TopGear Weddings and Marketing

Those are three things I seem to be talking about this morning.

1. I am slightly jealous that the TopGear crew already incorporated themselves into someone’s wedding and therefore probably won’t be able to find a way into mine at Cantigny in the suburbs of Chicago. Bummer. Maybe we should rent the corvettes then? As an homage to TopGear and our love of cars? Read the full story here at the Daily Mail from the UK. And the Sun UK. Maybe we can do some kind of challenge in getting from the wedding ceremony to the reception? If any of the TG crew reads this blog thanks for including my ideas if and when that ever has possibly happened.

2. Wedding Planning is arduous and totally consuming of every second of free time you have when you are this close to the final date. I haven’t been updating this blog because there are so many things to manage. Oh and did I mention the I have to move out of my condo in 3 weeks also? It finally sold after 6 months of marketing and price lowering. Maybe moving would be a good TopGear challenge? Just don’t let them plan a wedding, that would be disasterous. No amount of compensation for mucking up would help fix that after the fact.

Between figuring out who will be attending, seating charts, making things like name cards and menu cards, making tiny bows on wedding favors, picking the set lists for the music, meeting with the church minster, and the soloist, seeing a test run of the flowers, getting the gown hemmed, insisting that the groomsmen and fathers to finally go rent their damn tuxes already, and matching the table runners and who knows what the f else, I have no time. It is a bit frustrating already. Now that I think about it, I am about ready to offer to turn it over to the TG folks out of frustration and a lack of sleep. I almost don’t care how it turns out, I just want my life back.

3. It hasn’t helped that I have been swamped with work either during this time, so I haven’t been able to blog about new online marketing trends either which is what I do for a living and should be easy and quick to write about. But I am working 12 hour days for difficult clients right now, so this isn’t happening either.  Anyway, it will be a while until this blog is updated regularly again, but I do plan to be back starting July 12th.

Update; the only TG tie in at my wedding was that we had a TopGear Table and a Nurbergring Nordschlefe Table. We also had a Star Wars table a Les Chats Table and a bunch of others named after our hobbies and interests.

Chicago CTA Rant – Where are the Busses? Commuting Problems

I have been a commuter in Chicago for about 3 years now. I was initially excited to abandon my car in it’s parking space during the week and walk to the EL train and then to work every day. I have saved a bucket-load of cash not paying for gas or parking downtown since I have worked in that area. I was able to get to work in 1 hour from door to door, and it would be faster if I caught the CTA Train right when I got to the station. It was never more than a 10 minute wait for a green line though.

All these things changed recently when I moved in with my Fiance in Warrenville. (I had been living in Oak Park for the last 7 years) Now I am only tied to downtown Chicago by the METRA trains. Which is very frustrating since the BNSF only comes in to Union Station which is all the F way over west of the loop and not walkable to Michigan Avenue. 

This means you have to fill that gap with more public transport since cabs are too expensive to take every day. Your choices are the CTA elevated Trains which aren’t really by Union Station or Michigan Avenue either or the CTA Buses. Everyone said the Buses were the way to go. And for all the ranting about Metra, the CTA Buses have ended up being far more problematic than the Train. (although the train has been so packed the last 2 days that people have been standing in the isles in all the cars)

This morning for example it was a 1/2 hour wait for a 121 bus by Union Station. WTF? They are supposed to run every 12-15 minutes per the CTA Site. Last night was no better. I caught the 151 bus to Union Station for a change (most days I wait a 1/2 hour for that at 6 pm also) and then there was no Train until 6:50 pm. I spent a 1/2 hour sitting in the train station doing nothing. Where was the 6:20 BNSF?

That is the first time a METRA train has been missing but the CTA buses are there at about a 50% rate . I can walk to the train station in a 1/2 hour, but if I can get a bus it only takes 15 minutes (even stopping on every block). But if I knew there would not be a bus for a 1/2 hour I would just F-ing walk.

I get to start working from home on Fridays this week. I won’t miss the 1.5-2 hour commute each way.

How have your experiences been with Chicago CTA & METRA commuting?

TopGear USA, Canceled – 2nd try

TG USA NBC FAIL - Who is up next?

