Seat reveals three-door Ibiza Sportcoupe

Seat has taken the wraps off its new three-door Ibiza and introduced two new diesel engines as well as an optional seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The new car, dubbed the Seat Sportcoupe, is set to go on sale in Europe in the second half of the year and is now available with either an 80hp 1.4L diesel or a 90hp 1.9L unit.

The petrol range mirrors the lineup in the five-door Ibiza and includes a compact 1.2L three-cylinder unit with 70hp, a 1.4L four-cylinder with 85hp or a 1.6L four-cylinder motor with 102hp. Although based on the five-door, the new Sportcoupe features lower positioned headlights and a slightly revised radiator grille for a sportier look.

The new three-door is equipped with VW Group’s seven-speed DSG gearbox on its 105hp 1.6L version, the first time the high-tech ‘box is available in this segment, and features shorter first and second gears and a smaller gear ratio to help aid acceleration.

The new Ibiza Sportcoupe will be manufactured at Seat’s Martorell factory near Barcelona and will be available in three trim levels – Reference, Stylance and Sport. In the near future, Seat will also release a fuel-efficient EcoMotive model as well as FR and Cupra performance variants.

Source: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/hatchbacks/seat-reveals-three-door-ibiza-sportcoupe/

Gigantic LEGO Tomcat F-14 Ready to Take Off

We have seen some amazing LEGO aircrafts in the past, but this F-14 Tomcat has to be the most awesome LEGO plane to date. In fact, it's so technically complex—most parts, including cannons, swing wings, landing gears, brakes, flaps, air intake doors, are electric and pneumatically controlled—that builder Jeroen Ottens got a dream job in Denmark as a Technic designer. Looking at the list of features, we are not surprised:

• Electric controlled
• Canopy
• Cannon
• Swing wings
• Landing gear
• Landing gear bay doors
• Steering of front wheel
• 2 Engines
• Pneumatic compressor
• Pneumatically controlled
• Brakes (main fuselage+wings)
• Arrester hook
• Flaps (front & aft on main wings)
• Glove vanes
• Air Intake Control System doors
• Main landing gear lock
• Manual controlled
• Vertical flaps
• Differentially controlled stabilators
• Air fuel intake nozzle
• Ejection seats

It may not fly like the A-10 RC model, but Jeroen's creation is equally as impressive on its own right.


Source: http://gizmodo.com/394735/gigantic-lego-tomcat-f+14-ready-to-take-off

Samsung i900 Cellphone Hands-on Photos Leaked

We first brought you leaked mock-ups of Samsung's upcoming i900 cellphone in January, along with a single pic and some specs. Until now, that's all we have to go on, but now Chinese site pconline.com.cn has got their hands on a real model and some more details on what the touchscreen phone will have inside.

That 5-megapixel camera is confirmed by these photos, and it looks like there's the word "autofocus" on the bezel too. And that 3.5-inch touchscreen is supposedly a WQVGA resolution display, at 240x400 pixels. The phone is quad-band, 3G and HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps, with wi-fi, FM radio functionality and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR. There's 16GB on-board memory, it'll run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and there's a microSD slot for expansion. The phone will apparently also have integrated GPS, a TV-out port and will measure 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.5 inches. There's no official word from Samsung about this cellphone yet, so the release date and price remain a mystery.




Source: http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/samsungi900/1001778971

Dell Latitude XT displays compared: daylight viewable vs. LED

When Dell's long-awaited Latitude XT finally hit the scenes, many were captivated by the idea of a daylight viewable screen on such a portable rig. Up until now, however, there's been little analysis over which was actually superior. Granted, we aren't saying that you can't disagree firmly with GottaBeMobile's assessment, but after checking each out for an extended period of time, Rob Bushway actually concluded that the LED-based machine was preferable. Aside from coming in a few ounces lighter, the LED-equipped unit didn't seem to perform noticeably worse than the DLV counterpart, and even battery life was practically the same for each.


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/03/dell-latitude-xt-displays-compared-daylight-viewable-vs-led/

Hands on with Gigabyte M912 and M724 convertible mini-tablets

Carving out the newest niche in the low-cost, mini-laptop, ultra-portable, *gasp* netbook category is the Gigabyte M912. As a convertible, touch-screen mini-tablet, the M912 runs Vista or Ubuntu Linux atop Intel's Atom processor. Unfortunately, it looks like it might be hampered by a 4-cell battery showing just over 1.5 hours of battery left on a 95% charge. The 7-inch M724 apparently shares the same chassis as the M912 but is meant for classrooms-only, not consumers. Uh, right. That was the original market for all these netbook-class machines as we recall.


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/03/hands-on-with-gigabyte-m912-and-m724-convertible-mini-tablets/

Detroit looking forward to 2010 turnaround

The past decade hasn’t been a success story for any of the Big Three American automakers, and the past year has been particularly tough. But as new, more fuel-efficient models and revised union contracts come into play starting in 2010, Detroit thinks it has a future worth looking forward to.

