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Hertz to start renting all-electric Smart Fortwo EDs next week
It may still not amount to much of a dent in the company's complete fleet of vehicles, but Hertz has just announced that it will start renting out the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive vehicle on December 15th, which follows recent announcements that it will soon be offering the all-electric Coda Sedan and Nissan Leaf in selected markets. As you might expect, however, the Smart ED will also be somewhat limited in availability, with San Francisco, New York and Washington D.C. being the only locations included in the initial rollout, and no word on any additional cities to follow. Head on past the break for the complete press release.
KDDI's 'smARt' television viewing concept links phones to consumerism at long last
Say you're watching a cooking show on television and you see some ketchup. Tasty, right? Salivating? Need some ketchup right this second? Look no further than KDDI's "smARt" television viewing concept, which uses your phone as a tool to get more information on stuff you're seeing on the boob tube in real time. Using an Android-powered Sharp IS01 to demonstrate, KDDI's crack team of presenters showed some delicious-looking food on screen then captured it with the phone's camera, which ultimately resulted in being redirected to a site where you could purchase a bottle of Hunt's for ¥650 (about $7.83). Of course, considering that TV itself can be interactive in a variety of ways, it seems a bit much to bother getting your phone involved while you're trying to zone out on the couch... but hey, whatever gets us to our Utopian dream of real-time ketchup purchases the fastest is where we want to be. Follow the break for video.
Exclusive: HTC F8181 is AT&T's Brew MP-equipped dumbphone
We'll admit, we'd kinda figured that HTC's venture into the seedy underworld of dumbphones with the introduction of the Smart earlier this year was a non-starter and that it'd quietly fade into the night before 2010 was out, but apparently not -- at least, not if you ask AT&T. We've been slid a couple shots of a new handset from HTC for Ma Bell going by the model number F8181 (it'll have a fancy name like "Bacon," "Double Rainbow," or "Nilay Patel" by the time it launches, obviously) that runs the Brew MP platform Qualcomm has been pushing this year for the sub-smartphone category; of course, it seems to us that smartphone hardware is getting cheap enough to push through nearly every price segment, but if we can expect this to be free on contract, we suppose there might be a market here. No word on dollars or dates just yet, but naturally, we'll keep you in the loop.
Brink's second dev diary explains the S.M.A.R.T. system
The latest Brink dev diary shows us the game's "Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain" system -- or "S.M.A.R.T." for short -- and how it allows players to deftly traverse environments while firing bullets at enemies. This is the system that allows players to practice their totally sweet parkour moves while murdering fools. Perhaps those smooth moves will inspire you to get some freestyle walking in as well -- in real life? Good thing, then, that Brink is sponsoring "champion freerunner" Daniel Ilabaca on a European parkour tour. The tour kicked off today in London and will hit a handful of major EU cities before ending in Paris on September 2. We might also suggest you buy lots of padding and, depending on your level of fitness, a membership to the local gym before trying that "freerunning" yourself.
The state of the electric automobile, in pictures
You've heard the announcements. You know the specs. You may even be able to guess how the showdown will play out. But unless you were in San Jose, California, this week for Plug-In 2010, you've probably never seen six contenders for our future electric vehicle dollars all in one room. We hopped in our late-80s gas guzzler and hit the show floor in your stead, snapping enough pictures of the Leaf, Volt, Focus, Prius PHEV, fortwo Electric Drive, and the i MiEV to give you a virtual tour. See what we saw after the break.
Coulomb partners with Ford, Chevy, Smart to deliver 4,600 free EV charging stations in US
Looks like Australia and Poland were just the beginning: Coulomb Technologies is looking to roll out nearly 5,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the US, effective immediately. If one of those cherry-red push pins is pointed at your neighborhood, you'll likely see the stations popping up at local businesses soon, and if you're looking to purchase a Chevy Volt, Tesla-powered Smart or one of Ford's two new EVs, you can even qualify to have a free station installed in your home. Partially paid for by a $15 million grant from the Department of Energy, the ChargePoint America program won't necessarily give you free electricity to go with it -- that "charge" in ChargePoint has a double meaning, after all -- but we're happy to see the zero-emissions future is finally on a roll. PR after the break.
Is my iPhone making me smarter?
I don't know about you, and I don't know about Chris, but in real life (by which I mean the normal kind of technology non-assisted existence thing that we used to have before the iPhone made its debut), I've let so many opportunities to learn and grow go by. What kind of tree is that over there with the funny leaves? Why is that building being torn down? What are the smallest countries in the world? They're passing, fleeting thoughts. Little opportunities that leave us almost before they're conceptualized. They may pop up in a conversation, often being pushed there by an inquisitive child. The answer is, too often, "I don't know. What do you want for dinner?" The iPhone changes that.
