BumpTop Goes Multi-Touch. Um, Awesome.

BumpTop, in my opinion, is probably the most intuative, well designed desktop interface I have seen.

I talked about BumpTop about a year ago. I was impressed with it then, now I think I'm ready to try it.

Take a look at this article from TechCrunch:

BumpTop Goes Multi-Touch. Um, Awesome.: "

What if the desktop on your computer was just like your actual desktop? That’s the core idea behind BumpTop, a really nice looking graphical overlay for Windows-based operating systems. But as cool as BumpTop looked, you still had to use your mouse and keyboard to manipulate it. As I made clear yesterday, I want those to die. So good news for me today: BumpTop is adding multi-touch support. And the result is awesome.

When we think of multi-touch right now, most of us think of the iPhone. But really, with such a small screen, there are only so many gestures you can do. Multi-touch BumpTop greatly expands that roster, and includes several gestures that it claims to have patents for. Basically, they have gestures that use all of you fingers, and both hands, and even the side of hands. You can “lasso” things, “shove” them, “scrunch” them, and “crop” them.

This graphic below shows a list of the gestures BumpTop offers that competitors don’t, including the ones that they apparently have patents on (labeled as “BT”).

Naturally, for these multi-touch capacities to work, you’ll need a computer with a touch screen surface that supports multi-touch. Right now, those aren’t widely available. But all indications are that soon enough, there could be a range of devices on the market with such capabilities (sadly, this is Windows 7-only — so no, it won’t work on an Apple Tablet). If you don’t have one of those however, BumpTop will continue to work on a majority of Windows-based PCs just fine with more traditional input devices.

The most obvious use of Mutli-touch BumpTop is with media, as you can easily manipulate images (watch the video below). But the service also works with documents (dragging them around, bunching them together, Google Gadgets, and even webpages as widgets. Also, there is social networking support, so if you edit an image in BumpTop, you can easily upload it immediately to Facebook or send it to Twitter.

I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that as soon as I have a computer that can run this, I want this. If not, you’re crazy, just watch it in action below. And below that find more examples of its multi-touch gesture support.

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BumpTop

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"

Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices

This looks very interesting. Fiber for the desktop to other devices. Not specifically for networking (although that is an option, too, from the look of things). Can you imagine sitting down at your home PC, connecting your MP3 player to the Light Peak connection and downloading 20GB of your music in 15 seconds? But if this replaces USB, how am I going to charge my phone?

Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices: "

USB 3.0 might be one of the big stories here at IDF, but Intel just showed off a glimpse of the future: Light Peak, an optical interconnect for mobile devices that can run as fast as 10Gbps. That's fast enough to do everything from storage to displays to networking, and it can maintain those speeds over 100-meter runs, which is pretty astounding. Intel says the idea is to drastically reduce the number of connectors on mobile devices, which should allow them to get even smaller -- but the demo was on a huge Frankenrig, so don't expect to see any actual Light Peak devices ship any time soon,

Continue reading Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices

Filed under: Peripherals

Intel unveils Light Peak 10Gbps optical interconnect for mobile devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out

Talk about your breakthroughs in medical technology! This is just amazing. Yeah, it looks kinda creepy, but for the ability to see after being blind, I think it would be worth it.

Make sure you follow the link and watch the video from the Miami Herald. It's amazing.

Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out: "

Osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis. It's a real procedure that really does revive people's ability to see, yet we get the feeling that people will be more, um, excited about how it's done than why it's done. The seemingly Mary Shelley-inspired doctors extract a tooth from a blind person and drill a hole through it, where a prosthetic lens is placed, and the resulting macabre construction is implanted into the blind person's eye. The tooth is necessary as the body would reject an artificial base. It's not at all pretty, and it cannot repair every type of blindness, but it's still a major step forward. To hear from Sharron Thornton, the first American to have undergone the procedure, check the video after the break, but only if you can handle mildly graphic content -- you've been warned.



[Via Daily Tech]

Continue reading Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out

Filed under: Science

Video: doctors implant tooth into eye, restore sight, creep everyone out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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8 years ago. . .

Well, today is September 11^th, 2009. It’s been 8 years since our country was brutally attacked by terrorists. I could go off on a political tangent, but I won’t. I want to share my experiences with you.

