Hasta La Gadget!

Peter Olt nearly got into an accident when a car suddenly cut into his lane, unable to hear – or perhaps ignoring – his honking and cussing. The incident prompted him to make some noise, so to speak. Olt invented a loud vehicle horn called the Screaming Banshee. Now he’s raising money to produce a smaller variant, the Whining Siryn the Plug & Play Screamer.

When installed, the Plug & Play Screamer gives you two horns. Tap your car or motorcycle’s horn button and you’ll get the standard sound. But if you hold it down you’ll get a 120dB sonic attack and your headlights flash for a split second.  The Screamer is quieter than the Screaming Banshee, which can go as loud as 139db, but it’s also easier to install. It has four wires – two connect to the stock horn, one to the battery and one to the high beam lights. Olt will also make easy to follow video instructions for newbies.

Pledge at least $79 (USD) on Olt’s Indiegogo fundraiser to reserve a Plug & Play Screamer. The only thing I don’t like about this invention is that it could be abused in the wrong hands. We have enough obnoxious drivers as it is.

[via Autoblog]

I have to admit that each time I see a normal Nissan Juke cruising around, I think it’s the ugliest vehicle I’ve ever seen. The first time I saw the Juke-R, I formed a completely different opinion of the car though. This special custom-made version of the little Juke actually looks kind of cool.

It combines slightly modified looks of the Juke-R with the fact that it has the twin turbo 3.8-liter V6 and all-wheel drive train from a 2013 GT-R, and I’m really interested. The first time we saw this customized Juke it was nothing but a publicity stunt on Nissan’s part. Then we found out Nissan would actually build these for anyone wealthy enough to afford the over $600,000 asking price.

Nissan has announced that the first production version of the Juke-R has been built and is on its way to its owner. The vehicle has 545 HP and is packed with racing seats, racing seatbelts, and a roll cage. This car was made for track driving and I would love to hoon one around a road course.

You might think that at $600,000 this would be the only version being constructed. However, Nissan says that a second production version is currently being built for another customer. If I were rich enough, I’d certainly have one of these in my garage, this may be the ultimate modern sleeper.

[via Car & Driver]

First Nissan Juke-R is on its way to a customer is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’re all at least somewhat familiar with fly-by-wire, the electronic piloting system found in most modern planes. Nissan wants to bring the same tech to cars, leaving behind the purely mechanical solutions currently used to take turns in your four-wheeler. The first automobiles to come equipped with steer-by-wire would be luxury sedans from Infiniti. Other companies have incorporated the tech into concept vehicles, but Nissan would be the first to stick it in a production model. The company plans to have the first drive-by-wire cars in consumer garages by the end of next year, with an eye towards a future in which you drive from the back seat using a joystick. Of course, the lack of direct feedback as your tires turn over the road may lead some to cling tight to their mechanical steering apparatus, though, moving to a digital steering system should lead to better handling vehicles.

Filed under: Transportation

Nissan to offer steer-by-wire systems in some Infiniti cars originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever wonder how Google can make such grandiose claims for the sheer amount of Street View imagery it collects? Here’s how. Google’s Masrur Odinaev has posted a snapshot of a central mapping car parking lot that shows dozens of the camera-equipped Subaru Imprezas amassed ahead of future runs. While it already represents more Street View cars in one place than anyone outside of Google would normally ever see, what’s most impressive is remembering that this addresses just a portion of the entire vehicle mix — aside from the local cars you don’t see in the photo, there are extra units worldwide providing street-level coverage alongside tricycles and underwater expeditions. Odinaev’s look reminds us just how much effort is needed to make Street View a common feature — and that there are are legions of Google staffers whose low-profile work goes a long way towards making our navigation easier.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation, Internet, Google

Visualized: Google Street View car fleet gets ready to conquer (and map) the world originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’ll admit that when Porsche first announced that it was coming up with an SUV called the Cayenne, I was rather irritated that a sports car company was pandering to the SUV driving masses. Once the SUV hit the market and I saw that it was as quick as many sports cars I felt a little bit better about Porsche offering an SUV. Porsche has unveiled the new Cayenne Turbo S and this is one SUV I would really enjoy owning.

Porsche claims that the Cayenne Turbo S has advanced active chassis technologies that allow it to surpass the driving performance of many sports cars. At the same time, the SUV still preserves its off-road capability, ride comfort, and towing ability. I can’t see anyone driving one of these off-road, but I have seen people towing with a Cayenne before. Naturally, the guy was towing a 911 GT3.

The Cayenne Turbo S gets a 50 hp bump compared to the normal Cayenne Turbo. The Cayenne Turbo S also gets a extra torque with a rating of 553 pound-feet of torque compared to the normal Cayenne Turbo 516 pound-feet rating. The extra horsepower and torque allows the Turbo S version to accelerate quicker and have a higher top speed.

Porsche claims that the Cayenne Turbo S can hit 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and has a top speed of 175 mph. That is a seriously quick SUV. The Turbo S comes with the Sport Chrono package standard that includes an analog and digital timer in the center of the dash. The package also shows total driving time, lap distance covered, and individual lap times along with latitudinal and longitudinal acceleration. Clearly, Porsche expects people to take this big SUV on the track. Pricing for the Turbo S starts at $146,000.

Porsche unveils new Cayenne Turbo S is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.