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We've been using Sonos for years. In my opinion it's the best whole house audio system that I've ever used and I've tried a number of them. (And it's designed by a startup)
Last year, our Sonos experience became even better when they came out with a new touch remote and an iPhone app. With a touch of a button I have last.fm, rhapsody and our local music library streaming in multiple rooms of our house. We had been using Sonos in three rooms of our house plus the patio.
The pre-requisite with Sonos is that you need speakers in every room where you want audio. Any type of speakers will do. But sometimes setting up speakers is a hassle. Putting two speakers in ideal locations isn't always convenient so that's why some of our rooms aren't available to our Sonos.
That was until I bought the Sonos S5
last week. The S5 is a single amp/speaker system. Plug it in, press a button and it automatically joins your Sonos music network. It just works. I think the audio quality is excellent for an average size room.
I'm so happy with the S5 that I'm absolutely going to get a few more.
We are looking to hire an associate at Spark.
The title "associate" means different things at different venture capital firms so let me tell you what it means at Spark.
An associate at Spark is part of our investment team in our Boston office. He or she will help our team with market & competitive analysis, process deal flow, due diligence on new investment opportunities, assist our portfolio companies, attend & organize meetups as well as various other firm responsibilities such as annual reports and portfolio analysis.
This is not a classic two year and out program. We are looking for someone that will grow with us or possibly join one of our portfolio companies over time.
Ideal person:
-excellent communication & listening skills
-passion for new technologies
-an active user of web and mobile applications
-thoughtful about the ever changing media & technology landscape
-aggressive, self starter
-strong analytical skills
-tech background plus but not required
-based in boston or willing to move here
-ideal previous experience (~2-4years) could include: startup, internet/technology company, analytical/financial role in related industries
-(mba not required)
If this sounds like you, then please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com with whatever you think can help us get to know you better (eg. linkedin profile, blog, twitter profile, video etc).
Focus is something so easy to say but difficult to do.
It's hard for everyone. I have a hard time with it as my friends and colleagues can verify. I'm grateful that my job allows for a reasonable amount of ADD.
Focus in startups can be quite difficult as well. Everything is unproven and plenty of obstacles show up every day. It's easy to think about adding more features, new types of customers, new one-offs to make the quarter.
But the one thing that keeps startups focused is the obvious constraint - limited capital. Most every early stage company is understaffed and under resourced for the task ahead. They can never match Google's salaries or perks. They can't afford the nicest office space. They can never hire as many people as they want. All they can do is hire the best people they can afford that believe in the founders, believe in the product and can function as a team. Then, the gun goes off and they build like mad.
That's why startups have this unique advantage over bigger companies. Limited funding provides a forcing function. Big companies have big headcount and big budgets. Big companies have competing teams. They have competing products and agendas. They have competing execs. They have office politcs and never ending process.
I was reading John Gruber's post about Apple today. He paraphrases Apple's COO, Tim Cook's talk from the Goldman conference about focus:
"We are the most focused company that I know of or have read of or have any knowledge of. We say no to good ideas every day. We say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number so that we can put enormous energy behind the ones we do choose. The table each of you are sitting at today, you could probably put every product on it that Apple makes, yet Apple's revenue last year was $40 billion. I think any other company that could say that is an oil company."
I'm sure there are plenty of big company headaches at Apple. I know they have their share of office politics. But one thing is clear: they are focused. And it shows.
(update: missed a link. Gruber's summary came from Dan Frommer's post here).
Today is my boy's birthday. He's now 4 years old.
This kid has taught me a lot and absolutely keeps me on my toes.
And while I remember day 1 like it was yesterday, I'm looking forward to every single day ahead of us too.
I can't wait to see his face when he opens his birthday present tonight.
Technology Review: Can Twitter Make Money?
Biz just tells it like it is…
I've been using Google Chrome as my default browser since the day it was released. I have firefox purely as a backup for the extensions that I count on.
But more of those extensions are coming to Chrome everyday and new ones are actually coming out on Chrome first.
One of my favorite Chrome exensions is Dan Kantour's Extension.fm. I've been playing around with it all afternoon. Note that Extension.fm came out on Chrome first.
For those of you that don't know, Dan is the creator of Streampad which is a music player that sits on the bottom of my blog. Using Streampad you can easily playback all of the songs that are on bijansabet.com as well as bijan.fm
Anyway, back to Extension.fm. Extension.fm does a few things and does them very well. Once you add the extension to Chrome it will provide an easy mp3 player for all the tracks it finds on a web page. Here's a screen grab of what it looks like. It also supports last.fm's audio scrobbler. It's fantastic to use along with the Tumblr Dashboard.
I was emailing with Dan today and asked him about his experience developing for Chrome vs Firefox. Dan told me that Chrome is easier and better in every way. It's all html/css/javascript and straightforward with built in tools. And Chrome checks every 30 minutes for updated extensions. Push it to the server and thats it. No restart after the update.
As a user, easy install and no restart are big things. It's amazing how the Blackberry almost always asks to restart after app installs. Chrome and iPhone don't.
According to Google Analytics, 22% of the visitors to my blog are using Chrome. It will be interesting to see what that number looks like 6months from now — especially if more developers agree with Dan.
Software patents are the problem not the answer - Brad Burnham
Excellent post. I wish Brad would blog more.
Lauren and I have been married 15 years as of today.
We were both pretty young when we married. I was 26 and Lauren was 25. Our first place together was a 900 square foot apartment in Cole Valley, SF.
Since then a lot has changed. We've grown a bunch, ended up moving across country, started a family, and work changed a lot too.
But with all this change the one thing that has remained is this connection I've got with Lauren. If anything it's gotten better over the years. That's the only way I can describe it.
Anyway I'm just glad she said "yes".
This week is winter school vacation for our kids so we are down in Mexico.
Yesterday my daughter Ellie bumped her head pretty hard at the pool and ended up needing a couple of stitches (small cut but kinda deep). I felt so bad for her but she's a remarkable kid. If it happened to me I would have milked this injury for more sympathy but she's already back in the pool today :)
It was our first taste of a healthcare system outside of the United States. Clearly this is only one data point but here's how it went down from a healthcare point of view:
Ambulance. The hotel called an ambulance for us. Came to the hotel in about 10 minutes. Driver was helpful, friendly and informative. Took 20 minutes to drive from the hotel to the hospital. Cost: $60 round trip.
Hospital. The hospital and emergency room were clean and professional. Ellie was seen by a doctor within 40 minutes of arriving at the ER. They saw a few other patients in the emergency room and the staff did a good job prioritizing which patients needed care first. Cost of emergency room and two stiches, $900.
Medicine. The doctor told us to pick up antibiotics for Ellie to avoid any risk of infection from the initial cut. Ellie is allergic to the default type of antibiotics so the doctor gave us an alternative. Cost: $40 which included a service charge because the pharmacy dropped it off at the the hotel. It took just two hours for the medicine to arrive after calling it in.
Naturally, I'm not thrilled that Ellie was hurt but I'm grateful that it wasn't serious. Mexico's healthcare system took good care of her.
This post is crazy obvious to many but I need to write it down anyway.
I received an email from a founder telling me about his startup.
The email starts out saying "the reason google makes so much money is because they capture intent"
Then because they capture your intention they can sell ads that are contextual and relevent.
We've heard this countless times and yes it's true.
But here's the real reason google makes so much money: their search engine works fast and amazingly well even as the number of web pages and spammers have exploded in recent years.
Everything else is only true because their search product is so excellent.
This rule of building something amazing and at scale is the pre requisite. Otherwise it doesn't matter how you monetize (ads, virtual goods, subscription, a la carte, etc).
There were so many skeptics about facebook's ability to monetize. The haters would say : they can't monetize, it's all UGC, they don't capture intent. Blah blah blah. Today FB does over $100M a month in revenue. A month! Now I'm not a big Facebook user. It doesn't work for me but clearly it works for many.
So before you get locked in on the business model make sure the product just works and blows people away.
(please excuse any typos. Wrote this post on my iPhone)
Like many folks, I have a ton of apps on my iPhone. I've written about my favorite ones in the past. There are so many good ones.
This morning I thought I would take a different approach and jot down four apps I want on my iPhone someday:
1 - A lightweight to do app that syncs (fast) with a web service.
There is an app i use to keep track of notes called Simplenote. Simplenote does exactly what it's supposed to do without any extra bells or whistles. And it syncs really fast with their web version. I need the same thing for to dos. All the To Do apps I've tried on the iphone are either too slow, include too many features or sync poorly if at all to a web version. The best i've found to date is an app called ToDo - but it has too many features and the sync takes too long.
2 - Native gmail. Gmail in a browser (w/gears) is the only way to go. I love keyboard shortcuts, send/archive and conversation/threading. But those don't exist when you use the iPhone mail client with gmail. Is it possible to create a native gmail app for iPhone?
3 - Batch photo uploader to Flickr. Maybe it's just me but I can't seem to upload multiple photos at once with the latest Flickr iPhone app. The app either times out or crashes. I want a simple app where I select multiple photos, press one button and copy them to Flickr.
4 - Disqus. I love the Disqus commenting service. Disqus powers the comments on my blog. It's solid, handles spam well, has the best UI for comments and it allows me to reply to comments via email. But my inbox, like yours, is a mess. And sometimes I just want to read/reply to comments without dealing with my inbox. A disqus iPhone app would be a great way to get caught up with comments (on my blog and other blogs) and could provide an easy way to like, delete, tweet, mark as spam or respond.
Okay, I know I said four apps but here's a bonus one :)
5. GDGT. gdgt is my social network for all things gadgets. I'd love to see a GDGT iPhone app in the near future.
That's it for now.
I arrived in Mexico yesterday and been thinking about a bunch of random mobile things.
In no particular order.
0 - our hotel is roughly an hour drive south of the cancun airport. I had 3g coverage the entire way down. I don't think I've driven anywhere in MA, NY or CA for that long and had the same 3g coverage
1 - before I left I called AT&T and signed up for their international plan. $29 for 20megs of data plus $0.50/minute for voice. Going over on data will cost me a $5.12 per meg. Such a nasty way to bill. Keeping track of data usage like that is nuts.
2 - thankfully i don't have to keep track of cellular data since the hotel has very good wifi.
3 - i downloaded the Skype app for iPhone and pay $3 per month for unlimited calling to the US. I don't plan on making a lot of calls except for dialing into my partner mtg on Tuesday. If I didn't have skype I'm not sure how much it would cost.
4 - sim cards feel closed and nasty. I feel like a sucker roaming on cellular. Wifi feels good.
5 - I brought our big digital slr, canon 40d. I've taken way more pics on my iPhone than the dslr. Wonder how much longer i will lug around a dedicated camera.
6 - read the nyt this morning before everyone woke up on my iPhone. I wouldve preferred an iPad.
That's all for now. Back to vacation.
(please excuse any typos. Wrote this on my phone).
When I was kid I remember getting a swiss army knife when I joined the cub scouts.
I loved that thing. It had a knife, compass, screwdriver, saw and even a toothpick. It had a bunch of other things too.
Since then so many products have tried to copy the swiss army knife model of "all-in-one". The idea is to pack so much into your product that it solves everything and for everyone.
I think the only product that has done well with the swiss army knife model is the iPhone. Other than that more does not mean better. But the iPhone handles the swiss army knife challenge elegantly because the UI doesn't get jenky as you add more apps (unlike your all in one toaster, all in one dvd, all in one receiver, all in one printer etc).
Right now, I use so many different web services for a variety of different things. I use blippy, twitter, tumblr, last.fm, skype, gdgt, gmail, foursquare, plancast, and a bunch of other services too.
But I don't want them all smashed together. They are valuable to me because they solve different problems and offer me different experiences.
In the early days of Tumblr, some users were using it as a life streaming service. Auto-import every RSS feed you own and stick it in your tumblr blog. I tried that too. But that wasn't the idea of that simple RSS feature and most folks don't do that anymore (or at least the people I follow). Instead users have settled into a place where they curate what they want in their tumblr dashboard and what they don't. It's packaged with care and not autofed.
Similarly, I don't want my Twitter timeline filled with every single auto-post from every other service. They should stand apart and offered their own user experience. My gdgt and foursquare and blippy timelines couldn't be more different and that is a beautiful thing.
And that is my beef with Google Buzz. It is trying to be the swiss army knife of my social media life. And I don't want that - it's unnatural to me and mixes things that I don't want mixed. I think the part that is most unnatural about Buzz is that the autostreams everything. Dan Lyons puts it nicely:
Why, Google? Why take a perfectly wonderful e-mail system and pollute it by adding a zillion new things to it? I'm not looking for more clutter in my life. I'm looking for less. At the launch event some Google exec claimed Buzz is a way to "find the signal in the social networking noise," but to me it looks like Google is just adding to the noise.
I want to choose what goes in.
Auto post, auto subscribe, auto import and auto follow aren't helpful to me.
One more thing, the swiss army mistake doesn't meant that web services shouldn't support a two way API. Products should talk to each other and the best ones do just that. But that is different than the magical, all singing/all dancing-all-in-one-uber-product-on-steriods trap". It's actually the opposite.
The Myth Of The Silver Bullet CEO
I love how Jerry starts out each of his blog posts.
I love riding my bike much more than running. The only problem I have these days with riding is time.
(answering this question with the new Tumblr Ask feature on my blog)
I've seen a number of consumer startups trying to reach massive scale by doing deals with carriers or device manufacturers (cell phone manufacturers)
Some worked out nicely for the startups but most don't.
I like consumer startups that are taking charge of their own destiny. They are not white labeling their product or brand. They are not licensing intellectual property. They are not comprimising the user experience to make the big "partner" happy. They are not indifferent to those decisions.
Instead they are 100% focused on the user (and developers) and establishing their brand and purpose.
Awhile back I wrote about a problem I encountered when I ported my phone number. I asked for a better way to communicate this info to my friends, family and business associates. I received about a dozen emails from startups going after this problem. Unfortunately most of them built a product and approach that assumed that a deal with carriers was better if not essential.
I'd like to think that the open web and open mobile platforms allow us to finally go direct to our users and figure this stuff out together.
Now there are times where partnership and distribution deals make sense. I like them if they add value to the network and don't hide the consumer brand or force the startup to make unnatural choices.
But in the absence of those things, I say damn the torpedoes and take control over your destiny. Don't outsource it.
(clarification: this post is about consumer applications. i'm not talking about infrastructure or technology licensing companies, etc).
Thanks. All credit, looks & otherwise goto @laurensabet. Fact.
disclosure: pressured to answer this question because shawn gave me some smack on twitter :)
(playing with the new Tumblr Ask feature on my blog)


