Washington State to put quick chargers on scenic byway, allow tourists to top-up their EVs

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A few weeks back we learned that the US would be getting 310 quick-charging CHAdeMO stations, 480V AC/DC converters that can get a Nissan Leaf to 80 percent charge in under 30 minutes. Most are destined for major metropolitan areas, but we were intrigued to find out that Washington State is going to put two or three of them out in the country, on a 120 mile scenic portion of Route 2 that runs over the Cascade Mountains. It's a popular tourist destination and, with EVs becoming more popular in the area, soon even tourists with cutting-edge transportation to enjoy the ride. After all, everybody likes a good view.

13 Japanese companies join to further fuel cell adoption, also plan to ride bikes together

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What's going to spin the tires in your car of the future? Will it even have tires? Right now it looks like either hydrogen fuel cells or pure EVs will be dominating the streets in a few decades, and thankfully they share enough technology for us to think they can peacefully co-exist -- just like Apple andMicrosoft fanboys and girls have been known to host really great parties together where they engage in long, respectful discussions regarding their differing opinions. However, while EVs are already well on their way, for fuel cells to take off we're going to need more hydrogen filling stations and more cooperation between auto manufacturers. That's happening now in Japan, with 13 companies -- Toyota,Nissan, and Honda along with a number of gas and utilities companies -- joining forces to enable a "smooth domestic launch" of fuel cell vehicles as soon as 2015. They hope to create about 100 hydrogen stations across the country, work to form a broader hydrogen supply network, and also educate people about FCVs in general. We'll give them a head start by letting you know that stands for "Fuel Cell Vehicle," though they're also often called FCEVs, or "Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles." Bam! Two items off the to-do list.

Thieves damage South African traffic lights, reach for the juicy SIM card innards

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Johannesburg, South Africa had six hundred high-tech traffic signals, each with a cellular modem and GPS chip. The idea was, if one malfunctioned, they'd call home immediately. Well, that plan isn't working out so well, because only two hundred are still in working order -- vandals ripped apart the rest to get at their SIM cards, causing traffic jams and accidents. Apparently, the government-provided cards are a ticket to unlimited free phone calls for the thieves -- at least until the individual devices are identified and their permissions revoked. The Johannesburg Roads Agency told the Mail & Guardian that the crime looks like an inside job, because only the SIM-equipped signals seem to have been targeted so far, despite looking visually identical. The damages are piling up, with the agency figuring it will require ZAR 8.8 million (roughly $1.26 million) to repair the four hundred signals currently out of order. Needless to say, the agency is looking at ways to better secure the traffic lights. We're guessing that switching to CDMA is probably off the table. Embedded SIMs, perhaps?

NVIDIA's faulty laptop GPU settlement starts paying out, file your repair and reimbursement claims now

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Got an old Dell, HP or Apple laptop sitting around with adefective NVIDIA GPU? The company's finally ready to compensate you. That proposed class-action settlementfrom late last year has been approved by a California court, and the company's taking claims for repairs, replacements and reimbursements at a specially-designated website until March 14th. If you've got an affected Dell or Apple MacBook Pro, you can get the faulty chips replaced free of charge, while HP owners get a whole new replacement computer, though considering the choices there are the budget Compaq Presario CQ50 or an ASUS Eee PC T101MT, you might be better off selling your old parts on eBay. Finally, if you've already paid to get your components replaced and have the docs to prove it, you might be able to get refunded -- NVIDIA's set up a $2 million pool to be divided among all such reimbursements.

Dell Adamo now even cheaper, slightly less powerful

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It looks like Dell isn't quite sure what to do with Adamo. First, the MacBook Air competitor was bumpedfrom Dell's marketing roster, then it was reduced from $999 to $899, and now it's got a price tag of $799. Unfortunately, the price isn't all Dell is slashing: last October the Adamo was sporting a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo SL9600 processor and 4GB of DDR3-800 memory, now we're told it's functioning on a 1.4GHz Core Duo 2 SU9400 and 2GB of DDR3-800 (with no upgrade option that we can find). Everything else is basically the same for the little guy, and Dell's Adamo page still offers the suggestion, "Prepare to Fall in Love," but we're not entirely sure we're the ones who need convincing.

