Hasta La Gadget!

ASIMO and his Earth-loving robot compadres pulling the strings at Honda have once again managed to find a way to save us humans from ourselves. All it took was an affordable hybrid, apparently, and Honda is showing off its new Insight by turning those LED headlights into one gigantic animated Lite-Brite in an upcoming commercial. The spot’s called “Let it Shine,” and the video’s after the break. Hit up the read link for the making of video and a detailed carbon footprint breakdown of the shoot — you know you want to.

Continue reading Honda’s “Let it Shine” commercial turns a grid of Insights into giant LED display

Filed under: Displays, Transportation

Honda’s “Let it Shine” commercial turns a grid of Insights into giant LED display originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After a brief period of unofficial officialness this morning, Tesla has rolled out the Model S to a sea of eager photographers. The company’s also revealed specs for the EV: this seven-seater can go from 0 to 60 MPH in 5.6 seconds, boasts a top speed of 120 MPH, features a dashboard display and a 17-inch main touchscreen monitor. It’s fully 3G capable, sports HD and satellite radio, uses LED and neon exterior lights, smart-key power, and push button gear selector. While that $49,900 base price will get you a battery that’s good for 160 miles per charge, 230-mile and 300-mile range packs will be available. On a 220V outlet, the company says it’ll charge in four hours with a 45 minute “QuickCharge” option, and you should be able to swap batteries if necessary in under 8 minutes. Excited? Find a way to control yourself, this baby isn’t going into production in Q3 2011. Check out a brief glimpse of the interior after the break.

Continue reading Tesla Model S now official

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla Model S now official originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re pretty comfortable with the idea of open source software running on computers and mobile phone — heck, even guitars — but cars? That one we’re still warming up to, but this concept vehicle from EDAG definitely helps. As its name implies, the Light Car – Open Source lets developers modify and / or improve upon the auto’s technologies — or at least put a SNES emulator on the back. The lithium ion-powered bubble car also sports an OLED-infused exterior for lights and signals that are supposedly useful both to the driver and other nearby motorists, but in actuality we suspect it’d just scare anyone tailing behind. No information on the interior, but we imagine a decked out dashboard and some futuristic chairs. It’s currently being shown off at the Geneva Motor Show; hit up the read link for more pics.

Filed under: Transportation

EDAG’s Light Car EV is open source, doused in OLEDs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tthe new HDTVs from CES 2009 are almost upon us, with new Samsungs and a few Sony BRAVIAs popping up on Best Buy’s website with the pricetags and shipping dates we’ve been waiting for. Samsung’s 55-inch Internet@TV widget enabled, LED-backlit 7100 model has a pricetag of $3,799, although we couldn’t get any indication when to expect one in our neck of the woods. The 46-inch 6000 series model checks in at $2,799 and is due in early April, with assorted sizes falling in from there, including selections from the older CCFL backlit 6 series line. Checking for a Sony V-Series BRAVIA or the 32-inch XBR9? They’re up as well, with a $2,399 pricetag on the 52-inch KDL-52V5100 due in stores March 22, although the Internet enabled sets are nowhere to be found. Take another look at our video of widgets in action before deciding, if the benefits of LED backlighting are cause to upgrade this spring are you ready to chip in $200 extra (the price difference between Samsung’s Yahoo! widget packing 7000 series and old school Infolink RSS 6000 series models) to Twitter on your TV?

[Thanks, Deen & Best Buy Employee]

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Samsung 6000 / 7000 and Sony BRAVIA V-series LCDs appear on Bestbuy.com originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you know that 33 percent* of people said they would prefer to send an SMS when asking someone out for the first time? Yes, it’s a geeky, geeky world we live in, but thankfully, there are some geeky ladies out there just waiting for that text…

OK, so the text might be a bad idea, but these Valentine’s gifts will surely woo your tech-savvy babe. Check out Part Two of Gearlog’s Valentine’s Day gifts for geeky gals, but make sure to peruse Part One for ten other Valentine’s Day ideas.

Heart Meter Shirts (above)
So, you know how in video games, if your heart meter reaches zero, you die? Buy one of the 8-Bit Dynamic Life Shirts for you and one for your girlfriend. During regular activity, only two and a half pixelated hearts will light up, but when you’re in hugging distance of your honey and she’s wearing her shirt too, the hearts on both shirts will light up until you “have full health.” Yes, the shirt is extremely cheesy, but if your girl is a fan of Zelda, she’ll appreciate it. $24.99 from ThinkGeek.com.

More geeky gal gifts after the jump!