pedals

More problems may be lurking for Toyota. Speaking at an event in San Francisco on Monday, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak waxed eloquent about a "very scary" problem with his 2010 Toyota Prius.

Wozniak was speaking at Discovery Forum 2010 when he went off topic for a few minutes and spoke about problems with his 2010 Toyota Prius.

"I don't get upset and teed off at things in life, except computers that don't work right," was his segue into the Toyota comments. Then he said he had been trying to get through to Toyota and … Read more

FRANKFURT--Continental AG is working on an accelerator pedal that helps drivers reduce fuel consumption and cut carbon dioxide emissions without requiring a distracting light or an annoying sound.

The German supplier's Accelerator Force Feedback Pedal already helps reduce rear-end collisions by applying back force to the accelerator or vibrating the pedal to encourage the driver to slow down if there is danger of an accident.

Now Continental is testing whether the so-called active pedal can do better than lights on the instrument panel or a noise to help people drive more economically.

"The first studies show that using … Read more

When you're the host city for international climate change negotiations, using energy-efficient LED lights on the Christmas tree apparently isn't enough.

The traditional Christmas tree in Copenhagen's City Hall Square will be powered by people, rather than a distant power plant. The square has been equipped with 15 bicycles which, when pedaled, light up the 700 LED bulbs on the tree.

The 17-meter-high tree went up on Sunday during an opening ceremony in which Saint Nicholas climbed a fire truck ladder to the top of the tree and lit fireworks. Even during the ceremony, the lights were … Read more

I didn't imagine there was much room for innovation in USB-recording interfaces, but at the 2009 NAMM show--the annual convention for buyers and sellers of professional music gear (read: music gearhead paradise)--a couple of companies introduced some new takes on this very prosaic, but necessary, piece of gear.

For the uninitiated: A recording interface is the bridge between your musical output and your computer. You attach it to the computer, then plug your instrument (or multiple instruments, or output of a mixing board) into it, and voila. There are countless types of interfaces at all levels of price and complexity, but for home musicians who just want a quick way to get their musical ideas down on their hard drives, an inexpensive USB interface is the way to go. M-Audio is probably the best-known brand at this level, although Tascam and Edirol (part of Roland) are somewhat common as well.

… Read more

Ever had one of those days where you're just not motivated to get any work done? You're sitting there with a ton of projects due, but you just can't pull yourself away from whatever game you're trying to run on your work computer.

Now, I could say that you should probably get your priorities straight and start taking your job more seriously, but screw that. No, you should own the half-assed effort you're putting into your career.

Just don't get caught. The best way to not get caught is to not screw off. The … Read more

Nissan Motor Company on Monday announced a new system that calculates the most fuel efficient rate of acceleration and pushes the gas pedal back against the driver's lead foot, according to the Associated Press. This new system, dubbed "ECO Pedal," will be available next year and, according to Nissan, can help drivers improve fuel efficiency by 5 to 10 percent, according to AP story.

If you're thinking what we're thinking, that the ECO Pedal has potential to compromise safety in the name of fuel efficiency, you'll be glad to know that Nissan is giving … Read more

Talk about serendipity. Just yesterday Crave posted items on workstation fitness equipment and manually cranked chargers, and now there's a product that combines both concepts.

This pedal-charging device from Japan is like the under-desk "Power Stepper" but does it one better: Not only will it fulfill the forced laborer's daily fitness quota, but Gizmodo says it will also produce enough electricity to power mobile phones, media players, or any number of other gadgets. Just don't let your taskmaster boss find out about it, or he may make battery levels part of your performance review.

There have been many times in recent months that we thought this whole mania over Guitar Hero was getting out of hand--or, in this case, foot.

SlashGear says there's now an accessory that "actually gives you the opportunity to use your foot for star power and your whammy bar." The pedals work only with PlayStation 2 systems but, at the rate things are going, it probably won't be long before they're expanded to meet demand.

For now, they'll go perfectly with Spotswood's drum computers.

There are few more beautiful sounds in the world than a pedal-steel guitar played by a competent musician. I once played in a band with a pedal steel player, and tried to figure it out myself. Couldn't do it--and I'm almost always able to get something reasonable sounding out of almost any instrument you put in front of me. It's not just the way the pedals work, but also the way you have to rest the slide against the strings to create the notes.

This blog entry explains how it works. More sensible than the Mellotron, at … Read more