Electric Lightning GT

The Lightning Car Company is producing a £120,000 supercar that runs on electric power only.

It will have a range of 188 miles, and be rechargeable in as little as 10mins.
It will go from 0-60 in 5 seconds, and have a limited top speed of 130mph.

So whats the fuss? Doesn’t the Tesla do this already?

Well yes… and err… no…. you see, the Lightning has 4 engines.
Yep…. you heard me right.
There is a separate engine in each wheel, that powers just that wheel. This means that there is no weight of differentials, driveshafts, gearboxes or any of the other complex mechanics that make a normal car go.
There is of course some very clever electronics that sort out power distribution, and handle the possibility of engine redundancy (when one engine fails, the car would continue to operate on its remaining 3 without effecting the handling)

Interestingly, when the car decelerates,  it also charges its own batteries back up by using the energy from the momentum of the car. This means that in city driving where you would brake more often, you are constantly trickle charging the batteries back up again.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that its a SUPERCAR ? Yes… that  also means it looks absolutely stunning. Like a cross between an Aston Martin and a TVR.

And the best bit? apart from the batteries, the whole car is being built in the UK. In the midlands to be exact.

You can order one now… and they expect them to be on sale in 2010. By jove… isn’t that just months away? !!!

Take a look at their rather stylish website

This is all good stuff, but I cant help wondering which car company will start making something similar (with the same technology) for the masses.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a real choice in being less reliant on fossil fuel?

Congratulations Muse on being voted the best act in the world today. (and probably tommorow too!)

More here: http://news.qthemusic.com/2009/10/best_act_in_the_world_today.html

Shhhhh… dont tell Microsoft… because I dont want to get anybody into trouble, but I received my brand new shiny boxed version of Windows 7 in the post on Monday.  A few days early.

I would love to tell you my thoughts, but since I also went on a business trip the same day, I will not be able to actually install it until Thursday… which is in fact the official day of release.

Ho hum!

I’m not getting too excited about it actually, but it will be good to have my Vista machine running the new OS. I have been having a few silly little issues recently on Vista that I just cannot seem to correct. For example I cant get it to “sleep”, it just wakes itself right back up again. I even took the time to explain to it that this is not environmentally friendly behaviour, but Vista just shrugged its shoulders like a French waiter in Paris, and said… “meh…..”

So, Windows 7 it is.  Given I dont have a touch screen (who does) I dont expect the new features will blow my mind, but I am hoping for a bit more stability and speed.

In the mean time, I am still in love with my MacBook Pro ! hehe

No problem. Cant blame a country for being different! In fact different is good. It’s one of the reasons I like to travel.

So I look at the full suite of travel adapters that we already own, including an International plug-ib0plug type thingy, and it seems that with my current set up I can go to just about every country in the world except Switzerland.

No problem I think……. quick trip into town should solve this.

Tesco: No. Europe and USA only
Sainsbury: Everywhere except Switzerland
Boots: They believe people dont travel during October, so cleared their shelves of everything except Europe. They went “upstairs” to check their stock, and ….no… No Switzerland
Superdrug: Everywhere except Switzerland.

I even popped into a travel agent to ask them… and they didnt have a clue that Switzerland was even different. Why would they? Its not like travel advice is their job or anything.

So here I am… leaving for the airport in 30mins, with no adapter for Switzerland.
I am hoping that Luton airport has some.
Surely… they will….. even Boots at the airport must accept that some people would want to go to Switzerland? Right?

Hang on…… thats a thought… am I blisfully unaware of some international agreement to stop visitors to Switerland?
Have they offended the international retailers of the world?

Am I about to fly into an international incident…?

If you dont hear from me again, you know whats happened. My iPhone battery is dead, my super long lasting MacBook battery has died, and I am stuck in a country that likes to be different.

I’m thinking a trip to the Apple store in Geneva may be on the cards…

It is now considered to be a better business smartphone than a BlackBerry. I bet that’s surprised a few RIM owners!
It beats the BlackBerry on every catagory except battery power, which remains the only downside of the iPhone.

A detailed article is here

And the J.D.Power business scores are here

This now means that the last argument that Blackberry users had, has now gone!!!

Link for more info

Some stunning pictures in there, and its well worth a 15 min browse through. Who knows… it may even inspire you to get creative yourself!

Read Article

A couple in KL have been running their restaurant McCurrys since 1999, and have been caught up in a legal battle with McDonalds ever since. They have just got through the final appeal process available, and have come out victorious! And what do McDonalds say? Quote: “the company accepted the judgment” ….. how very BIG of them!

Well done indeed to the “little guy”….. I salute you.

More on the story from the BBC here