Push comes to shove for bike gadgets

Push-bikes aren’t exactly high-tech – well, not at my price point, anyway – but a crop of new gadgets could soon bring cycling to the cutting edge for all of us, improving safety to boot.

And where cycling is concerned, safety is massive.

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, around 19,000 cyclists are killed or injured in reported road accidents every year in the UK, including 110 who are killed and not far shy of 3,000 who are seriously injured.

And RoSPA points out that these are victims of accidents that are reported to the police. It says many cyclist casualties go unreported, even when the cyclist is inured badly enough to be taken to hospital.

The figures also exclude ‘off-road’ cycling accidents, so it seems safe to say the number of injured cyclists each year could be much higher.

Head start

So road safety campaigners will surely welcome the latest technological development from Volvo. The Swedish car manufacturer, in collaboration with POC Sports and Ericsson, has come up with an ingenious ‘smart’ helmet, which warns of an imminent collision.

The prototype was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and uses cloud-based smart phone technology to allow the bicycle and the car to communicate.

Head in the clouds

Basically, the helmet is connected to a smartphone app that broadcasts its whereabouts via the cloud. Volvo drivers receive the signal using a system built into their ‘connected’ car.

Both the cyclist and the driver are warned of any potential collision, so an accident can hopefully be avoided.

The cyclist is alerted by a light mounted on the helmet, along with a warning vibration.

Heads up!

Drivers are warned via the car’s head-up display. The system can also take control of a car to apply the brakes if it gets too close to a cyclist.

Klas Bendick, a spokesman for Volvo, says 50% of all cyclists killed on the roads collided with a car: “By exploring cloud-based safety systems, we are getting ever closer to eliminating the remaining blind spots between cars and cyclists, which will mean we avoid collisions altogether.”

There’s still work to be done, though. The helmet only links up to Volvo drivers who have an in-built safety system.

Both the car and the cyclist also need a constant internet connection.

But if the technology can help to reduce the number of injuries and deaths on the roads, who would complain?

Head turner

The CES event also showcased prototype ‘smart’ pedals, which generate energy as you cycle and alert your smart phone if someone tries to steal your bike.

Plus, they track the bicycle if it goes missing.

When you consider that more than 100,000 bikes are stolen in the UK every year, the potential for smart pedals should not be underestimated.

The pedals, developed by French firm Connected Cycle, also capture data about your journey. In other words, they’re an impressive piece of kit – and they can only be removed with the owner’s unique code.

Connected Cycle is doing the rounds to raise enough money to fund production of the pedals for general sale.

Push comes to shove for bike gadgets

When it comes to saving…

Every year CANSTAR researches a multitude of savings accounts on the industry, to establish which organisations supply outstanding worth for Australians. This year CANSTAR is pleased to congratulate Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank on taking out the Customer Owned Institution of the Year – Savings award for 2014.

CANSTAR caught up with Victoria Teachers Mutual Bank CEO, William Wolke, for some suggestions on what consumers are searching for in a savings account.

Q: When deciding in between a straight on the internet savings account and a bonus saver account, what considerations ought to consumers weigh up?

This depends on the customer’s need to have to access funds. Our Bonus Saver is designed to encourage savings by rewarding with bonus interest, as lengthy as eligibility criteria are met. Buyers must make at least one deposit and make no withdrawals for the duration of the calendar month to earn the bonus interest.

The Online Saver supplies a competitive price for balances above $ 2,000 and has no restrictions around withdrawals. Based on the customer’s timeframe, the Bonus Saver is excellent for longer term savings and the Online Saver can be employed to park income that is earmarked for spending in the brief-medium term.

Q: This is a wonderful time of year to save for the Christmas holidays – can you suggest 5 savings tips for readers?

1. Spend your self initial – set up an electronic deposit straight to your savings account so your savings and spending funds are separated.


2. Set savings goals – your savings will fund your life style, helping take control of your monetary future and providing much more choices in life.


3. Implement a spending budget – this will support you manage your money flow. Evaluation it annually or when your situations modify.


4. Take benefit of compound interest  –  over the medium – longer term your funds will develop.


5. If you have a property loan use features such as offset accounts or redraw to park extra funds till required or make added repayments if you can, as these techniques will assist minimize the amount of interest you pay.

