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CTA Digital unlocks your Nintendo 3DS's inflatable race car potential
Forget about Sony and Microsoft. The Wii U? Ha! Everyone knows inflatable race car add-ons are what E3 2012 is all about. CTA Digital is leading the way, doing for the 3DS what it did for the Wii before it, letting players clip their portable console into the giant peripheral's steering wheel. The Inflatable Sports Car is also Wii compatible, for those who are bi-console. You can pick one up for $40 on Amazon, foot pump included. Shoes, clearly, are optional.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: glowing green sea, an equinox house and energy-efficient skyscrapers
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Tidal energy made waves around the world this week as Inhabitat reported that Verdant Power was awarded the first license for an East River power project in NYC, while across the pond the UK announced plans for a gigantic 27 gigawatt Marine Energy Park and a new SeaRaser tidal power plant that could be the world's cheapest method of producing electricity. We also watched President Obama set forth a green blueprint for America in his State of the Union Address, despite going on to support oil and gas drilling in his following speech on Thursday. Meanwhile, Scotland made headlines as a new company launched with plans to turn whisky into biofuel, and Google Earth revealed an alarming patch of glowing green sea near a nuclear power plant.It was also a big week for solar-powered architecture as Deutsche Bank completed the world's tallest roof-mounted solar array and the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the 2013 Solar Decathlon will be taking place in sunny Southern California. We also took a peek inside a crazy solar-powered billboard house, and we showcased plans for a super efficient Equinox house that tracks the sun. We also brought you the world's first 1.4 billion Euro home made from shredded bills, and we rounded up the 6 most energy-efficient skyscrapers in New York City.In other news, this week Apple CEO Tim Cook responded in outrage to New York Times accusations that Apple abuses workers' rights in Chinese factories, and green transportation blasted off as auto manufacturers unveiled a trio of high-performance vehicles - theTS030 hybrid race car, Toyota's solar-powered 2000GT, and the sexy Lotus-based PG Elektrus. We also saw researchers developed the world's smallest train from a strand of DNA, while Mitsubishi developed a way to make ships more efficient by blowing tiny air bubbles. Finally, we brought you the hottest news in high-tech fashion as the U.S. military developed a pair of high-tech undies to monitor soldiers' vitals and Chanel built a life-size airplane plane for its spring 2012 Paris Couture Week show.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar-powered Supertrees, hydrogen racecars and LED-studded shoes
The hot summer sun sparked blazing advances in solar energy this week as Inhabitat reported that a crop of incredible solar-powered Supertrees sprouted at Singapore's Gardens by the Bay conservatory. We also saw designers float plans for a series of gorgeous sun collecting water lily islands, and speaking of flowers, we learned that scientists are breeding cold-resistant super bees that can withstand mites and disease. Scotland made waves as well when it unveiled the next-generation Oyster 800 wave energy plant, and Japan's Prime Minister signaled a sea change as he called for a complete phase-out of nuclear power. Several cities took steps away from car culture this week as a Spanish town offered residents lifetime tram passes in exchange for their cars, and JetBlue launched a set of dubious $4 flights to offset the closing of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. We also took a look at the green technologies launched by NASA's soon to be extinct space shuttle program and we saw the unveiling of the world's first student-built hydrogen racecar. In other news, we peered into the future of consumer tech as we counted down our six most desired green upgrades for the Phone 5 and we saw Jawbone launch an app-powered wristband that promotes healthy living. LED technology also lit up our lives as Philips rolled out a beautiful new breed of luminous wallpaper and Chanel kicked of its latest fashion show with a line of LED-studded shoes. Last but not least, we spotted a set of magnetic building blocks that help Honduran families, and this week gadget expert and Engadget founder Peter Rojas closed our Ask a Tech Geek column with a look at six great ways to charge your gadgets with renewable energy. If you're thirsting for more, don't miss Peter's posts about fine tuning your laptop to save energy, vanquishing vampire energy drain, and recycling your old cables and chargers!
