Everyone Wants To Be An E-Reader

Nintendo is bringing E-Books to the lowest resolution 4.2 inch screen in the world. The device is the DSi XL with a resolution of 256 x 192. In other words, prepare for the worst migraines you could ever imagine.
The books in mention are classics (public domain I believe, so the authors are long dead) and will be released on the 14 June. I wouldn’t get to excited, because while Nintendo has a large followers of fanboys, they won’t be to happy when their eyes melt (in other words, don’t expect an Amazon partnership).

Via [Engadget]

Nokia Still King When It Comes To Smart

Today is smartphone market graph day. Every website I check out has there own pretty version of the same information.
Nothing really new to see. Nokia is still king followed by RIM and Apple.  Why post it then? Mainly because it has been a boring news week and the graphs are pretty.

Jump over to GIGAOM to check them out.

Sony Enters Streaming Video Market

Seems Sony has rounded up a bunch of studios and talked them into entering the 21st century of film distribution. Arriving, sometime this year, a system titled Qriocity will be avaliable on pretty much anything that runs a XMB (Vaio’s, BRAVIA’s, maybe PS3). The system will launch with hundreds of films in both SD and HD formats.

What doesn’t make sense is why it has taken Sony so long to make this happen? They already own a massive studio, and sure it might have taken some time to get 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Walt Disney Pictures, Lionsgate, Warner Brothers, Universal and MGM on board, but they could have started with Sony Classics and grew.

I am hoping for a good value subscription based service, with a local mirror at my ISP and fast cinema to services. I can dream can’t I?

Via [Sony Insider]

i-MiEV To Be First International Electric Car

Mitsubishi have done something unusual. They have created a car that isn’t a hybrid, but is a full electronic car. It runs off power and will get you 160KM’s off an overnight charge. It even has a decent top speed at around the 130KPH mark.
The i-MiEV (i Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) is designed for the city drivers who are to lazy to ride a bike, and prefer the comfort of their car over sitting in over crowded public transport. The greatest feature of the car is the fact it will be available globally from 2010. That means we might even see it here in Australia (though Mitsubishi has only said Japan, Europe and US at the moment).
People are sceptical about how useful a car, that can drive 160 KM’s off an over night charge, can be. I believe in countries like my glorious one (it is pretty glorious you kn0w) we have a lot of density around the cities that refuse to use the shocking public transport system. They drive around in there very fuel efficient cars, but could become even more efficient if it was all electrical (and you were charging it by renewable energy). If it is as expensive as the Toyota Prius, it would have to be a miss for my shallow pockets.

For more info, click over to EcoGeek.

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Sydney Harbour Bridge Gets Dwarfed

If it wasn’t enough that Dubai has the biggest of everything, they have now gone and taken on one of Australia’s favourite tourist destinations. They are creating a very sexy, and very large, arch bridge.
670 feet at its highest point and a mile long, this bridge will accommodate 12 lanes of highway giving it the ability to move 2000 vehicles per hour. The real whopper is the cost, which is set to be $US817 Million.
I will have to go to Dubai one day. Firstly to see all these fantastic creations that are being made there. The second reason is so I can find the money tree’s they have growing there (where does all that money come from otherwise?)

For more info, click over to DVICE.

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The Car Crushing Monster Bike

How do you move 13 tonne motorbike? With a truck diesel engine and a lot of know how.
Ray Baumann, a stunt driver from Perth Australia, has spent the last 3 years developing what appears to be a world first. The “Monster Motorbike from Hell” is a 9 metre long by 3 metre high motorcycle on steroids. It moves along on 2 gigantic tyres (3 metres high) sourced from a Caterpillar 80 tonne front end loader (mining truck).
If you want to see the Monster, you will have to go to Melbourne Motor Show in late February. If you are extra lucky, you might even see it get motorcyclist revenge on a car.

For more info, click over to Gizmag.

