Toyota Is Recalling Millions of Prius Hybrids to Fix a Software Bug

Toyota Is Recalling Millions of Prius Hybrids to Fix a Software Bug

Toyota is recalling 1.9 million Prius hybrids to fix a serious bug in the engine control unit which can cause transistors to overheat—and potentially cause the hybrid system to shut down while driving.

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Red Bull May Have Invented A Secret New Hybrid Technology

Red Bull May Have Invented A Secret New Hybrid Technology

At the Singapore Grand Prix two weekends ago, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won by an unbelievable 32 second margin over his closest rival. Seriously, it’s unbelievable. Now F1 experts believe that Red Bull Racing’s F1 engineers may have invented a new kind of traction control that links the car’s hybrid engine to its suspension — but no one knows for sure. The whole world is stumped.

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BMW Is Going to Use Gorilla Glass in the BMW i8

BMW Is Going to Use Gorilla Glass in the BMW i8

After leaving most car enthusiasts wondering what’s next when it introduced the all electric BMW i3, BMW released some details about the upcoming plug-in hybrid i8. At a test track showing off the sports car, BMW revealed that the i8 will be the first car to use Gorilla Glass for its windows.

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Microsoft Surface Pro Review: Too Much Future?

The Microsoft Surface was the biggest new tech of 2012. Its first iteration—Surface RT, a confusingly named and marketed tablet-with-a-keyboard—bombed. Pretty hard. So why believe in the full-powered Surface Pro? Simple. It’s a braver and more divergent take on the laptop-tablet convergence than anyone else has risked so far. More »

Windows 8 Hybrids: $750 Netbooks That Just Aren’t Worth It

Windows 8 hardware sales are off to a slow start as shoppers scratch their heads over Microsoft’s new operating system and flock to low-cost tablets instead. Could a souped-up netbook save the day? The latest hybrids powered by Intel Atom processors promise the best of both worlds: the versatility of a laptop combined with the portability of a touch screen slate. But now that we’ve tested a couple of these detachables, I’ve concluded that the folks who price these things are detached from reality. More »

Fisker Karma production has been halted for a month, A123 Systems’ bankruptcy to blame

Fisker Karma production has been halted for a month, A123 Systems' bankruptcy to blame

Fisker Automotive is certainly no stranger to hold ups, and it turns out they’ve had another: production of the firm’s Karma hybrid has been halted since its sole battery supplier, A123 Systems, filed for bankruptcy in October. Since A123 slowed its battery output after the filing, the automaker has been too short on batteries to continue churning out vehicles. Fisker anticipates resuming production after the ill-fated outfit is auctioned off, but it doesn’t expect to know the outcome of the sale until mid-December. If your Karma’s lithium-ion pack goes kaput in the meantime, there’s still hope. As of now, the company says it has enough batteries in stock for customers who need replacements.

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Source: Reuters, Bloomberg

This Is Officially How You’ll Be Fueling Your Car In The Future

The future of automobiles is upon us. Or at least it’s getting a lot closer. This week, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International announced the first official charging plug standard for North American cars. The brand new plugs may arrive as early as next year, meaning that, someday soon, the new American dream could come with a chicken in every pot and a J1772 plug in every garage outlet. More »

Lenovo’s Yoga Ultrabook-Tablet Hybrid Will Also Come in 11-Inch Form [Windows 8]

Lenovo’s Yoga was the first of the Windows 8 hybrids to turn up this year. And when it’s finally out later this month, it’ll have a little brother. The Yoga will also come in an 11-inch ARM-based version running Windows RT. More »

Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx: an 11.6-inch Windows 8 hybrid arriving in December for $600 and up

Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx an 116inch Windows 8 hybrid arriving in December for $600 and up

With a couple exceptions, we hadn’t heard much about Lenovo’s Windows 8 plans until now. Okay, it teased the IdeaPad Yoga back at CES, and recently unveiled the business-friendly ThinkPad Tablet 2. But surely the company wasn’t going to stop there, right? Hardly. Lenovo just announced the IdeaTab Lynx, an 11.6-inch laptop / tablet hybrid aimed at mainstream consumers. Like so many other products with this form factor, it runs a dual-core, Clovertrail-based Atom processor, paired with 2GB of RAM and either 32 or 64GB of solid-state storage, depending on the configuration you choose. Unsurprisingly, the detachable keyboard dock has a built-in 6,800mAh battery of its own, which promises to double the tablet’s runtime from eight hours to 16. In this case, though, the machine benefits from Lenovo’s keyboard know-how, so as small as the 1.45-pound dock is, it still offers an AccuType layout similar to what you’d find on Lenovo’s bigger notebooks.

Detach the tablet from its dock and you have a 1.4-pound tablet that measures 9.45mm thick. That 11.6-inch, 400-nit screen is of IPS caliber, so the viewing angles should be decent if you attempt to use it outdoors or watch movies from an odd angle (say, with the screen dipped forward on an airplane tray). Poke around the device and you’ll find micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports, along with a microSD slot for external storage. It also has a 2-megapixel webcam up front for video chatting, though interestingly, there’s no camera module on the back side. The dock, meanwhile, adds two full-sized USB 2.0 ports. According to Lenovo, the Lynx will be available in December, starting at $600 for the standalone tablet. (The keyboard dock will be a $150 add-on.) Until then, we’ve got some early hands-on photos below, along with the usual spate of press shots.

Continue reading Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx: an 11.6-inch Windows 8 hybrid arriving in December for $600 and up

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Lenovo IdeaTab Lynx: an 11.6-inch Windows 8 hybrid arriving in December for $600 and up originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Hail to the hybrids

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

DNP Switched On Hail to the Hybrids

In the world according to Apple, there are OS X-based Macs and iOS-based iPads. As it stands now in the era of disparate kitchen appliances, never the twain shall meet, even if they tend to borrow features from each other. Point the finger of blame at synthetic pointing devices that offer precision at the expense of intimacy. Google has played it a little looser with its two-pronged operating system strategy. It has reserved Chrome OS for such traditionally touch-deficient computing form factors as desktops and notebooks while allowing Android to support keyboards and mice. However, as Switched On noted nearly a year ago, we’ve seen few pure clamshells that use Android.

Microsoft, however, has thrown these distinctions out the window, or at least with Windows. The latest release of its PC operating system seeks to dissolve the interface differences between laptops and tablets. It will appear on both types of devices as well as touch-enabled all-in-ones and desktops. But Windows 8 — with its tablet-friendly face and ability to run traditional productivity applications — will also turn more PC manufacturer attention toward portable devices that live somewhere between a completely unadorned tablet and a notebook. We can expect two main kinds of these hybrids.

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Switched On: Hail to the hybrids originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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