Monday, 3 October 2011

2011 Nissan Leaf EV Test Drive: Plug-In Electric Paves Road to 2010 Launch

Nissan continues its EV full court press with an ambitious, all-electric vehicle called Leaf that will be available in 2010. We tested the original EV-02 prototype of this car last year. And now, we've spent some time behind the wheel of a newer model in Japan.

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Source: http://feeds.popularmechanics.com/~r/pm/blogs/automotive_news/~3/XBloUVX-hd8/4326806.html

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Name That Exhaust Note, Episode 105: 2012 Jaguar XKR-S

On Tuesday, we posted an audio recording of a mystery car?s exhaust note. To hear it again, click play above. Almost everyone who commented figured out that this week?s sound came from the 2012 Jaguar XKR-S. Like that sound? Download the MP3 and quiz your friends, make your own ringtone, or just lull yourself to [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/ffDx2JA-h6E/

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GM Pioneers The Front Center Air Bag

General Motors will launch an industry-first center air bag in 2013 Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Chevy Traverse midsize crossovers. The airbag will be standard on the Buick Enclave, and on all Acadia and Traverse models equipped with power seats. The front center airbag is designed to protect drivers in an opposite-side crash, and will serve as...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheCarConnection/~3/aZgKpg3RyiI/1066713_gm-pioneers-the-front-center-air-bag

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Can car reviewers be trusted?

American Journalism Review recently posted an article by Frank Greves entitled Taking Readers for a Ride which talks, not particularly favorably, about the world of automotive journalism. The article makes some strong (and by and large legitimate) accusations: Free loaner cars, press junkets, automakers who favor positive reviewers, and journalists who say nice things to curry favor -- all points I'd like to address.

Sunday, 2 October 2011

Video: Honda's Asimo + Kinect = Creepy animatronic hokey-pokey

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Asimo Kinect

When the end of the world comes, it will arrive on the shoulders of dancing robots. The researchers behind Asimo, the humanoid robot from Honda, have tapped into the muscle behind the Xbox Kinect system to allow users to control Asimo using nothing more than their own body movements. With self-collision safeguards and upper and lower body correlation programming in place, the adorable face of our robotic overlords is moving more like a human than ever before. What's more, Aismo can now utilize a database of text-inspired gestures as a form of communication.

Why does this matter? In the past, programmers had to individually code the movements in each of Asimo's joints in order for the robot to be able to perform a simple task. The design required a symphony of programming just for the robot to be able to walk across a stage. Now Asimo merely requires a human to move naturally in order to instruct his joints. It's a massive step forward. We're guessing it wouldn't take much to be able to record those movements for future replay, either. Hit the jump to check out the video.

Continue reading Honda's Asimo + Kinect = Creepy animatronic hokey-pokey

Honda's Asimo + Kinect = Creepy animatronic hokey-pokey originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/02/hondas-asimo-kinect-creepy-animatronic-hokey-pokey/

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Can you watch this without flinching?

Video: yet another demonstration that bike racers are utterly mental

Source: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/biker-crash-2011-09-23?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ongoing

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480bhp Nissan Juke: first pic

This is the ?Super Juke?, stripped out and powered by something almighty indeed?

Source: http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/nissan-juke-480bhp-super-juke-2011-09-27?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ongoing

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