Early in the morning of September 11^th 2001, my wife Marie and I got up, put our suitcases into the car and headed off for a weeklong trip to the Boston area, followed by a week of vacation. We had fun plans. If memory serves, we left the house between 5:30 and 6:00 AM. We had to get an early start to get to the hotel in time to check in so I could be rested for the next day. The day before, I had talked with my coworkers who were going to the same conference. We were all looking forward to it.

The drive up Interstate 95 to the New Jersey Turnpike was quiet and uneventful. I had been surfing the radio trying to find a Christian station. It’s always hard on a long trip, especially if you don’t bring your own music. Then I heard a news flash. Someone had flown a small plane into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. (A few years later, I would find out that a friend of mine would be awakened by a phone call from the Air Force base he worked at, being told that someone had flown a plane into the World Trade Center. His comment was simple, not completely understanding the gravity of the entire situation: “Moron. I could miss that!”). At first, I thought it was one of those radio pranks, but the reports kept coming. As the reports continued, the description of the plane got bigger. As we got closer to New York City, the description got even more grim.

During the 9:00 AM news cast on whatever radio station we were listening to, they broke in when another plane crash, this time in the south tower, then, the Pentagon. That’s when I knew this was a big deal, and I was expecting more.

As we got closer to NYC, we could see the smoke rising up from the WTC. It was as if Manhattan Island was a steamboat, trying to go out to sea. The sight was ominous. We had heard all the bridges were closed going in to NYC, so we stopped at a rest stop to get a map. We decided that I-287 was our best choice, and started planning our route to get up to Boston. I-287 to I-87 to I-84. I tried to call my boss in DC, but couldn’t even get a line out. We started back out on the highway. Trucks were parked on the breakdown lane everywhere. As we were driving, my wife looked and said “One of the towers just fell!” That was the next thing reported on the radio.

I was far from calm. If I remember right, we stopped again so we could switch drivers. I navigate better than my wife does. I was following the map, and nervously checking anything that looked suspicious; cars, trucks, anything that could possibly cause problems. I was thinking of all the other things that could be going on. Was there some sort of chemical agent in the plane that was activated by heat that was being dispersed? Biological agents? Were other cities around the world being attacked, too? I kept trying to call my boss. By the time we got to the Hudson River, I finally got in touch with him. He said the conference was obviously canceled since I was the only one who was going to make it to Boston. He also said to just go and take that week of leave and come back next week. Nothing was going to happen anyway, with all the confusion. So we continued up to Boston.

I friend and coworker told me about the ride home that day from Arlington, VA. She would often “slug” in to work. Slugging is organized hitch-hiking so that drivers can use the car-pool lanes. She had slugged in to work that day. When word finally came down for people to go home (I think it was around noon), people were talking together, comparing notes, trying to get all the slugs home. She ended up in a 4 passenger car with 5 other people (that makes six if you’re counting), riding dangerously close to the stick shift. But she was thankful for the ride.

When we got to the hotel, it was very quiet. CNN was on in the lobby, showing the replays of the WTC collapsing, the Pentagon burning, and the smoking hole in Pennsylvania. I think we canceled our reservation, and then we went to look up some old friends from college. When we got there, Diane opened the front door and ran to hug us, yelling “God sent us the Air Force!” I was a little bit embarrassed. We went to a prayer meeting with Steve and Diane that night. The mood was very somber and somewhat fearful. It felt like everyone there was expecting me to have some sort of answer as to what would happen next, because I was in the military. I was just as clueless as everyone else.

Flash back to a few months prior, say about May or June. I was sitting in my office and got a call from some woman in Texas whose relative had just moved to the Arlington VA area. It was a wrong number. My number had two numbers reversed from her relative’s number. She called me three or four times before she got it right finally. When I got back to my desk after my leave after 9/11, there was a voice message on my phone. It was that woman, calling to see if I was OK. For the next few months, that was the general feeling that I got across the US. People were genuinely concerned with others and were there to help out. I think we’ve lost a lot of that in the past eight years. Yes, a lot has happened since then. The Pentagon has been rebuilt (but the WTC has not). We’ve invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. We’ve ensured the people could put democratic governments in place. There have been two elections in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. But the support of the American people has drifted off.