Sales early this year have been slipping rapidly from the SUV and pickup-truck-focused market of the past
several years, with the share of SUVs slipping from 8.4% of the market in 2007 to 4.4% through the first half of May, according to The Detroit Free Press.

The lack of preparedness in the product lines at Chrysler, Ford and GM is somewhat surprising, given that fuel prices have risen and remained high since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In a perverse turn of events, however, analysts think past failures may actually help the companies survive the present downturn because they were already responding - if several years late - to that downturn when fuel prices began their spike earlier this year.

Those restructuring plans have smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles coming to the market and renegotiated UAW contracts that will save each maker billions in labor costs annually thanks to job cuts, early retirement buyouts of high-wage earners and new hires brought in at lower pay levels. With less overhead and a leaner, more marketable model line-up, the companies are hoping to be positioned much more profitably from 2010 onward.

GM’s Volt (concept pictured) plug-in hybrid is emblematic of the type of change the Big Three are working toward, and its 2010 goal for production availability should position it as a leader of the revival. Smaller and more efficient turbocharged engines are playing a role in all three makers’ more conventional offerings, and the industry is already preparing for the shift.

The next two years will continue to be tough, however, as current model lines expire, sales volumes continue to fall and more jobs are cut. Ford at least will also be cutting sales in the near term by as many as 350,000 units per year. GM missed out on nearly that much production thanks to the recently settled strike at the American Axle plant.

Source: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/industry/detroit-looking-forward-to-2010-turnaround/

Toyota Night View features pedestrian detection

The Japanese-market-only Toyota Crown Hybrid first debuted as a concept at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, and was revealed as a production model in April of this year. Now the luxury hybrid sedan is getting a cutting-edge pedestrian detection system for its Night View night vision computer.

The previous model displayed the night vision information in a heads-up display format directly on the windshield. The new Night View system employs an LCD screen instrument panel that can display gauges in both fuel-saving Eco mode and power-enhancing Sport mode and can also show the road ahead in infrared. The computer system searches the image for pedestrian shapes and then highlights them with yellow boxes, making it easier to be aware of and drive safely past the nocturnally ambulatory.

Vehicle speed and weather conditions affect the system’s ability due to the processing power required to recognize the pedestrians at the roadside. Driving in excess of 60km/h (37.2mph) makes it too difficult to process the image and suss out the pedestrian outlines in time, and the feature is deactivated. The same happens when it is raining and the operation of the windshield wipers interferes with the image processing system.

At present only pedestrians are included in the detection system, but Toyota hopes to include animals, cyclists and other mobile roadside hazards in future.

Source: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/safety/toyota-night-view-features-pedestrian-detection/

iPhone Officially Coming to Spain

Spanish site Apple Weblog has discovered a hidden iPhone page from Movistar—Telefónica's mobile arm. The page officially confirms what we already said two weeks ago: Telefónica will sell the new JesusPhone. The launch day was not mentioned in the site itself—which was supposed to be secret, and has been taken down already—but the date that we announced remains the same according to my friends in the company.3

The 3G iPhone will be available for sale in Spain at the June 18 grand opening of Telefonica's megastore—an Apple Store-like shop located in the company's landmark building in Madrid's Gran Vía—with nationwide availability the next day or after a few hours. The shop is now getting its final touches.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5012197/iphone-officially-coming-to-spain

Sony bringing VIA's OpenBook to market?

Although late in arriving, Sony appears ready to join the low-cost, ultra-portable, netbook, mini-laptop party. An apparently generic prototype based on the Via OpenBook was just spotted at the Quanta booth at WiMax Expo. It seems that a quick check of the properties revealed a 1.6GHz Via C7-M processor and more interestingly, Sony as the manufacturer. When the Quanta exec demonstrating the box noticed "he quickly closed the properties window and declined to explain." Sony refused to comment. In other words, expect to see it in Q3.


Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/02/sony-bringing-vias-openbook-to-market/

Hands-on with Atom-based Eee PC 901 running WiMax

What, you're not in Taipei? No problem, Engadget Chinese is at the WiMax Expo with the first WiMax-enabled Eee PC 901 pictures. Showing off a funky, cutaway hinge (likely due to missing battery), the Eee PC 901 features Intel's Atom processor as expected, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, and now 802.11n too (hoozah!). The card reader supports MMC/SD/SDHC cards and the WiMax chipset is Intel's Link 5150. Keep in mind that the Link 5150 is a dual-mode WiFi and WiMax module. In other words, there's no guarantee the 802.11n will carry over to the WiMax-less 901 being announced tomorrow. A few more pics after the break, all the rest at our Chinese site.




Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/02/hands-on-with-atom-based-eee-pc-901/