http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 8:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
Give me an mice car so that when I do get stuck in traffic i can be comfortable. ]]>Jun 29th 2009 8:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 11:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
A Ford Escape Hybrid, for example, gets 34 city / 31 highway--not all that much better mileage than it's 2.5l 4-cylinder, 5-speed brother, at 22 city / 28 highway. [www.fueleconomy.gov]

Why? Simple. The Escape is a heavy brick. And bricks aren't particularly aerodynamic.

The Toyota Prius--the current yardstick by which all other hybrids are measured--has a nice, slippery 0.26 drag coefficient and a low curb weight of 2,900 lbs [Wikipedia]. In short, It has less heft and less aerodynamic drag than the Escape, and can therefore post the amazing MPG numbers it posts.

Incidentally, it seems that all dropping a hybrid powertrain under the hood of a Lexus SUV did was make more expensive: Lexus SUVs are perhaps the least-efficient hybrids on the road. The 2008 RX 400h Hybrid SUV puts up an disappointing (for a hybrid) 27 city / 24 highway, where it's cousin, the Lexus RX 350, delivers 18 city / 23 highway [www.fueleconomy.gov]. So it's okay for in-town, but don't plan to road-trip with it.]]>Jun 29th 2009 12:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
I'll bet you it -sounds- like a fart, rolling down the street, though...]]>Jun 29th 2009 1:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 8:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 10:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
Why don't people use compressed air and fit it in an ultralight glider aircraft, using it to take off, and perhaps a power glide mode in which less power is used?]]>Jun 29th 2009 8:47AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 8:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:00AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
Apple WILL sue!]]>Jun 29th 2009 9:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
Double Blasphemy!]]>Jun 29th 2009 9:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/]]>Jun 29th 2009 9:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France-KLM
]]>Jun 29th 2009 9:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
All I suggested is that, like anything that requires energy to run, this isn't truly a zero-emissions vehicle. I am not foolish enough to consider my appliances, lighting, or computer to be zero-emission devices either. And if you're implying that a power plant is producing emissions whether or not I'm compressing air because of these other power-using objects then it might be wise to keep in mind that generation stations typically have base load outputs and variable load ranges above and beyond those base loads. In other words, if the network demands more power, then the plant will gear up production, and emission output will increase accordingly.

Of course, as you suggested, this is assuming typical electricity production methods, and I consider nuclear power to equivalently polluting for the reasons you mentioned.]]>Jun 29th 2009 1:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
The fact of the matter is that as revolutionary as it was when it was conceived and first implemented, fossil fuel is a dead end for mankind on so many different levels. Developing non-polluting sources of energy and weening ourselves off of using fossil fuel for locomotion is a monumental (and sometimes thankless) task, yet one that is so critically important to the survival of our species and health of this planet that it staggers me that larger impetus isn't placed on the fulfillment of that ideal.

Whenever I hear someone bring up the old "But it's not -really- zero-emissions, is it?" related to a groundbreaking new locomotive concept, it conjures up images of the short-sighted, narrow-minded numbskulls on the CEB and their complete lack of spine to address the crucial problems that need to be addressed that could promote the development cleaner alternatives to the internal combustion engine. Because the vocalization of "it isn't -really- zero-emissions" is usually followed shortly thereafter with short-sighted, narrow-minded fools blathering "...so why should we invest all this time and energy and money into a locomotion source that still pollutes?" I would like to punch these people. In the head. Repeatedly.

You solve one problem at a time, and then leave the planet in better shape than you found it. What the heck is so hard about that?

I'm sick to death of true innovation in this space being killed, put down, and silenced by the greedy, corrupt, and powerful. I've been following the development goings-on at MDI with much interest. I know it will be several years--maybe even a few decades--before I can drive an AirCar to work, but I'll be able to drive a Chevy Volt to work in 2012. And it should come as no surprise to that both my family vehicles are Priuses--based on what was once another pooh-pooh'd technology that, thank goodness, Toyota saw fit to develop and bring to fruition.]]>Jun 29th 2009 1:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/If it makes you feel any better, you should know that I bike to work every day in season (winter where I live is prohibitive to cycling, even to the most hard-core) for a round trip of 25km (15.5 mi). I own a tiny, efficient hatchback, which I dreaded buying because I always hoped I'd never own a car at all. I take the bus regularly if I'm not walking or biking. I bought a house in an urban environment to minimize travel distances for most regular activities. My girlfriend and I are doing poorly in a week if we produce half a grocery bag of garbage because we buy almost exclusively from our local farmers markets and reuse all our bags...that is assuming that we didn't grow that food ourselves. All that being said, there are tonnes of people that do much more than me, and I have so much room to improve.
I can strongly sympathize with the barriers you face in your professional life. I'm a civil engineer that works for a firm that does amazing things for our environment in one project, then provides the plans for a sad, sprawling suburb in another project. It's not ideal by any means, and the frustration does pile up.
All that being said, I stand behind my initial observation: this technology has huge potential and I get excited thinking about owning an air car, but I still won't drive that extremely efficient air car to work if the weather is good enough to ride my even-more-efficient bicycle.]]>Jun 29th 2009 2:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 9:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 11:59AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 3:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
Perhaps I'm not thinking about this right!?

]]>Jun 29th 2009 10:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
They're talking about CO2 emissions that come from THE CAR. THE CAR produces NO CO2 emissions or greenhouse gases as it putters its way down the street--unlike -your- car, which -does.- The folks in California don't count the CO2 or hydrocarbon emissions from the powerplant that made the power to turn the compressor to fill the tank with compressed air (at least not yet).

So for all intents and purposes, because it produces no hydrocarbons on its own, this ugly little green thing is a ZERO-emissions vehicle.]]>Jun 29th 2009 1:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 10:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 11:24AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 10:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 12:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 12:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

Where it even shows the passenger area doesnt collapse. Not hardly "no more legs". Hardly any intrusion into the passenger compartment after hitting a reinforced concrete wall at 70 MPH!!!

Granted, your organs may be destroyed (all that energy transfer at once) but they said the same of the other car the did the test with, Corsa (probably european version of the Metro by the look of it).

or how about the fact when the car went airborne int he IIHS test it was hitting a mercedes C class head on. Thats a LARGE bit of size difference, compared to say a SMART and a Camry, or Smart and an accord (more common than C Classes).

When you get a small car like this and the SMART, yes there are some safety trade offs. I will in no way say it is safe as a big truck or even a superlarge sedan (but even some of THOSE fared bad on IIHS tests). And the smart, though smaller than a Metro or other size vehicle, is just as safe]]>Jun 29th 2009 1:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/small-cars-rate-poorly-in-new-crash-tests/]]>Jun 29th 2009 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/Jun 29th 2009 1:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/I have no dignity to run it?]]>Jun 29th 2009 1:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/airpod-looks-dorky-makes-friends-easily/http://www.fuglyrides.com/2008/10/11/the-mdi-airpod-id-rather-be-walking/

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