The i-Miev Evo looks nothing like its production cousin, and packs all-wheel-drive.

(Credit:
Mitsubishi )

Mitsubishi Evos, performance-modified versions of the Lancer model, became legendary on the offroad rally circuit for their exceptional handling. Now Mitsubishi takes the Evo designation into the future with the first i-Miev Evolution, a performance version of its pod-like i-Miev electric city
car.

Mitsubishi built the i-Miev Evo for the annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb, a race featuring 156 turns over 12.42 miles with a 4,700 foot ascent. The company says it started with a stock i-Miev, but the specs show heavy modification. Along with a completely new, carbon fiber body, the i-Miev Evo gets three 80 kilowatt electric motors, one for the front wheels and two at the rears. These motors get juice from a 35 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack.

The stock i-Miev, one of which will also run the course, uses a single 49 kilowatt motor on the rear wheels, powered by a 16 kilowatt-hour battery pack. It seems obvious which one should win.

At last year’s Hill Climb, the Nissan Leaf conquered its division of one car. Nissan has not entered this year’s event as of yet.

The Hill Climb, which takes place on July 8, will see seven cars competing in the Electric division. This new division seems to be open to production and custom-built cars. The i-Miev Evo will face tough competition against the likes of Summit’s Her-02, HCE’s Lightning XP12, and Tajima Motor’s Monster Sport Pikes Peak Special.

Toyota Motorsport also has an undisclosed vehicle in the Electric division, which could be a race-modified version of the recently unveiled RAV4 EV.

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Animator Andrew Gordon (right) plays host to Steve Jobs and “Toy Story” director and Pixar Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter in the “secret” room. This is a still from a Gordon-narrated short about the room — see embedded video below.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET)

If you’ve worked an office job for any length of time, you’ve probably found yourself envying “the creatives” — the people in the design department, say, who always seem to be having more fun than anyone else, with their crazy cubicle setups and unusual work routines.

Matthew Panzarino over at The Next Web has posted a great little story about one of the most extreme — and awesome — examples of this that I can imagine.

Panzarino’s piece concerns a secret room at Pixar. Judging from what the author says, I should’ve known about the hideaway before. But I didn’t, and you may not have either, so here we go.

It seems that when Pixar moved into its then-new building in Emeryville, Calif., animator Andrew Gordon (who worked on “Monsters Inc.,” “Little Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” and so on) felt a bit of pressure to outdo his coworkers’ cubicle craziness. (You can imagine, at a place like Pixar — which is packed with “creatives” — just how inventive people get with their work setups.)

Luckily, he discovered a small access hatch in the wall of his office, and — creative, curious, and mischievous person that he must be — he wasted no time in doing what many of us probably wouldn’t have. He opened it. Then he got on his hands and knees and crawled into it. Then he kept crawling, down a dark little tunnel, until lo and behold the tunnel opened up into a secret “room.”

The hatch, tunnel, and “room” were really just a mundane setup designed to give maintenance workers access to a portion of the building’s ventilation system. But Gordon’s imagination moved in, and the rest, as they say, is history. He started modestly, decorating with strands of Christmas lights. But over time, the humble maintenance space evolved into the “Lucky 7 Lounge” or the “Love Lounge,” with a sliding bookcase in front of the access hatch — operated by a button hidden in a bust of Shakespeare — carpets, furniture, and monogrammed pillows; a full bar; and even a camera trained on the tunnel to warn Gordon and his partners in crime of an approaching boss or some other meddlesome creature.

Through the years, the fabled space has played host to a number of illustrious visitors, from movie stars to sports heroes to tech icons such us Steve Jobs.

But Gordon himself tells the story far better than I ever could. The centerpiece of Panzarino’s article is a bonus feature from the DVD of “Toy Story 3,” in which Gordon narrates — surprise — a sweet little animated short about the lounge. (The clip was posted to YouTube by Scott Myers at The Blacklist. I’ve embedded it below. Note: The vid mentions Andrew Stanton and John Lasseter — those are, respectively, the director of “Little Nemo” and “WALL-E” and the director of “Toy Story” and Pixar’s chief creative officer.)