Smart Car's Smart Drive Kit for iPhone demonstrated (video)
Daimler hasn't had a sales success on its hands lately with its line of Smart cars, with sales festering after an initial boom. To try to re-capture the imagination of we smartphone-loving Americans with short attention spans, Smart unveiled the Smart Drive Kit last month and now, at the NY Auto Show, is giving it a proper demonstration. The iPhone app effectively takes the place of an infotainment system like Sync, including internet radio, navigation, and hands-free calling. It's all demonstrated in a video after the break, and it looks cool -- cool enough to even warrant $9.99 for the app and, maybe, the $49.99 annual fee for maps and navigation. What we still needing clarification on is whether that cradle will actually be priced at a ridiculous €240 ($326) and, if so, from which precious materials it has been crafted.
Livescribe Pulse Smartpen records heated Delta / airport conversation, leads to chaos
Whoa, Nelly! Talk about a whale of a story. Ben DeCosta, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport's general manager, loves gadgets. So much, in fact, that he purchased a Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, which is capable of recording audio onto its 4GB of internal storage space. While details on the story remain murky (disputed by both sides, actually), it's fairly clear that Ben and Delta didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on everything. To that end, Mr. DeCosta figured he could flip the recorder on during a private conversation between airline executives and personnel from the city of Atlanta, and now the whole thing seems to have backfired. Ben maintains that he didn't intend to record Delta's negotiations, and he even went so far as to suggest that Delta stole his pen in order to discredit him. In the end, the city's investigation found that there was "insufficient evidence that DeCosta intentionally sought to record the private conversations of Delta's team," but that's not stopping Ben from retiring when his contract expires in June. Hit the source link below for the whole drama-filled thing, but unfortunately, the discussions held on the pen have yet to leak. TMZ -- you on that, or what?
O2 scores exclusive on HTC Smart
Carrying HTC's very first feature phone exclusively: a blessing or a curse? O2's about to find out the answer to that question as it's hooked up with HTC to be the one and only carrier to offer the Smart in Germany, Ireland, and the UK. Though it's not running Android or WinMo, the Smart's not your average crappy, free-on-contract kind of handset -- it offers its own implementation of Sense, email access, and a browser, just like its bigger brothers, and it runs on Qualcomm's newly-introduced BrewMP platform. Look for it to hit in April, while TIM will grab it in Italy, Netcom in Norway, and the rest of Europe through direct sales.
Daimler's Smart Drive kit for iPhone gives you big buttons, a dent in your wallet
If you're one of the trendy hipsters driving a Smart Fortwo, here's another way of pimping up your ride: Daimler has announced a Q2 2010 launch for its Smart Drive kit for the iPhone. As pictured above, the kit consists of a cradle for handsfree communication plus charging, and an app that "combines all the features needed on the road" by the means of "extra-large buttons and extra-large letters." You'll get access to your usual music library (plus Internet radio), contacts, phone functions and map by Daimler (points-of-interest data from Microsoft Bing). There's also the handy "Assist" feature that can automatically mark your parking location when undocked, and can provide GPS coordinates to the Smart hotline for roadside assistance. What's more, Daimler's currently working on a camera for this kit that can identify speed limit signs, and can then warn you if you're speeding. Want it? You'll need to fork out a dear €240 ($326) for the cradle (which may or may not be necessary), then a one-off €9.99 ($14) for the app, and finally the optional annual €49.99 ($68) for on-board European and US maps plus live traffic data. We'll reconsider if the app can also start our car. [Thanks, Jason]
Indonesia's Smart Telecom deploys world's first commercial EV-DO Rev. B network
You might think that the world's network operators have already sworn off EV-DO's development path as they move forward on 4G deployments, but that's not quite the case: Smart Telecom -- in the Indonesian isle of Bali, of all places -- has just secured its spot in history as the world's first carrier to roll out EV-DO Rev. B. In practical terms, that means subscribers with compatible equipment can expect up to 9.3Mbps down and 5.4Mbps up, a nice little boost from Rev. A's max of 3.1Mbps down and 1.8Mbps up. Only laptop modems will be available to Smart subscribers at first -- that's how it tends to go with new network technologies -- and it expects to complete the upgrade by the end of 2010. Verizon, Sprint, feeling any pangs of jealousy here?
HTC Smart hands-on
At a glance, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense that HTC would be devoting time, money, and energy to moving downmarket into the dog-eat-dog world of dumbphones -- but after chatting a bit with the company today, we've got a slightly better sense for why the Smart exists: it's a stepping stone, not a final destination. It's promoting the Qualcomm Brew MP-powered device as a way to get folks who would otherwise buy... say, a Samsung Corby, and use it to get them interested in (and locked into) the Sense UI, which looks surprisingly similar here to what you'd find on anything else HTC makes. The Smart's screen animations are pleasantly fast and you've got basically all the stuff you'd expect to find on a basic new-in-box smartphone including full HTML browsing and support for Twitter, email, and so on. The 2.8-inch resistive display seemed totally usable to us; clearly, a full QWERTY keyboard won't be terribly comfortable on any 2.8-inch screen, but it ain't bad. In a word, we're impressed -- we wouldn't buy it (and we suspect you wouldn't either), but it's definitely got a valid target demo. Follow the break for video. %Gallery-82006%
HTC Smart is, ironically, company's first dumbphone
Remember that Touch.B that leaked a few weeks ago? Well, it's real now -- and amazingly, it turns out that the rumored non-smartphone status is totally confirmed. This would be the first time HTC has released a device that doesn't run a true smartphone operating system in the traditional sense of the word, instead going with Qualcomm's Brew Mobile Platform -- the very same setup AT&T's standardizing on for its dumbphone range starting later this year. It's got 256MB of RAM and ROM, a 3 megapixel cam, Euro-friendly 3G plus quadband EDGE, and the now-familiar Sense UI that the Smart shares with its WinMo- and Android-powered siblings. Look for this puppy to launch across Europe and Asia this Spring -- likely at a very, very competitive price point, if we had to guess.
