Future Autonomous Cars and Optical Visual Recognition Systems Considered By Lance Winslow

Over the years, our think tank has been very interested in optical recognition. Specifically optical flow recognition which can be used by moving objects so they can run autonomously, or fly autonomously. Now then, using optical sensors is rather tough, and it requires certain things from the environment. Whatever medium you are looking through has to be clear as not to give false readings. In the event of an underwater unmanned vehicle the water can't be too murky, and the lighting has to be just right, otherwise it will run into stuff and get itself lost, and that's rather expensive when you're dealing with prototypes trying to figure out flawless autonomous navigation.
Now then, the other day I was driving in the rain, and I went around a corner, and I couldn't really tell where the road was because the markings had faded, the visibility was bad, and I was having trouble with my own organic sensors, namely my eyesight trying to figure out where I was supposed to be as I went around the corner, no I don't have poor eyesight, it's fine, but it was challenging for a couple of seconds there. I'm sure we've all been in this situation, and there's another problem called "over driving your headlights" and that occurs when you are traveling at a decent rate of speed, and the lights in your car don't shine forward enough to give you time to stop if something is in the way. This is why we get giant pile-ups in thick fog on the highways - very dangerous indeed.
Whether it's an organic sensor such as a human eye, or an electronic optical visual sensor (optical flow sensor) which is used in autonomous navigation, it amounts to the same problem really. In the future autonomous cars will probably use at least some optical flow sensors to augment its other sensors to help it navigate. If so, then the road markings have to be quite visible, and distinguishable from other objects in the roadway, near the road, or crossing the road. Further, the powers that be in the local municipality, state, or when it comes to the federal highway system, the federal government must make it their utmost responsibility to maintain the road markings.
We've all heard that due to budget cuts some cities can fix the potholes in the road, or major road repairs go undone. In the future with autonomous cars, this is not going to be a worthy excuse because if the road markings start to fade, or they are not properly maintained, then all the robotic cars will start crashing. That's not very funny if you happen to be riding inside of one which loses its way and goes off the road crashing into something solid. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new series of eBooks on the Mobile Auto Services Business. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a The Oil Change Guys, a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

Pros and Cons of Non Audio and Audio Capacitors By Carl Flynn

What Are Capacitors?
Capacitors, or condensers, can be defined as a electrical components which are used for storing charge in an electrical field. In professional terms, this is a device which simulates the functions of battery at micro level in an electrical circuit.
How Capacitors works?
In basic terms, the common audio capacitor manufactures produces components which works on the concepts of potential difference. When there is difference in electrical potential of two conductors, the electric field develops. Due to this, the positive charge deposits on one conductor, leaving negative charge on another. This makes it to store energy which is utilized in various ways in electrical & electronic circuits.
Types of Common Conductors
The commonly used capacitors are described here briefly along with pros & cons.
Metalized Film Capacitor
In Metalized Film Capacitor, thin metal film is used as the capacitor through which current is passed.
Pros - These are smaller in size as thin film is used in place of conducting plates.
Cons - Thin films reduces current carrying capacity to a remarkable extend, thus limiting its capabilities.
Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor
Bi-Polar Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitor Manufacturers produce capacitors with aluminum electrolyte in order to improve efficiency.
Pros - Durable, stable electrical parameters, Lower ESR
Cons - Low Voltage & Limited transient, lower reverse voltage tolerance, can burst in extreme parameters
Non Polar Electrolytic Capacitor
None Polar Electrolytic Capacitor Suppliers often adds special chemical to improve performance of capacitors. However, they still suffer from certain major disadvantages.
Pros - Size is smaller, good for long term use, stable on voltage fluctuations
Cons - can't tolerate extreme voltage, current carrying capacity is limited, can explode upon excessive heating
Audio Capacitor
Audio Capacitor is not a special category of division. Instead, it is a commercial name for those capacitors which are used for audio circuits. One can fit any suitable capacitor as per the needs & purpose of circuit.
Film Capacitor
Film Capacitor is a special type in which thin film is used to replace solid conductor plates of traditional style capacitors. This makes size extremely portable & increases the durability as well. However, certain drawbacks are still attached with it.
Pros - size is small, fit for micro size circuits, predictable & stable behavior in various cases
Cons - self hearting, overheating on high voltage, limited current carrying ability
Electrolytic Capacitors
In broad terms, electrolyte capacitor plays a vital role. This is used as the standard to test other capacitors. Also, it is basic level capacitor which is commonly used in labs for elementary experiments.
Pros - Large voltage carrying capacity, reliable results, stable behavior, cost effective
Cons - Leakage in most cases, require care & maintenance, overheating on wrong polarization, failure on wrong use
Speaker Capacitor
Speaker Capacitor is more an application than being a specific type. So, no specific pros & cons can be talked about. However, they are limited in their action of current carrying. Applying excessive voltage may lead to failure.

