Japanese scientists have taken a standard gas-powered car (the legendary Mazda MX-5 in this case) and converted it to rely purely on solar power to run. This was made possible by the Total Mobility Project, as the team removed the MX-5’s engine and gas tank in lieu of an electric motor and battery. Seven solar panels were also installed across the hood of the car, and this setup enabled the vehicle to run at a top speed of 100km/h with a maximum range of 30km. Conversion will hit your pocket hard though, as the entire process will cost $21,000 but for drivers who run an average of 60km a day can save up to $8,400 across the time span of five years. Guess it will take a good 15 years or so before you can start counting your ROI, which by then the car would’ve probably be sent to the junkyard.

Permalink | Comment | Uberbargain | Uberphones

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John Abraham and Bipasha Basu will be working together for Vivek Agnihotri’s film Goal. The two of them are very excited about the movie and they have been shooting for a promotional video. The movie is about Football. Well, I think that’s what is going to be the target in movies. After the success of […]

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Aishwarya Bacchan will be celebrating her birthday in Agra. She is busy shooting in Agra for the shooting of her movie Taj Mahal. She is playing the role of Mumtaz Mahal in the movie. She also has her real life Shah Jahan with her in Agra and will be soon be joined by the Bacchan […]

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Filed under: Editor’s Picks, Interviews, Celebrities, MySpace, Switched Video

For a professional blogger, how much is too much when it comes to sharing the private details of your life? Where do you draw the line between what you share with the world and what you keep to yourself? How much does it cost to show some skin? What does the future hold for social networks? For vacuums? What should you do if your boss finds the naked pictures on your Facebook page? Will it ever be possible to truly love a Roomba? These are the burning questions, and Mo Rocca has the burning answers…

Related Links:

• Mo Rocca Invades the iPhone Line
• Top 11 Celebrity Messes Online
• Facebook Employees Know Whose Profiles You Look At

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

Despite Uncharted’s Halloween trailer having nothing to do with the holiday itself, it certainly adds to our crush over Naughty Dog’s new title. The new video, which shows off the game’s amazingly beautiful levels and environments, also adds a bit more details about the game’s storyline.

After watching the video, it’s hard not to come away thinking it will be one of the PS3’s most epic titles to date, and with Uncharted’s demo due to hit the Playstation Network a week or so before the game’s release, November just became our favorite month of the year.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Market matters, Procter and Gamble (PG), Economic data, Goodyear Tire and Rubber (GT), Liz Claiborne (LIZ), Housing, Federal Reserve

U.S. stock futures were lower this morning, indicating a lower start for U.S. stocks ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting and as investors grow more concerned about the Fed’s decision and worry it may not deliver the much anticipated rate cut businesses wish for.

Yesterday, U.S. stocks continued their advance heading into the Fed’s next rate decision. The Dow industrials rose 63 points, or 0.46%, the Nasdaq Composite added 13 points, or 0.47%, and the S&P 500 rose 5 points, or 0.37%.

Not much economic data is due out today except for October consumer confidence to be released at 10 a.m. EDT.
Oil prices dropped to below $93 a barrel today from the record set overnight as the disruption of a fifth of the oil production by Mexico’s state oil company is now seen as only temporary.

What will be at the center of attention the next two days is the Fed’s two day policy meeting starting today. Policy makers will discuss interest rates and the economic outlook and will announce their decision tomorrow. While many in the market expect the central bank to lower rates by a quarter- to half a percentage point, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Fed is considering [subscription] a quarter-point rate and no cut at all.

The dollar continued to decline and hit a 26-year low against the British pound as the Bank of England keeps interest rates at a six-year high, while the Fed may cut rates tomorrow. The dollar’s weakness may be a consideration in the Fed’s decision. Other considerations would no doubt be problems in the mortgage markets and the slump in the housing market. The S&P releases its August Case-Schiller home price index this morning. Yet another consideration would be possible financial markets turmoil and the risks involved that could lead to a recession as some economists say. The debt crisis is far from over according to them.

Overseas, Asian markets closed mostly lower, but Hong Kong and Shanghai gained. European markets were also lower.

Reporting today are Dow component Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), as well as Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ) and Goodyear Tire (NYSE: GT).

