*michael parekh on IT*

ON A SOLAR ADVENTURE

GOOD FUN IN THE SUN

Like millions of kids before me, I was enthralled by Jules Vernes' Around the World in Eighty Days.  So of course this modern-day version of sorts caught my eye.  Wired.com explains in this piece titled "Around the World in a Solar Boat":

"A seafaring band of scientists, engineers and yachtsmen with an obsession for Jules Verne and clean energy are building what they call the largest solar boat in the world, a $13 million catamaran they hope will take them around the world next year.

Construction is well underway on the 98-foot-long vessel, which will feature 5,059 square feet of photovoltaic cells. The project is being funded by Rivendell Holding AG, a Swiss firm that invests in renewable energy, simply to prove it can be done and the shipping industry can reduce its dependence on fossil fuel.

The team plans to circumnavigate the globe at the equator in 120 days at an average speed of 10 knots. Should they succeed, Planet Solar will set a maritime milestone. Solar electric pleasure boats have been tooling around lakes for awhile now, solar electric ferries are increasingly common and a solar electric catamaran called Sun 21 crossed the Atlantic in 29 days. But so far no one's made it around the world in a solar electric boat..."

"Solar boats are a viable form of transportation for the future,"  Delia Collardi, a spokeswoman for the project, told Wired.com. "Our society is too dependent on fossil fuels, which are in limited supply and which are causing measurable negative effects on the earth's atmosphere. It's now time to demonstrate the potential that renewable energies have to offer in the area of mobility."

The piece goes on to add:

"Collardi says the vessel will have enough power to carry skipper Raphael Domjan, the 37-year-old founder of Planet Solar, and navigator Gerard d'Aboville. Both men are accomplished sailors and adventurers who, according to a press release, "want to be the Phileas Fogg" of the 21st Century.

Fogg, of course, was the adventurous main character Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne's novel about a man who travels by train, balloon, steamer and even elephants to circle the globe in record time and win a bet."

The project goes on to add a grand historical gesture:

"Verne's great-grandson Jean Verne has signed on to the project, which organizers say represents "humanity's hope for a better future."

The route for the trip is still being finalized, but it's supposed to come through New York.  Can't wait.

ON CUBE SQUARED

YOUNG AT HEART

Pulitzer-prize winning auto critic Dan Neil of the LA Times has some interesting things to say about the Nissan Cube, starting with the following:

"And then there's the air-hating box of ugly, the 2009 Nissan Cube.

The Cube is to aerodynamics what a collapsing bridge is to Olympic diving, what slipping on an icy sidewalk is to "Swan Lake," what poached dirt on toast is to a gourmet breakfast.

It's a travesty, a mockery, a baleful parody of auto aerodynamics. Nissan Motor Co. says the design was inspired by a "bulldog in sunglasses." My question: Which end is wearing the sunglasses?"

You'd almost think he doesn't like the thing,:

"Of course, it's not supposed to be beautiful, if by "beautiful" you mean sleek, lean, porpoise-like. That's a very old school, geezerly car aesthetic that simply doesn't resonate with a lot of young people. For echo boomers and millennials born from 1980 to 1990, beautiful is counterintuitively clumsy, affectedly unsleek, modular and angular, as in Wii consoles, iPhones and the large, squarish heads of the Jonas Brothers. It's no accident that Nissan has tagged the Cube its "mobile device."
To bring you up to speed a bit: The Cube is a huge hit for Nissan in Japan, and now -- given a projected upswing in the small crossover segment in the U.S. -- the company has homologated it for the North American market. Built on Nissan's B-platform chassis (used in the Versa and Sentra), the Cube is powered by a 1.8-liter, 122-horsepower four cylinder; offers a choice of automatic or six-speed manual transmission; and is nicely equipped for $13,990, including stability control.
Why is stability control important? Because the Cube is aimed at relatively inexperienced drivers, those 18 to 25 years old. I would never let my new driver on the road without stability control. Seriously."

Here's why the car is a bit different than most, even cars like Toyota's Scion, aimed at the youngest driving demographic:

"Though I am several decades beyond the target audience, I get it. The Cube's interior -- the faraway windshield, the nearly vertical windshield pillars, the open seating, the airy cabin and towering headroom -- is more studio loft than economy car.

For a car only 156.7 inches in length, over a wheelbase of 99.6 inches, the Cube is Alice's looking glass of unexpected vastness. There are trays and flat surfaces carved into the doors and dash, places to throw stuff. There's a kind of flower-box divot built over the dash and bungee straps built into the doors to hold things such as pens, iPods, sandals . . . what-everrr.

You might think all the headroom would go to waste -- I could wear a large raccoon on my head while driving, no problem. What I found is that with the open space, people in the back can comfortably carry on a conversation with the people in the front without feeling like they are breathing down their necks. So the car is uniquely social, which is how the kids like their media too."

