Baclaran Parañaque Rizal

Last week, Don, my brother-in-law, picked up his metallic deep-blue Tesla Model 3 from one of the company’s showrooms –they sell their cars direct and not through a dealership–  in Fremont, California.

A year ago, he had put up a US$ 1,000 deposit for the promised US$35, 000 Model 3 unit that had just gotten off Tesla’s designers’ drawing boards and into production mode then.

The Tesla Model 3 was supposed to catapult the fledgling company into the mainstream car market.

All their previous models, the Roadster, the Model S as well as the Model X (an SUV – sports utility vehicle) are relatively expensive, and only a few middle-income American consumers could afford them.

Tesla had been at the forefront in the rebirth of the all-electric vehicle boom that had seen the release of competing models from the big Japanese and European carmakers  -notably Nissan (the ‘Leaf‘) and BMW (the i3 – with the latest release, a 2-cylinder ‘range extender’ engine is now just optional )- as well as from the top 2 American car firms — General Motors (the Chevy ‘Bolt‘) and Ford (coming up with its ‘CUV‘).

As it turned out, Tesla’s promised consumer-friendly price tag of US$35,000 for the Model 3 ‘base model’ ballooned to almost US$57,000 after the company failed in its promise to offer one with the ‘standard batteries‘ during the consumer rollout.

Eager to drive home with his Model 3, Don was compelled to buy a more expensive unit with long-range (up to 310 miles) batteries + a premium exterior with rear-wheel drive.  His choice of color, deep blue metallic (extra $1500), and alloy sports wheels (extra $1500) set him back another $3,000 plus all the taxes and fees.

The price would have gone even higher had he opted for one with an all-wheel-drive (extra $6,000 for the ‘basic’ all-wheel drive and an extra $15,000 for the ‘performance’ all-wheel drive) & enhanced Autopilot (extra $5,000).

After all the extras, a fully loaded, top-of-the-line Model 3 goes for about $75,500 before all the taxes and fees –and that’s not a price for the average consumer.  For all that money, you could buy four (4) brand-new (latest model) Toyota Corollas and still have a few thousand left in your pocket.

So for the US$57K price, he shelled out -before Federal & State tax incentives- Don’s Model 3 car should, at least, be impressive.  It is but not without some drawbacks.

Most electric cars have impressive torques, and the rear-wheel-drive Model 3 can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about 5.1 seconds.  The car’s handling was impressive as the 19″ wheels were big enough to mitigate some road imperfections.

You can’t say enough praise for all the tech goodies inside and outside the car with its gaggle of radars, sensors, cameras, software updates for the touchscreen control panel as well as the very impressive all-glass roof.   All of the Model 3’s glass parts, including the windows, were made by Saint-Gobain Sekurit, which traces its roots all the way back to 1665 in France as the Royal Glass Works.

And, as this is an all-electric vehicle, you tend to rely less on the brakes to slow down the car —just release your foot on the accelerator, and you accomplish two things: 1). slows the car down to a halt, and 2). you charge the batteries (regenerative braking).

Let’s get to the things that I didn’t like about the Tesla Model 3:

Firstly, the door handles.  Opening a door is a two-handed affair.  What??? You have the push the recessed handle with one hand and grab the handle’s end once it pops out with your other hand —yes, just to open a door.

Second, there is no manual override to open the glove box compartment.  To open it, you must turn on the touchscreen tablet (which acts as the sole instrument panel and controls everything inside the car) and push the ‘open glove box‘ button.  Too cool but also too dumb.  Any determined thief can simply use a screwdriver and force it open.

Third, and as mentioned above, the car relied too much on the 15″ touchscreen tablet in the dashboard’s center.  I honestly believe that Tesla did it to cut costs in the guise of the ‘cool’ factor.

This is especially too distracting when driving around the city as you have to deal with all the functionalities of the car on a touchscreen panel.  As if texting while driving is just not bad enough.

Fourth, for the steep price tag on any premium variants of the Tesla Model 3, real leather seats should be standard.  As it is, the ‘premium interior’ model could only boast of faux leather in black.

Lastly, except for topping off the windshield washer fluid, there’s nothing a Tesla Model 3 owner who’s keen on maintaining the car himself can do.  Most of the other end-user replaceable parts & fluids are either hidden underneath the car’s chassis –where the engine sits in your typical internal combustion vehicle is now a front luggage compartment-  or, not that easily accessible.

