vojtech - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Fuel economy (Score 1) 1114

by vojtech on Monday October 13, 2008 @03:37PM (#25360025) Attached to: Fuel Efficiency and Slow Driving?

Not true.

If you're going downhill, on any modern car the best is to shift into a high gear (4-6th, depending o the speed you're going downhill), such that you engine is running barely above idle RPM.

Then, the ECU will shut off the fuel supply altogether, and basically go into engine braking mode instead of keeping the engine in rotation by supplying it with a trickle of fuel. The braking effect in 6th gear is however minimal and thus even a very small slope is enough to keep the car going at a constant speed.

Super-ATMs Being Rolled Out 270

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 02, 2006 @07:36AM from the more-than-just-money-machines dept.

News.com has an article up looking at something I find interesting and somewhat confusing. The Vcom ATM is an attempt to make people's lives more convenient by adding unexpected functionality to the standard Teller Machine. Besides dispensing cash, new ATMs can fulfull the roles of PayPal (by sending money to people), bank (by cashing checks on the spot), and cellphone store (by selling Verizon services). From the article: "The Circle K and Exxon Mobil machines are far more basic than 7-Eleven's Vcoms, which have been called overengineered. Several dozen customers polled informally outside a 7-Eleven in Winter Springs, Fla., recently said that they had never used the Vcom inside, and one woman who said she did use it once to withdraw cash complained that it was 'confusing' and 'complicated,' and added that she would not use it again. 'There were just too many steps,' said the woman, Peggy Baker, who teaches French in Winter Springs. 'And the $1.75 transaction fee was too much--it was painful.' She said she was not interested in the other Vcom features, which require users to enroll and enter a Social Security number on a touch screen."

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