The Gmail Second Thought Feature

CNN has a nice write-up on what to do when you send an ill-advised email via Gmail. It is not a perfect solution, but...

The ability to "undo" an e-mail has been a little known feature of Google's e-mail service since last year. But in the past few days, it appears to have been improved

Google Operating System, an unofficial blog that shares Google news and tips, noted this weekend that a user now has up to 30 seconds to take back an unfortunate message.
In reality, the feature doesn't actually pull back an e-mail that's already gone, it simply holds your message for 30 seconds before sending it out -- just in case you change your mind.

An iPod is Not Ancient Technology

They say that age is a state of mind, whomever they is anyway. Those same nameless, faceless people also say that you are only as old as you feel. I suppose that it is a good thing as I feel very young and know that I am far younger than The Shmata Queen.

Anyhoo, I recently took part in a group in which we discussed technology and how we use it within our daily lives. As part of the discussion the moderator took time to quiz us all on what sorts of gadgets we used on a regular basis. The collection of devices was fairly uniform. We all had computers and smartphones. All of us used them on a regular basis and agreed that they had become a big part of our lives.

It was a normal conversation that didn't contain anything particularly noteworthy until the college student said that she also had really old technology- a first generation iPod. That got my attention, in large part because of the manner in which she said it.

In her eyes it really was old- so old that it made her part of the old timer's club. I sat there for a moment absorbing the impact of her comment. I have a first generation iPod as well as the most current iPod Touch. But I hadn't ever realized that I looked at the iPod as new technology.

It hadn't ever occurred to me that the generation gap would be pronounced in this manner. We weren't talking about rotary phones, typewriters or beepers. We were talking about something that isn't very old as if it was a phonograph. We were talking as if it was an old turntable the played 33s, 45s and 78s.

I am not old enough to be spoken to like that. Call me sir and I still look for my father because you can't be talking to me. But perception is a funny thing. Wasn't that long ago that someone told me that I couldn't possibly be in my forties- they figured me for 35. I smiled and then laughed because I remember when 35 was old.

And then I remember again how quickly life experiences change your perspective and point of view. It is almost a decade since 9/11. The girl who talked about the ancient iPod said that she was 20 or 21. Subtract a decade and you have a girl who was in grade school when the towers fell. She doesn't remember how easy business travel used to be because she wasn't old enough to have ever done it.

She doesn't remember the fall of The Berlin Wall or the first Gulf War. Those things are history to her and I suppose to us too. But my generation and those older lived through them- we see them differently than just something we read about in our history classses.

And that my friend is why I left that place feeling a tad older than when I went in.

Late Thursday Night/Friday Morning

"I know some things that you don’t
I’ve done things that you won’t
There’s nothing like a trail of blood
to find your way back home"
Life is Beautiful- SIXX:A.M.


Eighteen months ago I went to Circuit City and bought a new computer. It was an unusual purchase for me. Unusual because I purchased a floor model. I never buy floor models, at least not when it comes to electronics.

Floor models tend to be higher end items that are heavily discounted because as a floor model they have been used extensively. I tend to view floor models as being very similar to rental cars. People don't take good care of them. Since it is not theirs, they have a tendency to beat the crap out of them.

A good salesman convinced me that this model had been thoroughly checked out. He swore that it had been taken care of and that I was getting a good deal. He did a good job of convincing me and sealed the deal by providing a serious break on an extended warranty.

If you haven't figured it you, the new computer worked beautifully for a while and then began to give me all sorts of trouble. I ran the normal diagnostics, antivirus, spyware, defragged it and more. Never did find any nasty bugs hanging out there. Managed to get it running a bit faster, but not like it was.

Eventually I came to regret the purchase. At least once a month I seem to have some sort of issues with it. It might not actually be that frequent, but I have been soured upon it. Who knows, maybe it is aware that I dislike it and is acting out.

