Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Capstone's supercar 150MPH with batteries



We've just spotted the hottest Earth-lovin' super car since the Lightning GT. Shown off to wide-mouthed onlookers at the LA Auto Show this month, the Capstone CMT-380 prototype is an automotive beast unlike anything we've ever seen. Rather than mixing batteries and a conventional engine, this whip combines the former with a diesel / bio diesel-powered micro turbine, which is -- for all intents and purposes -- a jet engine. Reportedly, the car can reach 60MPH from a standstill in just 3.9 seconds, hit 150MPH before being cut off by the electronic limiter, cruise 80 miles on battery power alone and drive from Idaho Falls to Spokane on just a single tank of fuel. It's being bruited about that the company is considering flipping this bad boy into the production line, but with an estimated asking price north of $200,000, there's sufficient evidence to think that the volume here would remain relatively low. Hit up Auto blog Green's gallery of shots from the show floor below, but only if you love peering at high-resolution images of stealthy, sexy things.

Dell Vostro V13 is $450



You had to know Dell's comically secretive product launch strategy would eventually break down, and here we go: although the company is teasing an "unnamed $450 Vostro" to US media, Dell Singapore has just gone ahead and launched the thing officially as the Vostro V13, complete with specs. Oops. While Dell PR tries to put out that fire, we can dance in the rubble and tell you that Dell's putting everything it learned building the Adamo XPS to some more practical use in the .65-inch thick, sub-3.5-pound V13, which packs either a 1.2GHz Celeron, 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo or 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo with integrated X4500MHD graphics under that 13.3-inch screen. Sure, the design isn't as wild as the Adamo XPS, but the extra thickness means that it can accommodate an Ethernet port, along with eSATA, USB, an SD card slot and even a freaking ExpressCard slot. All this for just a confirmed US$450 on the low end? Okay, sign us up. Hit the Dell Singapore link for more pics and a nice 360-degree view.

JVC's world's smallest HDD camcorder



It's been a continual process of evolution with JVC's Everio line, each iteration getting more pixels and and smaller bodies, and the latest entry is the best combination yet. It's the GZ-HD620, a full 1080p-recording camcorder (courtesy of a 1920 x 1080 backside illuminated CMOS sensor) that also sports a 120GB HDD in a package that weighs just 270g. Footage is shot through a 30x optical zoom lens and can also be written to a microSDHC card, though that internal storage will be good for 11 hours of footage at the maximum bit rate (24Mbps), and a vacation-encompassing 50 hours at the minimum (5Mbps). The cam is said to be shipping tomorrow in Japan at a price somewhere north of ¥100,000, which should equate to a few hundred over the $1,000 mark whenever it hits the Territories.

Nokia ships E72 and 5800 Navigation Edition



We know it's the N900 you're jousting for, but if you're looking to let those "other guys" put Maemo 5 through the ringer while you continue to use an OS that's been around the block, Nokia's got two more for you to choose from starting today. Both the QWERTY-packin' E72 ($407) and eager-to-route 5800 Navigation Edition have started to ship to America (according to the company, anyway), with the former listed as "coming soon" on Nokia's web store and as "in stock on December 10th" over at Amazon. The latter is available to order now for $299 sans contract, so good luck holding off for Google Maps Navigation to make this thing look dated.