Q: Have you noticed any trend towards or away from on the internet saver accounts instead of term deposits over the past couple of years?  

We’ve noticed that consumers are saving more and the demand for each on the internet savers and term deposits is robust it just depends on their savings goals and whether or not they need funds at contact. We are really competitive across all item varieties, and have seen important deposit development more than the past few years.  Nonetheless growth in the on the web saver has been slightly greater than term deposits in the past 2 years due to availability of funds and competitive rates.

Readers can download the Savings Award report here.

When it comes to saving…

2014 Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD Lengthy-Term Test Intro: Drive-by-Wire Comes Beneath Fire

Lengthy-Term Road Test Intro

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Drive-by-wire sports sedan joins our extended-term fleet.

Months in Fleet: 5 months
Present Mileage: 8268 miles
Typical Fuel Economy: 25 mpg
Variety: 440 miles
Service: $ 85
Regular Put on: $
Repair: $
Harm and Destruction: $

The initial new model to debut below Infiniti’s reshuffled alphanumeric nomenclature scheme, the 2014 Q50 requires the spot formerly held by the G37 sedan. As Infiniti’s torchbearer in the competitive entry-luxury sport sedan segment, the Q50 was tasked with covering a lot of solution bandwidth for the brand. As a result, when the revamped Q50 hit the ground at the 2013 Detroit auto show, it brought with it the announcement that a hybrid version would be available for 2014. Our interest was piqued–eco-posturing aside, what driver rewards would a hybrid Q50 offer that weren’t currently present in the nonhybrid version? To draw our personal conclusions, we ordered a 2014 Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD in a deep shade of Venetian Ruby for a proper 40,000-mile evaluation.

The Q50s Hybrid AWD arrived at our Ann Arbor offices wearing the exact same fresh sheetmetal, interior attributes, and pair of sinister-seeking front headlamp binnacles that adorn all Q50 trim levels. The variations begin with the powertrain: In addition to selecting up a 67-hp electric motor and its attendant 1.4-kWh battery pack, the hybrid version employs a 302-horse 3.5-liter V-6 in location of the nonhybrid’s 328-hp 3.7-liter V-6. Combined, the hybrid program is rated at 360 horsepower, a 32-pony enhance more than the normal automobile. Shared outright are the 6-speed automatic transmission and Infiniti’s controversial Direct Adaptive Steering technique (much more on that later).

All the Toys

Taking the important fob to a Q50S Hybrid AWD grants one particular access to a quite complete assortment of standard attributes, which includes Infiniti’s slick InTuition method, which permits the storing of preferred climate, audio, and driving settings on stated crucial fob, eliminating the require to reset them manually every single time a single enters the car—ideal for 2-driver households. Further standard niceties fitted to our Q50’s graphite-colored interior include a energy moonroof, 8-way power heated leather front seats with manually adjustable thigh supports, dual-zone automatic climate handle, and a heated, leather-wrapped steering wheel on a power-adjustable tilt and telescopic column. At the corners reside 19-inch aluminum wheels with 245/40 Dunlop 5000 SP Sport DSST CTT run-flat tires.

The optional equipment on our test automobile was limited to the Navigation package ($ 1400), which brings voice recognition, SiruisXM Traffic, and 12 months of the proprietary Infiniti Connection telematics method, as well as the All Climate Package ($ 230), which adds 4 floor mats and a trunk protector. Including location, the Q50S Hybrid’s MSRP crept to an as-tested price of $ 51,035, close to the stickers of luxury-branded competitors such as the BMW ActiveHybrid 3 and the Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD.

Strapping our test gear to the auto revealed some encouraging numbers: The zero-to-60-mph sprint clocked in at 5. seconds and the quarter-mile at 13.7, bettering the numbers of the rear-wheel-drive 2014 Q50S Hybrid we tested previously by .1 second in both measures. Interestingly, it was just mere tenths behind the 4.9- and 13.5-second marks set by a nonhybrid rear-wheel-drive 2014 Q50 also tested. Digging a tiny deeper, we found that the acceleration numbers matched these of the 2013 BMW ActiveHybrid 3 in the zero-to-60 run and gave up only .2 seconds in the quarter-mile. Hauling the 4161-pound Q50 to a cease from 70 mph needed 174 feet, a shorter span than necessary by either of the aforementioned hybrids. The Q50 Hybrid did, even so, suffer from heavy fade.