He ends with the following:

"With a little more money, kids can step up to the Krom package (pronounced "chrome"), with 16-inch alloy wheels, a thumping six-speaker stereo with iPod interface, tastier upholstery and interior lighting. At less than $20,000, the Cube Krom seems like a genuinely decent value.
With high style and an even higher coefficient of drag, the Cube seems to have what it takes to captivate the living-in-the-parents'-basement set. How far it will reach beyond that demographic, I'm not sure. It sure is boxy.
Raccoons for everybody."

Indeed.

ON SIMPLE GADGETS

SPILL-PROOF

Sometimes it's easy to forget that useful gadgets need not have the latest whiz-bang technology and a ton of bells and whistles.  Sometimes it's just about a gizmo that provides some needed functionality to make every-day life a little easier. 

That's what ran through my mind when a fellow passenger spilled some Starbucks coffee on me, while trying to get in his airline seat next to me. 

In this day and age of airlines cutting back on food and beverage services, and encouraging passengers to bring their own, the need for simple things like cup-holders in a seat seem like no-brainers.  Trust the markets to address this need, as this Washington Post article notes:

The Cup-Pilot, designed by a former Vermont secretary of transportation, attempts to stop the spills by keeping the beverage where it belongs: inside the container.

The collapsible contraption resembles a basketball hoop for Team Smurf, with a small net pouch attached to a plastic "backboard." A metal hook fastens to a number of surfaces, including luggage, airplane trays (open and closed) and your spouse's finger.

Although this item might seem a bit excessive, much like lipstick holders, it does come in handy in flight. We imagine using it while settling into our seat, when our arms are otherwise busy storing a carry-on, and at high altitudes, when we have important papers and gadgets arrayed on our tray table and don't trust the shallow indentation to do its job. Think of how happy your boss will be when you deliver a report not smelling of bloody mary.

The Cup-Pilot is available through the company at 877-287-1130, http://www.cup-pilot.com.

At $18.95, the price seems a bit steep, but worth it if prevents me from spilling a beverage onto a laptop, mine or a fellow passengers'. 

I'm ordering one, and also bracing for the flight attendant to tell me that FAA regulations preclude using this gizmo before take-off or approaching landing, of course making it far less useful.

ON A TALE OF SUNKEN TREASURE

X MARKS THE SPOT

Here's a story that appeals to the kid in all of us that grew up on stories of sunken treasure ships and long ago naval lore.  The LA Times reports:

"American salvagers say they have discovered the long-sought wreck of HMS Victory, the mightiest and most technologically advanced warship of its time, which sank during a violent storm in the English Channel in 1744.
Armed with as many as 110 massive bronze cannons and carrying a crew of 900 men and 100 supernumeraries, the Victory was lost with all hands and reportedly with a treasure of gold bullion whose value is estimated at $1 billion..."
"This is the naval equivalent of the Titanic, perhaps even more important than the Titanic," said marine archaeologist Sean Kingsley, director of Wreck Watch International, who consulted with Odyssey on the find. "It's the only intact collection of bronze guns from a Royal Navy warship in the world.
The ship, he added in a telephone interview, "was the equivalent in its day of an aircraft carrier armed with nuclear weapons. . . . When it disappeared off the face of the Earth, there was a collective gasp in the establishment and the general public."

The ship has an amazing history, having taken 11 years to build, and been in service for 7 years before she sunk:

"Like the Titanic, the Victory had flaws that rendered it vulnerable to its fate: Its three-deck design was unusually top-heavy, making it susceptible to excessive rolling, and its timbers were not aged properly, leading to premature rot.
Those flaws were corrected when its successor, the sixth and last British warship named Victory, was designed and built three decades later for Admiral Lord Nelson.
By that time as well, the massive bronze cannons had given way to lighter, cheaper cannons made of steel, marking the end of an era."

The whole story is a fascinating read, including the ups and downs of publicly traded treasure hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration (OMEX).  Especially is interesting is how the company went about finding the HMS Victory,.

"The Victory site was discovered in May during Odyssey's extensive surveying of the English Channel area with ships carrying sensitive magnetometers and other instruments. The location has been kept a closely guarded secret ever since.
Researchers used the company's 8-ton remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Zeus to explore and photograph the site."

Can't wait to see what James Cameron can do with this story if he so chooses.

ON MARS ROVERS DOING THEIR DUTY

ABOVE AND BEYOND

We all know the children's tale of the little engine that could.  Now we have a real-life story of the two rovers that could.  The New York Times reports:

"NASA expected its two Mars rovers to survive only three months in the dusty and freezing Martian conditions. But Saturday was the five-year anniversary of the first robot’s landing.

The Mars rover Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004. The second, named Opportunity, landed 21 days later. During the past five years, the two rovers have traveled only about 13 miles while sending back a quarter of a million images of Mars.