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Traveling Long Distances: Ten Tips – Part Two
Part One. 6. Related: Search for the best price. This falls under the previous two points as well. By planning ahead, you can set a budget and find the best price on travel related items. When searching for good airfare, don't always rely on places like Expedia. Check the airlines themselves as they will sometimes have better deals than the bigger "catch all" sites. The same goes for hotels and rental car places. (We recently got $100/night cheaper on a hotel by actually calling the front desk! Keep that in mind!) As an added mental note: know that gas prices are higher in the summer. If you book a flight in the winter for a summer trip, when prices may be lower, you could save… [more]
Traveling Long Distances: Ten Tips – Part One
As I said previously, traveling long distances for visits involves some planning on the parts of both sides of the adult triad. Just like any other trip, making your plans far enough in advance can help lessen the stress the comes when the actual travel dates arrive. Over the past three years, we've learned a little about traveling, both by vehicle and air, and have a few things to pass on to others. While not steadfast rules of dos and don'ts for open adoption travel, it might help save your from mistakes that we've made or give you ideas on how to better improve your traveling experience. (Plus one REALLY great and creative idea!!) 1. Know your comfort level. This point relates to where… [more]
Thoughts on Traveling Long Distances
Munchkin's family does not live in the same town as our family. While they lived in the same state when we placed, it was on the opposite side of a very, very wide one. To top it off, I moved another hour away, into the middle of Ohio. That means our visits aren't as simple as picking up the phone, saying, "Want to meet for lunch," and getting in the car. There's the looking at the calendar, two or three times. Rescheduling because you forgot that x-kid has y-appointment on z-date that falls, of course, directly in the middle of initially planned visit. There's deciding whether to fly (much quicker but more expensive) or drive (muuuch longer and, depending on gas prices, not always… [more]
10 Great Ideas for Visiting in Open Adoption – Part Two
Ideas 10-6. Here are five more ideas for a great visit. 5. Other Indoor Activities of Fun: bowling. (We went bowling on our first visit and boy, was it a hoot.) Shopping; you don't have to spend money to bond over time spent in a shopping mall. Roller skating; though, I don't know if many other areas still have a real roller skating rink. Are we old? Ideally, avoid Chuck E. Cheese and the movies; neither provide a good place to spend time together, visit and bond. 4. Attend a Religious Service Together. This should come with the preface of: only if each party is willing to do so. For those coming from vastly different religious backgrounds, this may not be a great idea. For those… [more]
10 Great Ideas for Visiting in Open Adoption – Part One
I'm starting off this ongoing series with a list of ideas for those who have visits in their open adoption. First and foremost I must say that all adoptions are different and what works for one might not work for another. This list of 10 ideas will feature ideas for both short visits and long visits. I realize that not all families visit for a week at a time and may just have a day visit. I hope to include ideas for either situation. Furthermore, these aren't really in order from least great idea to greatest idea. Though I do like Number One. :) I couldn't pick favorites with the rest of them, so they're just simply numbered for numbers sake. On with the list! 10. Day… [more]

subset: commoncrawl


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Consuming Flaxseed Oil Can Result in Premature Birth
A new study conducted at the Université de Montréal found the risks of a premature birth quadruple if flaxseed oil is consumed in the last two trimesters of pregnancy. The research looked at women who use natural health products during their pregnancy. The most consumed natural health products by pregnant women are chamomile (19%), green tea (17%), peppered mint (12%), and flaxseed oil (12%). Researchers correlated these products to premature births and only flaxseed oil had a very strong correlation. "In the general population, the average rate of premature births is 2 to 3%. But for women consuming flaxseed oil in their last two trimesters that number jumps up to 12%," says Professor Anick Bérard. "It's an enormous risk." The correlation existed only with flaxseed oil, yet women consuming the actual seed were unaffected.
Read More Hot Stories Moms Are Talking About
"No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it will not look ugly." ~ Oscar Wilde


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Health & Pregnancy
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
Last Updated: April 04, 2013
This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information.
© 1995-2014 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
Treating Tuberculosis in Pregnant Women Topics
Today on WebMD


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Judith Warner: The Opt-Out Generation Wants Back In -
A decade after they left their careers in favor of full-time lives at home, working mothers reflect on the choice they made and what it cost them.
New Hollywood: John Green talks 'Fault in Our Stars' movie and his meeting with Obama -
Including John Green in our New Hollywood issue was a no-brainer. Although a movie adaptation of his first novel Looking For Alaska never got off…
PSB's Ruth Ozeki landed on the 2013 Man Booker Longlist this morning for her new novel A Tale for the Time Being - one of our faves as well!
Ahmed Rashid on why a comprehensive security strategy bringing together military, economic and political initiatives could could put Pakistani democracy on the rails for the first time: http://goo.gl/5IvnT (via Financial Times)
Thomas Dyja to be honored with the 2013 Heartland Prize for nonfiction for his book THE THIRD COAST! The awards, which are presented by the Chicago Tribune in partnership with the Chicago Humanities Festival, will be presented in November.
Congrats, Tom!
PSB speakers Meg Wolitzer and Susan Choi make the list, along with a number of other fantastic Penguin authors!
"Out of The Easy" Named Howard County Reads' 2013 Book! -


