Before and after the war: The dramatic aging of Abraham Lincoln

Before and after the war: The dramatic aging of Abraham Lincoln

On the left, Abraham Lincoln in 1858 during his campaign for the Senate of Illinois, just three years before becoming President of the United States. On the right, President Lincoln in 1865, just before his assassination. It’s only seven years, but it looks like two decades.

Read more…


    

2015 Lincoln Navigator gets 3.5L twin-turbo EcoBoost power

Lincoln Motor Company has unveiled the first details about the all-new 2015 Navigator. The new Navigator is the largest of the Lincoln SUVs that are available from the luxury automaker. … Continue reading

2015 Lincoln MKC small premium SUV pricing announced

Lincoln officially unveiled its new small premium SUV called the MKC in mid-November. At the time the SUV was unveiled, Lincoln offered up almost all of the details about the new vehicle. One of the key bits of information that was missing about the SUV was exactly how much it would cost. Lincoln has now […]

2015 Lincoln MKC premium SUV unveiled with 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine

Lincoln Motor Company has announced that the all-new 2015 Lincoln MKC small premium utility vehicle was officially unveiled earlier today. The production vehicle is based on the MKC Concept unveiled back in January in hopes of reviving the Lincoln brand. The production vehicle looks very much like that concept car. Lincoln Motor Company has also […]

Photoshop Contest: What Else Is Hiding in This Cryptic Lincoln Pic?

Photoshop Contest: What Else Is Hiding in This Cryptic Lincoln Pic?

As you may or may not have heard, a University of North Carolina professor claims to have found a major mistake in Lincoln history. Some blurry, sepia-skinned dude in the photo who we’d believed was Lincoln was actually not! As this Smithsonian Magazine article details, it’s more likely that Lincoln is this other blurry, sepia-skinned due.

Read more…


    



Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announces Top Safety Picks+

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has announced the five vehicles awarded with its Top Safety Picks+ designation. The awards are based on each vehicle’s performance in crash tests, with the goal being to encourage safer vehicles. This has been successful, with the Institute stating that some automakers have made changes to their vehicles in order to perform better on the tests.

volvo

The five awarded vehicles are comprised of Honda‘s 2-door and 4-door Civic, Volvo’s XC60, Ford‘s Lincoln MKZ, and the Mazda6. All but the Mazda6 are 2013 models, with the Mazda6 being the 2014 model. The Institute’s crash test put a quarter of each vehicle’s front end into a 5-foot barrier at a speed of 40mph.

Other tests include rear, rollover, and side tests, as well as one designed to see how the car holds up when the front corner is crashed into a pole or car. The latter is known as the “small overlap test,” with vehicle’s being rated with either a “good” or “acceptable” rating, which is then factored into the ratings of the other tests.

Honda’s Civic stood out among the winners, being the first small car to be bestowed with the Top Safety Pick+ award. The car underwent “significant” changes and upgrades to its front end in order to improve its rating on the small overlap test. In addition, Volvo also made changes to score better on that test, updating its airbag algorithm so the side curtain airbag would be triggered by the impact.

[via Detroit News]


Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announces Top Safety Picks+ is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

SlashGear’s Super Bowl XLVII ad spot roundup

For some people, the Super Bowl isn’t about the game, but about the commercials. We saw a lot of them during this year’s game, and there was no shortage of advertisements relating to technology, cars, and movies. We decided to round up all of the Super Bowl commercials that we thought SlashGear readers would enjoy most, including ones from Samsung, Best Buy, GoDaddy, and even BlackBerry. We’ve embedded some of our personal favorites right in this post, with links to all the other ads that are relevant.

super-bowl-trophy-2013

Samsung ended up going all out this year for their Super Bowl ad, taking up a full two minutes of airtime, costing them around $16 million after it was all said and done. Actors Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, as well as NBA all-star LeBron James made appearances in the commercial, and discussed some ideas on what Samsung’s “next big thing” could be. BlackBerry (formerly known as RIM) aired their first-ever Super Bowl ad, spending a few million dollars on an ad showing off the new BlackBerry Z10, which according to the ad, will light you on fire, so be careful.

Best Buy ended up airing their own Super Bowl ad as well, and it features SNL alum and Parks & Recreation star Amy Poehler, who is pretty much the most adorable and funniest woman in show business right now, so we have to give it up for Best Buy for pulling off such a cute and witty ad.

We knew GoDaddy would make an appearance at the Super Bowl, as they do every year, but this time they aired two ads, one featuring the typical sexy theme that you know and love, and then there was an ad that actually wasn’t that bad. The company advertised their .co domain names, and the ad rings true of anyone with an original idea these days.

As far as the automotive commercials, it was a hit or miss mostly. Audi’s “Prom” ad was probably our favorite one out of the bunch, with Dodge’s “Paul Harvey” commercial at a close second. Other car ads included VW’s semi-racist Jamaican ad, Hyundai’s adorable “Team” ad featuring kids with super powers, Kia’s “Hotbots” ad, Mercedes-Benz with their celebrity-filled commercial (as well as one featuring Kate Upton), Lincoln’s Jimmy Fallon ad and “Phoenix” teaser, and an awkward Toyota ad featuring Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco.

Movie trailers were also hot stuff during Super Bowl commercial breaks. The Iron Man 3 trailer caught our eye the most, with Star Trek: Into Darkness also showing off a quick teaser for us. World War Z also made a quick appearance, and we also saw an extended teaser for Johnny Depp’s upcoming movie, The Lone Ranger.

