Internal Cumbustion Engine - Old Technology New Life…

Posted on August 23, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Engines, Inter Cumbustion Engine, Technology | Comments

Soaring oil and gas prices along with an increasing number of motor vehicles - producing higher levels of CO2 emissions - has no doubt sparked a huge debate on the future of internal combustion engines. The petrol engine used to power almost all land vehicles is facing some stiff competition these days. “Green” initiatives are proliferating all facets of our lives including the quest to find alternative clean energy be it solar, wind, hydrogen, bio-fuels or natural gas.

However amidst all the excitement to determine the next mainstream source of energy to power our cars and boats we seem to forget that the internal combustion engine has been around for a long time - a hundred years to be precise. That is a huge investment in one technology and it’s not going to go away anytime soon as this article in The Economist suggests.

Old technologies have a habit of fighting back when new ones come along. This is not surprising because they often have an enormous amount of design, engineering and production knowledge invested in them—especially so in the case of car engines. So new hybrid systems, fuel cells and electric motors will be chasing a moving target. The internal combustion engine will be getting better too.

In fact internal combustion engines have been getting better over time. The late eighties saw the complete replacement of the carburetor with fuel injection systems thus increasing fuel efficiency in addition to other operational benefits like a smoother ride.

Car engines (racing cars aside) have long been a compromise between efficiency, power and durability. Greater flexibility has come with fuel injectors, which can metre fuel more precisely than carburettors, and variable-valve control, which can optimise the opening and closing of inlet and exhaust valves to produce more power when accelerating or greater economy when dawdling around town. The same systems are also used in some big and thirsty V8 and V6 engines to shut down a few cylinders when driving slowly.

As we grapple with the issue of finding “greener” alternatives it might actually be viable to take the existing technology and “clean it up”.

Now engineers are taking these developments much further. The e-Valve system developed by Valeo, a French automotive supplier, uses electromagnetic controls to open and shut valves instead of pushrods operated by a camshaft. As each valve can be operated independent of any other, all sorts of tricks become possible, including shutting down cylinders and switching temporarily from the traditional four-stroke Otto cycle (as developed by Nicolaus Otto, a German engineer in 1876) to a type of Atkinson cycle (an ultra-lean system invented as a rival in 1882 by James Atkinson, a British engineer, but which suffered from a lack of power). The Toyota Prius already uses a form of Atkinson cycle for the petrol engine that operates alongside an electric motor in its hybrid system.

Valeo reckons that on average their e-Valve system can cut fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in a car by up to 20%. It could also be used to make three- and two-cylinder engines that run efficiently and smoothly. These tiny engines could power small cars directly, combine with electric motors in hybrids or work as “get-you-home” engines or range-extending generators in plug-in electric cars.

Whether we will be able to totally divorce ourselves from petrol engines remains to be seen. In the meantime it looks like the internal combustion engine is going to be around for awhile. High gasoline prices at the pump are forcing people to think small. Smaller cars are making a comeback of sorts in the U.S and I think this trend will continue forcing the car companies and engineers to truly focus on optimizing fuel consumption without worrying about horse power. Up until now compromising HP for less fuel consumption was not an option because gasoline was affordable. As people feel the pain at the pump 0-60 in 3.8 seconds seems not too important anymore!

FaceBook’s iPhone App

Posted on August 20, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Technology, facebook, iPhone | Comments

It has been over a month now since the iPhone App Store opened coinciding with the release of 3G. Many of us have downloaded, installed and played with a bunch of apps since its inception and I’m sure people have opinions on what their favorite apps are. IMO the most useful app to date is FaceBooks native or client app. I thought their web app was good but this one just blows the rest of them to smithereens. First and foremost the app is well designed and you feel that your “social graph” is literally in your hands and only a finger tap away from communicating with your friends. You can call, chat, email, and message your friends from one nice little package. You won’t ever have to use the stock Phone app again except for checking your voice mail and assuming all your friends have entered their contact info into their profiles. Simply tap on the Friends tab and you are presented with a list of your friends. Click on a friend and it takes you to their contact page where you can call, email, chat or send a short message. Of-course the Cocoa Touch interface enables all of this and as I have said before the app developer has to try really hard to design a bad app.