It’s been eight years. My life has changed many times over. Yours probably has too. I ask that you do one thing. Don’t forget what happened on that terrible day. Don’t trivialize it by calling it a “Manmade disaster”. Don’t talk to me about your conspiracy theories about demolition charges and cruise missiles. I had friends at the Pentagon who SAW the plane fly over their heads on Route 110, seconds before crashing into it. That was no cruise missile. Don’t speak poorly about this country that I gave 21 years of my life for. Just keep it to yourself. Remember what really happened. Don’t let anyone forget.

Prototype airless vehicle tires

OK, this is just really cool. And, may I add, it's about time.

I know this has been worked on before (since the '30s) so why just now getting to work?

Prototype airless vehicle tires: "

As we have reported before, the idea of an airless tire (or 'tweel') is at least as old as the 1930s. Still, these photos of prototype non-pneumatic tires under development for the US military by Resilient Technologies, LLC, are pretty sick. Gimme!

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Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand

This looks kinda interesting, but, really, who sits like that? She isn't even touching the keyboard! Come on, let's see some realistic action shots!

But seriously, the term "laptop" is such a bad term because they get so hot you NEVER want to put it on your lap! If this keeps your lap from being scorched, and the speakers sound better than the ones in my "laptop", then maybe it's a good idea!

Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand: "

Are you one who works with a laptop most of the time wherever you go, making the 'lap' part of the word 'laptop' ring true each time it is booted? The Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand ought to give you some welcome relief from the head that laptops generate, as it makes the mobile computing experience all the more comfortable even with long hours of usage thanks to the soft cushion, while preventing your crotch from feeling hot all the time. Not only that, it boasts an integrated speaker that hooks up to your laptop via USB. The hot lady wearing yellow isn't included with each purchase though...

Permalink: Philips Cushionspeaker Laptop Stand from Ubergizmo | Hot: iPhone 3GS Review

"

Solar Roads get small DoE contract, confidence to change the world

OK, this looks VERY cool. Roads that can generate power to feed the grid near by? Awesome stuff, and uses all that wasted space for something good. And maybe the roads would stay clear!

Solar Roads get small DoE contract, confidence to change the world: "

Solar roadways? Yeah, we've seen 'em before, but we've yet to see America's own Department of Energy give any one development company such a notable vouch of confidence. Just recently, the DoE handed over a $100,000 contract to Solar Roadways, which is just enough to build a prototype of the 'first ever Solar Road panel.' The 12- x 12-foot panels could theoretically be embedded into roads, and when shined upon, could pipe good, clean electricity straight into the grid. Heck, they could even boast LEDs in order to alert drivers to upcoming accidents or changes in road conditions. Reportedly, each panel would cost around $7,000 (at least initially), and if these were used on the entire US Interstate system, we could pretty much forget about using non-renewable energy sources to power our homes and businesses. Of course, our government is simultaneously wasting money on repaving perfectly good roadways with antiquated asphalt, so there's a tremendously great chance that this won't amount to anything.

[Via Inhabitat, thanks Miko]

Filed under: Transportation

Solar Roads get small DoE contract, confidence to change the world originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Procrastinators Anonymous

The Procrastinators Anonymous meeting has been rescheduled to next Thursday. Again.

 

Do you have a lot of projects that you've started but just can't seem to finish? I do. I don't know if it's really procrastination or if it's just that I don't have the energy to get back to them even though I'm excited about them. I'm betting it's the first one, though, although I don't have much energy lately. Let's take a look at a few of the projects I currently have going.

 

Frag Mom's Frag Box. This is the project from hell, if you will. There have been several
episodes of this project
chronicled here on this blog. This project may have actually come to a temporary close.

I finally gave up on installing Windows Vista Ultimate x64. Every time I got it "working" it would freeze for no apparent reason. There wouldn't be an error message in the logs or anything. It would just stop processing information. Not even the courtesy of a blue screen of death! My solution? Install Windows 7 x86. For some reason, the 32-bit drivers all work flawlessly on this motherboard, but the 64-bit drivers do not. I have no faith that ASUS will do anything in working toward the 64-bit drivers for this motherboard. In fact, when I bought this motherboard from Tiger Direct, it was a close-out, so I'm sure ASUS doesn't even support this motherboard anymore. However, Windows 7 x86 works great.

