gdp's Comments

DealerRefresh : Best of DealerRefresh 2010

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:02:16 +0000

The best resource for automotive dealers to learn about new marketing and online marketing strategies, period.

Fixing Cars : CTS Pedal VS. Denso Pedal - Image - Toyota Recall

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:24:43 +0000

There are lots of independent systems integrated, drive by wire - whether it's steering, throttle, etc. means there are going to be more and more corner cases that can't be recreated in test environments no matter how sophisticated the resources. There are just too many variables and each system is independently tested but it's when you bring all these systems together that cause weird issues. People will just have to be much more diligent about reporting the issues to the dealer, to the extent that dealers should offer rewards for people who are among the first to report a problem that results in a recall.

Fixing Cars : CTS Pedal VS. Denso Pedal - Image - Toyota Recall

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:19:16 +0000

The 2011 Chevy Volt has drive by wire steering

Younger Toyota's Blog : Pure Scion Car Show

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:38:28 +0000

Younger Scion is hosting the Pure Scion Car Show on Aug 14th, register here!

TechCrunch : The Third Disruptive Wave #tcdisrupt

Mon, 24 May 2010 05:09:34 +0000

We've reached the tipping point, things can instantly scale to enormous levels causing much disruption, so much that even cash can't be assembled fast enough to act on it. So what happens, cash becomes a limiting factor in real progress and what stands as a barrier to real innovation. We're no longer going to need cash if it's based on a flawed system, banks.

TechCrunch : The Third Disruptive Wave #tcdisrupt

Mon, 24 May 2010 04:59:59 +0000

There is no doubt a huge shift happening and it's exciting to see such disruption happening because that's when the good stuff rises to the top. I had a great discussion here in Seattle with one of the investors in Zynga, and I'd love to have had more time getting into it because the information was, well, as interesting as Google probably was when they started.

Fixing Cars : CTS Pedal VS. Denso Pedal - Image - Toyota Recall

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:36:11 +0000

Thanks, I appreciate the compliments

Fixing Cars : Prius Brake Problems ~ PriusChat Forums Confirmed With Test - Letter Sent

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:35:15 +0000

Have you called your local Toyota dealer?

Feld Thoughts : Web Sites and Books for Novice Programmers

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:53:08 +0000

Another good one to add to Firebug is YSlow - this is extremely valuable if you care about page load times, critical in SEO and UX

Feld Thoughts : Web Sites and Books for Novice Programmers

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:33:37 +0000

My notes from this post: 1. Books are fine for getting the big picture, and to reference as needed. 2. Ruby on Rails will get your prototype up and running very fast. 3. There's no better way to get started than to just start trying it. This reignited my interest in Rails, I need to do this but have very little time. I spent about an hour last night watching a Rails 101 video and its funny how much more I understand today than I did a year ago. I'm convinced that if I just get it setup, and can get an app running on my Macbook Pro then I'll be able to tinker around with apps I need to build. The problem is I've always had issues trying to get a good local development environment setup. I've tried Eclipse, Aptana, and last night I installed Rubymine. I think what's been frustrating has been I've just tried to dive right in and those tools are really powerful, so now I'm going to be a little more careful about setting it up. It would be a real help to have a beginners tutorial on setting up a Rails app on a mac using one of those editors. I've gone through some of the little command line ruby programs, but thats not cool enough, I want to be able to setup the app running on a server with a database. I have ruby code in github so I want to take that and build it on my local machine to start messing around with it.

Feld Thoughts : What Was Day 1 Like?