I just read that TopGear USA or Gear as NBC was going to call it, has been canceled before it has even begun. (because of the epic fail of Knight Rider??? WTF?)  This is disappointing news but it also doesn’t surprise me since this has been the 2nd try at getting a sister show in the US running in some form.

There was a BBC developed test pilot about 2 years ago called TGUSA that never left the ground, and in 2008 NBC started the process of developing a series and selecting hosts and now that has stopped too.

The Top Gear Show people at the BBC say that they are shopping the concept around to cable broadcast networks via the Jalopnik post, but I am not all that sure this will work either. I think that finding a network in the US for TopGear will be tricky because of a few things:

1. All the shows in the US change their content to please advertisers. TopGear does not. This is a huge risk for US networks, (cable or free tv) because they could loose a huge amount of revenue if an advertiser doesn’t like a comment about their product on the show. (not just cars remember, TG rips on anything they don’t like from caravans to clothing to speed cameras)

2. The only people who will want to fund this show would have to be fans. (even if they are executives or media moguls, they still have to be fans to believe in the concept) They would have to understand the intricacies of what TG is, how it is produced and why people love it so much all over the world. You can’t mess with that formula. They are trying so hard in Australia to get it right and my brother still calls it “Bad Top Gear” that we watch when UK Top Gear is off-season. It is a show that is incredibly hard to get right  and the chance you can replicate this in a formulaic way is slim. Just think, the UK  Top Gear has been running since 1977 and only since the late 1990′s has it been really good. It took them that long to get the UK version right and they are still tweaking.

The TopGear show not only takes the best improviser hosts, it must take a huge staff of researchers, a boatload of talented car mechanic guys for all the race and experimental stuff they do, a boatload of the best camera guys and the most excellent editors and sound people. And I am sure I am unfairly forgetting half of the staff. And then there is the constantly updated website. This is a large overhead cost when networks may not know if they can make any ROI from it and don’t know heads or tails about what would make it successful.

Maybe they should start small instead? A small TG-USA blog with short 5-10 min segment clips once in a while? See if it generates enough web interest and then take it to TV? Smaller staff, less hours needed in all the functions and it lets you get your bearings straight on all the details before going on to a higher cost/risk situation. Just a thought… 

Or maybe produce one time hour long ”specials” to see how they take without a huge commitment in set building and long term contracts? More the on the road stuff, challenges, trips, building/breaking things? I am just trying to think of ideas on how to keep costs down and limit the risk in the beginning so it can catch on.

Another idea is to pitch it to a sports network, the speed channel or odd indie channel on cable like FX. Or go wild and produce it on the BBC America channel. (and take off those neutered versions of the show that are running there now) That might be it’s best chance of succeeding. Get some large (non-car) sponsors of the show and see what happens. 

Regardless of who ends up producing and funding TopGear USA I hope it lives and I still look forward to seeing the final product. (even if it ends up kind of crap)   . . .

Hey can I help? My brother and I plus my fiance make 3 redheads who know negligible things about cars and have great banter. (my Brother and Fiance actually do know something about cars, I am really the goof of the bunch) If nothing else these pics prove we are real people.

Ok, I know that is a crap idea, but I had to try…

We’d be the super low budget version.

Here’s a camcorder duct taped to your window, good luck, don’t break it. 

Seriously, it would be funny… Ok I’ll forget about it…

Top 10 Questions we have for TopGear, Season 12

I just wanted to post these since I have not written about TopGear UK in a while and I didn’t want them to think they weren’t still producing top content or keeping my attention. The season 12 shows (1-4) that I have seen so far have been excellent and had many laugh out loud moments in each one. I always find it funny that my brother, fiancee, my dad and I laugh at different parts of the shows too.

The US trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats for Speed Week was my favorite so far (maybe because of a post I made last year suggesting it for TG USA) but there is always another great TopGear show around the corner. Anyway, here are my top 10 questions for TopGear UK, since I do not live in the UK and can’t go ask them directly. (if they would like to come to Chicago, I would be happy to answer their questions about my city) 

If you have the answers to any of these questions feel free to leave me a comment.

