Edmund's Kills Inside Line

One of my favorite automotive blogs, Inside Line, is being absorbed into its corporate host, Edmunds.com

I don't like it.

It looks like Edmunds is abandoning the blog format, as the new "What's Hot" page that will now contain InsideLine's content does not offer comments. And the pop-up screens are annoying.

I like Edmunds, and use it a lot, for car research. But let the blog be the blog and the research site be the research site.

Introducing Magazines on Google Play for the UK

Following hot on the heels of the recent launch of music on Google Play in the UK, we�re pleased to announce that from today, you�ll also be able to buy digital versions of your favourite magazines for reading on the go.

Popular titles from some of the world�s leading publishers such as Cond� Nast UK, Dennis Publishing, Future, Haymarket, Hearst UK, Immediate Media and IPC Media are now available for purchase on your Android phone or tablet.

Get in shape with Men�s Fitness, cook up a storm with olive, work off all that turkey and Christmas pudding with Slimming World, catch up on the latest must-have gadgets with T3 and read a preview of The Hobbit in this month�s edition of Total Film.

You can stay abreast of the week�s key events with Hello!, New Statesman and The Spectator and keep on top of the latest lifestyle news with Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Tatler. Petrolheads can pick out some new wheels with What Car?, while domestic goddesses can take their inspiration from Good Housekeeping.

Browse the Play Store to find your favourite magazines, discover new titles with a 30-day free trial, buy single issues or purchase a money-saving monthly or annual subscription to leading titles such as Elle, Harper�s Bazaar, Vogue and Wired. New Nexus devices even come pre-loaded with free issues of Men�s Fitness, .net and Vogue to get you started.

All your latest issues will be instantly available on your Android tablet or phone, or online, using our web reader, and organised in your collection in the cloud. You can flip through your magazine carousel to quickly decide what to read next or simply search for a specific title in your magazine collection.

Magazines are available today to enjoy on the sofa or on the go via your Android devices and on play.google.com, so please take a look.

Posted by Avi Yaar, Product Manager, Google Play

Sound Search for Google Play widget, now available on Google Play

�What's this song?� Starting today, the Sound Search for Google Play widget is available to download from the Play store, so you can start identifying music playing around you, directly from your Android device�s homescreen.

 

Sometimes, you hear a song you like while you�re out and about but don�t want to download it right at that moment. The Sound Search widget syncs across all of your devices, so that song you recognized with your phone in the coffee shop can be quickly purchased from your tablet at home.

For devices running Android 4.2, you can add the widget directly to your device�s lockscreen, letting you recognize songs without even unlocking your phone, making it even easier for you to catch that song at the club.

The Sound Search for Google Play widget is available on Google Play for devices in the U.S. running Android 4.0 and above. After you�ve installed it, go to the widget picker and drag the Sound Search widget onto your homescreen. You can click on the widget at any time to start recognizing music around you.

Posted by Annie Chen, Software Engineer

New in Google Currents: Scan through your favorite categories, editions and breaking news

Keeping up on the news out there can be overwhelming. That's where Google Currents comes in�an app that allows you to discover, share and read your favorite news outlets, blogs and online magazines (what we together refer to as �editions�) on your smartphone or tablet�even when you�re offline. Currents is filled with great editions like The Los Angeles Times, CBS Sports, Android Central, The Guardian, Shortlist, and Forbes. Today, we�re revamping Currents to make it even easier to scan through all your favorite categories and specific editions with just the swipe of a finger. And, we�re using some of the technology behind Search to bring you breaking stories on those celebrity scandals, that fiscal cliff negotiation or hottest holiday gift.

Scan through categories 
We�re now grouping editions into categories to help you keep track of your existing subscriptions and discover new ones. Check out editions related to your interests through categories like Entertainment, Sports, Lifestyle and more. All of your content will be grouped in these categories, accessible from a sidebar. And you can organize your editions in each category with favorites on top.

We�ve also made it easy to quickly browse through top articles from all your favorite editions in a category�just swipe horizontally. If you subscribe to more than a dozen News editions like The Atlantic, ABC News and The Telegraph, you can quickly swipe through the entire category and dive into editions with articles of interest.

 

Scan through editions 
We�ve also made it easier to scan headlines in a particular edition�just swipe vertically. Want to see what�s new in Popular Science? Just swipe through through the headlines. After you view a story we�ll mark it as read, so it�s easier to see new content each time you use Currents.

Scan through breaking stories 
To help you stay up-to-date with the latest news, Google Currents now uses some of the technology behind Search to deliver the hottest breaking stories in categories such as World, Entertainment, Sports, Science and more. You�ll find new articles from hot topics that interest you, while discovering existing Currents editions you can subscribe to. Breaking stories are customized to your country and language�so we�ll only show you relevant news.

Currents optimizes editions to look great on whatever type of device you're using. Now articles shine, with larger images and layouts that are intelligently optimized for your device, whether you're on a phone or a tablet. Check out some of our newest featured partners like Cars.com, Voice of America News and New Scientist.

Back in April we expanded Google Currents internationally. Since then millions of readers around the world have downloaded Currents, reading over 700 publisher editions and tens of thousands of self-produced editions. The updated app is now available for download on Google Play and coming soon to iOS. We hope that today�s updates make keeping up with the latest news fast, easy and fun no matter where you are or what device you�re using.

Posted by Mussie Shore, Group Product Manager

Coda Death Watch?

