Shift makes buying a car as easy as ordering a pizza

Buying a car is a pain. Especially if you’re looking to save some cash by purchasing something used. You end up scouring tons of random Craigslist listings and dreading the moment a used car dealer sits you down with the hyper-aggressive loan officer. Fortunately, there’s a new way to buy a vehicle that doesn’t even involve you leaving the house.

Based out of San Francisco, Shift will deliver a car to the home of a potential buyer for them to test-drive. If you schedule one of these drives and decide that this is your new whip, you can buy it right then and there using the delivery person’s iPad. No driving across town, the county, or the state to roll around in a vehicle and more importantly no pushy sales or financing people.

Launched in 2013, Shift joined a growing number of automotive startups hoping to change the status quo. In the car-selling market, it’s joined by Carvana, which also delivers a car to owners but requires you opt to buy it first. Shift’s biggest competitor was the defunct Beepi, which did the same thing as Shift, but shuttered and was absorbed by another automotive startup, Fair, at the end of 2016. Fair offers alternative payment loan and lease payment plans.

So while it’s currently the only player that’ll come to your home or office to let you test drive a car, it’s certainly not going to be the last. There’s no real reason why an automaker couldn’t nudge its dealers to use its own version of an app for scheduled off-site test-drives. But that might be ok with Shift.

Co-founder and CEO George Arison told Engadget that in the future, there’s a potential for someone with an inventory of cars in a market the company wouldn’t necessarily enter to be a super-seller on Shift using the startup’s platform. Sort of like the super-sellers on eBay that use the auction site to sell their goods without having to launch their own sites or deal with e-commerce issues.

If you’re a used car dealer in a place like Wichita, Kansas, where Shift might not open its own office, the idea of being the one place in town that makes it super easy for potential customers to buy a car could be too good to pass up.

With millennials making up 50 percent of Shift’s customer base, it should be on the radar of any dealer or automaker looking to appeal to a demographic that’s become accustomed to nearly everything being delivered to their home. It’s no wonder that BMW’s i Venture is an investor in the company. The company is currently making a profit on vehicles it sells in Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is working on making its San Diego location profitable.

Arison isn’t content with just facilitating the sales of cars. He sees Shift evolving to a concierge service that tells drivers that their cars needs new tires, an oil change or even a wash. The system would schedule someone to pick up their car, have the maintenance work done and return it.

Like most things that involve cars and is outside the traditional model, there are regulations. Each state has different rules on how companies sell cars. So Shift and other startups will have to navigate a patchwork of laws. Texas, for example, is difficult to break into because the state is traditional dealer friendly. States like Texas have franchise laws that are meant to keep automakers from edging dealers out of the market by selling directly to consumers the way Tesla does. The by-product of those laws is that companies like Shift also have difficulty entering those markets.

Shift currently only operates in California. It shuttered its East Coast sales offices to focus on one market with hopes of expanding to other states while navigating the legal systems of those locations. But if dealers start using the same type of system or use Shift’s platform, it’s likely because your legislators have had a change of heart about how a car can be sold in their district.

So like food, clothing, humans who’ll do your chores and even weed, your next vehicle might be delivered to your house and purchased from an iPad while you take a 30-minute break from watching Stranger Things. And frankly, that’s better than being trapped in a small room at a dealership while a hyper salesperson uses illogical math you trick you into buying something you can’t really afford. The last thing you need is stress while dropping a huge wad of cash on a car.

iPhone X Should Push Apple Ahead of Samsung as World’s Largest Smartphone Maker

Apple will dethrone Samsung as the world’s largest smartphone maker in the fourth quarter of 2017, on the strength of strong iPhone X demand, according to Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce.

TrendForce estimates Apple will record 19.1 percent market share in the quarter, encompassing the busy holiday shopping season, which would be slightly ahead of Samsung’s estimated 18.2 percent market share. Chinese vendors Huawei, OPPO, and Xiaomi are expected to round off the top five.

The feat would be impressive as always given that Samsung sells over a dozen different smartphone models, including some as cheap as $200, whereas Apple primarily caters to the high-end market beyond the iPhone SE for $349.

Samsung is expected to slightly scale back the production of its high-end models in the fourth quarter as the brand is seeing the sales of its smartphones being squeezed by the strong demand for Apple’s latest iPhone devices. TrendForce estimates that Samsung’s fourth-quarter total volume will come to 77 million units, a 5% drop from the third quarter.

The fourth quarter has always been the strongest for Apple, given it launches new devices in the fall, allowing it to surpass Samsung in the year-ago quarter as well. Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were released back in April, so sales momentum is likely beginning to decline for those devices.

Meanwhile, market research firm Canalys estimates the iPhone 8 Plus outpaced the iPhone 8 last quarter with shipments of 6.3 million units and 5.4 million units respectively. Canalys said the iPhone 8 Plus is the first Plus-sized iPhone to out-ship its smaller 4.7-inch sibling in a single quarter.

Apple doesn’t disclose iPhone sales on a model-by-model basis, but chief Tim Cook said the iPhone 8 Plus has “gotten off to the fastest start of any Plus model,” which came as “a bit of a surprise” to the company.

As far as iPhone X sales are concerned, Apple’s guidance of $84-$87 billion revenue for the holiday quarter suggests that demand for the device will be significant. Apple should easily beat its all-time record for revenue in a single quarter of $78.4 billion, achieved in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTags: Samsung, TrendForce, CanalysBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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Long-haul flights will just fly by with these gadgets and tips

Traveling, especially when it involves a long-haul flight, can be tiring, stressful, and sometimes traumatic. However, use the best luxury travel tech, and it’s possible to turn plane travel back into the exciting and pleasurable experience it once was. Here, we’re going to give you our top insider tips for the plane, and the best luxury travel tech to keep you happy and sane during the first stage of your vacation.

