Automakers Could be Rattled by Dropping Fuel Prices

"If we suddenly went to $1 or $1.50 a gallon, that would be really bad" -- GM vice chairman Bob Lutz

It seems as though automakers just can't catch a break these days. The rocky economy and credit crunch resulted in a horrible month for auto sales in September. Every single automaker posted sales losses for the month. Even perennial overachiever Toyota witnessed a sales decline of 31.8% while Chevrolet and Ford witnessed drops of 11.2% and 33.8% respectively.

Compounding the dreadful state of the auto market were the record high fuel prices witnessed over the past six months. In May, we saw the Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota Camry surpass the Ford F-150 in sales as Americans scrambled for more fuel efficient vehicles.

In late June, General Motors suspended the development of its next generation full-size pickups and SUVs. The company also announced plans to close four of its truck plants by the end of 2010 in order to focus on small vehicles like the upcoming Chevrolet Cruze.

Ford also felt pressure from lagging truck sales and idled its Dearborn truck plant and announced plans to convert its Cuautitlan Assembly Plant in Mexico -- which currently builds full-size trucks -- to build the sub-compact Fiesta.

So one would think that all is well now -- the automakers saw the changing trend in consumer demand, so they pivoted. Well, it's not quite that easy according to the Los Angeles Times.

With fuel prices now dropping at record levels -- 35 cents in two weeks -- auto manufacturers are wondering if they made the right move to make drastic changes to the lineups/production levels. "Do you hope for gas prices to go down so you can sell a lot of trucks again, or do you hope for them to remain high so you can justify your investment in fuel economy," questioned auto industry analyst Aaaron Bragman.

Outspoken GM vice chairman Bob Lutz seemed quite worried about the sudden change of events. "We may hate high fuel prices, but they've been driving us in the right direction when it comes to fuel economy. If we suddenly went to $1 or $1.50 a gallon, that would be really bad."

GM and Ford announced their production changes when gasoline was forecasted to top $5 a gallon in the near future.

Toyota too has cut production of its full-size Tundra pickup in response to sharply lower demand and dropped plans to introduce a diesel variant of the truck. However, Toyota spokesman John Hanson said that the company would be able to adjust to customer demand should the need arise, "If consumers start demanding trucks, we think we can still make as many Tundra pickups as they need."

This is most definitely a turbulent time in the auto industry. Plunging profits and falling sales sometimes call for desperate measures. Just over the weekend, it was announced that GM and Chrysler are in talks to merge, while Ford is considering selling its 33.4% stake in Mazda. One thing is certain, however, this is just the beginning of a huge shakeup in the automotive landscape.

DailyTech - Automakers Could be Rattled by Dropping Fuel Prices

NASA Draws Plan to Revive Hubble Space Telescope

NASA engineers are finalizing plans to resuscitate the ailing Hubble Space Telescope, which has been unable to beam home its trademark iconic images of the universe for weeks due to equipment failure.

Hubble engineers at the telescope's mission control center in Greenbelt, Md., have spent the last few weeks since

the Sept. 27 failure of the orbital observatory's main data transmission channel reviewing procedures to switch to a backup system, with a final center meeting set for today. Mission engineers also met Thursday discuss the plan, with top NASA officials expected to give a final review on Tuesday.

"We are still marching forward in our process," said Ed Campion, a spokesperson at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which oversees Hubble operations. "Right now, I would characterize the things that came out of that meeting yesterday as positive and we're planning on moving forward."

Hubble's science silence stems from the loss of the Side A channel in a device called a Control Unit/Science Data Formatter, which failed for good last month after 18 years of service since the space telescope's launch in 1990. There is a backup, Side B, but switching to that channel is an arduous process that includes moving five separate systems to the same string as well.

The failure forced NASA to delay plans to launch seven astronauts to Hubble aboard the space shuttle Atlantis on one last service call on the orbital observatory. The shuttle was slated to launch on Oct. 14, but will now lift off no earlier than early 2009.

"They are taking a very detailed look at everything that is involved in making this switchover to Side B," Campion said.

If top NASA officials sign off on the systems switch on Tuesday, engineers could begin the Side B activation as early as Wednesday morning, he added.

"It's a pretty lengthy process," Campion said. "They've described this as being like a 40-some-hour process."

Meanwhile, a separate team of engineers is continuing work to study a spare for the failed data formatter that has been in storage at Goddard for the last two decades.

NASA wants to ensure the spare unit is spaceworthy and in working order before including it aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to be added among the other upgrades planned for Hubble's last overhaul. The agency is expected to brief the public on its Hubble repair plan in a televised briefing on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT).

Commanded by veteran astronaut Scott Altman, Atlantis' astronaut crew plans to perform five back-to-back spacewalks to install new cameras, replace aging batteries and broken gyroscopes, upgrade Hubble's guidance system and add a docking ring to the space telescope. The astronauts also plan to attempt to fix instruments never designed for in-space repairs and hope to extend Hubble's mission through at least 2013.

With Atlantis' launch to Hubble delayed to next year, NASA has turned its attention to the next shuttle flight - STS-126 aboard Endeavour. That mission is due to launch toward the International Space Station on Nov. 14 to deliver new life support equipment and supplies designed to allow the orbiting laboratory to expand to larger, six-person crews.

SPACE.com -- NASA Draws Plan to Revive Hubble Space Telescope

New Xbox Experience coming Nov. 19

Finally on Nov. 19, you can kiss that old Xbox experience goodbye as you welcome the shiny New Xbox Experience, and all the Avatars, group chatting and other new features it brings in tow. That's worldwide, by the way.

