CleverStat is a nifty tool I've been using recently for web site content analysis. Unlike numerous online apps, CleverStat makes a copy of the site on your hard drive and analyzes the entire thing and not only individual pages
Monday, December 29, 2008
Site ContentAnalyzer - CleverStat
CleverStat is a nifty tool I've been using recently for web site content analysis. Unlike numerous online apps, CleverStat makes a copy of the site on your hard drive and analyzes the entire thing and not only individual pages
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Hyundai's New In-House Six Speed Auto Transmission Hits Azera First
Hyundai is tooting it's own horn this evening with the announcement of an all-new, in-house designed and built six speed automatic transmission destined for large scale production with first duties in the Hyundai Azera .
The new transmission boasts 300 new patents and Hyundai claims to have bested competitors in several key ways. First, the new transmission is supposedly more compact and lighter than any on the market, weighing in at 26.4 lbs lighter than the outgoing ZF sourced transmission. It also provides 12.2% better fuel economy and shaves 0.2 seconds off the zero to sixty time. Though it will hit the Azera first, the new transmission will also be fitted to the Santa Fe and a total of 16 models in the Hyundai lineup by the time rollout is complete. Full details below.
(Seoul, Korea) To help meet its goals of improving fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions of its vehicles, Hyundai Motor Company has completed the development of an all-new 6-speed automatic transaxle that will boost fuel economy by more than 12.2 percent.
Designed for transverse engine applications in passenger cars and SUVs, the new compact transaxle puts Hyundai into an elite class of auto manufacturers who have designed their own proprietary 6-speed automatic (after Toyota and a GM/Ford joint venture) demonstrating Hyundai’s advanced powertrain engineering capabilities.
"The strength of our design is its totally unique layout which makes it smaller, more compact and lighter than any other 6-speed on the market today," said Hong-Min Kim, the project manager of the transaxle at Hyundai Motor’s R&D Center. In fact, the design is so unique and so advanced, Hyundai has applied for nearly 300 patents to protect its intellectual property.
For the customer, the new six-speed promises a performance edge. The transaxle will first arrive in the new Hyundai Grandeur/Azera equipped with a 3.3-liter V-6 Lambda engine. In this application, it delivers a 12.2 percent gain in fuel economy (10.1km/l versus 9.0km/l) and is 2.5 percent quicker in zero to 100km/h acceleration times (7.8sec versus 8.0 sec). It also delivers an 11 percent improvement in 60km/h to 100km/h passing performance (4.0 sec versus 4.5 sec).
The unit also is maintenance-free: The gearbox is not equipped with a dipstick as it is filled with an automatic transmission fluid that is good for the life of the vehicle thereby reducing maintenance costs.
Developed over a four-year period, this new 6-speed automatic gearbox offers numerous technical merits. Despite the extra gear, it's 12kg lighter than the 5-speed it replaces. It also is 41mm shorter and considerably simpler having 62 fewer parts, which is a key to increased durability and lower cost.
When it comes to gearsets, more is definitely better. The addition of a sixth gear enables closer spacing between gear ratios providing a better balance of performance and fuel economy while the wide overall gear ratio helps deliver strong acceleration.
The gearbox has three planetary gearsets whose hallmark is simplicity of design and a unique flat torque converter which shortens the unit's overall length by 12mm. Four pinion differentials improve durability and further minimize size.
Another example of engineering ingenuity is to be found in the design of the hydraulic pressure control unit. Because there are always slight manufacturing deviations from one solenoid valve to the next which cause fluctuation in the hydraulic pressure and affect shift precision and quality, the transaxle features cleverly integrated adjustment screws in the valves which enable each of the eight valves to be calibrated at the factory.
This novel feature ensures stable hydraulic pressure at any shift point which facilitates a high degree of precision and control needed to deliver ultra-fast, smooth and precise shifts throughout the rpm range.
The new 6-speed went into production this month (December) and will see its first application in Grandeur/Azera models beginning in January 2009. A total of five variants of the 6-speed transaxle will be produced to accommodate a wide range of gasoline and diesel engines. A total of sixteen different Hyundai models will get this transmission including a redesigned Santa Fe, which is due to arrive in late in 2009 and early 2010 in some markets.
