“You’re representing me now. What you think; I’m gonna let you roll in a Hyundai?” Well, that’s back then, but Han’s probably gonna regret saying that, because the Koreans are on a roll. 10 years ago, nobody would even look at Hyundais, but now all the Germans are keeping their eyes on ‘em Koreans.
The Koreans are coming, and they’re coming in a very powerful wave. The Sonata is an awesome mid-size sedan with a powerful 2-litre turbo engine. The Santa Fe has a decent oil-burner that’s comparable with the German’s oil burner. The Equus is said to be as good as the Lexus, though it lacks the luxurious looks.
VW chairman Martin Winterkorn recently visited Hyundai’s booth at the Frankfurt auto show and was captured on video while getting increasingly aggravated over certain features in the new i30 model. Apparently, the Hyundai i30, which competes with VW’s Golf model, has a very solid steering wheel adjuster, which prompted Winterkorn to state “It doesn’t rattle”.
Of course, that wasn’t just a statement; it was a complaint that needed an explanation from his staff. He called for Klaus Bischoff, in charge of automotive design at VW, and told him: “BMW can’t do it. We can’t do it. It doesn’t rattle!”
Impress Watch reports that Japanese carrier KDDI will include in its fall lineup a business-oriented Android 3.2 “Honeycomb” tablet that’s shock-resistant, splash-resistant and and dust-resistant. The device will be manufactured by Asus, but so far there’s no indication of when or if this durable tablet will find its way over other continents.
According to the specs, the Asus TOUGH-ETBW11AA will sport a 7-inch (1280 x 800) touchscreen, a 1 GHz Tegra 2 dual-core SoC from Nvidia, 16 GB of internal storage, a microSD slot for expanding its capacity for an additional 32 GB, 4G WiMAX and CDMA/EVDO Rev. A support, a 5MP front-facing camera, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS, Bluetooth and a 7,400 mAh battery.
As for the tablet’s promised “ruggedness,” it will reportedly feature IPX4-grade splash-resistance — meaning it can’t be immersed (IPX7) or submersed (IPX8) in water. The Asus tablet will also feature IP5X-grade dust resistance and the ability to withstand a 2.5-foot drop onto concrete.
The drawback, based on images provided by Impress Watch, seems to be that the tablet will be bulkier than typical 7-inch tablets on the market. The site said that the tablet measures approximately 8.46 x 5.19 x 0.78-inches overall, and 0.87-inches at is thickest point.
The Asus TOUGH-ETBW11AA is expected to arrive in Japan this November “or later” for an undisclosed price. Expect to hear more about the device in the coming months in regards to possible international shipments, as the CDMA support could mean that Verizon Wireless may offer this tablet at some point in the future.
The Android community may be awaiting its very own Instagram app, but at least Flickr has now stepped up to fill the void. Yesterday, the photo-sharing service unveiled its very first Android app, along with a new social feature known as Photo Session.
Available for free on the Android Market, the app allows users to snap, filter and upload their photos directly to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr, all from the comfort of their own handset. It also features an array of camera functions like flash, ratio selection, and shutter focus, along with ten high-quality filters. Photo Session, meanwhile, allows you to browse through images with your friends in real-time.
All you have to do is round up your online comrades, start a session and begin flipping through a photostream. Every time you move on to the next image, your friends will, too, effectively turning any browsing affair into a collective, Don Draper-like slide show. For more details, check out the source links below, or trot past the break for a video run-down of Photo Session. Read more…
It’s been more than two months since Apple unveiled its Thunderbolt Display, and the gadget sadists over at iFixit are just getting around to picking the thing apart — quite literally. So what has this dive into the 27-incher revealed? Well, for starters, the iFixit crew found that the LG-made LCD display in this Thunderbolt monitor appears to be the same one found in Dell’s UltraSharp U2711, though favoring a cursed glossy finish. That’s also the same setup we saw in Cupertino’s 2009 iMac. This teardown also features a slew of chips from the likes of Texas Instruments and Broadcom and a miniature subwoofer. For more under-the-hood discoveries and a healthy helping of disassembled Thunderbolt Display components take a stroll on over to the source link below.
Cheer up, ladies, because Mitsubishi Electric is about to make your elevator ride substantially less awkward, but you better hold your skirts properly, because they may just fly like Marilyn Monroe.
Yesterday, the company unveiled plans to construct what it hopes will become the world’s fastest lifts, as part of a new project in China. The forthcoming set of elevators will be housed within the still-incomplete Shanghai Tower, where they’ll travel between the basement and 119th floor at a speed of 59 feet per second — a rate that would narrowly eclipse the current Guinness world record, which sits at about 55 feet per second.
These elevators, of course, would be significantly slower if they were filled with vomit, which is why Mitsubishi will add active roller guides, vibration-dampening roof covers and pneumatic controls to make the ride a bit easier on the human body.
Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before these flesh wagons enter the record books, as the Shanghai Tower likely won’t be completed until 2014. Willy Wonka, however, has already begun the appeals process.
Skype’s latest app upgrade brings a few substantial features, some good, one not so. Alongside a new anti-shake video call function (limited to the iPhone’s back-facing camera), you can now pair Bluetooth headsets with the VoIP calling service, something apparently “long requested” from Skype fans.
However, users have to fork out for credit to avoid seeing advertising that’s also baked into the new version. The update’s now up for grabs on both the iPhone and iPad, though there are reports of a few teething troubles, including missing credit and account details.
Amazon has finally lift off the curtain to their highly anticipated tablet, and it turned out to be a 7-inch slate, which is the Kindle Fire that we’ve come to known today. Engadget asked Amazon Kindle vice president Russ Grandinetti when we might expect a larger successor. With a smile, Russ said “Stay tuned,” and left it at that. Looking back at things, RIM’s Ryan Biden mentioned at a past Engadget Show that there was “no reason” the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook couldn’t be shipped in a different size, and given recent rumors that both outfits were working with Quanta, it’s not too tough to read betwixt the lines. They also asked about an international release of the Fire, and got the same response there. So, it’s coming… the only question is when.
Amazon has finally lift off the curtain to their highly anticipated tablet, and it turned out to be a 7-inch slate, which is the Kindle Fire that we’ve come to known today. Engadget asked Amazon Kindle vice president Russ Grandinetti when we might expect a larger successor. With a smile, Russ said “Stay tuned,” and left it at that. Looking back at things, RIM’s Ryan Biden mentioned at a past Engadget Show that there was “no reason” the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook couldn’t be shipped in a different size, and given recent rumors that both outfits were working with Quanta, it’s not too tough to read betwixt the lines. They also asked about an international release of the Fire, and got the same response there. So, it’s coming… the only question is when.
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