However for me the most important aspect of the app - and this holds true for the web site as well- is the real potential for eliminating email altogether from the social graph - something I would very much like to see. I like FaceBooks built in messaging system which allows you to have short and concise conversations with one or more people. The native phone app incorporates this feature rather nicely - just tap on the “envelope” at the bottom to go to the inbox where you can compose new messages or reply to existing ones.

The Chat service is nice but not a killer feature IMO. For one thing you have to be in the app to utilize it so you never know if someone is trying to chat with you unless you’re logged into the app. I think it’s nice to have but it’s not truly “instant” unless you’re in the app.

There is room for improvement. According to the FaceBook Blog …

The first version of Facebook for iPhone is just a glimpse of the future. For instance, the iPhone has the ability to find where you are located, and we are looking for ways to let you opt-in to share your location and discover nearby friends. We’re developing this and several other exciting new features that we’ll release in the coming months.

This is definitely a must have app if you’re a Facebooker and own an iPhone. Totally useful and a really cool app. It will only get better IMO.

iPhone Firmware Update 2.0.2

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Apple, Technology, iPhone, iPod | 2 Comments

UPDATE (8/20/08): Looks like they have definitely addressed the issue with “garbled” calls. When I make phone calls the voice clarity is much better now and I don’t hear the sporadic garbled sounds. Also surfing in 3G mode is faster. I cleared the Safari cache and when juxtaposed against a 2.0.1 iPhone you can certainly see the difference.

As reported by Boy Genius earlier today Apple released a firmware update for the iPhone and I just downloaded and installed it on my 3G. No one has been able to confirm if this update does actually address the iPhone 3G reception problems all us of were blogging and talking about last week. In typical Apple fashion the release notes simply state “bug fixes” so no one knows what exactly this update addresses.

I haven’t had a chance to put the device thru its paces after the upgrade but right off the bat I don’t see any significant changes. I still have only one or two bars inside the house in 3G mode and when I disable 3G I get four bars consistently. I also disabled WiFi and tried surfing in 3G mode. I think it’s worse now than before - excruciatingly slow - I tried a couple of websites. Google and FaceBook were pretty swift but a bunch of others were painfully slow.

My first impression is I don’t think they addressed the reception problems that are paramount to most users at this point. They may have addressed the battery issue - I’m not sure - I’m going to try to use the location based services and see if the battery will drain as quickly as before.

For now don’t get your hopes too high if you haven’t upgraded yet. I just don’t get it - Why can’t they specify in the release notes what bugs were actually addressed. Seems logical if you’re a software company!

Firmware Update To Fix iPhone 3G Reception Problems

Posted on August 14, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Apple, Technology, iPhone | Comments

Quite a bit of discussion on the blogosphere these past few days on what now appears to be a slew of problems plaguing the iPhone 3G. It seems everyone is talking about it with Business week shedding some more light on the issue. The main complaint seems to be the lack of faster connections available on the 3G network. I can certainly attest to that - I have been telling my friends and colleagues since day one that this thing does not seem any faster than my old iPhone. I live near Boston which supposedly has 3G coverage in most areas and I do see the little 3G icon for the most part but surfing the web does not seem any faster than my 2.5G. The other problem I have is the signal strength when I’m in a 3G coverage area. Just for the heck of it I juxtaposed my 3G and 2.5G and as you can (barely) see in the image above the 2.5G on the right has four and one half solid bars while the 3G has barely three. I haven’t really experienced any dropped calls. The battery life is dreadful when I use the location based apps and services otherwise it does not seem that bad.

