The average DDoS attack cost for businesses rises to over 2. Neustar says that the enterprise is finding it more difficult than ever to stem the financial. A%2F%2Fattachments.opensystemsmedia.com%2FECD6441%2Ffigures%2F1' alt='Average Cost Of A Software Bug Life' title='Average Cost Of A Software Bug Life' />This Car Runs on Code The avionics system in the F 2. Raptor, the current U. S. Air Force frontline jet fighter, consists of about 1. The F 3. 5 Joint Strike Fighter, scheduled to become operational in 2. Antz is a 1998 American computeranimated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson and written by Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz, and Todd Alcott. And Boeings new 7. Dreamliner, scheduled to be delivered to customers in 2. These are impressive amounts of software, yet if you bought a premium class automobile recently, it probably contains close to 1. Manfred Broy, a professor of informatics at Technical University, Munich, and a leading expert on software in cars. All that software executes on 7. ECUs networked throughout the body of your car. Sorry, we dont support Internet Explorer Version 8 or below. Please consider upgrading your browser, or switching to Chrome or Firefox. Having issues InformationWeek. News, analysis and research for business technology professionals, plus peertopeer knowledge sharing. Engage with our community. Alfred Katzenbach, the director of information technology management at Daimler, has reportedly said that the radio and navigation system in the current S class Mercedes Benz requires over 2. ECUs as the new Airbus A3. Software in cars is only going to grow in both amount and complexity. Late last year, the business research firm Frost Sullivan estimated that cars will require 2. Even low end cars now have 3. ECUs embedded in the body, doors, dash, roof, trunk, seats, and just about anywhere else the cars designers can think to put them. That means that most new cars are executing tens of million of lines of software code, controlling everything from your brakes to the volume of your radio see table, How and Where Is Software Used in CarsAutomobiles are no longer a battery, a distributor or alternator, and a carburetor they are hugely modern in their complexity, says Thomas Little, an electrical engineering professor at Boston University in Massachusetts, who is involved in developing intelligent transportation systems. The goals to save energy, reduce emissions, and improve safety have driven the specialization and adoption of electronics in particular. I have experienced that complexity myself recently. Last year I bought a new car and was staggered to discover a 5. GPS and radio systems. One of the new features touted was the much larger glove compartment, but the size was probably dictated by that of the required manuals. My new car also comes with front and side passenger air bags. The cars air bag electronic controlleralong with the dozen or so sensors that provide it with datahave to be able to operate for years in temperatures ranging from the dead of a freezing Minnesota winter to the blazing heat of an Arizona summer sun. Most of the time the air bag system is just monitoring the cars condition, but if the air bags are triggered by, say, a multiple vehicle collision, the software in the ECU controlling their deployment has 1. Broy. In the near future, Broy says, air bag control systems will use more than just crash impact information. For example, BMW has just announced that many 2. BMW Assist system, which features a risk of severe injury calculation based on information gathered from the cars air bag controller and its other ECUs, which will inform accident response teams not only where the accident took place, but the likelihood of passengers being severely injured. The current amount of software in cars is pretty amazing, given that the first production automotive microcomputer ECU was a single function controller used for electronic spark timing in the 1. General Motors Oldsmobile Toronado. In 1. 97. 8, GM offered as an option its Cadillac Trip Computer on the Cadillac Seville. The computer, a modified Motorola 6. However, the chip served another function It was used by GM to test how well a microprocessor could control multiple functions such as port fuel injection, electronic spark timing, and cruise control. By 1. 98. 1, GM was using microprocessor based engine controls executing about 5. Other car companies quickly followed suit. Jonas Bereisa, a GM engineer, wrote in a 1. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics that software development will become the single most important consideration in new product development engineering. How right he was. Broy estimates that more than 8. The cost of electronics as a percent of vehicle costs climbed from around 5 percent in the late 1. For hybrids, where the amount of software needed for engine control alone is nearly twice as great as that for a standard car, the cost of electronics as a percent of vehicle costs is closer to 4. Within 1. 0 years, some experts predict that the percentages relating to the cost of electronics as a percent of vehicle cost are expected to rise to 5. For todays premium cars, the cost of software and electronics can reach 3. Broy, with software development contributing about 1. He says that if it costs US 1. John Voelcker, IEEE Spectrum s automotive editor, wrote in April 2. GMC Yukon hybrid automobile and its Two Mode Hybrid automatic transmission. Voelcker told me that of all the staff hours in the entire program to build the Two Mode Hybrid transmissionsome 7. As Voelcker pointed out in his story, that control software logic analyzes hundreds of inputs every 1. Image General Motors. Such complexity brings with it reliability issues. IBM claims that approximately 5. United States around 3. European automakers 2. Download Themes For Samsung Galaxy J2 Pro. In 2. 00. 5, Toyota voluntarily recalled 1. Prius hybrids because of a software problem that caused the car to suddenly stall or shut down. The time needed to repair the software was estimated at about 9. Even at cost, that is a lot of money. Last year alone, there were several automotive recall notices related to software problems. For example, in May 2. Chrysler recalled 2. Jeep Commanders because of a problem in the automatic transmission software. Then in June, Volkswagen recalled about 4. Passats and Passat Wagons and about 2. Tiguans for a problem in the engine control module software that could cause an unexpected increase in engine revolutions per minute when the air conditioning is turned on. In November, GM recalled 1. Cadillac CTS vehicles for a software problem within the passenger sensing system that could disable the front passenger air bag when it should be enabled or enable it when it should be disabled. It is a tribute to the automotive software developers, though, that there arent many more recalls, given all the software in cars. The increased use of software