backs-up a multitude of data from the smartphone to the SD Card, including Contacts, SMS, browser links, settings, etc.

• Star Contact by StarObject provides advanced Contacts search functionally that is missing from almost all smartphones (even Palm).

• Easy Dialer Premium by UIP ($) does cost a small nominal fee, but it is worth the chump change! It provides a well designed speed dial interface that really should be the standard for any Android smartphone. There is a free version with small and unintrusive ads called Easy Dialer. Another free alternative is Speed Dial by CRinUS. There is no interface to speak of in Speed Dial. It simple allows the user to put speed dials directly on the home page as links.

• Where by where is highly rated and updated frequently. It provides up-to-date information and reviews about restaurants, movies, local news, weather, friends, etc.

• Dolphin Browser by MGeek is a great Android internet browser that has powerful and time saving capabilities.

• OI File Manager by OpenIntents is a good and simple file management utility for the SD Card. It allows for the renaming and copying of files.

• Wikidroid for Wikipedia by Sirius Applications Ltd is a rapid and simple alternative to just loading the Wikipedia website directly. It loads articles very quickly without all the extras that weight down Wikipedia in an internet browser.

• ASTRO File Manager by Metago is another powerful file manager. It has different functionality than OI File Manager, so I really recommend installing both until one app starts including the functions of the other.

• AirPlaneSwitch by C-LIS Crazy Lab. is a simple application that allows the user to switch their phone over to Airplane mode without having to navigate into the smartphone’s settings.

• TwitterTweet Twitter Client by MEDIAFILL LLC is an underrated app that allows the user to efficiently and simply sync their Twitter account and feeds to their phone.

Sync Android with Outlook

Right now, a PC application that syncs the Moment with Windows Outlook is not included. There is a fairly good Outlook plugin which will sync your contacts, calendar and notes with your Google account. The plugin works great as it allows your smartphone to be updated without ever attaching it to a computer! The plugin is called gSyncit for Microsoft Outlook by David Levinson. It is available at http://www.daveswebsite.com/. It costs $14.99 and does have unusually strict licensing for installations, so I will be keeping an eye out for free or more customer friendly licensing. For now, this plugin provides a much needed service, so I do recommend the investment if you have any Android smartphone.

Tuesday Two: SolidWorks World edition

There's been many inventions and innovations that have been profiled at the various SolidWorks World conferences. This week's Tuesday Two covers to wind power winners that are getting notice.

Tuesday Two

Magenn has an innovative balloon wind power generator which goes by the name Mageen Air Rotor System (MARS). It floats far above the ground to take advantage of wind that is more reliable than ground based turbines. Here's an ancillary article in Design World on material used to make MARS.

Jeff Ray gives us an update on MicroWind Technologies which makes relatively small rooftop wind turbines called MicroWind Residential Turbine which will be able to produce 3 kW. They also have the MicroWind 300W which can be lamp post mounted.

Epoch-Fail

The Smart car that just isn't all that smart. It is not much bigger than a go cart, while only netting 41 MPG highway (which is worse than many real cars already on the market). Too much is sacrificed in both functionality and safety for no real gain; and don't get me started about the price for the "well equipped" version! For that, it recently ranked as the worse car of the 2000's by Cars.com, not to mention it wins this week's Epoch-Fail award!

13 and 13 coworker complaints and such

ThomasNet has had a blog. Apparently, it's been running in some fashion or other since 2000. Of course, back then maybe they didn't label it as a blog, but that's really what it was. There's a couple of articles that caught my attention recently.  (Original links no longer function, so please use the backup links.)

• 13 types of irritating coworkers (backup link)
• 13 Types of coworkers we like (backup link)

In these articles, David R. Butcher explores the best and worst traits in our coworkers (and ourselves) at work. His likes and dislikes may seem a bit arbitrary. He complains about the suck-ups in the first article, but lauds the jokers in his second. He makes the obvious observations regarding the positive coworker; yet in a sense of irony, he complains about the complainers. It's a fairly entertaining read.

Tuesday Two: Sponging up energy

Tuesday Two

Get nearly perpetual power with these little energy cells that can recharge by harvesting ambient energy, such as kinetic, electromagnetic, heat, radio frequency, and light. This may change everything from hand held devices to desktop computers.

In real life Star Trek technology news, there's a phrase (not phaser) translator called the Phraselator which will translate statements into one of several languages. It's one-way translation today, but with two of these, you just might be able to carry on a short conversation about the weather with just about anyone on the planet.

Epoch-Fail

To prepare you for your American Idol debut, the Perpetual Kid website (purveyer of many potential Epoch-Fail canidadates) has the Shower Mic Sponge.