Bad news leaking from Coda, according to inside sources off the record, Coda has laid off a large portion of its employees.

The other day, my employer hired someone who was formerly working at Coda. I heard that he said that things were "tough" over at Coda.

Now, Plugincars.com has information that Coda has laid off around 50 employees, which represents something like 50% of their employees.

Is the Coda about to go the way of the Aptera?

Coda Flunks Front Crash Test

The NHTSA has released the test results of their crash testing for the Coda electric sedan, and amazingly, it flunked. Coda only got 2/5 stars for the driver in a head on crash, while oddly doing quite will on side impacts. It still gets a 4/5 overall rating due to its good performance in side impact and rollover, but a bad driver score in a front crash test is a major disappointment.

Not a good showing for the first Chinese built sedan to go on sale in the U.S.

How To Get Your 45MPG+

So you bought a shiny new hybrid, maybe a C-Max rated at 47mpg, or maybe a Prius rated at 46mpg. You start driving it to work, and you are disappointing that that instead of mid-40's mpg, you are getting something like 37mpg.

What you need to do is drive like the EPA's FTP75 drive cycle.

You need to have a lot of stop-and-go driving, from 0 to 30mph back to zero, with moderate acceleration. This will maximize your regen braking and recharge your battery.

And, you need to drive an average of around 55mph for the highway portion. All of this needs to be done on relatively flat ground, with minimal headwind.

Another trick, you need to limit your trip to the length of the EPA75 drive cycle, which is 1874s long (31.2 min). If you drive longer, you'll use more gasoline, and get lower fuel economy; if you can drive shorter, you'll see even better numbers.

I'm only partly joking. The biggest factor in fuel economy at highway speeds is, well, the highway speed. If you can slow it down from 70mph to 60mph, you'll see big improvements in your fuel economy.

(Graphic courtesy of Detroit News)

Right To Work and Unemployment

There is a raging debate in Michigan now over "Right To Work" laws, which are being proposed by the Republican controlled state legislature. RTW would allow workers in a union shop to refuse to pay dues if they don't want to be members.

This chart, which I made, is a histogram of unemployment rates (as of Oct 2012) in Right To Work ("RTW") and Forced Union ("FU") states.

As you can see, RTW states have a lower distribution of unemployment rate, and FU states skew higher.

Now, correlation does not necessarily mean causation... but the trend is clear. RTW states have lower unemployment rates.

The $550 Car Battery

Braille Battery is going to start selling an aftermarket car battery which uses the lithium ion chemistry instead of lead acid. It will weigh only about 6lbs, and is claimed to hold its charge, maintain voltage under load, and recharge better than a lead acid battery.

But this cutting edge battery will cost you: MSRP is $550, or about 5x a normal lead acid battery.

You can read the PR here.

New Google Now: the perfect travel companion for the holidays

Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donner and Blitzen! For Santa�s holiday travel this season, Google Now is just the prescription.

As you head off this holiday season, the latest update to Google Now makes it even more useful for traveling. Before you even leave your house, Google Now will tell you what the weather will be like at your destination (just in time to make sure you remember to pack those mittens). At the airport, your boarding pass is automatically pulled up, helping you breeze through to the gate (launching shortly for United Airlines, with more to come). And once you've arrived at your destination, Google Now can help you uncover some great activities, by showing you events happening around you, suggesting websites for you to explore as you research things to do, or allowing you to learn more about specific pieces while you�re at a museum (using Google Goggles).

All of this builds on top of some of the other cards designed for travel, like the currency conversion, translation, and flight status cards -- hopefully taking a little bit of the stress out of holiday travel so you can focus on family and fun.

We're also making Voice Search even more powerful: you can find out the name of the song that�s playing (�What�s this song?�), quickly find product info (�Scan this barcode�) and post updates to Google+ simply by using just your voice.

These goodies are waiting for you in the updated Google Search app, available on Google Play for devices running Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, or higher.

Posted by Baris Gultekin, Product Management Director

Lincoln Motor Company

Ford is re-branding (or, maybe, re-re-branding?) Lincoln as Lincoln Motor Company.

Personally, I'm not sure it matters, everyone knows that Lincoln shares platforms with Fords.

The key is to get some interesting product out there, soon, before people drift away completely. The MKZ looks promising.

One tidbit is hopeful: From Paul Eisenstein: "Rear-wheel-drive is definitely in the works," one of Ford's top executives confirmed in a background conversation with TheDetroitBureau.com.

Let's hope so! Based on the lack of rear wheel drive platforms at Ford (you have Mustang and Falcon in Australia) I am guessing they are looking at the obvious and resurrecting the Lincoln Coupe, based on Mustang. Will they call it the MK9?

Starbucks for $7? Phew...

$7 Starbucks Geisha coffee? Yawn. When Starbucks starts selling Kopi luwak, then I'll be impressed.

Edit spreadsheets on the go with the Drive mobile app

You�re making your list, you�re checking it twice -- and now you can do it from anywhere.

Just in time for this year�s holiday season, you can edit Google Sheets on your mobile device, just like you can with Google Docs. From the Drive app on your Android device, you can create a new spreadsheet or edit an existing one. You can switch fonts, resize columns, sort data, and more. And just like on your computer, you�ll be able to see other people�s edits in real time as they�re made.