Carry-on essentials

STM Banks backpack – $130

Designed to be stylish and provide plenty of protection for your tech products, we love the STM Banks backpack, especially in the subtle blue color. We choose this because of STM’s SlingTech system which supports your laptop in a dedicated pocket, which keeps it suspended away from the bottom of the bag and the edges. It has a roomy 18 liters of space, and can carry a 15-inch laptop. We also fitted four smartphones, our carry-on survival bag, an Amazon Kindle, magazines, full-size headphones, a battery pack, and plenty more. It remained comfortable to wear, despite being very heavy. A great travel backpack.

Greenwich Odyssey passport case – $65

If you’re going to travel in style, make sure you go all the way. Greenwich makes stunning leather smartphone cases, and we couldn’t pass up the chance to wrap our passport up in its Odyssey holder. The damson color is eye-catching without being over the top, and the soft leather on the outside is matched by even softer Alcantara on the inside.

LG V30 – $810

Why do we suggest the LG V30? Several reasons. It’s slim and easily pocketable, it has a water-resistant body — so if any liquid-based accidents happen the phone has a good chance of survival — and the battery life is excellent. Our recommendation goes deeper too: The wide-angle camera captures excellent pictures, and the Cine Effect video mode will give your holiday movies a totally different look every time. Finally, the V30 has a brilliant audio capability with its own Quad DAC for great sounding wired headphones, and AptX HD for the best wireless sound. It’s a brilliant companion, whether you’re on holiday or not. Read our full review.

Nowa smartwatch – $200

The fewer items we need to keep charged up while away, the better. But it’s a shame to miss out on fitness tracking just because our Android Wear smartwatches or the Apple Watch don’t have long lasting batteries. Instead, how about a hybrid watch? We chose the new Nowa watch, which is designed for travelers, with an automatic world time mode, where the watch adjusts to your new time zone without you having to do anything. It also has Apple Health and Google Fit fitness support, and acts as a remote control for your phone’s selfie camera — exactly what you need when you’re in front of that famous landmark. The Nowa is really slim, has various strap options, and looks swish enough to match whatever you’re wearing.

Kef Porsche Design Space One Wireless Headphones – $470

Noise canceling headphones are a flight essential. We also want supreme comfort, great sound, and in keeping with our luxury theme, a brilliant design from a respected brand. British audio experts Kef and design experts at Porsche Design have the perfect pair of headphones — the Space One Wireless. The latest model provides 30 hours of active noise cancelation and Bluetooth audio, with a minimalist, super stylish design. However, it’s the comfort we really love. The leather covers over the ear cups and on the headband, along with minimal grip on the skull, meant we could wear them for hours on the plane. The noise cancelation stripped away the sounds of the engines, while keeping the vibrancy and life of the music intact. The carry case is thin and protective, and there is both a cable for wired Hi-Res audio playback, and a airplane adaptor too.

Modal SIM card – $15

Keeping phone connectivity abroad is really an essential, but it can be a pain. Buying a local SIM can be time-consuming, and sometimes even impossible without a local address. Modal solves these problems by getting a SIM to you before you leave home. We took advantage of Modal’s expertise in Japanese SIM cards, but the company will supply SIMs that work in most countries around the world. Buy before you go and the SIM’s delivered to your door, at which time you activate it online and pay for how much time you’ll need. Ours worked perfectly in Japan, providing very fast 4G LTE data speeds on our Samsung Galaxy Note 8, and LG V30. There’s no contract or ongoing fees, you just pay upfront with the option to extend if you need more data, calls, messages, or extra time.

B&O Play P2 – $170

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Obviously this one isn’t for the plane, but for your hotel, apartment, or Airbnb when you arrive. The B&O Play P2 Bluetooth speaker has a smaller footprint than the LG V30, and is less than an inch thick, making it highly portable. The sound it produces is anything but small, with strong bass, and a very natural, vibrant sound. It’s also shockingly loud, and lives up to everything we expect from B&O Play. Make sure you use the accompanying app, which enables the touch gestures to control playback, and the auto-shutdown to conserve battery life — another holiday necessity.

STM Grace battery pack – $50

Your phone is essential for Google Maps, the camera, and sharing photos on Instagram. Running out of power because you aren’t near to power outlet can be very frustrating. We took along the STM Grace Powerbank, which contains a 5,000mAh cell, and has a full-size USB port for your own charging cable. It’s small, and doesn’t weigh much at all, so it’s ideal for slipping into a pocket.

Insider tips

You’ve packed the right tech products, but what about getting the plane experience right? For our most recent trip, we flew with British Airways, and we went to them beforehand to get some insider tips from the cabin crew. Plus, we’re sharing the contents of our own, super special skin survival pack we never fly without.

British Airways Worldwide Cabin Crew member Becky Wadsworth spoke to Digital Trends over email, and told us in addition to getting to the airport with plenty of time to spare, the following tips:

• Try to book flight times to maximise rest while on a long-haul flight, helping you to settle into a new time zone more easily.
• Altitude can dry the skin, so as well as drinking lots of water, apply a really good moisturiser and lip balm.
• Eat lightly, and limit caffeine and alcohol while onboard so you feel good when you arrive.
• Get up and move around to stretch muscles while onboard. Try to do some simple inflight exercises.

We’ll add one to this. Don’t underestimate the value of compression socks. Whether they provide any protection against deep vein thrombosis or not, they really help minimize uncomfortable swelling in the legs, avoid tired feet, and stop aching leg muscles. It’s all part of feeling fresh on arrival. Take your shoes off when seated too. Just make sure you get the right sock fitting, and consult your doctor if you’re unsure about their use.

