Hybrid Mini offers 640 hp, 0-60 in 4.5 seconds

07/21/06, 06:08pm, EDT

A British engineering firm has put together a high-performance hybrid version of BMW's Mini Cooper. The PML Mini QED has an output of 640 horsepower, according to PML. It has a top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. The car uses a small gasoline engine with four 160 horsepower electric motors on each wheel. The car employs a brake-by-wire system to recoup some lost energy under braking. The motors are able to provide ABS and traction control with guidance of the car's onboard computer. The Mini QED is a plug-in hybrid, meaning it can be charged directly from a power outlet. The car will "not be generally commercially available," according to its creators. However, the company is "interested in discussing possible one-off orders and collaborations."

[PDFs: General Info | Specs]

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Check out the Immersive Media street-scanning car

Posted May 31st 2007 10:09PM by Ryan Block

It looks like Immersive Media wanted to remove all doubt about what that street-traversing fleet of theirs really looks like. There's obviously more than one vehicle scanning in streets across the US, but now you know what to look out for -- and you little punks in the audience now realize just how tantalizing a target that little 11 camera orb on the roof really happens to be.

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Launch: Edit your videos with the YouTube remixer

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

YouTube releases a video editing tool which remixes your 'tube clips using a Flash-based in-browser application.

Drag and drop your clips to a timeline (much like iMovie) and add music, effects, graphics, captions and borders. The remixer is throwing a couple of "still working out the kinks" hiccups here and there this morning, but it's still a fun and easy way to splice, slice and dice your clips together.

YouTube Remixer [via CNET]

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iPhone vs Nokia N95, BlackBerry, Treo and Samsung BlackJack

from Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal

Just ten days ahead of the much-hyped iPhone launch, Apple has released a smartphone matrix comparing the physical dimensions, talk time and battery life of some of the most popular smartphones that are available in the market today.

As per the matrix, Apple iPhone is the thinnest smartphone (half the thickness of N95 or Treo 750) with the largest screensize and Wi-Fi capabilities. [pdf]

While there's no option to swap the drained battery of an iPhone with a full recharged one, the promised eight hours of talktime and 250 hours of standby time should bring enough cheers to those who are planning to queue up outside the Apple stores at 0600 hours June 29, 2007.

In related news, a new report has suggest that 19 million Americans have strong interest in buying the iPhone, 67% of who are subscribers on other carrier networks.

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Gmail Tip: Reformat your Gmail address with dots

from Lifehacker by Kyle Pott

You can reformat your existing Gmail address by inserting dots (periods) anywhere within your Gmail username. The Gmail Help pages explain:

Because Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, adding or removing dots from a Gmail address won't change the actual destination address. Messages sent to yourusername@gmail.com and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com are all delivered to your Inbox, and only yours.

We've talked about how you can create unlimited Gmail addresses using the "+" sign before - a technique lots of people use to automatically filter messages. Periods could be used for the same purpose. (Note that Google Apps for Your Domain does NOT ignore dots in addresses.) Thanks, 3xSteve!

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