The buzz on the blogosphere started with the following comments from a Nomura Securities analyst quoted in GigaOm on August 12 …

… but the issue may be with Infineon’s 3G chip, according to Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura Securities. In a research note today, he said: “We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain Infineon is the 3G supplier.”

Apparently BW is now reporting that Apple will be issuing a firmware update within the next month to fix these problems and they are also confirming that Infineon, the chip maker along with Apple is to blame - AT&T is off the hook.

As we reported last night, two reliable sources say Apple will issue a software fix that will address the widespread complaints regarding lost calls and inconsistent 3G access with the iPhone 3G. The problem (and it is a real issue, not in these folks’ imagination) relates to code on an Infineon chip inside the device (probably the baseband processor, although Infineon also supplies a power-management chip, a radio transceiver and a GPS chip). There’s no lack of finger-pointing going on behind the scenes as to who is to blame—Infineon, Apple or, in the U.S., AT&T. But two sources—one that thinks Infineon is mostly to blame, and one that thinks Apple is mostly to blame—both say the firmware update should do the trick.

Looks like Apple has a little PR issue to resolve here. They have kept silent so far but I wouldn’t doubt it if they come out with a statement in the next day or so. Folks like myself are pretty annoyed because 3G was the main reason we went out and purchased the device - not to mention the extra $10 a month we have to shell out to AT&T. What I’m really hoping is that they accurately diagnosed the problem and are certain that it can be fixed via a software update. BW does mention that the problem “relates to code” and lets hope that is the case. I can only imagine the chaos if there is actually a problem with the hardware itself that results in a recall. Actually the easiest course of action in that case - for the customer - would be for Apple to hand out new devices and eat the loss. At least they can salvage some goodwill. Anyway all paths seem to be pointing towards a firmware upgrade and it could be released as early as the end of this month.

Fingers crossed!

“The Knowledge is Free, The Degree Will Cost You Money…”

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Education, Technology, Twitter, WEB 2.0 | Comments

When you think of college professors (with the exception of my lovely bride of-course ;) ) the adjectives that typically pop up are “frumpy”, “drab” or “outdated” and I’m not saying that to be insulting. That’s just the way it’s always been - anyone who appears slightly Einsteinesque, seemingly intelligent or bookwormish we tend to club them into the “non-hip” category.

Well you might change your mind after reading this Chronicle of Higher Education post where one professor seems to have his finger on the proverbial pulse.

These days many professors make their lecture materials — and even recordings of their class sessions — free online for anyone beyond the campus to learn from. But a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas hopes to try to offer even more of his course to a wider audience this fall by allowing outsiders to participate in course discussions online.
“Serious, you can just take this class for free,” wrote the professor, David Parry, an assistant professor of emerging media and communications at the university, on a post on his blog AcademHack. The course is a graduate seminar on “Networked Knowledge,” and Mr. Parry had already planned to make recordings of class sessions available online. But he’s now offering to hold a weekly online discussion group by video chat for those tuning in remotely as well. “Think of it as a more formalized reading group,” he said

Hardly outdated if you ask me. Not only is he offering the course materials on-line but he’s opened up the class to the on-line community to participate. “Big deal there are tons of so called on-line courses” you may say. It’s really not the “on-line” aspect of it but rather the fact that this guy is totally Web 2.0 enabled. Blogs, online videos, video chat and apparently Twitter as well. More importantly the differentiating factor here is he’s opened it up to the entire world to audit the course (of-course only students who are enrolled will receive college credit) and …

He predicts that it will take him an extra couple of hours per week to do the online discussion group, but that it would be worth his time. “I get a lot back from this in that I’m really interested in the future of education,” he said.

Supplementing the classroom sessions with on-line “live” sessions adds a social dimension to the course material that will no doubt lend additional perspectives on the topic. Not only will it benefit the students but the professor himself may learn a thing or two - pretty humbling for a professor if you ask me.

As I often tell my wife, going to school or college these days seems like a whole lot of fun than it was back during my day!

