Toyota Mechanical Failures and Electronic Transmissions

Akio Toyoda testified before congress today, claiming recent failures were due to floor mats and pedals again, but claims the fix includes pedal replacement, floormat replacement, and electronic reprogramming. They did not directly say that electronic failures were a cause, only a consumer concern. Nice.  Two issues come to mind…

 

New Discount P/S Cameras! A Review.

My old Canon 4 MP ELPH finally died of CCD failure, and it was time to look for a replacement. The timing couldn’t be worse, however. With more items to sell, I need pics- and now. But, with horrible noise problems and rushed software from the recent megapixel wars, reviews of current cameras were pretty dim. What’s worse, it seems some reviewers were beginning to simply accept the diminishing capabilities of the new point-and-shoot cameras to focus-on the “good” parts. Everyone seems so enamored with the megapixel count that they forget picture quality and the ability to actually capture a photo (something amazingly missing from recent cameras). I know 10 years is a long time to ask of my old ELPH, but why couldn’t it have survived a year longer?

So, with time to waste while waiting for an oil-change, I went to play with the camera display at the end of aisle 200 in the local super-mega-happy-mart. Looking at P/S cameras having from 10-12MP and prices from $80-$120, I found many surprises. Both good and bad.

 

Working Checkbook Spreadsheet. A Rare Bird?

Reading the paper today, I noticed a complaint about a very basic issue- balancing our checkbooks. More specifically, people having trouble are looking to the computer for some friendly program to help. Though this should be a pretty simple problem, it seems finding a solution is difficult. It was for me, until I stumbled across a solution many years ago.