The M50x’s have had only good reviews – that would be my choice definitely.

Although for £90 it probably isn’t worth it, the whole force touch thing is pretty cool. Being able to do ‘extra’ actions by hard pressing (e.g. previewing a file, or renaming it) is quite handy.

There are also a lot of apps now which provide haptic feedback using it, especially in the media creation area. Being able to adjust a pan knob in logic and feel where the centre detent is, or feeling where the snap point is in Premiere are both things that at first are quite cool and then genuinely useful.

And if nothing else – the look of confusion on peoples faces when they have been clicking away on it and then you turn the computer off and ask them to click the touchpad and it doesn’t move at all…

The machete order really does work well – You start with 2 great films, you then end on the cliffhanger(ish) of Vader/Luke and then goes back to explain how Vader got to that place, and then another good one to End and finish it all off.

2 and 3 aren’t really that bad, not great, but watchable and 3 in particular works well to show Anakins fall to the dark side.

I think a lot of people say they are crap just because people say they are crap (as with a HUGE number of things but thats a diferrent topic).

Episode 1 is a bit rubbish though…

Ditto to the suggestion of a D28 or J45 – one of these is on my ‘to own hopefully quite soon’ list and from what I’ve played there really isn’t much else that combines the tone (most important) and the overall feel of the guitar (both aesthetically and playability).

I’ve played a Taylor GS which I have to admit sounded great, but Taylors always just feel really clinical – really not sure what it is but they just don’t appeal at all even though they higher series do sound incredible.

As an outside bet, the only acoustic I’ve personally played to come close to the D28/J45 is a Yamaha LL36 – absolutely stunningly good. I was hugely impressed; Yamaha are very underated for ‘serious’ guitars. The rest of the LL range is amazing as well depending on price you want to pay.

Too
Much
CGI

Really? I don’t remember a single scene where it looked obviously CGI. In fact, I’m pretty sure almost all of the action scenes were shot in ‘real life’ and looked it.

Sadly probably not, especially with an £89 player – Bluray up scaled will probably look a tiny tiny bit better, DVDs up scaled will almost certainly look worse than when scaled to 1080p. As was in another thread, you can display what isn’t there.

Sounds a little bit like cheating to me. It’s on the road they’ll be used.

There is a difference between complying fully with emissions legislation that is not representative, and cheating to pass an emissions test. It’s the test that is at fault (except VW).

Although mpg values may not be the same as real world – they are all based on EXACTLY the same drive cycle so it’s a good way of showing differences between vehicles. Not ideal, but that is what it should be used for. Of course, the manufacturers marketing departments may have other ideas…

Emissions tests are independently witnessed for EU tests so the numbers are correct and can’t be manipulated by the manufacturer.

This could all get a bit ridiculous – of course the cars aren’t going to produce the same emissions levels in an on-road test. This doesn’t mean the manufacturers are cheating though – it just means the test is massively massively flawed. Hopefully the pressure will come down on those who make the legislation rather than the manufacturers.

Although obviously if they are cheating than fair enough, but I seriously doubt they are.

Oh, and the Chilli Pickle – well worth a look for a ‘non-curryhouse-bowl-of-red-slop’ Indian

Giggling Squid in the Lanes – properly good Thai

I think all the pollution controls are a load of crap. If we were serious about it, it should be the total produced by a vehicle regardless of engine size, ie no consideration for engine size or percentages, just say x is the maximum allowed, and then watch engine sizes drop.

That is how it’s currently done. Hence the spate of downsized engines in recent car models.

EU testing is Co2 based not NOx.

CO2 isn’t legislated per vehicle, it is only legislated as a fleet average. NOx IS legislated per vehicle for tailpipe emissions.

Why would Bosch even have created it? What purpose would it have served?

Could have been intentionally for this purpose just to see how well it would work? Could have been intended as a way of running 2 seperate cals in different conditions and an unfortunate consequence is that it could be used to cheat tests?

