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ABCs of Car Tech: Safety tech

You have heard gear heads brag about their car's horsepower, handling, and modifications, but when was the last time you've heard anyone brag about their new whip's crash-worthiness?

This week, we'll be taking a look at the unsung heroes of the automotive industry. Some of this hardware could save your life in the event of a crash, while other elements are there to keep you from dinging up your paint job in the first place. That's right. This week, I'll be explaining passenger safety tech.

Seat belts and SRS: Supplemental restraint system

Seat belts are the oldest bit of passenger safety tech and are basically fabric straps that keep you from bouncing around the cabin in the event of an accident. In the earliest days of motoring, you got a two-point lap belt and padded dashboard, but in the 80s, we saw widespread use of three-point safety belts for all passengers.

Working in tandem with the modern seat-belt system is the "supplemental restraint system," which is basically a technical term for airbags. In the beginning, only the front passengers got airbags--usually located in the steering wheel and dashboard. Modern airbags are triggered by sensors in the car that measure vehicle deceleration. When a car runs into something, it decelerates at a terrific rate, triggering the system's deployment. Gasses from a small chemical explosion are captured by the nylon fabric airbag, creating a cushion of air in as little as 8/100ths of a second. I can tell you from experience that the airbag slap stings, but it's definitely softer than the steering wheel.… Read more

ABCs of Car Tech: Talk like a tuner

If you've ever tried to join a conversation on an enthusiasts' forum about modifying your car for better performance, it may have seemed to you that everyone was speaking a foreign, abbreviation-based language.

What's the difference between NA and FI? I/H/E? What's that? Should you just add more NOS? If so, do I pour it straight into my FMIC? Some of you may already know the answers to these questions, but many are probably staring blankly at these seemingly random groupings of letters.

In this week's edition of the ABCs of Car Tech, I'… Read more

ABCs of Car Tech: Back to basics

The vehicle above is an FWD PHEV with a DOHC ICE rated at 98BHP and 87MPGe. Some of you know exactly what all of that means, but many will need a translation.

Welcome to the first installment of a new feature that I like to call the ABCs of Car Tech. Here I will be explaining the whats, whys, and hows of car technology. This week, I'm starting by defining some basic and common abbreviations used when talking about cars.… Read more

Yahoo bolsters news content with ABC partnership

NEW YORK--Yahoo and ABC News announced a news distribution pact here today, with some bonus teamwork thrown into the mix.

ABC News will distribute some of its content via Yahoo News, and the deal kicked off today with the airing of "Good Morning America." While that may sound ho-hum at first, the companies said they will blend their news-gathering divisions in several ways.

According to Ross Levinsohn, executive vice president of the Americas at Yahoo, the news departments from each organization will work together on developing content for Yahoo as well as for ABC News sites. ABC will … Read more

ABC previews new TV series as free Kindle e-book

You might not think of the Kindle as a marketing vehicle for a new TV show, but ABC is promoting its new TV series "Revenge" with an e-reader twist: you can download the pilot script for free on your Kindle and a code at the end will allow you to watch the pilot online before the show hits the airwaves.

Amazon reviewers are mixed on the new series, which features the tawny Hamptons as its setting. And some are finding it a little awkward to read a script rather than, well, a book.

Reviewer kacunnin writes:

The most interesting thing about reading the script for the pilot episode of the ABC prime time soap "Revenge" is checking out the differences between what was originally scripted and what was actually put on film. Since the free Kindle version of the script includes a link to the full-length pilot, readers get a rare chance to see how a television show is made and what kinds of changes happen between the writing and the filming.

This little Kindle promotion probably won't determine whether "Revenge" turns into a hit or not, but it's definitely an intriguing PR stunt that other networks may use in the future to market new shows. In 2009, Showtime released the pilot script for "Nurse Jackie" as a free Kindle e-book, but today there are far more Kindles and tablets (that run the Kindle app) in consumers hands.

(Via Beyond Black Friday blog) … Read more

Schedule superhero

Trying to create an employee schedule--especially when many of your employees are part time or have limited availability--can be an especially infuriating puzzle. ABC Roster is an easy-to-use program that can take at least some of the hassle out of this important managerial task.

The program's interface is attractive and fairly intuitive, with an optional wizard that can walk you through the steps of creating a schedule for the first time. We were surprised by the number of features that ABC Roster has; you can assign skill levels to each employee and set the minimum average skill level per … Read more

Inventory impresario

We encounter a lot of programs that are designed for business use, and many of them are so amateurish in quality that they have no place in a professional setting. ABC Inventory Software, however, is the real deal. This inventory manager is complex, but only because it packs an incredible number of features. If you take the time to master it, it will repay you with a comprehensive system for keeping up with your inventory.

The program's interface is sleek and attractive. It runs on Microsoft Office Access, and it has the familiar look of an Office application. There … Read more

The 404 819: Where everybody knows your name (podcast)

We had a quick olfactory disaster this morning, but we cleared the air and can get on with our regularly scheduled programming. There's more Google news following yesterday's I/O developers conference, and this time the search giant introduces Chromebooks and several new apps to its Chrome Web store.

In other Google news, the company is suffering from a smear campaign in the tech media that sources have traced back to Facebook, of all companies. Spurned from competitive tension in the social-networking space, the two companies are going head to head over growing privacy concerns.

You might've noticed a lack of audio and video voicemails lately, and that's because we haven't received any! If you want to make it on the show, let us know your comments/feedback/criticisms by calling into 1-866-404-CNET (2638) or record a video on YouTube and send the link to the404(at)cnet(dot)com.

The 404 Digest for Episode 819

Google debuts Chromebooks. Angry Birds for Chrome already hacked, unlocking all levels. Glympse.com lets people follow your every move for a given amount of time. Facebook hired a PR Firm to plant anti-Google stories in the media. Let's get a 404 ad on TV! Loser of the week: Mom gives Botox to 8-year-old daughter.

Episode 819 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

If Hulu loses CEO, who would want that gig?

Toast.

That's what Jason Kilar's career at Hulu is supposed to be soon if all the media speculation is correct.

Hulu is controlled by broadcast networks, NBC, ABC, and Fox, but that didn't stop Kilar, Hulu's CEO, from writing in a blog post Wednesday that TV is cluttered with too many ads and he predicted that prices and profit margins for the TV sector would decline. He even lamented the tendency of "incumbents" (read: TV execs) to fight change. Much of his post was about what Hulu needed to offer consumers if it is … Read more