February 08, 2021

YouTube

The 2021 Mazda3 2.5 turbo sedan is the girl next door: beautiful inside and out. The sleek lines and angular front end are a nice departure from some of its competitors and the cabin rises above its station with thoughtful design. There's only one incongruous detail: the infotainment controls.
For an audiophile who likes to switch channels the way your dad likes to flip back and forth with the TV remote, it's enough to drive you mad. The thing is, it could be so much better. It's not the audio system, a respectable 12-speaker Bose premium setup that resonates through the vehicle and sounds delicious; the settings give you plenty of options to customize it. It's the controller knob, which Mazda calls the Commander.
YouTuber Jill Ciminillo interviewed Mazda's Manager of Vehicle Dynamics Dave Coleman about the controller setup, and he says it is designed for safety. The touchscreen requires the driver to look from the road to the touchscreen to their finger and back, You may need: Autel TPMS sensor. which takes too much attention away from driving. The tactile buttons have a consistent feel and the screen is pushed further away, which means your eyes don't have to travel as far to see what you're doing.
In theory, the idea is solid. You use your right hand to twist the controller toward the category you want, and drill down from there by pushing it in. There are shortcut buttons surrounding the controller as well to get to that segment, and once you've driven it for a few days you remember which one is in which place. However, that's where the ease of use stops. Coleman says that you can set and forget the audio controls and never look at them again. I beg to differ for two reasons: one, sometimes I want to skip from Hits 1 to Hair Nation (channel 2 and channel 39, respectively). Or maybe I want to switch from Coffee House to FM 94.7 to catch the daily pop quiz. For me, there are too many steps to get to each of those tasks.
The vexing part about all of this is that if Mazda put as much attention to detail into the functions of this system from a music lover's perspective, it could be all they claim it is and more. The new Yukon Denali in my driveway right now has a knob that cruises through the stations with a visual representation that is marvelous and simple to understand. The Lexus ES I recently drove uses concentric knobs for tuning and volume, effectively using space.
And that's the rub: the Mazda3, especially with the turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine under the hood, is a dream to drive. The price starts at an astonishingly reasonable $30,050 for the turbo version. We're talking Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the upgraded audio system, heated seats, paddle shifters, the whole deal. Even a base Mazda3, which starts at $20,650 is inexpensive for all you get. On top of all of that, Mazda's Soul Red Crystal Metallic is arguably the most beautiful shade of crimson on the market, and the artistry behind the way they created that red is impressive. The audio system design for the brand's newest vehicle, the CX-30, was integrated into the body even before some of the other components, so it's not as if Mazda doesn't care about the way it sounds.
One of my favorite automotive writers, Ezra Dyer of Car and Driver, sums up the Mazda3 turbo with style:
"The 2.5 Turbo has a much more grownup mien, both in its overall presentation and the way it drives. It's the high-school kid who can't wait to graduate and say goodbye to these infants. While the Subaru WRX is out playing ding-dong ditch with bags of flaming dog poo, the 3's 2.5 Turbo is brewing its own pour-over Sumatra and settling in for a postmodern reading of Homer's Illiad. It wears glasses even though it doesn't need them."
Mazda, hear my plea: talk to some audiophiles and work on the Commander for the next generation. It's the only thing stopping you from pure greatness. First and foremost, make it easier to change the channel or station with knob-in-knob functionality. Next, set up the screen so the presets are easily visible and simple to add and subtract. Third, a simple seek function for when you're on road trips and looking for a decent radio station would be he...

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February 07, 2021

After half a decade of limbo, it looks like Hyundai and Kia may be getting serious about putting the Apple car into production. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the family of automakers is looking for partners to build Apple cars at Kia's Georgia factory, where up to 100,000 units a year could be made.
So far in 2021, the Apple car has been on a rollercoaster of will-they-won't-they flirtation with the Korean auto conglomerate. By December 2020, AD: obd2 scanner. the canned Project Titan was back on, and come January this year, Hyundai entered the frame. The specific plan was then discussed to build Apple cars at Kia's West Point Assembly Plant in Georgia, but in early February, Hyundai was getting nervy that building the thing might wreck its reputation.
According to the Wall Street Journal piece, the deal-which isn't done yet-would be worth $3 billion and be aimed at getting cars built by 2024, three years earlier than the previously believed 2027 production date.
Although it's understood that Hyundai-Kia aren't the only parties Apple has approached to build its car, it is the one that seems the most persistent. Hyundai itself has tried to downplay the likelihood of a deal and Apple has never acknowledged the talks; however, the fact remains these cars aren't going to build themselves, so Apple needs a partner and Hyundai's stock has soared 23 percent since it came into the picture. Despite executive nerves about the venture, there are some obvious benefits.
By palming the project off on sub-marque Kia, Hyundai might be mitigating some of the reputation risk as well as not adding the extra strain to its own Alabama plant. And if the Apple technology really is as industry-transforming as they've been claiming all along-lining up with the "iPhone of cars" hype-then it could help Hyundai-Kia go fully electric via some skateboard-like platforms.

