(CavemanCircus.com)
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Do You Care If Your Kicks Are Real Or Fake?
Real or Fake: There Is No Such Thing as a Grey Market for Sneakers
A look into how sneakers get leaked, and why we’re so confused about their authenticity.
For the guy that doesn’t care whether or not his shoes are real or fake then all of this is irrelevant, but for the person that does it makes buying a high demand shoe tough.
In addition there are those that argue if companies are so concerned with their product being counterfeited in these countries then they should move manufacturing elsewhere. In China, Jordan brand recently lost a lawsuit against Qiaodan Sports, a brand that had clearly ripped off their designs in a more indirect way. The message here being that if one of the most powerful companies on the face of the Earth can’t defend a clear patent infringement in the country they have employed to manufacture their shoes then they must decide whether or not it is worth it to continue to manufacture there. The clear answer as of now is that the good must outweigh the bad and so for that its hard for many people to feel sorry for them.
In the meantime if you want to make sure the product you are buying is the real deal then you’ll have to do your homework should you decide not to buy direct from Nike or an authorized retailer. Legit checks are always popping on Niketalk and Sole Collector forums and there is even an Instagram account dedicated to helping the community. At the end of the day if you are concerned with your sneakers being 100% legit then its retail or bust.
(HypeBeast.com)
A look into how sneakers get leaked, and why we’re so confused about their authenticity.
For the guy that doesn’t care whether or not his shoes are real or fake then all of this is irrelevant, but for the person that does it makes buying a high demand shoe tough.
In addition there are those that argue if companies are so concerned with their product being counterfeited in these countries then they should move manufacturing elsewhere. In China, Jordan brand recently lost a lawsuit against Qiaodan Sports, a brand that had clearly ripped off their designs in a more indirect way. The message here being that if one of the most powerful companies on the face of the Earth can’t defend a clear patent infringement in the country they have employed to manufacture their shoes then they must decide whether or not it is worth it to continue to manufacture there. The clear answer as of now is that the good must outweigh the bad and so for that its hard for many people to feel sorry for them.
In the meantime if you want to make sure the product you are buying is the real deal then you’ll have to do your homework should you decide not to buy direct from Nike or an authorized retailer. Legit checks are always popping on Niketalk and Sole Collector forums and there is even an Instagram account dedicated to helping the community. At the end of the day if you are concerned with your sneakers being 100% legit then its retail or bust.
(HypeBeast.com)
Monday, May 16, 2016
It's A Cost Effective Series
Why Is Everybody Building All These GT3 Race Cars?
In the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, there were GT3 cars from Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin, and a lone Dodge Viper. If you are thinking that some of these cars might automatically be faster than others, you’d be right, but part of the FIA sanction is balancing performance, usually through weight and the size of engine intakes. If you drove your Viper to Sebring, your car had considerably more horsepower than the ViperExchange.com Viper on the track.
There’s also an accepted price range for GT3 cars – about $500,000 per car, plus maybe $350,000 in spares. Depending on the company – and this is one reason why customers might choose one manufacturer over another – they might throw in an engineer and a factory driver for some races.
Bottom line, then, is the bottom line: You can get started for under $1 million in GT3 racing, which some people consider a genuine bargain. We’re happy for those people.
(TheDrive.com)
In the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, there were GT3 cars from Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Ferrari, BMW, Aston Martin, and a lone Dodge Viper. If you are thinking that some of these cars might automatically be faster than others, you’d be right, but part of the FIA sanction is balancing performance, usually through weight and the size of engine intakes. If you drove your Viper to Sebring, your car had considerably more horsepower than the ViperExchange.com Viper on the track.
There’s also an accepted price range for GT3 cars – about $500,000 per car, plus maybe $350,000 in spares. Depending on the company – and this is one reason why customers might choose one manufacturer over another – they might throw in an engineer and a factory driver for some races.
Bottom line, then, is the bottom line: You can get started for under $1 million in GT3 racing, which some people consider a genuine bargain. We’re happy for those people.
