Hasta La Gadget!

The BMW 123d isn't sold in the U.S., and that's a shame for a variety of reasons.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

With falling gas prices dampening enthusiasm for alternative fuels, and poor economic conditions causing automakers to tighten their belts, plans for new diesel car launches in the U.S. have slowed. But diesel engine cars still present a good option over gasoline-powered cars, generally getting much better mileage. Although automakers scaled back their plans, Bosch, which makes diesel engine components, still wants to change the perception of diesel cars in the U.S. so the public will be more receptive, and even demanding of this technology from automakers.

To that end, Bosch loaned us a 2007 BMW 123d, a car you can’t currently get here, so we could see how it performed in comparison with gasoline cars. Combating the image of soot-spewing diesel trucks, Bosch adopted the slogan “good, clean fun” for its diesel technology, and the BMW 123d was a means to make sure we had some fun.

BMW started selling its 1-series car in the U.S. last year, as the 128 and 135, in coupe and convertible formats. While we’ve found both cars very enjoyable, the 123d is a hatchback, a style that makes much more sense with the diminutive sports car. Increased rear headroom makes the rear seats more usable, although still tight, and the hatchback means substantially more cargo area. After driving the 123d, we really wish BMW would bring the 1-series hatchback to the U.S., with a diesel or gas engine. It didn’t hurt that this 123d was also fitted with an M kit, meaning a sport-tuned suspension.

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Originally posted at The Car Tech blog

Jasmine France joins us as we cover a slew of unreadable watches, clocks and bulletproof watch winding safes. She also shows off her insane ability to read the faces of watches that no one else can decipher. We shall forever refer to Jasmine as “The Watch Whisperer.”

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EPISODE 147

Samsung claims its watch is world’s slimmest

LG Watch Phone clears FCC

Turning a Power Mac G3 into a wall clock (Thanks, Nicholas!)

Pong clock (Thanks, Jon!)

Continue Time clock

Digital black-and-white clock is a milestone in minimalism

The Twilight Watch

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Originally posted at Gadgettes, the blog

Since 2007, AppleInsider has been convinced that Apple is working on a tablet. The site is now reporting that Apple is this close to shipping one, and has placed the date at 2010.

Apple Insider is so far inside Apple that the site is reporting that Steve Jobs has personally overseen the project “from his home, office and
hospital beds, [and] has finally achieved that much-sought aura of
satisfaction” about the 10-inch tablet with a 3G connection.

AppleInsider also claims that the project has been restarted half a dozen times within the last two years, which either again is terrific insight into the workings of the couple or a convenient out in case the rumor does not come to pass. Cynicism aside, however, we’d much rather see something happen with the existing Apple TV than Apple burn engineering resources on a brand-new technology.

This article was written on November 27, 2006 by CyberNet.

 Are you ever looking for that perfect quote but have a hard time finding something to fit the situation. Maybe you’re trying to prove a point, do some research, or be a smart alec…doesn’t matter because Quotiki will help you.

Quotiki, unlike other quoting services that you might be familiar with, revolves around the concepts that surround Web 2.0. It lets you post any quotes that you might find, tag them, rate them, save them, and most importantly find them.

I recommend using this for more than just literary research as well. Why? You can become a world-class smart alec by reading through some of the quotes. The next time someone says that “honesty is the best policy” you can use this one by George Carlin:

Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.

Just pull up the funny tag and your sure to find a lot of good quotes. Here are a few more that I found to be really funny:

• “I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.”
  By: Jack Handey
• “I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me Superman.”
  By: Homer Simpson
• “Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.”
  By: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• “To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did. I ought to know, I’ve done it a thousand times.”
  By: Mark Twain 
• “Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes, that way when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.”
  By: Jack Handey
• “If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?”
  By: Steven Wright

Between these funny quotes and the previous post that I just did I think my Monday is turning out to be way too fun.

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Henry Markram discusses who’ll be the first to die in the robot apocalypse (not confirmed).

(Credit: TED Conference)

Understanding why we, as humans, do the things we do is one of the pieces of the puzzle of our existence. Too bad we may have to wait another 10 years for some definitive answers.

This week at the TED Global conference, Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, revealed that he and his team in Switzerland are aiming to build a functioning, artificial human brain within the next 10 years.

The team started out a few years ago by attempting to create a fully functioning artificial rat brain using the IBM supercomputer, Blue Gene. The thought was if they could successfully replicate a rat’s brain, they would then leverage their knowledge to do the same with a human one.

When they began their experiment, the digital rat brain only fired neurons when prodded by a simulated electrical current. Recently, however, the neurons have begun spontaneously organizing themselves into a more complex pattern.

According to the scientists, this is the beginning of the self-organizing neurological patterns that eventually, in more complex mammal brains, become personality.

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