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The top space stories of the week!

A NASA-astronaut duo performed a spacewalk, a paper attempts to explain why alternative names for the Pleiades often use the number seven and a SpaceX prototype blows up in a massive explosion. These are some of the top stories this week on Space.com.
A duo of NASA astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) performed a spacewalk on Monday (Feb. 1). The goal of this extravehicular activity (EVA) was to install a European science platform and to finish up a series of battery replacements outside the orbiting laboratory. This endeavour, performed by astronauts Victor Glover and Mike Hopkins, was the 234th spacewalk ever performed in support of space station maintenance and assembly, according to NASA.
Full story: Spacewalking astronauts complete a space station battery upgrade years in the making
A new study proposes an explanation to why the Pleiades are called ''Seven Sisters.'' The Pleiades are part of an open star cluster filled with hundreds of stars, but human eyes can make out about just a few of those stars on a clear night. Many cultures around the world refer to the Pleiades with the number seven, and it may be due to a story told by African ancestors 100,000 years ago.
Full story: 100,000-year-old story could explain why the Pleiades are called 'Seven Sisters'
Two high school students - 16-year-old Kartik Pinglé and 18-year-old Jasmine Wright - helped to discover four exoplanets around a star located 200 light-years away from Earth. They did their work as part of the Student Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), AD: OBD2 Diagnostic Tool. which connects high school students with scientists for year-long projects.
Full story: High schoolers help discover 4 new alien planets
The SN9 Starship prototype from SpaceX launched in a test flight on Tuesday (Feb. 2), but blew up in a massive fireball as it returned to the ground for a planned landing. During Tuesday's test from SpaceX's South Texas facilities, the 165-foot-tall (50 meters) SN9 managed to reach an altitude of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers). However, SN9 crashed in its touchdown maneuver.
Full story: SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype launches to 10 km, crashes during landing
See also: SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites on record-setting used rocket, nails landing
Spaceflight companies Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance (ULA) performed a 90-second test of a booster of the next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket. The test, which happened in Promontory, Utah, focused on the Graphite Epoxy Motor 63XL, a variation of Northrop Grumman's GEM 63 booster. The static test on Jan. 21 produced nearly 450,000 pounds of thrust.
Full story: Northrop Grumman test-fires rocket motors for new Vulcan Centaur booster
See also: Virgin Galactic targeting Feb. 13 for next spaceflight
Plus: SpaceX, NASA target April 20 for next Crew Dragon launch to space station
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, will step down as Amazon CEO. According to Bezo's Tuesday (Feb. 2) announcement, he is leaving that role to focus on other projects. They include the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post. Blue Origin was the first spaceflight company in the world to successfully land a reusable rocket on a landing pad.
Full story: Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos will step down as Amazon CEO
China launched a Long March 4C rocket on Jan. 29 with three satellites onboard. The rocket, which took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, sent the three survey satellites into orbits of about 680 miles (1,100 kilometers) in altitude. State media Xinhua described the utility of these satellites as electromagnetic environment surveys, but Western analysts think they are military reconnaissance satellites.
Full story: China launches a trio of reconnaissance satellites from Gobi Desert
See also: China's iSpace fails to reach orbit in 2nd launch attempt
NASA has created a new role to assist the Biden administration to monitor climate change. The role of ...