There are various other sub categories which are classified to sophisticate the choice for specific application. One may find out more about capacitor by visiting, http://www.cnbugle.com. Here, one can collect info in commercial frame.

Car Dashboard Cameras - Four Reasons To Install A Dash Cam By Sebas T Reyman

You may have noticed that dash cams are becoming more and more popular in Western countries. Until a short while ago, only police cars would have a dashboard camera installed. But then the unthinkable happened and a meteor struck a remote town somewhere in Siberia, Russia -- and to everyone's surprise, dozens of live videos of the event instantly popped up on YouTube!
That's because in Russia, dash cams have become quite popular due to the country's rampant corruption and insurance fraud issues. Russian drivers use them for various reasons: One, dash cameras enable them to provide video evidence in case they get involved in an accident through no fault of their own. Two, they provide protection against corrupt police officers that have been known to fine drivers that hadn't done anything wrong. Three, and this may seem unbelievable if you haven't seen it, but there are actually videos of pedestrians suddenly jumping out onto a driving car, in order to claim money from the driver's insurance!
Now guess what? Dash cams are useful for these precise reasons in your country, too. You may be fortunate enough to live in a location where corruption is less widespread, but there is still a chance that you might run into a black sheep one day. And even though I hope that this will never be the case, how could I say that I will never, ever become involved in a traffic accident?
Invaluable to prove your innocence in a court of law, dash cam footage can be used to clear yourself once and for all of any false accusations that you might be charged with. But that's not all. While dash cams are great in case of an accident, most people will never need the footage to actually defend themselves in court (even though it's great to know that you could, if you needed to).
Reason four - why more and more people are deciding to get a dash cam: They're fun!
Did you ever drive through a beautiful landscape, and just enjoy the view as you drive along? Imagine recording these magical moments, sharing them with your friends and family later at home, or even adding some background music and uploading a nice video on YouTube. Rare wildlife grazing alongside the road, or that odd celebrity crossing the street just in front of you? Now you'll be able to back up the stories from your road trip with a high definition video!
Dash cams are always on while you drive. They start recording when you turn the ignition key, so you won't have to worry about remembering to turn your camera on. And while memory cards do have limited capacity, modern dashboard cameras allow you to record over 4 hours of footage at top video quality.
Also, they use a technique called "cyclic recording", meaning that once your memory card is full, they will automatically overwrite the oldest footage, so there is no way you can ever run out of "disk space".
Of course, you will be able to mark those parts of your video footage that you want to keep, so they will be excluded from overwriting until you copy them over to your personal computer. Additionally, most modern car cameras have a G-sensor which in case of an impact, marks the recording for safekeeping automatically (so it can't get accidentally overwritten).

So which dashboard camera is the right one for you? Check out these reviews of the best dash cams currently available, from economy to high-end.

http://www.squidoo.com/dashcam-faq-all-about-dashboard-cameras

Please, Just Say No to Emojis! These Apps Corrupt the Ford Sync System! By Vincent Hennigan