Health and skin survival pack

Plane interiors can be gross, and the drier air inside isn’t good for your skin. Packing a small carry-on survival bag with essentials to revitalize and refresh during the flight, or before landing. Like wearing the compression socks, it’s about arriving, looking your best, and feeling great.

• Use a small, see-through zip-up bag so you can take it through security control without repacking.
• Make sure all items are below the 100ml or 3.4-ounce limit.
• For men, we like Clinique products, and regularly take travel-size Maximum Hydrator face wash, Moisturizing Lotion, and Anti-Age Eye Cream.
• Consider a travel toothbrush and toothpaste essential. It’s important to keep the skin hydrated while on long flights. We like Korean skincare products such as Dr. Jart sheet masks or Belif’s The True Cream Aqua Bomb. To give your skin a quick boost, a spritz of SK-II Mid Day Essence Spray should do the trick.
• An anti-bacterial hand wash.
• A deodorant spray is also helpful, or a sample size cologne.
• Your choice of lip balm.

Don’t be a Neanderthal. Pack these, and use them before getting off the plane. Feel like a human for the next stage of travel day.

Why you should upgrade when you can

Yes, upgrading to another class is expensive, but the difference it can make to your journey is remarkable. It’s not about the different food, or the usually unlimited access to drinks. It’s about comfort, better rest, and more space. If you haven’t splashed out for an upgrade in the past, try to do so for your next long-haul flight.

Our flight was a little over 11 hours, which we spent in Club World class on a British Airways Boeing 777. Despite the length of time, we emerged not feeling like we’d had 11 hours on the plane. Forget the figures quoting how much larger the seats are, or angles of recline. All you need to know is it’s like being seated in a great single recliner chair at home. It’s electrically operated and folds almost flat and combined with a foot stall, it turns into a bed, making real sleep a genuine possibility.

Even if you don’t sleep, the rest you get is of a greater standard. You avoid the nightmare of a completely reclined seat in front of you. The screen is larger, there’s more room for your stuff, and it’s considerably easier to work on a laptop if you need to.

British Airways offers discounted business class fares from time-to-time, but if Club World is out of financial reach, the usually reasonably priced World Traveller Plus premium economy upgrade also has more room, and gives you the chance to relax and rest on the flight more so than in economy. On a separate Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 flight from New York to Frankfurt we flew on earlier this year, we upgraded ourselves to premium economy for $200 at time of booking. The difference in service and seating is notable, and worth it for a long, overnight flight.

Watch out though, once you’ve had the pleasure of flying in Club World, or any airline’s equivalent class, you won’t want to go back to regular economy in the future.

That’s it for our tips on how to make your next flight more comfortable, and the best tech to give that journey a luxury feel.

Need more gear tips for long-haul travel? We got you covered.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Casper and American Airlines want you to sleep better on your next flight
• New subscription-based SkyHi flight app offers outrageously low airfares
• Hasbro, TripAdvisor update the Game of Life with vacation options
• Be forewarned of delayed flights via the Flightsayer app
• Gnarbox review

How has your Google Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL battery life been?

It’s the most important spec for many people.

Battery life makes or breaks the smartphone experience. No, not just battery size but the combination of factors that lead to how long a phone will last on an average day before you start looking for a battery or a wall outlet. Battery life differs pretty widely among phones, but the biggest differences you see in reported battery life come down to the vast differences in how we use our phones. Ask two people with the same exact phone how their battery life is on a normal day, and you can get two very different numbers — one reassuring, and another unsettling.

Whether you have the Pixel 2, with its relatively small 2700mAh battery, or the bigger Pixel 2 XL with far better longevity prospects, we want to know how your battery life has been.

Despite its small battery capacity, some people are seeing great battery life on the Pixel 2.

openwheelracing
10-21-2017 11:20 PM

“

Yep, 3 straight days with 6+ hours of SOT with Pixel 2. This includes GPS, YouTube and camera. Not babying the battery at all. Going out of my way to use the phone. Im amazed how efficient this phone is. If I go easy, I can probably get 8+ hours SOT.

Reply

Seeing a whole bunch of reports like this. Impressive.

Cakefish
10-23-2017 05:35 PM

“

Over 4 hours of SOT with 50% still to go. Regular Pixel 2. Mixed 4G and WiFi usage. Adaptive brightness on. GPS on. Bluetooth off. AOD off.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20171023/92dbbb4e26bf2c49ce3e0bd1c5d59108.jpg

Reply

It’s tough to find someone with a Pixel 2 XL who isn’t very happy with their battery life.

JHBThree
10-22-2017 05:37 PM

“

Yesterday I had over 5 hours SOT and still had 40% in the tank when I went to bed. So far the battery life on the 2XL has been fantastic.

Reply

And the 2 XL is outperforming its predecessor as well, which is always a good sign.

svenEDGE
10-21-2017 04:50 PM

“

2 XL here… The battery life is incredible. I pulled it off the charger 6 hours ago. Since then I used my phone to navigate to work (25 minute commute), streamed music the whole way here, I’ve watched YouTube, used Instagram, I screenshared with support while I was troubleshooting an issue, plus other random stuff. I’ve currently had the screen on for 2 hrs and 20min and have my brightness maxed…

Reply

So where does your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL battery life land on the spectrum? Is it more than enough, coming up short, or landing right in the middle? Jump into the forums and get in on the discussion!

Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL

• Pixel 2 FAQ: Everything you need to know!
• Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: The new standard
• Google Pixel 2 specs
• Google Pixel 2 vs. Pixel 2 XL: What’s the difference?
• Join our Pixel 2 forums

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AmazonSmile comes to the UK, donates some of your spend to charity

Just over four years ago, Amazon introduced Smile, a new way to donate to charitable organisations. Instead of visiting the normal Amazon.com website, customers load up the special AmazonSmile address and shop as they would normally. The company then gives 0.5% of the total net spend to the charity of their choice.

With $62 million raised for 230,000 charities, the company has decided to bring it this side of the Atlantic. It’s now giving Brits the opportunity to generate a little extra money for Cancer Research UK, The British Red Cross, Royal British Legion and other charitable organisations.

Amazon’s UK initiative works the same as it does in the US: 0.5% of purchases (excluding VAT, shipping fees and returns) are donated to UK-specific charities when bought via smile.amazon.co.uk. At launch, Cancer Research UK, The British Red Cross, Royal British Legion, Magic Breakfast, Marie Curie, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity, RSPCA, Save the Children, Scottish Women’s Aid and Stonewall are on board.

Amazon said it will extend the programme to all UK registered charities regardless of size or locality in “early 2018.”

Via: Amazon Media Centre

Source: Amazon Smile

The Morning After: Thursday, November 9th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

If you like retro-inspired things, you might like the first new manual SLR in decades. If you’d rather keep your eye on the future, take a look at Uber’s plans (with NASA) to get its flying taxis off the ground. (Not sorry about that pun.) Also: Niantic Labs, the team behind Pokemon Go, is making a Harry Potter game. Get excited.

The device reportedly will have its own screen and chipset.
Apple may be working on an AR headset for 2020

Apple has been talking a lot about AR lately. Its recent ARKit allows developers to create augmented reality apps for iOS devices, but that’s just the first step. The company is reportedly developing an AR headset that will be ready by 2019 — a device that may change the game as much as the iPhone did back in 2007.

They can also prevent the spread of dengue, yellow fever and other diseases.
EPA approves good guy mosquitoes to battle Zika

MosquitoMate will be releasing a plethora of mosquitoes across the US — not to start a bug-pocalypse, but to prevent it. The US Environmental Protection Agency has just approved the use of the startup’s mosquitoes as a biopesticide against their Zika-, dengue- and other disease-carrying counterparts in 20 states and Washington DC. The company’s insects carry a common bacterium called Wolbachia pipientis, which infects a wide range of invertebrates. By releasing them, they can spread bacteria to the wild population of Aedes albopictus or Asian tiger mosquitoes — and stop the spread of those aforementioned diseases.

Bust out the tinfoil.
Aluminum foil can actually improve your wireless signal

Lifehack.

Amazon takes on the smart home once again.
Amazon Cloud Cam review: a Nest Cam rival with Alexa smarts

Amazon’s first home-security camera offers great value for money. Not only is it cheaper than comparable rivals by $80 or more, it stores recorded events for up to 24 hours without requiring a subscription. Subscriptions buy you more storage space, and you also get the benefit of extra features like person detection and setting up zones for the camera to ignore (which we wish were available by default). The Cloud Cam’s geofencing feature does get a little temperamental but its other qualities more than make up for it.

Los Angeles will be its third test city.
Uber works with NASA to get flying taxis ready by 2020

At a speech at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Uber’s Head of Product Jeff Holden revealed the company has signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to create the air traffic control system that will manage its low-flying taxi fleet, which it aims to have in the air by 2020. The company also announced that a third test city, Los Angeles, joins Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai. According to Uber, its UberAIR service could compress a one-and-a-half-hour journey from LAX to the Staples Center during rush hour to under 30 minutes. We can’t wait for E3 2020.

But wait, there’s more…

• The FCC is helping cable companies evade consumer protection rules
• Apple offered to help FBI unlock Texas shooter’s phone
• Engadget Experience: ‘Dinner Party’ relives an interracial couple’s alien abduction in VR
• A SpaceX rocket engine exploded during a qualification test in Texas
• ‘Harry Potter’ AR game is coming from the makers of ‘Pokémon Go’
• The Reflex 1 is the first manual film SLR in decades

Las Vegas’ self-driving bus crashes in first hour of service

Las Vegas’ self-driving shuttle service marked its return by getting into a minor collision, according to local NBC station KSNV News 3. French startup Navya’s autonomous electric vehicle shuffles at around 15 MPH on a 0.6 mile circuit in the downtown Fremont East district. But, just an hour into its year-long trial (which follows a successful stint in January) the shuttle was hit by a delivery truck that was backing up.

None of the eight passengers aboard the driverless vehicle suffered injuries and neither did the truck driver. Instead, the front bumper of the shuttle took the brunt of the damage. A spokesperson for AAA, which is sponsoring the latest pilot program, said on Twitter that the accident was due to “human error” on the part of the truck driver.

Truck making delivery backed into shuttle, which was stopped. Human error causes most traffic collisions and this was no different. Driver of truck was cited. No one hurt except a bruised bumper!

— Mike Blasky (@blasky) November 8, 2017

A representative of the Las Vegas City government also posted a note on its official Tumblr page detailing the accident. “The autonomous shuttle was testing today when it was grazed by a delivery truck downtown,” reads the post. It continued: “The shuttle did what it was supposed to do, in that its sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident. Unfortunately the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle.”

Simply stopping obviously wasn’t enough to evade a collision in this case, which begs the question: Can the shuttle not move (or reverse) to avoid an object, even when the object is crawling towards it? KSNV News 3’s Kyndell Nunley posed that question to a representative of Keolis, the French private transportation company that owns Navya. He replied: “It’s designed to stop..and yield to the moving object…But, if the moving object keeps coming toward the shuttle it can back up, but apparently in this case the truck just kept on going, and went right in to the side of the shuttle.”