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February 06, 2021

Fox Business Network cancels Lou Dobbs' show in post-election shakeup

Fox Business Network viewers may have seen the last of conservative talk host Lou Dobbs, after the cable network canceled his show, "Lou Dobbs Tonight," on Friday.
It would be an unceremonious ending for Dobbs, 75, one of Fox Business Network's highest-profile personalities and one of the strongest supporters of former President Donald Trump in cable news.
The cancellation comes one day after Fox News and three of its hosts, Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, were sued for $2.7 billion by a voting-technology company that claims they conspired to spread false claims thpany helped "steal" the presidential election.
Fox News Media issued a statement that made no mention of the lawsuit by the company, Smartmatic USA, referencing instead an October announcement that program changes were in the offing after the election.
"As we said in October, Fox News Media regularly considers programming changes and plans have been in place to launch new formats as appropriate post-election, including on Fox Business – this is part of those planned changes. A new 5 p.m. program will be announced in the near future," the statement said.
Last month, Fox News added an hour of opinion programming at 7 p.m. EST, shifting Martha MacCallum's show to 3 p.m. EST, a time when fewer people are watching. Fox's 8-11 p.m. EST primetime lineup of opinion personalities attracts its strongest ratings.
For next week, Dobbs' 5 p.m. EST time slot, which will be renamed "Fox Business Tonight" in the interim, will be filled by substitute hosts Jackie DeAngelis on Monday and Tuesday and David Asman on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It will repeat at 7 p.m. EST, as Dobbs' show did.
Dobbs remains under contract at Fox News but he likely will not be seen on any of the company's networks again, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Dobbs' last appearance on his Fox Business Network show was Thursday. He made no mention of the Smartmatic USA lawsuit that was filed earlier in the day.
Fox News Media, in a statement Thursday on behalf of the network and its hosts, rejected the accusations in the lawsuit, saying it stands by its 2020 election coverage and will "defend this meritless lawsuit in court."
Smartmatic's participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles County, which votes heavily Democratic. But Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the national 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela's socialist government, according to the complaint.
The company claims the hosts perpetuated lies and disinformation that damaged Smartmatic's business and reputation. In December, Smartmatic sent a letter threatening legal action to Fox and two other networks popular with Trump supporters, Newsmax and One America News Network.
In December, a nearly two-minute pre-taped fact-checking segment aired on Dobbs's show and on Fox News Channel shows hosted by Bartiromo and Pirro. The segment featured Eddie Perez, a voting technology expert at the nonpartisan Open Source Election Technology Institute.
"I have not seen any evidence that Smartmatic software was used to delete, change or alter anything related to vote tabulations," Perez said in the segment.
Dobbs, who's been at Fox since 2011, has long been the network's most pro-Trump on-air champion, especially of his economic and immigration policies. His provocative views on immigrants helped lead to his departure in 2009 from CNN, where he was an award-winning pioneer in TV business news.

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February 05, 2021

Ford Focus Spied Showing More Of Its Upcoming Facelift

A few days ago, we shared the first spy photos with the facelifted Ford Focus. It's the new Focus that's not available in the United States and it was snapped in Active wagon form. Today, we have new photos with the refreshed model, and this time they are showing a hatchback model testing in heavy winter conditions.
Judging by the black plastic cladding on the wheel arches, this seems to be an Active model again. This means, although it is a hatchback, You may also like: Topdon Car Battery Tester. it's slightly lifted compared to the regular model. The wheels design and the roof rails are also a giveaway this is most likely the rugged crossover-inspired variant of the Focus.
Other than that, it looks very similar to the test car from earlier this week. This includes the camouflaged front fascia, where most of the changes will be focused. These new photos provide a better look at the redesigned headlights and their lighting signature.
The rear end is somewhat obscured by the huge amounts of snow and it's difficult to say if there are any major changes there. The previous prototype hinted at new taillights though, and their slimmer shape is partly visible in these distant photos as well.
Some of the new shots provide a partial view of the cabin, where we expect big changes. If the Chinese-spec Focus, which was recently facelifted, is anything to go by, there should be a wider screen for the infotainment system and rearranged buttons for the HVAC system.
According to early reports, we are approximately 12 months away from seeing the facelifted Focus. Again, it won't be sold in the United States and the version depicted in the gallery above is most likely for the European market.

