The end of the Nissan Juke-R build has come and gone. The vehicle is done. Only a lucky few were there when the 485-horsepower twin-turbo V6 borrowed from a Nissan GT-R cleared its throat for the first time. The thrills and high-fives, that wave of adrenaline that buoys dog-tired men, and the long minutes of standing around and grinning at your project as it burbles away is a private moment that only the builders can fully appreciate.

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It appears that Samsung and Apple’s never-ending game of patent Risk is beginning to draw concern from government regulators. The European Union’s Competition Commission is investigating the companies’ various disputes out of a growing worry that the war could be stifling competition in the mobile market. The agency’s commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, has request information about the patents in question from both companies, though he has yet to receive a reply. Almunia was careful to point out that this is hardly the only example of a potential abuse of intellectual property rights to distort the market, but with more than 20 cases in 10 countries it’s certainly one of the largest and most high profile. If the commission chooses to pursue legal action both Samsung and Apple could be fined up to 10 percent of their annual revenue. Maybe under threat of such hefty fines, the two competitors will put aside their differences and actually compete… you know, in the marketplace instead of in the court room.

SOURCE via Reuters

Sure, the Transformer Prime has been official for a couple of weeks now, but we haven’t seen the 10-inch tablet get much action. ASUS is finally ready to show us the quad-core Tegra 3 tablet — running Ice Cream Sandwich, no less. The tablet won’t actually ship with the brain-freezing mobile OS, but the company has promised a sweet, sweet upgrade. Check out the video, including 1080p video playback and some time with the quad-core-friendly Riptide GP after the break.

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Sure, the Transformer Prime has been official for a couple of weeks now, but we haven’t seen the 10-inch tablet get much action. ASUS is finally ready to show us the quad-core Tegra 3 tablet — running Ice Cream Sandwich, no less. The tablet won’t actually ship with the brain-freezing mobile OS, but the company has promised a sweet, sweet upgrade. Check out the video, including 1080p video playback and some time with the quad-core-friendly Riptide GP after the break.

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Lenovo has reportedly launched what it considers the “world’s smallest desktop PC,” the IdeaCentre Q180, which features an Intel Atom CPU and an AMD Radeon HD 6450A graphics.

Measuring just 6.1 x 7.56 x 0.86-inches, the IdeaCentre Q180 has a starting price of $349 and offers a few customizable features. However the base model (31102AU) sports a 2.13 GHz Intel Atom D2700 dual-core processor, an AMD Radeon HD 6450A GPU with 512 MB of memory, 2 GB of PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM clocked at 1066 MHz, a 5400RPM 500 GB HDD and more.

For an extra fifty bucks, consumers can purchase the 31102BU which upgrades the memory to 4 GB and adds an optical drive. Yet both models come packed with 802.11 b/g/n wireless connectivity, Bluetooth, HDMI output, an 8-in-1 card reader, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, and a USB keyboard and mouse. Not bad for such a compact little desktop PC.

“With the IdeaCentre Q180, we upped our game in the compact PC category,” said Nick Reynolds, executive director, Product Group Marketing, Lenovo. “Featuring the latest HD Graphics and Blu-ray 3D playback, the Q180 enables consumers to change the way they enjoy multimedia and the Web in their living room at an affordable price point.”

In addition to the base features, consumers have an option of choosing a 750 GB HDD, a 128 GB SSD, an external DVD burner and an external Blu-ray drive. Other options include an $80 Lenovo Enhanced Multimedia Remote with a backlit keyboard, 7.1 Surround Sound, Windows 7 Professional, external speakers, and even Microsoft’s Office Home & Business 2010 suite.

The estimated ship date of both IdeaCentre Q180 models is December 1, 2011. For more information, head here.

We’ve been waiting very, very patiently, for RIM to make good on its promise to deliver a native email and calendaring experience to the PlayBook. So far, we’ve been sorely disappointed. Supposedly the essential productivity and contact management tools will be coming with the update to version 2.0 of the OS in February, but until now we’ve seen neither hide nor pixelated hair of the apps. At the BlackBerry Innovation Forum RIM finally took the wraps off and demoed the email, contacts and calendar suite for a presumably relieved audience of QNX fans. The photos snagged by BlackBerry Cool aren’t the greatest, but you can see the experience has been carefully crafted for a tablet, and the smartphone apps have simply been blown up to fill seven diagonal inches. A particularly interesting feature is, as the number of appointments you have scheduled on a particular day increases, the date grows and becomes bolder to alert you to your hectic schedule (above). For a bunch more pics and few more details check out the source link.

SOURCE via Blackberrycool

Hybrid models have the advantage of fuel economy over their gas-only siblings, but it appears that batteries and electric motors make them safer as well. The Highway Loss Data Institute studied 25 2003 to 2011 vehicles that featured both conventional and hybrid powertrains (example: Honda Civic and Honda Civic Hybrid). The Toyota Prius and Honda Insight were not included in the study since neither vehicle has a conventionally-powered counterpart.

The data shows that occupants are 27 percent less likely to be injured if they’re in the hybrid version of the vehicle. There are several reasons why the hybrid is safer, but the biggest factor is weight. Heavier cars are safer than lighter vehicles, since the added mass means that the heavier vehicle will transfer force to the lighter vehicle. That’s good for occupants and insurance companies, as the hybrids need 25 percent less personal injury protection than their conventional counterparts.

But while hybrids have proven to be safer than their non-hybrid counterparts, the story isn’t as good for pedestrian crashes. HDLI finds that hybrid vehicles are 20 percent more likely to be involved in pedestrian crashes with injuries. The study claims that pedestrians might get involved in more accidents with hybrids because they can’t hear the cars when they’re in electric mode. We’d add that low rolling resistance tires often contribute to longer braking distances, and the heavier hybrids are also slower and less manoeuvrable than their non-hybrid counterparts.