There was a current that ran through the halls at the huge SEMA automotive aftermarket show in Las Vegas earlier this month, where an electric powered ‘33 Ford hot rod was one of the stars of the show. (When you factor in the slew of Automotive X-Prize contestants populating the Making Green Cool Zone, electric cars made quite an impressive showing.)

Electric cars are not the be all, end all. Energy storage is the most immediate problem. The batteries are just too expensive at present to manufacture an electric car that is affordable for the majority of the population. As lithium battery production ramps up, prices will fall.

The immediate path to domestic energy independence includes a reliance on a full range of alternative fuel cars. There were three outstanding vehicles at SEMA that provide a glimpse of how this nation will achieve that goal:

• Crowd-Sourced Rally Fighter Desert Racer (Clean-Diesel)
• Propane-Powered ‘56 Ford F-100 Hot Rod Pickup
• Camry Hybrid CNG Conversion

Spring and fall are gifts when it comes to household energy expenditure. The central heating and cooling system can be switched off for a number of months. At some point (often in late October), the mornings become a bit too chilly to bear, the thermostat gets switched on, and the dollars start floating up the chimney.

Over the course of a winter heating season, we can spend thousands of dollars on fuel oil. Could there be a better metaphor for burning money?

The average house leaks a remarkable amount of heat through air infiltration. Cutting down on drafts by sealing windows and doors is the first step. Once you’ve identified and itemized the leaky culprits, take a trip to the local hardware store for caulk and weatherstripping.

A Saturday spent sealing those drafts will pay benefits all winter long …

Chrysler chose to take a different path with the new Ram. Unlike the competition, the 2009 Ram 1500 uses a coil spring rear suspension, rather than leaf springs, to great effect. The bouncy back road ride has been vanquished.

Gas mileage is still a sore point, as with all of the full-size pickups. Moving that much weight around with a conventional gasoline powered V8 engine requires a significant amount of fuel. There may be more fuel-efficient solutions coming down the pike, but they’ll take time and they won’t be cheap…

Resource: 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT 4×4 Review

The design may be retro, but the Jeep Wrangler brings the tech, too, with an optional uconnect navigation system that includes USB input and 30GB hard disk drive for storage of music files and photos. The first time you go off-roading with a good satellite navigation system, you might just vow to never go without again.

While the official gas mileage estimates aren’t much to cheer about, the 22.5 gallon tank provides generous range and it is possible to better the ratings with light-footed driving.

Resource: Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Review

As minivans became popular, they became uncool. Ah, the stigma of success. This lead to insane rise in popularity of the sport utility vehicle (SUV), which is short time became so remarkably popular, that it became remarkably uncool.

Which brings us full circle … to the rise of the revised station wagons.

Just don’t call them wagons.

The 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring is a perfect example of the new breed. Packed with tech and comfort goodies, this reasonably sized and priced five-door can carry an extremely generous amount of cargo, whether you’re making a Costco run, moving across town, or headed off on an overdue vacation, all while delivering decent highway mileage.

Resource: 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring Review

The new Mustang’s interior is unquestionably the best that’s ever been. While earlier Mustangs may be criticized for the quality of materials, the 2010 model sets a new standard. World-class leather bucket seats provide both heating and lumbar support. Microsoft SYNC delivers both the tunes and the phone calls, without lifting your hands off the wheel.

The 2010 Mustang fights it out in the new pony car wars with the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger. While it’s a bit down on power, it comes out on top in a category that might surprise you … handling.

Resource: 2010 Ford Mustang V6 Review

For the little guy working in a home studio, environmental noise can be a hair puller.

I can deal with the planes, trains, and automobiles… helicopters and lawn mowers, too. The regular sounds of the neighborhood are rarely persistent.

My home office is in the middle of the house. It’s usually rather quiet during the week. While things can get a bit noisy in the afternoon and evenings, I can usually get my voice over work done by simply closing the door. When things get too loud (under normal circumstances), I retreat to a walk-in closet with my MacBook and USB microphone. A closet full of clothes can provides a remarkable amount of soundproofing.

While no amount of office soundproofing will save my morning (they’re milling the street prior to repaving), I have my fingers crossed that things will quiet down when the crew breaks for lunch. And if not that, I’m hoping they wrap up early in the afternoon…

Despite the increased displacement, the car isn’t noticeably faster, although it is far smoother. The ride has been improved, as has the the interior.

Make no mistake about it. This is not a car for those with conservative tastes when it comes to design. The Prius is surely a space ship (and not to be mistaken for a rocket ship). Lacking warp drive, conscientious Prius Pilots glide to their destinations, with the Hybrid Synergy Drive system enabling remarkable mileage results when properly finessed. A new EV mode allows for purely electric propulsion at low speeds under controlled situations … all the better for silently creeping up on your pals in the parking lot.

