Have you ever discovered your self in a state of affairs the place communication inside your own home felt like a chore? Maybe your mother has to maintain going upstairs to summon you for dinner, otherwise you often must step out of your room to test some issues along with your roommate. It’s fairly the trouble, is not it? This is the place establishing this DIY home intercom may come in useful. This works like some other intercom on the market — you merely push a button and speak, and your message will robotically be performed within the different linked intercoms.
This Raspberry Pi house intercom leverages the capabilities of the open-source Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software program, Mumble. The setup includes working a Mumble server on a house server to facilitate communication, whereas the Mumble shoppers, which would be the ones sending and receiving messages, are put in in a number of locations. For one, it operates on two Raspberry Pi Zero W boards (although technically, the Mumble consumer for headless Raspberry Pi use is named Talkiepi). Another Mumble consumer runs on a PC, so the voice messages might be heard by a headset. There’s additionally an choice to make use of your Android cellphone as an intercom by merely putting in the Plumble app and connecting to the Mumble server.
Hardware necessities for the challenge are minimal. You’d solely want two audio system and two Adafruit Voice Bonnets, one set for every intercom unit. The bonnets already come outfitted with a built-in microphone, a push-to-talk button, and a speaker connection port.
The Tesla Model Y was Europe’s best-selling automotive in 2023, turning into the primary ever EV to high the chart – and the primary automotive from outdoors of Europe to take action.
On sale since 2020 and constructed within the US, China and Germany, the crossover completed the 12 months with 251,604 items bought, in keeping with figures from trade analyst Jato Dynamics – an increase of 84% over 2022.
Tesla bought some 17,000 extra examples of the Model Y than another automotive, beating the likes of the Dacia Sandero (234,715) and the Volkswagen T-Roc (204,610).
It was additionally the one electric-only mannequin to look within the high 30, because the second-best promoting EV, the Tesla Model 3 saloon, completed thirty second general with 100,883 gross sales.
“The soaring popularity of the Model Y and price cuts across its range helped Tesla record its largest market share since arriving in Europe. Tesla has the right product in the right place at the right time,” stated Jato international analyst Felipe Munoz.
It didn’t finish there for the American EV model: it is now the sixteenth most-registered model in Europe, having surpassed Volvo and Nissan.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen completed the 12 months as soon as once more as Europe’s favorite model, with 1,343,740 vehicles bought, adopted by Toyota with 819,544 and Audi with 730,690.
What in regards to the different vehicles within the high 10? See if any of them shock you beneath…
The high 10 best-selling vehicles in Europe of 2023
Four years on sale and the Tesla Model Y is the best-selling automotive in Europe. Its wholesome vary determine and described efficiency all probably performed an element in its gold medal place, and it was additionally probably helped by a wave of worth cuts firstly of the 12 months. Will it end 2024 because the continent’s high vendor, too?
So shut, but to this point for Dacia. The Sandero has completed in second place for the previous two years, however that’s actually nothing to be ashamed of. Its attraction is bolstered by its distinctive worth for cash, which may have resonated with patrons as the price of residing disaster continues to hit throughout Europe. That it’s additionally a aggressive supermini with a spacious inside and respectable dealing with makes it an particularly compelling purchase.
The Volkswagen T-Roc is all the time a preferred alternative in Europe, and that appears set to proceed for the foreseeable future. It ranked third in 2023, and its gross sales even outnumber these of the venerable Volkswagen Golf. A latest facelift boosted its inside high quality, addressing one of many few criticisms of this well-rounded crossover.
If it ever involves India, it will likely be a fully-built import, probably provided solely within the top-spec GT variant for India
When Ford introduced its sudden exit from the Indian automotive manufacturing scene in September 2021, it had introduced its intent to maintain presence through imported offerings, just like the Mustang Mach-e electrical SUV. Three years later, it appears Ford is evaluating a potential return because the Mustang Mach-e has not too long ago been trademarked in India.
What is the Mustang Mach-e?
Ford entered the EV area within the USA in 2020 by making use of its most iconic moniker, the Mustang, to its newly developed electrical crossover SUV, and referred to as it the Mustang Mach-e. At the time it was positioned as a possible rival to the Tesla Model Y within the model’s dwelling nation. Since then, the Mach-e has been exported to different international locations as properly, together with right-hand-drive markets just like the UK. It continues to be the flagship improvement automobile for Ford EVs with numerous performance-oriented one-offs as properly.
