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January 30, 2007
Fresh from Florida - GPS
Our new GPS expansion module, connected to our MXL, was put to use this past weekend at the Fresh from Florida 200 Grand-Am race, held in conjunction with the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona. While we considered the export to Google Earth a fun feature, and perhaps useful for point to point events such as solo racing, hill climbs, rally racing, and similar — this kind of accuracy will prove equally, or even more so, useful in circuit racing. Just look at the detail from this practice session…
There's always been discussion around GPS use for comparing driving lines. A common request is "…can I drive around the inside of the track on one lap, then the outside on another, then somehow merge those two to create map boundaries?" Well, with GPS data this good, used in conjunction with satellite images from Google Earth, you can concentrate on your racing and less on your surveying skills. Good stuff! We're excited and there is so much more to come…
Posted by Mike Jaynes at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2007
GPS Easter Egg
Whoa! Scott Jessup found and "easter egg" in the new RS2 software - he pointed out a hint of what's to come, double right-click ads the 3rd dimension or z-axis to the GPS map. Right click and hold allows you to move the map in all three dimensions.
Posted by Mike Jaynes at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
AiM GPS + Google Earth
A new menu item under the File menu in RS 2.21.18 is Export KML File.
This, as the name implies, exports the GPS coordinates of your race session to a .kml file. For those not familiar with .kml, it's an XML file format used by Google Earth. The results, well... See for yourself:
For those not familiar with the track, it's Barber Motorsports Park.
Posted by Mike Jaynes at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2007
New Race Studio 2 Version 2.21.18
Race Studio 2 reaches version 2.21.18. This update adds additional ECU support, fixes bugs and offers general improvements. Also added is 3D GPS visualization for the upcoming GPS add-on module. See release notes for v2.21.16-18.
Posted by Mike Jaynes at 06:42 PM | Comments (1)
Formula Wheel
Here is a photo of our new Formula Wheel which should arrive here in April. Check back later for specs.
Posted by MyChron Mike at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2007
Greenvious
AiM Sports is pleased to announce a couple of new additions to our popular steering wheel line up for 2007. Soon we will have available two new colors, Green and Blue. They should be available mid February so contact your servicing dealer now to get your order in.
MyChron Mike
Image updated on 1/22/2007
Posted by MyChron Mike at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)
Have You Ever Wondered?
After using the phrase "Pretty Please" this morning I was curious where it came from and how it became used in hopes of getting ones way? After all its unusual and rarely used today but I remember using the words when I was growing up in Texas. Well for anyone who would care to know here is the answer.
Under the meaning of "pretty penny," it says: ".Pretty has several meanings beside 'pleasing to the eye.' It also means 'considerable'." From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988). That would explain "pretty please." One is REALLY saying please, a whole big bunch, a considerable amount.
MyChron Mike
Posted by MyChron Mike at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
Employment Opportunities
AiM Sports LLC currently has employment opportunities in both its California and Virginia offices. Ideal applicant should have a background in auto racing, like to travel, be well versed with Windows and must be able to work weekends in exotic locales. This is a position in technical support. All applicants will be considered. Please forward resumes to mc@aimsports.com
Posted by MyChron Mike at 07:26 PM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2007
Karting's Largest Trade Show
We are preparing for our annual trip to Hickory North Carolina, home of the World Karting Associations "Kartfest" which is the worlds largest and best attended trade show directed at the 4 Cycle racer. For years it has been the place to be for any and everyone involved in 4 cycle racing. Most major manufacturers and kart shops will be displaying their greatest and latest product offerings which along with WKA's National Series awards banquets make this show standing room only. AiM Sports will be showing our expanded line of MyChron4 products including the best selling MyChron4, Gold Expansion Box, Steering Wheels and the soon to be released M4 GPS system.
As usual all the MyChron Men will be on hand to answer questions and perform updates along with Roger Caddell of Victory Lane Data who will be offering a seminar on how to get the most from your MyChron.
Look forward to seeing you all there!
MyChron Mike
Posted by MyChron Mike at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
Its About Time, And Money
I found this on the web when doing some research on horror stories from Nextel subscribers. This article addresses a couple of issues I had often contemplated.
