Debunking More Anti-EV Fake News →

In a recent conversation with Tagesspiegel Background, the battery researcher stated that the production of electric car batteries is not as extreme as what EV critics would suggest. To produce the lithium needed for a 64 kWh battery pack, for example, Fichtner stated that about 3840 liters of water are evaporated according to usual calculation methods. This is roughly comparable to the production of 250 grams of beef, 30 cups of coffee, or half a pair of jeans, according to the researcher.

It’s about time that more scientists and researchers start putting out more publications and papers to quell the anti-ev adopters / pro-oil guzzlers. Also of note, Elon has already suggested that Tesla is on track to use 0% Cobalt in their battery packs with researchers predicting 2025 as the target date. So, besides being on solar and using 100% renewable energy, what say you?

This Star Wars Ad is AWESOME! →

In my parents native Tagalog, this Filipino ad for Star Wars gives you all the holiday feels. Cheers to the Christmas Season!

BMW Backtracks on Charging for Apple CarPlay →

According to the British specialized AutoCar website, BMW has reversed its decision to charge for the use of CarPlay. Until now, customers could try the service free for 12 months when buying a new BMW car. After that, they would pay $80 a year in the US or £85 in the UK. A BMW spokesman said that the fee will no longer be charged for all cars that run the latest version of the ConnectedDrive infotainment system.

It was completely foolish in my mind for BMW to even charge for Apple CarPlay when other vehicle manufacturers that are much lower in cost don’t even think about charging their customers. As I have stated in the past, this is one of the reasons why my family will no longer own a BMW; aside from the multitude of mechanical failures.

It’s important to note that Apple claims not to charge manufacturers any fees for using CarPlay, as the system only depends on a paired iPhone to work. The decision to charge customers for this feature is taken by the car companies itself, and BMW was the first to do so.

Shameful…

Lasers Can Talk →

Be careful out there.

“Smart speakers like the Echo and Google Home, however, have none of that voice authentication. And given the physical nature of the vulnerability, no software update may be able to fix it. But the researchers do suggest some less-than-ideal patches, such as requiring a spoken PIN number before voice assistants carry out the most sensitive commands. They also suggest future tweaks to the devices designs to protect them from their attack, such as building light shielding around the microphone, or listening for voice commands from two different microphones on opposite sides of the device, which might be tough to hit simultaneously with a laser.

Until those fixes or design changes arrive, Michigan’s Genkin suggests a simple if counterintuitive rule of thumb for anyone concerned by the attack’s implications: “Don’t put a voice-activated device in line of sight of your adversary,” he says. If they can so much as see your Echo or Google Home through a window, they can talk to it too.”

— https://www.wired.com/story/lasers-hack-amazon-echo-google-home/

Pixar’s Toystory 4 Camera Style →

This is simply amazing. The fact the Director of Photography would go through the lengths to make sure that the animation and view angles mimic real camera lenses and then later use a dioptic lens filter… this is definitely setting the bar high! On top of that, Disney+ launches today!!!

Mac Powers Higher Employee Satisfaction and Productivity →

As I’ve been trying to tell people, my job in helping you manage your systems or in other words, get paid for IT troubleshooting goes down when you convert. Also, 16% higher sales should bode well for those in the industry. Time to migrate!

This year, Previn announced first-of-its-kind research that shows how Mac enables IBM employees to be more productive, along with improving employee satisfaction and retention.

• Improved employee performance – There are 22% more macOS users who exceeded expectations in performance reviews, compared to Windows users. Also, high value sales deals tend to be 16% larger for macOS users, compared to Windows users.

• Greater employee satisfaction and retention – IBM’s research shows that employees using Mac have a higher net promoter score than Windows users, 47.5 compared to 15 respectively, and are also 17% less likely to leave IBM compared to those who use Windows. Mac users are happier with the third-party software availability within IBM. Only 5% of macOS users ask for additional software, compared to 11% of Windows users.

Previn also announced research on how macOS users and devices require less support, as seven engineers support 200,000 macOS devices versus 20 engineers required to support 200,000 Windows devices. That is a 186% increase in support engineering needed for Windows devices.

Disney+ Redeem Now

So, after I wrote the article, I finally got my "Redeem Now" link in my D23 General (Free) Membership Account. Once again, You can find it under your account in 24 hours or less. Disney+ goes live on the 12th of November and if you must ask, I'm going to be using my Apple TV upstairs and hopefully an LG App comes out for my 2016 55" OLED C6 or maybe the Fire Stick. If not, then I have my PS4 still hooked up or maybe Apple will release a new Apple TV on September 10th along with Apple TV+ too! There goes the budget.