has not only affected car warranty costs but has also made cars harder to repairso much so that insurance companies increasingly find it cheaper to declare cars damaged in accidents total losses than it is to fix them. It is not hard to understand why. In a premium car you have 2. Broy says. These are then combined into the 2. And unlike most commercial aircraft, which have strict firewalls between critical avionic systems and the in flight entertainment systems, there is more commingling of information between the electronic systems used to operate the car and those for entertaining the driver and passengers. According to a Wharton Business School article entitled Car Trouble Should We Recall the U. S. Auto Industry, a few years ago, some Mercedes drivers found that their seats moved if they pushed a certain button the problem was that the button was supposed to operate the navigation system. Roughly one third of all the software in cars is devoted just to diagnostics, according to a former automotive engineer I spoke to. But even with all that diagnostic information produced, car mechanics often cannot determine the exact cause of the trouble. Broy told me that more than 5. ECUs that mechanics replace in cars are technically error free They exhibit neither a hardware nor a software problem. Silhouette Cameo problems and solutions. Do you have a lovehate relationship with your Silhouette Cameo If  you answered, yes, then you are amongst the majority. I have received so many comments and e mails from crafters who love what their Cameo is capable of doing, but hate the fact that it just doesnt do it all the time But, alas, between blade problems and cutting mat problems, the Silhouette Cameo is making many of us wonder if we will ever see the full potential of this, otherwise, amazing cutting machine. So, after much research, I have compiled a list of the common Silhouette problems and potential solutions. By the way, if you find this article helpful, or if you have other problems, solutions, experiences with your Silhouette Cameo both good and bad, or crafting ideas that you would like to share, please leave me a comment and I will respond to you promptly. And now, here we goSilhouette Cameo the most common problems and potential solutions. The Cutting Blade. PROBLEM The blade works fine for a few days and then it just tears up the paper. Just about everyone who has written to me is having this problem. In addition to several days of on line research, I have spoken, at length, with the tech support folks at Silhouette America and here are some potential solutions. Clean the blade housing. Tiny bits of paper debris gets stuck around the blade, making it impossible to perform a clean cut. Use a sewing needle, piercing tool or a straight pin to clean any bits of paper from around the blade. Note The blade is located inside the little hole in the white part of the blade housing see photo above. Doing this regularly should keep the blade housing clear of any paper debris. Defective blade Silhouette America has had many, many issues with defective blades. If  you have tried cleaning the blade housing and you are still not getting clean cuts, it is very possible that you have a defective blade. Call the Silhouette America support line, explain the problem and they will send you a new blade. They have sent me two within the first month. The contact information follows at the end of this article. Important note When replacing the blade in the Silhouette Cameo, just drop the whole new cartridge right in the machine and throw away the old one. Thats it, and Bobs your uncle actually, Bobs my brother, but whatever Your blade is worn out. If you had lots of great cuts with your blade and it starts tearing your paper or making sloppy cuts AND you have tried cleaning it, it could be that its just worn out and its time to buy a new blade. You can buy a new blade from Silhouette America for 1. USD or from  Amazon. The Cutting Mat. PROBLEM The cutting mat is too sticky. Dont worry, this problem wont last long. Most of us find the mat is too sticky the first couple of times we use it, and then, before you know it, the darn thing is not sticky enough PROBLEM The cutting mat is not sticky enough. This is a really common problem, but luckily, there are a number of good solutions for it. Wipe your cutting mat regularly with baby wipes. For a quick cleaning method, many crafters are recommend using baby wipes to clean your cutting mat regularly. Wash your cutting mat with warm water and dish soap. This is a more thorough cleaning method that gives your cutting mat a good, deep cleaning. Once youve washed it, rinse off any soap and dry it well. You should see a noticeable improvement in its sticking ability. Spray your cutting mat with re positionable glue. If washing your cutting mat doesnt completely solve your problem, try spraying it with a re positionable glue. The most popular brand among crafters seems to be  KRYLON Easy Tack repositionable adhesive. Note The majority of articles, reviews and posts that I have read recommend NOT using Elmers Fast Tack Re positionable glue. You will probably be able to buy Krylon Easy Tack at your favourite craft store or on line scrapbooking store. You can also buy it at. Amazon. com for 6. PROBLEM The cutting mat is slipping around during the cutting process. Check the blue lever. On the right hand side, just in front of the roller bar, you will see a blue lever. Make sure this lever is in the up position and the rollers are making contact with the mat. If the lever is in the down position, it will not be able to hold  your mat in place and guide it through the machine during the cutting process. Are the rollers on your cutting mat spaced properly The rollers on the roller bar must be spaced properly to grip the edges of your cutting mat or other media. You can easily adjust the rollers by moving them along the roller bar. Centre your cutting mat or other media directly under the rollers. Make sure your cutting mat or other media is position so that the rollers are directly over each edge. CUTTING MAT TIP To get more wear out of your cutting mat, turn it around and use the bottom half, too. So, instead of always putting the end with the arrow into the machine, turn it around and put the opposite end in that means the arrow will be pointing toward you. This can really prolong the life of your cutting mat If, after trying these solutions, you are still having problems, its time to contact Silhouette America Support. Ive talked with several of them and found them quite helpful. Other Silhouette America Resources. Silhouette Studio Users Manual. Silhouette Downloads, latest software and drivers. Silhouette Tutorials. Silhouette Blog. Once again, if you found this article helpful, or if you have other problems, solutions, experiences with your Silhouette Cameo both good and bad, or crafting ideas that you would like to share, please leave me a comment and I will respond to you promptly.