Take a look at Panzarino’s article too. In it he quotes a passage about the lounge from Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio, and he includes some photos of the room itself (you can find more by simply doing a Google Images search on “Lucky 7 lounge” Pixar — here’s a good one, showing Gordon himself, and there are several here).

Oh and this just in: My CNET News colleague Daniel Terdiman tells me he’s visited the lounge (he’d no doubt been sworn to secrecy but had to break his oath when he saw that I was writing this). He says: “I’ve been in the secret room. It’s really, really cool. A great place to have a drink — though I didn’t get one.” Poor Daniel. No cocktails for us hard working journalists. I guess those are reserved for the “creatives.”

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Sony must stay on top of Android updates for its tablets to remain relevant to consumers.

(Credit:
Sony)

One must wonder why Sony cannot get out of the habit of playing a fragmented and behind-the-curve
Android release schedule for its devices.

Finally putting speculation to rest, a Sony representative confirmed with Crave today (and subsequently on Twitter) that Sony
tablet owners in “all regions will have Android 4.0 by end of May.” And on a related note, a Sony Japan statement announced a May 24 drop date for Android 4.0 landing on both Tablet S and Tablet P devices specifically in that country, perhaps a timeframe we should expect elsewhere.

To recap, see if you can keep up with this:

Currently, Sony offers Android 4.0 software for the Tablet S in the U.S. (since April), while Europe, Japan and other countries only have official access to Android 3.2.1 for both the Tablet P and the Tablet S. You read that correctly — Sony’s home country and Europe still pick away at Honeycomb while Americans enjoy Ice Cream Sandwich.

Sony Tablet P looks great from all angles (photos)

Up until now, the timetable for the arrival time of the Android 4.0 update for Sony’s tablets remained a mystery in some ways. Sony gave Android 4.0 to U.S. owners of the Tablet S for a considerable amount of time before any other region.

The level of frustration emanating from European Sony tablet owners seems at an all-time high. One discussion topic at the Sony Europe forums contains many lengthy replies from disappointed Sony tablet owners, including those who resorted to hackers for the update instead. “I have a 16Gb Tab S, rooted and ICS courtesy of Condi from XDA – who is much more helpful and responsive than $ony,” said forum user praed0r.

Do you think Sony’s continued failure to quickly deploy Android updates burns consumers from repurchasing into the brand? You may recall the now-defunct Sony Ericsson took an extraordinary amount of time to deliver its Android updates back in the Xperia X10 era, so repeating this course of action seems extremely foolish.

Sony Tablet S (photos)

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The CoPilot GPS app offers very basic route guidance, and does not recalculate automatically.

(Credit:
Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

When heavy hitters such as Microsoft and Google can offer
iPhone navigation apps with turn-by-turn guidance for free, smaller companies find it tough to compete. ALK Technologies makes a play for continued relevance with its free CoPilot GPS iPhone app, building on the company’s previous CoPilot Live Premium apps.

Free always sounds good, and CoPilot GPS makes its case against Google Maps and Microsoft Bing by offering downloadable maps. As part of the set-up process, CoPilot GPS presents a list of maps for different regions you can download. With this very thoughtful approach, you can load up the U.S. and Canada, at 1.3 gigabytes, just the U.S., at 1.2 gigabytes, or individual regions, such as the Midwest, taking up 300 megabytes. You can choose at anytime to change the maps on your phone, as well.

To keep the downloads small, and make up for the app being free, CoPilot GPS does not include 3D, or perspective view, maps. Similar to the free competition, the maps only show in top-down view. However, CoPilot GPS does offer a variety of color schemes.