To say that this is a geek’s car would be an understatement. There’s even a solar sunroof option package that includes solar electric cells in the roof …

Resource: 2010 Toyota Prius Review

When I splurged on a big new desk last year, the expansive surface looked to be impervious to the magnetic aspects of paper. Alas, this was not to be the case. A year later, I have a monster-sized pile of papers blanketing the top of the desk (along with the top of the printer/scanner).

But it’s not just paperwork around these parts, it’s MiniDV tapes. On a typical week producing video car reviews, I’ll use two tapes. If I’m covering a show or conference, I might use half a dozen. I started out storing the tapes in shoeboxes. Then I got fancy and bought a pair of stacking plastic pull-out drawer thingies from Staples, which I promptly filled to capacity. Now the excess tapes are stacked up on my bookshelves.

I guess it’s time to go back to Staples.

I’ve found that accordion-like paper organizers work well for storing individual bills, if space is at a premium and there’s no room for a file-cabinet. Then again, I have a couple of file cabinets that are full of stuff from a previous life … come to think of it.

The paper shredder might be getting a workout this weekend …

A five mile per gallon advantage will save $140 per year when running the numbers with regular unleaded gasoline at $3.00 per gallon and 20,000 miles driven annually.

With an estimated 51/48 MPG, the Prius II starts at $22,000, while the 40/43 MPG Insight LX starts at $19,800.  If the bulk of your commute is highway driving, it could take roughly fourteen years for the Prius to win a pure numbers game (assuming that gas stays at $3.00 per gallon, which it won’t). If the majority of your driving is in city traffic, the mileage gap widens as the Prius excels in-town; the numbers begin to even out with regard to long term ownership.

The cost of fuel, of course, is the wild card …

Resource: 2010 Honda Insight Review

While my 2009 Nissan Cube review sticks to the usual game plan, there were some interesting social observations over the week long test drive. The Cube is not a car that you can drive anonymously. Folks often had remarkably strong reactions to the little vehicle’s unconventional and asymmetric design … from squeals of delight to looks of repulsion.

We test in the real world and roll up the miles over a prescribed course, as well as in daily errands. The funniest comment was at a retirement community.

I pulled up to a parking space near the entryway and as I got out of the Cube, one of the retirees asked (from her rocking chair on the front porch), “excuse me sir, is that an electric car?”

“It sure looks like it should be, doesn’t it?” I replied with a grin.

Although the Cube looks like it should be an electric car, it isn’t … not just yet. Nissan has shown an electric variant (the Denki Cube) and with the upcoming release of the Nissan Leaf EV, an electric Cube might not be all that far behind.

While there’s no question that bottled water is convenient, the costs quickly add up in out-of-pocket expenses and environmental impact. When you get right down to it, the bottled water companies are selling nothing, other than convenience. Rest assured, when they find a way to cheaply bottle air, they’ll be selling that too.

When I sat down at the computer this morning, there were two empty water bottles strewn about the desk. Apparantly, the overnight gremlins couldn’t be bothered to deposit their Poland Spring and Aquafina bottles in the recycling bin. (At least they were empty, and not partially full and leaking all over the desk.)

Months back, I took a simple step to reduce our bottled water costs, by buying a Brita filtered water pitcher. Refilling the pitcher was easy to do, at first, and it seemed like everyone pitched in … for a while. We saw our bottled water costs plunge during the time when we used the Brita pitcher enthusiastically. But eventually, enthusiasm waned.

Could it really take all that much effort to simply refill the pitcher? Is it really easier to haul a new case of bottle water home from the supermarket every week or so?

I knew something was up, just minutes after pulling onto the highway after picking up a 2010 Camaro V6 for testing. The first evidence was a guy in the next lane frantically waving and giving me the thumbs up. I wasn’t sure what was up at first, but I quickly got it, burst into a big grin, tipped my hat and waved back.

A few minutes later, a guy in a family car pulls up along side and starts waving and giving me the signal to get on it. Again, it took me a moment or two to figure out what he was after. Since I was tooling along in the slow lane at 60 MPH, I gave it a quick little burst, hit 75 and backed back down to my previous speed. He came rolling by, laughed and flashed the thumbs up.

But don’t dismiss these newfangled pony cars as mere gas guzzlers.

Our 2010 Camaro V6 review proved that the car lives up to GM’s promise of 29 highway miles per gallon … when you resist the urge to bury your right foot in the throttle, of course.

Not too shabby for an engine that cranks out over 300 horsepower.

Where ever we drove, the car drew a crowd, whether it was dropping folks off at the airport or cruising into the drive-in for dinner.

People flocked to the car and wanted to know everything about it: How fast is it? Can I plug in my iPod? How comfortable are the seats?

It’s clear this car strikes a chord … a power chord.

The mystery is over. A letter arrived in the mail yesterday with the exact date…

All AT&T CallVantage services nationwide will be discontinued on or after October 20th, 2009.

While AT&T’s set the date, they’ve failed to provide a migration path to a new VoIP provider. They’ve suggested that customers make the move by September 29th, “to ensure sufficient time for activation,” including number transfer.