Data from the rovers, including photos of sedimentary rocks, has proved that there was once water on the planet’s surface.

But the rovers have experienced quite a bit of wear and tear. Spirit has a jammed wheel, according to the BBC, and it must drive backwards. And Opportunity has a broken electrical wire, limiting movement on its robotic arm."

They do evoke the  image of the indomitable Wall-E, last year's Pixar movie.  Only these two don't fall in  love, but they give us enough reason for us to get really curious about Mars again.

As Time magazine put it:

"So far, Spirit and Opportunity have beamed home a quarter of a million images and 36 gigabytes of data and revealed more about Martian history than any other spacecraft in a half-century of space travel. And by all indications, they could be keeping it up for a long time to come."

Here's hoping these two keep phoning home for a little while longer.

ON AN UNUSUAL LONDON PROPERTY

SPRAWLING FIXER-UPPER

One of my favorite questions to ask real estate agents when visiting a new area is if there's an unusual property that's for sale that doesn't fit what most folks are in the market for.  Several times that question has resulted in my purchasing properties that were unexpected in scope and timing.

The same question could get an interesting answer in London currently.  This New York Times article explains:

"LONDON — For sale: a vast tunnel complex in central London. Former tenants include Britain’s secret service, the famous hot line between America and the Soviet Union during the cold war and 400 tons of government documents.

The asking price is $7.4 million.  After years of lying unused beneath the traffic-jammed streets of the city, the tunnel complex — one mile of underground corridors and adjacent rooms — is now for sale by the BT Group, Britain’s largest phone company.

BT hopes the site’s special features will attract buyers even as the property market above ground is going through its biggest downturn in decades."

The property does have water and electricity, along with a few rooms around the tunnels.  And there have been some inquiries:

An eclectic range of would-be buyers has asked about the space, including an overseas billionaire seeking a spot to hold his board meetings. Others who have expressed interest include those looking for a location for a wine collection, London’s police and local electricity companies, said Niall Gallagher, the realty agent at Farebrother Chartered Surveyors in charge of finding a suitable buyer."

It's not Mayfair or Knightbridge, but over time who knows...it may be.

ON FLYING A ZEPPELIN AGAIN

BLUE SKIES AGAIN

As a long-time aviation geek, I've been fascinated by Airships for decades. 

But unless you had a good friend at the Goodyear company, it wasn't possible for mere mortals to get a ride on one of these until this past month. 

Airship Ventures is a new company in the San Francisco/Bay area that is offering Airship rides to mainstream passengers for the first time in decades.  And it's in a whole new Zeppelin no less, the name that's been associated with Airships for most of the 20th century. 

More from this CNET story last month:

"For residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, that's about to change. A company called Airship Ventures is bringing just such an aircraft to its new home at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., sometime in the coming days.

Sightseeing flights (the company calls it "flightseeing") will start later this month from Mountain View and in early November from several other locations, with ticket prices starting at $495 per person...

This photo shows the Airship Ventures Zeppelin on its maiden flight in May over Friedrichshafen, Germany.

(Zeppelins, also sometimes known as dirigibles, have a rigid frame that provide the distinctive, cucumberlike shape, and a soft material such as canvas is wrapped around the frame. Blimps and balloons, by contrast, have no framework and get their shape directly from the internal pressure of the gas providing the lift.)"

This 2 minute video review of the ride gives a better sense of what it feels like in a Zeppelin 2.0:

The story of how the company got founded is also a good one, involving the passions and hard work of a husband and wife team, Brian and Alexandra Hall.

I for one am looking forward to a Zeppelin ride on a future trip to the Bay area.

ON A REALLY DIFFERENT CAR REVIEW

GET READY TO RUMBLE

For my money, very few can turn a phrase like Dan Neil, the Pulitzer-prize winning automotive columnist for the Los Angeles Times.  His latest review of the new flagship BMW 7 Series for 2009, is a case in point.  Here're are some excerpts as illustration:

"We were obliged to park the mega-Bimmer in a multilevel municipal parking deck, which was designed for cars about the size of the 750Li's ashtray.

No matter. The car was equipped with BMW's new Integral Active Steering -- four-wheel steering, in other words. With a maximum rear-wheel deflection of 3 degrees, the system reduces the car's turning circle almost 2 1/2 feet. With a full crank on the wheel, this huge car seems to shrink to the size of a pensioner's Lada..."

"...it's surprising -- even a little scary -- to feel this road-going ocean liner caper through the Eastern highlands like a stripped-down sport coupe. It's the same feeling you get watching a bear ride a bicycle, or Jackie Gleason glide around a pool table, or Warren Sapp sashay across the floor on "Dancing with the Stars": It just ain't natural."