Where the interface for CoPilot Live Premium was confusing, ALK has cleaned up the menu structure in CoPilot GPS somewhat. The map screen shows a big, red button at the bottom labeled ‘Add Destination’, and an odd little button made up of purple boxes opens up the Driving menu. This latter menu lets you switch to walking mode, and has the extremely useful ‘Cancel Destination’ button, something ALK’s paid navigation app lacked.

Along with downloadable maps, CoPilot GPS also offers better destination options than most of its free competition. Along with manual address entry, if offers saved locations, points of interest, and photo locations. This last is particularly cool, as it looks at the geo-tag for any photo stored on the iPhone and inputs that as the destination. The app also offers Wikipedia locations.

Unlike the maps, the most of the destination options rely on an Internet connection, so don’t expect to be searching for a restaurant in a cellular dead spot.

The app can set a destination based on the geo-tag from a photo.

(Credit:
Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

Other cool features in CoPilot GPS are weather, a music player, and sharing options. The weather feature does not integrate with the maps, just launches a forecast for any location you specify. It, of course, relies on a data connection. The music player is a convenient way to access the iPhone’s music library without leaving navigation.

The sharing options include Facebook and Twitter. Once you have signed in through the CoPilot GPS app, you can do useful things such as send a tweet about your ETA to a destination.

So far, so good, but the app takes a dive when it comes to route guidance. ALK’s business model involves upselling users on voice prompts, which cost $14.99 per year. Without this feature, it is very difficult to use CoPilot GPS for navigation, especially in a
car.

The need to constantly look at the phone while driving makes it a bit dangerous, do it would be better to have a passenger using the app to help navigate. When under route guidance, the app shows your location on the route, along with an arrow showing the direction of your next turn. But it does not bring up any explicit graphics showing the upcoming turn as you get close.

Further, it does not automatically recalculate if you miss a turn. There is a big recalculate button right on the map, which is helpful. However, when testing out the route guidance, we generally would only hit the recalculate button while at a stop light. The app did not remember which direction the car was going, so often would come up with a new route going the other direction on the street. This proved very frustrating.

The voice prompt upgrade, an in-app purchase, also adds 3D maps and graphics for upcoming turns, which should make turn-by-turn navigation much more usable.

CoPilot GPS, without the voice prompt upgrade, seems worthwhile to keep around as an emergency back-up, for those times you find yourself in a location without data access. However, it would never work as a primary navigation app.

Click here to download the free CoPilot GPS app for iPhone.

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Radiometer chandelier.

(Credit:
Luke Jerram)

Yes, artist Luke Jerram‘s most widely known piece may perhaps be “Play Me, I’m Yours” — an artwork that temporarily distributes actual full-size pianos on the streets of major cities for anyone to play. After all, it’s been featured in hugely populated towns like New York City and Los Angeles. But his body of work displays a particular fascination with science and technology.

One sculpture, for instance, is based on the seismogram generated by the 2011 Japan earthquake. Others draw from data visualization as well: charts of the ups and downs of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the New York Stock Exchange. Microbiology, optics, and the history of sound recording have also inspired compelling pieces.

Artist thinks ‘science’ and ‘tech’ with varied works (images)

Jerram has even created chandeliers out of that geekiest of objects: the Crookes radiometer — the little “lightbulb” with the spinning “windmill” inside that we all coveted in the science museum’s gift shop when we kids.

Here’s a look at some of Jerram’s work, which has been featured in exhibitions associated with the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Venice Biennale in Italy.