This means that if ever the car needs even the most simple maintenance, you may have to take it back to a Tesla dealership.  Bottom line: costlier upkeep. 

Other minor flaws need no mentioning and can be ignored, but the ones above are simply too obvious to be overlooked.

After all, Tesla’s mass-production model cars -starting with the 2012 Model S- had only been around for a few years.  Improvements should come in the next iterations of those models.

That is, if  -with their massive debt and government subsidies in the form of tax incentives ending soon-  they will remain viable and, most importantly, become profitable, as a company in the coming years.

Old habits die hard and R/C flying is one of them.

Since I caught the aerial remote-control bug during my almost four-year stint in Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s, I have never forgotten this sometimes expensive hobby. They say that the hearts of adventurous people lie in the extreme desire to fly like birds.

R/C flying has come a long way since the days of gas-powered COX engines and radio controllers with telescopic antennas—-with small banners attached to them that denoted the radio frequencies.

In today’s world dominated by computers, software, cell phones, and other Internet-connected devices, it comes as no surprise that the hobby of R/C flying has also evolved to take advantage of them.

Today, you no longer need a dedicated controller to operate an R/C device—a smartphone and the appropriate app will do it for you. Changing crystals (to change radio frequency transmission) inside the transmitters is so passé—almost all new R/C these days have Wi-Fi built-in (mostly at 2.4 GHz) and utilize that same wireless frequency to connect to the smartphone. Bluetooth is also built-in to pair with a dedicated remote controller for easier flying.

More sophisticated but expensive models incorporate GPS, 1080p, or 4K cameras propped on small but high-end gimbals, as well as a gaggle of extras for easy maneuvering even at long-range distances. Not to mention longer flight times and apps with sophisticated features.

Currently, a Chinese company called DJI dominates the aerial R/C market and has relegated the term ‘R/C’ to something more futuristic—’drone‘.

The drone market has exploded in the last six or so years after amateur and professional photographers alike made them an essential part of their toolkits for taking visually stunning aerial photos and video footage.

DJI not only makes a variety of off-the-shelf hobbyist drones that cater to everyone’s budget but also custom-made ones depending on the application—be it in the military, science, agriculture, engineering, or, of course, the movie industry.

To capture the lowest end of the hobbyist drone market, DJI partnered with Intel and Shenzhen, China-based Ryze Tech and introduced the Ryze Tello.

It’s a vision positioning system-equipped US$99 toy-hobbyist drone with a programmable Intel processor and a 5-megapixel 720p camera (at 30 fps)—I’m not sure, though, if some Hasselblad technologies were incorporated after DJI bought into the Swedish camera company in 2015—as well as some other tech goodies packed in 80 grams—battery included—of good-quality plastic and miniature circuit boards.

It’s basically a very, very small home computer with a nice webcam that flies.

What makes this little toy drone so fun is that it won’t hurt your pocketbook if you crash or lose it. It’s so stable to fly that the only way you can lose or damage it is to fly it in very windy conditions.

In actual use, the Ryze Tello flies for a good 10 minutes—specs say 13 minutes —on a full charge with a range of about 100 meters. But hacks like using a US$10 Wi-Fi repeater or range extender improve not only the range but also the video quality transmission.

Also, software hacks like TALS (free) and Altitude Limit for Tello (US$0.99)—but both are available only for iOS devices—can extend this little drone’s 10-meter height limit to 10x or 100 meters. Be careful, though, as the drone’s vision positioning system gets compromised at over 10 meters.

Accessories for the Tello are also inexpensive,, like the US$29 GameSir T1d Bluetooth controller and about US$15 to $25 for a 3 to 4 battery-charging hub. Extra original batteries—made by FullyMax—are about US$19.

These prices might be even lower if you get the Ryze Tello in ‘bundle deals‘.  I once saw a DJI stall inside a very popular shopping mall in downtown San Francisco selling the Ryze Tello with an extra battery for as low as US$ 89.

All in all, for about US$ 200, you can truly enjoy the thrills of R/C flying -or, shall I say, drone flying- without the nasty additional expenses associated with the learning experience alone.

Once you have mastered it—it’s so easy flying this tiny toy drone—or if you have grown tired of it but truly enjoy aerial photography, you could upgrade to a DJI Spark…and then to a Mavic Air, Mavic 2, or Pro.