 

Multi-media entertainment center PC. I haven't told you about this project, because it hasn't really moved much at all. Back when my son and his girlfriend were starting to play Warhammer Online, my son's girlfriend couldn't get Warhammer to play well on her PC. They ended up buying a new system with a faster processor and a better video card. But here's the deal; her old PC was a Windows XP Media Center PC. In fact, it is an HP Pavilion a1473w. The DVD drive was not working, so I had to replace that, but other than that, it's a working system that is just sitting on the floor in my office. I also have the wireless keyboard and mouse from my Gateway GM5664 (I use a Merc gaming keyboard and a Logitech Mx518 mouse). I also have a Toshiba external Multi-media audio/usb hub that has a remote control for it. So my plan is to put them together with a wireless network card that I may have laying around and hook it to my LCD TV in the bedroom. That's my next project, I think. It should be fun.

 

Home server. This will be a fun one. I had a meeting last month with a Microsoft technical person who lives in the Atlanta area. He got me excited about an interesting idea, but I need to build a system from the ground up to support it. He said he has a server in his house running Windows Server 2008. It's a dual processor, quad core system (so that's a total of 8 cores) with about 8GB of RAM and over 2TB of disk space. He runs several other virtual servers in the built-in virtualization of Windows Server 2008, with Windows Home Server being one of them. Like me, he uses Windows Home Server to back up all the computers on his home network. Unlike me, he has actually tested his backups. He bought a new laptop hard drive for one of his laptops, the same size as the existing drive. He then swapped the drives, booted with the recovery CD that Windows Home Server provides, and made an exact duplicate of his laptop drive on a new drive! It worked flawlessly.

Well, I have a spare server case, I just need an awesome motherboard to put into that case, then shuffle around some of my drives and PRESTO, new server. Then I need to get my hands on a LEGAL copy of Windows Server 2008 (I have a plan for that, and it doesn't include spending gobs of money for Server 2008). So that's on the back burner until I can get the guts and the brains to put in this new Franken-puter body.

 

I have two projects that involve Linux. First, my grandson, affectionately called the grandmonster, has developed quite a love for computers. So much so that he will sometimes not allow his mother to use her laptop. "MINE!" So, I have an old Toshiba laptop that is currently running Windows 7 (and quite well, I might add, considering it only has 256 or 512MB of RAM). I plan to install Linux on that laptop, and ensure all the devices are working correctly, then donate it to the grandmonster cause. The second Linux project involves building a dual-headed coding monster. I need to get back into application development, just so that my skills don't get rustier than they are now. Hopefully I can exercise my programming muscles after building a Linux monstrosity with a dual video card. I'm sure I can scrounge the parts from around the house somewhere.

 

Another project I want to try but haven't had or made the time for, and is kinda cool, involves my new car. One of the cool features of the stereo in my car is that it has a USB port. There's two things you can connect to this USB port; an iPod, or a thumb drive. I don't have an iPod, and the one I want is too expensive for me to justify for an experiment, so I'm going to go with the thumb drive. An 8GB thumb drive will hold most of my music collection. Of course, a 16GB thumb drive would hold all of my music collection, but is more than the price I want to spend for this experiment. So, I plan to go to Microcenter and buy an 8GB thumb drive (I'll be in that area on Wednesday for a doctor appointment, so why not, right?). Supposedly my car stereo will recognize the file structure on the thumb drive and let me navigate and play playlists off the thumb drive.

Another aspect of this project is using the AUX port on the car stereo. My Blackberry Curve has a headphone port, but it uses a 4 conductor system, rather than the normal 3 conductor system your headphones uses. So what's the 4^th conductor for? Well it's for the headset/microphone system that comes in the box with the Curve. Here's what I want to try. Since we have two Curves, and my wife doesn't use her headphones for anything, I want to buy a 3 conductor 1/8 inch stereo plug, strip off the ear pieces of the headphones, figure out which is ground and which is the lead, then solder them to the new plug. The AUX jack in my car is designed for the three conductor plug (normal headphone 1/8 inch). If it works correctly, I can then place calls from my Curve using the built in microphone on the headset, but hearing the call on my car stereo speakers! My main concern with this is feedback, but I'm sure I can figure out something.

 

Well, those are the major projects I have in the queue for at home. Work projects are something completely different, but I won't talk about them.