Do You Use the iPhone Apps You Download?

Posted on August 11, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Apple, Steve Jobs, Technology, WEB 2.0, Wireless Networks, iPhone | Comments

The buzz on the blogospere this morning was Steve Jobs’s WSJ interview where he talks about the apparent success of the iPhone Apps Store. One month after the launch of the Apps Store there have been about 60 million downloads albeit a huge chunk of them free. Paid downloads raked in around $30 million in revenues which is not bad although I’m not sure how many paid apps were downloaded. A typical iPhone app at the Apps Store may cost anywhere between .99 cents and $9.99 but I don’t think Jobs reveals the exact number of paid downloads in the WSJ article. Needless to say judging solely by these numbers there is no doubt this thing is an overwhelming success. It especially underscores the fact the iPhone is now a fully fledged platform and developers are comfortable investing in it. It was also a pretty good (and a no brainer) strategy to allow “free” apps as well because it not only keeps the momentum going but it also lets developers figure out the SDK and come up with creative apps without the pressure of “making money”.

If sales stay at the current pace, Apple stands to reap at least $360 million a year in new revenue from the App Store, Mr. Jobs said. “This thing’s going to crest a half a billion, soon,” he added. “Who knows, maybe it will be a $1 billion marketplace at some point in time.”

If Jobs is being a little too optimistic too soon remains to be seen. It’s been only a month since the Apps Store has been in business so there is a good chance that a large chunk of the downloads are probably “curiosity” downloads especially the free ones. Om “GigaOm” Malik asks the question…

The big question about the Apps store is whether downloads are going translate into actual and sustained usage of these apps.

Downloads Yes, Usage - Maybe

I think it’s a valid question but I don’t agree with his analysis. At the moment usage may be questionable because both users and developers are trying to figure out their “needs”. I think this is where the free apps come into play because it allows developers to get comfortable with the platform and put it through its paces so to speak. The “curiosity” downloads will gradually dissipate and so will the “blah” apps IMO and users are going to be downloading apps that have a utilitarian value to them. IMO the fact that the Cocoa Touch UI is probably the most intuitive user interface to date I don’t think there is going to be a shortage of users actually using the apps. The key here is simplicity and Cocoa Touch abstracts out the complexities of gesture based event handling and simplifies the user experience. In other words developers have to try really hard to design an app that will not be intuitive and easy to use.

The GigaOm post also makes the point based on analysis by Pinch Media …

… that people are using the apps for just under five minutes at a time, on average.

Well that’s the idea - unlike desktop apps where a user could spend hours - you don’t want a user spending too much time on mobile apps. For one if a mobile app takes more than 5 minutes to use the user will most likely lose interest. Given the size of the device the attention span of users is minimal and the apps have to be simple to use. Take Shazam for example - you fire the app, hit “Tag” and in a few seconds you have your answer.

IMO the quality of the apps at the App Store will only get better with time and users will definitely use them.

Beijing’s Opening Ceremonies - A Lasting Impression!

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Beijing 2008, China, Olympics | 1 Comment

“Wow!” is probably the expression that came out of most peoples mouths after watching the opening ceremonies from Beijing last night. If you ever wonder what slightly north of $300 million can buy you - this is it! It was probably one of the the best “shows” I’ve ever seen on television and watching it on high definition with theater sound felt like you were there at the Bird’s Nest Stadium. Kudos to China and it’s people for treating the rest of the world to a spectacular display of lights, sound, fireworks, dancing, music and acrobats.

It’s hard to pinpoint the highlights because the whole thing was just amazing. For me the 2008 drummers at the opening of the show pounding in unison has to be on top of the list along with the lighting of the cauldron. And of course the parade of the nations gave you a quick lesson about the country - Saudi Arabia for instance does not allow women to participate and I never knew there were two Congo’s, a Democratic Republic of Congo and a Republic of Congo.

