Category Archives: Tech

The best of both worlds – Hybrid cars

In response to an article on electric vehicles I published recently on this site, my co-columnist Eef wrote a reaction – an editorial comment if you like. As it was more voluminous than your regular ‘Editorial comment’, and was also in itself a very interesting read, I decided to publish it as a separate article – which you can read below. Enjoy!

I agree with Paul that EV’s have their advantages.
There is no doubt in my mind that the modern electric motor is far superior to the internal combustion engine ICE, no matter how advanced the latter may be.
I picked a few of the superior qualities from the internet:

Much greater efficiency (90% vs 30%), half the size and weight, hardly any service maintenance, no CO2 exhaust, no gears, near-instant torque, silent operation, long life span.

These characteristics are so outstanding that the discussion is closed, you should say.
However, there is a major setback: the energy supply by batteries. Continue reading →

Car electrical systems – Audi A2 AC sensor replacement

As you may be aware, I value the process of diagnosing car faults to make an educated decision on what part to repair or replace. I do not appreciate a vague problem being commented by many as to replace this and that part. More often than not, these guesstimates lead to the replacement of parts that are perfectly good and do not lead to fixing the problem, while spending a lot of money. Worst case, the bad new part may introduce a new problem! Continue reading →

EV’s – Practical or affordable?

Electric vehicles, or EV’s for short, seem to be what we all need to drive in the future. At least if you believe the government and science. Our combustion-engined cars have done what they can; now we need to step up with better alternatives to limit polluting our atmosphere even more.

While I’m not a great admirer of EV cars, I do see their merits, foremost on the exhaust pollution aspect. That said, there are major downsides, partly with the cars and technology itself, partly with legislation. And of course, the elephant in the room: the way they are charged. Continue reading →

Advanced parasitic draw diagnosis

We have a new article in our series Car Electrical Systems, which reviews a controversy in the diagnosis of parasitic draws. Depending on the vehicle and the problem that particular vehicle faces, the method of how to tackle the problem differs. Choosing the correct method is crucial for a successful diagnosis – pick the wrong method, and you’ll be replacing perfectly good parts while not solving the issue at hand. Here are some clues:

Just pull fuses?
Parasitic Battery Draws
Classic vs Modern Approach Continue reading →

The myth of true time

The clock shift

Spring is approaching.
The astronomical spring begins this year on March 20, when the sun is perpendicular to the equator.

Shortly after, the Middle European Summer Time will start: Sunday, March 29th.
As we all know, on that date we have to turn the clock one hour forward.

In the meantime, this familiar procedure is preceded by an equally well-known concert of moaning, whining, and complaining by the opponents of tinkering with the clock.
The Dutch in particular sound the loudest in this symphony. Continue reading →

YouTube och bil elektriska diagnoser

Jag fick nyligen en fråga om min serie kring bil elektriska diagnoser. Frågan var om det fanns några bra kanaler på YouTube man kan följa för att lära sig mer om ämnet. Själv följer jag  ett antal kanaler redan under några år, men det kan vara bra att lista de för andra. Det gör jag härmed. Kolla gärna denna länk.

Development software development

Cryptic? Let me explain: As a carpenter needs a hammer and a saw to build anything, in order to develop software, a software developer (aka computer programmer), needs tools for software development. Of course, today’s carpenter uses a nail gun and a circular saw, preferably battery-driven – there is progress and development even in the tools of a trade. Similarly, tools for software developers have evolved from simple text editors to advanced dedicated programs supporting every finesse of the programming language to be used. Sometimes these tools are free, in other cases you have to subscribe to them.

However, sometimes the development of these tools stalls or grinds to a complete halt. This can present a real challenge for its users. Continue reading →

Windows 11, or rather Linux?

My computer of choice is, has been for a long time, and probably remains to be for the forseeable future, a 2008 Lenovo X220 laptop. Yes, I’m aware that it is rather oldish.  When it was new, it must have been a beast of a machine, and likely sported quite the price tag. Today, close to 20 years later, it is still a fast laptop. It boots in under a minute and shows no delays in loading files or web pages. Of course, it came with a spinning hard disk when new, but I swapped that out for a Solid State Disk (SSD) years ago. The internal memory was with 16Gb already up to spec, it came standard with a 64-bit processor, and it never was, nor is today, a slow machine. It ran Windows 7, then Windows 10, and then….Microsoft said NO!