At the moment the freaking thing and I are engaged in war. Two weeks ago I purchased a new external hard drive from the nice folks at Seagate. It is supposed to be a plug-n-play model. It all worked fine for about a week and then I ran into some mysterious problem. The dread blue screen of death flashed and I spent hours fighting to get the damn thing working again.

I bought the external so that I could back up my important files. I didn't think that my "just-in-case" preventative measure was going to be a problem. But apparently I was wrong and I just might plug in the recovery discs and start over.

I have managed to move about 75% of my files over to the backup, but still have a big chunk to take care of. So I am begging, pleading, praying and alternately threatening that damn thing. Let me get my files off and I'll stop bugging you computer, really, this won't hurt a bit.

In the interim I am working off of my BlackBerry and an older computer that my kids use. So I am getting things done, but not nearly as quickly as I would like. Double arghhhhhhhhh!

The Future Is Now- Tech Concepts for 2010

Popular Mechanics has a list of 10 Tech Concepts You Need to Know for 2010. I love reading about this kind of stuff. I am very curious to see what sticks and what doesn't. Is Skynet in the works? Will we see something come from this that revolutionizes an industry, changes our lives, who knows. I'll be watching.

Here is a brief rundown:

• Anthropomimetic Machines
• Direct Carbon Fuel Cell
• Metabolomics
• DNA Origami
• Piezoelectric Display
• Osseointegration
• Horizontal Drilling
• Kinetic Hydropower
• Nanoyarn
• Ultracapacitors

The Bottom Is Approaching Awfully Quick

If you woke up to the sounds of screaming punctuated by smashing noises then you are probably one of my neighbors. That cursing wasn't coming from some rap album but from me. The crashing noise was the sound of an external hard drive and a 27 inch television set flying through a window so that they could prove that gravity was still in effect.

Brief musical interlude:

If You Could Read My Mind- Gordon Lightfoot
It Was a Very Good Year- Frank Sintara (NSFW video- I miss the Sopranos)
Beer- Homer Simpson

Ok, let's be clear about something I didn't throw anything out of the window. For that matter I didn't throw anything, but for a moment or two I sure thought about it.

A while back I hooked up a 500 Gig external hard drive to my computer to serve as a back up for my music, pictures, videos and a few other things. In addition I have a back up for the back up.

But because I have stolen fire from the Gods and am being punished for it, the external hard drive decided to go on strike and the back up for the back up walked off the job as well. So I have spent a not insignificant amount of time negotiating for the return of my files. Negotiations have been long, tedious and not without complications.

Now you may not know this about me, but I don't always color inside the lines. I am known for being unconventional and someone who will use unorthodox methods. Maybe I have watched too many movies, but I found myself in need of additional information and so I sought it out. Unfortunately the guys who had it weren't really interested in divulging it, so I had to get a bit rougher than I wanted.



Even the legendary Chuck Norris couldn't stop me from reaching my destination.



Needless to say all of this fighting was exhausting which I suppose is part of the reason I found myself cursing that bleeding mother...board and all the siblings. Why, oh why must this happen. Ok, I know more or less why it happened, but it is the timing that set me off.

It is not like I don't have 1,276,987 things going on already. Not to mention that of those on the list at least 2,876 are urgent. But this is what it is and how it is. That last line my friends comes from an old teacher of mine.

It is one of those lines that he would offer as words of wisdom but I always thought of it as being the sort of throwaway that belongs in a fortune cookie. Anyhoo, I think that after much aggravation I have gotten a handle on the crash, at least I hope so. I better go check.

But before I do I'll leave you with some more music:

Mud on The Tires- Brad Paisley
I'm Gonna Miss her- Brad Paisley

Google takes on Windows with Chrome OS

This should be interesting. A little competition never hurts. In any case, I expect that we are going to see some relatively big changes within the next five years.

(CNN) -- Google is jumping into Microsoft Windows territory -- and threatening to change the way personal computers work -- with its own version of a computer operating system.

But why should you care?

