johnnyk126 - Slashdot User

Comment This should be on the roads years ago (Score 1) 242

by johnnyk126 on Tuesday March 04, 2014 @06:02AM (#46394879) Attached to: Walmart Unveils Turbine-Powered WAVE Concept Truck

Mercedes EXT 92.

Yes, in the year 1992 Mercedes showed concept truck. It had siding doors, driver in the center, aerodynamic connection between truck and the trailer, convex trailer front, minimalistic dashboard with touchscreen, xenon headlamps, led turn signals and rear lamps, radar, cameras front and back. The list is very long. They went so far that the trailer was pulled towards the cab at higher speeds to reduce drag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I think trucks with similar features designed by Luigi Colani are even older.

Powertrain you say? Leyland showed truck with gas turbine in in 1968. But this is even older. Ford made "Big Red" gas turbine truck in 1964.

Why are we still looking at the concepts when most of the technology existed at least 20 years ago?

Walmart Unveils Turbine-Powered WAVE Concept Truck 242

Posted by samzenpus on Monday March 03, 2014 @07:17PM from the corpone-brotch-approved dept.

cartechboy writes "It's no secret that semi trucks use a lot of fuel. Moving that amount of mass along at highway speeds takes a lot of power. But Walmart might have just unveiled the semi truck of the future with its WAVE concept truck. This crazy looking semi features an aerodynamic cab and looks like no other truck on the road. The driver sits in the center of the cab and the steering wheel is flanked by LCD screens instead of conventional gauges. The WAVE concept is powered by a range-extended electric powertrain consisting of a Capstone micro-turbine and an electric motor. To reduce weight the entire truck including the trailer is made of carbon fiber. The 53-foot side panels on the trailer are said to be the first single pieces of carbon fiber that large ever produced. The result? A trailer that weighs around 4,000 pounds less than a conventional one. While Walmart says it has no plans to produce the WAVE concept, one has to wonder if this is a look at what semis of the future will be like."

Comment Re:Great. :( (Score 1) 484

by johnnyk126 on Monday May 24, 2010 @05:24PM (#32329006) Attached to: Steve Jobs To Keynote WWDC iPhone Announcement

Are you sure that they have all that income from MAC sales? I can believe that DELL has, but definitely not apple.

So far it was well known that they almost went bankrupt selling computers and they survived on iPods and iTunes. And now they are mostly phone seller.

Actually there was article recently (unfortunately I don't remember where) saying that they just made more selling iPads than all MAC models combined.

I can agree on everything apple is, but not a successful computer manufacturer/seller.

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