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Car Tech

$1.6M Bugatti No Match For a Low-Flying Pelican

It's official. The birds are attacking.

For the second time in a month, a single bird has defied the odds and taken down a piece of machinery many times its size. According to the Lufkin Daily News, Andy House was cruising down the roads of La Marque, Texas in his $1.6 million Bugatti Veyron last Wednesday, minding his own business and talking on the phone (which, we are sure, didn't contribute to his lack of concentration even a bit), when all of a sudden, a low-flying pelican distracted him. Startled, he swerved to avoid it, dropped his cell phone, and, somewhere along the line, hit a mud patch and skidded into a salt water lagoon. A couple of car-savvy admirers amazingly caught the entire thing on video (after the break), though the pelican [Ed note: Right. "Pelican."], like a true professional, isn't anywhere to be found in the footage.

Giggles aside, the accident is actually pretty tragic, considering that there are only 15 of these cars in the U.S. Don't worry, all may not be lost. The vehicle's owner, fortunately, runs a business called Performance Auto Sales, which specializes in exotic car repairs. We're not really master mechanics, but we have a feeling that the rehab will go along just swimmingly. [From: Lufkin Daily News, via: AutoBlog]

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Car Tech, iPhone

Phoneride the Whip: Drive Your Car With Your iPhone

Anybody who's anybody familiar with Bay Area rap or viral video has long known about ghost-riding the whip. If you aren't among those music or Internet dorks, though, the idea of prancing around on the hood of an unmanned car, with the shifter in drive and brakes disengaged, might strike you as dangerous, or just dumb. We know. It's because it has nothing to do with your radical new iPhone, right?

Well, lucky for you, the team at National Instruments' Waterloo Labs can show you how to whip that ghost-ride into submission, smartphone-style. In the amazingly brief video (after the break), these fine young engineers explain how to transform your hooptie into a wirelessly controlled awesome-mobile. With little more than National Instruments' LabVIEW software, a Compact RIO, a couple small motors, one wireless router, and two open-end wrenches, these young Texans cruise Austin's roadways from the roof of their Oldsmobile Delta 88 -- accelerating, braking, and steering via an iPhone.

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Car Tech, Green Tech

Army and EnerDel Working on Hybrid Humvee

With the economy the way it is, and your unemployment check the way it is, we know it's hard to maintain your douche status and keep that Hummer gassed up. But fear not. According to CNET, battery manufacturer EnerDel just signed a $1.29 million contract with the U.S. Army to design a full-sized Humvee that runs, at least in part, on electricity.

Back in August, Raser Technologies showed off a Hummer powered by a hybrid engine that, thanks to dubious methods of measuring mileage, was able to lay claim to getting 100 miles per gallon. But that Hummer was the smaller H3 consumer model. For those with real inadequacies, though, that need real overcompensation, the H3 just won't do. They need the proper Humvee. You know, the one that takes up four parking spots and blocks three lanes of interstate traffic.

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Computers

Maryland Computer Crash Causes Gridlock and Mayhem

O, mighty gods of technology! How beholden to you we are! You hold every facet of our lives in your cold, digital paws. And to remind us of just how much control you wield over our fragile lives, you decided to bring all of Montgomery County, Maryland to a standstill this week.

County technicians are still trying to figure out why a computer that controls all 750 traffic lights in the area crashed around 3 a.m., Wednesday. The computer, which oversees the timing and synchronization of the lights for the entire county, which itself includes several major suburbs of Washington, D.C., dates back to the Carter administration and is in the process of being phased out. But, apparently, the system couldn't hold onto life any longer and turned the entire county into a sea of glowing brake lights. Thanks to the meltdown, the grid failed to switch into rush-hour mode and, as a result, did not leave individual lights green for long enough to keep traffic flowing.

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Car Tech, TV

South Korea Judge Allows Cabbies to Watch TV While Driving

If you're planning a trip to South Korea, it might be a good idea to pack a comfortable pair of shoes. Why? Because you'll want to avoid the country's taxis. According to BBC News, a South Korean judge ruled that it's legal for taxi drivers to continue having televisions mounted on the dashboards of their cabs. This news comes despite police reports that cab drivers who were watching TV caused 200 accidents last year, claiming the lives of three people and injuring 351 in the process.

The ruling came as a result of one Seoul driver's challenge of a $507 fine he'd been given for watching TV while driving. Seoul is notorious for its congested streets -- the reason cab drivers installed the screens in the first place. When the government first launched a broadcasting system that beamed to mobile screens in 2005, TV-watching cabbies turned into a phenomenon.