A trim and speedy Google operating system, which has been buzzed about online for some time, is interesting for several reasons -- even if you think it could flop out of the gate

The first is that Chrome OS will be available as "open-source" technology. That means software developers will be able to mess with the code behind the system, allowing them to develop new applications for it.

In essence, it puts the users in control.

This wisdom-of-the-masses philosophy flies right in the face of Microsoft Windows, which keeps its code locked away.

The open-source nature of Chrome OS also has led to some speculation that the software will be free, as many open-source platforms are. Google Inc., based in Mountain View, California, hasn't commented on price as of yet, although most of its services, such as Gmail and Picasa, are free.

Second, Google's operating system supports another buzz term in the tech world: cloud computing. That phrase means a bunch of things to different people, but it essentially refers to the idea that a lot of computing can be done through Internet servers instead of on the computer that's sitting in front of you.

Cloud computing, in part, is behind the rise in netbooks -- small laptops that are essentially portals of entry into the much greater vat of information, storage space and computing power that exists "in the cloud."

Google's blog says its OS will be designed specifically to work with netbooks at first. Later versions are expected to target the larger desktop and laptop computer markets.

The OS also probably will partner well with Google's Web browser, also called Chrome. Essentially, the operating system could become an Internet-based experience.

Michael Arrington, co-editor at TechCrunch, says that's a big threat to Microsoft's business, but it may help consumers.

Wrestling With Technology- BlackBerry, Vista...

Allow me to have a Ricky Henderson moment. Today Old Jack found himself feeling rather ornery and irritated. Blame some of it on the crazy women he had to deal with, but the majority can be attributed to 'rasslin with technology.

It started mid morning when the 'puter decided that it wasn't going to cooperate with me. First me internet connection (when did I decide to go pirate arrrgh!) got a bad case of the hiccups. For a while it was in and out and in and out. That is a nice place to get a burger or a fine way to spend some free time but it is not the way to surf the net.

So I did what every civilized man does and I threatened the modem, the computer, the little guy inside the computer that puts the words on the screen and the hamsters that power it all. When that didn't work I threatened to hit Ma Bell so hard she wouldn't touch the ground until cleveland wins a championship.

Who knew that the old broad was a sports fan because just as soon as I mentioned that the connection magically repaired itself. The dame must have realized that the land of the burning river hasn't won anything in eons.

Of course the relief I felt was shortlived as I encountered a number of other kinks. There is nothing like knowing how much more productive you are because of technology and how much less you are because of technology.

But old Jack the ornery cuss is a stubborn and determined man who doesn't give up and eventually I found solutions to my computer issues. They weren't perfect, but they got me over the hump.

And then just as I really began to feel like I could relax my %$&$&%(^ BlackBerry stopped working properly. Wrestling with the freaking thing I try to send a text message out. I manage to type the number and the following letters "FU" and the freaking thing flies off into the ether. Moments later an angry shmata queen wants to know why I am cursing at her.

Queenie, you should know better. If I was to send you a nasty text it would be clear. I don't mess around like some teenager who relies upon some screwy short hand. Speaking of that I really dislike messages like c u l8tr from adults. Don't care if that makes me sound like a curmudgeon, I am.

Anyhoo, went to Verizon and the fine folks there appeared to have fixed my BlackBerry. It worked properly for about 30 minutes and then decided to say "FU" to me. Isn't that just dandy.

Addicted to The BlackBerry-Wireless but Still Tethered

I inherited my father's love of gadgets. I take a lot of pleasure in learning about all sorts of devices that beep, whistle, whirr and honk. It is even more fun to play with them. So it was no surprise to anyone who knows me to see my interest in cellphones and portable technology grow into a need to pick up a few items here and there.

In truth it has been quite restrained. I have one of the first generation iPods and my laptop is one that I inherited from my dad. My house is not filled with the latest technology. The television in my living room is about ten years old. A simple 27" Panasonic that works well enough.

