Oh, if only all those futurists from the 1930s could have predicted a device as wondrous as the Smart Phone. It’s the communicator from Star Trek, a world atlas, the world’s largest department store and a personal assistant / concierge all rolled into one. You could organise a wedding or run a global empire from one of these things, and many people do.
Unfortunately, like seemingly everything humanity invents, it has its downsides as well. For some of us it can be addictive and overuse of these distracting devices can result in devastating consequences for one’s self and others, especially when use in conjunction with another wonder of the last century: the automobile.
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So imagine if you could charge your electric car this way. It should be simple, right? You’d just need to upscale it to suit charging a bigger battery. Well, at the 2011 CES technology trade show in Las Vegas, Fulton Innovation showed such a gadget by wirelessly charging the be-all and end-all of electric vehicles: the Tesla Roadster.
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"DAS is an important building block in Volkswagen's digital marketing strategy and gives us the opportunity for an interactive dialog with our customers," says Luca de Meo, Head of Marketing at VW. "Our goal is to transmit the fascination of the brand and its products in a new digital dimension, creating a global experience."
The General has called in the best and brightest from universities across the land in order help it take the next step in driver safety. The goal: to "[turn] the entire windshield into a transparent display that would illuminate the road during conditions of low visibility". Aaaaand science fiction is one step closer to reality. Love it.
As everyone who has played with the famous colored bricks knows, with LEGO, nothing is impossible. Not even a full-size replica of a BMW X1 that was created by 800 children aged between 5 and 13 years old (with a little help from the Bavarian automaker's staff of course) who visited the BMW Welt in Munich last week. The build of the yellow-colored X1 took four days and approximately 165,000 LEGO bricks to complete.The project was not only fun for the young participants but also served a good cause as for every LEGO block that was used, BMW donated a specific amount of money to the Munich children's foundation "Die Arche".
The finished X1 replica made out of LEGO bricks will go on display for the public to see alongside the automaker's real-life vehicles at the BMW Welt Plaza, from November 25.
More into buying accessories for the car itself? No problem. Bentley also offers a new set of Vented Wings in black or mesh finish available for the Continental GT, GTC and Flying Spur, and self-leveling wheel badges that remain completely level and upright at speeds of up to 70mph (112 Km/h) for the Arnage, Azure, Brooklands and Continental.
Other highlights of the new collection include specific car covers for the Continental Supersports and Series 51 GT and GTC models and a new version of Bentley's Jewelled Torch that can be recharged from the car's cigar (sic...) lighter.
Up until recently, TAG Heuer was mostly known for its sport watches and chronographs but the famous Swiss company is now trying to make a name in the luxury cell phone market. And what a better way to do that than to team up with a specialized sportscar maker like Lamborghini to launch a limited edition handset Using its first mobile phone as a base, Tag Heuer came up with the Merediist Automobil Lamborghini that's said to be inspired by the Murceilago LP 640.
Housed in black titanium carbide coated 316L stainless steel casing, the hand-assembled quad-band GSM mobile phone packs a 1.9'' display made from 60.5 carats scratch-resistant sapphire crystal, a 2 megapixel camera (1,200 x 1,600 pixels), 2GB of memory, USB 1.0, media player, Bluetooth and roughly seven hours of talk time.
Add to that the Lamborghini logos and the exclusivity that comes from the limited availability as only 1963 pieces (in tribute to the year that Lamborghini's automotive division was founded) will be sold worldwide.
Neither Tag Heuer or Lamborghini have announced prices, but bear in mind that the standard Merediist starts at around $5,300 so expect to pay more for the Lambo edition.
___________________________________________________________________________
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Design and finishing
316L stainless steel case with Black PVD (titanium carbide) surface treatment
316L stainless steel specific Automobili Lamborghini finishing:
Satin & polished battery cover plate with black "Automobili Lamborghini" engraving
Satin plate with limited edition number engraved
Satin camera shutter
Polished side keys
Polished top and bottom bars deco
Backlit mechanical stainless steel keypad with black PVD coating
Automobili Lamborghini selection key on key ring
60.5 carats of sapphire crystal glass on dual display screens
Automobili Lamborghini ON & OFF animations, sounds, wallpapers
Dimensions: 112mm x 46mm x 15.5mm
Weight: 160g
Performance
Autonomy: 28 days stand-by, 7 hours talk time
Imaging: 2 megapixel high-quality camera sensor (CMOS low noise) digital
camera: 1,200 x 1,600 pixels
Image quality-maximising and colour rendering software
Mechanical, automatic preview-triggering sliding camera shutter
Image formats supported: JPEG, GIF, BMP
Audio: Music playback (MP3, AAC, AAC+)
Video: Video recording and playback (H263-AMR, MPEG4-AMR, MPEG4- AAC)
End-user memory: 2GB
USB 1.0 with mass storage for easy multimedia objects exchange with PC
Network
Worldwide GSM network-compatible for best performance