Update: Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) reported that first-quarter profit rose 14% on strong sales growth across nearly all regions. Sales rose 8% to $20.2 billion. Excluding a German tax benefit of 2 cents per share, the company earned 90 cents per share in the latest period. Analysts were expecting a profit of 89 cents per share on revenue of $20.23 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) plans to unveil within the next two weeks a proposal to finally bring the Google-powered cell phones to market by the middle of 2008.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Drama, Independent, Awards, Other Festivals

If you love movie awards and dog shows, there’s a new event that’s perfect for you: the Fido Awards, which recognizes cinematic canines. Presented in conjunction with the London Film Festival, these awards were presented Sunday night with the top honor, “Best in World”, going to five corgis — named Poppy, Anna, Alice, Oliver and Megan — that appear alongside Oscar-winner Helen Mirren in The Queen. The same dogs also won another award, “Best Historical Hounds for a dog/dogs in a film set in bygone days”, beating out dogs from Control (I don’t even remember a dog in this, which means it makes sense it didn’t win) and Molière. Other winners include Travis, a Welsh cardigan corgi named “Comedy Canine for smochiest pooch in a romantic comedy ” for his “method-acting” in Year of the Dog, Logan, a “Bernese Mtn English Mastiff X” named “Blockbuster Bowser — best canine achievement in an action flick” for sharing a beer with Mark Wahlberg in Shooter, and dogs from the short film Dog Flap and the London Film Festival entry Far North. In addition to those from Control and Molière, losers included pups from The Holiday, Feast of Love, Shoot ‘Em Up, The Savages (for some reason listed in the action category) and Paddy Considine’s short Dog Altogether. Hopefully none of them were Old-Yellered because of their failures.

Isn’t that cute? The Fidos are technically considered “the world’s first-ever international awards ceremony for canine screen stars,” but this isn’t the first time awards have been given out to animal performances in film (I would be shocked if it were). Since 1939 — after a horse was accidentally killed on the set of Jesse James — the American Humane Association has honored animals in cinema and television with the PATSY Awards (yet apparently the first actual PATSY went to “Francis the Talking Mule” in 1951). Some of the obvious past winners include Lassie, the pig from Green Acres, the dog that played Benji (name: Higgins), Gypsy the horse (from Gypsy Colt) and Orangey the cat, who appeared in Rhubarb and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find a full list of the winners through the years, just this spotlight from TCM.

What is your favorite animal performance, canine or otherwise?

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Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops

Joining a growing crowd of people to complain about the general lack of openness in the iPhone is none other than Steve Wozniak, co-founder of the company. Woz has a reputation for being critical of the company he helped create, although no-one would argue that his views are unreasonable: in an interview he calls into question Apple’s treatment of the iPhone as an appliance, and not as a computer platform designed to allow users to install their own apps at will (”I’m really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free.”) He also took a dig at Leopard, saying that OSes aren’t what sell computers these days, and that OS updates today are nothing more than slow improvements, rather than a procession towards a UI that works “for someone who knows nothing about the computer.” Personally, we think these are fair viewpoints: as much as we may hate to say it, a lot of new technology these days requires a compromise. Isn’t it about time compromise took a back seat?

[Thanks, Jame]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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I cannot wait to read Making Things Talk, Tom Igoe’s new book on Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects. It seems a lovely source of cute projects with ready-to-use technical resources. NearField opened a few pages of the book for us.

After taking classes in sensors and electronics at MIT, this semester I take Physics 123 at Harvard University. I recommend this class for any mechanical/electrical/software engineer, designer and researcher who wants to get a deeper understanding of physics related to electronics and to develop an intuitive relationship to electronics. It is the equivalent of 3 full time classes, because two days of the week and the week end are devoted to the class laboratories and assignments. Intensive but productive! This is one of the most valuable class I took in a long time. I hope after that class that all my things will talk!

“A lab-intensive introduction to electronic circuit design. Develops circuit intuition and debugging skills through daily hands-on lab exercises, each preceded by class discussion, with minimal use of mathematics and physics. Moves quickly from passive circuits, to discrete transistors, then concentrates on operational amplifiers, used to make a variety of circuits including integrators, oscillators, regulators, and filters. The digital half of the course treats analog-digital interfacing, emphasizes the use of microcontrollers and programmable logic devices (PLDs).”

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Filed under: Dessert, Chocolate, Candy, Baking, America, Sugar, Halloween

One of the best things about Halloween is that you end up with a surplus of chocolate and candy that you can use in baking. Leading up to Halloween, it’s oh-so appropriate to make things like cupcakes, cookies, and brownies with pieces of chocolate candy bars. After Halloween, you’ll have so much leftover (if your kids are good at trick-or-treating, that is) that you won’t know what to do with it all. Every year, I do the easiest thing: bake my favorite brownie recipe and throw a little slice of a Snickers bar on top. To be quite honest, the addition makes you look like a rockstar in the kitchen, even though you didn’t do much. You can even cheat and use a mix out of a box, but if you’re fancy like that, you can use a recipe from Epicurious for Candy Bar-Topped Brownies that use caramel or ganache-filled squares as toppers.

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