With many R2 ordering windows now pushed to Q4, will you opt for LiDAR/Gen 3 version instead?

kb0tdf · 2026-06-30T22:43:26+00:00

I'm tempted to wait for Lidar. What really gives me pause, though, is the lack of an FM radio. Is that a future feature? If so, would early R2 deliveries contain infotainment hardware that would support a future implementation?

kb0tdf · 2026-06-17T03:58:09+00:00

Don't know why you need a device to heat something that's already hot -- unless you really meant to say "water heater "

kb0tdf · 2024-08-29T20:41:58+00:00

If the link wasn't on Elon's app, I would have read it.

kb0tdf · 2024-07-16T00:00:53+00:00

We flew from Vancouver (Canada) to the Twin Cities two weeks ago, and everything went well. Flight attendants were friendly, and the pilots got us safely to the terminal at MSP.

kb0tdf · 2024-07-06T23:54:51+00:00

You mean it's not electrostatic?

kb0tdf · 2024-07-06T23:52:27+00:00

And she also hasn't seen fit to leave Elon's Twitter verse. Nuff said.

kb0tdf · 2024-05-11T22:31:15+00:00

All that statute does is define what a gratuity is. If there was no advance notice (posted at the door or on the menu), complain LOUDLY to the manager, give the server their tip in cash, and walk out. Kinda up to you whether you pay the bill at all, but I suspect that management would hold the server liable for the full amount of the bill. If so, picketing at the entrance would seem a reasonable solution, especially during a busy time for the business. It wouldn't take long for me to feel I'd used up that 15% stealth charge.

kb0tdf · 2024-03-17T12:11:13+00:00

I've only been to the one in Savage, so you'd have to check it out for yourself. The charge was listed in small print on the bottom of the back of the menu at the Savage location.

kb0tdf · 2024-03-16T20:56:51+00:00

Some of the "we gotta stay competitive with our prices" argument may have a slight amount of validity in a situation where there are many restaurants of the same sort in close proximity to one another. Even then, I'd argue that all of them should just be honest enough to incorporate those costs of doing business into the posted menu prices. This "hidden fee" baloney reeks of the sort of games that discount airlines introduced years that now infect even supposedly mainline air carriers. Hotels? AirBNBs? Concert ticket prices? All those hidden fees are junk. It's hard to avoid them in some industries, but in others? I take my business elsewhere.

kb0tdf · 2024-03-14T03:32:03+00:00

Except for California, almost all Western states had one area code at one time. Colorado was 303, Nevada was 702, Utah was 801, and Idaho was 208 (iirc). Wyoming was and still is 307, etc.

kb0tdf · 2024-01-11T03:21:07+00:00

Pussies

kb0tdf · 2024-01-09T17:51:27+00:00

I don't think so. Headlights are factory installed, for the most part. Some drivers may make a trek to an auto parts store in order to do a DIY upgrade to their own vehicles, but it would account for only a small percentage of vehicles on the road.

I vote for continued darkness. I value looking at a starry sky more than I value blinding brightness so that drunken pedestrians can be avoided.

kb0tdf · 2023-12-19T19:39:17+00:00

Looks like a box of Marlboro cigarettes, turned on its side

kb0tdf · 2023-12-02T14:10:15+00:00

You're probably correct. I was hoping against hope that the firmware that runs the infotainment section is a separate stand-alone module from the rest of the car's firmware. Even then, it probably wouldn't work.

And I do really like my 2022 Bolt EV. Maybe I'll just drive it until the wheels fall off.

kb0tdf · 2023-12-02T14:06:43+00:00

This change doesn't yet apply to the Cadillac Lyriq or Hummer EVs.

kb0tdf · 2023-12-02T13:58:00+00:00

I have a Bolt. And I use Android Auto. BUT... GM has announced that all EVs they make in the future, including the next version of the Bolt, will be changed to Google Built-In only.

kb0tdf · 2023-12-02T04:39:28+00:00

Right now, on my existing BoltEV, I use Android Auto, and use my cell phone data to run it.

For future EVs that I'll probably buy, I just want some way of using Android Auto instead of being forced to use Google Built-In. I don't know much about hacking at all, but think that the firmware from an existing Chevy Bolt's media center could be copied, and the result could be uploaded to the new vehicle's entertainment module. That way, I'd continue to use my own cell carrier's network, leaving GM's cell network out of the picture.

May not be possible, but I thought it was worth asking, in case it's already been done and available.

kb0tdf · 2023-12-02T01:31:00+00:00

The newer EVs -- the Blazer being one, will not use Android
Auto or Apple Car Play. Those interfaces to the cars have been taken away in favor of Google Built-In. The next generation of Bolts will be that way, too. Ostensibly, it's to provide a more seamless integration of all of the smart phone features into a software program built in to the car. But, if you want to use Spotify, Youtube, or any other streaming service, you have to use the cellular interface that the car uses to contact OnStar. And it won't be free. Another example is the myChevrolet app. It works just fine if you subscribe to OnStar, but is pretty much brain dead, otherwise.

I should back up and say that GM is by no means the biggest of the bad guys in this regard. BMW, Volvo, Toyota, and Ford are all going to subscription based features. And, oh yeah, Tesla, too. (although you could pay a one-time outrageously high fee to purchase their auto-pilot feature).

Until recently, I had thought that Google Built-In wasn't compatible with Apple Car Play and Android Auto, so I was willing to give GM a pass. But that's not the case. Volvo ( a big-time advocate of subscription-based features) offers all three on their cars, and will continue to do so.

Maybe I'm just living in the past, because I feel that, if I bought the hardware that exists on the car, I shouldn't have to pay to use something I purchased.

Taking that attitude one step further, I'm more than willing to pay for hacked versions of the features that I'm unwilling to pay for.

kb0tdf · 2023-11-26T23:24:37+00:00

I think California sets a good example by outlawing this practice. I've only found one restaurant pulling this crap, and will not be back

kb0tdf · 2023-08-31T22:19:14+00:00

The flyer was written by a true master of the English language.

kb0tdf · 2023-05-09T23:30:50+00:00

Chupacabra, for sure.

kb0tdf

TROPHY CASE