The trial is set to continue, but the incident will do little to ease the concerns of those skeptical about self-driving cars. The free autonomous shuttle service was the first of its kind in the US. In addition, Navya’s 15-passenger Arma vehicles are also the stars of a similar program at the University of Michigan, and its tech will soon start powering driverless taxis (that can reach a top speed of 55 MPH). Let’s hope the company learns from this incident, and the remainder of the testing.

Source: KSNV News 3, City of Las Vegas (Tumblr)

The long wait for a 1,000MPH car

On October 28th, Bloodhound’s EJ200 jet engine roared to life. The needle-shaped car sped down a closed-off airstrip in Newquay, England, as 3,500 people looked on. At first, a cone of flame could be seen at the back of the vehicle, but it quickly faded as pilot Andy Green reached top speed and hit the brakes. From the roof of a temporary broadcast studio, I watched as a line of photographers rattled off shots and jostled for position. Within a matter of seconds, the blue blur had reached the end of the runway and veered left onto a parallel strip that led back toward the starting line.

It was a moment everyone present had waited nine years for.

The Bloodhound project was first announced at London’s Science Museum in 2008, when Green and project director Richard Noble explained their “three-year mission” to build a car that could break the world land speed record and reach a dizzying 1,000MPH (1,609KMH).

Noble, a Scottish entrepreneur and qualified pilot, had held the land speed record between 1983 and 1997 with the jet-propelled Thrust2. He relinquished his driving duties shortly after and became project director for the Thrust SSC, which Green drove to a record-breaking 763MPH (1,228KMH) in Jordan’s al-Jafr desert.

From the outset, Bloodhound had a second mission to inspire young children to pursue careers in science, math, engineering and technology. Today, the UK still has a shortage of skilled engineers. Back in 2008, Noble and Green hoped that a new car and record attempt, which the public could easily follow through blog posts and update videos, would show how exciting the industry can be.

There was, unsurprisingly, a wealth of interest and media coverage around the launch.

Tony Parraman, Bloodhound’s head of sponsor liaison, didn’t attend the announcement. He was hired before the London launch and desperate to go, but Noble refused his request, citing cost-saving measures. Having stayed behind, Parraman said, is one of his “biggest regrets.”

Tall and well spoken, Parraman had an extraordinary career prior to Bloodhound. Following a brief stint in the Royal Air Force, he took a course in engineering and worked for a company that built detectors for electron microscopes. He then moved to CAV, a subsidiary of the motor-and-aerospace manufacturer Lucas, before traveling around the world and teaching English in Japan for six months. The globe-trotter eventually returned to England and became a design technology teacher. After he stopped working to bring up his daughter, Parraman set up his own small building company.

“Lots of ladies at toddler groups had inept husbands who couldn’t do anything in the DIY field,” he explained. “So I decided to make a small business out of fitting kitchens, bathrooms and fencing. You name it, I did it.”

His extensive résumé couldn’t prepare him for the ‘rude awakening’ that occurred on his first day.

All of that experience made Parraman an ideal candidate for the sponsorship role. He was an excellent speaker and understood Bloodhound’s design challenges, as well as the impact the project could have on children. His extensive résumé, however, couldn’t prepare him for the “rude awakening” that occurred on his first day.

As a young lad, he had watched Noble talk about the Thrust SSC on Blue Peter. “I thought, ‘It can’t be that difficult, can it? You just build a car and then you run it in the desert. Where’s the level of complexity?’” The reality, of course, was quite different.

Mark Elvin, Bloodhound’s engineering lead, standing by the incomplete car in September.

Bloodhound is an intimidating vehicle. It measures 13.4 meters (about 44 feet), which is more than two Formula 1 cars placed back to back. Along the top, behind the driver’s cockpit, is the EJ200 jet engine — the same one found in a Eurofighter Typhoon plane. Underneath is a largely vacant section that will eventually house three hybrid rockets developed by Norwegian/Finnish aerospace company Nammo. At the moment, the team is powering the rocket oxidizer pump, which pours peroxide into the rocket chamber, with a Jaguar Supercharged V8 engine. The jet engine on its own could take the car up to 650MPH (1046KMH) — close to the current land speed record — but with the rocket system the team is confident it can break 1,000MPH.

The front section, including the nose and cockpit, is made mostly of carbon fiber. The rear, meanwhile, is a mixture of aluminum and titanium, split into two distinct halves for the jet and rocket engines. A large orange fin sits at the back, keeping the car pointed forward as it speeds toward its goal. Without this, the car might turn or move unpredictably, like an arrow without any feathered fletchings. All told, Bloodhound is a carefully crafted Frankenstein machine, a patchwork of parts and materials designed with power and, above all else, Green’s safety in mind.

In 2008, of course, the vehicle didn’t exist. After the launch event, the Bloodhound team returned to Bristol and continued its work on the design. A few months later, Green visited Australia to search for a desert that could facilitate the record attempt, but he came up empty-handed. Design visualization company Visioneering provided parts for a basic chassis mock-up made of steel, wood and foam. As the pieces slotted into place, the team fine-tuned their CAD drawings. It was an arduous design process, a constant loop of balancing and refinement.

The mock-up was shown off to the public at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2009. The bodywork, paint and decals gave everyone, including supporters and potential investors, a much-needed reference point for the project and what the team was hoping to build.

Buoyed by the reaction, the team continued its design and testing work. Later that month, the Bristol crew conducted a “static test” of its monopropellant rocket system. The team is confident that this part, combined with the Eurofighter jet engine, can carry the car to well over 800MPH. With the first record secure, and plenty more data to pick through, they will swap the rocket out for a more powerful and trickier-to-operate hybrid system.