Now we want to hear what you think. We know not every ad this year was amazing, and some were iffy at best. What was your favorite commercial from the Super Bowl? Which tech company blew it out of the park? Which one could’ve been better? What suggestions would you make to the creators of the ads? Sound off in the comments below!


SlashGear’s Super Bowl XLVII ad spot roundup is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lincoln MKC Concept looks to crossover to rescue brand

Lincoln isn’t relying solely on a name change to turn around its fortunes; the car company has whipped the wraps off of its new MKC Concept, a compact luxury crossover it hopes will find it some buyers in the premium SUV category. Bold lines and the company’s distinctive grille are accompanied by frameless windows and some impressive 20-inch wheels, while inside there’s lashings of leather and up-to-the-minute driving controls.

lincoln_mkc_concept_1

Lincoln’s target is both those drivers looking to step up to their first luxury car, and those stepping down in size but not wanting to sacrifice comfort on the move. For that audience, the MKC Concept borrows cues from previous Lincoln cars but also throws in some new material of its own; the rear tailgate, for instance, wraps around the edges of the car, so that the MKC’s designers could splay the lights right across without a cutline.

A fixed panoramic roof keeps things airy inside – helped by the white leather, which continues up the pillars, the door trip uppers, edges of the console, and even parts of the cargo area – while wood has been treated with metallic flake for a Twilight-effect sparkle. Chrome features on the speaker grilles and the air vents, while there’s crimson highlight-stitching on the seats.

lincoln_mkc_concept_3

Right now, Lincoln is maintaining that the MKC Concept is just that – a concept – with no word of a potential release date. With the luxury SUV billed as “a vision of how Lincoln will enter the industry’s fastest-growing small luxury utility segment” and a push into the four highest-growth segments with new models over the next four years, however, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the MKC in showrooms soon.

lincoln_mkc_concept_1
lincoln_mkc_concept_2
lincoln_mkc_concept_3
lincoln_mkc_concept_4
lincoln_mkc_concept_5
lincoln_mkc_concept_6


Lincoln MKC Concept looks to crossover to rescue brand is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Rhapsody comes to Ford and Lincoln vehicles through SYNC AppLink

While we’ve got all sorts of cool little gadgets to check out here at CES, a number of car manufacturers are also showing off whats new with their vehicles. One of these car manufacturers is Ford, which today announced that Rhapsody will soon be available in Ford and Lincoln vehicles equipped with SYNC AppLink. This is the first time Rhapsody has been fully integrated with vehicles, so this is certainly pretty big for the popular music streaming service.

Rhapford1

SYNC AppLink has a number of benefits for the Rhapsody user who wants to use the streaming service in the car. While it was definitely possible to use Rhapsody in your car before this integration with Ford and Lincoln vehicles, AppLink will let you sync the app to your car, thus allowing you to control the app using the SYNC touch controls or the radio buttons on your steering wheel. This, in turns, lets you keep your eyes on the road, which means that you get the best of both worlds – you get to listen to Rhapsody while at the same time keeping the chances of a potentially nasty crash low.

Setup seems pretty easy too, with Rhapsody’s mobile app connecting to AppLink via Bluetooth as soon as its started up. This partnership will probably be a big win for Rhapsody, as the company recently polled its users to find out what they did for entertainment while driving in the car. 40% of them said they stream Rhapsody while only 13% listen to the radio, so if Rhapsody can make the streaming process easier for Ford and Lincoln owners, we might see that number rise.

RhapFord2

In addition, Rhapsody has found that the number of users accessing the service through mobile devices is growing year after year, so this new team up with Ford could help that percentage grow as well. Given the fact that SYNC AppLink is available on 1 million different for vehicles (including the 2013 Fiesta, Mustang, Expedition, and F-150, among others), there should be a fair number of Ford users who can take advantage of this new functionality. Be sure to check out our CES portal for more from the show here in Las Vegas!


Rhapsody comes to Ford and Lincoln vehicles through SYNC AppLink is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lincoln MKC compact crossover tipped for Detroit Auto Show 2013

The next generation Ford Lincoln MKC compact crossover vehicle has been tipped to be appearing for the first time at the Detroit Auto Show 2013. This vehicle has been said to be appearing by the Detroit Bureau where they’re confident that this downsized crossover-utility vehicle will be one of many similar vehicles to be showing their face for the first time officially. The MKC has been said to be sharing many features with the Ford Escape (as pictured below) save for many luxury features that’ve been cut out to make this machine more affordable for the mass market.

asdfdas

The Ford Motor Company will be bringing four new Lincoln luxury vehicles to the market between here and 2014, the MKC being one of them. There’s also a new MKZ planned, so says the same source, this being accompanied by a replacement for the larger MKS. The fourth vehicle has been tipped to be a complete replacement for the full-sized Navigator SUV.

The 2013 Lincoln MKZ that’s been out in the public eye for some time now is set as a precursor for the MKC, both vehicles said to be working with many of the same features, top to bottom. The MKC is said to be working with the same horizontal grille as its predecessor and will have the same C-segment platform as the Ford Escape and the Ford Focus. The new Lincoln MKZ has been tipped to be working with several different powertrain options including the Ford 2.0-liter EcoBoost or possibly the 1.6-liter turbocharged EcoBoost.

We’ll be seeing this vehicle within the next few weeks if not straight up in-person at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. This show also goes by the name North American International Auto Show and is set to be a massive display of excellence from car and truck brands from left to right, as always. Stick with SlashGear for the full scoop!


Lincoln MKC compact crossover tipped for Detroit Auto Show 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.