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We’ve taken a look back on the most recent OEM navigation systems to have graced the
Car Tech garage and picked out a few manufacturers, in no particular order, who consistently knock it out of the park when it comes offering the best in-dash technology for getting from where you are to wherever you want to be.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

Audi MMI Navigation plus with Audi connect

Audi’s decision to roll an always-on cellular data connection into its MMI navigation is what makes this navigation system stand out from the pack. In addition to features like traffic data and weather forecasts, this web connection enables advanced functions such as Google Maps satellite imagery overlays and web-connected destination search. Check out the full review of the 2012 Audi A6 Premium Quattro for a more detailed look at this system.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

BMW Navigation with iDrive

BMW’s iDrive-based navigation system features 3D building data for its maps and traffic data updates that notify you even if there’s no destination input. Additionally, the automaker doesn’t lock the driver out of altering the route while moving. When paired with an
iPhone, the BMW Connect option allows drivers to automatically share their destination and ETA with friends and family via popular social networking sites. Check out the review of the 2012 BMW 328i for more details.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Lexus Enform Navigation

Your first thought when looking at Lexus’ new navigation system in the 2013 Lexus GS 350 may be the same as mine was: “Good grief, that’s a big ol’ screen!”

The GS’ big 12.3-inch LCD gives the user plenty of real estate for viewing a map split-screen with route details split-screen again with audio source info. Or you could just devote the whole display to the map. Connect a smartphone to unlock the Enform system’s integration with Bing and Yelp destination search, MovieTickets.com showtimes, and OpenTable reservations.

(Credit:
CNET)

Chrysler UConnect powered by Garmin

The interface of your average Garmin Nuvi is simple, but it’s also user friendly. Garmin’s been building portable GPS devices since before most automakers even thought about offering navigation options. Which is why Chrysler wholesale imported the Garmin interface into its latest generation of 8.3-inch UConnect infotainment systems. Garmin’s system also touts a fantastic voice activated address input system that you can see in action in the 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 and 2012 Dodge Charger R/T.

(Credit:
Josh Miller/CNET)

Hyundai navigation with BlueLink

Hyundai’s navigation system makes the list not because it boasts nifty web-connected features or fancy 3D maps. No, this solid state memory-based system (one of the first on the OEM market, by the way) makes our list because it’s simple, fast, and inexpensive. It has everything you need to get from point A to B and not much that you don’t. That’s not to say the system is barebones: SiriusXM traffic and weather and Hyundai’s BlueLink telematics service bolster its tech cred. Check out the newest version of this system in the 2012 Hyundai Veloster.

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Robots climbing up your leg — are you cool with that? Chinese researchers certainly are, arguing they could become electronic pets, or even “mobile” phones.

Presented this week at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in St. Paul, Minn., Clothbot was developed by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

As seen in the video below, the machine crawls up folds in clothing, slowing making its way up trouser legs or even the back of a shirt. It uses a pair of gripper wheels to create and cling to a fold in the cloth.

Weighing some 140 grams, it has a tail that helps it maneuver. Its destination and ultimate purpose, however, remain mysterious.

According to IEEE Spectrum, in their research paper “System and Design of Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing,” author Yuanyuan Liu and colleagues propose three applications: “a tiny pet climbing on human bodies,” “a movable phone on our shoulder which frees human hands,” and finally, “body inspection.”

And you thought the TSA was bad.

(Via IEEE Spectrum )

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From left to right: iPod Nano watch, Swatch Microsoft/MSN watch, Fossil Wrist PDA, Sony SmartWatch.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew)

My watch is an iPod Nano. It’s not perfect. In fact, there are many ways I’d like it to be better. But, it works. It also looks cool.

Those are two seemingly small details that are in fact quite major when considering a smart watch these days. “Working” is a matter of opinion and design in some cases, but the point is that the
iPod Nano-as-a-watch does exactly what you think it does, and it does it well. So far, that can’t be said for Sony’s SmartWatch, a confusing remote for
Android phones that ends up doing less than you expect it to, and yet somehow is hard to even work in that limited capacity. I had a chance to try one out here at CNET, and was surprised at how Sony’s solution was good-looking, but a complete slave requiring Bluetooth and an Android phone to get anything done — even tell the time. That’s a problem. A good watch can’t mess that part up.

Looking cool is subjective. It’s also critical for a watch, a piece of fashion and jewelry for many more than any object of function. Your phone can tell the time. A watch, well…a watch is style. Perhaps it’s ergonomically friendly, but it’s all about what you’d like to see on your wrist as a fantasy. Big watch face? Crazy glow buttons? Subtle geekery? Colors to match your outfit? These are legitimate considerations for watches.