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February 04, 2021

Bluetooth OBD2 Scanner TOPDON SmartDiag Mini Full Systems Review

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Lionel Messi set to sue El Mundo & Barcelona officials over contract leak

Lionel Messi is set to sue Spanish newspaper El Mundo and the five Barcelona club members who may have been responsible for leaking images of his current contract to the media.
The 33-year-old put pen to paper on the deal back in 2017, and the documents leaked at the end of January show that the Argentinian superstar will have earned an eye-watering €492m by the time it expires in the summer of 2021.
Messi is understandably furious over the article printed in El Mundo, and he has decided to take legal action against the Spanish outlet, as well as the five Barça officials who had access to the private documents, as reported by RAC1.
It is the first time that the superstar has laid the blame at anyone's door, for an act which is considered to be of illegal activity, and punishable by the law. Details published in the report show that the superstar became the highest-paid player in world football back in 2017, AD: Bluetooth scan tool. when he signed the bumper contract in question, worth €492m.
The story has caught the world's attention, with many turning against Messi and blaming him for Barcelona's financial demise.
Messi suspects that former president Josep Maria Bartomeu is behind the leak, given the fractious nature of their relationship, which led to the forward attempting to terminate his contract in order to force a move away from Camp Nou in the summer.
Along with Bartomeu, Jordi Mestre, the former vice-president, general manager Oscar Grau, president of the club's management board Carles Tusquets, and head of the club's legal services Roma Gomez Ponti are all possible culprits for this crime.
Barcelona are also carrying out an internal investigation of their own to understand who could have leaked the documents to the press, as they look to repair relationships with their talisman. But with Messi's contract expiring in the summer and the Argentine weighing up his options, this act of betrayal may be the final straw for Barça's greatest ever player.

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February 03, 2021

Instagram is stopping some people from posting feed photos to stories

Instagram is disabling the ability to share (and reshare) posts from your feed to stories as part of a test to see how it changes engagement with the popular feature. The company announced the change in a notification banner sent to users in "select countries" where the test is being conducted, Social Media Today writes. We've reached out to Instagram for specifics on exactly which countries are participating and will update if we hear more.
"We hear from our community that they want to see fewer posts in Stories," the notification starts. "During this test, you won't be able to add a feed post to your Story." Resharing posts to stories is a fairly common practice, though it does create situations where you'll see a post in your feed and then immediately see that post duplicated in your friend's stories.
However annoying this situation may be, it's worth noting that sharing posts to stories is how many artists, businesses, and organizations get in front of users, due to Instagram's algorithm favoring friends and family. For example, shoving feed posts in stories opens up the opportunity for the mutual aid organization in your neighborhood to get more donations. Taking away the ability to reshare is responding to a behavior Facebook and Instagram encouraged in the first place by placing stories so prominently in the app and offering the ability to share them.
For now, disabling reshares remains a test, much like the changes to likes the company considered and the variety of new app layouts it has prototyped. But the timing is a bit ironic: Twitter is currently testing the ability to share tweets to Instagram stories as stickers. So you might start seeing a lot more reshares in your stories from an entirely different social media platform.

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February 02, 2021

SiriusXM launches specialty channels for Aretha Franklin, Motown, more

SiriusXM is rolling out a musical red carpet for Black History Month.
Starting Monday and running throughout February, the digital music service and satellite-radio provider will present new curated specialty channels spotlighting Aretha Franklin, Motown Records, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis.
In the mode of the revolving tribute channels that have been a staple of SiriusXM through the years, Autel MaxiIM IM608
. the playlists on the four new outlets will include familiar hits, deep cuts and music by related artists, along with guest segments connecting the dots via personal memories and creative insights.
The Franklin, Motown, Hendrix and Davis channels will air through March 2 on the SiriusXM app, with staggered runs on the satellite side. (Details are below.)
"It's as much a trip down memory lane as a deep dive into what these brands were all about - what made Motown tick, what inspired Aretha," said Dion Summers, SiriusXM's vice president of urban music programming. "That curation, that deeper dig, creates an experience that goes beyond a random jukebox of hits. It's a fuller appreciation of what these artists are about, and what inspired them to get into the studio and create."
"SiriusXM Celebrates Black History Month" will also include dedicated programming across the existing urban channel lineup and on Pandora, the streaming service acquired by SiriusXM in 2019. New wake-up music segments on Pandora's Black Music Forever station will include guests such as Robert Glasper, Deon Cole and Kirk Franklin.
"In February, the spotlight shines a little brighter on this history," said Summers. "This is American history, and it extends through multiple genres. We're a multifaceted culture, and I'm thankful the month of February is time the spotlight shines on us and the significant contribution we've had."
Tracey Jordan, SiriusXM's senior director of talent relations, was well-positioned to spearhead the interviews and other content that will supplement the music on the new channels. In a lengthy music industry career, she worked closely with Franklin and Motown Records while making connections with a host of figures in both circles.
That included time as publicist for Berry Gordy Jr., and a similar role with Franklin during their years at Arista Records in the 1980s.
Jordan recalls her first professional meeting with Franklin, on the set of the "Jumpin' Jack Flash" video shoot at Detroit's United Sound studio in 1986 It was an all-star affair that featured Whoopi Goldberg, the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Ron Wood, and the Queen of Soul sporting an eye-catching zebra-striped catsuit.
"You always got that up-and-down look when she first met you: ‘Who are you, what's your intention, are you on the up-and-up?'" Jordan recounts.
A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
The young PR representative was quickly dispatched to buy several coats for Franklin's consideration, she said, and the star wound up selecting a leather motorcycle jacket to wear in the video. The two formed a bond that endured through the decades.
Jordan spent long stretches working out of Franklin's Bloomfield Hills house, overseeing photo shoots, interviews and other duties for a star who was famously homebound by her fear of flying.
In summer 2018, aware that the ailing Franklin was in the final weeks of her life, Jordan and SiriusXM began quietly gathering material for a Queen of Soul channel that would ultimately run for several weeks after her Aug. 16 death. That effort also segued into the planning for Franklin's funeral two weeks later, where Jordan helped arrange the guest and performer lineup for the nine-hour, globally broadcast event.
For the Aretha channel's latest run, Jordan expects a lineup that includes heavy hitters such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, Clive Davis and Herbie Hancock, along with an array of Franklin family members sharing behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
"I really wanted the stories you wouldn't normally hear, from the people who knew and loved her best," Jordan says.
The Motown Channel will include guest spots from the Temptations' Otis Williams, the Four Tops'...