US opts to derez virtual fence along Mexico border, replacing it with more affordable measures

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Remember that hugely ambitious "virtual fence" that the US Homeland Security department was so keen on blowing a few billion dollars on? Well, following a bunch of setbacks and delays in its development, it's now been determined to be too darn expensive and is being scrapped. That's not without splashing some cash, however, as it's estimated that a billion dollars has already been spent on installing sensor towers along a 53-mile stretch of the Arizona border with Mexico. The plan now is to redirect funds to more conventional (and commercially available) surveillance measures, such as thermal imaging and unmanned aerial drones, which is estimated to cost $750 million to cover the remaining 323 miles of Arizona's border. Whatever happens, keeping illegal immigration and contraband smuggling to a minimum isn't going to be a cheap task. Almost makes you wonder if this isn't a problem better solved by non-technological means.

Man discovers glasses-free 3D tech in the blink of an eye

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Who's got two thumbs and needs glasses to see 3D? Not this guy! Francois Vogel's figured out a way to remove those pesky spectacles from the equation, and he's ready to revolutionize the stereoscopic industry forever. Sure, you'll need a monitor with a 120Hz refresh rate, but that's a prerequisite these days anyhow, and the rest is sweet, sticky gravy dished directly to your eyeballs. Get a sneak peek at the game-changing tech in the video above, and keep an eye out for unicorns (we're sure they're around here somewhere). You'll never look at 3D the same way again, we promise.

HP Envy 14 aficionados rejoice! Radiance displays are back for a limited time

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What once was lost, now is found...for a little while, at least. HP has finally decided to undo its previous mistake, and make the 1600x900 Radiance Infinity LED display a $200 upgrade on its Envy 14 laptops for a limited time. Alas, Dr. Dre fans are not afforded the same luxury, as the Beats Edition only comes with the standard 1366x768 BrightView screen, but we're just glad to see that beautiful, bright Radiance panel is on one Envy, even if only temporarily.

Toyota working on magnesium batteries for PHEVs of the not so near future

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Toyota wants to take your range anxiety out for a walk behind the woodshed and obliterate it from the known world. The means for doing this, the Japanese giant has revealed, might very well be contained in its new magnesium-sulfur batteries, which promise to double the energy density of the current industry-best lithium ion cells. Of course, the catch here is that the new magnesium goodness is nowhere near ready and is projected to come in 2020 at the earliest, but we're gladdened to see a long-term view being taken by car manufacturers with regard to powering vehicles electrically. Alternative methodologies currently under review in Toyota's labs also include aluminum and calcium materials, showing that there is indeed no lack of ambition for making plug-ins respectable road warriors.

BAE Systems develops e-ink camo for tanks and war zone e-readers

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BAE Systems, long known for its wargadgets that blind and obfuscate, has recently announced that it is developing an e-ink camouflage system that displays images on the side of a vehicle which reflect the environment -- and which change in real time. This is well-suited for areas such as those found in Afghanistan, where terrain can vary from plain ol' desert beige to a lively and vibrant green, and -- provided it doesn't break down in the desert sand -- probably seems a lot more convincing than paint on metal. (We also wonder if this technology will work on cocktail dresses.) The company hopes to have a prototype within four years, while for our part we hope to have our troops out of the region in much less time than that.

Nissan responds to Leaf launch disappointments, set expectations too high

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The Nissan Leaf may be dishing out achievements to hypermilers and wowing moms, but it's also proving something of a disappointment to the thousands of people still stuck on the waiting list. Nissan blew through its 20,000 pre-orders and is pledging to get 25,000 cars on US roads by the end of next year, but right now that number is rather more modest: just 19 delivered. In Detroit this week PluginCars chatted with Brian Carolin, Nissan's Senior VP of Sales, who indicates: "In hindsight, maybe we could have lowered expectations a little bit more." He does, however, dispel the myth that the cars had to be held back due to some wiring issues. How long until we can all stop fretting? "I think in five to six months time this will be kind of behind us," he says, which is actually quite a long ways away if you're really pining for your first EV.

Apple nears ten billion downloads in App Store, should hit it without Verizon's help

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For whatever reason, Apple has a thing with ten billion. The outfit served up its ten billionth iTune right around this time last year, and more importantly, served its one billionth app in April of 2009. In just 1.5 years, the company has seen that figure soar nearly tenfold, which is impressive no matter how you slice it. Of course, we're quite curious to know if this includes duplicate downloads, app updates and just free or paid apps, but regardless, there's no question that Cupertino (and quite a few developers) are raking it in. Of course, the explosion of the iPad certainly helped boost the download frequency, and if we had to guess, we'd say it'll take even less time to double up this milestone. You know, once next month happens. Oh, and if you get lucky enough, you could score a $10,000 iTunes gift card if you just so happen to download the ten billionth app -- make sure it's a good one.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini addresses Microsoft's ARM move in the wake of record earnings announcement