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The Tata Nano And The Rest Of The World

I am a big fan of a car for $US2500, but is it all that efficient and cheap? I’m a car enthusiast but have never worked for a car manufacture, meaning I am not the foremost authority on this subject.
The Tata Nano will succeed in India. India has a population of a billion and only 7 of every 1000 people own a car. The Nano will fill that gap, and only because that is all it is, a car. No radio, no air conditioning, no passenger side mirror. No bells and whistles to be seen (at least until you upgrade to the higher priced models).
In the developed countries there is a big number who spend what they can afford. If they are high earners they go luxury, if they are low they go for budget. The Tata, if the price was to be kept in other countries, would be a whole new level, an almost disposable level.
In Australia, to get to work and back every week I spend around $AU80 on petrel. In a year I would spend around $AU4000 not including servicing and other small costs. If I was to buy a Tata every year, with its 5litres per 100km’s efficiency, it would cost me around $AU4000 including petrol. No servicing required, just throw it out when it stops working.
That is possible if the car was to cost the labelled $US2500 all over the world, but unfortunately this can’t be done without sacrificing a lot. Different countries have different weather and road conditions. Different countries have different safety, tax’s and emission laws. The price of the $US2500 could sky-rocket, If the price was to go north to much, considerations would have to come into account, such as the cost of adding the features you would use to the car, such as air-conditioning, and reliability over other car manufactures.
On top of that, the cost of distributing a vehicle such as this in countries outside of India is going to be higher. Too train and pay a mechanic in India may be cheap, but it isn’t cheap in Australia. How about further advancement? Will they have to reply on the profits from its other subsidiaries to push the Nano’s development?
On the efficiency part of the car it is truly incredible, but efficiency is only half the battle. Whether you car uses 5 litres every 100kms or 50 litres every 100kms, it is still better to use 0. If 8 people out of that 1000 was to be finally able to afford a car, that would put an extra million cars on the road.
The Nano will change the way car manufactures do business. Lets just hope that change is for the better.

Tata Rip Nano Name For $2500 Car

Tata, and Indian outfit, has finally announced the final name for their extremely budget car, price at a minuscule $US2500. The name, which everyone has seen before, will be Nano. Unveiled at the 2008 Delhi Motor Show, the Nano showed featured a 33 horsepower 624cc two-cylinder gasoline engine (diesel option coming) and stepless CVT transmission or 5-speed manual transmission.
The car is super basic with no power steering and the instrument panel consisting of only a speedometer, a fuel gauge and an oil light. It doesn’t skimp on safety or the environment, being designed to pass all international side offset and side crash tests as well as Euro 4 emissions tests. Efficiency wise, it will be capable of getting 100kms off 5 litres, putting it next to current hybrid cars.
Tata expect to sell 500,000 of these guys, and at the price and for what it can do, it isn’t impossible. Expect to see them hitting shelves in the second half of 2008.

For more info, click over to PaulTan.org

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Travel Barstool For The Lazy Drunks

I’m not sure if this would fall under a driving offence, if you were caught drink driving. Flying Barstools have a series of barstools strapped to a sort of semi go-cart framing, giving you a very interesting form of travel for anyone who finds barstools incredibly comfortable. I have a few friends who spend a lot of time on a barstool, but this may be a little far.
If you aren’t up to date on your Flying Barstools range of products, it appears they have released a new model, which believe it or not, can travel at a mighty 30MPH. Not exactly flying, but fast enough to be damn scary. The chair is powered by a 6-horsepower Subaru engine, which replaces the older models 4-horsepower engine.
There seems to be a million options, such as pin striping, 4WD wheels (for offroading of course) and customs seats. The price is somewhat fair, at $US2000, but I would have to recommend talking to your respective partner before bring on home as a surprise.

For more info, stumble over to the Crave Blog.

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GT-R Is Much Crazier Then First Imagined

Imagine being the owner of a brand new McLaren F1, with its 0-100KM’s in around 3 seconds. Now imagine there being a sweet deal where you could get them for around $US70k each. That’s the kind of performance and value you will get if purchase the sexy new Nissan GT-R
To start check out this video by Edmunds on Youtube. It’s one of the first true play arounds a journo has had with it and too put it simply, it is a performance monster.  The numbers speak for themselves with a 0-100km/h in 3.3 seconds (.2 of a second faster then Nissan said it would be) and doing the sprint (AKA quarter mile) in 11.6 (same time Nissan specified). The GT-R is in super car territory for a quarter of the price a car comparable would cost.
Edmunds also loved its handling and said they could have got more out of it, if they weren’t scared of destroying it. Nissan seem to have done it again, and man do I want to drive (and own) one of these hotties.

For more info, race over to the Car Advice Blog.