Tiny Elio Car Is Affordable and Street Legal

Buying a new car in this economy is tough. It shouldn’t be like buying a house. Well, there is an answer. Assuming you don’t need to transport passengers or significant cargo, your next car doesn’t have to break the bank thanks to Elio Motors, who wants to revolutionize the auto industry with its tiny new three-wheeled car.
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This unusual looking single-seat car gets an amazing 84 MPG on the highway, 49 MPG in the city, and travels at speeds up to 100 MPH. This car consumes just 1/3 of the gas that the average car does. The price? $6,800(USD). You can’t beat that.

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Bonus: It is even made in the USA. The company estimates that they will create 1,500 jobs at their Shreveport, LA plant alone beginning in 2014. Let’s hope that automotive lobbyists and the government don’t kill the company before they can put a whole bunch on the road.

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Hopefully they can impact the auto industry and provide people with affordable cars for many years. This is a company to watch closely.

[via This Is Why I’m Broke]

Partially automated Nissan Leaf prototype approved for use on Japanese roads

Partially automated Nissan Leaf prototype approved for use on Japanese roads

Looking forward to Nissan’s 2020 autonomous vehicle push? Then get pumped: the company has just been given approval to test some of its automated driving systems on Japanese streets. Nissan has been issued a license plate to use with a Nissan Leaf kitted out with the firm’s Advanced Driver Assist System on, which will allow the vehicle to change lanes, pass cars, exit freeways and cruise down the road without driver assistance. Although the plate is technically just a normal license plate (unlike the distinctive red plates Nevada issues to automated vehicles), but marks the first time Nissan will be able to test these features on a public road. More importantly, the company says, it allows it to further develop the technologies that will eventually go into its fully automated vehicles. It’s a baby step, but at least it’s progress. Check out the company’s official announcement at the jump.

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Source: YouTube, Nissan

Nissan to sell multiple affordable self-driving cars by 2020

Google’s not the only one trying to build self-driving cars, despite the fact that it gets a ton of attention for all those autonomous autos roaming Bay Area streets. Many manufacturers are interested in taking human error out of the driving equation, and now Nissan aims to do so by 2020. That’s right, folks, Nissan Executive VP Andy Palmer stated today that the plan is to sell multiple affordable models of fully autonomous cars by 2020. And, to meet that goal, the company is constructing a facility to test self-driving systems that’ll be up and running in 2014. Nissan’s development timetable falls right in line with some of its competitors, but talk is cheap — time will tell if Nissan can deliver on both its autonomous and affordability promises.

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Via: Wall Street Journal

Source: Nissan

Hands-on with Maxwest’s $65 7-inch dual-core Jelly Bean tablet at CTIA 2013

Handson with Maxwest's $65 7inch dualcore ICS tablet at CTIA 2013

It’s true that cheap affordable Android tablets are a dime a dozen at most trade shows these days, but here at CTIA 2013 we stumbled upon something that caught our eye — a 7-inch dual-core tablet running Jelly Bean that costs just $65. The Maxwest TAB-7155DC aka. Ippo Y88 measures 182 x 122 x 10mm (7.16 x 4.8 x 0.39inch), weighs 187g (6.6oz) and comes in several hues (black, white, silver, red, blue and pink).

It features a 7-inch 1024 x 600-pixel capacitive multitouch LCD, an Infotmic IMAPx820 SoC (1GHz dual-core Cortex A5 CPU with Mali 400 GPU), 512MB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage, dual VGA cameras (front and back), WiFi b/g/n and a 2800mAh battery. The screen isn’t covered in glass and there’s no sign of any Bluetooth or GPS radios, but then again, what do you expect for $65? You”ll find a power / lock key, DC socket, micro-USB port (with on-the-go support) and mini-HDMI output on the top edge, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack, volume rocker and microSD card slot on the right side. A microphone and speaker round things up in back.

The tablet runs a mostly stock version of Jelly Bean (Android 4.1.1, to be specific) and includes the usual assortment of Google apps along with access to the Play Store. Performance is adequate — not buttery smooth but perfectly usable. Build quality and materials are surprisingly decent for the price (the plastic is color-through), but the display leaves a lot to be desired (viewing angle are poor and the acrylic covering the screen is scratch-prone). Then again, it’s only $65, right? Check out the gallery below for our rose-colored hands-on with this inexpensive tablet.

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ViewSonic Releases Two New Budget-friendly LED Monitors

ViewSonic Releases Two New Budget-friendly LED Monitors

ViewSonic is ready to release two new affordable LED monitors, the VA2212m-LED and VA1912m-LED. The ViewSonic VA2212m-LED is a 21.5-inch widescreen LED monitor that offers a Full HD resolution and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio, while the ViewSonic VA1912m-LED is a 18.5-inch LED monitor that provides a 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution. Both LED monitors feature DVI and VGA inputs and a pair of 2W integrated speakers. The ViewSonic VA2212m-LED and VA1912m-LED are priced at $149 and $125, respectively. [Geeky-gadgets]

Packard Bell burrows affordable niche with EasyNote TE: 400 euros, 15.6 inches, AMD inside

Packard Bell burroughs affordable niche with EasyNote TE laptop 400 euros, 156 inches, AMD inside

While parent company Acer eyes deeper pockets and higher margins, Packard Bell is soldiering on with its EasyNote range of laptops for thrifty Europeans. Spotted by the friendly folk at Pocket-lint, the EasyNote TE has just reached stores and should scrape under the €400 (£300, $500) mark — thanks partly to its avoidance of the premium Intel processor found in the EasyNote TV. Instead, the TE relies on AMD’s updated E-Series processor (the slower 1.4GHz E1-1200 version, to be precise), which comes with capable Radeon HD 7310 onboard graphics and supports a USB 3.0 port (in addition to twin USB 2.0) and HDMI output. You’ll also find a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, 750GB of storage and a “multi-in-1” card slot — which means the only spec we’re missing is the RAM. Who’ll take a bet on 4GB?

Continue reading Packard Bell burrows affordable niche with EasyNote TE: 400 euros, 15.6 inches, AMD inside

Packard Bell burrows affordable niche with EasyNote TE: 400 euros, 15.6 inches, AMD inside originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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