Recent Comments:
Gallery: Hotel Tomo, San Francisco's anime hotel {Gadling}
Mar 4th 2012 10:33AM This property's been a lot of different things in its life. I recall staying here when it was the JapanCenter Best Western 30+ years ago. Nice to see that it's getting another shot and making the best of its unusual location.
Ready to visit Cuba? Better be sure about that {Gadling}
Jul 3rd 2011 1:42PM Actually, it's never been that hard to visit Cuba. You've just needed to be OK with breaking US law, be able to afford the trip up front (no US credit cards) and understand how to use international banking to your benefit.
A couple of things to remember (which of course you don't need to, as you'd never violate US law):
- Cuban visas are placed on a separate piece of paper which needs to stay with your passport while you're in Cuba.
- Cuban immigration agents will gladly NOT stamp your US passport either in or out.
- Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted at tourist properties and ATMs in Cuba, but if yours is tied to a US address or processed by a US processor, it won't work. Conveniently, a Bank of Montreal Pre-Paid Mastercard or a Canada Post Pre-Paid Visa card work brilliantly (just be sure to get one ahead of time).
Of course, none of this is useful information, as Americans can't travel to Cuba on their own.
America's Meanest Airlines {Gadling}
Apr 14th 2011 3:14PM I actually "like" (as in, they're better than others) Delta.
When I fly Delta, by and large they're pleasant, on-time and the planes are clean.
On the other hand, United are rarely on time, their planes very nearly always filthy and their staff is, at best, curmudgeonly. American are, by and large, about on par with United, except that they're typically more money, a fact only offset (slightly) by cleaner aircraft.
I know everyone waxes poetic about Southwest, but, in my experience, their fares are generally on par with (if not higher than) their competitors. Although their staff are pretty good and their aircraft clean, their routing options can be ridiculous. Unless I'm playing the mileage game for status upgrades, a 2 or 3 stop routing is never as good as a one stop or nonstop.
US Airways is hit or miss, depending on whether you're getting a former America West crew and/or agent or an "old US Airways" crew/agent. Basically, the AW folks are good, the old US folks frighteningly bad.
All told, just my 2¢. I tend to think that everyone's least favorite airline is the one they just flew and since Delta's biggest, they're the whipping boy for the industry.
NASCAR could test fuel injection as early as July {Autoblog}
Apr 7th 2011 11:49AM Wow...let's put some more lipstick on the old pig. NASCAR stopped being relevant in 1972.
Since that time, NASCAR has been about race cars dressed up as non-existent 2-door variants of sedans.
I don't care if they add fuel injection or anything else at this point. If I can't go to the showroom Monday to buy what raced on Sunday, I'll just stick to F1. At least they're not pretending to be anything but what they are.
On the other hand, put a real Camry, Impala, Taurus and 300 (obviously with safety mods and weight stripping) out there and I'll watch as keenly as a G-man watching for moonshiners every damn week.
By the way, I'm neither a crazy Luddite (I'm a huge fan of small diesels) or someone that demands all things cutting edge (I owned a '91 Grand Wagoneer with a carbureted AMC V8), so I don't have a prejudice against either fuel injection or carbs.
Porsche Boxster + vintage Volkswagen Bug = Bugster {Autoblog}
Apr 5th 2011 12:16AM Can't imagine it's worse than the Boxster. You have to drop the engine to work on it.
Bob Stempel (ex-GM, ex-ECD Ovonics) talks about lithium batteries, and what will make EVs great {Autoblog Green}
Mar 26th 2011 2:48PM Stempel was one of the "car guys" that GM's always flirted with, but never embraced. Basically, what you see with GM, over the years, are a series of leaders with financial backgrounds but very little understanding of cars or car culture. Every now and again, despite the wishes of Wall Street investors, a "car guy" gets to or near the top and you get a rash of good product. Unfortunately, the return on investment from creating and selling good cars isn't as fast as it is from selling off assets or running unsustainable incentives, to the car guys get pushed out. The bean counters then get to take credit for programs that started before they came on board.
Akerson is the living embodiment of this. Lutz pushed for a hopper full of good product, GM's now got it, but Akerson's trying to look good for Wall Street by running incentives that'll put GM back where they were.
GM unveils next-gen Chevrolet Colorado ahead of Bangkok debut {Autoblog}
Mar 21st 2011 12:44PM My beef with the current small trucks is as follows:
The Colorado/Canyon is too expensive for such an old design. Plus, the inline 5 just doesn't make sense, in that it's not superior, in any way, to possible 6 cylinder options GM could choose from.
The Ranger (old, US sold version) is a better value than the GM pickups, but it's also old (much older, in fact) and not available in a crew cab configuration.
The Tacoma is decent value and a more recent design, but I don't like the interior and it's V6 is underpowered, while it's 4c gets crummy transmissions.
The Frontier is a fine little pickup and would be, amongst current options, my first choice.
All that said, assuming this new Colorado comes to the US, it'll be first on my list. For those who wonder why someone would pick a small pickup versus a full size for similar money and economy, it's clear you've never driven a full size pickup on a day in, day out, basis is a crowded NE metro area. I have and it's miserable. Driving a Silverado in Dallas is great. Driving one in Connecticut is a pain in the backside. Sales numbers are where they are because a) gas has been cheap for a long time and b) the current offerings in the category aren't as compelling as the full size choices. An interesting and modern offering in this category, fairly priced, will likely sell quite well.
Saab hires Saabs United blogger Steven Wade as social media guru {Autoblog}
Mar 15th 2011 9:02PM Well done and well deserved. VM and JAA are both class acts and bringing Steven inside makes such obvious sense that I'm surprised that it wasn't sooner.
Good luck and Godspeed!
Bad Bugs: Facebook contest for who can configure the ugliest Bugatti Veyron {Autoblog}
Mar 9th 2011 6:16PM How about this one...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21717395@N00/5513519596/
Geneva 2011: 2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet pops its top, just can't stop {Autoblog}
Mar 2nd 2011 1:52PM Well, let's face it, VW's plans, when it comes to the US, have always (at least since the 1960s) been flawed. They fail to understand the US almost as badly as GM failed to understand Japan.
As I see it, if they're going to be in the automotive appliance business, they need to work on their both their quality and their reputation for not being reliable, rather than (or at least in addition to) creating cars like the new Jetta and Passat that are cheaper and bigger (what focus groups say they want).
If they want to trade on being the sensibly priced European alternative, then they need to deliver on the full width and breadth of what that might mean to a wider cross section of people, including this new Cabrio, the Polo, DSG in the Golf R, a proper T5 based van offering and, of course, diesel across the range. Plus they need to deliver the quality of experience that the outgoing range exhibits. Again, the new Jetta and Passat fail here as well.
What I see is an ongoing inability to commit to a strategy over the long haul. People like us (meaning car geeks that read autoblog and other sources) will pay attention to and keep abreast with whatever VW's doing today, but the great majority of people (who also represent the great majority of potential sales) don't have any idea of what VW is trying to sell today. Pick a target and, unless it's an abject failure (i.e. continuing to try and sell air-cooled VWs well into the 1970s), stick with until it begins to stick with customers.
Just my 2¢, as always...