Beyond spreadsheets, you may notice a few other tweaks to the Drive app, including better text formatting when you paste from one Google document to another. And from your Android device, you can edit text within tables in documents and add a shortcut on the homescreen of your device to any specific file in Drive.

Whether it�s holiday recipes, shopping lists, or just your family budget, the Drive app on your mobile device makes it easy to get stuff done wherever you are.

Get the Google Drive app today on Google Play.

Posted by Shrikant Shanbhag, Software Engineer

Restaurant.com gift certificates are lame

Someone gave me a gift of a Restaurant.com gift certificate. It entitles me to purchase like $50 with of dining coupons.

The problem is, there are all sorts of restrictions. Every restaurant I see in my area that I would care to visit has large minimum orders, "dine-in only", "at least 2 entrees", etc.

Too many strings.

My advice: don't bother giving people these things, they're lame.

How To Use A Cheap Air Impact Wrench

I picked up a cheap air impact wrench from a certain retailer of cheap tools (rhymes with beers).  It is rated for up to 400 ft-lbs of torque, supposedly.

When I connected it to my 6 gallon "pancake" air compressor, and tried to use it to loosen my car's lug nuts, it was unable to budge them.  In fact, I could hold the socket with my hand, and feel that it was really feeble.

Then I read the instructions.  The recommended air hose is 3/8"ID, while my hose is a 1/4" ID, and I also have 1/4" fittings all around.  No wonder, the small hose and fittings are so restrictive, the impact wrench probably doesn't get enough air flow to do its thing.

So I went to Home Depot (which is like a pilgrimage site for me, I circle it's aisles many times...) and picked up a modestly priced 3/8" ID hose, as well as some 3/8" "automotive" fittings.  By the way, the 3/8" fitting kits were more expensive than the hose itself!

At home, I removed one of the quick connects from my pancake compressor and using some nylon plumbers tape to make a good seal, screwed on the huge 3/8" automotive connector.  Then I put the matching bits on my hose, and on my air wrench.

Now, the air impact wrench whacks off the lug nuts like a champ.  The air flow is obviously much improved--running the air gun continuously will drain my 6 gallon air tank in about 30s.  Which is why the instructions recommend a 20gal tank.

But don't let that dissuade you.  If you only need to use your air impact once in a while (like me, to rotate my tires), it will work.  You may have to give your compressor a little bit time in between pairs of nuts to rebuild its pressure.

The Ethanol Mandate...

The ethanol mandate is idiotic and should be scrapped. Not waived, or delayed, but killed.

Making fuel from food crops is basically a price support (read: corporate welfare) for corn farmers, at the expense of other consumers of corn. The much anticipated cellulosic ethanol production that President George W. Bush anticipated when he signed the mandate has not materialized.

In other words, we all pay more for food, so we can put ethanol in our gas, and make some farmers more money.

Tesla COTY Reminds Me Of...

Tesla's Model S winning the Motortend Car Of The Year award reminds me of another premature award, when the Nobel Prize committee awarded a newly elected Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, apparently for things he was going to do.

I'm not saying the S isn't a great car, it might be, based on the few professional reviews that have been published. Only a few hundred Model S have been shipped to end consumers so far, and Tesla is still producing only a couple hundred cars a week. The S is not yet in what you would call "mass production".

Google Shopper 3.0 - New features to help with your holiday shopping

As you hit the mall this holiday season, chances are you�ll be accompanied by a reliable personal shopping companion: your mobile phone. Four out of five mobile phone and tablet owners plan to use their device for holiday shopping - for comparing prices, locating nearby stores, and searching for coupons. Today, with the launch of Google Shopper 3.0 for Android, you can easily browse for gift ideas, research products, and locate great deals on the go. 
Search for products and get gift ideas on the redesigned home page
The app�s redesigned home screen features a bigger search box for easier navigation. When you browse curated gift ideas and latest trends on the home page or search for apparel and accessories, larger photos let you view product designs in more detail.

                 

Find great sales and special offers
Shopper now makes it quick and easy to find great deals at local and online stores. From the new Sales page, you can view weekly circulars from nearby stores, along with a handful of featured current promotions which you can redeem online or in person. Shopper also shows you store promotions, such as �30% off� or �free shipping�, as you search for products in the app.

      

Use GoodGuide rating to Identify healthy, safe, and eco-friendly products 
Whether you shop with a conscience or would like a reason to start, Shopper now features GoodGuide ratings, a rating system that indicates on a scale of one to ten whether a product is healthy, safe and environmentally friendly. When GoodGuide ratings are available for a product, you can view these by scrolling down the product detail screen, as shown below. You can learn more about the GoodGuide rating system here.

You can download Shopper 3.0 for your Android device from Google Play.

Posted by John Shriver-Blake, Product Manager, Google Shopper

Suzuki Packs It In

American Suzuki is filing for bankruptcy protection, and the mother ship (Suzuki Motor Corp) is leaving the U.S. market. This is not a surprise, as Suzuki's cars never really took off, and the brand remained nearly invisible.

If I had to pick a next brand to go, I think I would pick Smart (998 sales in Oct 2012) or Mitsubishi (3,981 sales in Oct 2012).

Did Hyundai Cook Their MPG Numbers?

Did Hyundai cook their MPG numbers on purpose?

Peter DeLorenzo, blogging over at The Autoextremist, makes the bold and blunt accusation that Hyundai purposely tweaked their calculations so they would claim 40mpg on several vehicles, for marketing purposes.

