Tag Archive for: cars

Road Trip How To Kill An Hour

6 Things To Consider Before Taking A Road Trip

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Road Trip How To Kill An Hour
With the warmer weather slowly creeping closer, it’s time to starting thinking about what kind of vacation you’re going to take this year. if you’re looking for adventure and want to see a variety of different places in one go, why not consider going on a road trip? Whether it’s as a couple, as a family or with a group of friends – road trips can be incredibly affordable and a whole lot of fun. If you are considering it and you don’t know where to start when it comes to planning, here are 6 things you may want to consider beforehand:

 

– What Is Your Overall Budget?

First of all, you need to think about your overall budget for the trip. Whilst it helps to think about how much you are going to spend in total, the best way to be as accurate as you possibly can is to plan out every single aspect of the trip individually. Think about how much your gas is going to cost, how much each night in a hotel will cost and how much you’re going to spend on food, drink and activities. Once you’ve totalled all of these up you’ll have a much better picture of how much the trip is going to cost you.

 

– Who Will Be Going With You?

Now you need to think about who will be going with you. Whilst road trips are incredible no matter how many people go, you need to consider all of the logistics surrounding it. How many hotel rooms will you need to book? Do you need to take more than one car? Can you fit everything in the trunk? How long can everyone spend in the car together?

 

– What Route Will You Be Taking?

Once you have a good idea of your budget and who is going with you, you can start to think about what route you want to take. Whether you get inspiration off the internet or you plan your own customized route, you need to be sure it is something that’s going to be doable in the time frame you have. For tips and tricks on designing the perfect road trip route, you can view this guide here.

 

– Do You Need Overnight Stops?

When planning your route you need to think about any overnight stays you may have. Whether it’s a motel en route or a hotel at one of your chosen destinations, planning all of these in advance will save you a lot of money when it comes to last-minute fees.

 

– What Do You Need To Take With You? Will It All Fit?

With a solid plan in place, you can start to think about everything you’re going to take with you. Depending on who is going and where you’re going to be stopping, you will need to ensure you have enough clothes, toiletries and supplies to last you. If you don’t think you are going to fit it all in your car, you may want to consider using one of these car trailers.

 

– Do You Need To Hire A Car?

Although you may have a car of your own, some people prefer to hire a bigger car for their trip. Whether it’s for comfort, space or quality, hiring a car may be the best possible option.

 

Are you planning a road trip soon? What do you need to prepare in advance? What will you take with you? Let us know in the comments section below.

Alfa Romeo How To Kill An Hour

Car Tech You Really Need

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The latest cars are all full of technology most of which is for safety or comfort reasons, as well as making the cars more efficient and cheaper to run. The technology has advanced at such a pace that you do not have to go back many years to find cars that have very little technology in them. You can always add some to older cars, and there are hundreds of great gadgets that could help to enhance your driving experience. However, there are also some technologies that will stay as part of newer cars only.

 

Dash Cams

Many new cars are being fitted with a dash cam, and some have a rear view facing cameras too. If you have an older car it is very simple to add a dash cam to it and then you will have a recording of the journeys you have made. These can be very useful evidence if there is a dispute with another road user.

 

Portable Jump Starter

Traditionally, car jump starters are made from a large battery that you store in your garage. Now there is one that is small enough to keep in the glove compartment of your car. It includes a USB charger that you can use for your other devices and has a built-in torch in case you need to use it in the dark.

 

300W Inverter

Most cars have USB ports these days, but what if you need to use something that needs a 3-pin socket? Then you need an inverter, which will change your cars 12V DC electricity supply to 240V AC in the UK. If you need to power anything over 150W, you have to clip the inverter directly to your battery. That will then be enough to power a laptop or a camping fridge.

 

Automatic Emergency Braking

This uses a variety of sensors to determine if a forward collision crash is about to happen and automatically applies the brakes to reduce its severity or to stop it or all together. This is going to be fitted as standard on all new cars by 2022 but would take a lot of work to install in an older car.

 

Technology Helping Maintenance

This technology might not be in your car, but the latest developments in servicing and maintenance can certainly help to keep in in a better condition at a more reasonable cost. For example, Mercedes AMG servicing & genuine parts do not have to break the bank and will prolong your car’s performance.  Technology and highly trained technicians have been combined to create the best service possible for your car maintenance and repairs.

 

Adaptive Cruise Control

Cruise control has been around for years, but now it can adapt to the speeds of the traffic around you. By using an array of sensors built into the car it will adjust the speed to suit the cars in front of you. Some of the more advanced systems will even stop and restart the car without you having to do a thing.

 

Technology and car are like everything else that is going on around us. They will continue to evolve and be very different in just a few years to how they are today.