By November 2009, the team had gone through 10 design “evolutions.” It wasn’t until May 2010, however, that the crew announced its “holy grail” configuration. Since the project’s inception, the team had been battling a predicted variation in vertical load, or lift. At roughly 387MPH (617KMH), Bloodhound produced some downforce; however, that would flip to more than 10 tons of lift at 1,000MPH. Given that the car weighed close to five tons at the time, that was a huge problem. But the team found a way to redesign the rear of the vehicle to minimize the air compression that was causing so much lift.

Mark Elvin heard about the Bloodhound project soon after its announcement in London. In 2010, he watched a related presentation at Farnborough Airshow. “I remember sitting there and thinking, ‘Look at this bunch of idiots. They think they’re going to build a 1,000MPH car.’” But Elvin, like many of Bloodhound’s critics, had only read a brief news article about the project. He would later dig deeper and understand just how much work had already gone into the designs. “The aerodynamic analysis that was done before the structures were even started is huge,” he said.

Suddenly Bloodhound didn’t seem so ridiculous. “You suddenly realize, ‘Hang on a minute — no, these guys have done an awful lot of what you would hope they had done.’ But that’s not what was sold in the BBC article I read. They had kind of glossed over all of that.’” With a newfound respect for the project, Elvin joined the 1K Club, an official supporters’ group that offered exclusive updates, an invitation to the car’s UK test runs, and more.

“I remember sitting there and thinking, ‘Look at this bunch of idiots. They think they’re going to build a 1,000MPH car.’”

Like Parraman, Elvin has had an astonishing career. He started his working life with a four-year aircraft apprenticeship at Westland Helicopters before taking a job as a junior engineer at GKN Westland Design. Four years later, he was stuck in a queue at the NEC Motor Show, flipping through a free copy of The Daily Telegraph. By chance, he spotted a job posting for a design engineer at the Williams Formula 1 team. Candidates needed to be degree qualified; Elvin didn’t have a degree. In fact, he had been forced to retake his GCSEs in college. “I thought, ‘Oh, well, I haven’t got a degree, but I can’t lose anything, can I?’”

He started working at Williams in 1999. For six years, he helped the team create one of the fastest race cars in the world. “Knowing that you’ve designed components on that car, and been part of the team that won those races, it’s fantastic,” he said. In 2005, Elvin’s second daughter was born. He wanted to spend more time with his family, so he took a job as a senior design engineer at a railway signaling company. The work was ideal, but after six years Elvin felt brain dead. “Just doing an easy job day in, day out,” he recalled.

One day, Bloodhound emailed Elvin to ask if he could help run a merchandise stand at an upcoming event. Elvin couldn’t make it, but explained that he had “a bit of technical background” and wanted to contribute in other ways. “And they said, ‘Well what is your background?’ So I told them and they said, ‘Well, can you come in and have a chat?’” Elvin agreed, expecting to be pitched more voluntary work. He was surprised when the conversation ended with a job offer. “I just found the whole project interesting,” Elvin said. First, however, he needed to consult with his wife. “She said, ‘Well, if you don’t do it, you’ll regret it, so you’ve got to do it.’” So in 2012, Elvin left his stable railway job to break a world land speed record.

By this stage, it was clear that Noble and Green’s three-year timeline would need to be revised. Elvin’s guess was that everything would be wrapped up by 2014. “Obviously, that was… maybe slightly naive at that point,” he said with a chuckle. Initially, he joined Bloodhound “to do some drawing” over a three-month contract. “They had a load of schemes and just wanted parts chucked out,” he explained. But he quickly went from a design engineer to a senior engineer and, finally, the project’s engineering lead for mechanical design.

Nick Summers / Engadget

Joe Holdsworth joined the Bloodhound team in 2012 too. His father had always been interested in land speed record attempts; he went to the al-Jafr desert, met Green and Noble and watched the Thrust SSC break the world land speed record in 1997. Holdsworth looked at photos of the trip as a child and, naturally, tried to build his own rocket cars, with balsa wood and Legos. “It never worked properly, and I never had any money to buy the rocket motors,” he said with a wry smile. “Which was probably a good thing.”

Joe Holdsworth, system engineer at Bloodhound.

Holdsworth had gotten an aerospace degree at university but went into finance after his graduation. He worked in London until the financial crash of 2008, after which he was drawn back into the world of engineering. He was soon hired by a company researching unmanned submarines and their potential to look for untapped oil and gas reserves.

Before long, however, Holdsworth was pining for another move. He considered emigrating to Australia but ended up at a Bloodhound talk with his father, who, like Elvin, was a 1K Club member. In the end, Holdsworth handed in his CV just as someone else on the team happened to be moving on. He was soon hired as a systems engineer to oversee the integration of the jet engine into the car. Now he oversees all of the vehicle’s systems.

The Bloodhound project can best be described as a roomful of clever, crazy boffins. The team has a fairly flat company structure, and everyone has a broad range of skills that can be applied to different parts of the car. “It’s a massive learning exercise for everyone involved, no matter how old they are,” Elvin said. “Everybody comes here and learns a lot. I’ve probably learned more in the last six years of being here than I have done in the rest of my career put together.”

“He has probably forgotten more things than I’ll ever learn.”

For an outsider, it can feel a little intimidating. “You don’t want to look stupid,” Holdsworth said. “Obviously, you consider some of these people very good at what they do.” Elvin agreed. Ron Ayers, the team’s chief of aerodynamics, is in his eighties now. “He has probably forgotten more things than I’ll ever learn,” Elvin said. “But he’s sharp as a pin still. He’s fantastic.” Green, too, has “a computer-like brain” that earned him a first-class math degree.

