GM Delays Most Future Product… And Dies?

I just read this news item from Automotive News. It looks like the bean counters at GM have finally done what was needed… to ruin the company. According to the news item:

General Motors is postponing nearly all of its spending on product development in 2009 and 2010 — a cost-cutting move that could delay the introduction of key vehicles such as the Chevrolet Cruze. The automaker also is cutting spending on engineering, design and r&d, say sources familiar with GM’s plans. So far, nothing has been officially canceled, but nearly everything is delayed, the sources say. “The 2009 stuff that’s too late to cancel is coming out, then everything else gets pushed out anywhere between three months and up to a year,” said one of the sources. “It’s not just capital budget; it’s also engineering, design … everything that would cause money to flow out in 2009.”

GM’s problem is that is doesn’t put enough money into creating exciting vehicles that people have to have. Too many of their cars are only good enough in a world where good enough is not good enough. They need to make them better, not the same old – same old. Now they expect to survive in a business that is constantly improving by not spending any money to improve. Oops!

I fear this could be the sign that GM is on the verge of really dying. GM should put every last cent it can into making all it cars as good as the new Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Malibu. Don’t stop development… infuse it to make all your cars the best in their class.

I wonder if the Chevy Volt will be delayed. They already ruined the Volt when they changed its looks to a “normal” car. The initial concept car was radical looking. People buying a radical new idea such as an electric car with an on board gas run generator will want a radical looking car. Honda even admits that its hybrids don’t sell well because the cars look no different than their non-hybrids. And this is one of the key reasons the Prius is in much higher demand than diesels that could get just as good mileage. The Prius looks different.

GM is probably doomed… as I think this news announcement predicts.

New Fall TV Shows

Here is a quick rundown on the new fall TV shows that I am watching.

The Mentalist – A show about a very observant person that comes off as almost psychic. I like this one. It is like a serious version of Psych (on USA Network). Overall it is about what I expected, but I would like to be in on it a little more. Meaning, they don’t show us the clues the mentalist sees, so we can try and come to the same conclusion. They also need to have more episodes that have him matching wits with the serial killer that he originally went after when he “pretended” to be a psychic (5 years previous to the time frame we are watching in the show).

Life On Mars – A cop gets hit my a car and wakes up in 1973. This looks like an excuse to make an old style cop show like Starky & Hutch or Baretta. Cops are more forceful and less politcally correct. Problem, the main character gets up from the car accident and he is wearing period correct clothes and has appropriate identification for the time. Huh? I kind of like it, but it clearly has a time travel problem. Are we ever going to know why he is in 1973. Is the show a dream, or did he get put back in time. How do you explain everything around him, including his background. I don’t think this will make it because of the weirdness. I like weird, but this time it doesn’t seem to fit in a way that lets the audience understand. It just comes off as a way to make an old time cop show.

My Own Worst Enemy – This is the split personality spy show. The spy is the actual person and the split personality is a fabricated person. The split is controlled by a chip implanted in his brain that cannot be removed. The chip malfunctions and the switch between personalities cannot be controlled. Oops! I like this show. Slater is very good at playing both parts. However, if I were running a super secret agency that did the kinds of things this agency does I would terminate the malfunctioning equipement right away. Slater’s dual personalities of Henry and Edward don’t want that so they work together to maintain the releationship. Unfortunately one of them would rather not. In the end I don’t think this will last. I like the premiss, but the issue with one personality sleeping with the others wife is going to get old very fast.

The Eleventh Hour – This is about a scientist that works for the FBI solving science based crimes that seem impossible otherwise to solve. I like it. I like how the main character explains what he observes and what it could mean. This show seems to avoid the recent trend of creating a deep conspiracy as part of its plot. You can watch one episode and not be lost on previous information. Unfortunately, although I like it (in the same manner I like NUMB3RS), I don’t know how long it will last. It is hard to pin down and know if others will like it as much as i do.