I'm not sure I would put that over on Hyundai. They aren't some Chinese striver, desperately trying to break into the western market, packing their stuff with melamine and lead. Hyundai is a serious, and very successful company, and they know full well the marketing damage and bad press that would come from cooking the numbers. They were also aware that the EPA spot-checks fuel economy and emissions certification claims with their own testing.

No serious automaker would risk an embarrassing public EPA scolding, fines, and class action lawsuits to get from 38mpg to 40mpg, the risks are too great.

I have huge respect for DeLorenzo's opinion, but I think he's just flinging mud here.

My theory is that Hyundai's engineers either mis-interpreted the test procedure for fuel economy, with regards to the dynamometer setup, or perhaps messed up their testing methodology for obtaining some aspect of the road load calibration such as the air drag coefficient or road friction term. Since the error was in their favor, they didn't challenge their results. You can bet that if Hyundai was getting 36mpg instead of an expected 38mpg, they would have reviewed their procedures very closely.

Obama Vs. Romney: Who Is Better For Auto Industry?

Is Obama or Romney better for the auto industry?

It is true that Obama saved GM and Chrysler from a possibly very messy end, by forcing them into a government financed bankruptcy. And it is true that Romney came out against government funding for the bankruptcy. I think that if Romney were president at the time, and his advisors were telling him that a million jobs could be lost, he would have figured out a way to fund a quick-rinse bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler. Probably, Romney would have not favored the UAW and threw the private bondholders under the bus as badly as Obama did.

But that is in the past. The American public will not approve of another bail-out of the auto industry, no matter who is president. If GM or Chrysler fall down again, they will have to go it alone.

Going forward, who is better for the industry?

I believe that Romney is better based on his promise to back off of intrusive regulation, and aggressively pursue free trade agreements with major partners. I think under Romney, the EPA will be reigned in somewhat, and who knows, maybe the CARB could be put in its place with some carefully crafted legislation.

I also think Romney will be better for industry sales. If he is successful with his economic growth agenda, I would expect sales to increase.

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More Fisker Fires

Not good for Fisker.

Jalopnik has photos of 16 Karmas that burned out after being submerged by the rising seas caused by hurricane Sandy.

That's 16, at the same time and place, all of them failed the same way.

This points to a design flaw... some electrical connector, which is energized at all times, is not sufficiently protected from water intrusion. Or, perhaps, the battery pack itself is not properly designed against submersion. Either way, it is more bad news for Fisker, and possibly for anyone who wants to insure a Fisker.

Photo courtesy of Jalopnik

Hyundai's MPG Mistake

Wow.

Hyundai is under investigation by the EPA for over-estimating the fuel economy, on the Monroney (consumer info) sticker, by about 3%, affecting about 900,000 vehicles.

This is going to be a very expensive mistake for Hyundai, in cash and market perception. And with a big election so close, I can only assume EPA is going to hammer them with fines.

From Detroit News:

Sung Hwan Cho, president of Hyundai America Technical Center Inc., said the company in 2010 changed testing procedures to calculate road resistance that accidentally overestimated the fuel economy.

So what happened? It sounds like Hyundai screwed up their dynamometer calibration for road loads. In order to get a close match between road performance and lab results, Carmakers calculate numerical coefficients which are used to estimate the effect of air resistance, rolling resistance, vehicle inertia, etc. on a vehicle on the road. These coefficients are used to correct the load that a chassis dyno puts on a vehicle, so that the fuel economy and emissions results are a reasonable match to real world performance.

With this change, Hyundai can't brag about having so many 40mpg vehicles.

Ford Announcement: Fields COO, Farley to head Lincoln

This morning, Bill Ford Jr. and Alan Mulally announced that Mark Fields was going to be promoted to Chief Operating Officer, reporting to Mulally. The heads of Ford's various organizations would report to Fields, but the heads of HR, and Finance would report to Mulally.  

I have met Mark Fields once, at an industry event, a few years ago, during his "Bold Moves" effort.  I only spoke to him very briefly, but from his demeanor I got the impression that he is a very bright guy, very driven, and a bit cocky.  I also have the sense that he has an aggressive, competitive edge to him, more of a "hard charger" than you see from Alan Mulally.  

I think Mark Fields will serve Ford well.  He was partly responsible for the Ford Fusion, which helped save the company, product-wise, in the late 2000's.  

I was surprised to see that Farley was put in charge of Lincoln as well as Marketing and Sales.  It seems like a really big job--both global marketing for Ford and running the Lincoln brand are huge jobs.  I hope he can pull it off, because Lincoln really needs help.

Nexus: The best of Google, now in three sizes

People increasingly have more than one device, and they switch between them many times a day. Nexus�Google�s hardware line for Android devices�gets rid of the hassle. Just sign in with your Google Account and everything is there ready to go, whatever device you�re using: photos, emails, contacts, bookmarks, even your entertainment on Google Play.

Today, we�re excited to announce three great new Nexus devices � in small, medium and large. And they all run Android 4.2, a new flavor of Jelly Bean�which includes the latest version of Google Now and other great new features.