April 2019 update:

In late 2018, a German hobbyist named Volate!lo released a new app—available only for Android—called Tello FPV + RTH. Priced at $5.49, the feature-rich app made the Ryze Tello drone much more capable, particularly the return-to-home feature, despite the unit’s lack of a GPS.

Last November 2018, Ryze sold their Tello Boost Combo at a discounted price of only $99 (plus tax) from the current/regular price of $149 (plus tax) on DJI’s website.

The package includes the Tello drone, two (2) sets of spare propellers, three (3) original FullyMax flight batteries, a 3-battery charging hub, and a USB cable.

If purchased individually, all the contents in the Boost Combo set would easily cost between $150 and $170.

It was such a steal that I couldn’t resist but get one as a spare unit.

Also, early this year, Ryze Tech released an Iron Man Edition of their best-selling beginner drone for die-hard Marvel fans, which currently sells for US$ 129 (plus tax).

It is essentially the same Tello unit except for the Iron Man-themed protective shell, colors, and trims of predominantly metallic red and gold. This special edition Tello also comes with its own app, Tello Hero.

Note that you can use the standard Tello app to fly the Iron Man Edition Tello aircraft, but you can’t use the special Tello Hero app to fly the $99 ‘ordinary edition’ Tello.

But, of course, you can also use the much better Tello FPV +RTH app by VolaTe!lo on the Iron Man Edition unit.

A must-buy for all Marvel fans and avid Tello flyers!

Sometime in May of this year, my six years old (purchased in January 2011) Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer (HID-C10) received a control panel update to inform me that service for the device would end in July.

The last firmware update (from version 1.7.1461 to 1.7.1526) was done on April 08, 2016, after the device had issues “downloading the main control panel” and rendered it useless.

Over the 6+ years that I had owned the unit, there were intermittent issues with Sony’s backend servers that kept it inactive. But Sony was always able to come up with firmware updates to keep the service going — until July of this year.

The Sony Dash is a small tabletop alarm clock-radio-weather/gadget with a 7″ touchscreen that sold for $199 when initially released in April 2010.  Its functionality relied 100% on the Internet, hence, Wi-Fi (a/g) is built in.

Aside from the beautiful design, the main attraction of the gadget, just like a smartphone, is its capability to load additional “widgets” (or, apps) via its built-in memory.  It enabled owners to stream videos and music from content providers like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, Pandora, Slacker, Sony Music, etc.  There are also thousands of other useful widgets that range from the arts to zoology.

And so, one day in July this year, I saw the dreaded firmware update – 1.7.1604– that would turn an otherwise very useful device into a door stopper.

Of course, I did not do the firmware update but, instead, called Sony’s customer service (in the U.S., it’s: 1-800-222-7669) to ask them what to do with a useless unit.

To the company’s credit, it promptly replaced a product that had reached its ‘end-of-life’ (aka, planned obsolescence), with a choice of either an alarm clock/AM-FM radio (ICF-C1) or a Bluetooth speaker (XB10) after I e-mailed the image of the unit’s serial number.

When the replacement ICF-C1 clock radio arrived a week later via FedEx (shipping also paid by Sony), I grabbed the Dash that sat atop one of my stereo speakers – still with the ‘Update available’ screen- and yanked out its power supply.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the coastal city of San Diego, California, a guy had been very busy writing code to port the Dash (running firmware 1.7.1526) to make it work with Chumby.com’s server(s) after Sony’s May software update alert.

Chumby (now, operated by Blue Octy, LLC) is a small company behind a line of very affordable “Internet viewers” similar to the Dash. The Dash runs on an OS modified from the Chumby OS.

Finally, in early August, Blue Octy released the software patch (but only for the Dash HID-C10 model) that resurrected some Dash units.  The patch is Chumby-HIDC10-1.0.0.zip.  It could also be downloaded here.

So, if you have an HID-C10 Sony Dash, just ensure that your unit is running firmware 1.7.1526.  If you had accidentally installed firmware 1.7.1604 and bricked the unit, simply revert to firmware 1.7.1526 via the instructions here before applying the patch.

If you applied the patch correctly, you should have restored some usefulness to your Dash such as the clock, weather, and a few radio stations.  A $3 monthly subscription fee would enable one to get numerous apps as well as multiple channels on this gadget that — simply, refuses to go away.