Battery, Range And Performance
The Mustang Mach-e is out there with two battery pack choices and with the selection of rear-wheel-drive or dual-motor all-wheel-drive. Their specs are as follows:
Battery dimension (usable)
72kWh
91kWh
Claimed vary (WLTP)
Up to 470 km
Up to 599 km
Drive kind
RWD/ AWD
RWD/ AWD
Power
269 PS (RWD)/ 315 PS (AWD)
294 PS (RWD)/ 351 PS (AWD), 487 PS (GT)
Torque
430 Nm (RWD)/ 580 Nm (AWD)
430 Nm (RWD)/ 580 Nm (AWD), upto 860 Nm (GT)
In the top-spec Mustang Mach-e GT variant, you get a claimed 0-100kmph time of three.8 seconds.
Features Inside
The Ford electrical SUV, now a number of years outdated, nonetheless has a reasonably trendy cabin. Its star function is the vertically oriented 15.5-inch touchscreen infotainment unit that additionally has an built-in bodily dial within the backside half for adjusting the amount. Other options on supply embody a panoramic glass roof, superior driver assists, a premium sound system and the good thing about each entrance and rear baggage compartments.
Mach-e For India?
If Ford does determine to re-enter the Indian market with fully-built (CBU) imports within the lineup, the Mustang Mach-e is actually on the playing cards. It would probably be provided solely within the top-spec GT model as a well-equipped premium providing with a claimed vary of over 400 km. It may very well be priced round Rs 70 lakh (ex-showroom) as a possible rival to the Volvo C40 Recharge and Kia EV6.
We by no means thought at the present time would ever come once more, however here’s a new Lancia. Stellantis has pledged to maintain all 14 (fourteen!) manufacturers in its huge portfolio following the FCA-PSA merger. That means the Italian marque is getting a brand new probability to restore its severely broken model picture. The 2024 Ypsilon kicks off an extended overdue rebirth.
It can also be Lancia’s first-ever EV, though mild-hybrid variations with gasoline engines will observe. The subcompact hatchback makes use of the identical CMP / eCMP bones because the Peugeot 208 / e-208 however with completely completely different styling inside and outside. Some of the design cues had been first seen final yr on the Pu+Ra HPE Concept that had a little bit of Stratos DNA.
Many followers might surprise if “Ice Road Truckers” will ever return to the small display, and if that have been to occur, would Lisa Kelly be within the forged? It’s no secret that issues on the History Channel sequence weren’t at all times glamorous for Kelly. In 2018, the fact star mentioned in an eye-opening interview with Heavy Duty Trucking that she was advised she was solely employed to be “eye candy” and did not receives a commission by the present for the primary few years. Even although issues bought off to a tough begin, Kelly and the sequence each have come a great distance since their humble beginnings, and she will’t consider it lasted so long as it did. “I don’t know how it went so long. I’m just pleasantly surprised,” she mentioned within the interview. “‘Friends’ was on for 10 seasons, you know?”
While the expertise has clearly had its ups and downs, Kelly hopes this system hasn’t aired its final episode, and it appears she is not against being part of it if it returns. In truth, when she was requested about what is going on on with “Ice Road Truckers” when speaking with Overdrive in 2021, Kelly mentioned, “The show’s been on hiatus for a while and I wish it would come back and I know there’s been talk of it but I feel like this whole COVID thing kind of put a stop on everything which sucks, so I don’t know.” So if a brand new season ever does occur and Kelly will get the decision, it is secure to imagine she may be again behind the wheel and in entrance of the cameras once more.
New autos are costlier than ever. There’s one exception, although: The Jeep Grand Cherokee. In a stunning transfer, Jeep has taken a huge pink pen to the underside line of most Grand Cherokee trim ranges for 2024. You can anticipate a $2,000 year-over-year worth drop on low and midrange trims, a $3,500 low cost for Limited, and at $4,000 minimize for the Summit trim. Step as much as the range-topping Summit Reserve and the value drop is even bigger: $4,595.
That means the costliest Grand Cherokee trim now has a beginning worth beneath $70,000, even after the $1,795 vacation spot cost. It’s value mentioning the identical worth minimize applies to the three-row Summit Reserve, although it clocks in a couple of dollars over $70,000. The worth cuts apply to three-row fashions all through the lineup, in addition to these with a selection of two-wheel or four-wheel drive. The solely Grand Cherokee trims not packing a worth drop are the entry-level Laredo A, and the hybrid 4xe variations.
It’s no secret that fashionable vehicles are extra advanced than ever. By default, meaning fashionable automotive techs have a bevy of methods to examine, diagnose, and restore when issues go improper. One would possibly suppose plugging in a code scanner makes a mechanic’s life carefree, however a brand new examine reveals the other; mechanics undergo appreciable stress. In truth, half wish to stop the enterprise utterly.