Entire house made from LEGO bricks

I grew up with LEGO, but this is going just a bit too far. Although, I have to say this is REALLY awesome!

Entire house made from LEGO bricks: "

UK toy fanatic James May is having a real house built from millions of LEGO bricks. While running new wires through the walls and plumbing fixes should be a snap, I'd hate to be anywhere near the place in case of fire. GeekSugar has a gallery of pictures of the place as it's being built.

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Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator

Anyone who had been on heavy pain medication understands the problems associated with them: sedation, loss of mental acuity (it took me about 5 minutes to come up with that phrase), etc. On the medications I'm on right now, I don't feel that I'm safe driving and I'm careful going up and down stairs. But without the meds, I'm in so much pain, the negative effect causes the same issues. My pain management doctor talked to me during my last visit about a game plan for resolving this. One thing he recommended is a device similar to what was posted on Ubergizmo. Basically, what this device does is jam the signal between the nerve and the brain, so the brain only gets mild static, which causes a mild neuralgia feeling (tingling or massaging feeling).

Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator: "

Despite all the advances made in the world of medical science, nobody still knows how our spinal cord actually works, but we have discovered enough to know that low levels of electrical energy, when delivered straight to the nerve fibers in the spinal cord, is able to disrupt the signals that certain chronic pain conditions send to the brain, resulting in displacing those for a much more pleasant tingling sensation. St. Jude Medical follows up on this knowledge by unveiling the smallest and longest-lasting rechargeable neurostimulator in the world known as the Eon Mini. Measuring the size of a silver dollar, this 1cm thin device tips the scale at a mere 29 grams, and will be placed under the skin of the buttock or abdomen. The internal rechargeable battery is able to last for around 10 years, where it can be programmed via a remote control to treat up to eight different chronic pain areas. As a result, many patients suffering from chronic pain could eventually be weaned off morphine and lead a normal life.

Permalink: Eon Mini spinal cord stimulator from Ubergizmo | Hot: Wii, PS3 and Natal Motion Sensing

"

Secret passage consultants

This looks really cool, but all I can think of is getting stuck in it and saying

"PUT THE CANDLE BACK"

Secret passage consultants: "

Steve Humble of HiddenPassageway.com wants to build your secret lair. For the right price. But even if the United Nations hasn't paid you that ransom yet, it's still fun to browse around his site. Yes, they will build you a rotating fireplace. What you do behind it is your own business. Props to Cara for the link.

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No “Pubic” Option and other funny signs from town hall protests

I couldn't resist putting this one up. "Uncle John" Dvorak has done it again.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with federal government getting into the health . . . wait. I already have federal health care through the military. We ended up with HillaryCare as a test, and we're stuck with it. I would not wish this system on anyone, including my worst enemy. Well, maybe my worst enemy, that way, we wouldn't have to worry about him any more, because he'd die from bad health care, or while he was waiting on hold to get a referral approved.

Anyone who would send a person with back problems on a two hour drive for physical therapy and then drive two hours home, when there's a place 15 minutes away that already knows his history. . . well, that's what happens when people follow bureaucratic rules, not what's best for the patient.

Let's laugh about it, shall we?

By the way, the last one is really hard to read, but it's worth every minute you spend trying to figure it out!

No “Pubic” Option and other funny signs from town hall protests: "

This is from the Huffington Post. More after the break.

"

PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility

Well, here's the details on the new, slimmer PS3. Still not PS2 compatible. Too bad; I was thinking about getting one until I read that.

PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility: "

	120GB PS3 Slim	160GB PS3	80GB PS3
Product code	CECH-2000A	CECH-Pxx	CECH-Kxx / CECH-Lxx
Price	$299.99	$399.99	$299.99
Color	Matte Black	Piano Black (Glossy)	Piano Black (Glossy)
HDD	120GB 2.5-inch SATA	160GB 2.5-inch SATA	80GB 2.5-inch SATA
Dimensions	11.42 x 2.56 x 11.42 in.	12.75 x 3.86 x 10.8 in.	12.75 x 3.86 x 10.8 in.
Weight	7.05 lb.	11 lb.	11 lb.
Power	250W	280W	280W
Vertical Stand	Optional ($24)	Not necessary	Not necessary
Compatibility	PSOne	PSOne, Linux	PSOne, Linux
PS2 compat?	No	No	No
BRAVIA Sync (HDMI-CEC)	Yes	No	No
Bundle	Wireless DualShock 3 controller	Wireless DualShock 3 controller, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, PAIN downloadable game voucher	Wireless DualShock 3 controller