GPRS class 10
Quad-band: covers all GSM countries
Hardware
2 LCD screens:
Front screen: LCD, 240 x 320 pixels, 260k colours, TFT – 1.9''
Top screen: OLED, 96 x 16 pixels
Acoustics: separate earpiece for call mode; loudspeaker for handsfree,
ringtones and music playback
Long duration battery: Li-lon 950mAh
Applications
Phonebook: up to 1,000 contacts (multi-entries and Outlook synchronisation)
Messaging: SMS, MMS
Browsing: WAP 2.0
Application: JAVA 2.0
PC synchronisation: contacts, messaging, multimedia
Apps: World clock, alarm, agenda, calendar, currency converter,
chronometer, calculator
Voice recorder
Client e-mail
Connectivity
Bluetooth: headset, car kit and data exchange profiles
Single I/O connector for charging, data exchange and wired stereo headset
via standard mini-USB
Stereo Bluetooth for audio with compatible devices
USB connection
Built-in modem
Compatible with any operator/SIM card
The public debut for Rolls Royce's new, smaller-sized and lower-priced luxury sedan isn't due until the Frankfurt Motor Show in September, but nevertheless, the BMW Group-owned British firm has created an online configurator for the Ghost's preview model, the 200EX concept study. Judging by the most recent spy shots, there aren't any visible differences (at lease none of any importance) between the Ghost and the 200EX, so what you see here, is what you'll be able to get in a few months time. If you feel like fooling around with the 200EX configurator that allows you to change the exterior and interior colors of the Rolls, click the link below and then choose 'Design' and after that, 'Visualizer'
Link: Rolls Royce , Via: Autoblog.it
Once in a while, automakers and their marketing teams come up with up an idea that's actually quite cool. Such is the case with Volkswagen's "GTI Project", a new virtual slot car game that you can play online from the comfort of your office chair -just don't get caught. The Scalectric track that was constructed by a team of 60 modelers and features some 200 scale buildings is truly massive measuring 30ft by 25ft (9.1meters x 7.6meters) while the Golf GTI slot car itself is a 1:43 scale replica. Give it a try and remember to have a little perseverance around the corners...Play the Game Here: GTI Project
You may not know her by her name, but we're pretty sure that you've heard Kate Perry's 2008 pop song, "I Kissed a Girl". So what has MINI got to do with Kate Perry, we hear you ask? Well, the British automaker decided to create a "Kate Perry" style Convertible for this year's Life Ball event, Europe's largest annual HIV/AIDS charity gathering. At last year's event, MINI came up with an erotic themed Clubman styled by lingerie firm, "Agent Provocateur". The Kate Perry-style Life Ball MINI Convertible 2009 is the work of "The Blonds", aka Puerto Rican Phillipe and US designer David Blond.Aside from a design mock-up that shows a pink leopard-skinned MINI Convertible, we don't have any specific information on the car so we have no idea what it means to be styled for Kate Perry. Of course we could use our grimy imagination and the lyrics of her only well-known song to come up with an idea or two, but we'll behave - this time...
Being somewhat of die-cast model collectors ourselves, we couldn't bypass the chance to tell you about this giga-sized, 1/8th scale replica of the 1971 Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III from 'Icon Models' that will be produced in a limited run of 1,000 units each priced at a hefty $1,295 AUD - that's about €700 or US$925. For non-Australian readers, the GTHO Phase II Falcon is one of the most iconic muscle cars from the land 'Down Under' reputed at its time to be the fastest production saloon in the world.
The actual '71 Falcon XY GTHO Phase III was powered by a modified 351 Cleveland V8 engine that produced somewhere around 380HP. Mated to a 4 speed manual-gearbox, the rear-wheel drive Falcon was said to reach 60mph (96km/h) in 6.4 seconds and the quarter mile in 14.2 seconds while its top speed was close to 230km/h (143mph). Only a mere 300 examples of the GTHO Phase III were built and fewer than 100 survive today. The past few years, prices for the much sought after Ford have skyrocketed to as high as AUD$800,000.
As for the die-cast version of the Aussie muscle car, the 60cm or 23.6-in. long 1/8th scale replica looks the part from the photos featuring many realistic details, but we'd like to see one up close before spending a grand on a die-cast model. According to the maker, the Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase 3 will be available during the thrid quarter of the year.
Link: Icon Models
Peugeot’s 5th Design Competition has entered its last phase as the jury picked out the 10 finalists from a total of 2,500 projects that were submitted from designers of over 95 nationalities. The winning project will be announced on 2nd October 2008 at the Peugeot’s Paris Motor Show stand by the company’s CEO Mr Jean-Philippe Collin. The winner, who will see his project produced as a 1/1 scale model for the Shanghai Motor Show in the spring of 2009 will also receive a cheque for €10,000. -ContinuedThis year’s competition asked designers to create a concept car for use in the centre of the great urban cities of the future, while embracing the key values of the 21st century and at the same time, bearing all of Peugeot’s styling clues.
GALapagos by Igor Yastrebov from
Peugeot 888 by Oskar Johansen from
Rugir by Onur Güvenc from
P.R.O. by Ke Guo from
OXO by Lou Ke from
Ego by Emre Yazici from
RD by Carlos Arturo Torres Tovar from
Seed Peugeot by Yann Terrer from
Vision by Shinji Numuki from
MoVille by Woo-Ram Lee from