But there are no egos, according to Parraman, just a single goal that everyone is pushing toward. Bloodhound’s size and structure means that no one is looking to climb up the corporate ladder or take home an unfairly large paycheck. “That’s why we call ourselves a team,” he said. “Not a company.” Because of this, Holdsworth quickly fit in. “My approach was just to observe and gauge the situation,” he said. “It was a bit daunting, but then, I guess you get into the swing of things and it becomes routine.”

In March 2013, Noble revealed that the land speed record had been delayed to the second quarter of 2014. “By the end of the year,” he wrote on the Bloodhound blog, “crucial components like the tailfin will still be in manufacture. It’s quite clear that we won’t be in South Africa for December as we had hoped.” It was better, he said, to “set an achievable date and deliver” than to pretend everything was fine and quietly fall into “deadline creep.” Four months later, however, the team posted another blog post admitting that the record campaign would now start in the summer of 2015. The delay, it said, was the result of an audit conducted by engineering review consultancy BMT HighQ Sigma.

Despite these delays, the team pushed on. In December, Nammo was confirmed as the project’s rocket partner. Three months later, Castrol came on board to provide high-performance lubricants and brake and hydraulic fluids. By June, the cockpit had been completed, and in October the jet engine was fitted for the first time. The team seemed to be making good progress and, in November 2014, announced a “12-month countdown” to its land speed record attempt. Later that month, Jaguar revealed an expanded partnership that included the pivotal V8 engine for the rocket’s oxidizer pump.

Even that time frame was ambitious, though. By the summer of 2015 it was obvious that the team wouldn’t be ready to travel to South Africa that year. In September, however, the team reached a different but still important milestone: It showed off a “dry build” version of the car, which contained most but not all of the parts, at London’s Canary Wharf. It was a glitzy event that provided a huge morale boost for the team. But the celebrations masked another agonizing delay: Now Bloodhound was aiming for test trials at “Easter” 2016 and a record attempt later that year.

Nick Summers / Engadget

Bloodhound faces many technical challenges, but its biggest problem is funding. The record attempt isn’t a pet project of a larger company with near-infinite cash reserves. Nor is it being bankrolled by a billionaire like Tesla’s Elon Musk or Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The team relies on external sponsorship and fan donations to continue. Without these, it can’t pay staff, keep up with the rent on its Bristol warehouse or buy the parts required to complete the car.

It didn’t help that the project launched in 2008, just as the stock markets crashed. “We couldn’t have picked a worse moment in recent times to start a project like this,” Parraman said. “Whenever anybody asks me, ‘What are the biggest challenges?’ I always say ‘Raising the money.’” Companies can choose to sponsor Bloodhound with free product — crucial parts for the car, or free merchandise to sell — or with cold, hard cash. The product part isn’t a problem, according to Parraman, but extracting money was always difficult.

“Whenever anybody asks me, ‘What are the biggest challenges?’ I always say ‘Raising the money.’”

“Everybody is trying to squirrel some cash away,” he said, “because they don’t want to be exposed like they were in 2008. So even big companies have got a big mattress, and they’re storing a lot of cash underneath that. Getting that out of them is quite tricky.”

Advertising and marketing strategies have also changed since the last land speed record attempt. Companies have switched to targeted advertising online, where Facebook and Google promised to find their perfect customer. An enormous logo on the side of a fast car, while useful, is often seen as more expensive, or less effective. “Richard [Noble] can go knocking on all the doors he wants to raise money, but if nobody says yes, that’s not his fault,” Elvin said. “There just seems to be a general apathy through large chunks of not just the UK but the worldwide industry, in getting involved with something that’s seen as risky.”

The Bloodhound team has been forced to adapt to the project’s inconsistent funding. There have been months, for instance, when the company couldn’t afford to pay its staff. (Parraman said, however, that “nobody has never been paid.”) That might sound frightening, but it’s a way of life that most of the Bloodhound crew is used to. “If you look at the CVs of the majority of people who work on this project, there is a very particular, almost, type of person,” Parraman said. Most have been self-employed for large portions of their life, for instance. Many have worked abroad or in the armed forces. They are, therefore, used to earning money inconsistently.

“That allowed them to be able to go, ‘Well, actually, no, you don’t need to pay me for the next couple of months while we get more cash in,” Parraman explained. Everyone, of course, needed a certain level of security. But there’s an understanding among the team that the project always comes first, and fresh sponsorship was hard to come by. “It’s about achieving the goal, not about us earning the money,” Parraman added. “We all need the money, but that’s not what it’s all about. That’s not the driver.”

In addition, the team can scale up and down to match whatever funding it has left. If money is tight, employees are notified and some will leave temporarily to work on other projects, such as Formula 1 and Formula E.

The focus on sponsorship has affected the design and development of the vehicle. Every time some new funding comes through, Holdsworth thinks, “So what can I do with this that will give me the most chance of getting more?” It’s a peculiar way of thinking, but one that has proven vital to the long-term survival of the project. At all times, the team has to consider its end goal, rather than the part or vehicle section that it wants to complete next. If the money dries up completely, after all, the team will be forced to go on a permanent hiatus.

“I try not to acknowledge it too much, because if I thought about it for too long, it might do my head in.”

“I want to see [the project] continue,” Holdsworth said, “and, in a really selfish way, get a record. So what can I do to give myself the best chance of securing more funding and getting that record?”

Noble and Parraman have a responsibility, therefore, to bring in more funding at a steady clip. “I try not to acknowledge it too much, because if I thought about it for too long, it might do my head in,” Parraman said. But he remains upbeat. Bloodhound is a smaller, nimbler organization, so it can offer more creative and flexible marketing opportunities than, say, Formula 1. That’s alluring for companies in the defense industry, which are often tied up in secretive government contracts. If they contribute to Bloodhound, however, they can talk about their work and association quite freely.

