7490188
submission
TopSpin writes:
BMW's limited roll out of the electric version of its MINI has met with complaints from early adopters including less than advertised range, cold weather charging problems, bulky batteries and connection issues. Richard Steinburg, BMW's manager of electric vehicle operations, assures everyone that the manufacturer is "learning quite a bit as we go." Drivers are paying $850/month for the privilege of helping BMW learn how to build EVs, while also helping BMW meet alternative fuel mandates so that other models can continue to be sold in select markets.
7279578
submission
DECS writes:
Palm Pre users have been hit by a new cloud sync failure resulting in lost contacts, calendar items, notes and tasks, which now means that virtually every major smartphone vendor has suffered significant cloud problems: Apple's MobileMe last year, Nokia's Ovi and Microsoft's Danger/Sidekick this year, and additional rolling outages suffered by BlackBerry and Google users. Will vendors dial back cloud-only sync, or at least begin providing more robust local sync and restore features along the lines of the iPhone's iTunes sync? Windows Mobile and Android are still pursuing designs that, like the Pre, expected users to fully rely on central cloud servers rather than defaulting to a local backup option.
7279338
submission
ibmrational writes:
There's no doubt about it: Free sounds like a pretty good price. A panel of experts as delves into this very relevant topic and discuss the benefits of using open source software, along with some of the potential risks, to help you determine whether an open source, a commercial application, or a combination of both are right for your company.
7278922
submission
kevink707 writes:
Stryker announces recall of Surgical Navigation System because of system issues including screen freezing, hanging and slow operation.
7277394
submission
thisIsOdd writes:
NPR had a recent report about scientists at the University of Ulm who suggest that ants in desert environments count to help them get to and from their homes. Because the desert's windiness and sandiness is not conducive the "smell-trail" method, where ants squeeze certain glands that leave a chemical trail, scientists were puzzled by the fact that these desert ants were able to leave and successfully return to their nest. The theory is called "pedometer theory" and the experiment used to test this theory involves manipulating the leg length of some of these ants. Ants with longer legs would pass the nest on the way home and ones with shorter legs came up . . . well . . . short. The link has an article and funny cartoon that explains:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120587095