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REVIEW: Relativity by Cristin Bishara
Dear Ms. Bishara, I think we all know the story of the unhappy teen that makes a wish for a better, bolder life… and then watches it come true. Many books, TV shows, and movies have been made about this… more
Jia B- Reviews alternate universe, alternate-reality, Bloomsbury, Sci-fi, Science Fiction, Young-Adult
Dear Ms. Bishara, I think we all know the story of the unhappy teen that makes a wish for a better, bolder life… and then watches it come true. Many books, TV shows, and movies have been made about this… more
Jayne B Reviews/ Recommended Reads alternate-reality, Historical Fantasy, war
"Shipwrecked and cast ashore in Japan with no memory of Temeraire or his own experiences as an English aviator, Laurence finds himself tangled in deadly political intrigues that threaten not only his own life but England's already precarious position… more
Amy A- Reviews alternate-reality, Shapeshifter, Urban-Fantasy
Dear Ms. Andrews: I have to confess: I have copies of the entire Kate Daniels series in both ebook and paperback form, just so I can read them anytime if I want to. For me, they are total comfort reads…. more
Jane C- Reviews alternate-reality, enemies to lovers, Paranormal, Urban-Fantasy
Dear Ms. Piper: This book was billed as "Book 1 of the Dragon Kings" so imagine my confusion when the book featured neither dragons nor kings. I spent the first fifty pages or so wondering when the dragons were going… more
Author Reviews Book Reviews/ Featured alternate-reality, Magic, rustic fantasy, Urban-Fantasy
Insert Aerosmith Joke Here – On the Edge by Ilona Andrews I'm not completely sure what to say about On the Edge, but then according to Ilona Andrews' website I'm in fairly good company, because her publishers didn't seem to… more
Guest Reviewer A Reviews alternate-reality, Fantasy, Historical fiction, m/m romance
Dear DA friends: Many moons ago, Dear Author posted a debut author interview for Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles. That didn't intrigue me as much as Booksmuggler's adoration for the book (word of mouth and hand-selling, right?). That got me… more
Janine C Reviews/ C Reviews Category/ C- Reviews alternate-reality, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, slavery
Dear Ms. Andrews, I'm a fan of your Edge series so I was very sad to hear that it's likely that Steel's Edge is the last book set in that world. Steel's Edge begins in the Weird, a fantastical world… more
Jayne A- Reviews/ Recommended Reads alternate-reality, dragons, Historical Fantasy, Naomi-Novik, Napoleonic wars, Random-House, Recommended Reads
Dear Ms. Novik, Though I fretted for almost two years waiting for this book, I can see from your author's notes that you've had a lot to keep you busy having had your own little egg, as the dragons would… more
lazaraspaste B Reviews alternate-reality, Historical Romances, Mary-Jo-Putney, Regency England, Young-Adult
Dear Ms. Putney, I have always enjoyed your romances, ever since I started reading romance nigh on six years ago. I particularly enjoyed The Marriage Spell, which was a hybrid of fantasy and regency—a hybrid that very much appealed to… more
Jaclyn B- Reviews alternate-reality, Fae, Paranormal, Urban-Fantasy
Dear Ms. Moning, ShadowFever delivered all the answers I wanted to know about your fascinating world of human and Fae, and yet, after my late-night read-a-thon I feel about ShadowFever like Mac feels about herself through much of the book:… more
lazaraspaste A Reviews alternate-reality, Fantasy Romance, western
Dear Ms. Hobson, The first books that were ever read to me-'aside from children's picture books that is-'were C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, thus establishing a long history of love for the fantasy genre. As a child, my favorite books… more
Shuzluva Book Reviews Agent/Spies/Undercover, alternate-reality, changeling, family relationships, Magic, Romance, Urban-Fantasy, Witches, wolf
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Andrews: Other than Magic Mourns, the short story that was included in the Must Love Hellhounds anthology, I haven't read any of your Kate Daniels series. I'm not sure why Kate Daniels unfortunately flew completely under… more
Janine B+ Reviews Agent/Spies/Undercover, alternate-reality, changeling, family relationships, Magic, Romance, Urban-Fantasy, Witches, wolf
Dear Mr. & Ms. Andrews, The changeling William Wolf was introduced to readers in your earlier book, On the Edge. On your website, Mr. Andrews states in that book, William "lost Rose to Declan and did not save the day…. more
Jayne B Reviews alternate-reality, Australia, dragons, Fantasy Romance, Naomi-Novik, Napoleonic wars
NOTE: Though I've attempted to avoid spoilers, at this point there isn't any way. If you've not read all the books preceding this one, read the review at your own risk. Dear Ms. Novik, Well, it has taken the better… more
Janine C+ Reviews alternate-reality, Carolyn Crane, crime, good-description, good-narration, Love-Triangle, psychic powers, Urban-Fantasy
PLEASE NOTE: The following review contains a few SPOILERS. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, you might not want to read this review until after you have read the book. Dear Ms. Crane, You've been part of the romance community… more


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HomeDecorJewelry HoldersGranada 5 Drawer Jewelry Armoire with Intricate Detailing Brand Nathan
Transform your home into a haven of style and luxury with the Granada 5 Drawer Jewelry Armoire, which features a chic, contemporary design. It includes sleek lines and delicate contours, which seamlessly blend into the trendy style that makes it an excellent way to boost the aesthetics of your home. The armoire is manufactured from a durable material, making it long lasting. Designed keeping in mind the space constraints faced by most homes, the sofa showcases a small 3-seater design that makes it an excellent addition to your decor. It comes with a dimension of


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"Marathon Discovery: Jesus conspiracy (all chapters together in a row), it's simply excellent, Historians, Archaeologists and many other studious, seekers of the truth behind the gospels claimed by the Christian churches worldwide, right now @discovery ..."


text: 11,129 Owen GoodProfileFollowUnfollow Pending approval Owen GoodFiled to: Battlefront Battlefront online Slant Six 12/16/12 2:00pm 12/16/12 2:00pm EditDelete InviteInvite manuallyPromoteXDismissXUndismissBlock for KotakuHideShare to KinjaShare to FacebookShare to TwitterGo to permalinkIt's been a week, must be time for another Battlefront leak. Here's concept art for Battlefront Online, axed in 2010. 58Reply 58Discuss


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From the kitchen of Kathy "Mama" Coffey, mamas-southern-cooking.com, Stockbridge, GA
"You don't have to sacrifice flavor for a healthy breakfast."
Southern Living MAY 2013
Bring water and butter to a boil over medium-high heat in a saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in cereal. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir in milk, granola, egg, and honey until blended. Stir together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot buttered griddle or nonstick skillet. Cook 3 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Turn and cook 2 minutes or until done. Keep warm in a 200° oven up to 30 minutes.
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Well, there are some new (read: somewhat strange!) rules for figure skating this year. It is somewhat like gymnastics (team+individual = medals) but apparently they do the team medals first, then the skaters rest up as fast as they can, and they compete for the individual medals. Guess we will see how this works!
Really excited for a couple of new faces this year. We are just in love with Meryl Davis and Charlie White (pictured); if you haven't seen them do any ice dancing, please look them up on You Tube. I'm searching for a great video, but the one from the Olympics (nothing on 'Tube yet) is nothing short of magical.
We are also in love with new comer Gracie Gold; she is light, she is soft on the ice, she is solid in her landings and just a joy to watch. We are hoping she can continue that in the individual competition as well!


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Steigenberger Drei Mohren
Certificate of Excellence 2014
The Steigenberger Drei Mohren in Augsburg has been awarded with the "Certificate of Excellence" from TripAdvisor!
Free WiFi
Surf for free in all participating Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts.
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Enoteca - Indulgence and interaction
Find rustic Mediterranean flair in our Enoteca, for a comfortable gathering from 18 up to 24 persons on a large wooden table.
Fine dining restaurant Sartory
Enjoy seasonal dishes and menus in the Fine-Dining Sartory. You can also book the restaurant for your exclusive event for up to 18 persons.
With is 500 year old history, the Steigenberger Drei Mohren is one of the most traditional hotels in Germany. It is the first address in Augsburg and located directly in the historic old town on the magnificent Maximilian street. Famous sights are located very closely to the hotel or, such as the "Schaezlerpalais", next to the hotel. After extensive measures of reconstruction, the hotel reopened in March 2012. The hotel has 131 rooms and suites, furnished in a timeless-modern and elegant style. For events, there are 11 function rooms, such as the central ballroom "Teehalle" with a spectacular glass dome. The gastronomical highlight is the Fine-Dining Restaurant Sartory. The Restaurant MAXIMILIAN'S has an integrated show kitchen. The Bar 3M is open daily from 10am. The wellness and cosmetic area Relax Max has 360 sqm and has been built in an impressive oriental style.
Our Services
Arrival & Departure
Reserved rooms are available from 3:00 pm on your day of arrival. Please feel welcome to stay in your room until 12:00 noon on your day of departure.
Hotel facilities
- 111 rooms, thereof two rooms suitable for allergy sufferers and one barrier-free room
- 4 service apartments
- 12 executive rooms
- 3 suites and the Paganini Suite
- 1 restaurant MAXIMILIAN'S with show-kitchen
- 1 bar 3M
- 1 restaurant Fine-Dining Restaurant Sartory
- 11 variable meeting rooms with daylight
- 1 central ball room "Teehalle"
- wellness and fitness area "Relax Max"
- room service
- laundry, valet and shoeshine service
- free newspapers
Business services
- free WiFi with a bandwidth of up to 256 KB/s for the entire duration of your stay - technical conditions permitting
- internet terminal
Further services
- newspaper stand
- express check-out
- car hire
- public garage
- public parking