My Nano catches eyes, and most don’t even know it’s a watch (the last time I went into a Fossil store, the employees complimented me on it). The Hex Nano watchband is minimal and attractive, and it works for me. The ability to swap bands and pick one of 18 watchfaces adds up to flexibility and value.

However, this is what it needs next. In fact, to some degree, this is what I think all Smart Watches of the Future need next. Pebble, I’m Watch, I’m looking at you. Swap in “Android” for “iOS” and the idea still follows.

The Nano’s exposed 30-pin connector.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew)

Water resistance.

Any smart watch needs to be worry-free. That’s the appeal of a wrist-worn device in the first place. I can get away with removing my Nano from my wrist whenever I wash my hands or take a shower, but it’s a dangerous game. The Nano, as currently stands, isn’t built for anything more than basic sweat resistance: the 30-pin port opening is exposed on one side, and the headphone jack is open as well. More recent smartwatch concepts like Sony’s and the Pebble are incorporating better water resistance. With so many connection options available wirelessly — and wireless induction charging — there’s less of an excuse not to make the whole product airtight.

Sony’s Smart Watch gets the idea of remote connectivity right, in theory.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew)

Remote support for iOS, and mini-apps.

I want the Nano, at a bare minimum, to be a virtual remote for all my relevant apps. It doesn’t need to be extensive, but I do expect some level of connectivity.

In order to listen to music on a Nano-watch, I have to sync music onto my Nano…the old-fashioned way, with a 30-pin cable. That works fine for most basic purposes, but it would make simple sense for the Nano to also be able to connect to an iOS device via Bluetooth to play music or podcasts stored there.

I remember those old Microsoft SPOT watches, devices that had terribly short battery life and a necessary pay subscription service for bare-bones wirelessly-delivered information. Still, the idea of wirelessly delivered weather, messages, or other information is something I’d love to have on my watch, if it didn’t cost me money or excessive battery drain.

The no-longer-functioning Swatch smart watch used to get over-the-air information from MSN.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew)

Obvious choices for remote mini-apps include iTunes, Maps, calendar, contacts and messaging, but app developers could dream up other uses, too. A movie showtimes app? Restaurant reviews on your wrist? Leave it to Apple’s army of dedicated iOS app developers, and some good ideas are bound to turn up in the ecosystem if the next version of the Nano is included in the next iOS SDK.

Connect to the iTunes Store.

For direct download of purchased songs or iTunes Cloud music on the go, or–even more importantly–for podcast downloads, it would be convenient to have direct iTunes access. It could lead to splintering of music collections across devices, but with the ability to re-download music and the advent of iTunes Match, it makes more sense than before.

The Nike FuelBand: the next level of fitness tech.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

Be an even better fitness device.

The iPod Nano already has Nike+ and a pedometer built in, and it’s a pretty good fitness peripheral as is. Still, the bar’s being raised. Wearable band-like tech like the Nike FuelBand may lack an ability to play music, but the sleek and more sweat-resistant design is changing the concept of a wearable fitness watch. With better iOS app support for fitness programs already on the
iPhone and iPod Touch, the next Nano could be more versatile. Can it be sleeker in its design, too, while still providing iOS connectivity?

Add a Watch Face store.

The Nano has a stylistic edge on the Sony SmartWatch, and many other smart watches, with its 18 built-in watch faces. For the love of all that’s good, why not offer the opportunity to buy more? Branded sports watch-faces, superhero watches, designer faces, even promotional freebies…this seems like an obvious decision, especially if the Nano continues down the path as a watch-type gadget.

I like having a headphone jack and real FM radio on the Nano. Don’t change that.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew)

Add Bluetooth, but still keep the headphone jack.