Using emoticons on your smartphone can cause severe problems with the voice-to-text functions of the Ford Sync System. This self-help article reveals ways to correct these problems.
Since late 2012 there were numerous problems with the iPhone 5, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S as well as the Samsung Galaxy, the HTC Evo and other smartphones having connectivity issues with the Ford Sync system. User forums for these smartphones and for the Sync system have been filled with people which connectivity problems that affected the base model, the MyFord and the MyFord Touch Sync systems. The issue was something was seriously affecting the Sync users accessibility of their phone book contacts with Voice commands. If you pushed the "Voice" icon on your steering wheel and said "Phone" and then "Call + (your contact name)" then your Sync system might reply, "Calling Dot on Cell."
Some of the issues were a result of smartphone users downloading and using any of the Emoji Apps. The word emoji is Japanese for ideograms, you know, those little emoticons such as smiley faces, "frowny" faces, etc.
The new Apple iOS even allows iPhone 5 users to go to their Settings folder, to the General settings, to the Keyboard tab, and then to the next menu to select "Keyboards." You can then tap "Add New Keyboard" and add an emoji keyboard. However, this is the kiss of death for your Sync system.
The issue is that the cute emoticons seen on your smartphone screen as a smiley face are, in fact, long strings of programming language which cause Sync's text-to-voice conversion to go haywire. When given a Voice command to call a contact the system will say "Calling Dot on Cell" and then dial the first contact listed in your phone book.
If this has happened, then review EVERY phone contact and remove any emoticon. Also remove any extraneous exclamation points, periods, commas, dashes and so on that you might have in your phone contact list. Be sure to even check the name of your device! Some overzealous users renamed their phones with smiley faces on the device name. Check to see that everything is cleared again. Then go to your Bluetooth settings and remove Sync from your phone.
If you have an iPhone, do a soft reset. This is done by holding your "Home" button, the large button at the lower center of your front screen, while also holding down the Power button at the top edge of the phone on the right side. Hold these buttons down until the Apple icon appears. Then release the buttons. Let the phone go idle for a few minutes. You can further push the power button, then slide the on-screen button to power down the phone. Leave the phone off for a few minutes. Then push the power button and let the phone power back up.
Then go to your vehicle. Go to your phone settings and delete your phone from the list of Bluetooth devices. Then turn your vehicle off. Open the hood and find the car battery. Loosen and remove the black (negative) battery cable) for about five minutes. Then replace the cable and tighten the clamp. Close the hood and restart the vehicle. Let a few minutes pass before resetting the radio from AM and resetting the clock. Then go to your phone settings and pair your phone back. See this video for instructions on pairing a phone.
Yes, this is a lot to do. This is why you need to really clean Emoji Apps and emoji keyboards from your phone files. Emoticons are cute but they defeat the whole purpose of having a Bluetooth-enabled hands-free communications system. Maybe it's time to say bye, bye to smiley faces! So sorry!

Vince Hennigan works at a Ford dealership as a Technology Consultant. The advent of new technologies has left a lot of vehicle owners with questions. If you need assistance or have a question, contact me at fordtechlane@gmail.com

Remote Car Alarms: A Necessity For Your Car? By Branden Hedberg

Protecting what you own, whether it is your house, your car, or even your personal effects, is becoming more and more difficult these days. A lot of unscrupulous individuals go out of their way to obtain what is not rightfully theirs. In fact, it has been noted that every 20 seconds, one car is actually broken into in the US alone. This is a very startling statistic and to avoid becoming a victim of such an occurrence, you need to increase security measures. One of the things you might want to consider when it comes to protecting your car is a remote car alarm.
What exactly is a remote car alarm and what does it do? Why is it considered a necessity for cars these days? As earlier mentioned, protecting your assets is a necessary measure these days due to the ever increasing possibility of theft. A remote car alarm is basically an alarm that activated and deactivate with the use of a remote control device. This device is usually battery operated and comes in the form of a keychain, which can be conveniently attached to your car keys.
What a car alarm can do for you is to alert you, and anyone within hearing range, that your vehicle is being tampered with or someone is trying to break into it. Depending on the kind of alarm system you get, you may find that some alarms go off when someone approaches your car and gets to a certain distance from it. Other alarm systems go off only when the vehicle is touched or when someone attempts to open any of the doors, the trunk or the hood.
Some alarm systems use door sensors to set these off. This is not a pretty reliable car alarm to get since these only activate when the doors to your car are opened. Anyone can actually steal your car without opening the doors by simply towing it away, or even by breaking windows, if this is the kind of alarm you have installed. It would be better to get more advanced systems than this.
One advanced remote car alarm to consider is one that uses shock sensors on them. Any movement near or on the car sets off the alarm, so anybody who tries to strike, tow or even leans on your vehicle, the alarm will go off. Some alarms sound off differently for the different levels of movement the vehicle experiences. The more pronounced the movement, the louder and more pronounced the alarm.
Some people find that, aside from using alarms that are activated by shock sensors, adding pressure sensors to a vehicle is also a good theft deterrent. Pressure sensors are activated when a change in the air pressure of the vehicle changes suddenly, either with the opening of a door or the breaking of a window. Others even add motion and tilt sensors and perimeter scanners to their remote car alarm systems to ensure that other methods of stealing the vehicle are covered.