Either way, if Bosch denoted it as test software it should never have been used for a production calibration. Bosch add in all sorts of things to software at manufacturers requests to trial systems so it’s no surprise they made it for VW, but it’s pretty bad that VW defied Bosch and got it productionised (although Bosch probably could have quite easily put a stop to it….)

Ah ok – yeah, there we go, so it was supplied as a ‘demo’ software. Still surprised there wasn’t further warnings (there may have been, who knows) as Bosch have to receive the calibration in order to ‘industrialise’ it for flashing to the ECUs they supply.

Maybe we’ll find out, maybe we wont.

I’d personally say this won’t spread far out of VW. Any manufacturer I have worked with has certainly not had a ‘defeat device’ and the same is being said by my colleagues (who are diesel based so more qualified to answer that).

To be honest I’m very surprised it got to the point of being implemented. A HUGE number of engineers would have had to know about this. There would have had to have been 2 entire calibrations developed if the defeat code worked as expected and switched in a different set of running maps when it detected it was in an emissions test. Plus Bosch would have had to provide the software to even allow it to do this in the first place – now Bosch’s defence will be that it was provided for development purposes and to be fair to them it is not their call to implement it in production, but they would have known about it.

BMW does use it’s own EMS though….so not sure about them…..but would still be surprised if they have used a similar method of cheating tests.

Yes, but do they test it in eco mode or not? It ought to be in non eco mode, because they must be aware that people will want to simply leave it off.

Knew I’d missed one….

The test must be run in the ‘Normal’ driving mode. This is the mode that the car will be in when it leaves the factory. If you have to press a button to get in to ECO mode then the test will NOT have been performed in that mode. The condition of the car must be exactly as it would be if you picked up a car straight from the factory, pressed no buttons and then started it and drove away. This is why you have to turn Stop/Start OFF rather than ON for example.

What is bad in the test is that it doesn’t legislate for emissions with AC on, ‘Sport’ modes etc – the US test does have an AC on component, but currently the EU test doesn’t. I believe that will come in with the new regs.

Where things like ECO mode do help is that the manufacturer can claim credits towards their overall fleet CO2 target if they implement ‘CO2 reducing features’ in their vehicles. Where this gets stupid is that you can claim these credits even if a driver may never use it.

Ladies & Gents,

Just wanted to clear a few things up regarding this situation as there is a lot of mis-information floating around (in the media/piblic in general, not necessarily on STW).

Briefly, my credentials are that I am a calibration engineer in the auto industry – my direct coutnerpart at VW would have been the one implementing (and now fixing) the defeat device in the ECU strategy.

Interesting point about the US test v the EU test, as I understand it the EU is more focused on Co2 – hence why Diesels are so popular in Europe.

As quite a few people have pointed out already, the EU tests focus on CO2 emissions, which is primarily a petrol engine pollutant

CO2 is NOT legislated in the European emissions test (or the US one). CO2 is legislated by an overall fleet average, but it is not a requirement for a singular vehicle to hit a CO2 target. The EMS will be calibrated to hit a CO2 target, but this can be anything the manufacturer desires – however this would be the value that determines the tax band in the UK. Perhaps a subtle, but an important distinction.

I’m thinking that in a few weeks there’s going to be more revelations about a petrol defeat device to reduce CO2

Very doubtful. In the simplest terms a gasoline emissions test is pretty easy to pass. As long as you get a good amount of heat down the exhaust and light the cat off quickly then jobs a good-un. HOW you get the cat lit off quickly is the tricky bit without hitting CO limits, but as it’s such a tiny portion of the test there wouldn’t really be any point in having a defeat device as it has absolutely no bearing on real-world driving (by the time you’ve set off, the cat will have lit off).