text:
BEHIND THE SCENES! Today we filmed a Saturday Morning show and I thought I would..
I love NZ music! I was lucky enough to go and watch..
If you like cats and kittens AND you like cats and kittens yawning...
Along with eating and chasing her tail, Blair loves to sleep. And when I say sleep...
Today I want to talk about a Sticky fave! TEDDY!
As you know I love cat videos and I also love trick videos...
Got any paper lying around? How would you like to make your very own slinky!!
Check out this clip! It's about a cat and dog who are best friends!
All Grown Up
Barney and Friends
Ben and Holly
Beyraiderz: Shogun
Bob the Builder
Bob The Builder
Fanboy and Chum Chum
Kiwisport TV
Max Steel
Peppa Pig
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Ready Steady Wiggles
Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sticky TV
The Xs
Thomas and Friends
Tree Fu Tom
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text: You're invited to Portland's Ultimate Halloween Party, Boogie Nights X on Saturday, October 26, 2013 at the Melody Ballroom. This awesome Halloween event includes: huge dance floors, The Gentlemen's Club Band, DJ Sugar, Indio Spirits tastings, quick bar service, two dance floors on two levels and a costume contest with over $4,500 in cash and prizes. Benefiting: Portland New Generations Rotary Club.


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No rating
GreatSchools Rating
Teacher quality
Principal leadership
Parent involvement
I went to sandy elementary from k-6. My mom sent all 11 of her children there. She works there. out of the 11 of us, all have attended at least some college and 5 have graduated from college. Two of my siblings have attended graduate school, and one is a lawyer. Parents make the difference. At any school. If you want your children to succeed, you need to be involved. This school could use some good, supportive parents like mine, and my friends' parents were.
Do not send your child to this school if you want your child to be challenged. Teachers do not have high expectations for students and most students live up to those expectations. Expect resistance from teachers when you go to them for help because you want your child to learn at their level and be challenged. After a couple months of trying to get my daughter's teacher to teach her on her level she now challenges her in one assignment one time per week :( When the teachers left my Kindergartner outside alone after school at the beginning of the year, the teacher took no responsibility. She started talking to my daughter and blamed her. I found out from another parent that the same thing happened to her daughter this year (same class). This school may be able to accomodate children who are below grade level. It should also be a fine school if safety is not a concern.
We send two of our kids there for a few years until the principal changed. What used to be a good school got really bad very fast. The schools over all test scores droped really fast, safty seemed not to exist there anymore and teachers were unwilling to accommodate kids even if they had an IEP. We had to take our kids out of that school during the school year, nothing was done to stop bullying. Even differen teachers hated the new work invironment!
My son went to Sandy for fourth and fifth grade. His fifth grade teacher was outstanding. She was a student teacher from BYU. She always went above and beyond what was required. The math program, developed by the fifth grade team really helped change his attitude about math. Although all his peers were not on grade level the teacher was able to level the classroom so his needs were met.
Sandy Elementary School [is] one of the best public school and we are not disappointed at all, at first I was really worried but I was wrong cause she progressed and totally came out of her shell,learned and grew, most of all, had fun. she came home everyday and couldn't wait to tell and share to her other younger siblings about her day in her new school and what fun she had.
I have been very impressed by Sandy Elementary. Although it is a low income area there is a lot of pride amoung students and teachers. Because of the wide range of nationalities I feel my child has benefited by interacting with so many different cultures. The staff has always been positive. I believe kids can be anything they want if they have someone to help support and believe in them. Being in a low income area does not condemn them from achieving their dreams. Parents and neighbors need to support the students and teachers of Sandy Elementary. Teachers throughout Utah are completetly underappreciated and under paid. The staff at Sandy really does care about their students. They have a tough job and they do it well!
Located in a low income-poverty demographic, this school has a high principal turnover due to extensive disciplinary issues. Lack of adequate heating and Air Conditioning is also an issue. Curriculum is based around outdated concepts. Current technology and skills are not addressed. This school is okay for parents who dont want their children to achieve more than they have as there is no pressure to exceed expectations and no support for children in the 'gifted' catagory. -Parent of a Sandy Elementary 3rd Grade student.
Sandy Elementary has been a wonderful school for my 2nd grader. She has had wonderful teachers since K. Principal Gomez is very involved and supportive to both students and parents. I highly recommend this school!
Community ratings and reviews do not represent the views of GreatSchools nor does GreatSchools check their accuracy or verify the reviewers' identities. Use your discretion when evaluating these reviews.
The Community Rating is the school's average rating from its community members (e.g., parents, students, and school staff). The highest possible rating is five stars; the lowest is one star.
8725 South 280 East
Sandy, UT 84070
Phone: (801) 565-7490
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text:
Bird Diversity Drops From Forests to Farms
September 11, 2014|
Farms support less phylogenetically diverse bird populations than forests, but some farms are better than others.
September 11, 2014|
Farms support less phylogenetically diverse bird populations than forests, but some farms are better than others.
August 21, 2014|
Hummingbirds perceive sweetness through a receptor with which other vertebrates taste savory foods.
July 30, 2014|
Hibernation-related proteins are common even in non-hibernating animals, a study shows.
July 23, 2014|
Due to the effects of climate change, female fur seals that successfully breed do so later in life and are more likely to have increased variability within their genomes.
July 10, 2014|
Cognitive testing in chimpanzee pedigrees reveals a genetic basis for intelligence.
June 25, 2014|
E. coli repeatedly exposed to ampicillin adapt to stay dormant for longer periods of time—just long enough to outlast the antibiotic treatment.
June 19, 2014|
An examination of 17 ancient skulls shows that some Neanderthal features arose as far back as 430,000 years ago.
June 9, 2014|
Humans and coral share a cell-death pathway that has been conserved between them for more than half a billion years.
May 29, 2014|
Two island populations of male crickets independently evolved to evade parasites by keeping quiet, and have come up with a way to sneak matings with females that still seek the male courtship song.
May 15, 2014|
Analysis of approximately 12,000-year-old human remains supports the idea that modern Native Americans evolved from ancestors who migrated out of Asia.


text:
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without your permission.
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RT@ParadiseGray: RT @CBSNews: DOJ alleges defense contractor gave national security secrets to Chinese girlfriend http://t.co/TxsEyi0GwH
The real reason the #Lakers lost last night:
Bold statements by Dwight Howard. #Lakers
As the Lakers prepare to retire Shaq's jersey, Kobe now appreciates his former foe - Yahoo! Sports #lakers
SUNDAY, 4/7, IT'S ON: #LAKERS v. #CLIPPERS
Nice column by @BillPlaschke on the ongoing disconnect between Kobe & Shaq . #Lakers
Here's what the #Lakers' remaining schedule looks like, not a whole lot of freebies in there. #racefor8th:
Good Kobe Bryant stuff here by @ZachLowe_NBA. #Lakers
No bueno. "@latimeslakers: Lakers acknowledge error in Shaquille O'Neal's retired jersey "
My favorite #Lakers team (for serious; #childhoodyears #nostalgia #forum):
See what's Trending Now about Lakers


text:
Infographic: Lidl #1 European Food Retailer on Facebook
There is a new champion of the European Retail market, and they aren't just winning by one metric - this is a total knockout!
There is a new champion of the European Retail market, and they aren't just winning by one metric - this is a total knockout!
Most of the content brands post to Facebook includes photos - 75% of all content in a one-month period, to be exact. We examined a large collection of Facebook posts made by over 30,000 brands in order to find which type of post scored the best engagement. There were clear differences between top performers and the rest of the pack.
Not all brands are created equal, and neither are the definitions of social media success. Finding the right engagement rate for your brand's Facebook page largely depends on these factors: fan size, post frequency and industry. Using data from over 43,000 Facebook Pages of various sizes and industries, we've identified healthy engagement rates to help benchmark your brand and better quantify social media success this year. After all, we're not all selling sexy cars (you'll see) - so it's time we stopped acting like user engagement is a one-size-fits-all metric.
Back in 2012, Facebook put a button on brand's Walls that gives users the opportunity to send a direct message to the brand. Brands have the option to enable or disable the feature. We looked at the data and found that Pages without a direct message button receive 5X more wall posts than those with a button. What does this mean?
Users of Socialbakers Analytics may have noticed some new features today. To make accessing and understanding your metrics easier and more useful, we've enhanced Socialbakers Analytics with tighter integration of the latest Facebook insights.
Created by marketers in 2005, Cyber Monday is the e-commerce counterpart to Black Friday. E-commerce brands, from large (such as Amazon and eBay) to small, offer customers majorly discounted prices on things such as electronic goods, or on the price of delivery. For e-commerce brands, the two days function as a double opportunity to make a ton of sales. But how does their strategy and their success differ from Friday to Monday?
Black Friday is the day that one third of all Americans go shopping – with an estimated $11.4 billion spent on that day alone in 2012 in the retail sector. When combined with Cyber Monday, it's claimed by Deloitte that 47% of us will be shopping online during this time.
As the German Federal Elections are fast approaching, both candidates and fans alike are flocking to Facebook to voice their opinions. Socialbakers shows just how they performed in its pre-election infographic.
Socialbakers Stacks Up the G20 Leaders' Engagement on Facebook
(UPDATED) Sometimes, journalists get stats wrong. The Facebook stats found on our page are not primarily intended for journalists, but rather Ad estimates for marketers.


