Southwest Virginia Blogs

GM may be poised to pull an electric rabbit out of its hat that could save the company. The car manufacturer has provided a preview of the Chevrolet Volt, an electric hybrid that has a good chance of beating the Japanese electric hybrids at their own game. GM has done something that is blindingly obvious, but for some reason has been avoided entirely by the Japanese carmakers: make an all electric drive train.

Hybrids like the popular Prius have both a gas engine and an electric motor, and either device can transmit power to the wheels. This improves performance somewhat. But it makes the car much more complex, with a dual power input drive train, and the complexity makes the cars pricey. But GM picked a much simpler design. The Volt has an electric motor to drive the wheels, and a gas engine that only charges the batteries. So the car has fewer parts, less weight (good for mileage and performance), and should be much less expensive. The car can go about forty miles on batteries alone, and according to GM, half the country has a daily commute of less than twenty miles, so a single charge can get you to work and back. If you do need to drive further, the electric generator kicks in to charge the batteries while you drive, extending car range to about 600 miles, at 50 miles to the gallon, according to GM.

You can also plug the car in the wall at night and charge the batteries that way, which might be less expensive if gas prices climb again.

This car could be a big winner for GM, and the Volt could end up being nearly everyone's second or third car. What would be really smart is if the company offered a stripped down version that lends itself to being modified by hot rodders--bigger electric motors, high powered batteries, "hot rod" computer chips, big sound systems, and all the other mods that would harken back to the nineteen fifties when it was a rite of passage to soup up a basic GM automobile.

Update: Reader Ed D. has provided another link with some pictures of the car.

Microsoft has officially blessed IPTV by announcing that the next XBox revision would be able to act as an IPTV set top box. Content will be provided by certain broadband providers like AT&T and BellSouth. If this sounds like a marriage made in heck, it probably is. The most likely reason Microsoft has made this announcement is to try to counter the buzz that will likely emerge on Tuesday (January 9th) when Apple announces its own set top box. Apple provided a peek at this device months ago, and some analysts think it may make its debut tomorrow at the start of the annual MacWorld Conference. Others think it may not show up for a couple of months.

There are two things worth noting in these new product announcements. The first is that the industry is moving quickly toward IPTV using an HD format, meaning that if you want to watch anything, you will need an excellent broadband connection. You can't squeeze even a single channel of HD TV over today's DSL and cable modem systems without seriously degrading the image quality.

The second thing is the evolution of TV and the ongoing fight between the computer as TV and the TV as computer. Microsoft's model does not make much sense (the company sees the computer as the TV) because it means you have to have a very expensive box next to the TV. Does it really make sense to put an XBox costing $400-$500 next to every TV in the house? Apple's model is less expensive and should be much less confusing to use and to manage. You can have one computer, located anywhere in the house, that stores and manages video programming (using iTunes), and you can send the video program anywhere in the home using a cheap Apple set top box.

The cable companies and IP TV providers are also crafting solutions, but the cheap set top box is likely to win this war.

5 Prerequisites For Blogging Success

I thought we would start things off with what I believe are 5 things that are necessary to grow one’s blog.

Despite the number one tip in this “5 things” post by ConverStations, I’m not going to tell you my name.

I’ve been flying by web sites, blogs and community portals long enough to discern whether there’s good community opportunities almost instantly. It’s not just a gut reaction, but muscles I’ve built up over the years.

OK, this is a lot more than five things, but it’s worth the effort. Blogging Tips - Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog.

I’ve put together a huge list of content resources for you to peruse and investigate for possible blog content. It certainly isn’t a list of all the content, resources, and information out there, but it is designed to get you thinking about all the content, resources, and information out there for you to blog about. And there is a lot out there. If I have missed a favorite resource of yours, please add it below in the comments. I love looking up new avenues of inspiration.

5 Prerequisites For Blogging Success

I thought we would start things off with what I believe are 5 things that are necessary to grow one’s blog.

Despite the number one tip in this “5 things” post by ConverStations, I’m not going to tell you my name.

I’ve been flying by web sites, blogs and community portals long enough to discern whether there’s good community opportunities almost instantly. It’s not just a gut reaction, but muscles I’ve built up over the years.

OK, this is a lot more than five things, but it’s worth the effort. Blogging Tips - Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog.

I’ve put together a huge list of content resources for you to peruse and investigate for possible blog content. It certainly isn’t a list of all the content, resources, and information out there, but it is designed to get you thinking about all the content, resources, and information out there for you to blog about. And there is a lot out there. If I have missed a favorite resource of yours, please add it below in the comments. I love looking up new avenues of inspiration.

Let’s start off the week with an open house. What’s everyone up to? As usual, comments and trackbacks are open, but let’s keep it clean.

I’ve trying out a new Linkfest Haven Wordpress Plugin. We’ll see if I can get it to work. I’m a little sleep deprived, so it may take a minute.

Regular blogging should resume later today.