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February 01, 2021

Mario Ojito of the non-profit organization Street Racing Made Safe has seen firsthand the kinds of fatal consequences illegal street racing can bring. And he is determined to get as many racers off the streets as he can. Ojito lost his father to a motorcycle crash when his dad was just 36 years old, and he nearly lost his best friend to a similar accident at a car meet. The SRMS founder used to be a street racer himself and realized how many racers resulted in tragedy; he founded SRMS in 2011 to promote his mission to provide a safe and legal alternative to illegal street racing.
Originally, Ojito hosted drag racing grudge matches at Palm Beach International Raceway; after a corporate takeover he moved SRMS' operations to a track in Homestead, two hours away, and switched over to autocross events. It's much like a track day hosted all over the country, but with an educational element and Ojito's message behind it: get off the street and get your speed fix here, legally.
Right now, Ojito's cause may have excellent timing. Numerous news and law enforcement reports indicate illegal street racing has gotten worse over the past year as the pandemic has emptied the highways. Cities like New York, AD: Autel car diagnostic. Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Dallas and more have reported big spikes in street racing since lockdowns started, and tragic outcomes often follow.
Giving people an outlet that is not on public streets is something that other cities like the Atlanta area are actively considering as well, because not only is it illegal, it's ridiculously dangerous for anyone who happens to be in the racers' path. Ojito says that SRMS is the only national 501(c)(3) nonprofit solution to illegal street racing, and he has hosted over 300 events to draw racers to the track to get their speed fix, safely away from innocent bystanders.
To register for an event, participants pay $75 on the SRMS site (co-drivers pay $25 to ride along) and the gates open at 7 a.m. for tech inspections and setup. Cars are registered in a variety of classes and each race is overseen by a small army of volunteers who are committed to the cause. When SRMS swapped out drag racing for autocross, Ojito added more educational elements of the program, underscored by processes designed to keep drivers safer overall. Every meet requires a drivers' meeting before racing, and helmets are required as well as tires that have at least 50 percent tread. Then the teens get to ride with experienced autocross drivers to better understand safe driving techniques. Kids under 18 get to participate for free, and young adults over 18 pay $75.
SRMS is insured for all events, and spectators must be a certain distance from the track. Every racer has to wear a helmet, and convertibles are permitted as long as they're equipped with a roll cage. On top of all of that, each vehicle goes through a thorough tech inspection.
Today, SRMS runs a meet every other month for about 300 cars; Ojito says each event is designed for people to have fun and get a lot of seat time. At the last event, one driver squeezed in an astonishing 28 runs in 8 hours. New COVID-19 standards require that all staff, competitors, and spectators must have a mask, groups must maintain a 6-foot distance between them, and upon entry, each person has to confirm they are not experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19.
While he may not be able to stop all of the carnage that too often results from street racing, Ojito believes that maybe he can provide enthusiasts a safe and legal alternative to taking to the highways-and hopefully save some lives in the process.

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