10. When is the TopGear USA (Gear on NBC?) going to start? They have been filming/talking/speculation for over 6 months already. (This has been answered…it has been dropped by NBC, no plans as of yet to sign another network)
9. When are they going to start showing current shows on BBC America? (ahem, without 33% of the show cut out)
8. When are we going to get the Top Gear track times on the board for the Corvette ZR-1, Challenger SRT-8 and CTS-V? (its only fair)
7. Why does Richard Hammond change hairstyles each episode? Why does he still wear the man-jewelry he aquired during that Africa trip episode? Why is James May’s hair always falling in his face in the studio segments even though there should be a stylist around to help him avoid that? Why does James always wear the Cheshire Cat rugby shirt on new car test days?
6. Where can I go to learn to drive like that in my car? (seriously, TopGear sport driving schools sound good to me)
5. What is that 747 doing there out on the runway near the track? Is it flyable? I thought it looked like they might be taking it apart in one of the recent episodes.
4. Why is one of the turns in the TopGear track called “Chicago” if they have never actually filmed a show in Chicago? (hint, hint…)
3. What are all these bets that end with weird clothing about?
2.Who is the stig? What are the morse code messages saying in the car when the Stig tests out the new cars on the track? 

1. How can I integrate TopGear somehow into my wedding ?

BBC TopGear Australia Season 1 Show 1 Review of Series

These are the 3 new presenters of TG Australia

I was a bit skeptical about the BBC’s ability to reproduce the TopGear show phenomenon in other countries with other presenters. Well I was wrong, sort of. I watched the first episode of the Australian TopGear show on Friday and um, it’s exactly the same. Frighteningly the same. Like they lifted the set exactly as it is in the UK and rebuilt it in Australia. They didn’t even let them customize it to Aussie standards. The intro is also an exact copy of the intro for the TG UK show. Same music, same images just different outlines of different guys and a few new clips. Ok, that is just freaky. I expected the logo and theme music to go over but they treated this like a franchise of American Idol. Yuck.

I would have liked to see the mimicry end at the logo and theme music. After that why not give the show their own ability to create a cool guy set with some Australian flair? Is Britain just too into the monarchy system to let individual creativity happen?

And the guys are totally the same, it’s like they cloned them with better hair. The older guy is the main lead presenter and he is cocky and always making fun of the other guys and showing off like Jeremy. The second guy is shorter and way hyper and talks hella fast and is all emotional all the time like Richard. The third guy is a cartoonist, (I like this twist, he draws on sight and this could lead to some interestingness) and not a pro driver and most like James may with short hair. (Charlie Cox, Warren Brown, Steve Pizzati)

And OMG there is no intro that explains what the show is or where it came from. Hello, a segway was necessary there. Would it have killed them to say that they have launched their own creation under the TopGear family umbrella and introduce the guys in a little more detail. Maybe say why they wanted to do the show in the first place and why they went through an open audition process to get there? Was that funny at all behind the scenes?

They just try to jump into cockiness and double entendre with total awkwardness because no one knows who they are. They should say this is the biggest car show about absolutely nothing or this is the car show where we plan to break very expensive things. Anything would be better than odd pauses as the audience doesn’t know what to laugh at because no one knows who these guys are…. Or they haven’t yet gotten comedic timing from their cue cards…

I sincerely hope they allow these series a little more breathing room to not only re-create things with a regional flavor but to look for ways to improve on the show and innovate too. Things will never innovate if the guys are practicing talking like Jeremy Clarkson in their dressing rooms and they have to name turns on the track after the UK presenters.

Dude, and they never say anything about the Stig being the Australian cousin? Why just make up all this stuff about the Stig with such a weak intro. Yikes! The guest star in a reasonably priced car was weird too. Over enthusiastic in everything he said in a really creepy way. And he liked Saabs. Heh, I own one buddy they are not luxury and sport cars. They are an unreliable bowl of crap. This post has been brought to you by “don’t buy a Saab”. 

I shouldn’t be so hard on the show but I am a fan, so I have to be this way.  I plan on watching the second one tonight. The thing is they did have some snafus that were a surprise to the viewer even if they were scripted so it had it’s entertaining moments. But gee whiz, please let these smart people you have hired in Australia do what they do best, make a funny car show by mucking around.

