Detroit Automakers One Step Closer to Being Saved

Congress and the White House have come to an agreement on the proposed plan from the Detroit 3 for financial aid during these troubled times that the three automakers have been experiencing due to the current economic crisis. The current $15 billion bailout proposal already has most of its major points agreed upon and is now on its way to the Senate and House of Representatives.

The $15 billion plan will provide General Motors and Chrysler low-interest loans that should help the sustain the two until somewhere near March next year. Ford on the other hand will not be taking any loans until its financial situation worsens. The funds will most probably be drawn from a fund established earlier in the year by the Energy Department.

One of the conditions required in the financial aid proposal is that the President will appoint a person to oversee all the restructuring and management of the companies to ensure that all the plans submitted to Congress will indeed be followed and that the changes proposed will be made. The elected person will hold the power to give recommendations and direction during this critical period, and should these be ignored, the financial loans could be withheld or postponed. Bankruptcy could also be on the cards if so recommended, a move strongly in favor of by the Republicans.

Interestingly, the owners of Chrysler, private equity firm Cerberus Capital, were not required to be held accountable for the loans, should they be approved to Chrysler. This would mean that if Chrysler were to cease operations and fold, Cerberus would not have to repay the federal loans and that would be the last we will see of all that taxpayer money.

The bill will now have to pass through the Senate and House of Representatives before any of these federal loans can be approved. Even with their approval, possible lengthy legislative procedures might mean that it could take some time for GM and Chrysler to see any cash flow into their accounts.

Should The Big 3 Be Rescued?

The current state of the economy has left the US automotive industry in dire straits and the Big 3 have been crying out for help from the U.S. government to the tune 25 billion of American taxpayers' dollars. Eric Reguly from Globe and Mail [via Paultan.org] argues that GM, Ford & Chrysler should be left to crumble and then rebuilt on their own efforts.

In his article, Eric points out that the root of their problems stemmed from general laziness and mismanagement from the automakers, hence the reason they should not receive any funding aids at all. He also points out that they have already been exploiting the U.S. government for decades through CAFE - the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard. In exploiting the CAFE, the Big 3 have been able to use the CAFE loopholes to sell massive cars at extravagant prices without having to be accountable or responsible, in a manner that other European and Japanese manufacturers without federal help had to achieve by creating essentially better cars in terms of quality & fuel economy, amongst others.

Now that petrol prices have risen substantially and sales figures of these gas-guzzlers have plummeted in favour of better cars by their competitors, the Big 3 are once again going back to the government for rescue, which is something they already expect. However, since automakers around the globe are also facing similar issues, would it mean that every manufacturer should receive some from of financial aid or subsidy from their respective governments?

I definitely agree with Eric when he says that the Big 3 have fallen into this pit due to their own actions. I strongly agree that the Big 3 are lazy and as a result they should have to overcome this situation on their own. How much longer can GM continue to pull the wool over their customers' eyes by introducing "new and improved" models which are actually just rebadged models to begin with, i.e. the Chevrolet Lacetti made famous by Top Gear UK in the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car segment is in fact a rebadged Korean Daewoo model. Similarly, the most recent Pontiac GTO model is in fact just a rebadged Australian Holden.

The respective CEOs from GM, Ford and Chrysler will be meeting with Congress again tomorrow with to elaborate on the plans they submitted detailing how each manufacturer will be using their cut of the financial aid, alongside the president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Ron Gettelfinger. The UAW is also planning to contribute by possibly eliminating the Jobs Bank, which is a highly controversial program that allows laid off workers to receive up to 95% of their basic salary. Once again, this only seems to demonstrate the level of laziness that the American auto industry in shrouded in.

We can now only wait to see how Wagoner, Mullaly & Nardelli will present their detailed plans to Congress. Rest assured though, that after the personal jet fiasco of last time, all 3 CEOs will be driving to D.C. this time around.

Have a look at the plans submitted by GM, Ford & Chrysler and have your say in the comments.

[Source: Globe and Mail, Automotive News, Paultan.org, Autoblog, press releases]

Project Blackjack - Drifting & Video Made Art

As gamers already know, driving games make up one of the main genres in console and arcade gaming alike. Driving game enthusiasts often fall in one of two categories; the arcade/family fun type racer such as the Need For Speed & Midnight Club series, and the simulation type racer such as the Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport & Project Gotham Racing series.

