A1
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Audi's A1 Sportback hybrid concept surfaces
Audi confirmed its pure electric automobile plans earlier this month, and now the automaker's back with yet another green vehicle based on its A1 hybrid concept. In hybrid mode the five door "sportback" (sporty!) will go from 0-62 MPH in 7.9 seconds, reach a top speed of 124 MPH and squeeze up to 72.4 miles from a gallon of fuel. When in electric mode, however, the vehicle will take you more than 60 miles on a single charge. The adjustable drivetrain / drive shaft / shock absorber system allows drivers to choose between two modes: sport mode (for optimum acceleration) and efficiency mode. The latter not only makes best use of the lithium-ion battery but also ties into the vehicle's on-board navigation, taking your route (and the car's altitude) into consideration when computing things like power usage and regeneration phases. The A1 also allows select cellphones to act as a mobile control unit for WLAN access to the vehicle's navigation, audio and remote monitoring of the security system. For more juicy details -- and some pics -- hit that read link.[Via Inhabitat]
Audi confirms pure electric car, will likely be based on VW Up! concept
With an electric MINI Cooper just around the bend, a Twin Drive hybrid Volkswagen landing in 2010 and Chevrolet's Volt rolling into showrooms in a matter of months, Audi's ten-year plan is looking a little awkward. Though we've yet to hear that it's actually speeding things up, Peter Schwarzenbauer, who sits on the management board at Ingolstadt, recently confirmed that the company would be offering "a pure electric car" sometime in the future. Additionally, rumors of it being based on the A1 were dashed, opening the door for speculation that it will instead be built around the VW Up! (Lupo) concept. Here's hoping we find our prior to 2018.[Via Autoblog]
LLUON's A1: bad for steak, good for email
Finally someone has created the perfect lovechild of a laptop and desktop PC. Enter the LLUON A1, a buttery combo that looks as if someone suction-cupped a LCD display to the top of an Eee PC. The system is designed for recreational activities (though likely not hardcore gaming), featuring an Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, an 18.4-inch (1680 x 954) display, a handful of ports, and the ubiquitous DVD multi-drive. Right now this is a Korean-only product, and frankly we don't have a lot of hope that it's headed anywhere close to our shores in the future, but if you know a good importer -- or you've got Asian vacation plans -- you can probably snap this up pretty soon.
China's Wistar rolls out A1 PMP
China's Wistar has tossed yet another entry into the flood of PMPs coming out of the country these days, with its new A1 model seemingly doing little to distinguish itself but packing some decent specs all the same. This one keeps things fairly small with a 3-inch, 16:9 display, along with support for MP3, WMA and WAV audio and Xvid video at 320 x 240 and 20fps (DRM9, too). Otherwise, you'll get the usual FM radio and SD card slot, as well as a built-in speaker and microphone, which we presume also means a voice recording feature. No word on what it'll cost, but you (or your company looking to rebrand them) will apparently be able to pick one up in your choice of 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB varieties.[Via PMP Today]
Thomson touts A1 media player as "world's smallest"
Tired of bulky media players? Hate having to lug around your iPod Nano? Well, welcome to the Thomson A1, a tiny PMP that the company claims is the "world's smallest," (which of course we recommend you take with multiple grains of salt). Truth be told, it is rather petite, clocking in at just 3-inches and weighing only 87 grams. Somehow, they managed to slap on a 16:9 display and cram 4GB or 8GB capacity into the little guy, and of course it plays all your favorites, like MP3, WMA, WAV, and AVI, plus it rocks an FM tuner. The only real question is this; what are those colored "nubs" in the photo, and what exactly are they doing? The A1 will hit China first, going for around $106 for the 4GB and $120 for the 8GB, but no word on when or if we'll see this Stateside.[Via Tech Digest]
LG shuts doors on A1 plasma manufacturing plant
While some may have balked at Sony taking an early exit from the PDP market, LG is becoming the fourth major player to reevaluate its investment in plasma after Philips was caught claiming that LCD TVs would likely shape its strategy and Hitachi began to look intently overseas for buyers. Reportedly, LG is closing the doors of its oldest plasma manufacturing plant in Gumi, South Korea as it hopes to "increase operational efficiency and reduce costs." The removal of the A1 plant will drop its plasma capacity from 430,000 to 360,000 panels this year, and it should save the company somewhere between "$22 million and $32 million per year." Notably, LG currently sits in second place in quantity of PDPs shipped worldwide, but considering the perpetual nosedive of HDTV prices over the past year or so, we can't say that Life looks too Good in the PDP arena right now.[Via PCMag]
Save another $100 on HD DVD this FATHER'S DAY
It seems that every week we hear about a price drop from either HD DVD or Blu-ray, and this week it's both. First Panasonic announced their DMP-BD10A for $600 and now Toshiba is announcing a $100 in-store instant rebate -- our favorite kind -- on any HD DVD player purchased between May 20th and June 16th. Assuming no other discounts, you can now get a stand-alone HD DVD player for that magic price of $299. This combined with the free movies promotion, removes any (price-related) excuses for not picking up an HD DVD player, and enjoying the Ultimate Matrix Collection on HD DVD.