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:56:19 +0000

When was day 1 approximately? What did you think of your idea on day 1? Big idea, fun project, new hobby? I can trace my idea back to around Jan/Feb 2007, and I didn't come from a tech background was attending Seattle University / Business - at the time and was introduced to a mentor as part of helping me prepare for the Business Plan competition. I was entering my automotive parts company "Detroit Turbo" that I'd been running on the side since 2004 - e-commerce site. While entering the competition I distinctly remember coming up with the idea for TuneyFish right before the business plan competition, and almost wanted to change my entry to the new idea but decided to hold off. My mentor suggested I get on a local email list for Seattle Tech entrepreneurs and I immediately began attending events and meeting people. I also remember the first event I went to and when I asked Gaurav (organizer of Seattle Tech) about how to quickly get my project built. At the time it was "a how-to video website" and the suggestion was to post a project on Elance - it would quickly help me get my idea into some form of prototype. In the meantime I was looking for a tech co-founder, considering I didn't come from this background, and the fact I'd already "fallen in love with my idea". I found consultants and since I had some cash from a previous real estate venture I'd forge ahead and build something to "attract" a co-founder. In the process of working on my idea, I just started thinking about normal ways I would design and build something. So out came the pencil and paper and created what I now consider to be "wire frames" Anyway, as soon as I started on this path I did a lot of "Googling" and seeking out information, didn't know what mySQL was, php, etc. And as I was trying to teach myself the buzzwords so I could mention them at these events, the biggest breakthrough came in that I needed to *see* someone programming. It made me love the "how-to" video idea even more, but I was already way too far down the path to think about how it made money, I just know I needed it badly. So anyway, this is a series I'm planning to follow and participate in because I love stories of how ideas become reality, especially when faced with daunting challenges. I believe that if you have enough passion it'll happen, but if there's one thing I could have done a bit differently it would have been to start coding right off the bat.

Mendelson's Musings : I Want Slower Email

Fri, 9 Apr 2010 03:30:45 +0000

90% of my email replies are ~5 words or less, its made a big difference

TechStars Blog : David Cohen Interviewed about TechStars on Mixergy

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:33:35 +0000

Hi Chris, check out: http://www.seattletechstartups.com/doku.php - theres also events posted here: http://www.seattletechcalendar.com/

Fixing Cars : CTS Pedal VS. Denso Pedal - Image - Toyota Recall

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:09:34 +0000

You have a Denso pedal so it must have been the floor mat entrapment recall. Have you entered your VIN # here: http://www.toyotaownersonline.com/sscinfo?siteid=... It would be interesting to know what that tells you

Fixing Cars : CTS Pedal VS. Denso Pedal - Image - Toyota Recall

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:44:40 +0000

One thing you could look into is the Japanese Keiretsu http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/toyota.htm

Fixing Cars : CTS gas pedal uses a different resin/plastic - Shim Made of metal being installed in CTS pedals

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:11:38 +0000

Hi Mike, Can you provide your background or experience just to give a better idea of your insight? This was taken directly from the Denso website: "DENSO’s accelerator pedal module has specific hysteretic pedal force characteristics (see the graph below), providing the same feeling as mechanical accelerator pedals." So the above statement is incorrect in that the "hysteretic pedal force characteristics DO NOT provide the same feeling as mechanical pedals"?

Fixing Cars : Pontiac Vibe Recall - 2009 2010 Models US Canada - Toyota Recall News

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:39:36 +0000

Hi Dag, Can you describe the way this has happened in both accelerating and decelerating? Is there a MPH that seems to be a common spot in either case to cause the sticking effect?

Fixing Cars : Prius Brake Problems ~ PriusChat Forums Confirmed With Test - Letter Sent

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:37:51 +0000

Hi Diane, What happened after you called the NHTSA? They just said other reports are being called in, but offered no other help?

Fixing Cars : Prius Brake Problems ~ PriusChat Forums Confirmed With Test - Letter Sent

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:30:40 +0000

slow speeds, what MPH exactly?

Fixing Cars : Toyota Recall Diagram - See Images - Diagrams For Dealers

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:29:58 +0000

Jared, Can you explain a few things about the vehicle speed in which this occured? Is it on the freeway at steady throttle, then you let off and its as if you're in cruise control? Or is it during a time when you've needed to accelerate say to pass, or from a light, etc? Are these 5 speed or automatic transmissions?