text:
Alice Says Goodbye to Wonderland
Alice says goodbye to her friends from Wonderland.
As soon as Jafar returns The Knave's heart to his chest, he breaks it again by murdering The Red Queen. From the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Season 1 episode, "Heart of the Matter."
Alice says goodbye to her friends from Wonderland.
The Knave breaks the love spell Jafar cast on Anastasia.
Alice tells her daughter the story of Wonderland.
Alice and Cyrus trick Jafar.
Amara gets free from the staff and challenges Jafar.
The origin of Alice and The Knave's friendship.
The Knave faces heartbreak again.
Jafar's staff won't let him kill Cyrus.
All magic comes with a price.
Saving Wonderland has become personal
Preparing to break the laws of magic
A final wish ends in tragedy
Three brothers, three genies
A fearsome creature is freed
They've found each other!
Why did she make an alliance with a madman?
Alice's suffering is at an end.
Alice returns from Wonderland.


text:
This year's TargetX's iThink went Live! at the NACAC 2011 National Conference in New Orleans, LA. With iThink's streaming video from the conference floor, live online chats, opportunities for admissions professionals to go on camera, and of course, great guest iThinker conversations, the event was a success!
Mary was joined by:
- Phyllis Gill, Associate Director of College Guidance/Providence Day School and Director, NACAC Board of Directors
- Rob Glass, President and Founder, Glass & Gold, Inc.
- Jeff Kallay, Vice President of Consulting, TargetX
TargetX's Adrienne Hamson (Vice President of Marketing) and Trent Gilbert (Chief eXperience Officer) served as hosts.
We look forward to next year's event and hope to see YOU there!
You can keep the conversation going! Call Scannell & Kurz today at 585-381-1120 or send us a message through our website. Let's talk about how our team can help your admissions team meet its enrollment goals.


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You can mix and match these tasty toppings, as well as the Strawberry-Lemon Syrup, with any of the pancakes.
Cooking Light MARCH 2000
Pour maple syrup into a medium saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean; add seeds and bean to syrup. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat; discard bean.
Go to full version of


text:
Resembling an hourglass, the unusual flow deposit may have been glacial in origin.
Image Number: WEB13073-2013
Credit: Courtesy of ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
For print or commercial use, please contact: Smithsonian Institution
Reproductions are not currently available. If you would like to use this image as-is, please submit a permission request.


text:
Palaver is a new and unique IRC client for iOS. It was created to make using IRC a pleasure. What resulted was an IRC client perfectly fit for you and your mobile devices!
pa·lav·er /pəˈlavər/
[noun] Prolonged and idle discussion.
In order to maximize the use of available space on the screen, we hid away queries and users in a smart 'viewdeck' menu.
Palaver includes intergrated timestamps and buffer with ZNC.
Palaver was designed from the ground up with eye for performance. Only weighing 800kb, this app feels like flying.


text:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I'm almost inclined to think Brox was written by someone else. The character interacted with everyone else and the world so much differently than all the other characters. He had personality, and his personality was reflected in his actions and his perceptions were made apparent when he spoke.
One line made me like Broxigar. It made me smile when he he was talking to Tyrande, she healed him and he said, "I thank you, shaman". There was a lot of character in that line. It was simple, and short, but all the best lines are.
What he did incurred consequences, and he felt many layers of emotions at once. Best of all, it wasn't overdone--having the 'heavier' spotlight characters like Rhonin around helped even more to make Broxigar actually compelling and feel less imposing, character-wise (them acting as a sort of damper). Which, while very likely unintentional, is convenient to the point of hilarity.
Best of all, one scene in the book he featured made me miss him. Broxigar is one of the few characters in the Warcraft universe I can attest to feeling genuine remorse for. It wasn't just his death--it was his *willing* death. His death he gave to himself. Nothing short of literal suicide. It is, frankly, an element we don't see in the Warcraft universe much (if at all), which made the moment of impact that much sharper. You could see it coming--his intent for suicide--but that it would actually happen? Unpredictable. How often do characters in the WC universe commit suicide like that? Never. Even still, he was a LIKABLE character. Likable characters don't have a tendency to be taken out like that. It had a lot of impact.
While Brox's legendary reputation precedes him, he somehow made out to be a great character when all was said and done. I will miss him.


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'Third Grade Gate' Clears Another Legislative HurdleBy Jeffrey Hess | Published 27 Feb 2013 06:42pm |
A bill to hold back Mississippi third graders if they cannot read on grade level has cleared another legislative hurdle. MPB's Jeffrey Hess reports that measure is one of more than a dozen education reform goals to pass through a house committee.
Retaining students who cannot read at a third grade level is one of the most high profile education changes the committee education committee signed off on Wednesday.
One of the bills main sponsors, Representative Rita Martinson of Madison, says passing kids who cannot read onto the fourth grade has not worked to improve reading Mississippi.
"It has not helped any of us. It doesn't help the adults in the community. It doesn't help business. It doesn't help the children. And that is the main reason I want them to learn at a very early level," Martinson said.
But opposition to the bill is beginning to mount.
During the meeting, Committee member Gregory Holloway of Hazelhurst says the bill fails to address the fact that children come to school with vastly different levels of readiness.
"Because some kids do not have parents who have the resources to allow those kids to be on that level. Some parents can afford Hook on Phonics. They can afford games and things like that before they get to kindergarten," Holloway said.
Committee members also point out that there is no money in the bill to improve teachers or class room instruction.
Education advocate Nancy Loome with the Parents Campaign says that is a major missing element.
"It doesn't provide anything that changes the level of instruction for those child. And as some of the members said today, if we approach reading in that way we are just going to drive up the drop out rate. If we are just retaining children without providing them anything better," Loome said.
The committee did not vote on the Senate version of bill expanding charter schools, which is one of the most controversial and highly sought after items remaining.
The deadline for that vote is Tuesday.
CommentsMPB will not tolerate obscenities, threats/personal attacks, hate speech, material that is ethnically or racially offensive, abusive comments, comments off topic and spam, to name a few. You can see a complete list of the MPB guidelines by viewing our terms of service. If you spot a comment you think violates these guidelines, report it to the moderators by clicking "x" next to the comment, then "report". MPB reserves the right to adjust these guidelines. If you have a suggestion, please contact us.


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text:
Jon Stewart Compares Obama to Social Conservatives When It Comes to Gay Marriage
15 Reasons Fans Keep Watching The Daily Show
Minneapolis Replaces San Francisco as the "Gayest" City in America
Speed Read — The Hypocrisy of Defunding Planned Parenthood
Jon Stewart Gives James Franco Some Oscar Advice
James Franco Trapped Under a Fridge on The Daily Show!
James Franco Celebrates Oscar Nod With the Daily Grind
Speed Read! Meghan McCain Talks Dirty, Sexy Politics
Drew Barrymore Jokes She Doesn't Know Whether She's Currently Dating Justin
Angelina on Parenting With Brad, Jen and Jon's Date, and Bikini-Clad LeAnn's Dance
PSR 8/20/10: Angelina on Parenting With Brad, Jen & Jon's Date, & Bikini-Clad LeAnn's Dance
Video: Jennifer Aniston's Date With Jon Stewart


text:
This has been discussed previously and there is a good fix in the wiki.
Here http://arduino.cc/playground/Main/UnoWin2k
Here is the quick and dirty fix. I had a problem with USB comms between the UNO and Win 2000 machine. The program does not download correctly and the IDE reports an error.
Simple fix. Get USBSER.SYS that lives in \windows\system32\drivers from a WIN 7 machine and copy it into the same directory of your Win 2000 machine. Uninstall and reinstall the UNO 3 driver. Problem sorted.
Remember to save the old usbser.sys......


text:
Narrow your search
Watch "A Lovely Sunny Day" to see why actor Zachary Levi and "Sesame Street's" Bert think the best tweets come from birds outside.
With Box heading toward an IPO, the normally gregarious CEO can't say much about anything. But when it comes to the topic of government surveillance and what that might mean for the future of the Internet, he offers a few tidbits.
Apple hires former Levis executive Enrique Atienza to help it run its retail operations in the US, according to a new report.
Company is being sued for millions of dollars for selling blank CDs, cassette tapes, memory cards, and MP3 players to Austrian customers who might have used them to record copyrighted music.
The world's largest social network has been hosting events throughout the summer to teach small businesses how to get more customers to like them.
Using smart algorithms that parse and organize your photo library, MyRoll is less a storage destination and more of an improved way to experience your memories.
A discussion on how San Francisco's tech community is falling short leads to verbal pyrotechnics between angel investor Ron Conway and former Facebooker Chamath Palihapitiya.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg distances Facebook from its early, hacker-geared motto to a more mature one focused on stability.
Microsoft will, however, sign a services agreement with Nokia to continue to develop products at the plant, the company says.
The plant could help HTC expand its presence in India and potentially lead to lower prices by limiting shipping costs.


