Culture|Garage

The consumer electronics show was all this week and plenty of cool and not so cool gadgets sprung up. Bonrich covers off on Cooler Master’s highend CSX computer cases with a custom paint done by Smooth Creations it looks pretty cool… if you like being stuck with a crappy operating system The inherent reliability of Windows is also why they chose to paint the case with one of the most reliable auto manufacturers. Which kind of makes sense because both Microsoft and VW are always having problems with windows failing. Rumor has it there was one painted up like a Land Rover, but it randomly set on fire. Meanwhile, Apple is too cool to attend the CES and will be making their announcements next week at Mac World.

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The Black Mustang Club is a large Mustang forum for people who worship Mustangs, Ford’s bread and butter. Like a lot of large forums, they made a calendar of member’s cars to sell. Sounds ok, right?

Well, Ford’s lawyers called them up and said that’s a no no.

From BMC administrator/owner Lisa:

“I’m sorry, but at this point we will not be producing the 2008 BMC Calendar, featuring our 2007 Members of the Month, solely due to Ford Motor Company’s claim that THEY own all rights to the photos YOU take of YOUR car. I hope to resolve this soon, and be able to provide the calendar and other BMC merchandise that you guys want and deserve!”

I think Ford is shooting themselves in the foot here. BMC did order the calendars from CafePress, which doesn’t allow any brand name items to be printed, but from the wording here, it seems Ford would be mad at calendars being printed anywhere.

Read the whole thing after the jump.

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The production values on this are absolutely phenomenal. But the idea is all over the place. It’s another one of those, let’s get as much stuff as possible into a single ad/commercial. So we have some Japanese teens spraying a car a different color, 800,000 butterflies attacking a Prius, a Yaris rallyx’ing (wtf?), and some guy diving into airbags. This somehow supports Toyota’s overall brand in Scandinavia, “Made with a human touch.” As stated, the production values kick ass, but it’s like watching Fantasia only made by Toyota.

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Leave it to the JDM tuner Power House Amuse to completely change my mind about the upcoming E92 BMW ///M3. I was not able to find much info on this Alpine White beauty other than these pics, but in its case, a picture speaks a 1000 words.

But I can tell you the obvious modifications performed by Power House Amuse which include the extended chin lower spoiler, sideskirts, revised rear bumper and rear bootlid reminiscent of the E46 ///M3 CSL. Also the ride height is substantially lowered, big performance brake kit, Power House Amuse exhaust system, and staggered 19″ BBS LM-R.

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The Tata Nano, officially announced today as the world’s cheapest car, may be safer than oxen pulling a cart, but it might not be by much.

The standard version, sans air conditioning, radio and power steering, will cost about the equivalant of $2,500 when it goes on sale in India. Initial production numbers are 250,000 per year.  

The Nano has a two cylinder, 33 hp motor that powers the rear wheels. I bet the next drift king will come out of India.

It does have crumple zones and seat belts, but no airbags or ABS. And with more than 90,000 vehicle fatalities a year in India, do they really need an influx of small, furiously driven vehicles?  

I guess we’ll see.

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Wireless USB is upon us. What wireless USB does is eliminate that nest of wires behind your home PC by making the connections to your printer and other devices, well, wireless.

 What Sony has done with their “Transfer Jet” device is take a dump on progress while trying to corner their customers into buying only Sony’s incompatible, competing standard.

While other WUSB devices have a range of 30 feet, Sony’s standard has a range of 3 centimeters. Weaksauce.

Sure a lot of Sony’s products are cool, and innovative. What bothers me is when they release products just to be different and to make consumers basically invest in all of their products.  That’s pretty lame.

Let’s examine some more past Sony products after the jump.

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Pretty cool design study video of the (supposedly) upcoming R8 TDI. Just make sure you have iTunes running in the background… it’s completely silent. I am not a huge fan of the black side panel of the R8’s but the overall package is pretty incredible. The detail in the headlights is pretty cool… even the turn signal indicators. Wow.

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Volkswagen today has launched the Jetta TSI Sports racer set to race in the UK Volkswagen Racing Cup.

What’s exciting about the Jetta TSI is its engine technology. It features an engine-driven supercharger and an exhaust gas powered turbocharger, which are arranged in series. The supercharger operates at lower engine speeds and the turbo cuts in as revs rise.

The result of this is excellent driveability and performance throughout the rev range with absolutely no felt turbo lag and high maximum torque. Power output is now 230 hp, an increase of 60 hp from the previous Jetta race car.

And if you can’t make it out to the UK, be on the lookout for the Jetta TDI Cup car in Sports Car Club of America ’s championship for turbodiesel-powered machines.

Volkswagen’s Press Release : Read the rest of this entry »

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