Bluetooth is essential for phone pairing and remote connections, but Bluetooth’s also a battery-killer. Bluetooth 4.0 might be able to help in that regard, but I tend to keep my Bluetooth turned off and only pair when I need it. An active connection between watch and phone is one more wireless drain on my phone and my watch, both of which I rely on over the course of a day. Also–needless to say–a headphone jack insures you’ll be able to plug whatever headphones you like.

Pebble’s smart watch: is e-ink the answer?

(Credit:
Pebble Technology)

Better battery life.

This almost goes without saying. And yet, bad battery life helped kill the last generation of “smart watches” more than anything else. The iPod Nano-as-watch lasts me anywhere from three days to a week depending on how I’m using it. More efficient batteries, larger batteries, or screens like e-ink (adopted by the Pebble watch) could help. I don’t think removable batteries are the answer.

Don’t give up being a stand-alone product: don’t rely on remotes and wireless!
Devices like the Sony SmartWatch show the potential of a watch as a remote: show texts on your wrist, check the weather, and accept phone calls while your phone’s in your pocket. Sony’s watch also shows off some unfortunate limitations: it can’t do very much at all when it’s not actively paired with an Android phone. It can’t store music, it can’t run apps, and it even needs to pair with a phone to initially tell the time.

I appreciate that the Nano has its own interface, its own settings. I love that it has a hardwired, real FM radio (which needs my headphones to act as an antenna). I’d prefer that it add remote functions as well, but not at the expense of being an independently functioning product. The Nano is the future of the Shuffle, and could be a very versatile device in another year. It needs to be an offline watch as much as an online one.

Fossil’s Palm wristwatch. RIP.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew)

I’m reminded of another old early smart watch: the Fossil-Palm Wrist PDA. It boldly attempted to be a wearable Palm. Its limited storage and reliance on a pull-out micro-stylus kept in the buckle certainly didn’t help its cause. However, it didn’t need to pair with some other gadget to work. Neither did the Spot Watch. Neither does the Nano.

Working as a remote is one thing, but the next Nano watch I put on my wrist (and any other future smart watch) can’t just be a remote. It needs to be more. A good smart watch needs to be its own gadget. No one wants to lay down $150 for a glorified pairing device. I hope smart watch makers keep that in mind.

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Chevrolet is already testing its Nascar Sprint Cup racer, the basis for the 2014 SS model.

(Credit:
GM)

It seemed that the progression of automotive engineering would eliminate the rear-wheel-drive
car by 2020, but GM believes the architecture still has life enough for a limited production run. Next year the company will make a Chevrolet SS with rear-wheel drive and a V-8. We can only hope a manual transmission might be part of the mix.

In the Chevrolet SS announcement, GM noted there has not been a rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet sedan for 17 years. Has it really been that long?

The new car will be based on the same platform as the Camaro, and it seems likely it would also get the 6.2-liter, 426 horsepower V-8 powering the SS version of that model. It also serves as a homologation for a Sprint Cup car Chevrolet will enter in next year’s Daytona 500.

GM says it will produce the new Chevrolet SS in limited numbers, but did not specify the amount of the production run. It would go up against the Dodge Charger as the last non-luxury rear-wheel-drive sedans.

GM offered up this photo history of Chevrolet’s SS, or Super Sport, models.

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Shot with the Sony Alpha SLT-A37

(Credit:
Lori Grunin/CNET)

The spring showers of cameras continues with two new entry-level Alpha models from Sony: the compact interchangeable-lens replacement to the E-mount Alpha NEX-C3, dubbed the NEX-F3, and the replacement for the A-mount SLT-A35, the A37. Along with the A37 comes a new A-mount lens that Sony will be offering as a kit, the 18-135mm f3.5-5.6.

Both cameras are based on the same 16-megapixel sensor and use the same generation of image-processing engine. So which one deserves your $600? It depends on what you need. The F3 is compact and relatively lightweight, but the A37 performs better and offers more direct-access controls.

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