I've been a fan of the BMW 7-series for many years now, so I was looking forward to the reviews of the 2009 model in the series.  Dan's review in particular is worth reading, not only to learn more about the car, but also to see how a car review can be made to turn some tough, but really fun corners. 

For more of Dan's reviews on other cars, take a look at this regular column, appropriately titled "Rumble Seat".

ON NEXT STEPS IN CAR GPS DEVICES

STEP AHEAD

Normally I wouldn't blog about an incremental upgrade to a highly rated GPS navigation device, even if it won PC Magazine's Editor's Choice again. 

But this upgrade is notable for a couple of features that highlight how GPS devices for your car are evolving, in the right direction.  First the background on the upgrade from the PC Magazine review of the new Garmin Nuvi 755T:

"Until the debut of its voice-recognition-based 800 series earlier this year, Garmin's nüvi 700 series had represented the company's top-of-the line offerings.
In fact, the nüvi 760, our Editors' Choice, earned one of the highest ratings we've given to a personal navigation device.
At that time, it was difficult to imagine how Garmin could make an already excellent product even better.
Alas, time marched on, and other manufacturers have upped the ante with features that go beyond those found in the first-generation nüvi 700s.
With the introduction of the nüvi 705 series, however, Garmin succeeds in retaining the Editors' Choice crown, which now passes to the brand-new nüvi 755T ($499.99 list).

   

		SLIDESHOW (15)
		Slideshow | All Shots

In addition to the nüvi 755T, our focus in this review, the new nüvi 705 line includes three additional models: the 765T ($599.99), the 775T ($699.99), and the 785T ($799.99)."

Incidentally, why do consumer electronics companies insisting on naming their upgrades with LOWER model numbers?  Just to better confuse their mainstream prospective customers?

That nit-pick aside, here are the two features of the new series that caught my eye, starting with this one:

"The most significant new feature shared by all four models is lifetime subscription-free traffic updates. With the introduction of these devices, Garmin has switched from Clear Channel's TTN (Total Traffic Network) to Navteq traffic. Traffic alerts on the older nüvis were subscription-based and cost $60 a year."

And then this one, which seems to be something every driver stuck in a multi-lane bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on a major highway, could use:

"Another major improvement is the lane-assist view (see the slideshow for an example), which shows you which lane you should be in as you approach an exit. It also shows the actual road signs you'll see as you approach major highway intersections. This is very similar to the Reality view first introduced by Navigon over a year ago in its 7100."

Both seem to be steps in the right direction, especially the no subscription live traffic updates.  Look forward to actually trying out one of these new devices in action soon.

ON CHINA'S OLYMPIC SPRUCE-UP

APPEARANCES MATTER

Remember how as a child you were told to spruce up everything about yourself and your room before guests drop in for a visit?*

And of course, the recitation of the many do's and don'ts before the guests, and how you'd be punished if you weren't on your best behavior?

Well, it's interesting to see a whole country being told the same thing, as China girds itself for lots of overseas visitors at the Olympics in Beijing kicking off in four days.

This Globe and Mail story a few weeks ago gives an idea of the extent of the preparations by the authorities:

"Don't wear white socks with black leather shoes. Shake hands for only three seconds. Maintain eye contact for 30 to 60 per cent of the conversation. Don't wear more than three colours in your clothing. And above all, please stop spitting.

China's long march to better etiquette has been under way for years, promoted zealously by millions of campaign volunteers and official booklets - including the rules listed above. But yesterday the government declared victory, announcing that China's personal manners have improved enough to reach Olympic standards..."

"To drill the civility rules into every family, China has distributed four million booklets to homes in Beijing. The 109-page booklet gives dozens of recommendations on what to wear and how to behave in social situations, the workplace, the family, the street and meetings with foreigners."

The BBC had a story recently on how the authorities were diligently analyzing some of these "bad habits":

"Beijing Civilisation Office recently revealed that it had spent 1,700 hours observing the spitting habits of 230,000 residents in 320 public places.

It concluded the incidence of spitting had dropped from 8.4% in 2005 to 4.9% this year. No explanation was given on how the figures were calculated.

In order to make sure residents do not leave phlegm all over the city's streets, volunteers have even been handing out special "spit bags".

Persistent offenders have been fined 250 RMB ($33, £16)."

To cap it all off, this morning the New York Times has an op-ed no less on Chinese authorities are clearing an entire category of food from Chinese restaurant menus in Beijing:

"THOSE who hope to taste dog meat when they visit Beijing for this summer’s Olympics may be disappointed. The Beijing Catering Trade Association has ordered all 112 designated Olympic restaurants to take dog off the menu, and has strongly advised other establishments to stop serving it until September.

Waiters have been urged to “patiently” suggest alternative dishes to customers who ask for dog."

Talk about going from "Great Leap Forward" to "Best Foot Forward".  Mao would have been proud.

* Image Source