Verizon Wireless To Terminate Worst Aspect Of Early Termination Fees
From the about-time dept
Mobile operators subsidize the price of mobile phones, so it's no wonder they want to make sure their customers stick around for a while to make up the lost money (and some profit) on subscription fees. However, over time they've extended the length of the contracts from one year to two, and increased the "early termination fees" to ridiculous levels. Those ETFs can be hundreds of dollars and they're impossible to get out of. Even dying won't get you out of the fees sometimes. While it may keep subscribers through the end of their two year contract, it also pisses off enough people that it simply delays the time frame until they switch to a competitor. It appears that Verizon Wireless has finally realized that people aren't thrilled about this. They're still keeping the early termination fee, but prorating it, so that the closer you are to the end of your contract, the cheaper it is to leave. That seems a lot more fair. The company also has decided that existing customers can get the same deals on new phones that new customers can -- which is something that never made sense. Churn is incredibly costly for the mobile operators. Keeping existing customers happy should be a priority -- yet, plans that gave better deals to new customers than existing ones simply served to piss off long standing customers (not that they could leave due to the high ETFs, of course). So, perhaps, lowering the ETF penalty, while also giving customers more reasons to stay, it will help reduce churn even more
Posted by MyChron Mike at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)
January 04, 2007
The Shootout
I went to Tulsa Oklahoma for my first trip to the Shootout and all I could say was wow! Many things impressed me not to say the least being the 497,000 square foot Expo building which featured the race track and parking for some 1100 competitors. This giant of a building was built originally for the International Petroleum Expo back in the sixties when Tulsa was home to many major oil companies. The "Golden Driller" was added in 1966 and has become the symbol now for the coveted "Driller" which is the trophy given to the victorious at the shootout. I am lucky to have a good friend in Tulsa who treated Scott and myself to such culinary delights as the Knotty Pine BBQ, Coney Dogs which were fantastic and the best being saved for our last night out was Jamils, a Lebanese Steakhouse that had some of the best food ever, and plenty of it! I am still tasting that Ribeye. Saw many new faces as well as many old friends so besides the excitement of such a huge event the social aspect was great. This is going to be on my calendar for 2007 for sure.
MyChron Mike
Posted by MyChron Mike at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
Nextel, Horrible Customer Service
My longtime girlfriend Melissa signed up for Nextel service in 12/04. She signed a contract for a 1 year plan for her and her son. More than a year passes and she entertains the option of changing cell providers and gives Nextel a call. The woman on the phone lies to her and tells her that she signed a 2 year agreement. Well she figured she must have if thats what the gal at Nextel said. Well last December she begins to change cell providers again and is told that no we signed you up for another year because we can and thats how it is. According to a Mr. Lopez Nextel had sent a certified return receipt letter advising that if Melissa was on the hook for another year of Nextel service. He hemmed and hawed when asked to produce a copy of said letter. Well according to a really nice lady who deserves to work for a decent company rather than the one she currently does told Melissa that what the sneaky and underhanded people at Nextel do is send the notice of renewal to the customers buried in the kind of junk mail that we all toss out without ever opening. This is how they deceive their customers. After much emailing and phone calls to Nextel they agreed to allow Melissa to end her contract. End of story? I think not.
Mr. Lopez of Nextel sent Melissa a letter which stated that effecting 11/23 her account had been closed and that the account had a zero balance. Today she received a letter from a shyster Nextel collection agency trying to collect 618.00. These people at Nextel are complete morons. Instead of thanking her for her business over the past 2 years and letting her know that if her situation ever changes that she would be more than welcome back as a Nextel customer they completely and totally piss her off not to mention making my blood boil. So now you can bet that when the conversation about cell providers arises I am going to do my best to dissuade anyone from doing business with Nextel. One thing to note is that anytime you are embroiled in a dispute with these unscrupulous cell providers make them produce a copy of the signed contract. Chances are they wont be able to produce it. If they cant produce the contact guess what, you dont have one. Lots of interesting reading on the web on how to get out of a cell contract as well as how our goverment protects cell providers from public scutiny. Another fine example of our elected criminals looking out for us but thats another story.
MyChron Mike
Posted by MyChron Mike at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)
Boy am I glad the holidays are over! Seems like they flew by in no time but when the smoke cleared and January 2nd rolled around I felt like I had been run over by a truck. Between the Performance Racing Industry Show in Orlando and the Thriller for the Driller Tulsa Shootout I barely had time for Christmas. That said, the PRI Show was huge and we showcased a new Formula Wheel with built in display and six button control. Although a prototype, it drew lots of interest and looks really sharp. We will also have a couple of Drag racing products in the very near future along with a new GPS Kart System.
Hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed your time with loved ones.
MyChron Mike
Posted by MyChron Mike at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)