Author: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine

Subaru rolled-out its Hybrid Tourer Concept this morning in Detroit and what a feast for the eyes it is. Featuring gullwing doors, an array of screens including one integrated into the steering wheel and a wide open interior facilitated by a flat floor design, the Hybrid Tourer first seen at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show is a showcase for the company’s planned development of a gas/electric hybrid system based on the boxer engine set to hit the market in 2012.
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Tags: AWD,
Electric,
Hybrid,
naias 2010,
Subaru

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Everywhere you look these days, someone is putting an iPod dock into something to try and convince you to play your favorite audio device through their product. SI Products has launched a few interesting variations on the dock theme at this year’s CES trade show in Las Vegas including a voice-controlled alarm clock, a “Roman Clock” and a news and weather information center…

Tags: Apple,
CES 2010,
Clock,
docking station,
iPhone,
iPod,
iPod touch,
iTunes,
LCD,
News,
Remote Control,
Subwoofer,
Voice recognition,
Weather

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Despite the widely publicized December pre-announcement, Mini still managed to make a splash with the debut of its Moke-inspired Beachcomber Concept at the 2010 NAIAS earlier today. In the flesh the compact SUV Concept looks like a whole lotta fun – no roof, no doors and some clever details to add to its beach-going credentials such as run-flat tires, a rear-mounted spare wheel compartment that’s really a lockable storage space and a dedicated case for cycling and swimming goggles between the rear seats. Gizmag was on the scene in Detroit to snap these pics, and yes, that is a guy in a shark suit behind the wheel…

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Honda made the first commercial hybrid and cut the path for the rest of the world’s auto makers more than a decade ago. Now it is in the process of trailblazing the path for desirable hybrids with the release of its all-new CR-Z which made its world premiere at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit today. The ingredients are all top shelf: a six speed manual gearbox, a 1.5 litre i-VTEC engine coupled to Honda’s IMA hybrid system, a flexible 2+2 seating arrangement, 3-mode drive system, 56.4 mpg from a sports car, light good handling chassis … but the package is integrated and that’s what makes the Honda CR-Z hot, hot, hot! We are very impressed!..

Tags: Coupe,
CR-Z,
Honda,
Hybrid

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If you’re a fan of movies like Poltergeist or Videodrome, in which people get really “immersed” in their television-viewing experiences, then you’ll probably like the latest news from Panasonic – it’s developed the world’s largest full-HD 3D plasma display TV. As presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the one-off behemoth sports a 152-inch, 4K x 2K (8.84 million pixel) screen, plus a host of other complicated-sounding technical marvels.
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Tags: 3D,
CES 2010,
HD,
K2K,
Panasonic,
Plasma,
television,
Video

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• Panasonic 2009 TV range wrap-up

Following on from its wow factor appeal at the Frankfurt motor show last September, the next model e-tron from Audi is aptly called the Detroit show Audi e-tron, and has been unveiled here in … err, Detroit. Now you’d think it would logically be the same uncompromising purist all-electric sports car from Frankfurt but everything is much more compact with a much shorter wheelbase and gross weight has been cut to 1,350 kg. Two electric motors with a combined output of 150 kW (204 hp) and 2,650 Nm (1954.54 lb-ft) accelerate the coupe with ASF-design aluminum body from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.9 seconds. Most importantly, the Detroit Audi e-tron has “torque vectoring which enables it to distribute its high torque between the wheels entirely as required for unprecedented levels of active precision and traction. Audi claims the e-tron drives like a go-kart – agile, good on bends and neutral right up to its very high handling limits…

Tags: Audi,
Detroit Auto Show 2010,
E-tron,
Electric vehicle,
naias 2010

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Now that 3D is finally taking off again at the movie theatre – thanks in large part to James Cameron’s evangelism in the leadup to his groundbreaking Avatar film, it’s clear that immersive video technologies are big business again. And if the latest 3D stuff doesn’t put you in the picture enough, how’s this: Immersive Media has adapted the same 360-degree cameras used by Google’s Street View cars to shoot video. That means you can actually look around as you watch the video… Which can feel absolutely bizarre, as in the case of the BASE jumping video after the jump. Extraordinary…

Tags: Camera,
Immersive Media,
Video

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As we forecast back in December, BMW delivered the electric car everyone knew was coming today at the NAIAS. The BMW ActiveE Concept is an all-electric vehicle powered by liquid-cooled Li-ion batteries and is based on a 1 Series Coupe. It has rear wheel drive and is expected to boast a range of roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) on a single charge, while BMW’s ConnectedDrive allows control of the heating and AC system using a mobile phone, which can also be used to access battery information or locate charging stations…

Tags: BMW,
Car,
Concept,
Electric vehicle,
Li-ion,
Vehicle

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Look for a boost in smartphone performance and capabilities as the Intel Moorestown platform starts to appear in devices this year. Intel says that the new mobile Internet device (MID) platform will be launching during the first half of 2010, and should begin appearing in consumer devices on the market as early as the third quarter. The specs look promising and Intel was showing off a bevy of prototypes and reference designs at CES 2010, including units from Aava Mobile, EB, Inventec, Open Peak, and Winstron. LG also had a Moorestown-based smartphone on hand at the show…

Tags: CES 2010,
HD,
Intel,
LG,
Smartphone

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It’s not often that a new and substantial niche is pioneered in the transport industry, but somehow, this one hadn’t been filled before now. Polaris today introduced the first Robby Gordon edition, the all-new RANGER RZR 4, a sport side-by-side capable of carrying four passengers. The RZR 4 has an 800cc Twin EFI engine behind the back seat for the lowest center of gravity, and at 569 kg, it’s lighter than many two-seaters…