Nissan Leaf Nismo RC all-electric race car eyes-on
When Nissan announced the Leaf RC we, naturally, were expecting a little radio controlled version of the battery-electric sedan that's making its way to driveways now -- slowly. We certainly didn't expect a race version of the thing, but that's what Nissan created, and now here it is at the New York International Auto Show, sitting on a turntable and spinning away. In fact you could envision that spinning stretching it out. It's rather... longer than the stock Leaf. In fact, it really looks nothing at all like the stock car, but if it did it'd be all the more strange on the track than this long, low, spread-out, carbon fiber wedge. They are at least both pure electrics and both painted blue, though under the cerulean lights here just about everything is looking decidedly cool. Okay, so 107HP, a top speed of 93MPH, and a maximum duration of just 20 minutes on the track will hardly see this winning any WTCC races, but with a weight of just 2,068 pounds (some 700 less than a Tesla Roadster) we'd certainly take one for a spin -- even if it were a short one. %Gallery-121752%
Sunswift IV, world's fastest solar-powered racer, leaves GM Sunraycer in its dust
The Sunswift IV (aka IVy) might look like a mobile dinner table, but it's actually the world's fastest solar-powered vehicle. The table-top on wheels got the official nod from the Guinness Book of World Records last week, for hitting a top speed of 88km/h (about 55 mph) -- nearly 10 km/h faster than the previous record-holder, the GM Sunraycer, which bears a striking resemblance to a disembodied Android monster. IVy, designed by Sunswift, a student-run non-profit at the University of New South Wales, reached its top speed using 1050 watts, about 400 watts less than the Sunraycer, and performed its record-smashing run without the 25kg battery it's usually packing. Faster runs have been clocked, including by IVy, but Guinness has not been on hand for confirmation.
E-Wolf e1 electric race car could create new class of racing jockeys
There's certainly no shortage of hurdles to cross in building a competitive, all-electric race car, with the weight of the vehicle (and requisite battery pack) being particularly high up on the list. While the folks behind this new E-Wolf e1 vehicle have indeed managed to get the weight down to an impressive 500 kilograms (or just over 1,100 pounds), they've also taken another somewhat unique step to ensure the performance is just right: limit the weight of the driver to 150 pounds. That, combined with a 110kW, quadripolar, liquid-cooled, AC induction motor, apparently allows the car to hit 0 to 100 km/h in less than five seconds, achieve a top speed of 230 km/h, and last a full 300 kilometers on a charge. Of course, it also costs €150,000 (or over $220,000), but it is apparently street-legal, and definitely won't be mistaken for a Tesla Roadster.[Via Autoblog Green]
IFR developing iPod-like interface for infinitely tweakable supercar suspension settings
Race cars and many sporty street cars have had (near) infinitely adjustable suspensions for a long time now, but not so many can be so tweaked from behind the steering wheel -- and none outside of an international racing series can use GPS to auto-configure themselves to best suit any upcoming corner. That's what Spanish boutique automaker IFR is developing for possible future inclusion in the company's radical re-imagining of Colin Chapman's classic Lotus Seven, called the Aspid, and also for licensing to other marques. Drivers would use a "dial similar to that of an iPod" to tweak suspension damping to manipulate handling and could also modify the engine's timing and other parameters to make it torquier for short circuits or more powerful to blast down long straights. It's all rather conceptual at this point and there's no word on when any of this will come to reality, but if and when it does it'll make Nissan's gadget-laden GT-R look rather pedestrian and should be enough to keep the most gadget-addled gearhead busy for... well, a few hours at least.[Via Autoblog]
Sony patents PSP-controlled spy car
Check it out, all you budding G. Gordon Liddys -- if the usual assortment of spy gadgets isn't doing the job, Sony's got something in the works that should be right up your alley. According to a little site called Siliconera, Sony's European arm has filed a patent for a remote-controlled car uses the PSP as an interface. This bad boy is equipped with a camera that feeds video back to the hand held and allows the user to upload the footage to a website. If that weren't all, the patent makes mention of an augmented reality racing game incorporating virtual markers and paths that the players physically create -- that is, the junk in your apartment is incorporated into on-screen game play. Innocent fun, right? Well, perhaps -- at least until Iran gets involved. They're still pretty bent by the whole squirrel thing.[Via Joystiq]
F1's $500 carbon fiber mousepad for the rich and insecure
We thought $50 was a lot to spend on Kokuz's mousepad made of 200-year old elm wood, but apparently we hadn't seen anything yet. F1 racing is hocking a mousing surface made of polished carbon fiber, leather and Italian suede for a whopping $489.34 ($470.52 if you don't need the leather surface), boasting that it was made by "specialist composite technicians." Sure, it will probably look great sitting next to your new Acer Ferrari 1000/5000 and Pininfarina-designed external HDD, but we can't help but think how much more impressed we'd be with someone who took a little initiative and built their own air-cooled mousepad or, better yet, embraced the unique pointing technology of the Novint Falcon.
Wrightspeed X1: electric now among world's fastest cars
Which electric car has a quarter ton of batteries, a 100 mile range, recharges in 4.5 hours, and can best the nearly all the world's fastest cars in a 0 to 60 drag -- including the Ferrari 360 Spyder and Porsche Carrera GT? It's ex-Cisco and DEC engineer Ian Wright's Wrightspeed X1 electric racer, now second only to the 3-second Bugatti Veyron. Sound too good to be true? Well, it will set you back $100,000 and they're by no means commercial. But if for some reason you're looking for a better way to melt the skin off your face hitting 8Gs of blinding software-optimized electric horsepower, we've got the car for you.[Via CNN and MobileMag]