Various quotes about CO2 increasing

Sadly, the easiest way to get the NOx levels down will almost certainly increase CO2. The simplest method is just to crack the EGR valve open slightly further. This will bring NOx down quite quickly, but the way the EGR is calibrated is on a NOx/CO2 (and PM) curve so if one goes one way, the other one must go the other way. As to how much this will be I’m not sure without knowing the engine/EMS. However the chances are if they go this way then it probably will.

Various quotes on the EU test cycle

One thing that most people are correct on is that the EU test cycle is crap. The industry thinks it is crap as well. When the WLTC test comes in, it is a much more realistic drive cycle (similar to the US FTP cycle) which will help, but there is also a real world driving element – this is actually on road rather than a ‘representative’ cycle and with portable emissions equipment. This will be a great help in getting cars to actual emit low emissions in every day driving.

Those are some of the main bits I wanted to clear up, feel free to fire any questions this way (might not know all of them, I am mainly a gasoline cal engineer, but will try!).

Or White Horse – but I’d always go for The Cricketers as a first choice. Food is great, good friendly atmosphere, good beer. Sorted.

Definitely the Cricketers

The issue is that VW cheated not necessarily the means by which they cheated. VW have used a defeat device to falsify their figures, other manufacturers are undoubtedly upto similar shinannigans but via different means. I remember something about BMW and where in the system they chose to measure emissions, so selectively choosing where they placed the sensor to get the best possible results.

That’s not actually possible – EU and U.S. (and every other emissions legislation test) are sampled from the tailpipe – there isn’t a way of placing the sensor somewhere better.

Reading the details of this, I think VW will be the ONLY manufacturer that will be found using a “defeat device”.
No doubt others will have performed various other optimisations and made use of (legal) loopholes in the testing resulting in higher emissions, but I suspect none of them are illegal.

This a thousand times. Working in both diesel and petrol emissions calibration I’ve calibrated engines for a lot of manufacturers, some mentioned above and can guarantee that none of them have had defeat devices intended to run an entirely different calibration in real world driving than an emissions test. I wouldn’t lie and say that the calibration isnt biased towards the emissions running area, but if you drive the car in that speed load envelope then it will be just as clean as it would be in the test.

The U.S. test is actually pretty representative and so if you have a car that passes Tier II emissions it will probably be pretty clean in real world driving. European test is rubbish and needs to get changed quickly – hopefully this will all be a catalyst (pun mildly intended) to make that happen sooner.

(Edited for missing a quote mark…)

I was in this situation when I bought – I had something like 6 addresses over the last 2 years due to various work things. All I did was make sure that I was on the electoral roll (as stated above),be honest about how many places I’d lived at and include details to the lender/broker about why the number of addresses. Wasn’t any issue at all for me. I’d just make sure you get on the electoral roll (bear in mind it can take up to 3 mo tha to appear) and should be good to go.

It does have a comment about supporting data in the text so hopefully that will be there otherwise it does seem a little pointless.

I’ve put in a backing – the magsafe on a Macbook is a great idea and having it on a phone seems a good idea too. Surprised Apple hadn’t done it themselves to be honest.

Another one for Carreg Cennen – you can incorporate a great walk in to it as well

Agree with all the above – making space in front of you is the best way to react (and as mentioned, the act of slowing them down more is just an added amusement).

However, the other night on the M40 when I had a BMW roar up to my rear bumper whilst I was performing a legitimate overtaking maneavure at about 75 – i may or not have made use of a large amount of the 550hp I had to keep up with him as he tried to overtake (before realising I was being a moron myself and slowing back down – good fun though!)

The Samsung is fantastic – definitely go for that. Check out the What Hifi Review of it (and any others to be honest).

Slightly biased as I have one myself, but it really is superb.

During University summer holidays I had a 2 day temp job working at a milk bottling plant whilst waiting to start a summer job with an engineering firm. Was asked on day 1 kick out if I could give a lift home to another lad who lived nearby – no probs at all.

