spyder
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Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid headed for production
What once seemed to simply be a ridiculously extravagant concept for a plug-in hybrid has now become a ridiculously extravagant reality -- Porsche has just announced that it's putting the 918 Spyder into production. First unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, the car (in concept form, at least) packs a 500-horsepower V8 and a pair of 109-horsepower electric motors that should let you get about 78 miles per gallon, or a total of 16 miles of driving straight from the lithium-ion battery back. The cost? That hasn't been officially announced yet, but estimates peg it around the $650,000 mark. Don't worry, though -- it'll be eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit. Head on past the break for the full (but brief) press release.
Porsche 918 Spyder concept is the most beautiful hybrid we've ever seen
Um, we're sure there's something sensible to be said about this Porsche concept, but we're not altogether capable of coherent expression at present. We want to own one of these so badly, we don't even care if it has an engine. And boy does the 918 Spyder have an engine. A 3.4-liter V8 petrol burner is combined with electric motors to put out 500bhp, while featuring the mind-altering acceleration to go from a standing start to 62mph in just 3.2 seconds. Topping out at 198mph and offering a very respectable 78mpg fuel economy, this is pretty much the stuff dreams are made, which is quite naturally why you shouldn't expect to see it in any purchasable form any time soon. If you do care to see more of it, however, you can do so at the Geneva Motor Show this year or just past the break, the choice is yours. [Thanks, Zach]
Spyder3HDMI doesn't need any help to calibrate your TV
Datacolor has been pushing the automated calibration solution for a while with its line of SpyderTV products, the latest of which simplifies things even further, cutting out the need for an attached PC by simply connecting to the television's HDMI input. This way, everything that needs to be done is on the TV screen itself, and the company claims it will work with any digital TV. Considering how many people still aren't even watching HD on their HDTVs, even if its price isn't a hurdle (none announced yet, although the current Spyder3 pictured here is $99,) consumer ignorance will still leave many LCDs and plasmas stuck on torch mode or worse.
LG recalls 30,000 830 Spyder handsets for crappy 911 connections
While things like copy and paste, multimedia messaging and video calling are nice extras to have, there's really only one thing that's most important when it comes to a reliable cellphone: the 911 functionality. Evidently, around 30,000 LG 830 Spyder handsets aren't having the easiest time dialing for help, with a product recall noting that a huge swath of 'em have "difficulty sustaining a connection or have poor voice quality on calls to emergency 911." It should be noted, however, that LG's actually being really, really proactive here, as it has only received a single report (and no injuries) to date. The Spyder phones affected have software versions T83LGV03 and T83LGV04, and you can hit the read link if you suspect yours is amongst that 30,000.[Via textually]
Spyker rolls out three handsets and joins cellphone biz
Spyker, Dutch maker of fine performance wheels -- and owners of one of Formula 1's newest teams -- has rolled out a line of branded handsets. The -- pictured from top left -- C8 Spyder ($560), C8 Laviolette ($425), and C8 Laturbie($285) should help Spyker keep up with the Joneses in the automaker as cell phone manufacturer world. The Spyder and Laviolette are both dual band 900 / 1800 MHz jobbies with mostly unremarkable features like 1.3 megapixel cameras, 128 x 160 TFT screens, finished in black and silver. The Laturbie brings some tri-band action, a QVGA screen, same 1.3 megapixel cam, and gets dressed in glossy red. Interesting note is the keypads all seem to sport Chinese characters, so it doesn't take many guesses to figure out where they're bound.[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]
Get your social network on with Spyder
Spyder is an interesting concept: an app that leverages the APIs of allows you interact with and manage social networks from within the power of the Mac OS X environment. If you're a chronic social networker, Spyder might (eventually) allow you to speed up your obsessive profile checks so you have a better chance at getting outside for once. The reason I say 'eventually,' however, is because Spyder isn't without its shortcomings.First and foremost is the fact that the language at Spyder's site makes it sound like it will (eventually) work with more than one network, but for now, it only shakes hands with MySpace. While it allows users to manage more than one account (for example: if you run a band or an org in addition to a personal account), it doesn't let you do much more than browse friends and their friends, send messages and leave comments. No blogging, no iPhoto integration for picture posting, no vlogging, etc. While these missing features (hopefully) might arrive in a future version, there is still the glaring problem of price: Spyder is $40. Now I'm not really a fan of MySpace (though yes, I succumbed to peer pressure and opened an account in the hopes of silencing my friends), but $40 sounds way, way too high of a price for the minimal convenience it offers above going directly to the site itself. I could see $10, maybe $15, but $20 and above for Spyder - in its current state of minimal, MySpace-only features - is just too much to ask. I think the developer would get a lot more attention if he/she offered the app at a discounted price during its present feature-maturing state, while simultaneously promoting what features are coming, and how the price will increase through development (commercialism 101: people love a sale, and they love to know what they can get for their money in the near future). I've seen other developers have success with this open promotion and development method, and Spyder could really capitalize on this due to the relative cornering of its particular market; I've never seen another (potentially) full-fledged social networking app like this.Long story short: Spyder is a great idea and it has a lot of potential, but I can easily see its price knocking it off many potential customers' wishlists. It will be interesting to see how Spyder evolves in the future.[Update: readers have noted in the comments that MySpace, for some mind-boggling reason, doesn't have an API, while others like Facebook, Flickr and Upcoming do, making it much easier for 3rd parties to make apps like this. My gut reaction as to why Spyder stuck with MySpace for its launch is probably because of its massive popularity.]