The new transmission boasts 300 new patents and Hyundai claims to have bested competitors in several key ways. First, the new transmission is supposedly more compact and lighter than any on the market, weighing in at 26.4 lbs lighter than the outgoing ZF sourced transmission. It also provides 12.2% better fuel economy and shaves 0.2 seconds off the zero to sixty time. Though it will hit the Azera first, the new transmission will also be fitted to the Santa Fe and a total of 16 models in the Hyundai lineup by the time rollout is complete. Full details below.
(Seoul, Korea) To help meet its goals of improving fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions of its vehicles, Hyundai Motor Company has completed the development of an all-new 6-speed automatic transaxle that will boost fuel economy by more than 12.2 percent.
Designed for transverse engine applications in passenger cars and SUVs, the new compact transaxle puts Hyundai into an elite class of auto manufacturers who have designed their own proprietary 6-speed automatic (after Toyota and a GM/Ford joint venture) demonstrating Hyundai’s advanced powertrain engineering capabilities.
"The strength of our design is its totally unique layout which makes it smaller, more compact and lighter than any other 6-speed on the market today," said Hong-Min Kim, the project manager of the transaxle at Hyundai Motor’s R&D Center. In fact, the design is so unique and so advanced, Hyundai has applied for nearly 300 patents to protect its intellectual property.
For the customer, the new six-speed promises a performance edge. The transaxle will first arrive in the new Hyundai Grandeur/Azera equipped with a 3.3-liter V-6 Lambda engine. In this application, it delivers a 12.2 percent gain in fuel economy (10.1km/l versus 9.0km/l) and is 2.5 percent quicker in zero to 100km/h acceleration times (7.8sec versus 8.0 sec). It also delivers an 11 percent improvement in 60km/h to 100km/h passing performance (4.0 sec versus 4.5 sec).
The unit also is maintenance-free: The gearbox is not equipped with a dipstick as it is filled with an automatic transmission fluid that is good for the life of the vehicle thereby reducing maintenance costs.
Developed over a four-year period, this new 6-speed automatic gearbox offers numerous technical merits. Despite the extra gear, it's 12kg lighter than the 5-speed it replaces. It also is 41mm shorter and considerably simpler having 62 fewer parts, which is a key to increased durability and lower cost.
When it comes to gearsets, more is definitely better. The addition of a sixth gear enables closer spacing between gear ratios providing a better balance of performance and fuel economy while the wide overall gear ratio helps deliver strong acceleration.
The gearbox has three planetary gearsets whose hallmark is simplicity of design and a unique flat torque converter which shortens the unit's overall length by 12mm. Four pinion differentials improve durability and further minimize size.
Another example of engineering ingenuity is to be found in the design of the hydraulic pressure control unit. Because there are always slight manufacturing deviations from one solenoid valve to the next which cause fluctuation in the hydraulic pressure and affect shift precision and quality, the transaxle features cleverly integrated adjustment screws in the valves which enable each of the eight valves to be calibrated at the factory.
This novel feature ensures stable hydraulic pressure at any shift point which facilitates a high degree of precision and control needed to deliver ultra-fast, smooth and precise shifts throughout the rpm range.
The new 6-speed went into production this month (December) and will see its first application in Grandeur/Azera models beginning in January 2009. A total of five variants of the 6-speed transaxle will be produced to accommodate a wide range of gasoline and diesel engines. A total of sixteen different Hyundai models will get this transmission including a redesigned Santa Fe, which is due to arrive in late in 2009 and early 2010 in some markets.
Air travel problems, risky roads
CHICAGO (AP) - Dozens of unlucky passengers will spend a second night camped out a Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
They include a newlywed couple from Ireland headed to a honeymoon in San Diego. About 100 flights were canceled today in Chicago. About 500 flights were canceled there yesterday because of the weather.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the New York metro area's Newark airport has been experiencing delays of more than four hours, and the waits at Kennedy are about three hours.
Auto travel in parts of the nation's midsection and Northwest has been treacherous today. At least 29 people have been killed in crashes on rain-and ice-slickened roads since Tuesday.
The weather service has posted winter storm warnings and advisories for large parts of the West, plus parts of the Midwest and the Northeast.
