Hasta La Gadget!

Tesla Motors is pretty proud of the fact that it decided to recall 439 Roadster 2.0 and 2.5 vehicles after a single one saw “a short, smoke and possible fire behind the right front headlamp,” but a fire hazard in every one of 439 shipping products isn’t exactly a ratio to be boasting about. At any rate, nearly a third of its 1,300 vehicles sold are affected by the recall, which “involves the 12v low voltage auxiliary cable from a redundant back up system that provides power to various systems, including the headlamps, taillights, turn signals and hazard lights, and airbags in the unlikely event the primary 12V power fails or drops below a minimum threshold value.” The repair involves checking the routing of the 12V low voltage auxiliary cable and installing a protective sleeve over it, and it should take around an hour to complete. Unless, of course, you’re the Tesla owner residing on the north shore of Kauai. Yeah, we’re talking to you… Mr. Guy with “TESLA” on his Hawaii plate.

[Thanks, Jim]

Continue reading Tesla recalls 439 Roadster 2.0 and 2.5 electric cars due to fire hazard

Tesla recalls 439 Roadster 2.0 and 2.5 electric cars due to fire hazard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A 15-year-old Italian boy suffering from Duchenne syndrome, a rare degenerative muscle disease, was fitted with an artificial heart after he had been ruled ineligible for a transplant list. The surgery occurred in Rome’s Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital last week, after the teen was declared to be weeks away from death.

The operation, which took 10 hours, was the first surgery to permantely implant an artificial heart in a minor. According to the doctors, the heart could give the boy another 20-25 years.

The lead surgeon, Dr. Antonio Amodeo, told The Telegraph, “This surgery opens up new horizons as there are many children who need transplants but the number of donors is very small and there are some who like this patient cannot be transplant candidates because of illness.”

The boy will remain in intensive care for another two weeks, barring any complications.

Palm planning keyboard-less ‘Mansion’ with 800 x 480 screen? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve had a lot of wonderful guest artists on Gizmodo these last few months. Chris “Powerpig” McVeigh is one of the best. Let’s take a look at his work again as we bid him hyvästi, including five new behind-the-scenes shots. More »

We’d heard from a couple of internal sources on Friday that Qualcomm was pulling the plug on the ill-fated FLO TV direct-to-consumer service, and now we’ve reason to believe that the deed is in fact done. Despite the company’s best attempts at playing up the idea of carrying around a mobile TV and paying yet another content subscription bill, it seems as if the public’s wishes are finally being recognized. According to our sources, Qualcomm is informing partner retailers to stop selling FLO TV products immediately, and sure enough, a glance over at Best Buy’s website reveals that only a couple of accessories remain in stock. We’re guessing that Wally World is hoping to rid itself of as much stock as possible before the news goes mainstream, but in all likelihood, those units will too vanish into the night in short order. It’s bruited that Qualcomm is still in discussions with AT&T and Verizon on the future of its wholesale MediaFLO service, and we’ve reached out for comment on the future of service for those who already sprung for a FLO TV Personal Television. We’ll let you know what else we hear, but for now, be sure to stay away from a product you were never, ever interested in to begin with. It’ll be a challenge, we know.

FLO TV killed by Qualcomm, its four users look shocked and saddened originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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