Fringe – Now this is serious conspiracy theory here with all the bizarre and science fiction stuff you can think of. We have an FBI agent that gets on a case that is weird, and she is offered a job looking into other strange cases that have to do with “the pattern,” a series of events from old scientific research. She is teamed up with a crazy scientist that did a lot of the original research they believe is part of “the pattern.” Also, the agents boyfriend dies in the first episode but returns as possibly a figment of her imagination, or something far deeper. This show is out there. Which seems to work as it was created by the same guy that created Lost. I don’t know if this show will make it, but if it doesn’t I hope they at least answer some of the many questions it leaves open. When Jericho was canceled they got enough fan mail to bring it back. But it never did do well in the ratings, so they brought it back long enough to give everything meaning. I hope we get the same here if this show is not a success.

Prison Break – O.K. This is not new, but this season is new in that it is not a prison break. Finally they are not trying to escape prison. Now they are trying to take down “the company” that put them in their situation… or go back to prison. I like this. I was very disappointed with the second prison and the how and why it was done. Conspiracy still runs rampant in this and we will probably never learn all we want to know, but it is better this year than last.

Life – I know, this is also not new. But is was a mid year show last year due to the strike. I really liked this last year, and I have not been disappointed this year. A slight change in cast (the “captain” was replaced) doesn’t seem to do much. Overall I like how they mix conspiracy in with shows that can been seen one at a time.

Gary Unmarried – I had high hopes for this show because I like Jay Mohr. But I just can’t warm up to this show. I get tired of the divorsed guy that lost everything. Have these people not heard of comminuty property. Plus Jay Mohr was better in Ghost Whisperer and that show has taken a hit with him leaving. I am not impressed with the new whisperer that can only here ghosts (like in the movie Ghost).

Flashpoint – This was a cop show that showed hostage negotiating and SWAT. I liked it. This was actually a summer fill in show. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find anything about it being a regular show. It may have come and gone already.

New MacBooks

As I mentioned briefly in my article on preparing to switch to the Mac, the new MacBooks, along with new MacBook Pros and MacBook Air came out today. At first glance the 13.3″ MacBook for $1299 is probably the one for me. Here are the basic specs:

• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2 GB Memory (DDR3)
• 160 GB Hard Drive
• nVidia GeForce 9400M

All this seems to be about what I expected. I was hoping for a lower price. They have a $999 “White” MacBook, but it seems like a slight the same old white MacBook for $100 less. I did like that the MacBook Air got upgraded to a 120 GB hard drive and the same nVidia graphics as the regular MacBooks.

Does anyone but me notice that the new MacBook is slower. That’s right, the previous $1,299 MacBook in white with 2 GB of memory and the same 160 GB hard drive came with a 2.4 GHz processor. We we get the new aluminum case and better graphics, but at a loss of speed.

The MacBook Pros seem to also have gone through a fairly mild upgrade, but they are out of my price range so I didn’t find it interesting.

My HDTV in PC World’s Top 5

I recently purchased a Toshiba Regza 42RV530U 42″ LCD HDTV. Since I was strapped for time and cash at purchase time, its nice to find out 2-1/2 months later that it made PC World’s Top 5 42-Inch HDTVs.

Bluetooth Problem Solved

A weird thing happened today. I was working from home. I usually place my cell phone on my desk next to the land line phone. I then connect my Plantronics 665 to the cell phone for hands free usage. I just hate trouble shooting computers with one hand.

Well, the Plantronics would not connect to my phone. I tried again and again. I had to go online to find the owner’s manual for the Plantronics so I could determine what the flashing lights meant, and how to pair it with a phone. The lights were telling me the battery was fully charged, a good thing.

I removed the entry for the Plantronics from the phone and tried to add it again. Nothing. I was about to look for the receipt of the headset (I got it around November 07). I then looked at my son’s phone. It had Bluetooth, so I tried pairing it to the Plantronics. It worked. This meant it was the phone. I started contemplating taking it back to Sprint, but then I realized that the phone is more than a year old (December 06).

Hmm. A phone is kind of like a tiny computer. So I tried to power it off then power it back on. Goo Goo G’Joob, it worked! Never underestimate the power of a good reboot.