Nexus 4 with Google Now and Photo Sphere 
Nexus 4 is our latest smartphone, developed together with LG. It has a quad-core processor which means it's super fast, a crisp 4.7" (320 ppi) display that's perfect for looking at photos and watching YouTube, and with wireless charging you just set the phone down on a charging surface to power it up, no wires needed. While Nexus 4 is incredibly powerful under the hood, it also features the latest version of Jelly Bean, Android 4.2�the simplest and smartest version of Android yet. Starting with the camera, we've reinvented the photo experience with Photo Sphere, which lets you capture images that are literally larger than life. Snap shots up, down and in every direction to create stunning 360-degree immersive experiences that you can share on Google+ with friends and family�or you can add your Photo Sphere to Google Maps for the world to see.

Android 4.2 brings other great goodies like Gesture Typing, which lets you glide your finger over the letters you want to type on the keyboard�it makes typing fast, fun and a whole lot simpler. Android 4.2 also adds support for wireless display so you can wirelessly watch movies, YouTube videos and play games right on your Miracast-compatible HDTV. 

Learn more about all of the new features in Android 4.2, Jelly Bean, here. 

Google Now�even more useful 
We designed Google Now to make life simpler by giving you the right information at just the right time in easy to read cards, before you even ask. And the feedback has been awesome. So today we�re adding more cards that we hope you�ll find useful. Flight information, restaurant reservations, hotel confirmations and shipping details�how often have you found yourself wading through your email to get this information at the last moment? So next time you book a table for dinner, you�ll get a reminder with all the details without ever having to lift a finger. You�ll also get cards for nearby attractions, interesting photo spots, movies times at nearby theaters or concerts by your favorite artists.

Nexus 7: Thin, light and now even more portable
Nexus 7 brings you the best of Google�YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Maps�and all the great content from Google Play in a slim, portable package that fits perfectly in your hand. To give you more room for all that great content you can now get Nexus 7 with 16GB ($199) or 32GB ($249) of storage. But we also wanted to make this highly portable tablet even more mobile. So we added HSPA+ mobile data. Nexus 7 is now also available with 32GB and HSPA+ mobile ($299), which can operate on more than 200 GSM providers worldwide, including AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. 

Nexus 10: Powerful and shareable 
Nexus 10 is the ultimate tablet for watching movies or reading magazines. We wanted to build a premium entertainment device, so we partnered with Samsung to do just that. Nexus 10 is the highest resolution tablet on the planet with a 10.055" display at 2560-by-1600 (300ppi), that's over 4 million pixels right in your hands. It comes with a powerful battery that will get you up to nine hours of video playback and more than 500 hours of standby time. With a set of front-facing stereo speakers, you can watch movies right from your Nexus 10 and they simply sound awesome. But what makes Nexus 10 unique is that it's the first truly shareable tablet. With Android 4.2, you can add multiple users and switch between them instantly right from the lockscreen. We believe that everyone should have quick and easy access to their own stuff -- email, apps, bookmarks, and more. That way, everyone can have their own home screens, their own music, and even their own high scores.

Google Play: More entertainment, more countries
We�ve recently added a ton of great new entertainment to Google Play, such as movies and TV shows from Twentieth Century Fox. Earlier this year we expanded our service beyond movie rentals and now you can purchase movies and build a library of your favorites in Google Play. Today we�re bringing movie purchasing to more countries - Canada, the U.K., France, Spain and Australia.
We�re also excited to announce two new partnerships. We�re now working with Time, Inc. to bring you even more magazines like InStyle, PEOPLE, TIME and others. And we�ve partnered with Warner Music Group who will be adding their full music catalog with new songs coming each day. We�re now working with all of the major record labels globally, and all the major U.S. magazine publishers, as well as many independent labels, artists and publishers.

On November 13, we're bringing music on Google Play to Europe.  Those of you in the U.K, France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be able to purchase music from the Google Play store and add up to 20,000 songs�for free�from your existing collection to the cloud for streaming to your Android devices or web browser. We�re also launching our new matching feature to streamline the process of uploading your personal music to Google Play. We�ll scan your music collection and any song we match against the Google Play catalog will be automatically added to your online library without needing to upload it, saving you time. This will be available in Europe at launch on November 13 and is coming to the U.S. soon after. This will all be for free�free storage of your music, free matching, free syncing across your devices and free listening.

Great value
We�ve always focused on building great devices at great value.  And we think today�s devices offer the very best that money can buy. Here are more details on when and where you can pick up your next Nexus device:

• Nexus 4: 8GB for $299; 16GB for $349; available unlocked and without a contract on 11/13 on the Google Play store in U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and Canada. The 16GB version will also be available through T-Mobile for $199, with a 2-year contract (check here for more details).
• Nexus 7: 16GB for $199 and 32GB for $249; available in U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan, and also through our retail partners Gamestop, Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and Walmart.

• Nexus 7 with 32GB and mobile data: $299 and unlocked, on sale 11/13 in the Google Play store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain and  Canada.

• Nexus 10: 16GB for $399; 32GB for $499; available on 11/13 in the Google Play Store in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan. You'll also be able to purchase the 32GB version in over 2,000 Walmart stores in the U.S.

A Nexus device is much more than simply a phone or tablet. It�s your connection to the best of Google�all of your stuff and entertainment, everywhere you go with no hassle.  Now you have three new Nexus devices, a new improved version of Jelly Bean and more entertainment than ever before�all available on Google Play. The playground is open.


Posted by Andy Rubin, SVP, Mobile and Digital Content

Sad At Sears

The other day, I made a run to Sears, to buy a battery for my Craftsman li-ion compact drill. It's a great little tool.