Most Bloodhound sponsors are classified as SME (small and medium-size enterprises), though. Often, these companies decided to support the team “because of heart, rather than head,” according to Parraman. They have a general interest in cars and want to see a new land speed record, or they understand how important it is for young people to pursue careers in science, engineering and math.

Funding was particularly hard to come by in 2015 and 2016. As a result, the team was small and progress was slow. In February 2016, Noble announced another delay, pushing the test trials to sometime by the end of the year and a “projected” record attempt in 2017. The reason, he admitted, was “a number of major funding deals that are still in negotiation.” It wasn’t until September that Bloodhound found its savior in Geely, a Chinese automotive goliath that owns Volvo, the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) and flying car startup Terrafugia. The three-year deal was the largest in Bloodhound’s history and was, according to Elvin, “a massive kick up the backside.”

“Without them, we would have struggled to survive,” he said.

Almost a year later, Bloodhound was pushed out of an aircraft hangar in Newquay airport. The car was different from the one that will attempt the land speed record in Newquay. Nammo’s rockets were missing, for instance, and the vehicle was using tires suited to asphalt, rather than the dusty deserts of South Africa. But for the most part, it was a complete car. It had taken nine years and a demoralizing number of delays, but finally the team had reached this critical milestone.

The “slow-speed” tests at 200MPH provided valuable data for the team to analyze back in Bristol. They also revealed the practical challenges that come with moving the car and broadcasting such a technical event. In addition, the trials served as a marketing tool for further sponsorship deals. In Newquay, the Bloodhound crew announced new partnerships with the eyewear brand Belstaff, cloud services provider Oracle, engineering and technology firm Renishaw, and Cooper Tires.

These are valuable, but Bloodhound needs more cash to acquire, develop and integrate Nammo’s rocket system. Without the extra thrust, the team can’t beat the world land speed record, never mind reach 1,000MPH. That funding uncertainty, paired with the time needed to finesse the rockets, means the team is now looking at 2019 for its first record attempt. Should they make that timetable, it will be more than a decade since the project was announced back at the Science Museum in London.

It’s an agonizing situation for everyone involved. Ultimately, the team is restricted by funding, rather than technical innovation. Still, the team continues undeterred. Everyone knows that with enough perseverance, they’ll get their chance. “There’s a small part of history that I’ve got a chance to be part of,” Holdsworth said. “I want to take that chance.”

Trio of Apple Suppliers Report Bumper Revenues for October

Three Apple suppliers shared revenue reports today, providing a glimpse at how their contributions to Apple’s latest product line-up affected their income in the month of October. Unsurprisingly, suppliers for Apple’s flagship iPhone X, Pegatron and Wistron, both had good news to share with investors.

Pegatron reported consolidated revenues of $5.52 billion for October 2017, representing a 8.34 percent increase on month and 10.14 percent increase on year. Wistron had consolidated revenues of US$2.98 billion, a 12.37 percent increase on month and a 36.81 percent increase on year.

Elsewhere, Taiwan-based AirPods manufacturer Inventec saw revenues rise to $1.43 billion for October, representing a modest 0.45 percent increase on month but a more substantial 16.54 percent increase on year.

Apple switched to an all-glass casing for this year’s entire iPhone lineup in order to support wireless charging, with Pegatron benefitting as the exclusive supplier of the wireless charger. Meanwhile, in its push to manufacture products locally in India, Apple chose Wistron to be the first original equipment manufacturer for 2017 iPhones in the country.

Inventec’s more staggered rise in sales mirrors Apple’s gradual achievement of supply/demand balance for AirPods. The popular earphones were introduced in September 2016, but prior to August, had been in extremely short supply, with a typical wait time of six weeks from order to delivery. By the end of September however, shipping estimates improved to 3 to 5 business days.

Looking ahead, Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron have their work cut out to help Apple achieve supply/demand balance for the iPhone X, with online orders currently averaging a 3 to 4 week wait globally. Wistron’s India operations also look set to expand beyond its current iPhone manufacturing plant in Bangalore, with recent reports that the OEM plans to build additional facilities in the region, while Inventec has reportedly landed large orders to manufacture Apple’s Siri-based HomePod speaker, which is set to debut next month.

Related Roundups: HomePod, iPhone XTag: AirPodsBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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Mozilla Releases Firefox 10 for iOS With New ‘Photon’ UI, Tracking Protection, and More

Mozilla released version 10 of its Firefox browser for iOS on Wednesday. With a new look the developers have dubbed “Photon”, the update represents the Quantum release for mobile, boasting the same performance advantages as its forthcoming equivalent for desktops.

The more modern design aims to put users’ needs first, with rearranged menus for easier access to the most-used features and an updated minimalist look.

A new application menu now sits at the bottom of the interface, providing quick links to top sites, bookmarks, reading list, history, Settings, and one-click options to enable Night Mode and hide images.

Elsewhere, a Page actions menu can be found in the address bar, containing frequently used actions like share, sync, or save content for later, as well as page search, pin site, and bookmark options.

In addition, the new tab screen has been overhauled, with icons that link to top sites from around the web and popular articles on Pocket, as well as pages you’ve recently visited or bookmarked.

Firefox will now show popular search suggestions by default as you type, while the QR code reader button has been moved up next to the address bar to make it easier to find. Also included in this release is Firefox’s “Tracking Protection” privacy technology, which the company developed to mitigate invasive tracking of online activity.

Firefox 10 on iOS is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link] The desktop version of Firefox Quantum is set for release on November 14.

Tags: Firefox for iOS, Mozilla
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