Traditionally, the simulation racer community has always been in search of lower lap times and the perfect racing line, but now, there is a new emerging crowd that is slowly and surely spreading its influence across the driving game community - the drifters. The introduction of more realistic physics engines coupled with the ability to essentially fully tune the in-game cars down to exact suspension rebound settings & camber alignments, enabled gamers to successfully initiate very long & smooth drifts in-game.

A drift team in particular, Project Blackjack, caught my attention with one of their Forza Motorsport 2 drift videos which they titled The Rising Storm. Besides the drifting abilities of the drivers, an aspect of the video that intrigued me was that the entire video was shot in Forza 2, with in-game cars placed at strategic locations around the tracks as camera cars. One can only imagine the amount of time used and dedication of the team to be able to create a video such as this.

Catch the video from Youtube embedded below and have your say in the comments section.

More of their Youtube videos here: ProjectBLJK

Vietnamese Crack Face Recognition

Many new laptop computers nowadays are brandishing the latest in personal face recognition technology in the latest of marketing activities by brands such as Toshiba and Asus. These new steps towards personal data recognition have been tested to be efficient and effective, until now.

BKIS, a Vietnamese security firm, has recently demonstrated that despite having these laptop face recognition systems set to their highest security level, these laptops can be duped to believe that a simple sheet of paper is as good as a face. Face recognition is currently offered by Toshiba, Lenovo and Asus, and uses the laptop's built-in webcam to capture faces and then analyze for authentication.

In a demonstration in Vietnam organized by BKIS, the firm showed that by using a simple picture printed on a mere sheet of paper, they were able to trick the face recognition systems from all 3 manufacturers. All that had to be done was to capture a simple photo of the authenticated person's face. The photo was then processed, possibly to enhance the particular features that the facial recognition softwares identify, and then printed out on a sheet of paper. When held in front of the laptop, surprisingly within moments the computer accepted the faux face and allowed full access to all data.

Thought that your face was unique, did you?

[Source: cnet news]

Exclusive Marques Feeling the Economic Crisis

Now that it is official that the economy is now in recession, the auto market across the globe is now in turmoil, especially in the US. The Big 3 (GM, Ford & Chrysler) have yet to close the deal for its financial bailout, and it seems that the situation is very dire for the Americans manufacturers. Ford, for instance, recently sold off its stake in Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata, and even the controversial sale of Aston Martin which was thought the only profitable arm under Ford at that time.

However, news has arrived of layoffs at Aston Martin, which shows that despite the popularity of the DB9, the British marque is also suffering from drops in sales. AM have announced that they will be cutting off 600 jobs to save costs and will be working closely with the unions to reduce the workforce.

Even Bentley, who hit record sales in 2006, are also experiencing issues and have already cut their production figures by 15% in response to the drop in sales. Bentley are working closely with their dealers through these difficult times but we can expect more layoffs from the brand as well.

Only time will tell how the automakers will continue to respond to the recession but cost cuts seem to be the only way forward. The most evident of this would certainly be the absence of several major brands in the Detroit Motor Show this year. We can only hope that these big brands will pull through this crisis.

Feel free to have your say in the comments section.

Top Gear Trio interview

A relaxing watch of the trio from Top Gear, in an interview:



This was posted recently in Finalgear but the video was taken down for some reason..boo

Guitar Hero III, On Drums?

Guitar Hero World Tour just came out weeks ago and we have already gotten our hands on it. Many hours have been spent banging away on the new drum kit, and massive strumming on the new model guitar with its touch-sensitive fret board. A full review to come soon but before that, we will have to revert back to the good old Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock days.

Those among us who have played Guitar Hero III would remember the iconic track "Through The Fire And Flames" by Dragonforce, commonly known as TFFAF in the Guitar Hero community. TFFAF was designed by RedOctane to be the hardest track to master on GH3, and they were spot on. Countless online forums and communities established their own TFFAF boards to monitor the high score rankings for that one particular track. One who could master Expert level on TFFAF was indeed a true Guitar Hero.

Now imagine playing the same track, but on the drums. Impossible? Apparently not for this guy who posted a video of himself rocking out on TFFAF on the drums. Using his own custom MIDI drum set controller replacing the guitar and some mad drumming skills, this guy is out to prove that he can beat you on guitar, using drums. Have a look at the video below, and leave your say in the comments section.

[Source: College Humor]