Tornado Helmets!

Safety Research Strategies (Sean Kane's outfit), the one that has been pushing the claim that unintended acceleration on the part of Toyota was not caused by pedal misapplication, but rather by un-identified electronic gremlins, now brings us this sage advice: if you are in a tornado prone area, you should keep some helmets around to avoid head injuries should the tornado actually hit your house.

I'm not kidding.  They are serious.

Really!  A whistling monster of a twister is bearing down on your house, and you are expected to remember to don your headgear?

I think a much more sensible (though expensive) approach would be to keep a safe room in the house, a hardened room in the interior of the house which is by design isolated from the rest of the house structurally.  FEMA has a page on tornado safe rooms.

Mercedes: Be Like Che

Mercedes uses a huge photo of Che Guevara and a joke about revolution during a presentation in Las Vegas at CES.  

Silly Mercedes.  Perhaps you should use revolutionaries from your own cultural background, you know, like this guy.

In seriousness, Che Guevara was a murderer, and should not be glorified.  

The Coolest Cars at NAIAS

Here's the Cliff Notes version of North American International Auto Show industry preview. (Cole's notes for my Canadian followers.)

The show was a great one, especially compared to last year. Industry people were there from across the globe, and most of the exhibits were packed. (The pictures below that were absent of people required patience, timing, and retakes.)  NAIAS was strong, despite some debate about how it may be losing relevance with Europeans or Asians. Jaguar LandRover was missing this year. But it's still the show where the big three pulls out all the stops; very few other major automakers want to risk being absent.  Cobo hall was filled with absolutely massive displays of new models, concept cars, and interactive displays from Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, Fiat, Ford, GM, Hyundia, Kia, Toyota, Volkswagen, and many others.

There was a lot to see.  Unfortunately due to my other show duties, I didn't get a lot of time on the show floor.  What I saw was pretty darn cool, and here are the highlights.

Smart Art





Not your father's Mercedes




Honda Fit - an Insightful design



The ultimate jacked suspension on a Ford Raptor

F-150 King Ranch.  Sweet! (Except I don't do leather)

Chevy Miray concept.  Holy gull-wing, Batman!

Miray from the back looks just as wicked

TRU 40S — another very cool GM concept.  Love the white satin  finish

Lexus LF-LC.  Concept based on Lexus LFA.  Looks fast (that's why it's blurry).

LF-LC from the rear.  This is the view you'll normally have, but far smaller.

Nothin' but sliver Porsches.  Drool.

VW Bugster.  Combination bug and roadster.  Huh.

Via.  Don't know what it is, but it sho' looks cool.

Audi R8GT.  Nice side vents to cool off those brakes.

I just liked this mini hung up on the wall.  Looked cute — want one in my den.

BMW concept car.  Tron, anyone?

BMW Active Hybrid; a little more practical than the above pic

Audi e-tron

Audi RS 5 Coupe -- aggressive grille!

Another Smart concept car--perfect for the city (bikes in the back)

Chrysler 700C.  Now this is a minivan any man would agree to

Another view of the 700C

300SRT8.  Didn't know SRT made normal cars

SRT Challenger

SRT Yellow Jacket - Starsky

SRT Super Bee - Hutch

QNX drives home with a Best of CES award

Paul Leroux

This just in: QNX Software Systems has won a Best of CES Award, in the Car Tech category, for its recently announced QNX CAR 2 application platform.

QNX received the award about an hour ago, at the CES awards ceremony in Las Vegas. I'm still kind of pumped and at a loss for words, though two come to mind: WOO HOO!!! :-)

For a glimpse of why the folks at CES think so highly of QNX CAR 2 (and of the QNX concept car designed to showcase CAR 2's capabilities), check out this video from CNET's Antuan Goodwin and the photos I posted on my personal blog, On Q.



The new QNX concept car, which showcases the capabilities of the QNX CAR 2 platform,
features one-touch NFC smartphone pairing, tablet-based rear-seat entertainment, ultra
HD voice technology, and a reconfigurable instrument cluster.
 

Obama Campaigns On Insourcing

Oh, the irony.

President Barack Obama held up Ford Motor Co. as an example of companies that are contributing to the economy by bringing jobs back into the U.S. — and that should be rewarded for their efforts.

"You've heard of outsourcing. Well, these companies are insourcing," Obama said Wednesday in a speech, surrounded by business executives, state and local officials and union leaders.

See, the reason that there is an inflow of jobs into the U.S., and particularly Michigan, is that we are now a low-cost producer.  Partly by devaluing the dollar, and partly by forcing unions to take big concessions, it is now more affordable to do business here. 

The union leadership is going to pound Romney on his Bain capital experience, but they are going to give Obama a pass, even though his Car Czar rammed a no-strike clause down the UAW's throat.  

New CNET video takes you on guided tour of QNX concept car

Paul Leroux

This just in: Antuan Goodwin of CNET has posted a video walkthrough of the new QNX concept car, which showcases the many capabilities of the QNX CAR 2 application platform.

Antuan touches on all of the car's salient features, including one-touch smartphone integration, backseat entertainment, video streaming, rich app support, ultra HD voice technology, and the reconfigurable digital instrument cluster. Check it out:


 

Cool! QNX concept car shortlisted for Best of CES 2012 award

Paul Leroux

This just in: The new QNX concept car, which showcases the many capabilities of the QNX CAR 2 application platform, has been selected as a finalist for a Best of CES 2012 award. WOO-HOO!!! (Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system.)

Other finalists include über-cool cameras from Nikon and Canon, as well as state-of-the-art TVs from LG, Panasonic, and Samsung. Dell, HP, Pioneer, and Sony are also in the running.

CNET members vote for who will take home the award. CNET will announce the winners tomorrow at 11 am Pacific Time — stay tuned!



For more photos of the car, check out my post on the On Q blog. And while you're at it, check out the CNET article by Antuan Goodwin.