That’s the takeaway from a current examine by Wrenchway, which surveyed techs working in a wide range of fields, together with automotive and diesel restore. A small pattern of techs in associated fields similar to auto physique restore had been included, and the examine acquired suggestions from college students in addition to store managers. Wrenchway posed questions on topics starting from pay to day without work, device allowances, advantages, commute occasions, and profession paths. The biggie was whether or not respondents had thought of leaving the trade, to which a whopping 49 % stated sure.
Where does the dissatisfaction come from? According to the examine, stress over pay is the main issue. Physical and psychological calls for accounted for a smaller %, adopted by device prices. Poor administration, lack of respect, and advantages additionally factored. Digging deeper, the examine discovered variations between automotive and diesel-focused techs. Sixty % of auto techs take into consideration quitting versus 45 % within the diesel fold, however each level to pay-related stress because the predominant issue.
This brings us to the controversy of hourly pay versus flat price. In quick, many retailers pay workers a hard and fast price per job, no matter how lengthy it takes. This is a sticking level based on the survey, which discovered 65 % of techs would favor both a straight hourly scale, or an hourly scale with manufacturing bonuses. Nineteen % favored a flat-rate scale with a 40-hour assure, and simply 10 % stated they needed a flat price.
Tool prices and coaching additionally factored. Techs usually should pay for their very own instruments, and with such investments simply topping $10,000, the examine says it limits younger techs seeking to get began within the trade. As for established professionals, maintaining with ever-changing automobile methods requires appreciable coaching. Some retailers pay for that coaching, others do not. So this is not a discipline the place you get a job and easily get to work. Techs are largely accountable for investing their very own money into tools and coaching.
The survey paints a fairly bleak image of a critical industry. We did some fact-checking on our personal to see if anecdotal expertise backs up the information, and sadly, it does. For starters, we discovered no one at automaker dealerships prepared to talk with us, be it managers or mechanics. The people we did converse with are off-the-record, and so they discuss of powerful occasions on this trade. A mechanic primarily based in New Jersey with eight years on the job confirmed he is on the fence about leaving, pointing to pay and stress as huge components.
“I’m not super against salary pay,” he instructed us in an interview. “It puts less stress on technicians and it also shows that there’s some sort of trust between the owner and the technician. That’s a problem; a lot of private shops and dealerships are like revolving doors for technicians. They go in, they’re there for six to eight months, and they’re gone, off to the next job.”
This tech went on to say that if mechanics discover methods to be extra environment friendly on repairs, the flat price is lowered, principally reducing their paycheck. But it does not work the opposite method. If one thing takes longer, the mechanic actually works at no cost.
“They’re making up these repair times and not taking into account locations, like the East Coast where rust is prevalent.”
With regard to belief and respect, we spoke to a device seller within the Southeast who shared an identical story. Having visited restore retailers and mechanics for 10 years in his job, he says it is all about how administration treats their workers.
“I’d say the survey is pretty accurate, being 50/50 wanting to quit,” he stated. “I have one bad dealer that I visit, they had 50 techs a year and a half ago and now they’re down to 20. Good techs are hard to come by, and places that respect them will pay them well to stay. This dealer charges $320 per hour on labor, but for ‘b work’ like brakes or oil changes, the techs basically make $20 an hour.”
On the administration facet, we chatted with a small store proprietor in southwest Michigan who confirmed that discovering good techs is his largest problem.
“I heard from a teacher at a tech school recently, in a class of 50 students, only three or four actually go into their fields when they graduate,” he stated. “So I’m left with training young techs and finding out many don’t want to work hard. Of the employees I have found in the last 10 months or so, more than half left and went into something completely different.”
With automotive expertise evolving on an virtually each day foundation, the examine and our follow-up interviews recommend the world of auto restore must evolve, too. Do you have got any mechanic tales to share? Jump into the feedback; Let the world know what works and what does not on this very important trade.
“Gurren Lagann” is arguably the craziest mecha anime ever created. The present’s flagship robotic, Gurren Lagann, makes use of drills to assault, combines with and empowers different robots, and defies physics on an hourly foundation. However, as highly effective as Gurren Lagann can get, its evil counterpart Lazengann is arguably cooler.
Lazengann is the antithesis of Gurren Lagann, as befitting the mech of the present’s first major antagonist. Whereas Gurren Lagann is cumbersome and ostentatious, Lazengann is glossy, slender, and sinister. To put it one other method, Gurren Lagann appears cool as a result of the mech works exhausting at it, whereas Lazengann appears cool with out even making an attempt.
While appearances play an enormous half in our desire for Lazengann over Gurren Lagann, the true deciding issue is the gulf between capabilities. Technically talking, each mechs have the identical talent units, however Lazengann edges Gurren Lagann out in velocity, sturdiness, and magnificence. Both can sprout drills throughout their our bodies, and Gurren Lagann combines them into one nice huge giga drill, which — thoughts you — continues to be superior.
