Wired’s Louise Matsakis did what no other journalist could: break the story on Facebook’s forced malware scans

24.02.2018/09.28

With how widespread Facebook’s false malware accusations were—Facebook itself claims millions were “helped” by them in a three-month period—it was surprising how no one in the tech press covered the story. I never understood why not, since it was one of many misdeeds that made Facebook such a basket case of a website. You’d think […]

Why the next Holden Commodore will have a traditional boot

01.12.2016/13.24

Above: The Holden Commodore SS-V, facing its last year of manufacture. The current wisdom appears to be that when the Holden Commodore VF leaves production in 2017, it’ll be replaced by the liftback version of the Opel Insignia B. After all, the only big sedan Ford Australia’s offering in place of the now-defunct Falcon is […]

Volkswagen’s scandal won’t spread to other German car groups

24.09.2015/14.50

If you want a humorous take on what happened at Volkswagen this week, the above video sums it all up. During my 2010 mayoral campaign, I noted that if New Zealand did not diversify its economy to have more of a focus on technology, there could be a problem. Relying on primary products (I didn’t […]

Alarm für Cobra 11 changes direction again, with Daniel Roesner as Paul Renner

18.08.2015/10.26

Poor Vinzenz Kiefer. The co-star of Alarm für Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, which commemorates its 20th anniversary next year, will be written out of the show, and not by his choice. Since the departure of Tom Beck as Ben Jäger a few years ago, the producers of the long-running German action series decided to […]

A year of random thoughts: 2014 in review

29.12.2014/12.05

For the last few years, I’ve looked back at the events of the year in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. (In fact, in 2009, I looked back at the decade.) Tumblr’s the place I look at these days for these summaries, since it tends to have my random thoughts, ones complemented by very little critical thinking. They […]

The demise of Auto Katalog, and little to ﬁll the void

10.10.2014/04.40

It’s sad to read the news that Motor-Presse Stuttgart will not publish the Auto Katalog annual this year. That means last year’s, the 57th, could have been the ultimate edition. There are complaints on Amazon.de, and I was all ready to buy a copy myself—typically I would have an order put in through Magnetix […]

Be stress-free

13.04.2013/03.32

If you feel stressed out, Nivea comes to the rescue with this great new product. I can see it being a huge hit. Good on the Germans for their innovation. (Photographed by Snjezana Bobič and first published on her Facebook.) You may also like A year of random thoughts: 2014 in review Today’s adventures with […]

Dodge revives the Dart, while UK Delta owners revive Lancia

07.12.2011/11.54

Fiat has announced that it’s going to bring back the Dodge Dart nameplate on a compact sedan based on a stretched Alfa Romeo Giulietta platform for the 2013 model year. This was actually mentioned when Chrysler was going cap-in-hand to the US Government, so it’s not a total surprise. The nameplate, however, is. […]

Facebook hates The Scotsman, and other xenophobic bugs

08.06.2011/05.47

Some very interesting errors on the internet today. Facebook blocked an innocent link about the price of electricity in Scotland, from The Scotsman, because it was deemed ‘abusive or spammy’. Maybe Scottish accents don’t go down well in California. Hang on, didn’t they import Craig Ferguson? I am told by Colvin Inglis on […]

Autocade hits 1,500-model milestone

08.05.2011/13.27

Thanks most recently to the work of Keith Adams, who added numerous important models into Autocade, we now have reached 1,500 models. The 1,500th is a bit mainstream, but after all the odd cars we’ve put in over the last three years, it’s nice to have something almost everyone knows. Audi TT (8J). 2006 to […]