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Comment Re:Smaller engines would be a good start. (Score 1) 555

by Boetsj (#31713820) Attached to: White House Issues New Gas Mileage Standards

My 2000 Volvo S40 weighs in at 1250kg (~2750 lbs) - it's running on a 1.8 litre petrol engine, with a manual 5-speed gearbox. The car is jokingly called 'tank' by my friends, as Volvos are known here for their nigh-excessive safety measures (both in terms of steel and airbags).

I'm averaging a petrol use of 29,4 mpg for regular everyday use (city-some highways-some Autobahn), which is about the rated use as well. Mind you, that's in a rather heavy, loaded-with-safety-features car that is about to see its 10th birthday. The only way I get crappier mileage is if I push hard on the Autobahn: If I'm doing 160kph (~100mph), my petrol consumption jumps to about 19.6 mpg. It's an awful lot of fun though :)

The current model (10 years down the road) weighs in a 1261kg (~2780 lbs) - a tiny 11kg/30lbs increase. (rated) Fuel consumption has actually become lower: 33.6mpg, for the same (somewhat more powerful) 1.8L engine.

I'd say that, at least for European my make/model, your arguments of ballooning and 'bullshit' safety measures don't fly. Based on absolutely nothing more than my gut feeling, I'm inclined to say that that is because of stricter regulations within the EU on fuel consumption.

If you go diesel, the current-day offerings are even more impressive:

  • The Volvo in a 1.6 Start/Stop Diesel version is now available: rated mileage - 58.8 mpg.
  • Without the Start/Stop technology (which I don't think anybody really uses), the 1.6 Diesel is still offering a whopping 52.9 mpg.

These both come with an automatic - which is undoubtedly optimised for fuel economy.

Comment Other studies tell the same story (Score 5, Informative) 326

by Boetsj (#28371247) Attached to: Harvard Study Says Weak Copyright Benefits Society
A similar study has been conducted before in the Netherlands: Downloading benefits the Dutch economy (in Dutch, Google Translation). This study had been ordered by the department of Education, Culture and Science, the department of Economic Affairs and the Justice department.

A downloaded movie, CD or game is not equal to a product not sold, say the researchers. Also, "Amongst downloaders of music and film, the percentage of buyers is as high as with non-downloaders, in games, the percentage of buyers even higher. Music downloaders are also more likely to concerts and buy more merchandise. Downloaders buy more games than gamers who never downloaded and movies downloaders buy more DVDs than non-downloaders."

Comment Re:Check out FogBugz! (Score 1) 168

by Boetsj (#27687271) Attached to: Project Management For Beginners?
We are using FogBugz, and quite merrily. I feel it's a bit light on the project management side of things, but apparently there's a host of improvements coming up in the upcoming version. The book that goes with version 6.x even states explicitly that you'll probably need some additional tooling for project management, such as a tool to create GANTT-charts and other planning stuff.
Privacy

EU Data-Retention Laws Stricter Than Many People Realized 263

Posted by timothy from the you-mean-like-a-12-month-year? dept.
An anonymous reader writes with a snippet from the Telegraph: "A European Union directive, which Britain was instrumental in devising, comes into force which will require all internet service providers to retain information on email traffic, visits to web sites and telephone calls made over the internet, for 12 months."
Spam

Spam Back Up To 94% of All Email 330

Posted by kdawson from the rust-never-sleeps dept.
Thelasko writes "A NYTimes blog reports that the volume of spam has returned to its previous levels, as seen before the McColo was shut down. Here is the report on Google's enterprise blog. Adam Swidler, of Postini Services, says: 'It's unlikely we are going to see another event like McColo where taking out an ISP has that kind of dramatic impact on global spam volumes,' because the spammers' control systems are evolving. This is sad news for us all."
Software

Is Your IM Buddy Really a Computer? 288

Posted by timothy from the or-is-it-the-other-way-around dept.
audiovideodisco writes "Every year the Loebner Prize goes to the chatbot (and the corresponding human companion) that fares best on a Turing test administered by a panel of judges. Discover talked to Kevin Warwick, the professor who runs the competition, to get pointers on how one would go about detecting a bot. While there are some general approaches you can use, nothing is foolproof — and asking about Sarah Palin can be downright deceptive. One judge concluded an interlocutor was a bot because it didn't recognize Palin's name ... but it turned out the chatter was a French librarian who'd simply never heard of her." The chat transcripts show how difficult picking bot from non-bot is getting.
Image

Oslo Buses to Run on Sewage 68

Posted by samzenpus from the stinking-tailpipes dept.
Mike writes "Rather than let their sewage go to waste, the city of Oslo recently announced that it plans to cut carbon emissions by converting 80 public buses to run on biomethane generated from raw sewage. The city plans to adapt two sewage plans with the technology this September, and the new biogas buses will be quieter and will cut 44 tones of C02 per bus per year."

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