How to prepare your home for storm season
Summer is fast approaching so it's time to equip your home in order to have the best defense this storm season.
It is hard to know what is going on under the bonnet of your car.
Worried about the health of your car? There's an app for that.
The owners of ThinkDriver claim the small Bluetooth device can diagnoses mechanical problems, arming car owners with the right information before they head to the mechanic or embark on a do-it-yourself mechanical repair.
It is claimed to do the same job as service department diagnostic equipment costing thousands of dollars.
The ThinkDriver is based on the brand's diagnostic device used by professional mechanic but has had some of the more advanced features removed to keep the price down.
The smart Bluetooth device costs only US$36 ($56) plus shipping. But to view the full diagnostic information you will require a subscription costing US$10 ($15.50) per year for every vehicle VIN analysed.
When activated ThinkDriver allows users to run a full scan of their vehicle and will identify any issues.
ThinkDriver is a small Bluetooth car diagnostic tool that can analyse your car for faults.
All the information is then fed directly to your phone via the ThinkDriver app.
Users simply need to plug the device into their car's on board diagnostic port.
The device checks important features such as the engine system, anti-lock braking system and airconditioning among others.
And it can read and clear all the faults from the car's code.
The device can also measure a key performance indicator by timing your car's 0-100km/h time.
All the information is feed directly to your phone via an app.
The device is compatible with vehicles built after 1996 from more than 100 brands.
The project was funded using crowd sourcing from Kickstarter. The owners raised close to four times their desired amount.
The device can also find out if your car's emissions technology is working properly.
Several car brands have been caught out recently cheating the emissions test by using a cheat device installed in their vehicles that would run more efficiently when being tested.
Volkswagen is the most well known brand to admit to cheating emissions tests in its diesel vehicles. The brand's Australian arm was recently hit with a $125m fine by the Federal Court.
The $125m fine is the biggest of its kind in Australia and dwarfs the previous record of $10m handed out to Ford for its faulty dual-clutch automatic transmissions.
VW Australia is appealing the fine.
Originally published as New tool to revolutionise car ownership