I spent some time wandering through the hand-tool section, and realized that the old Craftsman brand is basically dead. Craftsman tools used to all be made in the U.S.A, to a nice level of fit and finish. Now I see two grades of Chinese made stuff--chintzy and somewhat nicer.

I used to buy only Craftsman hand tools, but it looks like when I need new ones, I won't make an extra effort. I can just as well buy Mexico/Taiwan sourced hand tools for slightly less money at Home Depot.

There are still mass market hand tools made in the U.S. with a no-B.S. warranty. Check out Klien and Channel Lock.

MI LG Chem Plant: Public Loan, No Batteries

According to a local news report, the LG Chem battery plant recently built in Holland MI is sitting idle. After building pre-production test units, the workers are now basically idled, spending their time cleaning the grounds, training, and wasting time.

Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell Target 8 that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies.

So what happened? Simply, lack of demand from GM for Volt batteries.

Full story here: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/target_8/Volt-no-jolt-LG-Chem-employees-idle

Bringing Google Calendar to the Play Store

Posted by Michael Chan, Tech Lead

Previously available only on select Android devices like Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, you can now download the official Google Calendar app for Android from Google Play. Google Calendar makes it easy for you to manage all your calendars in one place, including those from your Google accounts and other calendars synced to your Android device. Beyond supporting the basics such as creating, editing, deleting events and responding to invitations, the new Google Calendar app has extra features that help you manage your time and communication more easily:

• Snooze events directly from a notification if you�re not quite ready and want to be reminded later.
• Use predefined messages to send quick "I'll be late" updates to your event participants directly from the notifications or the event itself (of course, you can always write your own).
• Pinch to zoom in and out of a day.
• Set a home time zone to help you manage your time better when traveling.

In addition, we also expanded the sync period so you can review past events from up to one year ago directly on your device. Download Google Calendar on Google Play today for devices running Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3+) or Jellybean. Use the Google Feedback feature in the app to let us know how we can make Calendar work better for you!


(Cross-posted on the Official Gmail Blog)

Starbucks Poor

Ugh. Medium coffee and a cookie, almost $5. Why do I come here again?

Vu1, what happened?

I am frankly frustrated. I was excited to try a new kind of high efficiency, long life, dimmable, high color accuracy light bulb called an ESL, invented by this outfit called Vu1. Vu1 started a plant in Czech Republic, built one batch of bulbs, which quickly sold out, then closed the plant and moved manufacturing to China. For a long time now, they have been essentially quiet.

C'mon Vu1, can you ship some bulbs for people to buy, already?

Debate Thoughts

Automotive content in last night's presidential debate between Obama and Romney was minimal.

Obama, in the opening remarks, quickly mentioned the automotive industry as an economic recovery success story.

Romney later counter-punched, mentioning Fisker, Tesla, and Ener1 as money losing examples of Obama's green jobs initiative. Romney also made a point to mention that the cost of gasoline has doubled since Obama took office.

Obama missed the chance to slam Romney for not supporting the taxpayer funded rescue of GM and Chrysler, a major tactical error.

Romney +1 point, in my estimation.

Mazda's i-ELOOP: Mild Non-Hybrid Regen

Mazda is promoting its new i-ELOOP regenerative braking technology as part of its "Skyactiv" suite of fuel saving technologies.

i-ELOOP is a system that uses a capacitor to store electricity from the alternator, which is controlled so that it generates electricity mostly during deceleration.

So this is a regen system which runs from the belt driven alternator, and the small amount of energy it captures is used not to move the car but only to recharge the battery and run the electrical system.

This isn't hybridization, it is just alternator duty cycle optimization. It won't save much fuel, maybe 3-5%, but on the other hand, it won't cost or weigh much either.

The big fuel economy savings are when you store lots of energy from braking in a battery or super-capacitor, and then use that power to re-accelerate the car. Mazda, however, isn't up to making the investment, apparently.

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads

Whether you�re looking for directions, checking email or sharing a picture with friends, apps are now an indispensable part of life. And if you�re using Android, it all starts with Google Play, home to 675,000 apps and games. That�s a lot of choice. We�ve now crossed 25 billion downloads from Google Play, and to celebrate we�re offering some great discounts for the next five days.

Every day you�ll be able to choose from a collection of apps from some of the world�s top developers including Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, runtastic, Full Fat and more. And all for just 25 cents. We�ll also be offering some special collections like 25 movies you must own, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and our 25 top selling magazines, all at special prices. Visit Google Play a little later today to check them out.

Twenty-five billion is more than twice the distance, in miles, that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled since its launch 35 years ago. It�s the amount of time, in minutes, that have passed since some of our earliest ancestors began to set foot in Europe. And now, thanks to all of you, it�s a Google Play milestone. We look forward to the next 25 billion.

Posted by Jamie Rosenberg, Director, Digital Content

Fisker's Bad Karma

Consumer Reports is a fairly tough judge of consumer vehicles. I frequently disagree with their judgements, but they are very influential, so much so that the major automakers strive to develop their vehicles with CR testing in mind.

Consumer Reports does not like the Karma. In fact, they give it a failing grade.

The Karma ranks as our lowest-rated luxury sedan. Of all sedans, only three have lower overall scores: Chrysler 200,Dodge Avenger, and Nissan Versa SV.

Ouch.

It looks to me like Karma is going to be a beautiful failure. With Tesla coming online, with a much more practical vehicle, and other big luxury players looking into electrification, customers will have few reasons besides styling to pick the Karma. Years from now, collectors will gather to share horror stories about bad software and clumsy user interfaces.