The run-up to the opening ceremonies was of-course marred with a slew of controversies - protests regarding the Tibet issue, disruptions of the Olympic torch by protesters, the Darfur genocide problem and the latest smog “crisis” in the city of Beijing. With the exception of the smog problem I think these are all serious issues and need to be addressed but not during the Olympics IMO. As far as the Smog - I think the athletes walking out of the airport with black masks on their faces was in bad taste and quite frankly shows how ignorant they are. I mean seriously if they were really concerned about the health effects and their ability to perform under those conditions why show up at all? Stay home. In any case the masks are not going to help.

One can only hope these controversies recede and we can watch and enjoy the games in the next couple of weeks.

“I’m Rich” iPhone App - Not So Funny!

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Apple, Google, Software, Technology, Wireless Networks, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch | 4 Comments

I can’t believe this is the number one topic of discussion on Techmeme this evening. Apparently this guy Armin Heinrich created an iPhone app that was selling for $999.99 at the AppStore. The story was reported for the first time yesterday and there was quite a bit of buzz on the blogosphere yesterday. But quite honestly I didn’t expect it to carry over into todays tech headlines. It looks like the App has now been removed from the AppStore after twenty four hours.

And what does the app exactly do?

The red icon on your iPhone or iPod touch always reminds you (and others when you show it to them) that you were able to afford this.

It’s a work of art with no hidden function at all.

After pressing the (i) on the main page, a secret mantra will be shown. This may help you to to stay rich, healthy and successful.

Personally I think the whole thing was amusing and quite frankly I think the guy is creative for even coming up with the idea. However quite a few folks were not amused and some were actually insulted by the whole thing. I can understand why someone would be insulted because Apple supposedly screens all the apps submitted to the AppStore and there is a huge waiting line before a developer can get his/her app in. Apparently this one somehow made the cut (an inside job perhaps :) ).

I’m not sure what Armin Heinrich’s real intention was but he proved a couple of things IMO. First whatever the vetting process Apple has implemented to screen out the bad apples (no pun intended) from the good does not work. I mean if they are really serious about the quality and functionality of the apps that make it to the AppStore then this one should not have been on the list. Secondly and more importantly I think he has proved that developers are actually serious about embracing the iPhone platform. The general outcry and the subsequent withdrawal of this app underscores the point. With the release of 3G and an increasing user base has whetted the appetite for more third party apps and developers are finally investing in the platform to satisfy that appetite. There is money to be made so people are obviously peeved when someone pulls a stunt like this.

In any case I think it was kinda amusing and we should all just have a sense of humor and let it go. I wonder if anyone actually bought the app and figured out what the secret mantra was :) .

UPDATE: Eight people have apparently purchased the app. Not Bad!

Delta Airlines - Mile High WiFi!

Posted on August 5, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under Technology, Wireless Networks | Comments

Delta airlines announced today that it will start offering in-flight WiFi service on all aircrafts in it’s domestic fleet by next year.

Delta is joining with Aircell®, a 17-year leader in airborne communications for business and commercial aviation, to install the company’s Mobile Broadband Network on the carrier’s domestic fleet. The system, Gogo™, will enable Delta customers traveling with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs, to access the Internet, corporate VPNs, corporate and personal e-mail accounts, as well as SMS texting and instant messaging services. Gogo will be available to customers for a flat fee of $9.95 on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 on flights of more than three hours.

Couple of things popped up right away when I read this. First the cost structure - $9.95 on flights 3 hours or less and $12.95 on flights more than three hours - anything to keep them afloat I guess as the airline industry continues to grapple with their finances. At least this time they are charging for it right from the start unlike food and beverage service (and recently checked in luggage on some airlines) that was once free only to be “taken away” from us.

Secondly they are definitely targeting the business traveler who can expense it in spite of the cost cutting measures companies have in place these days. Business travelers can easily justify the cost by claiming productivity during the flight especially since VPN will be supported. However I don’t think the average non-business traveler going on vacation will add to their already tight vacation budget so they can check their email or surf the web.

