Prior to 1964, unless you were a die hard sports car aficionado, most Americans had never heard of Aston Martin. Then the James Bond movie Goldfinger came out, and almost overnight, everyone in the world knew what an Aston Martin was.
The DB5 used in the movie became the most recognizable and talked about car on the planet. For the movie, it came equipped with all manner of spy gadgets including a GPS tracking screen, machine guns, oil slick sprayer, nail spreader and smoke screen, extendable spinner wheel knock-offs, bullet proof shield, and a red button located on the gear shift knob to activate the passenger ejector seat.
For the times, that DB5 was about as good as it got for powerful British sports cars. It boasted 282 horsepower from its 6 cylinder motor, and would scoot to 60 miles per hour in 8.6 seconds and reach a top speed of 135 miles per hour. And while you could buy Fords new top of the line Mustang, (which also appeared in that film as a victim of those extendable spinner knock-offs) for about $3,000, the DB5 would set you back about 13 Grand!
The 2012 Aston Martin Virage Volante, which slots in between their the DB9 and top of the line DBS model, is filled with all manner of amenities and gadgets which even James Bond couldn't have imagined, including a real pop-up navigation screen, but it lacks the anti-personnel features of the DB5 movie car.
Today, all one has to do is depress the accelerator pedal, and unleash the 490 horsepower from its 6-Liter V-12 engine, which scoots from zero to 60 in only 4.6 seconds, and then keep charging up to the top speed of 183 miles per hour, to leave anyone chasing you in the dust. It's much simpler and even more fun.
Automotive journalists are not supposed to get hung up on the price of a car, nor the marque, when evaluating it for review. But it is almost impossible not to be taken it by the aura of a car like this. And let's face it, that's part of what the well heeled buyers are looking for when they write a check for nearly a quarter of a million bucks. They want to feel like James Bond every time they enter the car, and want to promote that mystique to everyone else on the road who sees them driving it.
The Volante is a treat for the eyes with its bold sleek styling that oozes sex appeal. The familiar six sided grill with its five aluminum slats sits low across its nose, just above the trapezoidal lower air intake with flared corners that flow into the upswept creased side sills.
The single bi-xenon headlamps, which feature a strip of trendy LED lights follow the lines of the car's flanks to give a more crisp and modern look from the front. Just behind the front wheel arches surrounding the 10-spoke, 20 graphite wheels, are the iconic Aston Martin side strakes, with 6 LED lights that activate with the turn signals, and flow into the swan wing doors.
The car's rear haunches are accentuated with wide rear wheel wells and the body colored rear diffuser enhances the wide look of the rear deck. Dual chrome exhaust ports peek out from the blacked out rear fascia. This is a special car, and it looks the part.
Smartphones have been in vogue for several years but in 2011 they really became the soul of the handset industry. Every vendor claims to have a smartphone portfolio that can be used by masses and classes. A few brands succeeded and a few are yet to shine through.
A smartphone is defined by dual core processors, AMOLED screens, high definition video and camera quality, battery size, data storage capacity and apps. With enough computing power to handle most of the functionality of the typical information worker, a smartphone purchase is not an easy choice.
What needs to be evaluated closely is the ease with which the user can manage email and multiple inboxes, use text messages to communicate, check the latest posts on social networking sites, search for important business news items and plan meetings on their smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy SII is not a small phone, but is definitely slim (8.49 mm) and light. Compared to 9.3 mm thickness of the Apple iPhone 4 and 8.7 mm of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, SII is simply anorexic. Anyone who has used or seen a SII will vouch that its screen resolution is the sharpest, with eye-popping colours that don't fade when you look at the screen from an angle.
Samsung Galaxy SII boasts a 1.2GHz dual-core A9 processor that provides really fast performance without any delay. This is why the device sold 3 million units worldwide within the first 55 days of its release. The phone is also one of the first smartphones to support Android 2.3. The new OS is smooth, slick and when combined with the TouchWiz makes it an easy-to-use device.
