found online

60+ MPG in European Cars

31 December 2011

I’ve been seeing some ads for the new Scion (Toyota) iQ. It’s a cute little car similar in style to the Smart car. Looking up some info online, I learned that there will be a diesel version of the iQ sold only in Europe that gets about 65 miles per gallon. This fuel efficient iQ costs about £13,000 or $20,000. The US gas version, according the to the Scion web site, will get about 37 MPG.

I took a little side trip over to the Ford UK page for the Fiesta and there is a model of the Fiesta called the ECOnetic that gets about 75 MPG and sells for about £14,000 or $22,000.

The Volkswagen Up is another small car available to European consumers. It gets a combined 62 MPG and sells for about £12,000 or $18,600.

Free Microsoft Software for Students at DreamSpark

26 November 2011

Microsoft has had DreamSpark for a couple of years and it’s a great resource for student’s to get some software. One of the suites I recommend is Expression Studio. Expression Studio is kind of like Microsoft’s version of Adobe’s Creative Suite.

Instead of Dreamweaver, you can use Expression Web (formerly FrontPage). If you haven’t used this program in a while, it is quite nice, with the same types of features you’d get from the $120 Dreamweaver.

Feed the Muse

25 January 2011

A wonderful singer/songwriter from Oklahoma came through Bend, Oregon last year. Samantha Crain is a fantastic artist and I’m looking forward to hearing her again. She’s using a service similar to Kickstarter called Feed the Muse. It allows fans to make “donations” to artists so they can do the things they need to do to create. It could be studio time, touring equipment, vehicles, promotions, etc.

A lot of these artists like Samantha Crain and Casey Neil play in small town joints that have a minimal, if any, cover charge. So, they really do depend on CD and t-shirt sales to cover costs.