text:
IEC 62196 is an international standard for set of electrical connectors and charging modes for electric vehicles and is maintained by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
The standard does not specify the physical dimensions for any particular charging connector. It does however mention IEC 60309 "CEEform" general purpose connectors within the definitions of part 2 (i.e. IEC 62196-2).
The standard is based on IEC 61851 that has an electronic mechanism that firstly does not connect the power until fully connected to a vehicle and secondly immobilizes the vehicle to stop it from driving away while still connected.[1]
The Part-1 definitions for the signal pin and its IEC 62196-1 charging mode definitions have been reused in a number of implementations for charging large devices and especially automotive charging stations. Apart from CEEform industrial plugs, the modes were picked up for
- the Yazaki connector in Northern America (standardized in SAE J1772),
- the CHAdeMO connector in Japan (using DC charging) and the
- Mennekes connector in Europe (standardized in VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2) -
Each of these has been designed for use in an electric vehicle network of charging stations. Other connector types conforming to IEC 62196-1 have been the Framatome plug by EDF, the Scame plug in Italy and the CEEplus plugs in Switzerland.[1]
Public charging stations conforming to IEC 62196 that have a specific socket type (e.g. SAE J1772 or CEEplus) can be used with other plug types by means of adapters – however the current will not be enabled unless an IEC 61851 presence signal pin is connected and the current will be limited to 16 Ampere unless an IEC 62196 charging mode signal is detected that specifies a higher Ampere level.
Charging modes[edit]
Part 1 of IEC 62196 is applicable to plugs, socket-outlets, connectors, inlets and cable assemblies for electric vehicles, intended for use in conductive charging systems which incorporate control means, with a rated operating voltage not exceeding:
- 690 V a.c., 50 – 60 Hz, at a rated current not exceeding 250 A;
- 600 V d.c., at a rated current not exceeding 400 A.
The standard references the charging modes defined in IEC61851-1 which includes:[2]
- "Mode 1" - slow charging from a household-type socket-outlet
- "Mode 2" - slow charging from a household-type socket-outlet with an in-cable protection device
- "Mode 3" - slow or fast charging using a specific EV socket-outlet with control and protection function installed
- "Mode 4" - fast charging using an external charger
The IEC 61851-1 standard documents the pilot signal flagging the charging requirements by using pulse width modulation. The pilot signal is integrated in the plugs of IEC 62196 electric vehicle charging equipment is a requirement for higher currents.
Mode 1[edit]
Mode 1 charging relates to the connection of the EV to the a.c. supply network (mains) utilizing standardized socket-outlets not exceeding 16 A and not exceeding 250 V a.c. single-phase or 480 V a.c. three-phase, at the supply side, and using power and protective earth conductors.
Mode 1 connectors do not require any control pins from IEC 61851-1.[3] In many countries there are additional restrictions on household mains being less than 16 A – it is left to the system user to respect the actual charging limits.
In some countries like the USA, mode 1 charging is prohibited by national codes. The main reason is that the required earthing is not present in all domestic installations so that Mode 2 was defined as an interim solution.
Mode 2[edit]
Mode 2 charging relates to the connection of the EV to the a.c. supply network (mains) not exceeding 32 A and not exceeding 250 V a.c. single-phase or 480 V a.c. three-phase using standard sockets. In addition to power conductors and protective earth, these sockets add a control pilot function. An RCD is required for protection from electric shock. A control box must be in the plug or within 0.3 metres of the plug.
Mode 2 connectors require a control pin from IEC 61851-1 on the electric vehicle.[3] The supply network side of the cable does not need a control pin and the control function is governed by the control box in the cable. These provisions allow for charging stations with low complexity while extending the permissible range or charging currents compared to Mode 1 charging. A possible setup uses an IEC 60309 connector ready for 32 A – controlled by the diameter of the plug that would not fit in a 16 A socket – with the control pin flagging the charging mode to the electric vehicle. A 1000 Ω resistor is used between pilot and earthing allowing to break the circuit if the current on the pilot-earth loop is lost.[4]
Mode 3[edit]
Mode 3 charging relates connection of the EV to the a.c. supply network (mains) utilizing dedicated electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) where the control pilot function extends to control equipment in the EVSE, permanently connected to the a.c. supply.
Mode 3 connectors according to IEC 61851-1 require a range of control and signal pins for both sides of the cable. The charging station socket is dead if no vehicle is present; the pilot pin in the plug on the charger side controls the circuit breaker. For compatibility, the 32 A plugs of IEC 61851-1 Mode 2 connectors (1000 Ω pilot-earth) may be used, while fast charging with higher currents up to 250 A require specialized cables flagging the IEC 61851-1 charging mode.[3] The communication wire between car electronics and charging station allows for an integration into smart grid scenarios.[4]
Mode 4[edit]
Mode 4 charging relates to the connection of the EV to the a.c. supply network (mains) utilizing an offboard charger where the control pilot function extends to equipment permanently connected to the a.c. supply.
The IEC 62196 accessories encompass the vehicle inlet/connector (all modes) and the plug/socket-outlet (Mode 3).
In Mode 4 charging the supply network a.c. power is converted in the charging station to d.c.. The plug type ensures that only a matching electric vehicle can be connected. Using d.c. fast charging allows for considerably higher currents, up to 400 A according to IEC 61851-1 Mode 4.[3] Mode 4 connectors according to IEC 61851-1 require a range of control and signal pins to ensure operation for fast charging comparable to Mode 3. The Mode 4 charging station equipment are however much more expensive than Mode 3 EVSE.[4]
Plug types[edit]
The IEC 62196-1 refers to plugs as specified in IEC 60309 for industrial and multiphase power plugs and sockets.
A number of industry groups have made advancements to add details on specific plugs beyond the existing range IEC 60309 "CEEform" connectors. The CEEform industry connectors are used in many areas while the following plug types from the IEC 62196 annex have been tailored to the usage as automotive chargers. The later IEC 62196-2 contains categorizations on plug types to be used in the charging process. In June 2010 the ETSI and CEN-CENELEC were mandated by the European Commission to develop a European Standard on charging points for electric vehicles.[5] The IEC 62196-2 circulation started on 17. December 2010 and voting closes on 20. May 2011.[2] The standard was published by the IEC on 13. October 2011.[6]
The list of IEC 62196-2 plug types includes:[7]
- IEC 62196-2 "Type 1" - single phase vehicle coupler - reflecting the SAE J1772/2009 automotive plug specifications
- IEC 62196-2 "Type 2" - single and three phase vehicle coupler - reflecting the VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2 plug specifications
- IEC 62196-2 "Type 3" - single and three phase vehicle coupler with shutters - reflecting the EV Plug Alliance proposal
Type 1: SAE J1772-2009[edit]
In 2001 SAE International had proposed a standard for conductive coupler which had been approved by the California Air Resources Board for charging stations of electric vehicles. The SAE J1772-2001 plug had a rectangular shape that was based on a design by Avcon. In 2009 a revision of the SAE J1772 standard was published that included a new design by Yazaki featuring a round housing. The SAE J1772-2009 coupler specifications have been included to IEC 62196-2 standard as an implementation of the Type 1 connector for charging with single-phase AC. The connector has five pins for the two AC wires, ground and two signal pins compatible with IEC 61851-2001 / SAE J1772-2001 for proximity detection and control pilot function.
Note that only the plug type specification of the SAE J1772-2009 haven been taken over but not the relation to Level 1, 2, and 3 charging modes inherited from the proposition of the California Air Resources Board. The Level 1 charging mode at 120 V is specific to Northern America and Japan as most regions around the world use 220-240V and IEC 62196 does not include a special option for lower voltages. The Level 3 for DC charging is not applicable to either IEC 62196-2 or SAE J1772-2009.
While the original SAE J1772-2009 standard describes ratings from 120V 12A/16A to 240V 32A/80A the IEC 62196 Type 1 specification covers only 250V ratings at 32A/80A. The 80A version of IEC 62196 Type 1 is considered US only however.[8]
Type 2: VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2 [edit]
The connector manufacturer Mennekes had developed a series of 60309-based connectors that were enhanced with additional signal pins – these "CEEplus" connectors have been used for charging of electric vehicles since the late 1990s.[9][10] With the resolution of the IEC 61851-1:2001 control pilot function (aligned with the SAE J1772:2001 proposal) the CEEplus connectors were replacing the earlier Marechal couplers (MAEVA / 4 pin / 32A) as the standard for electric vehicle charging.[11] When Volkswagen promoted its plans for electric mobility Alois Mennekes contacted Martin Winterkorn in 2008 to learn about the requirements of the charging equipment connectors.[10] Based on requirement of the industry led by utility RWE and car maker Daimler a new connector was derived by Mennekes.[12] The state of charging systems along with the proposed new connector were presented at the start of 2009.[13] This new connector would later be accepted as the standard connector by other car makers and utilities for their field tests in Europe.[12] This choice was supported by the Franco-German joint council on E-mobility in 2009.[14] The proposal is based on the observation that standard IEC 60309 plugs are rather bulky (diameter 68 mm / 16A to 83 mm / 125 A) for higher current. To ensure easy handling by consumers the plugs were made smaller (diameter 55 mm) and flattened on one side (physical protection against polarity reversal).[15]
Since the IEC standardization track is a lengthy process, the German DKE/VDE (Deutsche Kommission Elektrotechnik / German Commission for Electronics of the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies) took over the task to standardize the handling details of the automotive charging system and its designated connector published in November 2009 in VDE-AR-E 2623-2-2[16] The connector type has been included in the next Part-2 (IEC 62196-2) connector reference as "Type 2".[12] The standardization process of the VDE plug continues with an extension for high current d.c. loading that will be proposed for inclusion by 2013.[17]