They include a newlywed couple from Ireland headed to a honeymoon in San Diego. About 100 flights were canceled today in Chicago. About 500 flights were canceled there yesterday because of the weather.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the New York metro area's Newark airport has been experiencing delays of more than four hours, and the waits at Kennedy are about three hours.
Auto travel in parts of the nation's midsection and Northwest has been treacherous today. At least 29 people have been killed in crashes on rain-and ice-slickened roads since Tuesday.
The weather service has posted winter storm warnings and advisories for large parts of the West, plus parts of the Midwest and the Northeast.
Will Cheap Gas Diminish Conservation?
You can almost hear the cheering at the nation's gas pumps these days as prices continue to drop. The cheers have replaced the groans of the past five years as gasoline prices escalated to record highs for motorists in the United States. In Virginia, those prices topped $4 a gallon of regular and briefly flirted with $5 a gallon.
News from the crude oil markets in the past week has been good. While oil prices sank to below $34 a barrel on Friday, gasoline prices dropped to their lowest levels in five years. The national figure was $1.66 per gallon of regular. The low price here was $1.55 for the most part, although some stations could have been selling it for less than that.
So the economic law of supply and demand is still working. The supply of oil is outpacing demand with the result that prices have dropped.
And despite cuts in oil production by OPEC, the foreign oil cartel, prices of crude remain low. OPEC officials announced last week they had agreed to slash 2.2 million barrels from its daily production — its largest single cut ever. At the same time, Russia and Azerbaijan, countries that are not members of OPEC, said they were cutting their oil production by nearly 1 million barrels a day.
But crude prices continued to drop, a sign that investors are more worried about the worldwide recession in which energy use will continue to erode.
Will oil and gasoline prices remain at those lower levels?
They will if American consumers continue to show the same appetite for conservation as they once showed for gas-guzzling cars and trucks. During the height of the rise in oil prices, consumers switched to the more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles that Detroit has been so reluctant to produce.
Consumers also learned to conserve gasoline by combining their shopping trips and postponing longer trips. Last summer's vacations were reduced from long drives to the beach or other parts of the country to day trips that didn't consume as much fuel.
Many Americans have also learned to turn their thermostats up in the summer time and down in the winter. Sweaters are far less expensive than heat provided by electricity or fuel oil.
The nation, then, over the past four years has shown it can conserve energy. Businesses and individuals did it for the same reason — to preserve the cash in their pockets. And alternative energy sources have also reduced the nation's demand for foreign oil.
But will those conservation efforts continue? The jury is still out on that. Analysts watching the beleaguered auto industry say that sales of trucks, the industry's big-ticket item, are up slightly as gas prices have fallen.
That's bad news for the conservation effort. "If there's one thing that Americans can be reliably counted on to do, it's buy big vehicles when gas gets cheap," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Global Insight. "It's what they've always done."
More disconcerting for conservation advocates are the hybrids that are sitting longer and longer on dealer lots. Toyota's Prius, the top-selling hybrid on the market for the past several years, saw its sales tumble 48 percent in November compared with the same month a year ago. Sales of other hybrids have also dropped in recent months because the cheaper gas outweighs the extra cost.
Foreign oil reached record high prices of nearly $150 a barrel less than a year ago. That captured the nation's attention to the extent that most folks became serious about conserving gasoline and other forms of energy.
The drop in oil prices to less than $40 a barrel has been good for consumers trying to stretch their dollars as far as they can. But let's not allow those lower prices to diminish efforts toward energy conservation.
The foreign oil cartel is discovering it is not as firmly in charge as it thought it was. Let's keep it that way.
News from the crude oil markets in the past week has been good. While oil prices sank to below $34 a barrel on Friday, gasoline prices dropped to their lowest levels in five years. The national figure was $1.66 per gallon of regular. The low price here was $1.55 for the most part, although some stations could have been selling it for less than that.
So the economic law of supply and demand is still working. The supply of oil is outpacing demand with the result that prices have dropped.
And despite cuts in oil production by OPEC, the foreign oil cartel, prices of crude remain low. OPEC officials announced last week they had agreed to slash 2.2 million barrels from its daily production — its largest single cut ever. At the same time, Russia and Azerbaijan, countries that are not members of OPEC, said they were cutting their oil production by nearly 1 million barrels a day.