That is not to say that I don't want a big flat screen or that I am not interested in a newer iPod and all of the functionality that comes with it. I am, but I have been pretty good about not going hog wild and buying all that I want or see.

Anyway, all of that is really just a preface for the meat of the post which is about my love/hate relationship with my BlackBerry. I got it because it enables to me to have a mobile office and that really is something that I need for business purposes. Now I don't have to be tethered to the computer all day. Now I can run around and do what I need to do and still get everything done.

At least that is what I told myself. It felt like a get out of Jail free card. But the reality is that even though is that though I am wireless, I am still tethered. Sometimes when I expect a call or email I find myself getting irritated that the familiar vibration that precedes the bell/ring isn't going. Sometimes I pull it out of my pocket and stare at it. A steely eyed glare that you know intimidates the little man inside of it. He sees me glare and he knows that he better get back on that wheel and work on bringing me my messages.

Anyhoo, I am playing around with declaring a technology free vacation. I am seriously considering going cold turkey for an undefined period of time because I don't really need to be connected constantly.

I have been working my way up to it. Many times when I am in the car I simply turn it off or place it where I can't reach it. Around the house I am making an effort to just stick it inside a drawer. The hardest part is that I really do use it constantly for business and I don't have standard hours. There are times when you can find me working at 3 A.M. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen.

But I think that I need a new approach. It feels a bit too much like technology is controlling me instead of the reverse and that is unacceptable. I'd write more but the damn 'Berry keeps ringing so I have got to run for now.

Goodbye Polaroid

I don't know about you, but I still think that Polaroid cameras are kind of cool. It is kind of sad to see them go by the wayside. My grandparents and my parents had them. Up until recently my kids school still used them.

I had a field day watching the picture develop. It always seemed so magical to me.

CNN has the story:

...Because the Polaroid Corp. announced it would stop making instant film. And without it her project, "Day by Day Polaroid," would never be complete.

Sixty years after Polaroid introduced its first instant camera, the company's iconic film is disappearing from stores.

Although Polaroid says the film should be available into 2009, this is the final month of its last production year.

Eclipsed by digital photography, Polaroid's white-bordered prints -- and the anticipation they created as their ghostly images gradually came into view -- will soon be things of the past.

From David Hockney's famous Polaroid art compositions, to the line, "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" from OutKast's hit "Hey Ya!", Polaroid instant film has embedded itself in popular culture.

The public's reaction to Polaroid's announcement reflects that. Blogs lament the loss. Polaroid-fan groups have formed on Facebook. On Amazon.com, a four-pack of 10 exposures is selling for $64 -- nearly $1.60 per photo.

A Review of The BlackBerry Storm

The Right Stuff- Astronaut's Challenge

How much would it take to convince you to spend three months lying in bed. Three months in which the overwhelming majority of your day would be spent lying down. Eating, drinking, sleeping etc.

CNN has the story about one man who did so in the name of science.

"We know that bone loss in space is an extremely significant problem. Astronauts lose about 10 times more bone every month than a postmenopausal woman on Earth loses," says Dr. Peter Cavanagh, former director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Space Medicine. Bone loss occurs presumably because astronauts don't get enough load-bearing exercise in zero gravity. Cavanagh says that their findings may later contribute to new treatments for the millions of Americans
who suffer from osteoporosis.

Roderick Jones is doing his part to help further the field of skeletal health by staying in bed -- for 84 days straight.

The 40-year-old chemist was in between jobs when he saw a curious ad on the Internet. He recalls reading, "Do you have projects you'd like to complete. Would you like a small vacation while you're actually helping the NASA space program?" Rod had always been a science fiction fanatic. A chemist by trade, he was in between jobs and trying to save for a family move from Ohio to Georgia. After several interviews, physiological and psychological tests, it was determined that Rod had the right stuff.