Unlike the IEC 60309 plugs, the Mennekes/VDE automotive solution (German VDE-Normstecker für Ladestationen / VDE standard plug for charging stations) has a single size and layout for currents from 16A single-phase up to 63A three-phase (3.7 kW to 43.5 kW)[18] but it does not cover the full range of Mode 3 levels (see below) of the IEC 62196 specification. Since the VDE automotive connector was described first in the DKE/VDE proposal for the IEC 62196-2 standard (IEC 23H/223/CD), it was also called the IEC-62196-2/2.0 automotive connector before it got its own standardization title. The VDE will formally withdraw the national standard as soon as the international IEC standard is resolved.
There has been criticisms of the price of the VDE connector however by the car manufacturer Peugeot comparing it to the IEC 60309 plugs that are readily available.[19] Unlike field tests in Germany, a number of field tests in France and the UK have taken over the campground sockets (blue IEC 60309-2 plug, single-phase, 230V, 16 A) that are already installed in many outdoor locations across Europe[19] or weatherproofed versions of their normal domestic sockets. Also the Scame plugin is promoted by a French-Italian alliance mentioning its comparable low price.[20] The Chinese Variant of Type 2 in GB/T 20234.2-2011 has limited the current to 32 A allowing for cheaper materials.[21]
The Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobiles (ACEA) has decided to use the Type 2 connector for deployment in European Union. For the first phase the ACEA recommends public charging stations to offer Type 2 (Mode 3) or CEEform (Mode 2) sockets while home charging may additionally use a standard home socket (Mode 2). In the second phase (expected to be 2017 and later) a uniform connector shall be used only, whereas the ultimate choice for Type 2 or Type 3 is left open. The rationale of the ACEA recommendation points to using Type 2 Mode 3 connectors however.[22] Based on the ACEA position Amsterdam Electric has put up the first Type 2 Mode 3 public charging station for use with the Nissan Leaf test drive.[23]
Beginning at the end of 2010 the utilities Nuon and RWE have started to deploy a network of charging poles in Central Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia) using the Type 2 Mode 3 socket type based on the widely available 400V three-phase domestic power grid. The Netherlands have started to deploy a network of 10.000 charging stations of this type with a common output of three-phase 400V at 16A.
In March 2011 the ACEA had published a position paper that recommends Type 2 Mode 3 as the EU uniform solution by 2017, ultra fast DC charging may only use a Type 2 or Combo2 connector[24] The European Commission has followed the lobbying[25][26] proposing Type 2 as the common solution in January 2013 to end uncertainty about the charging station connector in Europe.[27] There had been concerns that some countries require a mechanical shutter for electrical outlets which the original VDE proposal did not include - Mennekes proposed an optional shutter solution in October 2012[25] which was picked up in the German-Italian compromise in May 2013 which the standardization bodies propose for subsequent inclusion in the CENELEC standard of Type 2.[28]
Type 3: EV Plug Alliance [edit]
The EV Plug Alliance was formed on March 28, 2010 by electrical companies in France (Schneider Electric, Legrand) and Italy (Scame).[29] Within the IEC 62196 framework they propose an automotive plug derived from the earlier SCAME plugs (the Libera series) that are already in use for light electric vehicles.[30] Gimélec joined the Alliance on May 10 and a number of more companies joined on May 31: Gewiss, Marechal Electric, Radiall, Vimar, Weidmüller France & Yazaki Europe.[31] The new connector is able to provide 3-phase charging up to 32 Ampere as being examined in the Formula E-Team tests.[20] Schneider Electric emphasises that the "EV Plug" uses shutters over the socket side pins which is required in 12 European countries and that none of the other proposed EV charger plugs is featuring.[32] Limiting the plug to 32 A allows for cheaper plugs and installation costs. The EV Plug Alliance points out that the future IEC 62196 specification will have an annexe categorizing electric vehicle charger plugs into three types (Yazaki's proposal is type 1, Mennekes' proposal is type 2, Scame's proposal is type 3) and that instead of having a single plug type at both ends of a charger cable one should choose the best type for each side — the Scame / EV Plug would be the best option for the charger side / wall box leaving the choice for the car side open. On 22 September 2010 the companies Citelum, DBT, FCI, Leoni, Nexans, Sagemcom, Tyco Electronics joined the Alliance.[33] As of early July 2010 the Alliance has completed the test of products from several partners and the plug and socket-outlet system are made available on the market.[33]
While the first ACEA position paper (June 2010) has ruled out the Type 1 connector (based on the requirement of three-phase charging which is abundant in Europe and China but not in Japan and the USA) it has left open the question whether a Type 2 or Type 3 connector should be used for the uniform plug type in Europe.[22] The rationale points to the fact that Mode 3 requires the socket to be dead when no vehicle is connected so that there can be no hazard that the shutter could protect from. The shutter protection of Type 3 connectors do only have advantages in Mode 2 allowing for a simpler charging station. On the other hand a public charging station exposes the charging socket and plugs to a harsh environment where the shutter could easily have a malfunction which is not noticeable to the electric vehicle driver. Instead the ACEA expects that Type 2 Mode 3 connectors also to be used for home charging in the second phase after 2017 while still allowing Mode 2 charging with established plug types that are already available in home environments.[22] The impact of some jurisdictions requiring shutters is still being debated.[34]
The second ACEA position paper (March 2011) recommends to use only Type 2 Mode 3 (with IEC 60309-2 Mode 2 and standard home socket outlets Mode 2 being still allowed in Phase 1 up to 2017) being the EU uniform solution by 2017. Car makers should equip their models only with Type 1 or Type 2 sockets – existing Type 3 infrastructure may be connected with a Type2/Type3 cable in Phase 1 for basic charging (up to 3.7 kW). Fast charging (3.7 kW to 43 kW) and ultra fast DC charging (beyond 43 kW) may only use a Type 2 or Combo2 connector (Combo2 is Type 2 with additional DC wires in a global envelope that fits all DC charging stations, i.e. even if the AC charging part was built for Type 1).[24]
The EV Plug Alliance had proposed two connectors with shutters. The Type 3A is derived from the Scame charging connectors adding the IEC 62196 pins which is suited for single-phase charging – the connector builds on the experience with the Scame connector for charging of light vehicles (electric motorcycles and scooters).[35][36] The additional Type 3B adds additional 2 pins for three-phase charging however it had not been used so far in test drives.
In October 2012 Mennekes has shown an optional shutter solution for its Type 2 socket. In the press material it is shown that some countries chose the Mennekes' IEC Type 2 connector despite the requirement for shutters on household sockets (Sweden, Finland, Spain, Italy, UK); only France has a decision for the EV Plug Alliance's IEC Type 3 socket type. The Mennekes shutter is inherently IP 54 safe (dust cover) providing an installation option even beyond IP xxD.[25] After the European Commission has settled on Type 2 (VDE/Mennekes connector) as the single solution for the charging infrastructure in Europe in January 2013, the EV Plug Alliance has asked to include the variant of Type 2 with shutters in the upcoming directive in a hearing of the TRAN Committee in June 2013[37] (which makes the VDE/Mennekes plug a variant implementation of the requirements of IEC Type 3). The Italian standardization body CEI tested the Mennekes shutter proposal (where Italy is a country requiring mechanical shutters) and in May 2013 the Italian and German partners approved it as a compromise solution for Type 2 to be included in the CENELEC standardization of electric vehicle charging connectors.[28]
Signal pins[edit]
The function of the signal pins had been defined in SAE J1772-2001 and it had been added to IEC 61851. All plug types of IEC 62196-2 use two additional signals from that standard – the control pilot CP and proximity pilot PP are added to the normal electricity pins for live wires L1-L3 and Ground and neutral named N (neutral) and PE (protective earth).
The charging station will send a 1000 Hertz square wave on the contact pilot CP that is connected back to the protected earth PE on the side of the vehicle by means of a resistor and a diode. The live wires of public charging stations will always be dead if the CP-PE circuit is open although the standard allows a charging current as in Mode 1 (maximum 16 Ampere). If the circuit is closed then the charging station can also test the protective earth to be functional. The vehicle can request a charging state by setting a resistor – using 2700 Ohm a Mode 3 compatible vehicle is announced ("vehicle detected") which does not require charging. Switching to 880 Ohm the vehicle is "ready" to be charged and switching to 240 Ohm the vehicle requests "with ventilation" charging which does not have an effect outdoors but the charging current will be switched off indoors if no ventilation is available. The charging station can use the wave signal to describe the maximum current that is available from the charging station with the help of pulse width modulation: a 10% PWM is a 10 A maximum, a 25% PWM is a 16 A maximum, a 50% PWM is a 32 A maximum and a 90% PWM flags a fast charge option.[38]
The proximity switch PP is available for the vehicle to describe its input charging capacity to the charging station asking to limit the current. This is done by setting a resistor between the PP and PE wires – adapter cables can use a resistor encoding to define the maximum:[39][40]
|resistance CP-PE
|charging status
|A – standby
|B – vehicle
|C – ready
|D – with
|resistance PP-PE
|current capacity
|wire cross section
|1,5 mm²
|2,5 mm²
|6 mm²
|16 mm²
The signals use the CP and PP pins with a 12 Volt potential from the charger. The analog signal protocol is simple enough to not require any digital electronics. The CP-PE loop is connected through a resistor to a +12 volt source through a 2740 ohm resistor. Connecting a compatible vehicle drops the voltage at the CP pin to 9 volts; this activates the wave generator. The vehicle activates the charger by adding a parallel 1300 ohm resistor (dropping the voltage to +6V), or a parallel 270 ohm resistor for ventilation (dropping voltage to +3V). A detector in the charger is triggered by the voltage level on CP-PE alone.[41] The PP-PE loop is connected in the plug of the adapter cable specifying the wire cross section; if it is connected through to the vehicle then the it is pulled down with 2700 Ohm and additional resistors in the vehicle charging control can be used to set the current from the charger.
IEC 62196-3 – DC Charging [edit]
