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?