But crude prices continued to drop, a sign that investors are more worried about the worldwide recession in which energy use will continue to erode.
Will oil and gasoline prices remain at those lower levels?
They will if American consumers continue to show the same appetite for conservation as they once showed for gas-guzzling cars and trucks. During the height of the rise in oil prices, consumers switched to the more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles that Detroit has been so reluctant to produce.
Consumers also learned to conserve gasoline by combining their shopping trips and postponing longer trips. Last summer's vacations were reduced from long drives to the beach or other parts of the country to day trips that didn't consume as much fuel.
Many Americans have also learned to turn their thermostats up in the summer time and down in the winter. Sweaters are far less expensive than heat provided by electricity or fuel oil.
The nation, then, over the past four years has shown it can conserve energy. Businesses and individuals did it for the same reason — to preserve the cash in their pockets. And alternative energy sources have also reduced the nation's demand for foreign oil.
But will those conservation efforts continue? The jury is still out on that. Analysts watching the beleaguered auto industry say that sales of trucks, the industry's big-ticket item, are up slightly as gas prices have fallen.
That's bad news for the conservation effort. "If there's one thing that Americans can be reliably counted on to do, it's buy big vehicles when gas gets cheap," said Aaron Bragman, an analyst with IHS Global Insight. "It's what they've always done."
More disconcerting for conservation advocates are the hybrids that are sitting longer and longer on dealer lots. Toyota's Prius, the top-selling hybrid on the market for the past several years, saw its sales tumble 48 percent in November compared with the same month a year ago. Sales of other hybrids have also dropped in recent months because the cheaper gas outweighs the extra cost.
Foreign oil reached record high prices of nearly $150 a barrel less than a year ago. That captured the nation's attention to the extent that most folks became serious about conserving gasoline and other forms of energy.
The drop in oil prices to less than $40 a barrel has been good for consumers trying to stretch their dollars as far as they can. But let's not allow those lower prices to diminish efforts toward energy conservation.
The foreign oil cartel is discovering it is not as firmly in charge as it thought it was. Let's keep it that way.
Many auto workers looking to leave increasingly uncertain sector
TORONTO — After 30 years of working in the manufacturing and auto parts industries, John Knelsen has seen the situation go from bad to worse.
Now that Knelsen has been laid off for a sixth time due to plant closures and slowdowns, the 48-year-old just feels lost.
"What they're telling me is I have to go out and find where there are jobs, but where do I begin?" he said from his home in St. Catharines, Ont.
"I've worked in a plant since 1978. I don't know any different."
The auto sector, once an attractive industry with good pay and steady work, has been plunged into uncertainty, taking a particularly hard battering this year with plant closures by the dozens and job losses by the thousands.
It has workers looking ahead to an even more uncertain future in which they can no longer rely on the automotive industry for jobs.
Many laid off factory workers, who have endured plant closures one too many times, say they are giving up on the sector all together and are flocking to skills training centres and colleges.
Scotiabank auto industry analyst Carlos Gomes estimates the Canadian auto sector lost about 13,000 jobs in 2008. He predicts the industry will shed approximately 15,000 more jobs in the new year.
Chrysler is closing all 30 of its North American manufacturing plants for four weeks because of slumping sales; Ford (NYSE:F) will shut 10 North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, and General Motors (NYSE:GM) will temporarily close 20 factories - many for the entire month of January.
Knelsen says he's considering going back to school and leaving the stressful manufacturing environment once and for all.
"Every day you come in there's always a rumour that you're going to be out of work tomorrow," he said.
"First thing you do, you walk into the plant, you look on the board to see if there's a layoff notice there."
Terry Mullin, 35, also knows what it's like to live with uncertainty.
He spent late 2007 and the first half of 2008 on layoff from automotive interior maker Lear Corp. Every two weeks he would get a notice extending the layoff. Mullin was called back to work in June, then got a notice he would be laid off again - on Dec. 23.
"It's pretty tough," he said from his home in Oshawa, Ont. "I knew it would be coming one day, the way everything was going, but I didn't think it would be at Christmas again. Two years in a row."
The family's struggles are compounded by the fact that Mullin's wife, Tara Hathaway-Mullin, 30, was also recently laid off by Lear.
