Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive the Nissan Leaf for the very first time at Nissan’s Drive Electric Tour event in Chicago, and I was unequivocally impressed with both the vehicle and the tour. All pictures and videos can be seen on Flickr. Here’s how it went down. The Tour The first step was [...] Read more – ‘The Nissan Leaf Drive Electric Tour in Chicago Proves It’s Ready For Primetime’.
There’s a $7,500 federal tax rebate for purchasing the Leaf that just about every early adopter already knows about. But every state also offers its own set of incentives and rebates that could have the effective price of your Leaf down another few thousand dollars. In Illinois, one rebate in particular stands out – the [...] Read more – ‘Illinois State and Federal Incentives for Purchasing a Nissan Leaf’.
I just got an email from Nissan that my Leaf is scheduled to arrive to my dealer in “the month of November”. I ordered my Leaf the first week it was open for the Chicago market and 3-4 months was the original estimated delivery window, so looks like Nissan is right on schedule. Good timing to [...] Read more – ‘Chicago Area Nissan Leaf Orders Confirmed for Delivery in November’.
Nissan has put together a quick 6-minute video discussing the Leaf’s battery pack to help dispel a lot of the myths working their way around, particularly on the internet. This is a smart (and necessary) PR tactic by Nissan, and the video interview with Simon Sproule is honest and pragmatic, with a touch of marketing [...] Read more – ‘Nissan Discusses the Leaf’s Battery and Range In Real World Scenarios’.
Well, this is getting a little annoying. Every time I reboot my machine (which has been about once a day lately thanks to Lion), it seems that Spotlight starts to reindex from scratch. It’s possible that Spotlight has been causing my machine to hang/crash in the first place, and therefore it has to rebuild upon [...] Read more – ‘Spotlight on OS X Lion Reindexes on Every Reboot’.
I find Microsoft’s “new PC” campaign (aka, the PC Store) to be strange and ineffective. The basic premise is that they find a person who doesn’t think they need a new computer, then build a Windows store in that person’s house. If a person doesn’t feel like they need something, isn’t filling an entire room [...] Read more – ‘Microsoft’s Silly and Ineffective “Personal PC Store” Ads’.
This ad from LA Animal Services from a while back is still funny and holds up today. It’s true, your dog will be the most loyal friend you’ll ever have, and anything you say or do will be super cool to him. If you’re in the Chicago area, two great options are PAWS in Chicago (map) and [...] Read more – ‘Adopt a Dog and You’ll Be Super Cool’.
I’m a huge fan of The Daily Show. One thing I noticed is that in the end credits of every episode, there’s a little note that says that their website is now optimized for the iPad. I thought it was interesting that they don’t bother being generic and say “tablet optimized”. I guess the producers are [...] Read more – ‘The Daily Show’s Site is Far From “iPad Optimized”’.
Rex W. Huppke of the Chicago Tribune reflects on his beloved dog Daisy’s life and what she has meant to him and his family: I’ve come to realize that a pivotal portion of my family’s history will be remembered not as a span of years but as an era in which we shared our lives [...] Read more – ‘Reflecting on a Dog’s Importance to a Family’.
In a word, the Bluetooth TiVo remote is fantastic. It greatly improves the performance of your TiVo, but in a sort of odd, indirect way. Of course the remote doesn’t speed up the always sluggish TiVo hardware itself, but it does speed up the perceived performance and responsiveness of the UI by removing the lag [...] Read more – ‘Bluetooth TiVo Remote Massively Improves TiVo HD Performance’.
Top Gear, the entertaining British car enthusiasts show, recently aired their “controversial” segment on the Nissan Leaf and the Peugeot Ion. Both Nissan and the UK newspaper The Times were critical of the road test, saying Top Gear went out of their way to portray the Leaf in a bad light. Top Gear’s executive producer Andy Wilman [...] Read more – ‘Top Gear’s Producer’s Respond to Criticism of Their Nissan Leaf Review’.
I just got an email from Nissan noting that registration is now open for the “Drive Electric Tour” in Chicago. They’ll be setting up shop at Soldier Field from August 26-28 (Friday through Sunday). If you’re interested, it’d be a good idea to register early and grab a time slot that works for you – [...] Read more – ‘Registration for the Nissan Leaf’s “Drive Electric Tour” Stop in Chicago is Open’.
Nearly a year after I reserved a Nissan Leaf, I officially ordered a 2012 model last Friday (7/29/11). Here’s how it went down. Step 1: The Email The ordering process begins when Nissan marks your account as eligible for ordering, and an email is sent out saying you can request a quote and to [...] Read more – ‘Ordering a 2012 Nissan Leaf in Chicago’.
The Nanda Runaway Alarm Clock was made for people who slap the snooze button one too many times. When it determines you’re being lazy, it will set off the alarm and then actually run away from you. It’s a clever idea – one that will get you up, but probably make you angry all morning [...] Read more – ‘The Nanda Runaway Alarm Clock’.
This is a direct quote from a user comment on one of my YouTube videos: YOU TUBE IZ BETTER THAN TV,U COULD THINK OF SOMTHIN FUNNY FROM BAK IN DA DAY AND JUS PRESS IT UP ON YOU TUBE The case for/against unfiltered and semi-anonymous comments on blogs and other social sites is often debated. [...] Read more – ‘The Case Against Comments Keeps Getting Stronger’.
David Cowan hasn’t owned a car for 3.5 years and recently bought a Leaf and loves it. While that’s not surprising, his take on the gorgeous looking Fisker Karma hybrid is: Having said that, the Karma performs like a sports car at lower speeds but on the highway I found it downright sluggish compared to [...] Read more – ‘Nissan Leaf Outperforms the $100,000 Fisker Karma’.
I got an interesting notice from Bloomberg today with my paper copy of Businessweek. Starting next week, they will be offering “hand delivery” of the magazine in my area (the northwest suburbs of Chicago). With electronic distribution on the rise, it’s a curious move, but one that likely makes good business sense. My guess is [...] Read more – ‘Bloomberg Businessweek Will Hand Deliver Issues and Bypass the USPS’.
I’ve always been a fan of great design and usability. That’s why I’m a fan of companies like Apple and BMW. They know design is about more than just how things look, it’s how they feel. Over the past few years I’ve become more interested in design in day to day life. It’s almost certainly a [...] Read more – ‘Fab.com Makes Minimizing Tough’.
The Logitech Performance MX mouse is a highly regarded peripheral by both Mac and PC users. Currently it’s accumulated 569 reviews and a 4-star rating on Amazon. It’s a gem of hardware – comfortable ergonomics, smooth tracking (even on glass), lots of buttons, rechargeable and removable Sanyo Eneloop batteries, and a USB cable that lets you charge [...] Read more – ‘Configuring the Logitech Performance MX Mouse on a Mac’.
“Oops! We are sorry, we are not servicing your geographical location as of now. Please revisit again.” That was the error message I hit while trying to schedule the home assessment for my future Leaf’s charging dock. It turns out the message is actually somewhat misleading. It really had nothing to do with my geographic [...] Read more – ‘Home Assessment Scheduling Issues for Leaf Charging Dock’.
