nuremberg
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Audi Auto Union Type C e-tron study puts your pow-pow-Power Wheels to shame
Top speed of 18mph, and a range of 15 miles? Charges in only two hours? No, this isn't the future of transportation we're talking about here, it's a toy. A toy from Audi, of all places. The company has created this electric-powered and half-scale recreation of an Auto Union Type C, grand prix racer of the late 1930s, and done it in e-tron guise, applying the moniker from its grown-up line of EVs, like the luscious e-tron Spyder. This one's intended for kids of all ages -- so long as they're shorter than 5'11'' -- and it will be on display at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg. At this point there's no mention of a plan to produce it nor a price if Audi did, but surely it's one of those "if you have to ask" things -- that body is entirely made of carbon fiber, and that stuff doesn't come cheap. %Gallery-114873%
Fraunhofer IIS uses Awiloc indoor positioning magic to guide museum patrons
If you've been to a museum in the past year and change, chances are you've been coerced into ponying up an extra five bones for some sort of handheld apparatus. Supposedly, these things accompany patrons and enhance the experience, but more often than not, you're stuck with a grimy audio device that tells you little more than you brother Bob, who is undoubtedly tagging along behind and educating everyone in a 50 foot radius. Folks who choose to spend their time waltzing through the Museum of Industrial Culture in Nuremberg, however, have it better. The Fraunhofer IIS has developed a new technology for WLAN-based positioning, and unlike conventional GPS approaches, Awiloc actually works indoors. As the story goes, visitors to the museum can grab a handheld that follows their movement and then shows them what they're facing (or aren't facing, for that matter) in detail. Of course, they could also use the tracking data to see which exhibits were drawing the most attention if they were smart, but how exactly would the privacy advocate in you feel about that?