 

Toyota GT86

Toyota Gt86

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Toyota GT86

February is the Month of Cars for #HowToKillAnHour – 'Pure Driving Pleasure' is what Toyota UK promised with the GT86 Club Series: Blue Edition – does it deliver? Find out with our full review by clicking here: http://www.howtokillanhour.com/gadgets-tech/toyota-gt86Keep up to date with everything How To Kill An Hour by signing up to our newsletter by clicking here: http://www.howtokillanhour.com/newsOur website is here http://www.howtokillanhour.comOur podcast is here http://www.howtokillanhour.com/showsTwitter: https://twitter.com/HowTokillAnHourFacebook: https://facebook.com/HowTokillAnHourInstagram: https://instagram.com/HowToKillAnHour

Posted by How To Kill an Hour on Tuesday, 12 February 2019

We here at How To Kill An Hour are also reviewing CARS! We like cars, people kill a lot of time driving their cars in the most luxurious of places, and the Toyota GT86 is no different.

GT86

The Club versions of the Toyota GT86 focus on the coupe’s style and performance, with the new GT86 Blue Edition offers an option of a performance pack for even sharper handling!

The car is a beautiful blue, with an Electric Blue Bodywork contrasting black styling details and including front grille, rear spoiler and diffuser, door mirror housings and front fog light surrounds. Inside, the cabin is finished in sporting black leather and Alcantara.

If a customer was to go for the optional Performance Pack, the car will deliver a more focused drive. Consequently due to the introduction of a Sachs-tuned suspension upgrade. It includes Sachs Performance dampers, larger Brembo brakes which provide a supreme stopping ability and an improved pedal feel. The car has some incredible, beautiful large 17 inch black alloy wheels, which compliment the large red Brembo callipers wonderfully.

The Toyota GT86 Blue Edition has a poised and balanced chassis with a low centre of gravity and low set driving position. It has a front engine – a 197bhp 2.0-litre four-cylinder boxer unit – and rear-wheel drive.

The car comes in either manual or automatic transmission, both options come with a total of 6 speeds, the Toyota GT86 has a top speed of 140mph while the automatic is 130mph. It can hit 62mph in 7.6seconds of acceleration, while automatic will take a little slower at 8.2seconds. Yet, it is still really quick!

Tech

TECH! We love tech, we are a tech brand after all and the GT86 doesn’t let us down. It comes with a Toyota Touch 2 Multimedia system, dual zone climate control, dusk sensing headlights, heated front seats and cruise control!

(Toyota)

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Episode 313 Jon Bentley of The Gadget Show

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DRIVEN BY INTUITION: CAR BY LEXUS

LEXUS ES – DRIVEN BY INTUITION: CAR BY LEXUS

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Car companies release new cars on a semi regular basis. The way that car companies promote them do vary on the ‘cool’ scale. However, the Lexus ES has perked our interest. Why? As the film for the car was created and scripted using AI! Created in partnership with The&Partnership London and Visual Voice. It’s called Driven By Intuition and was created by Oscar-winning director Kevin MacDonald ( The Last King of Scotland, Whitney, One Day in September). The interesting thing is that the AI that was used to create this film was developed by IBM Watson. Using multiple data sources too! Such as past award-winning luxury adverts and intelligence on human emotional responses.

This way of producing content is a world’s first and highlights the ways in which humans and machines can work together. Consequently, in this fashion, it was done in perfect harmony. Highlighting the importance of intuition in the relationship between Man and Machine. Helping to promote the responsive features of the new Lexus ES.

Driven By Intuition is not just an ‘advert’ it is a minute long drama. It tells the story of a Lexus takumi master (Takumi is a Japanese word meaning artisan) craftsman. A craftsman who complete’s his painstaking work and releases a brand new Lexus ES to the world. However, it is taken away and threatened with destruction. Ruining all the hard work that he put into it. Yet, the car’s automatic emergency braking system cuts in to save the day. So to demonstrate the effectiveness of the intuitive tech that’s built into the Lexus ES.

How it was made: AI

Lexus’ creative agency The&Partnership London collaborated with technical partner Visual Voice to create the AI scriptwriter. Utilising IBM Watson to analyse a whole range of external audio, text and visual data. The AI then used this data to create a script. Which was not only emotionally intelligent. But entertaining as well! Then Kevin MacDonald was brought on to bring it to life.

The AI was fed with 15 years worth of car and luxury advertisements. Not just any advertisements either. These advertisements have won the prestigious Cannes Lions international awards for creativity! Unruly, a video marketplace, also fed the AI with emotional intelligence data. Consequently the AI knew and understood what moments in an ad connected most strongly with audiences. Therefore understanding how how actions, objects, locations and emotionality are used. Specifically, in different combinations & sequences to communicate the desired messages.