At this point, would-be PlayStation 3 buyers have two options: wait until next month to get the ultra-hip PS3 Slim model for $300, or plop down that same figure now for its chunkier older brother. As far as we can tell, unless you're absolutely dying to load Linux or another OS on top of the console, or have some strong aversion to matte finishes, there's really no incentive to purchase one right now without a more drastic price cut -- or if you're really lucky, perhaps you can find one of the older, discontinued models that can still play PS2 games.

Filed under: Gaming

PS3 Slim sized up: smaller, deeper, no Linux or PS2 compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before There Was Twitter, There Was Blogger. And It’s Turning 10.

I knew Blogger was old, but 10? Wow. I had just gotten my first "high-speed" internet connection.

From TechCrunch:

Before There Was Twitter, There Was Blogger. And It’s Turning 10.: "

What were you doing in 1999? Maybe you were following the Kosovo War. Maybe you starting using Napster. Maybe you were entering your senior year of high school (I was), or maybe you started blogging. After all, on August 23, 1999, Pyra Labs launched its Blogger product, which would go on to become the biggest blogging platform in the world.

Yes, on Sunday, Blogger turns 10 years old. And to celebrate, the Blogger team (which is now a part of Google following the 2003 acquisition) is promising a bunch of gifts to users in the form of new features. Without naming anything specifically, Blogger points to this list as a good reference point for some of what they’ll be rolling out over the next few weeks. Of note on that list are a better commenting system and WordPress-style pages (About page, etc).

It’s worth noting that Blogger’s roots are deeply tied to the new hot web platform of choice: Twitter. Pyra Labs was co-founded by Evan Williams, who is now the CEO (and co-founder) of Twitter. Also a part of Pyra Labs were Jason Goldman who now runs product development for Twitter, and Jason Shellen who now runs Thing Labs, the makers of Brizzly, a much buzzed-about new Twitter client.

Biz Stone, another Twitter co-founder, joined the Blogger team at Google before leaving with Williams in 2004 to start Obvious Corp. which would eventually birth and turn into Twitter.

These days, while the web is abuzz over Twitter, no one really talks much about Blogger despite millions of people using it everyday. The fact is that as a platform, it has fallen behind the more nimble blogging platforms like WordPress and Tumblr in recent years. Still, in terms of straight up simplicity in setting up a blog, it’s easy to see why Blogger is still popular among users (and, unfortunately, spammers).

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

"

New Insight

And again, it's been two weeks. I have a valid (at least I think it's valid) excuse this time, and I'm going to write about it today.

Since my back problems started up, I've been having issues getting in and out of the Cobalt Bomber. It's an awesome car, but it's just too low to the ground for me. I started doing research into the existing hybrid cars on the market, and I kept coming back to the 2010 Honda Insight. Even with the mid-range package (the EX model), it's cheaper than the Toyota Prius. But price wasn't my only concern. My major concern was comfort. I'd already done all my research online, so it was time to visit one in person.

I called Koon's Honda in Manassas VA (close by the house) and set up an appointment for Saturday afternoon, August 1st, but we didn't take the Cobalt Bomber, we took my wife's minivan. When I called, I made sure they'd have one I could at least sit in. The reason I checked is because when I was shopping for the Cobalt Bomber, we didn't even get to test drive the standard transmission version. We were sitting in the car and a sales rep sold it literally out from under us. They walked up and said "Please get out of that car. We just sold it". We ended up buying it in Maine at Blouin's Honda in Augusta. We saved money, and got a 3 day vacation out of the deal.

But back to recent times. My appointment with Josh Bond (I bet he hated being called James as a kid) went well. Josh seemed impressed with our knowledge of the car and had limited knowledge of the older Insights, but that's OK because they weren't selling them anymore. The first test was sitting in one. I was impressed. The seats were very comfortable, and the driver's seat was adjustable in all three dimensions. My wife and I also tried the back seats and found them comfortable, too. During the fall and winter, my mother-in-law and her sister live with us, and I wasn't about to get a car that wasn't comfortable for them, so we called them up and asked them to go to a Honda dealer where they are in Maine and try out the seats for them. A few days later we got a call back saying not only are they comfortable, but my mother-in-law's sister would actually consider buying one for herself!