We're hearing this and a lot more in our TGS 2008 Microsoft press briefing liveblog. Come join us.

New Xbox Experience coming Nov. 19 - Joystiq

Terrafugia Transition, world's first flying car, to ship late next year

Flying cars are all hat, no cattle. But wait. What's this? A flying car that will actually exist, roll on real streets and highways and then take off into the wild blue? You betcha. Pony up your $194,000, and by the end of next year you'll be cruising skyward in a 1300-pound Terrafugia Transition and then parking it in your garage when you're done. It's more like a drivable airplane, but we'd rather call it a flying car.

Out back is a push prop, and the front canard does double duty as a wing and bumper. Its gas engine will push it over a range of 460 miles through the air. Look at the cool way the wings fold up into a compact package, making the cute flying machine a street-legal road rocket.

We've been hearing about this Terrafugia Transition for ages, so this is great news that it's actually going to be shipping to paying customers. The first flying prototype is scheduled to take off next month. Nice. Covert that prop to a jet engine and give it vertical takeoff capabilities, and we'll be living in the future.

DVICE: Terrafugia Transition, world's first flying car, to ship late next year

Opera Releases 9.6 Browser

The latest offering from Opera stacks up nicely against Firefox, IE

Opera made waves earlier this year, releasing its 9.5 "Kestrel" version of its desktop browser.  The Norwegian company has grown a small but loyal contingent of users over the years and continues to provide a solid alternative to an Internet Explorer versus Firefox world.

Also known for its Wii and Nintendo DS browsers, Opera today unleashed the 9.6 iteration of its desktop browser on the world.  The browser is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows computers.  It comes in 38 languages, including for the first time Indonesian, Ukrainian, Estonian, Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil, and, like its competitors, is free of cost.

The new browser offers up many new features as well as some older popular ones.  Among the most anticipated new features is the Opera Link tool, which allows you to synchronize your browser's bookmarks and preferences from any location.

Other more subtle improvements are also welcome, such as new visual previews of RSS feeds, which will let you see what you're subscribing too.  For users who work on older machines, Opera's newly optimized "low bandwidth mode" for its mail utility will offer superior performance.  The email client also has new message prioritizing features.

Overall the speed has also been turned up from version 9.5.  The speed loading pages with scripts is very competitive compared to Firefox 3, Google's new Chrome browser, and the beta of Internet Explorer 8.

Opera Software's CEO Jon von Tetzchner was enthusiastic about the new release, stating, "We believe in making the Web available for people everywhere. The people who use Opera need it to adapt to their needs and we’re proud to continue that tradition today. Our improved e-mail client is now the ideal communication tool. Opera Link gives you more flexibility to take your personal browsing identity with you to any computer. The new Opera 9.6 gives more people around the world new reasons to choose Opera."

One possible improvement that still remains to be implemented is support for Firefox add-ons.  One perpetual reader comment about the Opera browser is that they love the browser and its features, but could not go without Firefox's valuable add-ons such as NoScript and AdBlock.
Still, for a basic browsing experience Opera offers a solid alternative to the bigger names in the browser business.  To check it out for yourself, go here.

DailyTech - Opera Releases 9.6 Browser

RockBand.com updated, custom merch now available

The Rock Band website has received a rather massive overhaul. Navigation has been streamlined, a catalog of every RB song has been added (each with a written description) and the long-awaited Merch Booth section has opened up, allowing you to take pictures of virtual band and purchase merchandise -- buttons, stickers, posters and shirts.

Perhaps the coolest addition is the ability to order 6" figures of your Rock Band 2 characters. As of this writing, the servers are being hammered, so we've unfortunately been unable to even preview what The Blueberry Muffintops look like in miniature, plastic form. Let us know if you've had any luck and, please, feel free to show off your band photos in the comments below.

RockBand.com updated, custom merch now available - Joystiq

Spacecraft Reveals Stunning New Views of Mercury

A NASA probe has begun beaming back stunning new images from its successful second flyby of Mercury, the planet closest to the sun.

NASA's MESSENGER probe captured never-before-seen views of the Mercury during its

encounter on Monday. The spacecraft zipped past Mercury for the second time this year and used the planet's gravity to adjust its path as it continues en route to become the first probe to orbit the planet in March 2011.

One new image shows large patterns of ray-like lines extending southward across much of the planet surface from a young, newly-imaged crater. The previously-imaged Kuiper crater and others craters also have similar webs of lines radiating outward.

Another raw picture represents the highest-resolution color image ever taken of Mercury's surface, and came just 9 minutes after the spacecraft's closest approach to Mercury at 4:43 a.m. EDT (0845 GMT). Details include a large impact basin with an 83-mile (133-km) diameter, named Polygnotus for a Greek painter from the 5th century B.C.

Yet a third first-time image came from MESSENGER's approach to the crescent-shaped Mercury, and is one of 44 pictures taken as part of a mosaic. Scientists hoped to collect nine image mosaics total in order to add up to 30 percent of never-before-seen regions of the planet's surface.

The second Mercury flyby of Oct. 6 comes after a first flyby on Jan. 14, which looked at a different side of the planet.

"When these data have been digested and compared, we will have a global perspective of Mercury for the first time," said Sean Solomon, MESSENGER's principal investigator at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Launched in August 2004, MESSENGER — short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging — is the first spacecraft in 33 years to greet Mercury up close since NASA's earlier Mariner 10 mission of the 1970s. The new probe is slated for a third Mercury flyby in 2009 before finally settling into orbit on March 18, 2011. MESSENGER's $446 million mission is expected to spend about a year studying Mercury.

SPACE.com -- Spacecraft Reveals Stunning New Views of Mercury