Then there are those of us - the so called geeks or members of the iPhone club - who will end up paying any amount just so we can whip that WiFi enabled iPhone out and check our emails or surf the web - whether we need to or not is beside the point :) . I wonder what Loopt will tag your current location as when you’re flying!

In all seriousness however this is a good move by Delta. It opens up a lot of possibilities for future airline travel IMO.

Bandwidth Cartel?

Posted on July 31, 2008 by Sachin Balagopalan
Filed Under 700 MHz Spectrum, Broadband, Technology, White Spaces, WiTricity, Wireless Networks | Comments

I remember last spring when my wife was in Brussels on a work related trip she needed to download a PowerPoint presentation from a FTP server at her workplace. As usual she used her trusty FTP client to log into the server via her hotel room’s “free” broadband connection and download the file. While the file transfer itself wasn’t excruciatingly slow she was little surprised to see a fee (about 10 euro) tagged on to her final bill during checkout when internet at the hotel was supposed to be free. The checkout agent explained that while “basic” internet was free they normally charged for file transfers (obviously the reason is huge file transfers eat into the allocated bandwidth per the provider hence the fee).

Interesting op-ed piece in the New York times yesterday juxtaposing bandwidth consumption with energy consumption. While bandwidth and oil are two different animals and perhaps we’re comparing apples and oranges the author does a good job getting the point across.

Like energy, bandwidth is an essential economic input. You can’t run an engine without gas, or a cellphone without bandwidth. Both are also resources controlled by a tight group of producers, whether oil companies and Middle Eastern nations or communications companies like AT&T, Comcast and Vodafone. That’s why, as with energy, we need to develop alternative sources of bandwidth.

Wired connections to the home — cable and telephone lines — are the major way that Americans move information. In the United States and in most of the world, a monopoly or duopoly controls the pipes that supply homes with information. These companies, primarily phone and cable companies, have a natural interest in controlling supply to maintain price levels and extract maximum profit from their investments — similar to how OPEC sets production quotas to guarantee high prices.

Because bandwidth is not tangible we have a hard time perceiving it although some people do keep track of their cell phone minutes for example. In any case bandwidth is an important resource affecting our daily lives just like oil is. When demand for a resource is high there is always a question as to who the suppliers are and more importantly who controls the pricing and is it fair. Apparently not at the moment and so what do we do to avoid a “Broadband Cartel” ?

But just as with oil, there are alternatives. Amsterdam and some cities in Utah have deployed their own fiber to carry bandwidth as a public utility. A future possibility is to buy your own fiber, the way you might buy a solar panel for your home.

Encouraging competition is another path, though not an easy one: most of the much-hyped competitors from earlier this decade, like businesses that would provide broadband Internet over power lines, are dead or moribund. But alternatives are important. Relying on monopoly producers for the transmission of information is a dangerous path.

After physical wires, the other major way to move information is through the airwaves, a natural resource with enormous potential. But that potential is untapped because of a false scarcity created by bad government policy.

IMO fiber is perhaps the “immediate” way to go albeit “fiberizing” every home and building in the US given it’s size is no doubt a daunting and challenging task. The main advantage of fiber among others is the higher carrying capacity due to it’s composition and it’s cheaper. I have used Japan as an example on more than one occasion - here and here - where extensive government deregulation of the old copper wires resulted in the big communication companies taking on the initiative to fiberize every home. A good example where government interference resulted in a positive outcome i.e faster internet at low prices.

Airwaves on the other hand is the long term solution mainly because a few issues like interference and licensing policies need to be ironed out and that may take time. It is the ultimate solution however especially with the freeing up of the UHF spectrum next year by the television channels and Verizon winning the bid.

Bottom line is we need deregulation in this space to spur up competition and avoid a cartel like situation where the supply of an important resource is controlled by a few.

keep looking »