It seems odd that AT&T would miss the opportunity to profit from the transition, much less make life a little easier for its faithful customers. In the end, there may have been so few CallVantage subscribers that the profit potential fell squarely into a pile of small beans… or perhaps AT&T cares so little for its competition that it could never entertain the thought of helping their soon-to-be former customers through the transition.

It’s a shame, though … as CallVantage was a solid and reliable service.

Hello Lingo, Packet8, or Vonage. Time to close the eyes and pick.

But it’s not perfect, by any means.

Earlier this month, I traded some thoughts with Ron Scherone in response to his post that lampooned GM’s decision to produce a number of niche models. When it came to the Solstice Coupe, Ron asked “Only building 1100? Why even bother building it?”

Spend a few minutes soaking in the design and you’ll begin to understand why. Spend a bit of time behind the wheel, and you’ll really get it. I put the little critter to a week-test and despite my initial scepticism, soon became a believer. There’s no denying that the interior leaves room for improvement, that the cargo space is nearly non-existent, and that the rearward visibility is a poke in the eye.

Stomp on the accelerator pedal and you’ll be rewarded with a rush of acceleration from the 2.0-liter spark-ignition direct-injected turbocharged four-cylinder engine, with a level of velocity that seems impossible given the car’s real-world gas mileage results.

Production of this car may have ended for good, but the engine technology will find its way into other models.

Reference: Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe Review

Back in the day, a family had one telephone line… perhaps two, if a “teenager’s line” was added to the bill. And a hefty bill it was. These days, everyone in the family has their own cell phone. Our wallets are casualties of modern times. After all, you can’t be you without your own number where you can reachable 24/7 (or not, if the battery runs down and you forgot your charger).

We’ve gone from one line to six, counting the VoIP line… and that land line is looking like it might not around much longer.

The phone companies have gotten fat and happy in these mobile times. They’ve always been fat and happy, of course, but they’ve got to be feeling the tightening of tens of millions of belts, as folks consider ditching their land lines to live in a mobile and VoIP-based world.

“What if there’s a problem with the local cell tower?” the phone company representative said, when asked what could be done to reduce the monthly cost of our land line.

“We have multiple cell carriers and a VoIP line,” I responded. “What can we do to cut the cost of the land line to the bare minimum?”

As it turns out, removing the Line Guard option will save us five bucks a month. The land line will stick around… for now.

As I began shooting the video for my 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid review, I decided to break the piece into two segments. The second segment details how the SmartGauge can be used to get the most MPG from the Fusion Hybrid. This little beauty isn’t confined to canned animations of spinning wheels and power flows… it actually shows the driver how much pressure can be applied to the accelerator pedal while running under pure electric power.

SmartGauge can be configured with four basic layouts, along with additional tweaks.

It cannot, however, be skinned… :)

Until I drove my first MINI a year ago, I never fully understood.

Sure, I’d heard that they’re wickedly fun to drive, that they handle like go-karts, and are quite fuel-efficient. But having not actually driven one, I didn’t get it.

Despite its diminutive appearance, the MINI is not a clown car.

Jimi Hendrix’ timeless question, “Are You Experienced?” fully applies to the MINI. You have to drive one to understand.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve had the good fortune to have test driven (and reviewed) three MINIs: a Euro-only MINI D (clean diesel), a MINI Clubman (the stretch version), and earlier this month, the latest MINI S Convertible.

I get it.

It’s about the joy of driving, of fantastic handling, of fitting into the tiniest parking spaces, of getting more out of a tank of gas then you ever though possible in a conventional car.

For those pluses, there are minuses: a limited amount of passenger and cargo space, along with a pricetag that’s significantly higher than then the competition (although some may say that there currently is no competition for the MINI here in America).

After its initial introduction (with great fanfare), CallVantage seemed to collect dust and little attention from the telecom giant. When the iPhone rolled out, there was no push to add integration. At that point, I could see that the writing was on the wall… but the VoIP service kept working and I felt no impelling reason to switch providers.

With the cartoon grand piano hung on a string over my head, I know I need to make that move at some point before December. While AT&T didn’t provide an exact end-of-service date, it’s clear that its VoIP service won’t outlast the year.

Contraction in the VoIP industry is a concern. I’m not eager to jump to an upstart provider only to see it go belly-up. That having been said, I’m not keen on giving any more money to Comcast…

I’ve been witness to the remarkable fuel economy delivered not just by the Prius, but by the Yaris, as well. If one looks at an automobile purely from the standpoint of transportation, the costs involved with hybridization have a rather lengthy payoff period when compared to a fuel-efficient sub-compact conventional car.

When driven with a light foot, little Yari can deliver results that rival those of their far more expensive and technologically kin. Is it technology for technology’s sake when the base price of one car is roughly half the price of a modestly equipped version of the other?

Toyota’s diminutive entry-level model is quite fun (as well as thrifty) to drive, once you’ve become accustomed to its unique attributes. While it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, if you’re stretching a budget it just might be the most cost-effective way to go…

Reference: Toyota Yaris Sedan Review, Toyota Yaris Five-Door Review