Tags: AWD,
Polaris,
Ranger,
Ranger RZR 4

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As part of its theme of “electrification” Toyota revealed at the 2010 North American International Auto Show it is planning a Prius family of vehicles. One model that is being considered for adoption into this family is the FT-CH (concept hybrid) vehicle. The FT-CH would have a lower price point than the Prius and is 6″ shorter than the current Prius on the outside, but only 1″ shorter in the interior cabin. It is also half an inch thinner and is lighter than the current Prius, which also helps make it more fuel efficient…

Tags: FT-CH Hybrid,
Hybrid,
Toyota

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The 2009 Tokyo Motor Show last October saw some bizarre non-debuts as there had been an accord between the Japanese manufacturers that all would cut back their expenditure on the show in deference to the retrenchments resultant from the GFC. We mentioned this with our coverage of the Yamaha stand’s Super Tenere “Art installation” at Tokyo. Here was a somehow fully formed motorcycle that was not really on show. Well the mystique has been maintained, because no images have been released yet, but we now know a lot more about the bike’s fine details – the 1200cc parallel twin will have a 270 degree crank (for a v-twin feel), and will use Yamaha’s YCC-T ride-by-wire throttle, have switchable engine-mapping, traction control, three-position anti-lock braking, a Unified Braking System that links the front and rear brakes, …..

Tags: BMW,
Ducati,
Tenere,
Tokyo Motor Show,
Tokyo Motor Show 2009,
Yamaha

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Combining an urban-industrial design aesthetic with flexible functionality, the GMC Granite ‘urban utility vehicle’ concept was introduced at the 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit today. “We think of the Granite as the automotive equivalent of an urban loft apartment,” said GMC’s Cross-Brand Design Director Dave Lyon. “The exterior has an unmistakable industrial look, but the interior is warm and personalized.” Though the Granite is the smallest GMC ever, it has been designed to feel bigger with a large cargo space and its flipping/folding seats and four doors, hinged on each side to open like a set of French doors. There’s no pillar between the front and rear doors, making the Granite easier to enter, exit and load, even with bulky items. . Power comes from a 1.4L turbocharged engine matched with a six-speed transmission…

Tags: Concept,
Detroit Auto Show 2010,
GMC,
GMC Granite Concept,
naias 2010

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Volkswagen kicked-off what it promises will be a big year in Detroit this morning with the world premiere of the Compact Coupe. Described as a car that appeals to the “head and heart in equal measure”, the four-seat, front wheel drive hybrid concept combines miserly fuel economy of 45 mpg (combined) and CO2 emissions of 98 g/km with performance figures of 0-60 mph in 8.6 seconds and a quoted top speed of 141 mph (227 kmh).
..

Tags: Hybrid,
naias 2010,
Volkswagen

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Once you throw out the internal combustion engine and all the bulky bits that go with it, the definition of a motorcycle can suddenly become a lot wider. Take the Comoto from Hirsch Design – it’s even smaller than the Zero S bike, and begins to blur the boundaries between motorcycle and mountainbike. Using an electric motor mounted in the rear wheel hub to eliminate the need for a chain drive, the Comoto can do more than 40mph (65kph) and do just over 30 miles (~50km) on a charge under normal riding conditions. Best of all, it weighs just 118 pounds (53kg), making it one of the lightest motorcycles we’ve seen…

Tags: Comoto,
Electric,
Electric Motorcycle,
Motorcycle

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Bowers and Wilkins has taken its five decade’s experience with loudspeakers and created a true hi-fi computer speaker, which it unveiled this week at CES. The MM-1 is a serious speaker made small, with two separate drive units including an aluminum dome tweeter, and Digital Signal Processing that uses USB streaming to bypass the computer’s own soundcard…

Tags: B&W,
bowers wilkins,
CES 2010,
Computer,
Hi-fi,
MM-1,
Nautilus,
Speakers,
Zeppelin

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Our latest roundup of all things Nexus One includes news of an executive version of the device in the pipeline, a way the rest of the world can get a Nexus One without using eBay, iSuppli’s teardown of the device, missing 802.11n capabilities and another trick up Google’s advertising sleeve…

Tags: Google,
Nexus One

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Korean auto maker, Kia, has announced a seven-year/150,000 km bumper-to-bumper, parts-and-labour warranty for all vehicles sold and registered in Europe from January 1, 2010. This is far-and-away the longest fleet-wide warranty ever offered by a car manufacturer anywhere at any time and the move could have far reaching consequences. Brands with big reputations are charging two, five, even ten times as much for a car as Kia, yet they are clearly unprepared to guarantee their quality to the same extent, and this might well be the point the public finally understands that new price does not reflect quality, that quality is measurable, and that reputations for quality are distinctly at odds with reality. At very least, as the warranties are fully transferable to subsequent owners, Kia resale values should skyrocket…

Tags: Automotive,
Kia,
warranty

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Some may call it a sophisticated alarm clock, but the truth is that the Dash presented by Sony at CES 2010 is simply much more than that. A one-of-a-kind “personal Internet viewer,” this device is designed to let you pull all sorts of information off the Internet from its 7-inch touch screen even when you don’t have a PC at hand…

Tags: CES 2010,
House,
Office,
Sony,
Streaming,
Touch Screen,
Wi-fi,
YouTube

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As eReaders such as the Kindle and the Nook establish themselves with consumers, manufacturers are already looking ahead to the next generation of devices. Moving beyond e-ink, tomorrow’s eReaders will feature color displays and the ability to show video as well. To meet the needs of the most demanding users, eReaders will also need to feature long battery life and displays that are bright enough to read even in direct sunlight. Qualcomm’s Mirasol displays, which will begin shipping this year, address these needs using technology that mimics the coloration of a butterfly’s wings…

Tags: CES 2010,
Display,
IMOD,
LCD,
MEMS,
Mirasol,
Qualcomm

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