The 2010/2011 voting ballot of IEC 62196-2 does not contain a proposal for DC charging / Mode 4. This is scheduled for the next part of the standards series named IEC 62196-3 with expectations for the proposal to be published in a time frame ranging from June 2012[42] to beginning of 2013[17] and the IEC expecting the functional release in December 2013.[43] The IEC working group for TC 23/SC 23H/PT 62196-3 (max. 1000Vdc / 400A plugs) has been approved for new work.[44][45] Specifications on DC charging have already begun on the national level.
A number of plug types are under consideration for DC charging. The Japanese Chademo plugs have been in use for a number of years already while the common plug type is considered too bulky. China has adopted the Type 2 (DKE) connector adding a mode that puts DC power on existing AC pins. Both of the two connectors use a CAN based protocol between the car and the charging station to switch the mode. In contrast to that both the American SAE and the European ACEA research concentrates on the GreenPHY PLC protocol to plug the car into a smart grid architecture. Both of the latter consider to have a low power / Level 1 configuration where DC power is put on existing AC pins (as specified for the Type 1 or Type 2 plug types respectively) and an additional high power / Level 2 configuration with dedicated DC power pins – the ACEA and the SAE are working on a "Combined Charging System" for the extra DC pins that fit universally.[46][47]
The CHAdeMO specification describes high-voltage (up to 500VDC) high-current (125 Amps) automotive fast charging via a JARI Level-3 DC fast charge connector. This connector is the current defacto standard in Japan.[42] The SAE 1772 Task Force works on a proposal for DC loading to be published in December 2011[42] The extension of the VDE plug ("Type 2") will be submitted directly to the IEC 62196-2 until 2013.[17] Both China and the SAE consider using the Type 2 Mode 4 connector for DC charging as well (the Japanese TEPCO plug housing is considerably larger than Type 2).[48]
The VDE has supplied the National Development Plan for Electric Mobility in Germany with the expectation that charging stations for electric vehicles will be deployed in three stages: 22 kW (400V 32A) Mode 2 stations are introduced in 2010–2013, the 44 kW (400V 63A) Mode 3 stations to be introduced in 2014–2017 and the next generation batteries will require at least 60 kW (400Vdc 150A) by 2020 allowing to charge the standard 20kWh battery pack to 80% in less than 10 minutes.[49] Similarly the SAE 1772 DC L2 plan is sketched for charging up to 200A / 90 kW.[42]
Combined Charging System[edit]
While the target to have only one charging connector has been lost in that the world is split on their main grid system with Japan and North America to choose a single-phase connector on their 100-120/240 Volt grid (Type 1) while the rest of the world including China and Europe is opting for a connector with single-phase 230 Volt and three-phase 400 Volt grid access (Type 2). The SAE and ACEA are trying to avoid the situation for DC charging with a standardization that plans to add DC wires to the existing AC connector types such that there is only one "global envelope" that fits all DC charging stations – for Type 2 the new housing is named Combo2.[24]
On the 15th International VDI-Congress of the Association of German Engineers the proposal of a "Combined Charging System" was unveiled on 12. October 2011 in Baden-Baden. Seven car makers (Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche and Volkswagen) have agreed to introduce the Combined Charging System in mid-2012.[50][51] This defines a single connector pattern on the vehicle side that offers enough space for a Type 1 or Type 2 connector along with space for a two pin DC connector allowing up to 200 Ampere. The prototype implementations for up to 100 kW were shown on the EVS26 in Los Angeles in May 2012.[52]
The seven auto manufacturers have also agreed to use HomePlug GreenPHY as the communication protocol.[53] The prototype for the matching plug has been developed by Phoenix Contact with the goal to withstand 10,000 connect cycles.[54] The standardization proposal has been sent to the IEC in January 2011.[55] The request to use a PLC protocol for the Vehicle2Grid communication was flagged back in September 2009 in a joint presentation of BMW, Daimler and VW on California Air Resource Board ZEV Technology Symposium.[56] This is competing with the CAN Bus proposal from Japan (including CHAdeMO) and China (separate DC connector proposal) and notably none of their car manufacturers has signed up to the Combined Charging System so far. China had been involved in early stages of the development of the extra DC pins however.[54] A test drive will begin in the fall of 2012.[54]
Volkswagen has built the first public CCS rapid charge station with 50 kW DC in Wolfsburg in June 2013 to support the test drives of the upcoming VW E-Up that is supposed to be delivered with a DC rapid charger connector for the Combined Charging System.[57] Two weeks later BMW has opened its first CCS rapid charge station in support of the upcoming BMW i3.[58] On occasion of the second EV World Summit in June 2013 both a Chademo and a Volkswagen-group spokesperson have pointed out that a concurrency between Chademo and CCS is not required as the additional cost of a dual-protocol rapid charge station is a mere 5% - thus multi-standard DC chargers are being advocated by Chademo, Volkswagen and Nissan.[59]
- ^ a b Peter Van den Bossche (Secretary of IEC TC69) (2008-05-19). "Defining and Developing Standards". Erasmus University College Brussels. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
- ^ a b "IEC International Standard for EV charging - A step forward for global EV roll-out", IEC newslog, 3. February 2011 (Resource is no longer available March 30, 2013)
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- ^ a b c "Einheitliches Stecksystem für Elektrofahrzeuge", ATZ / Springer Automotive, 16. September 2010
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- ^ a b William Diem (2009-12-02). "European Auto Makers Debate EV Charging Standard". WardsAuto.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
- ^ a b "Tweede informaesessie (second information session)". e-laad.nl second information session (in Dutch). Formula E-Team (Netherlands). 2010-08-05.[dead link]
- ^ GB/T 20234.2-2011 English version, GB/T 20234.2-2011 Connection set for charging - Conductive charging of electric vehicles Part 2: AC charging coupler (English) - Code of Chi...
- ^ a b c "ACEA position and recommendations for the standardization of the charging of electrically chargeable vehicles", ACEA Brussels, 14 June 2010
- ^ "City of Amsterdam and Nissan place first Type 2 (mode 3)-charging station", Amsterdam Electric, 30 December 2010
- ^ a b c "ACEA position and recommendations for the standardization of the charging of electrically chargeable vehicles". ACEA – European Automobile Manufacturers Association. 2011-03-02.
- ^ a b c "The solution for Europe: type 2 charging sockets with or without shutter". Mennekes Elektrotechnik GmbH & Co KG. 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-11-16.
- ^ "CARS 2020: Action Plan for a competitive and sustainable automotive industry in Europe". European Commission. 2012-11-08. p. 14. COM(2012) 636 final. Retrieved 2012-11-11. "propose a legislative measure at the latest by 2013 to ensure that practical and satisfactory solutions for the infrastructure side of the recharging interface for electric vehicles are implemented throughout the EU, in case no agreement is reached on a voluntary approach among stakeholders involved through the standardisation process."
- ^ "EU launches clean fuel strategy". European Commission. 2013-01-24. press release. IP/13/40. "A common EU wide plug is an essential element for the roll out of this fuel. To end uncertainty in the market, today the Commission has announced the use of the "Type 2" plug as the common standard for the whole of Europe."
- ^ a b "Agreement on standardized charging plug - German-Italian compromise for electric vehicles". DIN (Deutches Institut für Normung). 2013-05-27. Retrieved 2014-07-26.
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- ^ Electric car makers fight over plug standard | EurActiv
- ^ "LIBERA Series – CONNECTORS". Retrieved 2012-04-09. "Type 3A connectors were developed in Italy in 2000 as the only connection system used to charge electrical vehicles in public areas in mode 3. Featuring a construction derived from the Scame IEC309 plugs, from which it inherited the snap-on quick closing device, it is unique due to the presence of an additional CP contact used for the pilot circuit in order to verify continuity of theprotective conductors in compliance with standard CEI 69-6. Due its small size, it is the preferred connector for small vehicles, such as scooters and motorcycles, with power below 3kW."
- ^ "Pole Model Products – Sockets (pictures)". Retrieved 2012-04-09.
- ^ Claude Ricaud (Chairman, EV Plug Alliance) (2013-06-18). "Hearing for examination of Directive for alternative fuels infrastructure". Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) of the European Parliament. Retrieved 2013-07-02. "Directive should prescribe the use of both basic Type 2 socket (as written today) and Type 2 with safety shutters, compatible with the existing type 2 plug"
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- ^ pictures of the plug types
- ^ Dr. Heiko Doerr (2011-11-08). "Current Status of the Combined Charging System". Coordination Office Charging Interface (Audi, VW, BMW, Daimler, Porsche).
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- ^ "Seven Automakers Agree On Combined EV Charging System". 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
- ^ a b c "E-Mobility "Two In One"". EuE24. April 2012. Interview with Phoenix Contact. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
- ^ "Combined Charging: das universelle Ladesystem für Elektrofahrzeuge wird erstmals an Fahrzeugen deutscher Hersteller gezeigt.". BMW Group. 2011-10-11. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
- ^ "BMW, Daimler and VW Propose Global e-mobility Standardization on Vehicle2Grid Communication, Harmonization of Chargers". 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
- ^ "Erste öffentliche 50 KW DC Schnellladesäule auf der e-Mobility-Station in Wolfsburg eingeweiht". Landesinitiative Elektromobilität Niedersachsen. 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
- ^ "Schnellladestation an der BMW Welt eröffnet.". BMW Group. 2013-07-04. press release. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
- ^ "2013 World EV Summint in Norway – Chademo, Nissan and Volkswagen align on promoting multi-standard fast chargs to accelerate infrastructure deployment and EV adoption". Chademo Association Europe. 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
External links[edit]
- "Norme International CEI/IEC International Standard 62196-1". International Electrotechnical Commission. 2004. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- "Presentation about Menekkes connectorby BMW Daimler". 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- REMA's version of the type 2 plug
- Simple overview presentation by REMA
- Article on cars21 on the subject