I do have to mention though that the content of the show was around 55 minutes with the commercials cut out (that might be entertaining to watch commercials from another country actually, if they’re weird or funny) so at least they shoved the commercials on the end of the 60 minutes and added time rather than cut it back. Yay for that.

And…when this show and the US show have gotten their feet under them we need to have an inter TG competition of some kind between the 3 regions. But that is not for a couple of years yet…

TopGear USA Interview with Adam Corolla and my show suggestions for BBC & NBC

So, I saw this article by popular michanics about the new USA version of TopGear and their interview with Adam Corolla today and since so much seems to be up in the air about the show I thought I would post some topic suggestions for fun. I am a car fan, although not a gearhead. My brother is a gearhead so I’m related to cars, I guess. Anyway don’t expect me to decode the technical imperfections in blockbuster movies or anything, but I do have a database of TG episodes in my brain to off-sett any lack of technical knowledge.  Oh yea, just to clarify one last point: I am a girl. (needed since most people who write about TopGear are always guys)

1. INDIANAPOLIS SPEEDWAY - you have to work it in somewhere. It is an icon of American racing and cars and history all in one. Occasionally TG gets into the history of cars by exploring the past and how crazy ass those people were driving without seatbelts, air bags or windshields. Indy is an icon and the track isn’t busy most the year, so stop by, build something, race it, put the stig against some real drivers, drive some vintage racers and see what happens.

2. The Bonneville Salt Flats – We all know this institution for it’s land speed records and it’s yearly speed week. I would love to go, but alas I have a day job that pays fairly well and I can’t leave. So, go out, build something, race something, follow the stories of some teams, see what it is all about. OMG! TopGear UK is doing this!!!! (holy shit that is going to be a good episode!)

3. Nurbergring – Ok I know it isn’t all one word like that, but it’s how I say it. This track has gained heavenly status since it’s TG inclusion and it is the 3rd most interesting car place to go on my list. A major feature of this trip would be the lack of German language knowledge of the presenters and the colorful regulars that race there. Sabine is a super bonus since she is an amazing driver.

4. Route 66 – Hello road trip. I think most of it is still available or close to being travelable now. It might be a fun challenge with vintage cars. They say they were easy to fix because there weren’t all the bolt on power accessories back then, so if they break down it shouldn’t be too hard to fix a 57 Chevy right?

5. Fuel economy cars – hey, we are all affected by this running out of oil because “we taught the rest of the world to worship cars and now they have them” problem. So, why not do some alternative fuel conversions? I have a 2001 Saab 9-3 that I would love to convert to electric. How on earth does one do that? What ever happened to electric car magazine from the 1990′s? Import some Hot Hatchbacks from Europe that should be for sale here based on their fuel economy stats.

6. Demolition Derby – Hello; fun times at the state fair. Every show should end with a Demolition Derby or breaking stuff.

7. NASCAR – Um, I am not much of a fan, but at some point you have to respect the speed that they travel and their innovative use of duct tape. I would suppose there could be a lot of interesting challenges here. Not sure what though since I don’t watch because of that annoying rev-it-up segment they have. Do they have what it takes to be on a Nascar pit crew?

8. Figure out why American cars suck. Seriously, why do they suck now when they didn’t 40 years ago? Take a poll, comparison shop, talk to the US manufacturers and ask why they suck and why I have to buy a car from Sweden just to get a decent looking one, even thought it is still an unreliable piece of crap from GM. Why can’t they bring back the 50 mpg geo metro for the eco-people who want it or the EV 1 for people who love it, why can’t Ford design a fuel efficient car to save their life and why can’t Chrysler make a car that doesn’t break down every 3rd week?

9. Buick of the week segment – just a suggestion…

Ok, that is all I could come up with in 15 minutes. I will post more later if I can think of additional ideas, but alas I have to go back to my real job now. I would think also that as many new car reviews as you can get for hot cars is great, but don’t forget real people cars too like low cost entry level cars and family cars. You can forget the trucks and mini-vans though. No one really needs to test them, they are all the same.

