Consumer Reports gives Tesla Model S highest rating ever

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Wow.

Chalk up another huge accolade for the Tesla Model S electric car: Consumer Reports has awarded it 99 out of 100 points, and said it's the best car the magazine has tested since 2007.

In fact, the magazine's descriptions of the luxury sport sedan brim with adjectives.

The Tesla Model S "is brimming with innovation, delivers world-class performance, and is interwoven throughout with impressive attention to detail," writes the normally sober consumer publication.

Driving the Model S electric car is "like crossing into a promising zero-emissions future," and the version tested, with its 85-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, is "easily the most practical electric car we’ve tested."

CR reports that it gets a real-world 200 miles from that capacity, which is rated by the EPA at 265 miles of range. (The 60-kWh version is rated at 208 miles.)

The Model S was lauded for its quiet operation, its acceleration and roadholding, and its efficiency.

 

It wasn't perfect, CR noted, suffering a broken windshield that had to be replaced and a problem with the radio (fixed by a software update that was downloaded through the car's mobile-network connection).

The missing point was docked because the Model S takes roughly six hours to recharge its battery pack.

Jake Fisher, CR's head of auto testing, put even that drawback in context when he enthused:  "If it could recharge in any gas station in three minutes, this car would score about 110."

Clearly the CR staff pretty much fell in love with the electric sport sedan.

That stands in harsh contrast to its experience with the Fisker Karma range-extended electric car, which died during a track test and was raked over the coals in a scathing test report.

The Tesla Model S doesn't yet receive a "Recommended" rating from Consumer Reports, because the magazine doesn't yet have reliability data on the car, which has only been delivered since last summer.

To read the magazine's full test report, you'll have to have a Consumer Reports login.

But you can watch the magazine's video summary above.

View the original article here

Two new reports show gun homicides down since 1990s

Gun homicides have dropped steeply in the United States since their peak in 1993, a pair of reports released Tuesday showed, adding fuel to Congress' battle over whether to tighten restrictions on firearms.

A study released Tuesday by the government's Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. That's a 39 percent reduction.

Another report by the private Pew Research Center found a similar decline by looking at the rate of gun homicides, which compares the number of killings to the size of the country's population. It found that the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 in 1993 to 3.6 in 2010, a drop of 49 percent.

Both reports also found the rate of non-fatal crimes involving guns was also down by around 70 percent over that period.

But perhaps because of the intense publicity generated by recent mass shootings such as the December massacre of 20 school children and six educators in Newtown, Conn., the public seems to have largely not noticed the reductions in gun violence, the Pew study shows.

The non-partisan group said a poll it conducted in March showed that 56 percent of people believe the number of gun crimes is higher than it was two decades ago. Only 12 percent said they think the number of gun crimes is lower, while the rest said they think it remained the same or didn't know.

The trend in firearm-related homicides is part of a broad nationwide decline in violent crime over past two decades, including incidents not involving firearms.

But handguns play a major role in violent crime. The Justice study said that in 2011, about 70 percent of all homicides were committed with a firearm, mainly a handgun.

The data was released three weeks after the Senate rejected an effort by gun control supporters to broaden the requirement for federal background checks for more firearms purchases. Senate Democratic leaders have pledged to hold that vote again, and gun control advocates have been raising public pressure on senators who voted "no" in hopes they will change their minds.

Gun rights advocates have argued that people are safer when they are allowed to own and carry guns. Those supporting gun control say that with more background checks, gun violence would drop because more criminals and mentally unstable people would be prevented from getting weapons.

View the original article here

Audit to probe reports of leaked military secrets from NASA facilities

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  Shown here is an aerial shot of the Ames Research Center.NASA.gov

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  The cover page of a report, obtained by FoxNews.com and purportedly presented to the FBI, alleging that confidential Defense Department missile secrets were leaked to foreign countries.FoxNews.com

Next Slide Previous Slide

The NASA office of the inspector general will audit NASA’s Ames research facility in the wake of a FoxNews.com report on violations of International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITAR) laws at a storied California space-research facility.

Documents obtained by FoxNews.com last month detail a four-year FBI investigation into the transfer of classified weapons technology -- including rocket engine tech for missile defense systems -- to China and other countries from NASA’s Ames Research Center. The documents also purport that an investigation into the security lapses that led to the event are being stonewalled.

'The OIG is opening a new audit that will more broadly examine NASA’s controls over access by foreign nationals to its facilities.'

- NASA inspector general Paul Martin

On March 14, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin wrote to Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Chaka Fattah, D-Pa, to announce that he planned to open a broad investigation into these and other allegations, which Wolf has been urging NASA and the FBI to do.

“I wanted to inform you that the OIG is opening a new audit that will more broadly examine NASA’s controls over access by foreign nationals to its facilities,” he wrote.

Last week, Wolf described a similar incident at Kennedy Space Center in Florida involving visits by Chinese officials, a charge NASA denied.

The news of the Inspector General's probe came a day after Martin testified before a congressional panel on the fiscal challenges NASA is facing, in part due to the sequester.

“Because NASA received less than half its requested budget for commercial crew development last year, the Agency extended to 2017 the earliest it expects to obtain commercial crew transportation services to the [International Space Station] – a date uncomfortably close to the Station’s currently scheduled 2020 retirement,” Martin wrote on the OIG site.

“Against this bleak budgetary backdrop, Agency managers continue to face significant challenges managing NASA’s diverse portfolio of science, exploration, and aeronautics projects.”