They are in the middle of renovations and if they sold their house they likely wouldn't recoup the cost. They still have a mortgage and are raising two children. The couple doesn't have benefit coverage, and two-year-old Alyssa has been getting ear infections and having seizures.
Still, the family is trying to stay positive. Mullin is taking upgrade courses so he can go back to school, and Hathaway-Mullin is studying web development at Durham College.
"I love my college and I love what I'm doing, but I've gone through the skills development and I guess financially we can't afford for me to be there," Hathaway-Mullin said.
"On the other side, we can't afford for me not to be there."
Hathaway-Mullin went back to school when she couldn't find another job. She sent out resume after resume, even for jobs she was overqualified for, but says she was told she was paid too much in her previous job at Lear.
"I think that's going to be the problem for a lot of people," she said.
"They made too much money and now employers think that they're not going to be reliable and they're not going to want to stick it out."
When major automakers like Chrysler and General Motors are in trouble, people far beyond the walls of the plants sit up and take notice. Many communities in Ontario are highly dependent on the auto industry: Oshawa, Windsor and St. Catharines to name just a few.
Oshawa Mayor John Gray said the city is continuing to make and garner investments, but it is still very closely tied to General Motors.
"Bar none, General Motors and the feeder industries pay far more property tax (than other sectors) and of course that's a real threat to us," he said. "If we see plant closures you see a much diminished revenue for the city, then that spreads pain to everyone."
The General Motors truck assembly plant is slated for closure in 2009 and Oshawa is already feeling the effects, Gray said. Charities are hurting because of a drop in donations from GM employees, who are very generous benefactors, and one local takeout restaurant popular with GM employees has seen average nightly revenue drop from $600 to $60, Gray said.
At the southern tip of Ontario, Windsor is no stranger to auto industry malaise. As the so-called Automotive Capital of Canada, the city has a presence from Chrysler, Ford and GM (though that plant is slated for closure).
In the region of 350,000 people, about 43,000 of them are employed by the auto industry.
"Four or five years ago when manufacturing and automotive started to decline, we felt the impact immediately," Mayor Eddie Francis said.
"We as a city generally tend to set the trend for the rest of the country. Excuse the adage, but we're well known to be the canary in a coal mine."
If true, the example of Windsor holds some promise for other auto communities.
The city has started to diversify its economy, with the building of a new convention centre, casino and arena. There is also an attempt to transition existing automotive infrastructure to meet changing market demands.
"What we're trying to do now is ensure that the automotive footprint is maintained," Francis said.
"Parts suppliers that once used to supply strictly 100 per cent the automotive industry ... those parts suppliers are now transitioned and are now supplying the aerospace industry."
That may be cold comfort for workers wondering where their next paycheque will come from.
Ray Grummet has seen the last two auto parts plants he has worked at file for bankruptcy. At 57 years old, he doesn't like the prospect of starting over. But he also doesn't like the prospect of getting sucked in by the auto sector's downward spiral.
"I'm really leery as to whether I would ever want to go back into it again now," he said from his home in Brantford, Ont.
Now that Knelsen has been laid off for a sixth time due to plant closures and slowdowns, the 48-year-old just feels lost.
"What they're telling me is I have to go out and find where there are jobs, but where do I begin?" he said from his home in St. Catharines, Ont.
"I've worked in a plant since 1978. I don't know any different."
The auto sector, once an attractive industry with good pay and steady work, has been plunged into uncertainty, taking a particularly hard battering this year with plant closures by the dozens and job losses by the thousands.
It has workers looking ahead to an even more uncertain future in which they can no longer rely on the automotive industry for jobs.
Many laid off factory workers, who have endured plant closures one too many times, say they are giving up on the sector all together and are flocking to skills training centres and colleges.
Scotiabank auto industry analyst Carlos Gomes estimates the Canadian auto sector lost about 13,000 jobs in 2008. He predicts the industry will shed approximately 15,000 more jobs in the new year.
Chrysler is closing all 30 of its North American manufacturing plants for four weeks because of slumping sales; Ford (NYSE:F) will shut 10 North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, and General Motors (NYSE:GM) will temporarily close 20 factories - many for the entire month of January.
Knelsen says he's considering going back to school and leaving the stressful manufacturing environment once and for all.
