Japanese company releasing do-it-yourself Pius electric vehicle, name sounds vaguely familiar

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/12/japanese-company-releasing-do-it-yourself-pius-electric-vehicle/

That homemade bug-zapping lightsaber not quite floating your boat? Then how about building your own electric vehicle? That's the opportunity that MODI Corporation in Japan hopes to sell when its "Pius" kit car -- not to be confused with the Toyota Prius -- becomes available next spring. Specs from the official site for the "micro compact car" reveal a vehicle that's 885mm tall, 1,230mm wide and 2,500mm long. Range on a full charge is 25 kilometers or a little over 15 miles. Top speed is 35km/h, which sadly disqualifies it from the list of vehicles Doc Brown can use for time travel. The company expects to sell the one-seater to colleges and mechanic schools for use as a learning tool on how EVs work. MODI Corporation hasn't provided pricing for the vehicle but announced that it will be available in six colors, including white, red and blue. Yes, it isn't quite up to snuff with Drayson Racing's 850-horsepower B12/69EV. Then again, we don't think they have do-it-yourself kits for that one.

Filed under: Transportation

Japanese company releasing do-it-yourself Pius electric vehicle, name sounds vaguely familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba unites PC, tablet and TV design groups, aims for hub of digital harmony

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/12/toshiba-unites-pc-tablet-and-tv-design-groups/

Toshiba is one of the few Japanese tech giants to be riding high from a cash standpoint, but the company is still looking for ways to trim the fat -- not to mention get some fresh design in the process. The firm is merging the design team for its Regza TVs into the same western Tokyo facility that houses its PC and tablet groups. While there's a certain amount of cost-cutting involved, the shift will help "fusion products," Toshiba says, where TV influences PCs and tablets (or vice versa) like so much chocolate getting into peanut butter. The only amount of discord left might be in Toshiba's TV production, where quality and production controls are being outsourced and more of the production itself is leaving Japan. As much as we'd argue that the Excite 13 is almost too much like a TV to begin with, we'll only find out whether or not there's merit to Toshiba's design nirvana after the groups get cozy with each other later this year.

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Filed under: Desktops, Home Entertainment, Laptops, Tablet PCs

Toshiba unites PC, tablet and TV design groups, aims for hub of digital harmony originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T scores red Galaxy S III, pre-orders start July 15th

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/12/atandt-scores-red-galaxy-s-iii-pre-orders-start-july-15th/

Not a fan of the white or "Pebble Blue" shells the Galaxy S III is packed in, looking for something a little more sultry perhaps? Well, if you're an AT&T customer, you've got a new choice in fingerprint-highlighting plastic -- Garnet Red. The shade of maroon we were promised is exclusive to Ma Bell, and you can pre-order it starting July 15th at the usual price point ($199). If you want to get a glimpse of it in person first, you'll have to wait till July 29th when it officially hits shelves.

AT&T scores red Galaxy S III, pre-orders start July 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Insane Zoom Powers of the Legendary $75,000 Zoom-Nikkor 1200-1700mm Lens [Past Perfect]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5925223/the-insane-zoom-powers-of-the-legendary-75000-zoom+nikkor-1200+1700mm-lens

Look at the insane zoom that $75,000 worth of glass got you in the 1990. It's the work of the Zoom-Nikkor 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED lens, 18 elements assembled in a body that looked like a shoulder-mounted missile launcher.

This thing was almost 35 inches long (888mm) and had a 9.33-inch (237mm) maximum diameter. Its weight: 35.2 pounds (16 kilograms)!

When it was first used in 1990—at the Koshien Stadium—the Zoom-Nikkor 1200-1700mm had "the longest focal length of any zoom lens for 35mm-format cameras."

In the photo above you can see the same scene taken with 50mm (top left) and the 1200-1700mm lens, all placed 130 meters away from those two women.

Here's the story of its genesis, according to Nikon:

At Koshien Stadium the photographers' seats are situated next to the center-field back screen so as to enable news photographers to shoot the home plate, which is over 130 meters away. From this position it requires a focal length of 1200mm to capture the pitcher, the catcher, and the batter in frame, and a focal length of 1700mm to shoot a full-frame vertical photograph of the batter. In short, the 1200-1700mm was developed for shooting pictures from the photographers' seats at Koshien Stadium.

In 1980s, a rival company was making a 1200mm f/5.6 super telephoto lens. The newspapers were beginning to switch over to cameras made by this company in order to use the lens in their coverage of baseball at Koshien Stadium.

In May 1989, Nikon rushed to begin development of its own super telephoto lens for Koshien Stadium. The company resolved to complete the prototype by March 1990, in response to the fervent wishes of the newspapers.

Nikon says that this lens "restored the reputation of the Nikon brand in terms of news photography." What is even more interesting, however, is their claim that Digital SLRs killed these lenses because now "the images can be easily cropped and image quality is high, even with a high ISO setting." [Nikon via Photography Bay]

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Chrome OS version 20 hits stable release channel, brings Google Drive and Aura UI for Cr-48s along

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/11/chrome-os-version-20-drive-docs-aura/

If you're a Chrome OS user who doesn't live on the bleeding edge, it's finally time to experience the latest version 20, which most notably adds support for its Drive cloud storage. Also mentioned as included in the upgrade is offline support of Google Docs, Pepper Flash upgrade, access to the new Aura UI on Cr-48 systems and other tweaks. Tighter integration with Drive and Docs may address a few of the issues noted in our review of v19, Chromebook and Chromebox owners can check it out as it arrives on their machines over the next several days and let us know if that's the case.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Chrome OS version 20 hits stable release channel, brings Google Drive and Aura UI for Cr-48s along originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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