Technology, Hardware, Digital IT – January-12-2010 « ByREV

2012 Ford Focus Gets DI, Dual-Clutch, Start-Stop, and More; EV, Hybrid Variants Incoming

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17362
Ford today unveiled its next generation Ford Focus global platform. With the new Focus, Ford is hoping to seize more of compact car market (known as the “C segment” outside the U.S.) from competing models like the Honda Civic, Chevy Cobalt, and Toyota Corolla.

Sex robot Roxxxy looking for action

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10432597-1.htm
Unveiled at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas over the weekend, Roxxxy was developed by New Jersey-based True Companion and engineer Douglas Hines, and she’s way more than a blow-up doll. Roxxxy basically an anatomically correct bot engineered to interact with users by responding to simple conversation through an internal speaker. All responses, though, are prerecorded.

Blue-Will: Hyundai’s plug-in hybrid concept

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31229_7-10432567-257.html
The car can run solely on its lithium polymer battery for a range of 20 to 40 miles, said Scott Margason, director of product planning for Hyundai Motor America, in an interview here at the North American International Auto Show. Like the Toyota Prius, perhaps the best-known hybrid car, the Blue-Will has an engine that’s directly connected to the drive wheels and that runs in parallel with the electric motor.

Honda’s hybrid CR-Z to arrive in months

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31229_7-10432539-257.html
The hybrid CR-Z is “coming in just a few months,” said Honda Chief Executive Takanobu Ito at a press conference here at the North American International Auto Show. The car combines a 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine with a 10-kilowatt electric motor to deliver 122 horsepower at 6,000 rpm

Tip: Make Googl URLs without Google’s toolbar

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10432425-248.html
You’re not alone, and the good news is that there are now a handful of alternatives, my favorite being Googl Lite, a free Firefox add-on that shortens the URL of any page you’re on through Google, then copies that link into your system’s clipboard.

CES 2010, Wrap-Up: Zotac, OCZ, And SteelSeries

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ces-2010-ssd,2531.html
Met with mini-ITX specialists Zotac, gaming hardware purveyor SteelSeries, and took a look at OCZ’s new SSD lineup.

AMD to Give Notebooks a Boost With 5000 Series Mobility External GPUs

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17351
Finally an external GPU solution may be approaching the U.S. laptop gaming market. The drought may finally be over, though. DailyTech was live on hand at a CES 2010 AMD/ATI press event to witness a running demo of an external GPU case which was designed with the help of Acer. According to sources at AMD, the case can run 4000 or 5000 Mobility Radeon products.

The green scene at CES 2010 (photos)

http://news.cnet.com/2300-11128_3-10002192.html?part=rss&subj=news
You can now use muscle power to charge your electronics. Easy Energy at CES 2010 showed off the YoGen hand charger, which is now available for $40.

VW shows off hybrid coupe concept

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31229_7-10432153-257.htm
The New Compact Coupe, a hybrid concept car, can disengage the gasoline engine when it’s not needed to improve fuel economy.

Acer Also Equips Aspire Notebooks with Intel Core i3, i5 CPUs

http://gadgets.softpedia.com/news/Acer-Also-Equips-Aspire-Notebooks-with-Intel-Core-i3
Since the new Core i3, i5 and i7 CPUs from Intel just made their official debut at CES 2010, there’s been a full-fledged flood of notebooks and desktop computers based on these new CPUs, pretty much everyone in the business coming up with their own versions.