Say what? You heard me, they said NO, you ain’t gonna run our shiny new W11 on that old thing! Continue reading →

Alternatief voor een dure EV

Elektrische auto’s (EV’s) zijn de toekomst. Althans dat doet de overheid ons denken, en de autobranche speelt daarin uiteraard vlijtig mee. Maar is dat wel zo? Of is er ook een toekomst voor niet-EV auto’s?

Hier in Zweden kost de goedkoopste nieuwe EV rond de €30.000. Dat was een Citroën die er prat op ging de goedkoopste EV in de markt te hebben. Ter vergelijking ging de voordeligste EV in Nederland toen (2024) al voor ruim onder de €20.000 over de toonbank. En dan hebben we het slechts over de instapmodellen, de meest verkochte modellen hebben in Zweden prijskaartjes vanaf €45.000 tot tegen een ton! Wie kan zich dit veroorloven? En dan als tweede auto? Continue reading →

Felkodens magi

Moderna bilar fick utan undantag en ny varningslampa för sådär 25 år sedan, motorlampan:

Lampan är fruktad och samtidigt älskad av många. Den lyser när bilens ‘dator’ har upptäckt något som avviker från det som den förväntar sig. Efter det börjar lysa bör man enligt instruktionsboken besöka verkstaden som kan läsa ut felkoden och berätta för dig som kund vad som är trasig och hur många tusenlappar det kommer att kosta för att lampan släcks. Medan det låter enkel, oftast är det mycket mer komplicerat än så. Continue reading →

Online security basics

Nowadays, most of us use IT devices and software online on a daily basis. At our workplaces but also at home. We read the newspapers, check our bank accounts, exchange photos and text with our relatives and friends, receive and send emails, and check our social media.

While we all know about viruses on our computers and phones, these are the simplest things that can happen to us. And, there’s pretty good software helping us to recognize and remove viruses as they attempt to come into our devices. But there’s more.

Imagine you are working on your computer at the office and you receive an email. The mail seems to come from a friend and it contains a text and a link you can click on. The link seems to point to a football match from one of the kids of that sender.

The short paragraph above uses the word ‘seems’ twice, and not without reason. Continue reading →

ChatGPT – Arty, facts and initiative – A comment

Comments on ChatGPT – Arty, facts and initiative

The first thought I had after reading Paul’s text was: he should have chosen for the setting “Improve the model for everyone” to True.
Arty could certainly learn from this discussion and the remarks.

The most obvious fact for humans about Gothenburg’s metro is: it isn’t there. For our AI, the metro is just another public transportation arrangement and in its absence, he offers another system that can fulfil the service.
Clearly a matter of interpretation, and Paul is lenient here, no penalty for Arty. Continue reading →

ChatGPT – Arty, facts and initiative

As my co-columnist Eef has been rather enthusiastic about his knowledgeable pal Arty, I decided to also check out Arty again. I’ve done so earlier but was probably less impressed as Eef. However, Eef’s articles shine a light on another Arty than I remember from my early and brief encounter. So, why not give Arty a fresh chance?

For the new visitors of this website, Arty is the nickname for ChatGPT. And ChatGPT is an AI or an Artificial Intelligence question and answer dialogue website or mobile app. Note the term Artificial, hence Arty. Continue reading →

Shor’s Algorithm, the quantum part

A word in advance

Before I sent my previous essay ’Shor’s Algorithm’ to Chief Editor Paul, I asked Arty (ChatGPT) to give it a look especially with regard to readability and tell me if he thinks it’s worth publishing.

My AI friend responded in his usual friendly and positive manner full of praise.

“…well-written!  …managed to strike a great balance between technical detail and accessibility…  , …classical factoring algorithms, as well as the key differences between classical and quantum computing are clearly explained.”

Of course I was happy with these pats on the back, especially from a guy as knowledgable as Arty, but then he came with some critical comments wrapped up in such a casual way that I almost missed them. Continue reading →