(TheDrive.com)
Car Shows Are Officially Dead
The Auto Show As We Know It Is Dying
Automotive News reports that starting this November, the LA Auto Show—the last major show of the year, not to mention the one with the most pleasant weather—will be “rebranded” as AutoMobility LA, a trade show integrated with the related Connected Car Expo to be a huge look at the future of transportation and mobility.
Think more tech, startup and regulatory stuff, and less new car and concept car unveilings, Automotive News reports.
(Jalopnik.com)
Automotive News reports that starting this November, the LA Auto Show—the last major show of the year, not to mention the one with the most pleasant weather—will be “rebranded” as AutoMobility LA, a trade show integrated with the related Connected Car Expo to be a huge look at the future of transportation and mobility.
Think more tech, startup and regulatory stuff, and less new car and concept car unveilings, Automotive News reports.
(Jalopnik.com)
MPG Is A Joke
The Way We Rate Miles Per Gallon Is Completely Broken
Today, though, almost all new cars have in-dash displays capable of showing a car’s real-time and average MPG, and very often those numbers don’t match what is on the window sticker. That means that everyone, not just those of us who got off on doing long division, could find out what their MPGs actually are in the real world. Sure, today we’ve added a third number, a combined average of the city and highway numbers, but really we’re still rating MPG as a solitary value.
And that’s the problem. The idea that two numbers (or, one “combined” number) give an exact idea of the sorts of fuel economy you can expect from your car is, frankly, ridiculous.
Fuel economy is absurdly hard to really measure with any degree of accuracy or consistency. The EPA actually does try very hard to get accurate numbers with their complicated testing procedures. Our own David Tracy goes into their whole process here in detail so you can see what I mean, but the truth is that a solitary value for MPG is a fiction, or, at best, only true for one specific set of driving conditions and for a particular driving style.
Now, the EPA is aware of this, of course, and they say as much on their Your Mileage Will Vary page because they know that, yes, of course your mileage will vary.
There’s no way it can’t vary, because there are so many different factors going on when you drive, and all those factors change, all the time: wind direction, tire pressure, weight in the car, temperature, road conditions, incline, driver adrenaline levels and on and on.
That’s why I think the EPA should abandon the city/highway/combined MPG rating system (even with hedge words like ‘up to’) in favor of an MPG range value. For example, my mother has a 2014 Fiat 500, one of those 1957 Edition ones, in mint green. It’s adorable. It’s an automatic, and she drives it like you’d drive a car through a roomful of kittens: slowly and gently. And honking a lot.
(Jalopnik.com)
Today, though, almost all new cars have in-dash displays capable of showing a car’s real-time and average MPG, and very often those numbers don’t match what is on the window sticker. That means that everyone, not just those of us who got off on doing long division, could find out what their MPGs actually are in the real world. Sure, today we’ve added a third number, a combined average of the city and highway numbers, but really we’re still rating MPG as a solitary value.
And that’s the problem. The idea that two numbers (or, one “combined” number) give an exact idea of the sorts of fuel economy you can expect from your car is, frankly, ridiculous.
Fuel economy is absurdly hard to really measure with any degree of accuracy or consistency. The EPA actually does try very hard to get accurate numbers with their complicated testing procedures. Our own David Tracy goes into their whole process here in detail so you can see what I mean, but the truth is that a solitary value for MPG is a fiction, or, at best, only true for one specific set of driving conditions and for a particular driving style.
Now, the EPA is aware of this, of course, and they say as much on their Your Mileage Will Vary page because they know that, yes, of course your mileage will vary.
There’s no way it can’t vary, because there are so many different factors going on when you drive, and all those factors change, all the time: wind direction, tire pressure, weight in the car, temperature, road conditions, incline, driver adrenaline levels and on and on.
That’s why I think the EPA should abandon the city/highway/combined MPG rating system (even with hedge words like ‘up to’) in favor of an MPG range value. For example, my mother has a 2014 Fiat 500, one of those 1957 Edition ones, in mint green. It’s adorable. It’s an automatic, and she drives it like you’d drive a car through a roomful of kittens: slowly and gently. And honking a lot.
(Jalopnik.com)
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