InsideTech

Chief Engineer Andrew Farah and Battery Engineering Group Manager Bill Wallace recently gave members of the press an update on the status of the 2011 Chevy Volt and its battery pack.  Designed with the goal of providing a 40 mile range from a 16 kWh (8 kWh usable) charge, the pack and its supporting systems have evolved greatly over the past ...

LOS ANGELES - Facebook said Thursday a California court has awarded the social networking Web site $711 million in damages in an anti-spam case against Internet marketer Sanford Wallace. Facebook sued Wallace for accessing users' accounts without their permission and sending phony posts and messages. The company said on its blog that in addition to the damage award, the San Jose, ...

New engine ideas are gaining traction thanks to a combination of technical breakthroughs and demand for more fuel efficient vehicles.  Such diverse technologies as cam-less (solenoid driven) engine valves, gasoline direct injection, and advanced turbocharging are being explored. However, one fundamental problem is that when you reduce the engine to the smallest possible size with these technologies, it's still a block ...

Good drivers can make the road a friendly place for their fellow drivers and milk great gas mileage (or equally great performance) out of their vehicles.  However, for every good driver on the road, there's plenty of bad ones.  According to studies, cell phones play a role in the poor overall quality of driving that leads to many accidents across America.  ...

WASHINGTON - Safety investigators told federal regulators three years ago that it was dangerous for bus drivers to talk on cell phones while driving and recommended a ban. The National Transportation Safety Board put that recommendation on its list of most important safety measures. Industry and safety groups had no objections. Yet the regulatory agency that would write new rules ...

In the early twentieth century, airships were a promising new front of warfare, with dirigibles serving both for bombing and for intelligence gathering.  However, the advent of airplanes and key disasters such as the Hindenburg fire spelled the death of the airship as a war weapon.  Airships still stuck around, though, in the form of the blimps that float over sporting ...

Toyota's third-generation Prius is a certified hit with consumers. While the Prius has been one of Toyota's more popular models in recent years, the 2010 Prius with its promise of 50 mpg has pushed sales and demand into the stratosphere. At first, however, Toyota was a bit worried over how much damage Honda's cheaper 2010 Insight would do to the sales ...

P. Morgan Brown learned the hard way how crafty wireless providers can be. On a quick trip to Indonesia, his wife took her Verizon Wireless cell phone and when she came home, a nice big surprise was witing for her. The first bill, with charges at $2.50 per text message and $1.75 per one-minute phone calls, came out to around $8,000. "We ...

WASHINGTON - Opening a government meeting on auto safety, the Obama administration reported Wednesday that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a striking indication of the dangers of using mobile devices behind the wheel. The Transportation Department was bringing together experts over two days for what it's calling ...

The United States Army has selected a private contractor that will be responsible with developing a hybrid Humvee battery that will be used by the military in the United States and overseas.  Specifically, the company selected will be responsible for developing new batteries for the vehicles. The Army will work with EnerDel, which is expected to work with the Army Tank ...

With so many Americans operating in the red, we naturally want to make the most of the killer sales offered on Black Friday. Thus, we've amassed 18 tips to help you get through the day without tearing your hair out. 1. Buy the newspaper: There's a reason the Thanksgiving Day newspaper is the fattest newspaper of the year. Advertisers annually stuff ...

In many states in America, auto insurance is a requirement. This is a good thing since that means any accidents that happen will be sure to have coverage by both drivers. The problem according to some drivers and insurance companies is that drivers that drive more miles and have a higher chance of accidents pay the same amount as drivers who ...

NEW YORK - As part of its turnaround plan, General Motors Corp. said Friday it plans to experiment with auctioning new cars on eBay, expanding on an existing partnership covering certified used vehicles on the online marketplace. GM CEO Fritz Henderson said the company is working on an "innovative new partnership" with eBay Inc. to let consumers in California bid on ...

Alongside normal gas pumps at White Plains NY, a strange beast rears its head. The hydrogen pump is a foreign sight in a land of vanilla gas pumps, but it soon will become a bit more familiar to New Yorkers. Despite lack of support from the federal government, Shell and General Motors are forging ahead with their trial deployment of hydrogen ...

The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing is a classic beauty that garners attention wherever it goes. The "Gull" not only has great looks, but it's brought a lot of forward-looking technology like mechanical direct fuel injection and the iconic "gull wings," which were necessary due to the stout tubular chassis. Although there have been many SLs that have followed over the years, ...

The U.S. still prohibits the use of mobile phones during flights, but Mexico and other nations are re-thinking similar rules. Citing the use of new technology, using mobile phones and other electronics immediately after take off and prior to landing no longer interferes with the cockpit's navigation system.  The Mexican Communications and Transportation Department decided to lift the eight-year-old ban after ...

It's a well known fact that the U.S. electrical grid isn't exactly up to snuff.  As it has become more strained, its age has shown and brownouts have started popping up around the country.  The sad state of the grid is holding back several expanding fields including alternative energy (our nation recently lost its largest planned wind farm due to lack ...

NEW YORK - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gathered hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazards of drivers using cell phones, but withheld the information from the public in part out of fear of angering Congress, a newspaper reported Monday. The former head of the traffic safety agency, Dr. Jeffrey Runge, told The New York Times that ...

The 2011 Chevy Volt is arguably America's hottest upcoming electric vehicle.  This marquee billing makes it an attractive target for noisy executives in the industry looking to throw a bit of mud at their competitor.  Traditionally, such controversial remarks have been made by the likes of Tesla Motors product architect Elon Musk, or GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.  This time, though, ...

Toyota and Sapphire are working together on a new project involving a Prius powered by gasoline created from algae. To promote the Prius, dubbed Algaeus, the vehicle along with other green automobiles will go on a cross-country road trip lasting ten days. The Algaeus is a plug-in hybrid that runs a fuel that is algae-based and renewable. The cross-country trip is ...