Marvell's Armada chip bringing 'HD-quality video, 3D graphics support' to Entourage Edge
We already knew that a potent Marvell chip was under the hood of Spring Design's Alex, but at long last the mystery surrounding the powerhouse within Entourage's Edge is no more. The Armada PXA168 processor will be responsible for steering the world's first "Dualbook" through the stormy seas that'll be created once crazed consumers get ahold of this thing, and while we've no idea if the software will actually support this laundry list of capabilities, the chip should have no issue with "full-featured web browsing, multi-format video and image processing." More specifically, we're informed that "HD-quality video and 3D graphics" will be supported, which could obviously lead to some pretty interesting applications (you know, like actual web surfing on an e-reader). Hop on past the break for a brief look at an early generation model as well as a functioning version of what should hopefully hit shelves in early 2010.
Brink moved to Fall 2010; watch its S.M.A.R.T. system now
Back at E3, we were briefly shown Brink's S.M.A.R.T. system for navigating around the Bethesda-published FPS' environment. Our play session was mainly focused on the combat and quests of the game at the time. Now, Splash Damage's own Paul Wedgewood has been kind enough to demonstrate how it works in-game, courtesy of the G4 video past the break. Another interesting item brought up in this video is Brink's new release date: Fall 2010. Last we heard, it was destined for a Spring 2010 release. Not so anymore! %Gallery-64854%
Tesla-powered Smart Fortwo gives rides, ignites imaginations
We already knew that Daimler was looking to Tesla for its battery know-how within the electric Smart, and evidently the two have already put together a working prototype. Our best buds over at AutoblogGreen have hosted up a video and photo gallery of a Tesla-powered Smart Fortwo which was recently spotted at a heretofore unnamed automotive show. Amazingly, the vehicle was actually outfitted with the motor and gear box (version 1.0) from an original Roadster, though the incommodious nature of the show floor made it impossible to peel out and really cause a scene. Check the read link for all the multimedia goodies.
Caption Contest: The Network covers ground in a Smart car
We've heard that The Network is pretty expansive, but we never could figure out just how Verizon Wireless managed to cover all those dead zones in record time without being heard. Now, it all makes sense.Sean: "With a requirement to cut costs and save cake, Verizon has hired Bob the Builder to do the work of thousands. New Verizon slogan: 'Yes we can!'"Darren: "Anticipating an ambush from Chad and all his traditionalist friends, Verizon employees were forced to wear hard hats not just on location, but in transit."Paul: "There's probably a smarmy guy with glasses in that car. Can you feel the anger rising within? You must learn to control that anger."Chris: "'Small, slow, and easily destroyed' was not the corporate image Verizon was hoping to project with its road fleet."Don: "Verizon was forced to quickly improvise after its first vehicle, the Storm-mobile, mistook park for reverse and met an unfortunate end."Joe: "It's a long, lonely road out there -- longer and lonelier when your car is wearing a funny hat."Nilay: "God, I hope no one can hear me now."Ben: "Ironically, this Verizon Wireless driver was seen using a GSM handset while traversing the International Speedway."Thomas: "My other car is a T-Mobile."[Thanks, Evan]
SMART adds "touch recognition" to SMART Boards
We've seen some interesting large-scale multitouch products from SMART lately, but the company's bread and butter is still the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, and it's getting a neat little upgrade today: touch recognition. The board now intelligently senses the difference between a pen and your hand, so you can draw with the pen, move objects with your finger, and erase with the palm of your hand all at the same time -- no tool switching required. It's just a little tweak, sure, but it's the stuff like this that's going to make touch a viable primary interface -- check out a video after the break.
Daimler taps Tesla's battery know-how for electric Smart
Daimler has been talking about electric Smart cars for about 10 years now, but the closest you've ever been able to come to a production model has been to go all KIRF-style and buy a knock-off CMEC City Smart. At the North American International Auto Show this past week the company again confirmed that a little Smart that runs on little batteries is still in the works, announcing plans to release 1,000 electric fortwos on lease here in the States by the end of the year. Now that the show is over, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is letting everyone know that his company will be producing those little batteries, a partnership the likes of which he must surely be hoping to develop with other manufacturers as they jump on the EV bandwagon. 1,000 cars is disappointingly few, but it's better than the paltry 500 plug-in Prius models Toyota plans to pilot here.