Still, I have to give credit to Fisker, even if they do fail, at least they managed to produce a beautiful and driveable vehicle, which is more than can be said for many other electric start-ups.

Turning the page with a new Google Play Books app for Android

Google Play Books enables you to read more than 4 million books on the go, and it's available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Korea and Japan. Today we�re bringing new features to the Books app to help you better explore your books and understand what you�re reading.

Places and dictionary
School�s now in full swing and students are picking up the classics. Whether you're diving into Moby Dick or trying your hand at some Tolstoy, we want to make your reading experience as enjoyable and rewarding as possible. Starting today, when you come across an unfamiliar geographic location�a faraway city or distant mountain range�you can tap on the location to learn more about it. You�ll see an info card with a Google Map and the option to get more information by searching on Google or Wikipedia.

Explore locations using info cards in Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time

Similarly when you come across an unfamiliar word (say, abligurition or jentacular), just tap it for a quick definition.

Translation
For those adventurous readers making their way through books in non-native languages, you can now easily translate words or phrases to and from a number of languages. Just select the text or word and use the button on the top action bar to indicate which language you�d like translate into.

Highlighting and notes
If you happen to page through any of the books on my shelf, you�ll likely find highlighted passages and illegibly scrawled notes in the margins. Starting today, our app lets you highlight text and easily take notes. And because all your books live in the cloud, highlights and notes sync on your tablet, phone and the web.

You will also notice a new sepia reading theme (in addition to the current day and night themes), 2D sliding page turn animation, and lots of stability improvements. Finally, you can now read Japanese books in a vertical, right-to-left layout�and flip pages from right to left.

We hope these features make reading more enjoyable�and productive.

Posted by Xinxing Gu, Product Manager, Google Play

Leaf Batteries Wearing Out Early

Looks like Nissan's decision to use an air-cooled battery system on the Leaf is going to cost it a lot of goodwill. Inside EVs writes up a well controlled test to determine if reduced capacity display Leafs also show reduced range. Which they do.

Bottom line: if you live in a hot climate, don't buy a Leaf until they change the battery temperature management system design.

The Benefits & Importance of Compatibility

We built Android to be an open source mobile platform freely available to anyone wishing to use it. In 2008, Android was released under the Apache open source license and we continue to develop and innovate the platform under the same open source license -- it is available to everyone at: http://source.android.com. This openness allows device manufacturers to customize Android and enable new user experiences, driving innovation and consumer choice.

As the lead developer and shepherd of the open platform, we realize that we have a responsibility to app developers -- those who invested in the platform by adopting it and building applications specifically for Android. These developers each contribute to making the platform better -- because when developers support a platform with their applications, the platform becomes better and more attractive to consumers. As more developers build great apps for Android, more consumers are likely to buy Android devices because of the availability of great software content (app titles like Fruit Ninja or Google Maps). As more delighted consumers adopt Android phones and tablets, it creates a larger audience for app developers to sell more apps. The result is a strategy that is good for developers (they sell more apps), good for device manufacturers (they sell more devices) and good for consumers (they get more features and innovation).

In biological terms, this is sometimes referred to as an ecosystem. In economic terms, this is known as a virtuous cycle -- a set of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop. Each iteration of the cycle positively reinforces the previous one. These cycles will continue in the direction of their momentum until an external factor intervenes and breaks the cycle.

When we first contemplated Android and formed the Open Handset Alliance, we wanted to create an open virtuous cycle where all members of the ecosystem would benefit. We thought hard about what types of external factors could intervene to weaken the ecosystem as a whole. One important external factor we knew could do this was incompatibilities between implementations of Android. Let me explain:

Imagine a hypothetical situation where the platform on each phone sold was just a little bit different. Different enough where Google Maps would run normally on one phone but run terribly slow on another. Let's say, for sake of example, that Android implemented an API that put the phone to sleep for a fraction of a second to conserve battery life when nothing was moving on the screen. The API prototype for such a function might look like SystemClock.sleep(millis) where the parameter "millis" is the number of milliseconds to put the device to sleep for.

If one phone manufacturer implemented SystemClock.sleep() incorrectly, and interpreted the parameter as Seconds instead of Milliseconds, the phone would be put to sleep a thousand times longer than intended! This manufacturer�s phone would have a terrible time running Google Maps. If apps don�t run well across devices due to incompatibilities, consumers would leave the ecosystem, followed by developers. The end of the virtuous cycle.

We have never believed in a �one size fits all� strategy, so we found a way to enable differentiation for device manufactures while protecting developers and consumers from incompatibilities by offering a free "compatibility test suite" (CTS). CTS is a set of software tools that tests and exercises the platform to make sure that (for example) SystemClock.sleep(millis) actually puts the device to sleep for only milliseconds. Like Android, the test suite is freely available to everyone under the Apache open source license: http://source.android.com/compatibility/cts-intro.html 

While Android remains free for anyone to use as they would like, only Android compatible devices benefit from the full Android ecosystem. By joining the Open Handset Alliance, each member contributes to and builds one Android platform -- not a bunch of incompatible versions. We�re grateful to the over 85 Open Handset Alliance members who have helped us build the Android ecosystem and continue to drive innovation at an incredible pace. Thanks to their support the Android ecosystem now has over 500 million Android-compatible devices and counting!