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Car Tech, iPhone

Your New BMW? There's an App Store for That


iPhone apps have permeated nearly every crevice of our daily lives. From the beach to the bar to the bathroom, there's an app for nearly every basic human activity. The only frontier left for Apple to conquer, it seems, is the daily commute. That, though, may soon change.

BMW has announced plans for a new BMW App Store, which would allow Beamer drivers to buy apps specially catered to their luxury cars. If it comes to fruition, drivers would be able to download apps directly to their cars' iDrive systems, either from their iPhones or directly from their PCs. Apps under consideration for inclusion into the BMW buffet include travel guides, geowikis, games, podcasts, Facebook, Xing, and Twitter. Perhaps most innovative, though, is a potential GPS-meets-iPhone experimental app that would sync your location to a site like Facebook or Twitter, then track your location, recommend great restaurants, and -- most importantly -- display fluid traffic routes as you cruise. More basically, the store would also likely include apps that keep track of gas consumption, and recommend braking and acceleration patterns to help conserve it.

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Cameras

Video Spy Cam Hidden in Car Key Fob

It might not be the smallest camera we've ever seen, but the Fake Car Key Spy Camera definitely would be a nice stocking stuffer for an Inspector Gadget in training. The camera is designed to look like a remote device that unlocks a car, shoots video at 29-frames-per-second, snaps photos at a resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels and records sound, too. There's also a slot for a MicroSD card so you can share your voyeuristic, er... spy vids with buddies. All for $63, and Brando even throws in an 8 gigabyte card for the extra paranoid.

Could you really get away with sneaking pics and videos with this thing? The pinhole-sized lens might not be noticeable, but subjects might wonder why you're pointing a car key remote at them. The only place you'll be able to use this unsuspectingly is in a parking garage. Even then, how long could a person pretend to forget where he parked his car? [From: Boing Boing and Brando]

Car Tech

OnStar Vehicle Slowdown Catches First Perp

OnStar Vehicle Slowdown Catches First Perp

With the advent of cheap cell phones, in-car valet systems like OnStar slowly started to fade away. OnStar is one of the few that has survived, thanks to its partnership with GM and the addition of features unreproducible by cell phones (e.g., remote unlocking and vehicle tracking). One of those features is an anti-theft system called Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. The system, which sends a signal to the car's powertrain to reduce power and gradually slow the car down, debuted this year and has finally caught its first perp.

According to police reports, a pair of men were carjacked by one Alberto Romero, with the help of a sawed-off shotgun, in Visalia, California around 3 a.m. Sunday. Within six minutes of the vehicle's being stolen, OnStar had located it, confirmed that police were in pursuit, and triggered the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown system, which brought the briefly high-speed chase to a grinding halt. The suspect apparently leaped from the vehicle and darted from the scene, but fell into a swimming pool, where he was quickly apprehended -- soaking wet and embarrassed -- according to ABC News.

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Computers

Vanity Plate Causes Man To Get Over $19K in Parking Tickets

While we don't quite understand it, many people like to add some personality to their cars by way of vanity plates. The plates usually read something corny like "2KOOL4U," "MYRIDE1," or, in one Alabama man's case, "XXXXXXX." That's because, when Scottie Roberson was a young man, he built custom cars under the pseudonym "Racer X," and because his favorite number is seven.

While this whole concept of vanity tags does puzzle us, these plates shouldn't be any problem. Except, in the nearby city of Birmingham where police, whenever they find an illegally parked car that doesn't have tags, write down seven Xs on the parking ticket. When those citations are entered into the computer system, Roberson's name -- of course -- pops up. According to The Birmingham News, Roberson has received more than $19,000 in parking tickets since last year. Sometimes, he says, he'll find as many as 10 tickets from 10 different places in his mailbox.

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Car Tech, Cell Phones

Driver Busted for Double-Fisting Cell Phones and One-Fingered Steering

It's bad enough when someone drives around with a cell phone glued to their ear. But one Australian man recently thought he could do the Average Driving-While-Calling Joe two better.

The Herald Sun reports that this man, who has not been identified by police, was pulled over by sergeant Rob Atkinson of the Chelsea Traffic Management Unit for driving while using two cell phones on Saturday afternoon. To make matters worse, after explaining that he'd had to transfer information from one phone to the other, the man explained that it was okay because he'd kept one finger on the wheel at all times.

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Cell Phones

Texting Driver Crashes Into Cop Car


By now, we're all aware of how dangerous it is to text while driving. But, like children who just can't resist touching a hot stove, people continue to do it. While a car accident is never good, some are worse than others. For example, crashing into a parked cop car because you were texting is about as bad as it gets. That's just what happened late Wednesday night to one unfortunate, or just dumb, Rhode Island man.

