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As we start the university school year in North America, more students are buying and using Macs and iPhones. In a few cases, universities are giving freshman students Apple hardware. 9to5mac has an excellent article on this trend called iPhone takes a seat across university campuses. Jonathan D. Glater also discussed university Mac adoption in his New York Times article called Welcome Freshman. Have an iPod. 

With the high cost of gas, fewer students are driving themselves to campus.

Will fewer students be tempted to use their iPhones and iPod Touches as heads-up video displays in their automobiles, as shown in jiggymatt’s YouTube video called “Heads Up” iPhone Display and discussed in a bookofjoe article called ‘It’s great - I can watch my stuff while I’m driving’?

If you’re dumb enough to watch videos while you’re driving, you probably shouldn’t be going to college.

Related articles and pages on billso.com

• iPhone
• 19 August 2008: Teaching college students online
• 16 August 2008: Divided attention and food in the classroom
• 14 July 2008: Rising gas prices fuel online course enrollments

I’ve spent a week in Orange County without a car. It was a nice change of pace. Anaheim is walkable, at least around the Anaheim Convention Center and Downtown Disney.

Ever wonder if solar cells would make a hybrid car more efficient? Toyota is preparing a solar power option for the Prius hybrid car. The panels would recharge the car’s electric batteries while the car is in moderate to bright sunlight.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) decided to test the concept of this system. Their engineers modified the charging system so the car can be plugged into a large set of turbines or solar panels. A regular 110 volt AC outlet will also work. This article called NREL’s Prius Hits 100 Miles per Gallon has more details. 

NREL also hired Solar Electrical Vehicles to add a rooftop solar charging system to the vehicle. The solar cell was glued to the roof of the vehicle. However, it’s a low power rig, generating a maximum of 215 watts from 146 four-inch-square crystalline-silicon cells. The real benefit comes from the additional 3000 volt battery that can store power from the Prius drivetrain, the solar cells, and the plug-in charging system. Total cost of the modded Prius is US$70000 - the mods alone cost US$42500.

Another company, Solatec, markets a less powerful, less expensive kit that produces only 24 watts of power using a smaller set of roof-mounted solar panels that resemble wide racing stripes. It’s designed to run the Prius’ air conditioner, sound system and other devices, and provides a 2 mpg improvement in fuel economy for US$1075.

The hybrid explosion

The hybrid car market has heated up in the last year. Dealers cannot keep hybrids in stock - in fact, some models have long waiting lists. Saturn of Honolulu was allocated only 4 VUE Green line hybrid SUVs for the 2008 model year.

Honda has announced it will build half a million hybrids a year by 2010, including versions of the Accord, Fit, and a new hybrid-only model. I’ve long hoped for a hybrid Element, put that has not been announced yet. Honda engineers hope to reduce the incremental cost of a hybrid to US$2000, compared to the current $3000 standard. Honda’s hybrid system is simpler and less powerful than others, but it’s easier to integrate the design into existing gas-only models. 

Toyota is releasing 5 hybrid-only models in the US at that time, including a minivan and a new Prius. Even if Toyota can’t ramp up its own production, it will make money by licensing its hybrid engine technology to other car manufacturers, including Ford and Nissan. General Motors is licensing its own hybrid tech to Daimler, BMW and Chrysler.  Chevrolet is rushing its Volt electric car into production as well. 

See this MIT Technology Review article called Does Car Mounted Solar Make Sense? and these Business Week article called Honda Goes Whole Hog for Hybrids and Is GM’s Green Tech Better Than Toyota’s for more links and information.

Image courtesy of Abrilon through a Creative Commons license. 

Related articles on billso.com

• 6 July 2008: Dubai tower twists and turns with solar and wind power
• 21 June 2008: Gallons per mile: Making fuel economy easy to understand
• 14 May 2008: Google makes more investments in alternative energy
• 11 April 2008: Cellular base station uses wind and solar power
• 7 March 2008: Solar-powered Bluetooth headset

The retirement of Bill Gates from daily duty at Microsoft prompted bloggers and journalists to write long articles about Microsoft technology. It’s summer, and we have to fill the pages somehow. 

This Engadget article called Bill Gates: top ten greatest hits (and misses) has some details and product photos. Two of the “misses” are interesting.

The AutoPC was a voice controlled system that connected the driver to music, GPS and Outlook services. It went on sale in 2000 and died a quick death, but many auto manufacturers are offering systems with similar features in 2008. The same Microsoft business unit that developed the AutoPC also developed the SYNC system for Ford. 

The second “miss” is another example of pervasive or ubiquitous computing. It’s interesting that both of these products were championed by Bill Gates himself. 

I have worn my Suunto N6 HR SPOT watch almost every day for the last 2.5 years. Yes, the watch is a little large, and I have to clip it to a USB charger every 2 or 3 days to freshen up the battery. I never got the heart rate monitor feature to work properly, though. 

Microsoft partnered with Clear Channel to distribute news, sports, stock market and other data to users via Clear Channel FM radio stations.The silvery rim of the watch face is the FM antenna. It’s a one-way device that receives broadcasts, so it’s impossible to send information from the watch.

I don’t use Outlook, so I never use the appointment and messaging features. But the baseball scores are usually up to date, as long as I’m in a Clear Channel city, and I never need to set the time. It’s synced by an atomic clock somewhere in the cloud. 

Sadly, Microsoft discontinued the SPOT watch line in April 2008 - see this Engadget article called SPOT watches R.I.P. - 2004-2008. The cloud service still works on MSN Direct. I just go to the web site, log in, and select the information and faces for my watch. 

I see fewer wristwatches on wrists these days. Many of my friends rely on their mobile phone’s clock instead, as they carry their phones with them everywhere. Most modern mobile phones sync their clock to their carrier’s system. 

Image courtesy of billso through a Creative Commons license. 

Bruce Schneier published an article in Wired called I’ve Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch. I agree with his basic premise - it’s a dangerous idea to include a kill switch in a networked device. It’s difficult to keep a determined cracker out of a well-defended network. It’s ludicrous to design a device that can disabled by remote control.

OnStar call representatives can bring a stolen vehicle to a slow and gentle halt by remotely disabling the car’s fuel system. Information Week article called Stop Thief!.

So how long will it take before someone tries to shut down an OnStar vehicle, just to show they can do it?