For three months straight, Rod lay not only in a horizontal position, but with his body tilted 6 degrees towards his head. Most of his days were filled with watching television, surfing the Web and writing in a log he called the, "Bedpan Chronicles" named for what he deemed to be one of the toughest parts of the assignment. He ate, slept, read, typed, talked on the phone, and drank -- all
while lying down.His compensation for being bed bound for 12 weeks? $12,000 for the entire
project. Rod is the twelfth study subject, and NASA is halfway through the project. Cavanagh points out how difficult enrollment has been, "So far, for every 300 applicants, only one person has the right stuff."

Researchers claim that lying at a 6-degree angle is the best way to simulate zero gravity, here, on Earth. This simulation doesn't come cheap. NASA estimates that placing one subject in bed for a period of three months or so costs about a quarter of a million dollars."

A Tale of 3 Browsers

Old Jack is relatively computer savvy. That is a semi-folksy way of saying that I know my way around PCs, Macs, toasters, microwaves, new cars, digital watches and all sorts of other modern technological crap.

In simple terms, I know enough to be dangerous. I can make most of these things do what I want them to do, even if it means forcing the circle into the square hole. It is not elegant, but it is functional. And function is what brings us to our tale of three browsers.

A short while back the lords of the computer declared that it was time to bring my HP home to meet its maker and I was forced to migrate from Windows XP to Windows Vista. XP worked just fine, but Vista has some idiosyncrasies, or at least that is what it seems like to me.

Firefox has been my web browser of choice for a number of years now. On the whole I have been pleased with it. A short time before the old computer went to visit the great computer in the sky I downloaded Firefox 3. On XP it worked just fine, but on the new unit it has had a consistent glitch.

For some reason it has a habit of dying on me. I'll try to load a page and it will just hang, the page never does load. Eventually you get the ever so pleasant message of "Firefox is already running, but not responding. To open a new window you must first close Firefox or restart your system."

That just irritates me. Why, oh why does this happen. More importantly why can't I control-alt-delete and use task manager to close it. Why do I need to restart the whole thing. In the days of dial-up I didn't care if it took 15 minutes for the page to load, I was so damn happy to have the nifty net. But not now, instant is the word.

And so I switch to IE 7. On the whole I don't really any major complaints with IE 7, other than I am a creature of habit so I prefer Firefox.

That is two browsers, time to bring in number three. A couple of weeks ago I downloaded Chrome, Google's wacky offering. I can't say that I am particularly impressed. It is not bad, but it is not outstanding.

Not to mention that I have been partially influenced by a few things that I have read that have bad mouthed Chrome and the data that Google is pulling from it. Truth is that between IE and Firefox I haven't really had much need for Chrome, so I can't say that I have spent a ton of time using it. Who knows, maybe one day I will change my mind.

Just to be thorough let me add that I think that Safari is terrible. Whenever I am forced to use a Mac I make a point of downloading Firefox as it seems that Safari just gets lost in the jungle that we call the web.

Chrome- Google's New Browser

Unless you have been living in the land of the burning river or trapped beneath a heavy object you should be aware that Google has developed a web browser called Chrome. You can find reviews of it here and here.

Earlier today I downloaded a copy to play with. I'll let you know what I think, just give me a few days to get a sense of things.

Technology & Man- A Toxic Relationship

A 12 Round Fight

For those of you who are unable or unwilling to listen here is the story behind the audio post. I recently purchased and installed video editing software. The idea was that it might be nice to take all of the home movies off of tape and drop them onto a DVD where they would be better protected.

Not to mention that I thought that it might be fun to learn how to edit the movies so that I could dress them up and make them more fun to watch. So I spent a solid three hours working on my first project, or should I say attempting to work on it.

The blasted thing just didn't want to cooperate with me, which is why I referred to it as a 12 round fight. Basically the first six rounds consisted of it kicking my butt up, down and around the ring. But I finally got a handle on things and began to turn it around.

