Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Thursday evening everyone! Today a collection of BlackBerry 10 slides outed video chat and screen sharing through BBM, and we learned that smartphone and tablet activations rose to huge numbers of Christmas day earlier this week. There’s a new survey from Pew and NPD that suggests tablets are beginning to replace eReaders and print, while we heard that Apple might be thinking about producing the Mac Mini here in the US.

A new video takes a few guesses as to what the highly anticipated Galaxy S IV will look like and what kind of features it’ll have, and a new concept from Hyundai will have users taking advantage of NFC to lock and unlock their vehicles. Federal regulators are pushing for black boxes in cars made after September 2014, and Toshiba has pulled the veil off a new 20-megapixel sensor for a point-and-shoot camera. We heard today that Game of Thrones and Project X were among the most pirated products in 2012, and Samsung told us how its Galaxy line has been performing in India.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took a 99% pay cut this year, while Samsung was busy dishing new details on its Premium Suite and the Android 4.1 update for the original Galaxy Note. Apple and Intel are rumored to be working on iWatch and targeting a 2013 release, and Mercedes-Benz released promotional images for the 2014 CLA-class early. We were told that crime in New York City is up for the first time in 20 years thanks to iDevice hype, while Microsoft doubled the number of apps on the Windows Phone market in 2012. If you’re in the giving mood, you might want to support Extra Lives’ Pokethon III, but if you’ve got some cash burning a hole in your pocket, Xbox Live’s Borderlands 2 sale isn’t a bad idea either.

OUYA developer consoles started shipping today, the Sony ODIN has been tipped to hit the market as the Xperia X, and Foursquare and NASA have launched a new Curiosity Explorer badge. Microsoft said today it isn’t all that worried about Google stealing its Office thunder, and Windows RT has been ported to the HTC HD2. Finally tonight, Chris Burns delivers his review of the Spigen SGP SGP10091 Armor Slim Case for the iPhone 5. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of your night folks!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: December 27, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mercedes has outed its latest high-performance AMG branded sportscar, the SLS AMG Coupé Black Series, borrowing racing credentials for an achingly impressive road car. Wrapping a long-snouted, gull-wing chassis around AMG’s 6.3-liter V8 engine, the new car forces 631 HP through a 7-speed sports transmission, for a 0-60mph surge in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 197mph.

That V8 comes with no supercharging or turbocharging, instead relying on natural aspiration for its 8,000rpm maximum and 635 Mb of torque at 5500rpm. However, various AMG efforts to slim the car have helped squeeze as much potential out of the powerplant as possible; the new sports exhaust system, for instance, has been crafted from titanium, saving 13kg from its steel predecessor.

In fact, at 1,550kg, the SLS AMG Coupé Black Series is 70kg in total lighter than the SLS AMG. The bonnet is carbon-fiber reinforced plastic, just as is used in motorsport, as is the rear panel behind the seats, the underbody bracing, and the torque tube. CRP replaces aluminum in sections of the space frame, and even the traditional starter battery has been junked, replaced by an 8kg lighter li-ion power pack.

For the driver, the most noticeable differences may be the new dual-clutch transmission – which has faster shifting speed and auto double-declutching during downshifts, along with a temporary manual mode for the occasional system override – and the AMG rear-axle differential lock, which promises better control over traction, even when most of the nannying electrics have been turned off. There are ceramic composite brakes as standard – now 16kg lighter than the old set – and an all-new chassis and suspension system.

Externally, Mercedes-AMG has borrowed FIA GT3 style for the SLS AMG Coupé Black Series’ flared wings, tinted lights, various carbon-fiber splitters, sills, and other components. Inside, there are bucket seats, metal elements across the dash, and plenty of leather and Alcantara. AMG even ditches Mercedes’ traditional COMAND APS entertainment/nav system to save weight, though it can be added back in as an option. That can be paired with a Bang & Olufsen sourced 1000W audio system with eleven speakers, two of which are illuminated.

Mercedes-AMG says the new car will go on sale in June 2013. No word on pricing at this stage.

Mercedes SLS AMG Coupé Black Series revealed… and it’s a beast is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

All you need to say is the name SLS AMG Coupe to fans of supercars to conjure images of gull wing doors and an epic exhaust note from a massive V8 engine. Now, Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a new version of the SLS AMG Coupe that ditches that V8 engine in favor of an all-electric powertrain. This is the new Mercedes-Benz electric supercar.

The new car is called the SLS AMG Coupe Electric Drive and is powered by a quartet of electric motors. Each wheel gets its own motor and the motors combined to produce 740 HP and 737 pound-feet of torque. The electric-powered car is able to hit 62 mph in 3.9 seconds. That’s only a tick behind the gasoline-powered version of the car.

The vehicle also uses a KERS system developed from the Mercedes-AMG Formula One team. Using a standard outlet the car would need 20 hours to recharge fully. A quick charger is available that will fully recharge the battery packs in just three hours. When the car launches it will cost approximately $537,930(USD) – about $300,000 more than its gas-powered older brother.

[via Autoblog]

Mercedes-Benz has already committed to bringing the SLS AMG E-Cell gullwing to dealers in 2013, but we’d advise holding back on taking out a second mortgage to pay for it until you’re done reading. The Netherlands’ De Telegraaf hears from an unnamed spokesperson that there’s enough interest to make a roadster version of the EV supercar. What action the automaker takes depends on sales of the hardtop: if it’s clear more people want an open-air experience, that’s what will happen. The electric motor layout is easily transferred to a roadster, the representative says. If that E-Cell variant becomes a reality, Audi might want to hurry up and build a production-grade e-tron Spyder before Mercedes claims all of the (very niche) German electric roadster market for itself.

Filed under: Transportation

Mercedes-Benz said to be exploring SLS AMG E-Cell in roadster guise originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 18:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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