Lazengann, nonetheless, wins as a result of it makes use of these like whips. Ergo, Lazengann channels the present’s spirit of prioritizing human willpower and bullheadedness over logic and physics much more than Gurren Lagann. So sure, utilizing a drill like a drill is superior, however utilizing a drill like a lathe is much more superior, particularly when it’s accompanied by one of the best songs within the present.
Ever since God was a baby, individuals have been making an attempt to unravel the conundrum of get locations.
First it was simply with our legs. Then we found horses and labored out that their limbs have been higher than ours.
Then, skipping ahead a tad, the economic revolution dropped and the choices multiplied tenfold: automobiles, bikes, trains, planes, scooters, hoverboards and on and on, advert infinitum.
But the basics of getting someplace difficult have remained remarkably fixed in our Autocar world – 4 bits of rubber shrouding 4 spherical bits of steel. And but, as you possibly can see from the photographs right here, there’s an enormous distinction throughout the many years as to how that conundrum is solved.
To the brand new automotive, then. It’s the Range Rover plug-in hybrid, and whereas it’s not ideally suited to out-and-out off-road adventuring (extra on that shortly), it’s completely laden with the most recent digital off-road tech.
You might argue that we should always have had the Land Rover Defender on this take a look at, it being the halo off-roader and the last word expression of the place the aptitude has bought to, however to be sincere I’m extra excited by the place the know-how has enabled luxurious and dust to combine.
How far can this tech be pushed? Certainly a bit additional than with the opposite automotive right here. It’s a Willys Jeep, of the M38A1 selection.
Technically it’s not the oldest of the breed, as this explicit one was in-built 1955 below licence within the Netherlands (a Nekaf Dutch variant, to be exact), but when Spyker can declare to be the primary with a four-wheel-drive passenger automobile, it’s typically accepted that Willys and the unique WW2 Jeep made the style what it’s at this time. And this automotive is a successor to that icon of the Second World War.
Toyota bought extra automobiles in 2023 than ever earlier than however electrical autos had a minimal influence on the expansion. Of the 11,233,039 autos delivered by the Japanese conglomerate, solely 104,018 had been EVs. Just 0.926 percent of the automobiles bought by Toyota, Lexus, and the opposite subsidiaries final 12 months had been battery EVs. With that in thoughts, the corporate reckons there’s nonetheless a necessity for combustion engines.
During a speech held in entrance of 200 company managers and executives, Chairman Akio Toyoda reaffirmed plans for a “major engine development project.” His assertion is in keeping with an announcement made on the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon the place he “used the opportunity to tell everyone that we’re going to keep doing engines.”
During the Q&A session, Toyoda expressed his perception that battery EVs won’t ever exceed a market share of 30 p.c, no matter technological developments. As a outcome, the remaining 70 p.c will likely be represented by gasoline automobiles, hybrids, and gas cell EVs. The agency’s chairman additionally talked about that hydrogen-burning combustion engines may probably supply an answer. Diesel was not talked about.
While addressing questions from journalists, Toyoda did not solely concentrate on decarbonization. He additionally touched on the fragile matter of jobs:
“If we suddenly shift to BEVs, I’m sure the 5.5 million people in Japan’s auto industry who have spent their lives working on engines will start to question, ‘What was it all for?’ Some of our engine-related suppliers can’t even get banks to lend them money.”
We’ve reached the purpose the place the announcement of a brand new combustion engine comes as a shock. In 2024, automakers are predominantly targeted on revealing plans for brand new EVs. Some even go so far as claiming they will stop manufacturing of ICE automobiles within the coming years. For occasion, manufacturers like Jaguar, Chrysler, Lotus, Aston Martin, Bentley, Buick, Cadillac, Rolls-Royce, Genesis, Maserati, Mini, Opel/Vauxhall, and Volvo have dedicated to changing into purely electrical by the tip of the last decade. Even Toyota’s Lexus model has pledged to halt gross sales of automobiles with combustion engines by 2035.
In Europe, Stellantis guarantees to promote solely EVs by the tip of the last decade. Mercedes additionally intends to go absolutely electrical on the Old Continent by 2030 however solely “where market conditions allow.” Archrival Audi will cease making automobiles with combustion engines in 2032. BMW has not set a cutoff date but. The Volkswagen core model goals to solely make EVs in Europe from 2033.
Toyota sees issues otherwise, because it believes battery EVs cannot be the only real resolution to realize carbon neutrality. Akio Toyoda talked about that the charging infrastructure is much from being prepared, mentioning that “a billion people live without access to electricity” worldwide. Since Toyota sells automobiles in these areas, going all-in on EVs would not make sense.
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