However, you would think that this would just produce a ‘copy cat’ style advertisement. To prevent this, data on Lexus as a brand was fed as a guideline. Thus keeping the script ‘on brand’ to what Lexus is about. AI was coached even further! With intelligence from MindX, the applied science division of the University of New South Wales in Australia. The data included important information, such as what makes humans intuitive! Plus how specific humans with an higher level of intuition respond to car adverts.

The result

The AI generated script is rich in genuine human emotion. However it does introduce some unexpected details. The AI script gives the car some sentience and emotional depth, while appearing to treat human behaviour differently. For example the habit of watching disasters unfold from behind a screen. Yet with a degree of healthy cynicism.

(Lexus)

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Behind the scenes:

IF YOU’RE INTERESTED

Check out in depth detail about the Lexus ES please click here!

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iMac Pro

iMac Pro’s are EXPENSIVE

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Want a shiny new iMac Pro? Well, re-mortgage the house. It’s going to cost you. A LOT!

While the base iMac Pro is costly at just under £5K, sitting pretty at £4,899, that’s nothing when you start adding on parts.

If you, like us, are a bit of a geek when it comes to computing power. You want the best, most powerful computer you can get. That way you can get your work done as fast and as efficient as possible. So you can either go and start some new piece of creative piece. While on the other hand it gets spares up some time to crack on with COD WW2. Whatever floats your boat.

But……

The iMac Pro, fully loaded costs a grand total of £12, 279. For that low low price you get 12GB of memory, a 4TB SSD and a 18-core Intel Xeon CPU (To release in 2018) Plus if you’re a sucker for all things matching, if you may decide to get matching space grey magic mouse 2/magic trackpad 2 throw an additional £149 on top of that sucker. I mean why not you’re spending 12K as it is. Yet, we’re only saying as Apple’s website state that you can only purchase Space Grey accessories are only available at time of purchase.  As a creative you may also want Final Cut Pro X/Logic Pro X on it too (though we suspect you may already have those on your account) but for those that don’t it’s an additional, £300/2oo respectively.

So….anyone want one still?

(Yes!)

 

Iconic Movie Car Quiz

Iconic Movie Car Quiz

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Do you know your cars?

Are you a film fanatic?

Get quiz’ical and put your movie knowledge to the test with the Iconic Movie Car Quiz!

This quiz is full of iconic movie cars in retro 8-bit design!

There are 9 questions about 9 different cars.. How well do you know iconic movie cars?

 

iconic movie car quiz

We loved it! If you want to play click here!

UK Government Plans To Ban Petrol/Diesel Cars By 2040

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Reports by the Guardian and Financial Times have suggested that by 2040 the Government are setting up to ban the sale of Petrol and Diesel cars, as part of an air quality plan – this includes hybrids, electric only vehicles from 2040 would then only be possible. This is apparently a reaction to a recent government report which stated that smog kills at least 40,000 people each year in the UK.

However this would hinge on the ability to actually manufacture these electric cars and make them affordable to every car user in the country, the worldwide electric vehicle us currently facing potential shortages of battery materials such as lithium and cobalt.

Other countries are undergoing a similar plan with France having the same timescale and India hoping to introduce this ban by 2030.

 

HUDWAY Glass

HUDWAY Glass

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No more looking away from the road when you’re checking directions or your speed. HUDWAY Glass Head Up Display takes care of all of this!

Head Up display is a navigation device for your car which allows you to keep your eyes on the road at all times as the screen is in your eye sight as you are driving.

It’s simply your smartphone device reflecting onto a piece of glass, placed on your dashboard. Head Up is compatible with any smartphone and HUD app. These apps include: HUDWAY Go app, Navmii, HUDWAY and Sygic.

The app also includes other special features such as HUDwidgets. These are: Trip info, your driving score GPS and many more!

To buy the HUDWAY Glass click here!

Download HUDWAY Go for iPhone and Android.

Download Navmii for iPhone and Android.

Download HUWAY for iPhone and Android.

Download Sygic for iPhone and Android.

Toyota Flying Car

Flying Car Toyota Test Drive

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Back in 2014, in Tokyo, a group of around 30 engineers, including Toyota employees, started to develop ‘SkyDrive’ flying car.

The head of the group, Tsubasa Nakamura, said that the group expects to conduct the first manned-flight by the end of 2018 as the aim is to have the car ready for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo to drive/fly in and light the torch.

 

During the demonstration, the current test model was able to lift off the ground and float in the air for a few seconds, it then looses balance and crashes. The design needs more stability to be able to get the car high enough and fly for a longer amount of time to reach the Olympic flame!

To hear the guys chatting about this please click here!