auto parts: February 2012

False Messiah

Comment spammers keep posting links to videos on Youtube about Ahn Sahng-hong. He was the leader of a Korean church splintered from the 7th Day Adventists, and his followers are apparently convinced he was the Messiah. Bizarre.

SOLD - Aristo - JZS 161 - Half Cut

SOLD - To Local Customer
This Half Cut Aristo Model JZS 161 - Engine :- 2JZ-GTE - VVTI - Auto , Selling Together With Long Shaft / Petrol Tank With Fuel Pump Attached And Rear Axle With Complete Frame

Selling As Is Where Is Basis

To View Engine Revving, Click Video Below :-

General View Of The Half Cut

General View Of The Odometer

Mileage Reading :- 153011 Kilometers Or 95,076 Miles

Engine Tag Information

Chassis Number

Front View Of The Engine

Side View Of The Engine Bay

Inner Part Of The Engine

Front - Turbo

Rear - Turbo

Front View Of The Auto Gear Box

Side View Of The Auto Gear Box

Rear View Of The Auto Gear Box

Driver Side - HeadLamp - Good Condition / Fender - Dented

Passenger Side - Head Lamp - Good Condition / Fender - Dented

Long Shaft

Petrol Tank With Fuel Pump Attached

Rear Axle With Complete Frame

General View Of The Half Cut

Ram: Selling With Euro Sex?

Sex sells. Put an attractive and barely clad model in a car commercial and men's heads will swivel towards the candy.

The new Ram being advertised looks like a luxuried-up version, similar to the Ford F150 Platinum, with a nice interior and tasteful bling. Fine.

What confuses me about the new Ram ad on Youtube, "The Dark Side of Ram", is that it has a sort of Euro supermodel / James Bond feel to it.

But isn't Ram a domestic, "all American" sort of blue collar brand? I don't get the marketing here.

I wonder what DeLorenzo has to say?

Everything you wanted to know about HTML5 in the car, Part II

Welcome to the second installment in my Q&A series on HTML5 in the car. Last week, we looked at CSS, cross-platform execution, and asynchronous design. This week, we turn our attention to web servers, native plug-ins, instrument clusters, and display updates.

If I don’t use a web server in my infotainment system, will I miss out on some features of HTML5?

A web server isn’t strictly necessary, but there are two very good reasons for including one. First, it lets you export a user interface to devices outside the car, thereby allowing mobile phones or tablets to run apps that are hosted on the vehicle head unit. Second, it lets you export internal car resources, as a URL, to HMI software running in the head unit. For instance, the web server could provide the HMI with access to static vehicle-configuration data (through an xml file) or to a back-up camera (through a video stream).

Will using native code plug-ins compromise my ability to leverage HTML5?

This is tricky, because a lot of things you want to do may require native code. So, yes, use native code, but do it judiciously. The more native code you use, the more it will limit the cross-platform capability of the HTML5 code that relies on it. The good news is that with HTML5 gaining so much functionality, plug-ins are needed far less than ever before.

A sample climate control app from the
QNX CAR 2 platform, created with HTML5.

Would you consider HTML5 as an option for cluster instruments: speedometers, tachometers, etc.?

At this point, I’d say no. HTML5 makes a lot of sense for in-vehicle infotainment, but it doesn’t provide the response needed for a vehicle cluster and it won't ensure safety-critical certification. Plus, the instrument cluster isn’t where you realize a lot of HTML5’s value: downloadable apps, connectivity to mobile devices, and so on. If the cluster and the infotainment system eventually merge into one big screen, then it’s more likely you could use HTML5 for both — but that’s still a few years out.

What’s a good way to get responsive display updates (10Hz update) into HTML5? Websockets?

If you need to deliver high-speed updates to your head unit, Websockets is one way to go. Make sure, however, that you don’t stall the rest of the JavaScript engine while your main thread is blocked on tasks. If you create another thread to monitor for changes, you can do it just as effectively (and probably with less work) with a JNEXT or NPAPI call into native code.

Newt's A Tool

From the Detroit News:

"You can't put a gun rack in a Volt," Gingrich said in a line that drew cheers at a speech in Georgia this weekend, and is now appearing in his stump speech. "We believe in the right to bear arms and we like to bear the arms in our trucks."

Seriously, Newt, stop the pandering. You're a wealthy former history professor and politician, not the kind of guy who drives a truck with a gun rack. When was the last time you went game hunting?

No one puts a gun rack in a sedan. And if you want to safely carry a pistol, there's plenty of room in a Volt or any other car for one of these locking pistol vaults.

Stop promising moon bases. You're done. Go back home and spend some time with wife #3.

Gun Rack In A Volt

Open letter to Newt: "You can put a gun rack in a Chevrolet Volt!". LOL.

Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zK0ieX9mHr4

Auto + Mobile

I love this play on words. I can’t claim it as my own but I think it’s very cool that the word automobile breaks down into auto and mobile. I’m sure the term originally referred to automatically mobile horseless-carriages or some such thing. According to one online source, the word dates from 1895 and means “self-propelled motor vehicle”.

But today, it represents the convergence of two historically independent industries, auto and mobile. Now, more than ever, consumers are extending their digital lives into their cars. They want a personalized in-vehicle experience, including access to their music, to their friends, to their favourite places, and to their schedules — both personal and professional. And that’s just the beginning.

Following the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, I heard many in the industry refer to CES as one of the most important automotive shows of the year. You heard that right: CES is now considered an automotive show.

The new QNX concept car is
scheduled to appear at MWC.

Now it’s February and QNX Software Systems is headed to Barcelona where we will demonstrate our connected concept car on the BlackBerry stand in Hall 7 at Mobile World Congress. This same car won a Best of CES award in the car tech category.

MWC is the show for mobile phones and everything related. During the show, we will participate on a luncheon panel hosted by Fierce Markets, Paving the Way to Success for the Connected Car. Other panelists include Ford, AT&T, and the GSMA.

MWC isn’t known as an auto-focused event but I expect this to change. Most carriers see the connected car as an emerging growth market, as do silicon vendors. Meanwhile, handset and car companies work towards improving the integration of the mobile experience into the car without impacting driver distraction.

Auto + Mobile. End of story.

For more info on the panel, click here.