Drives Blog

With the advanced communications technology we have today, it is a simple matter to stay connected to the office. With the mobile telephone and computing devices, many feel pressured into staying connected at all hours and even on the weekend. The Blackberry may be the first thing workers see in the morning and the last thing they touch before they go to bed. It may well make working life easier, but is family life being relegated to a place of secondary importance?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Drives, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Drives today.

GM recently announced its Chevrolet Volt will achieve 230 miles-per-gallon (mpg) and within a few days Nissan announced its battery-operated Leaf will achieve an astonishing 367 mpg (see the video). Do these numbers mean anything? What is the equivalent of a 'gallon' of electricity? Shouldn't we be talking about kilowatt-hours, joules, or some sort of electric equivalent of mpg? Now that we're moving into the multiple-fuel era, car buyers need some sort of standard measure of comparison that is both universal and transparent. Any suggestions of what that should be?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Drives, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Drives today.

Microsoft is preparing to launch Windows 7 into the marketplace, but do we really need a new PC operating system? There's really nothing new here, it's the same old stuff, re-arranged a little bit to make users think they're getting the latest technology. One of the most sought-after benefits of Windows 7 is what Microsoft calls "virtualization technology" that lets applications run in a virtual instance of Windows XP. But why buy Windows 7 to run XP programs — why not just keep XP?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Drives, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Drives today.

The government stimulus program recently earmarked $12 billion to help community colleges. But who knows how local communities will actually spend the money, and who is watching them? Many colleges seek the approval of local voters by offering them entertaining courses that have little to do with serious education. It would be good to find out how many students actually complete their courses and graduate with some sort of certificate that can help get them a job. There are undoubtedly many other places we could spend the $12 billion more productively. How many graduates will be ready to go back into industry?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Drives, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Drives today.

We all know how rumors and false stories can quickly spread over the Internet. Imagine, now, what a single text message, of less than 140 characters, could do if it simultaneously reached 100 million people. Welcome to the era of Twitter, and the potential "tweet bomb" that could mobilize tens of millions of people to perform some coordinated activity at a breathtaking speed. Could governments get control over this massive information force, and use it, for example, to warn of tsunamis? Or could devious individuals create panic by initiating reflexive responses to imagined fears? Could it be a great help, or could it be frightening?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Drives, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Drives today.