We were chatting on the way back and I asked what he did outside of bottling milk. Apparently he was a police special constable. Fair enough I thought – good on him. He was apparently in the traffic division of the special constables. Hmmm, not sure there is one I was thinking (correct me if I’m wrong on that assumption). Apparently the car he drove for it was a Vauxhall Vectra. With a 1000hp engine. And – in his words- “two times F1 chips” installed on the engine. It could do 200mph.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that may not be entirely true…

Hmm….missed the metal bit; the B&Ws may be a bit warm for that – they have great low end, but don’t have the usual scooped EQ and so the midrange is VERY rich which can overpower some music a bit. They are still stunning to listen to though. For general Indie stuff they’d be great.

B&W P3? Looks good, sound amazing. On ear, rather than over ear, but very comfy and surprisingly good sound isolation.

Whilst threshold braking is indeed the fastest way to stop, the instructor was probably correct in saying that as 99% of the people attending the course would more than likely just plough into the back of the car in front if they had to stop in an emergency and tried threshold braking. Whilst it isn’t the most hallenging technique in the world, to truly stop quicker than a modern ABS unit on a car with decent tyres, you have to get it absolutely perfect and in a real emergency, with no prior training, that just isn’t going to happen. Modern car; just stamp on the middle pedal and let it sort itself out. Ditto with stability control etc. unless you are a driving God (well, this is STW….) then 999/1000 the car will stop better than you can. And in pretty much any condition. And with steering control.

No easter is where it is because this is the time that [christians believe] the Romans killed jesus.

…which was at the end of the Passover Celebration…

Best bedside/reading light I’ve found so far is a by product of having a Philips ‘wake-up’ light. The light is nice and diffused so you don’t have to worry about what angle the lamp is etc. The light also goes redder when you dim it which is nice on your eyes before turning the light out. Even if you never used the wake-up function its still by far the best lamp out there. In my opinion.

Keynote is also now available cross-platform via icloud.com – it has a presentation mode so theoretically you wouldn’t even have to export to a .ppt. No idea how good it is, but that is a possible workaround.

Not sure what your thought of ‘modest’ prices is, but a NAD 3020 is about £400 and would be perfect. It also has a great DAC in it so if you listen to mostly digital music then this is what you want.

My understanding of isofix is that it is not necessarily safer than a correctly-fitted seatbelt child seat, but the difference is that it is much easier to fit a conventional child seat incorrectly.

I think this is the key bit – IsoFix isn’t inherently safer, but easier to ensure it is consistently safe compared to a seatbelt based restraint

Wow – brilliant responses folks; lots to try out!
Cheers,

LoOking myself at the moment for the same sort of thing. As others have saiD, on something Reasonably decent you will get 3D and Smart whether you like it or not so just find a TV wiTh the best image quality and go from there.

4k wise, there is basically no native content currently and the ups sling I’ve seen is not hugely different to a decent 1080p set. If all you watch is good quality (I.e uncompressed such as Blu-Ray etc rather than streamed) 1080p content through a good player then a 4k set May produce some great images. If you watch a reasonable amount of SD TV or DVDs then the upscaling difference will not be noticeable – just too little original information to try and magically make into a crazy resolution.

My thoughts anyway.

Yeah, I thought that about Lucy – enjoyed it up until the last 15mins…and then it just went a bit rubbish…

Guardians of the Galaxy is a good shout as is the Avengers (if you haven’t already seen it) – both perfect mixes of fun, not-taking-themselves-too-seriously-I’m-looking-at-you-Transformers-series, action to just watch and not massively need to think about.

As above, just rent one. Handful of pounds for a week and will be warmer and much more comfortable than wearIn a beanie and a bike helmet.

The main problem with religion people – is the belief of any single group that their religion is views are right and everyone else is wrong!

Live and let live – beautifully simple philosophy with really complicated implications for everyone

Sorted.

Yes, absolutely – the main thing we are told is that the only thing you can control is your own car; so make sure that it is driven and positioned correctly and safely, and if needs be use it to ‘force’ others to give you margin (in a safe manner).