In fact I feel confident enough to say that this is really a draw. If it weren't after midnight I'd volunteer for the rematch right now. But I think that the better part of valor is to accept the draw, get some sleep and then come back tomorrow bright eyed and bushy tailed.

That is code for I am going to kick your electronic ass. Mock me, laugh at me all you want, computer, tomorrow your silicon butt is mine.

Cuil Takes On Google

If you spend any time reading the news you have probably come across Cuil. It is among the many contenders that have been trying to oust Google from their throne as king of search engines. They do have some things going for them that others don't.

Let's take a quick look at what the media reports. Here is a blurb from CNN/Money:

"SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Anna Patterson's last Internet search engine was so impressive that industry leader Google Inc. bought the technology in 2004 to upgrade its own system.

She believes her latest invention is even more valuable - only this time it's not for sale.

Patterson instead intends to upstage Google, which she quit in 2006 to develop a more comprehensive and efficient way to scour the Internet.

The end result is Cuil, pronounced "cool." Backed by $33 million in venture capital, the search engine plans to begin processing requests for the first time Monday.

Cuil had kept a low profile while Patterson, her husband, Tom Costello, and two other former Google engineers - Russell Power and Louis Monier - searched for better ways to search.

Now, it's boasting time.

Web index: For starters, Cuil's search index spans 120 billion Web pages.

Patterson believes that's at least three times the size of Google's index, although there is no way to know for certain. Google stopped publicly quantifying its index's breadth nearly three years ago when the catalog spanned 8.2 billion Web pages."

I suppose that you could say having Google purchase your technology gives you a certain cachet. But then again you could say that the purchase is also a way to stifle competition. For now I'll take the former approach and say that Patterson knows what she is doing.

Rafe Needleman offers a review of Cuil here.

"What this means, in the real world, is that Cuil results are automatically categorized. When you search for a common name, for example, Cuil will give you a result page where results for different individuals with that name are groups under tabs. It will also break out sub-topics related to each name. In Cuil's canned demo, if you search for "Harry," there are different tabs for "Harry Potter" and "Prince Harry of Wales." On the Harry Potter tab, you'll get further sub-links devoted to actors, Gryffindor dorm-mates, etc. "We have a strong ontological commitment," Costello told me, meaning that parsing search results into readable chunks is a very big part of the Cuil value proposition.

The service also displays images from Web results whenever possible. It all adds up to search results pages that are much more attractive, and useful, than Google's.

Another potential advantage of the context-based search is that it allows Cuil searches to be more respectful of user privacy. Unlike Google, which simply has to track every single click to refine its index, Cuil's context-based search does not. In practice, the distinction may be moot because Cuil will need to track clicks to see if their results are actually working for people, but it could serve as a marketable distinction.

Context-based indexing also presents a juicier target for search spammers, but as Costello says, "that's a success problem."

It's one thing to have a nice interface and show users good results, but the size of the Web index that the engine has access to matters a lot as well. And this is where Cuil makes its boldest claim. Costello says that the engine is launching with 120 billion pages indexed, well over the 40 billion he says Google has (although see Google's latest bluster about the company's power at Web indexing). Costello also claims that Cuil's Web crawler is three times faster than Google's, although it wasn't clear to me if he meant that is per search computer or for the entire system. Compared with Google's globe-spanning data network of data centers, some literally set up near dams so they can tap hydro power more efficiently, Cuil's two puny data centers hosting less than 2,000 PCs total will have to run pretty fast to outpace Google's crawlers."

I agree with assessments that say that it is going to be hard to unseat a behemoth like Google whose brand recognition is unmatched. However, nothing stays the same forever.

Part of what I enjoy about technology is how fast it can change. If companies don't work hard to stay ahead of the curve and to provide value they will find themselves in serious trouble.

If Cuil delivers what they promise they have an excellent chance to become a serious player.

Emailing Your Way Through The Friendly Skies

I have been eagerly waiting for the day when we are able to use the Internet while enjoying a plane ride. Just in case any airline execs happen to read this let me be clear that my comment about enjoying air travel is intended to be sarcastic.