According to The Providence Journal, David Mercer crashed his Jeep into a police car that had been parked on the highway in order to divert traffic around a wreck farther up the road. Mercer claimed that he didn't see the empty idling car, despite its flashing blue lights, because he was text messaging. Thankfully, no one was injured, and, lucky for Mercer, texting while driving hasn't been banned in Rhode Island (although it has been in several other states). That being the case, he won't face any criminal charges stemming from the accident. According to the Journal, he was cited with "failure to maintain control of his vehicle, obedience to devices, and no insurance," none of which are criminal charges.

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Car Tech, Green Tech

Nissan's Land Glider Concept Car Leans Like a Motorcycle


Are you a fan of the motorcycle's ability to lean into turns but just don't feel safe riding with your body exposed like that? Well, a new concept car from Nissan has you covered, literally. According to Engadget, the Nissan Land Glider features two-in-line seats and the ability to lean at a 17-degree angle around turns. At just 3.5-feet wide, the electric car can maneuver like a bike, but it's also a zero-emissions vehicle, unlike those other hogs on the highway.

Alright, so the Land Glider doesn't give you as much street cred as a Harley Davidson, or even this other electric motorcycle. But it's still amazing to see a car, albeit a small one, lean into those turns (see the video after the break). One can only imagine what it'd feel like sitting behind the wheel. Come to think of it, the Land Glider will debut in a few weeks at the Tokyo Motor Show. Maybe we could "borrow" the Glider while security is distracted. [From: Engadget]

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Car Tech, Cell Phones, iPhone

Pay Off Your Mercedes-Benz? There's an App for That

Pay Off Your Mercedes-Benz From Your iPhoneEveryone has an iPhone app nowadays. The Hut, Starbucks, our friends of TUAW, even car sharing service Zipcar are now part of the club. So who was left sitting around without a cheaply and poorly developed, multi-touch doodad, that they could slap their brand on? Apparently Mercedes-Benz, and as expected, the luxury car maker couldn't wait any longer to hop on the bandwagon. This isn't the first car company to release an iPhone app, but it is the first to even attempt to do something useful with one. Last October, Ford released its Flex app, which lets you manipulate snapshots taken with your iPhone, but seems to have very little to do with the Flex Fuel vehicles it was supposed to be promoting.

So what exactly can you do with the new Mercedes-Benz app? Well you can pay your bill, see when your bill is do due (Ed. note. Thanks, Chris), and see how much you've spent so far in your quest to own a shiny transport box that will inevitably be worth about one-tenth of the purchase price by the time you finish paying it off. Mercedes-Benz also included some basic concierge type features that can direct you to a local Mercedes dealer (in case you need a second E-Class Coupe), help you shop for auto insurance, get you room upgrades at hotels, and lastly, connect you with a customer service rep.

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Web

Geeks Bring Vehicular Dorkery to License Plates


Computer geeks aren't too often regarded as vain. In fact, it has been scientifically proven that most bloggers, for instance, every morning, squeeze their disheveled, unshorn heads through the necks of their coffee-stained T-shirts, drape themselves in their unwashed, ill fitting sweat pants, plop down on the couch, and proceed to dust their keyboards with the remains of white powdered donuts.

Apparently, though, geeks' lack of private, physical vanity does not cross over into the public, automotive realm. Nerds who are into technology, it seems, are just as likely to festoon their cars with vanity tags as nerds who aren't into technology. (Because, really, if you have a vanity tag, aren't you really just a nerd?) Behold the vehicular dorkery at Interbent's 'Cool License Plates for Internet Geeks.' At the very least, they'll make you feel better about yourself. [From: Interbent]

Car Tech

Mobile Cubicle Gives New Meaning to 'Hell on Wheels'


Dutch designer Jurgen Bey has received accolades for his unique, and highly bizarre, furniture creations, but his ridiculous new "Slow Car" concept may only inspire a global, furious shaking of fists. Even though the overwhelming majority of the working world can't wait to escape the claustrophobia of being sequestered in cubicles all day, Bey, for some reason, believes that people may want to spend even more time in their work-enforced fortresses of isolation.

So, he created the "Slow Car," a mobile cubicle capable of reaching 25 mph. Besides being completely absurd in theory, the thing doesn't seem very practical in form either. Apparently, the driver would need help in closing the door, and the mobile jail cell doesn't have rear-view or side mirrors.

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Latest Reviews from CNET.com

CNET provides the latest tech news, unbiased reviews, videos, podcasts, software, and downloads, making tech products easy to find, understand and use.

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