Posted by Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content

Dirty Blonde

I just discovered that Atwater Brewery's excellent Dirty Blonde beer is now available in cans.

I love good beer in cans, because they are lighter and less fragile than glass bottles. And, you might be surprised ot hear, beer stays fresher in cans because they are opaque, unlike brown bottles. Light is bad for beer.

If you have never tried it, Dirty Blonde is a cloudy light ale, not too hoppy, with a hint of orange peel. It is a great summery brew.

Return Of The Rotary?

Mazda recently killed off its consumer market rotary offering, the RX-8, but according to Motor Authority, Mazda may use a rotary engine as a range extender in a hybrid electric application.

The neat thing about using a rotary (or any other) engine as a range extender, is that you can optimize the engine for electricity generation duty, and run them at a more efficient operating point.

Myths and Truths about 55mpg CAFE

Ranting against the CAFE regulations is one of my favorite topics.

Here are some of my reactions to some of the myths that the Obama administration is promoting about the new 54mpg-by-2025 CAFE plan.

"Cars will still be affordable"--no, not exactly. The government's estimate on the average mark-up to meet CAFE was around $2,000/car. However, realize that this is based on various assumptions, which may not play out, and probably does not take unintended market consequences into account. If batteries continue to be very expensive; if there is a shortage of key materials because everyone is rushing to electrify; large vehicles may have to be over-priced to offset losses on small vehicles, and etc. The other unintended side effects: if cars are more expensive up front, financing will be harder to get for some customers, causing lost sales. People will hold on to used cars longer, making used cars more expensive, and ironically, reducing fleet fuel economy and safety.

"Consumers will be able to choose" -- Actually, I see consumers being pushed towards smaller, lighter vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles, giving up some utility and cargo capacity. I also larger vehicles like pickup trucks becoming more expensive. The wealthy will be able to buy whatever they want, even V8 powered muscle cars, but the average joe will be pushed towards small cars.

"This will create jobs" -- dubious. Yes, you may need more engineers to engineer the advanced fuel saving powertrains. However, that may be offset by losses in dealerships and other secondary jobs, if overall new car volume goes down. And if China starts importing cheap fuel efficient or battery electric cars down the road, undercutting the American makers, expect job losses. If new car volume is reduced, manufacturing jobs will suffer also.

"Energy Independence" -- sort of. Less oil use is good, for that goal. And so is electrification. However, the raw materials of electric vehicles--rare earth metals like neodymium, and battery components like lithium, are overwhelmingly supplied by countries like China and Russia. We will be at the mercy of a different sort of cartel.

"Good for the middle class" -- Higher cost vehicles, less choice in the market, older average age of vehicles on the road, possible job losses in dealerships and manufacturing plants. The only thing good here for the middle class is a smaller gas bill.

Coda Recall: All 78 Vehicles?

BEV maker Coda is recalling 78 vehicles due to improper installation of side curtain airbags.

Now, what is shocking here is not the reason for the recall (stuff happens) but the number.

Has Coda really only sold 78 vehicles since March? If so, that is a disaster for them. They're going nowhere fast.

Voice Search arrives in 13 new languages

�Norwegian restaurants in New York City.� I can type that phrase fast, but I can say it even faster�and when I�m on the go, speed is what I�m looking for. With Voice Search, you can speak into your phone to get search results quickly and easily. Voice Search is already available in 29 languages, and today, we're bringing support to 13 new languages for Android users�bringing the total to 42 languages and accents in 46 countries. In fact, 100 million new speakers can use Voice Search now, with the addition of:

Basque Bulgarian Catalan European Portuguese Finnish Galician Hungarian

Icelandic Norwegian Romanian Serbian Slovak Swedish

Each new language usually requires that we initially collect hundreds of thousands of utterances from volunteers and, although we�ve been working on speech recognition for several years, adding these new languages led our engineers and scientists to tackle some unique challenges. While languages like Romanian follow predictable pronunciation rules, others, like Swedish, required that we recruit native speakers to provide us with the pronunciations for thousands of words. Our scientists then built a machine learning system based on that data to predict how all other Swedish words would be pronounced.

This update has already started to roll out, and will continue to do so over the course of the next week. How you get started with Google Voice Search depends on what kind of phone you have. If your phone runs Android 2.2 or later, and you see the microphone icon on the Google Search widget on your homescreen, all you have to do is tap the icon to start a voice-powered search. Otherwise, you can install the Voice Search app from Google Play. Note that you can only speak one language into the app at a time, and you may need to change your language settings to use one of these new languages.

As with other languages we�ve added, one of the major benefits to Google�s cloud-based model is that the more people use Voice Search, the more accurate it becomes.

Posted by Bertrand Damiba, Product Manager

Tesla Model S Track Numbers

Edmunds was allowed to test a Tesla Model S with instrumentation, and it does put down some impressive numbers, particularly stopping distance, considering how heavy it is:

Acceleration
0-60 (sec): 4.3 (4.3 w/ TC on)
1/4-Mile (sec @ mph): 12.6 @ 108.3 (12.6 @ 108.2 w/ TC on)
Braking
60-0 (ft): 108
Handling
Slalom (mph): 66.8 (66.0 w/TC off)
Skid Pad Lateral Acceleration (g): 0.86 (0.86 w/TC on)

However, one grain of salt: this car was not purchased, it was loaned from Tesla, so it may not have production software. I'm not saying it is a magazine special, but it could be.