Sign in to D23.com > Go to MY ACCOUNT (top right menu) > Click VIEW ACCOUNT > Click REDEEM NOW

Tesla Model X Auto Open Frunk Hack →

What you need for this badassery is:

Qty (2) StrongArm 4882 Lift Supports Struts Shocks https://amzn.to/31GAcx3 (<-- this link helps out i1Tesla's Youtube Channel and not my site) He gets all the credit.

Soft close springs at Lowes 3/8 x 2 inch X .35 inch are the ones I bought.

After two weeks or so, I finally got my shocks and I'll probably install them sometime over the weekend after I grab those springs. Hopefully Home Depot has them as I've never actually been into a Lowes that I can remember.

Disney+ Offer -- Sign up now!

If you haven't signed up for Disney's D23 General Membership, you need to do it today, or at the latest tomorrow, so that you can take advantage of their current offer to save over 33%. The one caveat is that you have to prepay for 3 years. But again, you get Disney + Pixar + Marvel + Star Wars + National Geographic. Do it... you're going to do it anyways.

This promotional offer of $46.99 per year, if accepted, entitles the bearer to a one-time discount of $69.00 off the regular price of a three-year subscription to Disney+ ($209.97)

The New Nomatic Zipper!!! →

So I guess it's maybe time to change out my Brenthaven bag which may or not be able to be repaired due to failrure of the front pocket zipper. After months of agonizing between Nomatic, Peak Design, Brown Buffalo, 5.11+ and watching all of the Chase Reeves I can get, which, according to my kids apparently is not enough, with Nomatic releasing the updated materials, give me a few weeks... I'll let you know what I do.

• straight-stitch canvas to give the bags the more minimalist design
• more scratch resistant via tougher carbonite-coated 6PM tarpaulin
• YKK Zippers
• removed the two bottom zippers for more security
• new interior material is higher quality
• added hypalon belt loops
• new stronger chest strap

Of course, you can get the previous version for $30 less but I always recommend the latest and greatest.

Tsundoku - "a pile of unread books" →

You can’t possibly stay on top of everything, so… don’t. Let those information stacks crumble under their own entropy. Regain control by setting your own terms. Treat information like the flow that it is; dip your toes in when you feel like it.

Switch off notifications. Tell Twitter that you don’t care about tweets that happened ‘while you were gone’. Archive those emails you’ll never respond to. Shuffle your Instapaper list. Trust if something is important enough, you’ll see it amplified through multiple channels. In Safari, treat the queue as a pool of learning you can dip in and out of. Enjoy the liberation of knowing you don’t have to complete everything on your list.

Advice for everything in life (which has now been lost to the internet archives). Pertains particularly to how I've been feeling the last few weeks. Here's the definition of Tsundoku as well.

The term originated in the Meiji era (1868–1912) as Japanese slang.[4] It combines elements of tsunde-oku (積んでおく, to pile things up ready for later and leave) and dokusho (読書, reading books). It is also used to refer to books ready for reading later when they are on a bookshelf. As currently written, the word combines the characters for "pile up" (積) and the character for "read" (読).[4]

In 2019 the Honda Civic Still Reigns →

We still wish Apple CarPlay were offered on the base Civic and better headlights were available on more trims. Take a big-picture look at this classic matchup, though, and it's a knockout. The Civic provides a more rewarding driving experience, important even if you don't care about driving. It's also more spacious, has a bigger trunk, looks better, feels more upscale inside, and is a car we'd consider buying for ourselves. Although it's not without faults, the Honda Civic remains the compact car to beat.

I mean seriously Toyota, you’ve had over 3-4 years to fully digest and breakdown the Civic Sedan and Hatchback, and still no answer. I still can’t believe that these two beast spec’d out are just right around $30,000! As Cleantechnica has clearly put it, you can own a Tesla Model 3, which is a far superior automotive, vehicle for less! Don’t forget to use my referral code “elijah2489” for 1000 free supercharging miles!

Rivet and Other Cool Children Apps

I'm always looking for new, child friendly apps for the iPad / iPhone or even maybe Amazon's newly updated Amazon Kindle Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet specifically when it comes to reading or math. Granted, I'm pretty sure that my children do not spend more than 20 minutes on any device per week when I'm home as I have a strict no screen time during the week and only VERY limited time on the weekend. Anyways, that's a whole different batttle these days as the Wall Street Journal points out.

Out today is Google's new Rivet app from their incubator team Area 120 called Rivet on Apple App Store or Google Play. It's a speech processing app that has over 200 books availble for children to read and learn. I played with it yesterday with my son for just over 3 minutes and it was awesome. I've also done the Apple Coding App for children called Swift Playground on the iPad but of course, Google has their own app as well, by the same group called Grasshopper. I encourage you to check them all out. Pretty intuitive and interactive stuff!