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From Autoblog: Report: Fisker Karma owned by Consumer Reports breaks down

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Like pretty much any driver, we’ve had our share of car trouble over the years, both with vehicles loaned to us for review by automakers and our own private rides. What we haven’t experienced is being the first media outlet to plunk down over $100,000 for a luxury plug-in hybrid, only to have it konk out before we even put 200 miles on it.

That “honor” goes to Consumer Reports and their brand new Fisker Karma, which broke down during calibration tests, just a few days into CR‘s ownership period. After the dashboard flashed a warning, the driver stopped to see what was wrong, and then couldn’t get the PHEV into gear again. Self-repairs (i.e., let’s leave it alone for an hour and see what happens) didn’t work and the manual was no help, so the nearby dealer sent out a flatbed truck to haul the Karma away. As CR writes:

We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process.

The Karma’s problems are widespread. It has been plagued by a variety of problems, including two recalls, one for a software glitch and one for battery issues, following a long delay getting the car to market. Owners commenting on the FiskerBuzz forum are also reporting various issues. Not exactly behavior that leads to a “Recommended” rating.

Continue reading Fisker Karma owned by Consumer Reports breaks down

Fisker Karma owned by Consumer Reports breaks down originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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From Technology Review RSS Feeds: A123 Predicts a Good Year, Providing Electric Cars Sell

Despite losing over $250 million last year, the company remains optimistic.

A123 Systems—the battery maker that’s central to the Obama administration’s efforts to establish an advanced battery industry in the United States and to greatly increase the number of battery-powered vehicles on the road—announced today that it lost $258 million in 2011, compared to $152 million in 2010. In spite of the loss, the company remains optimistic, predicting lower operating and capital costs and a 45 percent to 89 percent increase in revenue in 2012. But hitting those targets will depend on more consumers buying electric vehicles, and so far, demand has been lower than A123 expected.




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From Ars Technica: Apple in antitrust crosshairs over e-book pricing


The Department of Justice has plans to sue Apple for allegedly colluding to fix the prices of e-books, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Until fairly recently, publishers sold books to retailers for around half the suggested cover price, and then retailers were free to set their own prices. In recent years, Apple has turned its e-books business in the iBookstore over to an “agency model,” where publishers decide how much the book will sell for at a given retailer, but must take into account the fact that Apple gets a 30 percent cut of each sale. On top of that, Apple stipulated that the publishers could not sell their e-books for lower prices anywhere else.

According to quotes pulled from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Jobs said that publishers then took the agency model to other e-book retailers and told the retailers they had to agree to the minimum retail price set by Apple’s pricing strictures, preventing other e-book sellers like Amazon from undercutting the competition. The five publishers under scrutiny for working with Apple in this way include Simon and Schuster, Hachette Book Group, the Penguin Group, Macmillan, and HarperCollins.

The DoJ believes these actions constitute a violation of antitrust law, and are attempting to settle the case with the relevant companies. If a settlement is not reached, according to the WSJ, the DoJ will sue Apple and the five publishers.

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From Ars Technica: Two German suits between Apple and Samsung dismissed, at least 10 to go


The Mannheim Regional Court in Germany has thrown out two lawsuits between Apple and Samsung, adding to the pile of discarded lawsuits between the two companies.

One of the two suits dismissed on Friday was filed by Apple against Samsung asserting its slide-to-unlock patents in the iPhone, while the other dismissed lawsuit is the third Samsung 3G patent lawsuit in a row to be dismissed. Unsurprisingly, Samsung was displeased with the decision, telling the BBC that it planned to appeal. “We will continue to assert our intellectual property rights and defend against Apple’s claims to ensure our continued ability to provide innovative mobile products to consumers,” the company said.

Apple did not publicly comment on the decisions but pointed the BBC to a previous statement wherein the company accused Samsung of “blatantly copying” its hardware and UI designs used in the iPhone and iPad. And, as noted by FOSS Patents, this is just the beginning—only four of at least 14 Mannheim court cases between Apple and Samsung have been ruled on so far. (There are at least six left from Apple against Samsung alone.) Is anyone getting patent suit vertigo yet?

 

 

from Ars Technica

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From Ars Technica: Zemlin praises $25 Linux computer: a Windows license costs more than four Raspberry Pis


In a blog post written this morning, Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin praised the Raspberry Pi foundation’s $35 Linux computer, which met tremendous demand when it launched this week. In his blog post, Zemlin discussed the important role that the Linux platform plays in enabling innovation around low-cost computing.

The Raspberry Pi foundation launched with the aim of building an inexpensive system that could be used to teach computer programming to young students. They developed a pair of bare ARM boards priced at $25 and $35 that include a 700Mhz ARM11 CPU and a 256MB of RAM. The devices are roughly the same size as a deck of playing cards.

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From Wired Top Stories: Microsoft Kinect Games Grocery Shopping at Texas Whole Foods

The Board of Awesomeness is now lugging groceries at a Whole Foods in Texas. Last month, Chaotic Moon Labs’ Board of Awesomeness was one of the stars of CES in Las Vegas. It’s a motorized skateboard tricked out with a Samsung tablet and Microsoft’s Kinect so that it can be steered by hand gestures and voice commands. But it turns out that the Moon Lab had more on its mind than just skateboarding.

from Wired Top Stories

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From Lifehacker: How to Give Your Million Dollar Idea Away So It Actually Gets Made

In this day and age of patents and tech advancements, I’m glad that there’s someone thinking of this… and I’m for promoting this kind of thinking all the way!!! (Are you reading this, Google, Apple, Samsung, and everybody else?!!)

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Traditionally, we tend to protect our ideas with our lives. It’s the exact reason we have patents, trademarks, and copyrights. But most of us don’t have the willpower or drive to take every idea through to execution. Here’s how to give your ideas away to people who actually know how to make them happen. More »


 

from Lifehacker