Saturday, June 23, 2007

Meet Georgia's Sister

Last year we told you about Georgia's sister who was saved from a barn in Ohio... well here she is after a year of work. She sports a brand new interior, fresh interior paint, new rims and tires, a fresh wet-sanded paint job, a new brake booster, brakes, HiPo headers, new exhaust, Shelby-style taillights, a new rear end, new heater core, and radiator.



If you're interested in seeing how far this car has come go here.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Meet Georgia



So here is a look at what's been going on with deeda's Mascot - the '67 Mustang. As you know - '06 was the start of our "Mascot" project which began with the following endearing quotes:

1. "This thing is being held together by the roof."
2. "If you drive this car you will likely die from any of the following:
  • Car will explode due to leaking and crushed gas tank.
  • Front and Rear rails and sub-frame have rotted so badly the car can break in half over a bump.
  • The entire front clip of the car can come off at any time.
  • Whoever installed (insert any vital car part) was an idiot.
  • Your fuel pump is sitting on the exhaust.
  • Your brake lines will crumble if you touch them.
By our deeda.com launch over New Years Eve we had corrected all of the above issues and finally had a running vehicle. We grew used to the fact that the car had no power steering (no really we did) since driving it this way matched its looks. This car is seriously tough and mean, and overcoming all these major hurdles made her feel more at home on the road. It was as if we rescued her after decades of neglect and abuse, and now we were being rewarded for all our attention and doting.

And the sound... we'll have to save that for a later post... but it has to be the most intoxicating engine scream any of us have ever heard.

However, by February she was acting like my girlfriend and leaking oil everywhere. Err... well okay --- not really like my girlfriend --- but she was being temperamental nonetheless. What we ended up having to work on was:

  • Leaking oil from the rear gasket seal
  • Need New Brake Lines
  • EFI ECU is acting erratic - Fuel is cutting on and off as engine heats up.
  • We blew the T5 transmission and need to rebuild a new one
  • Overheating causes radiator fluid to dump out of the overflow can

We spent February through April fixing all of that. It was a nightmare at times, but we got through it with some great help from the guys at Atomic Transmissions in Villa Park. By the way, it was Chris over at Mustang Restorations in Dundee who helped us last year with the extensive frame work that had to be done. Joe would have helped out a bit more if he wasn't busy working on deeda's sister car (a black '65 Fastback)-- more on that later.

Anyway, aside from all of this work getting done the spring ended with me wet sanding the paint to a brilliant shine. Like everyone else who looked at our car, the famous quote: "I don't know how to tell you this, but..." applies to the paint as well. It turns out the morons who originally owned this car never got around to finishing the paint. They just sprayed clear coat and went for a drive. However, after a day of careful wet sanding the original Wimbledon White body with Guardsman Blue stripes have come to life.

Here is what we have today:

In honor of where we found her, she has been christened Georgia.

What's left on our list of things to do this winter:

Shelby Rear Tail
Shelby Upper and Lower Air Extractors
Side Exhaust
Hood Pins


Sunday, June 10, 2007

Open Platforms Rule

Open platforms are the heart of deeda Inc., and we want everyone to be able to benefit from them.
  • Everyday users should be able to access great applications that seamlessly work at home, on the web and in their pocket.
  • Developers should be able to tweak and modify current applications as well as create entirely new ones.
  • 3rd party companies should be able to deploy applications that seamlessly integrate across home, web and device that help spread their brand identity and grow their business.
So how do we accomplish this and still maintain control? Control is what has turned the technology markets into a sinkhole. It's like playing with a bunch of two year olds that keep screaming "It's MINE!" We always say, the answer lies somewhere in the middle, and deeda Inc. does need to control a few things:

  • Security
  • Safety
  • User Experience
  • Accessibility
Our mission is to ensure our platforms are secure so open development doesn't mean open maliciousness. Safety of our children, personal information, and data also goes hand-in-hand with this philosophy. Finally, we need to maintain a fair and equitable platform that gives equal access to everyone regardless of funding or size, while also maintaining a uniform user experience that is never ruined through our open development approach.

That last part should be read as 'opt-in only' for 3rd party applications, and requirements for where on each of the three ecosystem areas applications can be built.

But the days of closed platforms and proprietary-only systems should remain in the past. deeda Inc. intends to build a great core based on proprietary technology that has a beautifully open and free development platform on top. You should be in control. And in return, that is where our power resides.