Samsung Galaxy SII has an 8-megapixel camera with auto-focus and LED flash that takes photos at resolution of 3264x2448 pixels and 1080p videos at 30fps. Simply speaking, the results are very pleasing to the eye. During texting and email, a dual window view opens up (in landscape mode) and that makes it easier to search for a message, etc. As an added bonus Samsung also pre-installs Swype, an alternative keyboard that makes composing text easy and quick.
It should be your choice, if you want to own the ultimate multimedia mobile that is a very reliable replacement for a pocket camcorder.
The handset weighs 163 gm thanks to its aluminum The phone is not this wafer thin size from top to bottom, a small section at the top around the camera is slightly thicker. It is also light at 127 gm, which is impressive for a smartphone with a large 4.3 inch super AMOLED screen. The device is not frail and Motorola has ensured this by internally strengthening with a stainless steel chassis that is further supplemented by its Kevlar fiber back cover for reinforcement, and water repellent nano-coating to absorb some levels of liquid splashes — though, it's not completely waterproof.
It has a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera that can record in full 1080p HD video, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The Razr takes reasonably good photos when everything is perfectly in order, but the slow autofocus and relatively poor low-light performance doesn't make the task easy — especially not compared to the newer, faster cameras in phones like the iPhone 4S.
Running Android 2.3.5, the device also includes a new app called MotoCast that allows the device to stream or download content such as music, films or files from any computer in the world, so long as it is also using MotoCast. From launching applications, pinch-zooming and kinetic scrolling, the new Razr is pretty much spot on. Smart Actions is probably its main USP; this feature monitors the phone's state and location and automatically adjusts settings and performs tasks accordingly.
Dearborn County Hospital will start 2012 with two new operating rooms and a second endoscopy room. The new surgical and procedure rooms are the result of a four phase, eight month construction and renovation project that encompassed both the existing surgery department and space made available by the construction of the patient tower.
"DCH now has five operating rooms plus endoscopy and cystoscopy rooms located in its main surgical department. An additional endoscopy room is available in the endoscopy suite located in the adjacent DCH Professional Building," stated Carol Muehlenkamp, DCH Director of Patient Care Services.
"The new facilities are state of the art in every way, from the lighting to the ventilation systems to the large, high-definition flat screen monitors," explained Connie Cecil, DCH Director of Surgical Services.
Each spacious new operating room is outfitted with two overhead booms to eliminate cords, cables and equipment being placed on or running across the procedure room floor. One boom houses the anesthesia system while a second boom is equipped to handle cameras and surgical devices.
"All the new rooms feature LED (light-emitting diode) lighting. Green lighting, which enhances the viewing of video monitors and helps the human eye to better discern detail, and new, positionable overhead spotlights also were installed," continued Ms. Cecil.
"By utilizing the overhead booms, the physicians and surgical staff have maximum access to the patient from all sides," she noted. "The staff no longer needs to worry about stepping over cords or repositioning equipment."
The project also included the installation of new temperature controlled ventilation systems in all of the operating and procedure rooms along with the construction of a connecting corridor and new scrub and staff areas. LED lighting is also planned for installation in the original surgical suites.
"Our new operating rooms will ensure that we are well equipped to accommodate the ever increasing complexity of surgeries performed at DCH," emphasized Mrs. Muehlenkamp. "The O.R. project is just another example of Dearborn County Hospital's ongoing commitment to the community by making exceptional facilities and advanced technology available to our patients."
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are widely assumed to be the lighting technology of the future. LEDs have found their way into televisions and computer monitors, where they are much more energy efficient than the incumbent LCD and Plasma technologies.
As I discussed in my March article "Ten LED Stocks, and a Wildcard," LEDs are also just beginning to enter the consumer market as replacements for incandescent bulbs and Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs). While LED based bulbs are still much more expensive than CFLs, they have generally superior performance in several ways: They turn on instantly, are fully dimmable, work well in the cold, and last much longer. LEDs also don't come with any worries about the small amount of mercury contained in fluorescent bulbs (CFLs included.)
Although LEDs are potentially more than twice as efficient as CFLs (and ten times as efficient as conventional incandescents), my experience with replacement bulbs (I own a half dozen of various types) has been that they are only slightly more efficient per unit light output than comparable CFLs.