Communications Center is Minneapolis' leading car audio installation specialist. You can

Putting In An Extreme High-Tech Piece of Audio Equipment Is The Easy Part By Lance Winslow

The other day, I was walking through a parking lot and a young man had his hood open and jumper cables attached to his car battery. He asked for a jump, unfortunately, I didn't have my truck with me, just a little sports car and I doubt that would suffice, nor did I much want to risk damaging my own electrical system, you know everything these days is high-tech, and costly to fix, you need a computer and it's not like the old days when you could do everything yourself without a master mechanics certificate for each make and model.
Okay so, let's talk because I felt bad for the chap. You see the young man told me he had to go pick up his girlfriend and he was already late. I told him there is a slight slope to this parking lot, let's just push it out of the stall and face it that-a-way. He said it was an automatic - bummer I thought, well that's what you get I guess. The kid had a few tattoos and I realized that the chances of him flagging down anyone were not in his favor. So, I began talking with him thinking as soon as someone came by, I'd approach them myself and he'd thus, have a way better chance to get a jump.
As I was discussing with him what had happened he told me of his new stereo system. Unfortunately, he didn't upgrade his alternator, or put in another batteries and it was over taxing his system. This is the fourth time he'd been stuck, and I wondered if assisting him would help him learn his lesson. What might that be you ask? Well, let me explain.
The reality is that far prior to the installation the installer must consider the size of the alternator, and draw down requirements of the system to run, along with what other systems in the vehicle will need to run at optimum. Merely, paying a friend to help you install a new car audio system isn't enough, especially if they don't have any experience, trial by fire, or actual automotive electrical knowledge. Further, these late model cars are designed the way they are for a reason, they are engineered for optimum and not for over-the-top high-end mega-wattage sound systems. See that point.
Yes, we did find someone with a big Ford Dually, and he jumped it without a problem, and yet, I wonder if my lecture to the kid sunk in. If not, he'll be stranded again and his girlfriend will dump him? Hell, I wonder if she's good looking, either way she definitely needs an upgrade in boyfriends if you think about it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new series of eBooks on the Mobile Auto Services Business. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a The Oil Change Guys, a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

The Benefits of a Car DVR By Jiahao Tu

Our cars are some of the biggest purchases we make throughout our lives. The only things that we pay more for than our cars are our homes and property holdings. We generally trade in or buy new vehicles more frequently than we buy new homes and property so the amount we spend on our vehicles often ends up being about the same as what we spend on our other large purchases. This is why the car DVR was invented and so many people are installing them.
The car DVR system allows you to have a recording of anyone that breaks into or vandalizes your property. Millions of cars are vandalized each year. Some of these vehicles are parked in the driveways of their owners while others are parked in secure parking garages. The vandalism does not just occur in the seedy parts of town where cars are parked on the edges of streets that are poorly lit.
Many thieves love to break into automobiles and steal the stereo equipment that is in them. We spend large amounts of time in our vehicles and many people spend large amounts of money putting stereo equipment in their vehicles that is very expensive. They want to be able to enjoy their music, but thieves love to steal these items and sell them on the black market. The car DVR can prove who stole your stereo equipment and can stop them from stealing from anyone else in the future.
The car DVR can also stop thieves from stealing your automobile for the seats that are in it, or the video equipment that is in it. There are thieves that strip cars to sell the parts to parts suppliers who then sell them to people who need the item to repair their cars. This is big money in some areas and there are some automobiles that are worth more as parts than they were worth as a whole.
If you have to leave your vehicle at train stations, bus stations, and airports while you are away on business then these systems can allow you to leave them with the peace of mind that should anything happen to them you will be able to identify the perpetrator and get your items replaced through your insurance company. You may also get a reduced insurance rate because you install this type of security system. A car DVR can afford you peace of mind when you have to leave your car in a parking garage or parking lot for long periods.

The cheap car DVR allows you to identify criminals and stop them from continuing to steal for a living. You can get more information at buy car decorations.