Official News: TopGear USA on NBC confirmed

See more info on Jalopnik here. Apparently TopGear (or Gear) as they call it here will be coming to the US with Adam Corolla after all. I am not sure when though. You would expect someone like me to be crazy go nuts for this right now but I have to admit I look at NBC remaking this EPIC series with a bit of skepticism. I find that it is hard to remake a series that was a mix of personalities more than content. It relies heavily on who they choose and even if you get exact replicas of James, Jeremy and Richard there is no guarantee that they will get along in the same manner. Even if it is partially scripted (GASP!). Anyway I guess we will have to hang out watching our old episodes of TG UK on DVD all summer and wait this out to see if the TG UK season 11 and the TG USA season 1 have legs this fall. (they seem to have copied at least the TG hairstyles from this picture)

HyperMilling How to Save Money on Gas, fuel economy and Drive Cheaper

I was surprised to read this article about driving, gas mileage and hypermilling which is basically the art of conservative driving to save gas in general by getting about 30% better gas mileage. Of course the results differ depending on which car you drive (or truck) but I think this article brings up a lot of good points and strategies. Here are some of the tips they suggest for saving gas (and money) and improving fuel economy for your car when driving around town:

1. Accelerate slowly from stoplights and stop signs. This is a huge gas saver for those of us who live in the suburbs and city. We do a lot of stop and go driving every day and this acceleration from the light sucks down fuel like nothing else. They recommend never pressing the pedal more than 1 inch down. Never floor the car or race away from the light. Just accelerate slowly and you will not waste gas.

2. Use your cruise control on the highway and tollway. I never do this but I will start now. If you want to avoid costly fuel surges in your engine, just set your cruise control for 55 mph or 65 mph depending on the speed limit, set your car in the right lane or middle one if there are super slow cars or trucks in the right lane, and get there at a normal consistent pace. The car is better at managing acceleration with just enough gas at a consistent rate than we are. Humans generally pump the pedal when they drive and constantly throw too much fuel into the engine and are highly inconsistent. Anyway, I like this because it isn’t that different from what we do now and it is more cost efficient.

3. Properly inflating the tires impacts the gas mileage very little and turning off the air conditioning on highway trips doesn’t do much either. (turning off the air conditioning in stop n go traffic can help though)

So take 20 seconds to accelerate away from traffic lights, turn off the air conditioning in stop and go traffic and use the cruise control as much as possible when driving on the highway and your gas mileage should go up and your fuel consumption should go down and you should save some more money.

And then there are always the old fashioned ways to save money on Gas like carpooling and using public transit. Don’t forget those either!

 

Spring Weather – April, May, June

Today is the first day of spring and it has been over 40 degrees and sunny all day in Chicago. This has been a minor miracle considering that from November 1, 2007 through February 29, 2008 this winter has been awful. We have had snow every week during that time and sometimes snow fell 2 or 3 times a week. We didn’t know what to do with all of it, how to clear it all or how to keep the ice from piling up all over everything. We got through it somehow and it is safe to go to the grocery store again and carry things up my back stairs that are outside now that they are finally not covered in ice. (a typical 3 floor walkup building in Chicagoland)

I just wanted to say happy spring and welcome to warmer weather in Chicago. I will not miss this winter, nor wish this much snow on anyone. I hope that we don’t get such an extreme summer also since heat is just as difficult in some ways. Although, this global warming thing is getting weirder by the year. Anyway, go get some spring clothes out of storage and take a walk outside and enjoy the spring weather.

TopGear USA Names New Host Adam Corolla

As Jalopnik reported last week Adam Corolla has been named the first host of TopGear USA in it’s newest iteration of GEAR on NBC in 2009. (per an announcement on his radio show and some pix with TG cars, see K Nob left.) I have read all kinds of mixed reviews online and heard people’s opinions on this pick and here are my thoughts to add to the fray:

1. I don’t know Adam Corolla from a bag of rocks but a lot of people seem to know him from The Man Show and they seem to think he is funny and willing to get shoved in frozen lake for a laugh. (which sinefeld and leno wouldn’t do) This is encouraging. He doesn’t have a persona that is so well known it is career limiting (being typecast) yet people are pretty sure he can do (or has done) Improv in his day and has some snark. This was a big qualifier for this job. I am sure they did some pilot episode recording or something to compare the candidates on film (per Richard Hammond’s book where he mentions his interview & audition) and I bet Adam probably does ok in the snark category. (he also seems to do well in the 1991 wardrobe category) This is probably the most important part of the selection process.