Air travel has quickly deteriorated into something that used to be quite fun into a major pain in the ass. We pay more and receive less for the privilege of being locked inside a flying tin can. Since this post is not designed to be a rant about flying I'll wrap up this section.

But before I do let me express a few more thoughts. It is more than a little irritating to see the numerous ways you ding us for a few bucks more, especially the latest trend of charging for luggage. I'd rather you raise your fares so that you can resume offering food and other services as part of the flight.

Even though I know that I am still being charged $5 bucks for a stale bagel I'll feel better not having to shell it out on board. Anyway, enough on this and now on to the story.

"DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- American Airlines says customers will be able to test in-flight Internet access on two flights beginning Wednesday, with broader service expected to begin in the following couple of weeks.

Facing record high fuel prices, airlines are looking at entertainment and information services as ways to make a few more bucks per passenger.

American plans to charge $9.95 to $12.95 for Internet service, depending on flight length.

The test with technology partner Aircell LLC will begin on one flight from New York's Kennedy Airport to Los Angeles and one return flight, said Doug Backelin, American's manager of in-flight technology. The test service will be free, he said.

The airline would not say on which flights it would conduct the test.

American is among several companies preparing to offer in-air Internet service.

Aircell is also working with Virgin America, and JetBlue Airways Corp. started testing free e-mail, instant-messaging and some Amazon.com services aboard one of its planes in December.

The airline will begin charging for Internet service soon on its Boeing 767-200 jets that fly from New York to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

Passengers will be able to use e-mail and instant messaging and to download video and connect to secure networks on notebook computers or other wireless devices such as smart phones through three wireless access points on the plane, said Dave Bijur, an Aircell executive."

One more thing. I'd prefer not to allow cellphone use during the flight as I shudder to think of being forced to listen to that sort of noise for six hours.

He Puts His Money Where His Mouth is

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to change yourself, or at least take action.

"WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Neil Young, the rocker who provided some of the soundtrack to Vietnam-era protests, is again trying to change the world -- with his car.

Young has teamed up with Johnathan Goodwin, a Wichita mechanic who has developed a national reputation for re-engineering the power units of big cars to get more horsepower but use less fuel.

The two are looking to convert Young's 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible to operate on an electric battery.

Ultimately, they said, they want the Continental to provide a model for the world's first affordable mass-produced electric-powered automobile.

"Johnathan and this car are going to make history," Young told The Wichita Eagle.

"We're going to change the world; we're going to create a car that will allow us to stop giving our wealth to other countries for petroleum."

Young has poured about $120,000 so far into the project, Goodwin said."

You can find the full story here.

My Next Car

CNN has a story about my next car. It is a car that you can drive on land and sea. To be clear, it doesn't matter whether it is fresh or saltwater.

It's called the "sQuba," and conjures up memories of James Bond's amphibious Lotus Esprit from "The Spy Who Loved Me." That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine -- complete with "torpedoes" and "depth charges."

But "Q" isn't responsible for this one.

The concept car -- which unlike Bond's is not armed -- was developed by Swiss designer Rinspeed Inc. and is set to make a splash at the Geneva Auto Show next month.

Company CEO Frank Rinderknecht, a self-professed Bond fan, said he has been waiting 30 years to recreate the car he saw Roger Moore use to drive off of a dock.

The sQuba can plow through the water at a depth of 30 feet and has electrical motors to turn the underwater screw.

You'll have to break out the wetsuit, however.

The car has an open top, meaning that the two passengers are exposed to the elements.

"For safety reasons, we have built the vehicle as an open car so that the occupants can get out quickly in an emergency," said Rinderknecht, 52.

Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving.

The sQuba's top speed on land is about 77 mph, but it slows down to 3 mph on the surface of the water, and 1.8 mph underwater.

This Could Be Useful and Fun

I think that I want one of these.