LED chips currently produce 100-120 lumens per watt, and typical CFLs produce 60-70 lumens per watt. But it's clear from the comparison chart from Phillips (PHG) below that the company's LED based bulbs produce only 48 lumens per watt. That is likely why LED manufacturer comparison charts like the one below only reference incandescents, not CFLs.
The disappointing performance of LED screw-in bulbs is most likely because LED bulb replacements require normal household alternating current (AC) to be converted to direct current (DC), as well as to be kept cool. These added complexities have so far prevented LED replacement bulbs from achieving their full potential efficiency.
Dr. Roland Haitz (of the eponymous Haitz's Law-- the Moore's Law of the LED industry), quoted in a Cannacord Genuity research note, "views replacement bulbs as a bridge solution and believes that in 20-30 years there will be no more screw-in light bulbs. He sees fixtures transitioning into more of an integrated solution."
Given the difficulties of adapting LEDs to a form-factor designed for incandescent bulbs, I'm inclined to agree that replacement bulbs will continue to struggle. Instead, LEDs will continue to make headway in a growing number of lighting niche applications. They already dominate flashlights and other battery powered lighting where their preference for DC current is an advantage rather than a disadvantage. They also dominate in traffic signals, where their directional light and pure colors are an advantage. Continued price reductions will allow them to dominate an increasing number of niches.
Like PV, LEDs have a lot of promise. Yet like PV a couple years ago, they need to see significant price reductions in order to fully achieve that promise. Those price reductions may cause nearly as much turmoil in the LED industry as we're currently seeing in the PV industry.
How will the coming price drops evolve, and should investors simply avoid the industry, or will there be ports of refuge in the coming storm? I asked three green money managers for their perspectives.
Zesa on Monday asked Parliament to support its efforts to enforce efficient usage of electricity by enacting legislation that will ban the use of incandescent bulbs.
Chief executive officer of the power utility, Josh Chifamba, told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy the only way for electricity consuumers to stop using incandescent light bulbs was to come up with strict laws.
"In the short term, we are also going to implement energy-saving programmes to replace incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent energy-saving bulbs and through this initiative, we will get upwards of 800 000 hours of lighting, which is three years' power supply," said Chifamba.
"We want support from MPs to introduce legislation that will ban the use of incandescent lights," he said.
Chifamba said the ideal situation was to ban them at regional level and the idea had recently been discussed at ministerial level in the region.
"Ministers met and it was decided the best thing was to implement that piece of legislation in the region, because if we ban them in Zimbabwe only and yet in other countries they continue to be used, a black market for incandescent lights might flourish and we would continue having the problem," said Chifamba.
He said the 32% rise in tariffs was justified and even with those increases, revenue requirements for Zesa were not being addressed as coal and diesel costs were also high.
"Coal constitutes 46% of costs responsible for energy and a whole gamut of expenses has increased. There is a lot of refurbishment work that is not being done and serious transport shortages such that we cannot send people to actually respond to faults. These tariff increases have to address those issues and allow us to operate our business, carry out maintenance and attend to faults," he said.
Chifamba said Zesa was owed $450 million by customers, but had managed to reduce the debt to $427 million.
He said at times Zesa was providing electricity at a loss and two months ago the situation was so bad they imported it at 45 cents per unit and sold it at seven-and -a-half cents per unit.
The building, which spans 55,000 square feet and cost $38.8 million, was unveiled in August.
Since then, its sustainable features have saved the college $79,300, officials said Monday.
Among the features are 12,932 square feet of double-pane windows glazed to reduce emissions; two gas-fired hot water boilers; compact fluorescent lighting and controls that sense daylight and occupants; efficient motors for water pumps and fans; and a 250-ton air-cooled chiller.
Delmont called the design elements "smart choices"by school officials.
During his remarks, Levinson attributed the push for green architecture to student activists: Members of the Student World Assembly at Norwalk Community College urged legislators in Hartford to appropriate extra money for construction, he said.