"Every day you come in there's always a rumour that you're going to be out of work tomorrow," he said.
"First thing you do, you walk into the plant, you look on the board to see if there's a layoff notice there."
Terry Mullin, 35, also knows what it's like to live with uncertainty.
He spent late 2007 and the first half of 2008 on layoff from automotive interior maker Lear Corp. Every two weeks he would get a notice extending the layoff. Mullin was called back to work in June, then got a notice he would be laid off again - on Dec. 23.
"It's pretty tough," he said from his home in Oshawa, Ont. "I knew it would be coming one day, the way everything was going, but I didn't think it would be at Christmas again. Two years in a row."
The family's struggles are compounded by the fact that Mullin's wife, Tara Hathaway-Mullin, 30, was also recently laid off by Lear.
They are in the middle of renovations and if they sold their house they likely wouldn't recoup the cost. They still have a mortgage and are raising two children. The couple doesn't have benefit coverage, and two-year-old Alyssa has been getting ear infections and having seizures.
Still, the family is trying to stay positive. Mullin is taking upgrade courses so he can go back to school, and Hathaway-Mullin is studying web development at Durham College.
"I love my college and I love what I'm doing, but I've gone through the skills development and I guess financially we can't afford for me to be there," Hathaway-Mullin said.
"On the other side, we can't afford for me not to be there."
Hathaway-Mullin went back to school when she couldn't find another job. She sent out resume after resume, even for jobs she was overqualified for, but says she was told she was paid too much in her previous job at Lear.
"I think that's going to be the problem for a lot of people," she said.
"They made too much money and now employers think that they're not going to be reliable and they're not going to want to stick it out."
When major automakers like Chrysler and General Motors are in trouble, people far beyond the walls of the plants sit up and take notice. Many communities in Ontario are highly dependent on the auto industry: Oshawa, Windsor and St. Catharines to name just a few.
Oshawa Mayor John Gray said the city is continuing to make and garner investments, but it is still very closely tied to General Motors.
"Bar none, General Motors and the feeder industries pay far more property tax (than other sectors) and of course that's a real threat to us," he said. "If we see plant closures you see a much diminished revenue for the city, then that spreads pain to everyone."
The General Motors truck assembly plant is slated for closure in 2009 and Oshawa is already feeling the effects, Gray said. Charities are hurting because of a drop in donations from GM employees, who are very generous benefactors, and one local takeout restaurant popular with GM employees has seen average nightly revenue drop from $600 to $60, Gray said.
At the southern tip of Ontario, Windsor is no stranger to auto industry malaise. As the so-called Automotive Capital of Canada, the city has a presence from Chrysler, Ford and GM (though that plant is slated for closure).
In the region of 350,000 people, about 43,000 of them are employed by the auto industry.
"Four or five years ago when manufacturing and automotive started to decline, we felt the impact immediately," Mayor Eddie Francis said.
"We as a city generally tend to set the trend for the rest of the country. Excuse the adage, but we're well known to be the canary in a coal mine."
If true, the example of Windsor holds some promise for other auto communities.
The city has started to diversify its economy, with the building of a new convention centre, casino and arena. There is also an attempt to transition existing automotive infrastructure to meet changing market demands.
"What we're trying to do now is ensure that the automotive footprint is maintained," Francis said.
"Parts suppliers that once used to supply strictly 100 per cent the automotive industry ... those parts suppliers are now transitioned and are now supplying the aerospace industry."
That may be cold comfort for workers wondering where their next paycheque will come from.
Ray Grummet has seen the last two auto parts plants he has worked at file for bankruptcy. At 57 years old, he doesn't like the prospect of starting over. But he also doesn't like the prospect of getting sucked in by the auto sector's downward spiral.
"I'm really leery as to whether I would ever want to go back into it again now," he said from his home in Brantford, Ont.
Spare Parts
The thing that I most afraid that will happen on road is that my sort of "limited edition" car break down. The reason I say that it's a limited edition is because the car is really old until I find it hard for me to find spare parts. It's a total fuss to go through the "being cheated by the mechanic saying that they have the correct parts where THEY DON'T HAVE" part, so next time please make sure that you find some spare parts like Harley parts which is available almost everywhere. How convenient it is..
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