2. Many people seem to be up in arms about the TopGear USA show needing to be an exact replica of the TG UK show down to the exact personality traits of each host. (presenter) They say they need an overbearing stubborn tall guy, and an emotional and hyper short guy and a long haired geeky guy. This couldn’t be more wrong. You need some great personalities, some strong opinions and some great improv and mucking about to make a great show. You can’t re-create the actual people and their attitudes over here that Jeremy, Richard and James have in real life. That would be monkey-stupid and not at all viable. The mix should be diverse but the personalities all will be different.

2.5 I have also read that people think Adam Corolla doesn’t have a car background. He must have some car knowledge though or else they wouldn’t have selected him. I would guess that you would have to have all of the following skills to host: know how to drive a manual transmission well enough to talk to the camera and drive at the same time, know some basic autocross skills for the lap times and tests, be familiar with fancy and race type cars so that you know how to power slide and such. I would also hope the person genuinely enjoyed power sliding and pushing a car’s limits. I think a lot of the technical things that Jeremy, James and Richard say are discussed with the producers and prep people of TG to give them some topline analysis from the team of research geeks behind the scenes. Hopefully NBC’s GEAR will have a team of car geeks behind the scenes too.

3. Some people are complaining that the show will be all about NASCAR and that will suck ass. Yes, that would technically suck ass if it happened, but I think the show will have diverse talent and diverse activities all around the different car type groups. (Imports, Domestics, Pony Cars, Muscle Cars, Roadsters, Trucks, Minvans, SUVs, Street Racing Mods, Low Riders, Classics, Really old Classics, Classics with wooden wheels, Green Ecological leaf-eating Cars, Exotics and Supercars. And hopefully there will be some fun crossover with the auto racing sports in this country Indy, CART, NASCAR, Funny Cars, F1, Unlimited Fuel Dragsters, Autocross, Sprints, and Demolition Derbys at the county fair. (please use the last one I beg you) The content is usually based on a couple things:

    A. Supercars awe inspire us all, so cover as many of those as possible and make the editing and camera work turn it into car pron. This keeps the 10-50 yr old boys happy, and the beauty of the cars even makes it interesting to some of us women. We also enjoy the speed.

    B. People need practical every day cars reviewed in a non-sleep inducing non-autoweek way. This means everything from the YuGo to the Mercs. (by merc I mean Mercedes not Mercury, I can’t believe I just said that) I can’t believe MOTORweek is still on TV. I want to shoot my television when I run across that show accidentally.

    C. Challenges building things and Road Trips through other countries are the comedy and entertainment portion of the program. Do the ridiculous, seriously. Do the serious, ridiculously. And please Fork it up in ways we never thought possible. The only difference here is that it should require less passport use in the USA. Route 66 anyone? Highway 1 PCH?

    D. Weird sometimes stupid stunts. Jumping minivans and seeing how long a car runs with all the coolant drained out of it. endurance, destruction and general stunt-ness is needed here. These segments are short on time and long suspense and hopefully provide either humor or carnage or both. (ala the car chases in the blues brothers movie)

    E. The Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. It allows the BBC to make some marketing money and it gives us some interesting non-car related person in an autocross race situation. This either ends up being impressive or rediculous, it works great either way. I recommend a Chevy Malibu as the car here. It’s so average it hurts. It will also be painful seeing George Clooney actually sit in one instead of the fancy schmantsy things he is used to.

But the question I want answered that no one was asking is: Did Adam Corolla get the job just because he was named after a cheap econo-box Japanese car? If so it’s a really bad pun, and I wouldn’t mention it. I think using the corolla as the reasonably priced car is out too.

Also read about the interview with Adam Corolla and my suggestions for the show here.

Also, I am a little baffled that this got ranked #1 on a TopGear USA search in Google. I am not sure how that happened. This blog isn’t really that great, except possibly when I write about TG or Marketing. Anyway, if for some reason you officially want to contact me about what I write here, you can through my other blog here. My stats say that about 50 people a day are looking for TG USA info and come here. I hope that is enough for NBC’s to keep the show on air this fall.