So, the decision was made; we were going to buy the 2010 Insight. Now we needed to figure out where and how.

We do most of our banking with USAA, as well as our insurance. We went to the USAA website, logged in, and noticed they have a car buying program through Zag.com. We went to the special website for the program, put in our zip code, selected the make, model, color and special features, and we got an email from Zag.com for three dealers in our "area" that participated in their program, and pricing for that specific car. Then, the dealers contacted me either by email or by phone to discuss my particular needs. The only problem was that Koon's Honda doesn't participate in that program. I was disappointed, but I had a plan. I spoke with a representative at Hendrick Honda in Woodbridge VA and got what they called the "out the door" price, to include tax, tags, and other fees. Now that I had their bottom line, I could move forward with my plan.

We also needed financing, so we noticed that we were "pre-approved" for a new car loan through USAA, so we put in the bottom line number we got, rounding up, of course, and I clicked the "Apply" button. My wife was watching over my shoulder. "So when do we hear back?" she said. "That's it. It's done. We're already approved." It was that easy. Too easy. (ominous background music to show foreshadowing).

The following Saturday, August 8^th, we got a 1:00PM appointment with Josh to discuss the deal. We left the house a little early so we could grab a quick lunch at McDonalds, across the street from the car dealer (this is an important point. We ate lunch literally 100 yards from where we would buy the car). We had cleaned and vacuumed the Cobalt Bomber that morning, so she was looking good for her appraisal. As I pulled into the parking space at McDonalds, I heard a sickening sound, the sound of fiberglass rubbing on concrete. The guy in the car next to us looked at us and pointed down and forward at the front of the car. I slowly backed the Cobalt Bomber away from the front of the parking space, turned her off and got out. The bumper cover and air dam on the front of the car had caught on the concrete edge of the parking lot. When I backed up, the piece, in its entirety, broke free of its retaining clips and fell to the ground, with only one of the about eight clips still holding on. My heart sunk. We couldn't believe it. We had just cleaned the car, so there were no tools, no supplies, nothing to help fix the problem. We stood and stared at the bumper and air dam, dumbfounded. We're right across the street from the dealer! What do we do now? How do we hold the bumper on the car long enough to get it over there so we can trade it in? It's like she KNEW we were taking her for our last ride with her, and she didn't want to leave.

I remembered the Valet key. Any time I took the Cobalt Bomber in for work, I would leave the valet key, and they would put the tag for the service on the key. When it was done, I'd remove the tag, but leave that little metal ring on the key. Now I know why I did that. I pulled out the valet key and removed four of the little rings. I put one ring in one of the holes for the retaining clips. I put another in the corresponding hole in the bumper cover. I used the four rings together to tie the bumper cover back into the car. It wasn't a permanent solution by any means, but it would hold it to cross the street.

After lunch, we drove across to Koon's Honda. We met up with Josh and asked what he could do to help us get into an Insight that day. He had our car appraised, and came back with numbers for us, but they were much higher than what we were quoted from Hendrick Honda. We jockeyed for position, playing the pricing game that new car dealers play, and then I took out my ace in the hole; my quote from Hendrick. Josh took it back to his manager, and came back with a comparable offer. They would have to drive one of their Insights to Leesburg and trade for the "Atomic Blue Metallic" color that I wanted. While Josh was getting the car in Leesburg, we talked to the Customer Care representative and a Finance representative. We added on the Honda extended warrantee and got a better financing deal through Koon's network of lenders (ultimately PNC bank). I took six hours, but we left that night with a new car that I could drive and get in and out of!

I have nothing but good things to say about Koon's Honda and Josh Bond, our sales representative. They all worked very hard to make sure we were happy with our new car and that the deal was the best we could do. I've been having service done at Koon's Honda since we moved into this new house three years ago, and I'll continue to work with Koon's Honda. They're all good people there, and they work to ensure the customer is happy.

My new Insight doesn't have a name yet, but I'm working on it. Here's a picture of it before we left Koon's Honda last Saturday. So far, I've driven it to work and to church, and I'm averaging about 45 miles to the gallon. Not the 60 I was getting, but for a four door car, it's great!