Auto Parts for Brains

At the end of this year Google has especially noted the social bookmarking site Digg as one of it’s top referrers. This does not only tell us, web surfers, about the power of this site but it’s ability to determine which information is important or not. Though many has contested the way information is voted upon in Digg, and even with all the conspiracy theory on Digg mobs, on cannot deny the fact:  If it make the front page of Digg, it is big news.

 Listed below are the Top ten most dugg automotive related sites for the last 365 days. These are the news articles that are considered by most diggers as most important, controversial, provocative, or just downright entertaining.

The list starts with:

1457 diggs
Smart Cars: Coming to the U.S.

It’s about time for these cool automobiles to be seen in our roads. I guess a lot of diggers are eco-conscious and are in for fuel efficiency. The fact that these cars were shown in the controversial Da Vinci Code movie may have also sparked interest.  These cars are said to range between 15,000 to 25,000 dollars fully loaded.  

1477 diggs
Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars

This is a software dependence nightmare come true. Here the problem starts when the City of Hoboken, New Jersey sent the employees of Robotic packing in the course of a contract dispute. The result was the entrapment of all the cars parked in that modern robotic garage. Without the software, it would be impossible to manually remove any vehicles inside the enclosure. After much dispute the two parties compromised and came to a settlement.

Just shows how dependent we are with technology. It makes me shudder just thinking of how many hospitals depend on softwares and computers in the treatment and diagnosis of their patients.

1482 diggs
STUNNING GT:HD In-Game Shots Look Better Than Real Life.

A few pictures that show how well cars are rendered in a GT game.

1524 diggs
Worst cars ever made

Pretty self explanatory

Yugo- A cheap car that performs as it is priced. Almost every owner has a complaint.

Ford Pinto- The three wheel car for the daredevil. Yep, if you buy this you could literally end up burning. Seemed like this car has the risk of exploding when hit behind.  Ford decided that it is cheaper to pay for medical expenses of those who may get burned than to repair the problem as shown by the computation below.

Here are the scary facts from www.automotoportal.com

BENEFITS
Savings: 180 burn deaths, 180 serious burn injuries, 2,100 burned vehicles. Unit Cost: $200,000 per death, $67,000 per injury, $700 per vehicle.
Total Benefit: 180 X ($200,000) + 180 X ($67,000) + $2,100 X ($700) = $49.5 million.

COSTS
Sales: 11 million cars, 1.5 million light trucks.
Unit Cost: $11 per car, $11 per truck.
Total Cost: 11,000,000 X ($11) + 1,500,000 X ($11) = $137 million.

Peel trident- just plain ugly
Fiat Multipla- Car as ugly as its name
Chevy Vega- Rusts in the Showroom

1611 diggs
Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars for 2006

1. Honda Insight — 60/66
2. Toyota Prius — 60/51*
3. Honda Civic Hybrid — 49/51*
4. Volkswagen Golf TDI — 37/44
    Volkswagen New Beetle TDI — 37/44
5. Volkswagen Jetta TDI — 36/41
6. Toyota Corolla — 32/41
7. Scion xA — 32/37
8. Hyundai Accent — 32/35
    Kia Rio — 32/35
9. Honda Civic — 30/40*
10. Pontiac Vibe — 30/36
Toyota Matrix — 30/36

Hail the car makers who make driving less strenuous to our wallets. Digg users were excited by last year’s fuel saving cars.

1879 diggs
The Next Gen Of Cars (I cant wait!!)

just watch this video. I don’t feel like I need to say more.

1932 diggs
Gone in 20 Minutes: using laptops to steal cars

This perhaps is the drawback of losing the key for our cars. Since we are faced with the fact that every software has its flaws, this will make every car vulnerable to attacks.

2271 diggs
The Worst Game Ever Made By Sega

Shows what happens if a supposed to be popular game takes a time machine eleven years to the future. I bet you’ll go “are we there yet” in the first ten seconds of the game.

2303 diggs
Man Makes $100-$300 a Day Sitting In Cars

What I’d like to hear from is the crazy group of people who’d trust a stranger to ride with them. I guess traffic really sometimes is that bad that we end up taking drastic measures.  Oh well, I gotta give kudos to the guy for earning so smartly.

3484 diggs
Iceland the First Country to Try Abandoning Gasoline

Title says it all. This is the third strike. There is no denying, Diggers love the earth. Hmmm, So who’s planning to go to Iceland?