Unfortunately for us, our duty statements leave the state with a way to force us all back into the office since the remote work is “dependent on business need and/or departmental policies”. Living in Southern California, the remote work hasn’t really affected the small-business landscape as much, since the types of…

I work for a California government agency, and we had to start going into the office 2 days a week back in May. Now I’m back in the traffic, wasting 2 hours a day commuting. The stupid part is they’re ignoring the fact that a lot of us have ZERO reason to be in the office at all. I work in IT infrastructure…

This is one of the reasons I like my union job. Guaranteed 5% raises until you top out in that position. The union negotiates a new contract with the state every 4 years, so the top out pay is always going up. 10 years with the state and I’ve never hit the salary cap. 

I refuse to acknowledge the fact that the Ioniq 5 N is a CUV. To me, it’s just a big-ass hot hatchback. Frankly the hottest hatchback of all time. 

The regular Ioniq 5 starts at about $45k, and is still a great car. $70k for an enthusiast car with over 6oohp is still quite a good deal. There’s nothing that gets you that level of performance for the price. Maybe a Corvette? But who’s cross-shopping a mid-engined sports car with a 5 seat hatchback?

The more recent reviews seem to give the impression that a lot of the software foibles from the first revision were mostly worked out before Fisker went belly up again. 

Yeah, the whole “What if Giugiaro but cyberpunk” aesthetic of the Ioniq 5 is awesome, and the N-specific details just make it even better. 

Once the 1LT Chevy Equinox EV comes out, the $7500 tax credit (which can now be sent to the dealer to have them take the $7500 off the price of the car) , the price will be well under the $30k range. 

I’m not expecting good acoustics. Just having what’s coming out of the speakers not sounding like shit. Using a CD instead of streaming over bluetooth is just enough to take it from “shit” to “not shit”, especially for cars with bluetooth versions older than 5, like this Porsche, the audio quality is especially bad.

Looks like Google is planning on integrating this feature soon.

Regarding the plastic engine covers, take yours off and flip it over. It likely has some fabric padding underneath. That’s to help keep excess engine noise and vibrations from entering the cabin, especially on 4 cylinder engines.

I haven’t listened to the radio since about 2012, but this has me curious. I’ll be checking in my Mazda 6 ASAP. 

Cars that have 48v systems use a motor/generator in place of a regular alternator for the stop start, which also gets rid of the starter motor. It’s MUCH smoother than the stop start tech on legacy vehicles. 

I’m absolutely biased, as I was on a FIRST Robotics team all 4 years of high school, and mentored while I was in college. The more technical challenges of FIRST was always more interesting to me than the robotic demolition derby of Battlebots and Robot Wars. Also, knowing how much time and money goes into the design…

From what I’ve been able to find, the casting for the Cybertruck is not heat treated.

this car still has a CD player

That Rolls is the best worst decision you could ever make.

The price is obviously absurd, but I absolutely LOVE the colors. I’m a sucker for a well-done colored interior. 

More impressive (though less flamboyant and exciting) than Battlebots is the FIRST Robotics Competition that Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway and iBot) and Woodie Flowers (MIT engineering professor, RIP) founded back in the 90's. Highly technical engineering challenges for high school students that make Battlebots…

They could’ve gone with a simple “Oh, it was a typo. ‘N’ is right next to ‘B’ on a keyboard, we must have fat-fingered it.”, but they spin this stupid “NA” story.