Touchy, Feely

However, those respectable overall performance numbers don’t translate to a tactile feel at the helm, specially in the places of braking and steering. In spite of an update early in the model run to address drive-quality deficiencies, the Q50 Hybrid’s logbook is littered with criticisms directed at the car’s fully electric, drive-by-wire Direct Adaptive Steering (DAS), one particular editor going as far as saying that “playing Gran Turismo on a dual-shock controller delivers much more feedback and feels a lot more organic.” Particularly, the majority of the complaints focus on the steering’s “freaky” fast nature, coupled with zero feedback and the require to make virtually continual corrections. The brakes also inspired some colorful commentary, centering on a grabby initial pedal response followed by a basic lack of linearity. One editor summed it up nicely by stating, “they are not possible to modulate smoothly.”

Nonetheless, the Q50 managed to roll up considerable miles in its 1st handful of months right here. Early in its stay, we swapped the all-season Dunlops for Bridgestone winter rubber, which combined with the Q50’s AWD drivetrain to make the vehicle double as a snow machine for the duration of the long harsh winter. To this point, Virginia is the farthest from residence that the Infiniti has traveled. So far, it has yielded an all round fuel efficiency of 25 mpg, a disappointing 2 mpg under the EPA city rating. 1 especially relaxed-pace excursion into the flat expanses of Ohio generated a ideal-but quantity of 30 mpg, proving that the Q50 Hybrid is capable of attaining its EPA highway rating of 31 mpg when driven in accordance with state targeted traffic laws.

Just after the snow receded right here in Michigan, we sent the Q50 Hybrid westward for a stint with our Montana bureau editor John Phillips. We’re confident he’ll have no shortage of words and insights when it comes time for the Q50’s initial extended-term test update.

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2014 Infiniti Q50S Hybrid AWD Lengthy-Term Test Intro: Drive-by-Wire Comes Beneath Fire

MetroMile Comes to California with Per-Mile Car Insurance coverage

What you need to have to know:

• MetroMile is now accessible to drivers in California, Illinois, Washington and Oregon.


• The business charges prices primarily based on the number of miles you drive.

California drivers can now get pay-by-the-mile car coverage from Metromile, the organization announced this week.

Billing itself as the “nation’s only pay-per-mile auto insurance coverage providing,” MetroMile charges drivers a every day rate based on the number of miles they drive, up to 150 miles (except for Washington, exactly where the everyday mileage cap is 250 miles).

MetroMile is now obtainable in California, Illinois, Oregon and Washington.

Mileage is tracked through the company’s Metronome device. Drivers can track their Metronome-recorded driving statistics by means of a newly upgraded MetroMile iPhone app. The application now monitors things such as fuel usage, vehicle diagnostics and the vehicle’s location.

Drivers in San Francisco and Chicago can even use the application to get reminders about street sweeping schedules. That feature, according to a statement from CEO Dan Preston, is one particular of many methods MetroMile is “reinventing the auto ownership experience to be smarter and a lot more responsive to the requirements of urban drivers.”

According to the firm, its coverage is best for motorists who drive 10,000 miles a year or less.

Coverage availability is set to expand to other states in 2014, according to MetroMile, which is banking on a trend of American drivers driving fewer miles.

Reports Discover Decline in U.S. Driving

According to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Investigation Group (PIRG) last Could, Americans are driving fewer total miles compared to 8 years ago.

The report’s findings led its co-author to declare that “the driving boom is over.”

PIRG cited a number of aspects that have contributed to the decline in recent years, which includes increasing gas rates, the economic recession and availability of “mobile technologies [that] have produced driving less required.”

And the trend is probably to continue.

Final year, research from the University of Michigan Transportation Analysis Institute identified that far more than 1 out of each and every 5 young adults who don’t drive have “no intention of ever finding out to drive.”

According to the U.S. PIRG report, “no probably scenario shows [driving in the U.S.] returning to preceding levels of growth.”

MetroMile Comes to California with Per-Mile Car Insurance coverage