New Travel Site Contest for Key West

There is a new travel web site called Trusted Tours and Attractions that is having a contest drawing for free tour tickets from all the people who sign up for it’s new e-newsletter. I thought I would mention it in case you wanted a chance to win 4 tickets for the tour of your choice in the city of your choice. It doesn’t cost anything to enter.

For example if I won I might go to Key West because it’s warmer than Chicago this time of year and I have never been there. I am a fan of white beaches and crystal blue water and it looks like they have plenty of that there. I am sure it would be great to get away from the oppressive cold here for a while, but if I left I probably wouldn’t want to come back until around April or May. In Key West the Tropical Bike Tour looks like fun. I have been bike riding around here a bit and it’s a nice way to see things slow enough to enjoy them and cover more ground than walking. The Glass Bottom Boat also looks interesting with it’s view of the coral reef and I am sure that the Butterfly Conservatory would be great for taking pictures. All in all it’s a better place to be than Chicago right now.

Finding Broadband in the UK

I have a bunch of coworkers that fly overseas to the UK several times a year and they say that things are somewhat similar living there but there are always more differences than just the dialect. One difference is the technology for broadband. More people are catching on there now, but the popularity had lagged behind the US for some time. I am not sure if it was because of infrastructure or just not as much popularity. I also just read that online advertising is booming there and all over Europe so maybe their bubble is starting now? Anyway, if you are someone going to move to the UK or live there now, a broadband company I have heard about offering wifi broadband is BT Consumer Wireless Services. They are equivalent to an AT&T or Verizon here. And wireless makes more sense over there anyway. Why not get wi fi rather than rip up walls to install cable? It just makes more sense.

Google gives directions at the Gas Pump

In the News today said that Google is partnering with a gas pump manufacturer to provide screens in the pumps that you can get driving directions on while your car is pumping gas. I think this is a good idea since I drive around lost a lot and a directions kiosk would be very helpful. Making the gas pump a kiosk for directions is a natural related function and I think drivers will like it. As for right now they say there will not be any ads on the maps that could generate revenue and it also doesn’t look like you can print them either, so you will either have to keep a pen and paper handy in your car or have a really good memory. (of which I don’t) I think too that this will get Google into exposure with that last 20% of people who don’t go on the internet. They will get more brand exposure with them and hopefully they will trust Google as a brand even if they aren’t online searchers. This will help when Google gets into more offline products in the future. (they have to if they want to continue their growth)

Building Rockets and Jets from parts

If you are one of those people who watch the UK rocketry association with interest as the TopGear guys launch a mini from a ski jump or blast a car named robin into space ala space shuttle you may be able to get into rockets too as a hobby. There are a lot of rules and regulations as well as saftey concerns for getting into this kind of hobby involving rockets and jet pack type technology, but for geeks its a lot of fun. Even better if this is part of your business (if you work for aviation companies like Boeing, Lockheed or Northrop Grumman) there is a site online with all the supplis and parts you can possibly need. See how you can quickly search Jet-Tek’s stock. It’s fast, but not as fast as the jets themselves.

TopGear Season 10 Episode 4 Review – Drive Across African Desert

This week’s show was not the funniest one ever. It was really about jaw dropping risk and edge of your seat drama in a more serious sense. I was drawn to the show’s risky challenges of driving across most of the continent of Africa in old used cars and was suprised that they were able to pull off as much as they were. Many times they even decided to reveal the team of 20 people or so that were traveling with them to ensure saftey, fix the cars repeatedly, film everything and manage camping all along the way.

I think this is good because the idea that they really travel on these far away expeditions by themselves is beginning to get a little hard to believe. In fact those of us that have been watching for a few years now are pretty wise to the idea that they have a huge crew to make these situations which look unplanned work. Sure it’s not scripted but it is very planned out. So that was nice to see and it is always cool to see them demolish some cars and run them on the frames only.

And it was nice to see that James was right for once that his Mercedes (not merc, that is a mercury guys) was really quite good in the challenge and held up the best overall minus the weight issue in the salt flats. That wouldn’t be legal here or in europe probably so it’s good they did it there. Anyway check out the site and see clips from the show.