Latest news Page 2
-
Group 1 Automotive CEO Earl Hesterberg believes TrueCar.com is harmful to dealers and automakers and questions the online shopping site's value to the industry.6:55 pm on February 3, 2012
-
Chrysler plans a two-minute Super Bowl commercial featuring Clint Eastwood giving the country a pep talk, sources told The Wall Street Journal today.5:20 pm on February 3, 2012
-
Detroit automakers are urging President Barack Obama to reject Japan's bid to join talks on a regional free trade agreement, the head of an automotive group representing GM, Ford and Chrysler said on Thursday.5:11 pm on February 3, 2012
-
Mazda is launching a big advertising campaign this weekend, but it's mostly skipping Sunday's big game. Mazda is leaning on about 2 million brand enthusiasts, customers, dealers and employees to spread the commercial through social media.4:38 pm on February 3, 2012
-
2:00 pm on February 3, 2012
Comfort and cool at odds Plantronics Voyager Pro HD Bluetooth headset does not look cool. It’s big and bulky and was clearly designed to be comfy chic rather than small and sleek. The device features a proximity sensor that detects when worn so that, when you are talking on the phone and wish to switch mid-conversation to Bluetooth, the Voyager Pro HD will know when it’s slipped on to the ear and the call will be routed to the device.
When you take the headset off, calls are switched back to the phone. It’s compatible with Vocalyst, Plantronics’ text and voice service, which handles emails via voice command and provides news and weather reports. Consumers are provided a one-year free trial, which is great, but we are reluctant to believe individuals are inclined to pay for subscription-based extras with their Bluetooth headset. Multipoint, WindSmart noise cancellation technology and voice alerts, which warn when the battery is low (among other information), round out a feature set on a product that is physically bigger than its contemporaries but may prove to be more cushy and comfortable. $100; visit plantronics.com.
2. Old school Satechi serves There is serious throw-back quality to Satechi’s Soundfly View Bluetooth FM transmitter. Perhaps it’s the fact that dedicated, single-purpose Bluetooth devices armed with LCD screens intent on taking up cabin space seem ever so 2010. Maybe it’s the fact that the product prominently proclaims itself to be an FM transmitter, which seems so passé in the world of aux cables (to be fair, it has auxiliary capability, too). Whatever it is that makes this old school, the Soundfly View is very useful in-car — when price is considered. It will play music from SD Cards via an included slot, and this is decidedly new tech. If your car stereo does not have an auxiliary port, a product such as this is the only way to stream music from Bluetooth-enabled phones to the stereo. Another checkmark. And it has hands-free dialling, Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 profile, which integrates with smartphone music apps to display song and artist information on-screen and a USB hub so mobile devices can be juiced while on the go. All good features within a perfectly priced proposition. $80; visit satechi.com.
-
The Chevrolet Volt stands as the most heavily promoted -- and harshly scrutinized -- vehicle from General Motors in decades. And that's just version 1.0.1:56 pm on February 3, 2012
-
Auto parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing posted fourth-quarter profits of $31.1 million, down from $34.9 million a year ago. The company said the results include charges of $4.9:56 am on February 3, 2012
-
9:00 am on February 3, 2012
By Peter Kenter
I recently watched A Lion Called Christian, a documentary about two young Australian travellers, Ace Bourke and John Rendall, who purchased a young lion cub from Harrods department store in swinging London, circa 1969.
Christian grew as lions do and the massive feline was soon limited to exercise sessions inside the confines of a walled London cemetery. He grew larger and more aggressive and was eventually transported to Kenya where naturalist George Adamson helped to rehabilitate Christian to live in the wild. The hearts of YouTube viewers were later warmed by a sequence showing the joyful reunion between lion and lads at Adamson’s African base camp a year later.
For me, the most memorable sequences involved the boys loading Christian into their sporty British convertible or Ford truck and driving down King’s Road or fashionable Carnaby Street in bell bottoms and ascots, the lion riding shotgun to the delight of mod passersby.
I didn’t dally with the notion of ascots, but the idea of driving down fashionable streets with a lion in the front seat beside me certainly had appeal. Unfortunately, Canada is woefully short of lions for hire.
I approached a local lion safari theme park for the rental of a lion cub that I would return, safe and sound, later that day. Instead, park officials suggested I drive my car to the park and then wend my way among lions and baboons parading around outside my vehicle.
I explained to the park people that they had it backward. All I wanted was one gentle lion cub to ride alongside me inside the car. No adults. No baboons.
They hung up.
Plan B: If I drove quickly, I reckoned, I wouldn’t actually have to have a lion in the seat with me. All I would need to provide would be the impression that I had a lion with me. Since I wouldn’t be leaving the car, I wouldn’t have to wear bell bottoms either.
Racoons, unfortunately, are far more vicious than lions, and driving around with a nest
of squirrels in the back seat has little cachet.The only candidate — Angus, my six-month-old bull terrier.
Sharp teeth? Check. Playful demeanour? Check. Fierce guttural emanations? Check.
Snow-white pelt? Everybody’s heard of a white lion. Check. Stunning leonine mane? A challenge.
I wear an Arctic green parka, but I never much liked the ring of artificial coyote fur buttoned into the hood. I located the strip and, with a few minor alterations, fitted it around the little dog’s neck and over his scruff. Voila! A lion was born.
Too young to protest, Angus was delighted simply to get into the car for a ride. I opened the passenger side window a couple of centimetres, placed the control on lock and began my safari.
The reaction was exactly what I’d hoped for. Initial shock and fear at seeing a lion in the city, poking its head nonchalantly out of a car soon gave way to delight. Fingers pointed and children dropped their ice cream cones — or whatever they eat in the winter — to point at Angus the Lion.
I waved genially, basking in the attention, as I embodied fully the esthetics of a swinging London mod. “Don’t get too close to the car,” I told admiring young women. “He’s a carnivore and he hasn’t been fed today.”
The police of this city have developed a high tolerance for such spectacles, so I was surprised when a uniformed officer approached the car at an intersection.
“Do you have a licence for him,” the animal control officer demanded.
“Why, you’re mistaken,” I told him. “This isn’t a young lion … an exotic. He’s just a little dog.”
“Yes,” replied the officer. “Where is his dog licence?”
I produced a rabies vaccination tag and we then agreed I would buy a licence for Angus within 30 days or face a large fine. Angus snarled defiantly.
To avoid further unwanted attention, I decided to domesticate the lion cub. We parked close to the house and I slipped him in through the back door to avoid frightening the neighbours. I gradually rehabilitated him to live in a home setting over the space of 15 minutes or so, first removing the mane, then providing him with a series of liver treats.
I filmed much of the adventure for a future documentary to be aired on Animal Planet in the year 2032. The passage of time is often kind to documentary tales of car-riding lions.
-
Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile has made a fresh bid for Saab, Swedish public radio reported. The Chinese group plans to turn its passenger-car unit into a competitive global brand and buying Saab assets would fit into that goal.6:17 am on February 3, 2012
-
Toyota is forecasting global sales will rise 21 percent this year to 9.58 million units, as its production recovers from natural disasters in Japan and Thailand.5:44 am on February 3, 2012
