Hasta La Gadget!

NCC-1701 is the machine that took the world’s imaginations to strange new worlds in the ’60s. If Nissan has its way, NSC-2015 will be the machine that keeps us out of strange new parking lots. It’s a concept car from Nissan, part of the CEATEC 2012 Smart Mobility Zero exhibit that has half the show floor covered by crazy electric-powered cars of all shapes and sizes. Nissan’s Leaf is one of the more conventional looking ones, but the technology that lets it drive itself down the road is far from standard. We just took it for a spin, so please cruise down past the break to read how it went.

Continue reading Nissan NSC-2015 self-driving car with LTE and smartphone connectivity (test-ride with video)

Filed under: Transportation, Software

Nissan NSC-2015 self-driving car with LTE and smartphone connectivity (test-ride with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is your TV reception basically crap, so much so that you might actually have thought that you were living underground like a mole? Well, here is a device that you might want to consider – the $39.99 Leaf Paper Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna, which you will have to connect it to your TV by mounting it on your wall. It looks really good, too, as its name suggests, being super thin and all, where it is capable of receiving free over-the-air broadcasts – in High Definition glory as well to boot, allowing you to save more money each month as there is no need for you to pay for cable any more, with the Leaf in tow.

Those who live in a bustling metropolis or a suburb should be able to receive around 10 to 20 channels using the Leaf, but if those who live in the great outdoors, far away from the rest of humanity, will definitely be unable to receive as many channels – logically speaking. This is better than nothing, and at least when you fork out less than $50, the return on investment should be worth a shot, don’t you think so?

[ Leaf Paper Thin Indoor HDTV Antenna copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

This summer has been one of the harshest in recent memory in the US, with record heat waves and more than half of the country experiencing the worst drought conditions in more than 50 years. And in an even more troubling development, an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan broke away from Greenland this week. The need to develop clean alternatives to fossil fuels and water-saving technologies is more urgent than ever, but we’re making progress in several key areas. In California, scientists fired 192 lasers onto a single point, producing an amazing 500 trillion watts of energy and bringing them one step closer to starting a nuclear fusion reaction that would produce an unlimited supply of clean energy. In another promising development, a teenager in Egypt figured out a way to turn the country’s plastic waste into $78 million worth of fuel.

Continue reading Inhabitat’s Week in Green: liter of light project, space tourism and a ‘Hyperloop’ train

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Transportation, Science

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: liter of light project, space tourism and a ‘Hyperloop’ train originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hopefully, you haven’t paired up your Nissan Leaf with a GE WattStation for charging; if you have, you might want to power up with Ye Olde Wall Outlet for a short while. GE has confirmed to the New York Times that some Leaf drivers have encountered “problems” after charging up their EVs from WattStations. What problems? GE isn’t going into detail, but a Nissan regional manager claims that the the charging systems of 11 Leafs have been damaged after plugging into a WattStation. Whether or not there’s a crisis or a coincidence is still up in the air at this stage. Nissan isn’t issuing any warnings or recalls, and GE will only say that it’s “actively working” with the automaker to find the root cause. All the same, we’ll be cautious until the companies turn a new… you guessed it.

Update: GE reached out to us with the full statement, which you’ll find in the comments below. The company is mostly touching on what it mentioned earlier, but it’s adding that the WattStation meets the needed SAE and UL standards. Other EVs haven’t encountered problems to date.

Filed under: Transportation

Nissan Leaf, GE WattStation embroiled in charging damage shocker, invite other EV puns (update: full GE statement) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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