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Transportation

Consumer Reports Says Tesla Model S Is Best Overall Vehicle 318

Posted by Soulskill from the opinionmaker-has-opinion dept.
cartechboy writes "When one thinks of Consumer Reports, refrigerator ratings and car seat reviews usually come to mind, but the organization actually reviews cars too. In fact, it just released a new round of top vehicle picks and it said the Tesla Model S is is the Best Overall Car you can buy. It's unusual, to say the least, for an outlet that typically names a Toyota or Lexus to choose an electric car that costs nearly $100,000 in most popular configurations from a Silicon Valley upstart. Interestingly, the Toyota Prius was named the Best Green Car. Isn't the Model S green? But I digress. A company that many thought would be bankrupt and closed by now has produced a brand-new electric car from scratch that Consumer Reports feels is the best car it's actually tested since 2007."
Businesses

'Google Buses' Are Bad For Cities, Says New York MTA Official 606

Posted by timothy from the and-a-pony dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Director of Sustainability for New York's MTA is calling out Google, Apple, and Yahoo for 'deliberately' building their campuses away from public amenities like restaurants, and public transportation. 'With very few honorable exceptions like Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, who recently moved his company headquarters from suburban Henderson to downtown Las Vegas, tech companies seem not to have gotten the memo that suburbs are old and bad news,' he writes. Instead of launching their own bus services to ferry people from the city to their campuses, as the tech companies have done, the Googles and Apples of the world should 'locate themselves in existing urban communities. Ideally, in blighted ones,' says Dutta." Maybe cities just don't have the right mix of amenities, price, space, parking, and other factors to make them better places to put certain businesses.
Movies

Harold Ramis Dies At 69 136

Posted by samzenpus from the print-is-dead dept.
samzenpus writes "Writer and comedian Harold Ramis has passed away at 69. Ramis had a hand in many classic comedies but is especially loved for playing the ghost-hunting Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters. 'His creativity, compassion, intelligence, humor and spirit will be missed by all who knew and loved him,' said his family in a statement."
Earth

Obama To Ask For $1 Billion Climate Change Fund 410

Posted by samzenpus from the won't-somebody-please-think-of-the-cost? dept.
An anonymous reader writes "President Obama will ask Congress for a $1 billion 'Climate Resilience Fund' in his proposed budget next month. From the article: 'Obama is expected to release his proposed 2015 budget in early March. The prospects for the climate fund are uncertain in a Republican-controlled House. But Obama, who made preparation for climate change one of the major themes of the climate action plan he released in June, will continue to press for the need to adapt, according to the White House.'"
Moon

China's Jade Rabbit Fights To Come Back From the Dead 76

Posted by timothy from the how-many-lives-do-rabbits-have? dept.
Despite being declared officially lost, the Chinese moon rover may yet have some life left. Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "CNN reports that reports of Jade Rabbit's demise may have been premature as signs are emerging that China's first lunar rover may be up and running again. Following technical malfunctions Xinhua says that the lunar rover had lost communication with mission control but on Thursday the state news agency said that the rover was "fully awake" and had returned to its normal signal-receiving status. "Jade Rabbit has fully resurrected and is able to receive signals, but still suffers a mechanical control abnormality," says China's lunar program spokesman Pei Zhaoyu. "The rover entered hibernation while in an abnormal state. We were worried it wouldn't be able to make it through the extreme cold of the lunar night. But it came back alive. The rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive." The lunar rover's end seemed near when it signed off at the end of January with a poignant message: "Goodnight humanity." Yutu, as the device is known in Mandarin, had been out of action for two weeks following a technical malfunction, and media around the world filed its obituary late on Wednesday after a short statement on Chinese state media alerted the world to its apparent terminal failings. Should Jade Rabbit make a full recovery, it would cap another success for space exploration, which has seen NASA's Opportunity Mars rover, currently exploring the red planet, far outlast its expected lifespan."

Comment Re:The problem is MUCH, much wider ... (Score 1) 473

by Bo'Bob'O (#46214813) Attached to: Ugly Trends Threaten Aviation Industry

"Folk" music seems to be largely forgotten by history.
There are a great number of folk and ancient music groups and organizations out there, and people interested in it overlap widely with people interested in classical. Also, many very famous composers (Dvorak, Brahms) regularly integrated folk music into their work to bring it to wider audiences, well before the days of recording and Alan Lomax.

As for who will be remembered? It's hard to say. Bach was largely forgotten for decades before multiple revivals throughout the centuries. A composer that has limited popular appeal can have a deep impact on other artists and performers that we don't see until after the hype fades. Elvis will probably be interesting to historians, but the many black artists he pulled much of his style from will likely be as much or more so.

Comment Re:Startups should not be at CES, or CeBIT (Score 1) 89

by Bo'Bob'O (#45885117) Attached to: Why CES Is a Bad Scene For Startups

If you are looking at a physical product I find it's MUCH easier to gauge both the product and the company by seeing the object, even if just a prototype, in person. Can it still be junk or vaporware if they have a booth and demo? Of course, even from major companies sometimes. But it's still vastly more information talking to a person, getting a card, and looking at the physical item then some random spec-sheet from a company you've never heard of.

Also sometimes searching through a stack of papers for that random product you remember glancing at 3 years ago rather then trying to search through browser bookmarks works a lot better, for me at least.

What i don't need though is a huge stack of paper spec sheets for every single product and iteration, that I can get online, thank you.

Comment Well don't post about it! (Score 1) 465

by Bo'Bob'O (#45854293) Attached to: Searching the Internet For Evidence of Time Travelers

If you post about it, there will be a record of how we will find you. What you have to do is not tell anyone how you are looking, then not tell anyone when you -do- find them. That way, they will never find out in the future how they were fond in the past and try to avoid it when they travel back in time.

Logically, since nobody has ever posted proof of time travelers, that means they must have found some.

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