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Ames Research Center has been a center of high tech innovation for more than 60 years. As the space agency’s mission has changed over the years since it was built, NASA has turned it into a commercial research facility, leasing out space to a number of companies including rocket firm SpaceX and tech giant Google, which leases 42 acres there through a holding company called Planetary Ventures.

The accusations a Ames stem from a reported ITAR violation, a ruling that governs the export of defense weaponry. In 2006, Ames adapted specialized rocket engines -- originally developed for the Pentagon missile defense “Kinetic Kill Vehicle” program -- for a moon lander prototype that ultimately became NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The robotic moon orbiter is set to launch on Aug. 12, 2013.

Information on guidance and terrain-mapping systems from the Tomahawk cruise missile and a radar from the F-35 were also shared, according to one report in Aviation Week.

"When I mentioned the tech that was compromised to the Armed Services Committee, their jaws just dropped," a congressional source told FoxNews.com.

Related Interactive

Letter to Justice Dept. over defense tech leaks from Ames

Letter to FBI over defense tech leaks from Ames

Related Stories

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View the original article here

Audit to probe reports of leaked military secrets from NASA facilities

• 

  Shown here is an aerial shot of the Ames Research Center.NASA.gov

• 

  The cover page of a report, obtained by FoxNews.com and purportedly presented to the FBI, alleging that confidential Defense Department missile secrets were leaked to foreign countries.FoxNews.com

Next Slide Previous Slide

The NASA office of the inspector general will audit NASA’s Ames research facility in the wake of a FoxNews.com report on violations of International Trade in Arms Regulations (ITAR) laws at a storied California space-research facility.

Documents obtained by FoxNews.com last month detail a four-year FBI investigation into the transfer of classified weapons technology -- including rocket engine tech for missile defense systems -- to China and other countries from NASA’s Ames Research Center. The documents also purport that an investigation into the security lapses that led to the event are being stonewalled.

'The OIG is opening a new audit that will more broadly examine NASA’s controls over access by foreign nationals to its facilities.'

- NASA inspector general Paul Martin

On March 14, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin wrote to Reps. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Chaka Fattah, D-Pa, to announce that he planned to open a broad investigation into these and other allegations, which Wolf has been urging NASA and the FBI to do.

“I wanted to inform you that the OIG is opening a new audit that will more broadly examine NASA’s controls over access by foreign nationals to its facilities,” he wrote.

Last week, Wolf described a similar incident at Kennedy Space Center in Florida involving visits by Chinese officials, a charge NASA denied.

The news of the Inspector General's probe came a day after Martin testified before a congressional panel on the fiscal challenges NASA is facing, in part due to the sequester.

“Because NASA received less than half its requested budget for commercial crew development last year, the Agency extended to 2017 the earliest it expects to obtain commercial crew transportation services to the [International Space Station] – a date uncomfortably close to the Station’s currently scheduled 2020 retirement,” Martin wrote on the OIG site.

“Against this bleak budgetary backdrop, Agency managers continue to face significant challenges managing NASA’s diverse portfolio of science, exploration, and aeronautics projects.”

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Ames Research Center has been a center of high tech innovation for more than 60 years. As the space agency’s mission has changed over the years since it was built, NASA has turned it into a commercial research facility, leasing out space to a number of companies including rocket firm SpaceX and tech giant Google, which leases 42 acres there through a holding company called Planetary Ventures.

The accusations a Ames stem from a reported ITAR violation, a ruling that governs the export of defense weaponry. In 2006, Ames adapted specialized rocket engines -- originally developed for the Pentagon missile defense “Kinetic Kill Vehicle” program -- for a moon lander prototype that ultimately became NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The robotic moon orbiter is set to launch on Aug. 12, 2013.

Information on guidance and terrain-mapping systems from the Tomahawk cruise missile and a radar from the F-35 were also shared, according to one report in Aviation Week.

"When I mentioned the tech that was compromised to the Armed Services Committee, their jaws just dropped," a congressional source told FoxNews.com.

Related Interactive

Letter to Justice Dept. over defense tech leaks from Ames

Letter to FBI over defense tech leaks from Ames

Related Stories

Curiosity rover first robot to ever drill into Mars

NYPD and Microsoft build high tech crime fighting 'dashboard'

Historic NASA facilities going to waste

U-2 spy plane pilots get Key lime pie, hash browns and more

View the original article here

Consumer Reports lists top picks for 2013

Consumer Reports has unveiled its list of top automotive picks for 2013, and the news isn’t great for Detroit. American brands were shut out of all 10 categories rated by the magazine.

Honda was the big winner, its Accord, CR-V and Odyssey taking the top spot in the Midsize, Small SUV and Minivan categories, even as the Civic was beaten by the Hyundai Elantra for the Budget Car crown and Subaru Impreza in the Compact sedan class.

The Toyota Prius stretched its streak as best Green Car to 10 years, while the Highlander was named best Midsize SUV and the FR-S from its Scion division tied for the best Sports Car win with its near twin, the Subaru BRZ.

The Audi A6 and BMW 328i took the Luxury Car and Sports sedan segments, respectively, both cited for a combination of performance, comfort and fuel economy.

Consumer Reports compiles its Top Picks list based on a combination of their results in the magazine’s road tests, reliability reports from its subscribers and government crash test ratings.

Pickup trucks were left off this year’s list because the latest vehicles in the category were not yet available for testing.

View the original article here