Auto Parts for Brains

 I don’t care if it was named as one of the worst cars of all times.  I may even admit that I have a gullible brain, so easily shaped by marketing ploys and brilliantly crafted propaganda.  Still, after seeing the Top Gear review of the 1964 Peel P50, I can’t help but say that I want one like it today.  Watching the video review by Jeremy Clarkson just made me smile like a little boy, like when he gets a brand new toy.  I can imagine how useful a car like this can be in my everyday life.  Imagine packing this little toy with the latest of today’s technology and one will get a really cool automotive.

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Concept cars are not new to us.  Almost every year, we get a lot of cool and neat ideas from designers and car manufacturers on what could be the next big thing to hit our streets.  Usually, a great lot of these concepts do not even reach the production stage.  Still they serve as benchmarks for future concepts and innovations.

It is a challenge then for many auto show organizers to come with a challenge that will stretch the creativity and imagination of different car manufacturers.

In the recent LA Auto Show, manufacturers are made to explore a realm in car concept and design that has not been explored before.  They are made to look half a century from now, on what they think the cars of that time will be.  This is perhaps the farthest in the future that car makers and designers are made to look at.

The following are concepts from major car manufacturers as they attempt to create a vision for us on what cars will look like 50 years from now. 

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I love pictures a lot.  A picture has the ability to convey messages that would otherwise be hard or impossible to express.  Sometimes, a single picture can contain a story that could fill a book.

Moving and still images have taken the internet by storm.  From video and photo sharing sites, to improved tools for image manipulation and creation, everyone has turned their attention to this old medium giving it new life.

As an avid web hopper, I cannot survive without a good dose of images to make me laugh, cry or ponder.  Below are a compilation of some of the year’s strongest and most controversial photos in the net.  These images have graced the pages of many social bookmarking sites, and this is merely an attempt to give credit and recognition to those who have labored to make them available to our eyes.  I am tempted to call them The Net’s Best, but wouldn’t want to generalize so, instead, here’s Auto Parts for Brains‘ Best:

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It has been a while since the last time I have been to Netscape.  One can then, imagine the surprise I had, when I have found out that the long promised move to its new name has already taken place. 

Being a loyal patron of Netscape (Navigator is now my default browser and my AIM is open 18 hours a day) I cannot wait to explore the new site.  My first visit to Propeller did not show any new thing from my last Netscape visits.  “I guess they just moved the whole site to the new domain name” I said to myself.  When some of my friends (loyal Diggers) went on attack mode on the site, I know I had to give them something cool. I did some search and found a lot of stories on Propeller.  I saw feature requests, how to’s on using the site and some promise of change in the future but felt these are not enough. 

That is why on my third visit to the new site, I began digging hard to find chunks of information to show my friends.  The following are some of the information I have discovered.  I am pretty sure many of you know them already.  Still there may still be surprises ahead, so read on.

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Ok, I was blog hopping this morning when I chanced upon a contest by Site Fever. They placed a whopping 1 TB Western Digital Mybook Hard drive up for grabs to anyone who blogs about how they would use such massive storage.

Honestly, I don’t easily get excited by contests like this, having had no experience of winning anything as far as I can remember. Still, looking at that 1 Tb of empty space did make me drool and fantasize about what I’d do if someone gives me such an indulging device.

So, win or no win, here goes my 1 Tb plan: Read the rest of this entry »

Almost every driver knows that when it comes to cars, the seatbelt remains as the single most effective safety feature in our rides. With other safety devices coming out, it is getting harder to sort the clutter and truly know which safety features matter. If one goes through the list, most of the cool safety devices in our cars are installed to prevent injury in the event of an accident instead of preventing the accident itself. Read the rest of this entry »

Summer is almost coming to an end, and I cannot help but feel that the season just passed me by. I did get a lot of opportunities to spend summer outdoors, but some of my more memorable times were spent inside my home in front of my computer. Modern technology and the internet has really made the world smaller for all of us. With my PC, I can get to many places and be up to date with information I wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

With this information overload, the net surfer must learn to identify where to look for the more useful or interesting ones against all the clutter.

Here are a few of the stuff I have seen today that kind of made my day a little more fun. I hope that the following will also help you have a great start and minimize the time you’d have to spend surfing. Read on. Read the rest of this entry »

I have seen this list from the Simpsons episode where Homer was about to die after eating a poisonous sushi delicacy made up of Blowfish.  (originally aired January 24, 1991)  He was given 24 hours to live by the doctor, made this list and went about to try to accomplish them.

Homer Simpson is perhaps one of the most enduring cartoon characters of all time.  Maybe it is because, any person can, one way or the other, relate to him.  Attempts to duplicate him and his dysfunctional family, have been attempted lots of times, but still,  I think nothing comes close to him.  (Yup not even Family Guy)  He remains the classic epitome of our imperfections, a symbol of man’s humanity.

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After a long wait, the boxes were finally opened and all of Muggle-dom held their breath as the most anticipated installment in the life of Harry Potter was made available to all. This is perhaps the most anticipated book for the year, marking the end of a saga that has captured the imagination of adults and youngsters alike. The last book was shrouded with so much secrecy and mystery, that it made loyal followers drool in anticipation of the thrilling conclusion of the life of their most adored boy wizard.

After reading the book, I cannot help but look back to the years I have stuck with Harry. From a frail skinny boy in overgrown sweatshirts, he has transformed and was given life to become one of the most mature characters in the history of literature.

After seven books that get thicker by the year, I racked my brains (which I must remind you is made up of auto parts) out thinking of the things in the book that I learned. I started the task by listing randomly, things that have affected me in reading the book. And though I admit to be the last person in the earth to possess the eloquence to write a decent book review, here they are. The ten lessons in life I learned from the Harry Potter Saga.

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With Hollywood spewing forth Science fiction movies left and right, many times we are given a peek into what the future might be like. Though, many portrayals of the not too distant future is done with an aim to delight the audience, a lot of the devices, and concepts shown in these movies are based on on-going research and might actually be used soon.

One of the things that film makers never fail to include in their visions for the future is the way we travel from one place to another. From the time machine of “Back to The Future”, to the flying cars in Minority Report, we have been given a peek of how our rides might look like a few years from now.

Though flying cars and highway-less cities are still far from becoming a reality, many concepts and innovations are currently being developed which could redefine the way we move around on four wheels.

Here is a peek on 5 technologies that might be available soon for the future motorist. Read the rest of this entry »