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We're kind of getting used to Intel setting records with its earnings this year, and it capped off its 2010 with another killer quarter. With $11.5 billion in revenue, and a total of $43.6 billion for the year (up 24 percent from last year), Intel is naturally riding high. There's danger lurking on the horizon, however, with Microsoft announcing at CES that the next version of Windows will also run on ARM chips, potentially ending a decades-long x86 dominance in the desktop OS space. Naturally, the topic came up in the earnings call, and here's Intel CEO Paul Otellini's level-headed statement on the topic:

The plus for Intel is that as they unify their operating systems we now have the ability for the first time, one, to have a designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets that runs on Intel that we don't have today; and, secondly, we have the ability to put our lowest-power Intel processors, running Windows 8 or the next generation of Windows, into phones, because it's the same OS stack. And I look at that as an upside opportunity for us.

On the downside, there's the potential, given that Office runs on these products, for some creep-up coming into the PC space. I am skeptical of that for two reasons: one, that space has a different set of power and performance requirements where Intel is exceptionally good; and secondly, users of those machines expect legacy support for software and peripherals that has to all be enabled from scratch for those devices.

After careful analysis of Paul's voice, we couldn't detect any hints of panic or fear in it, and we buy about 50+ percent of what he's putting down -- a lot better than we expected, to be honest. It's very interesting that he sees the new version of Windows being a "designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets," and the idea of Windows Phone running on regular Windows is also news to us -- though it certainly makes plenty of sense in the long run (and perhaps Ballmer has been hinting at it). Still, Intel has just as much of a disadvantage making a phone processor as ARM guys have a disadvantage at making high-powered PC processors, and when it comes to legacy support, they'll at least be on pretty equal footing when it comes to a "designed-from-scratch" tablet OS. No matter what, Intel certainly has a great roadmap and a ton of cash right now, so we look forward to a fair CPU fight on all sides of the form factor coin.

Fujitsu launches 11.6-inch Lifebook PH50/C, complete with AMD Fusion APU

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Now that AMD's Fusion is finally real, we're all sorts of excited to see what kind of numbers the E-350 Zacate APU puts up in honest-to-goodness machines like Fujitsu's latest. The minty fresh Lifebook PH50/C is just one of the many new lappies unveiled this week by the company, but this particular 11.6-incher has managed to grab our heartstrings and not let go. Boasting a cute, albeit familiar design, the PH50/C is equipped with a 1.6GHz E-350 APU, Radeon HD 6310 graphics, 2GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and a 5,800mAh battery good for up to seven hours of life in ideal conditions. For those more interested in Intel's Sandy Bridge, the like-minded PH74/C gets powered by a Core i3-2310M, and given that it's a Japanese machine designed for Japanese owners, an in-built WiMAX module is thrown in for good measure. We're also getting the impression that both of these can be ordered up with Intel's Wireless Display technology, and considering that Buffalo justintroduced a new WiDi adapter for this very market, we'd say things have lined up quite nicely. Pricing remains up in the air, but they should be out in Q1 for under $800 or so.

IBM's Watson supercomputer destroys all humans in Jeopardy practice round

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So, in February IBM's Watson will be in an official Jeopardy tournament-style competition with titans of trivia Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. That competition will be taped starting tomorrow, but hopefully we'll get to know if a computer really can take down the greatest Jeopardy players of all time in "real time" as the show airs. It will be a historic event on par with Deep Blue vs. Garry Kasparov, and we'll absolutely be glued to our seats. Today IBM and Jeopardy offered a quick teaser of that match, with the three contestants knocking out three categories at lightning speed. Not a single question was answered wrongly, and at the end of the match Watson, who answers questions with a cold computer voice, telegraphing his certainty with simple color changes on his "avatar," was ahead with $4,400, Ken had $3,400, and Brad had $1,200.

Alright, a "win" for silicon for now, but without any Double Jeopardy or Final Jeopardy it's hard to tell how well Watson will do in a real match. What's clear is that he isn't dumb, and it seems like the best chance the humans will have will be buzzing in before Watson can run through his roughly three second decision process and activate his buzzer mechanically. An extra plus for the audience is a graphic that shows the three answers Watson has rated as most likely to be correct, and how certain he is of the answer he selects -- we don't know if that will make it into the actual TV version, but we certainly hope so. It's always nice to know the thought processes of your destroyer. Stand by for video of the match, along with an interview with David Gondek, an engineer on the project.

While Watson's ability to understand questions, buzz in, and give a correct answer might seem very human-like, the actual tech behind Watson (dubbed "DeepQA" by IBM) is very computer-ey. Watson has thousands of algorithms it runs on the questions it gets, both for comprehension and for answer formulation. The thing is, instead of running these sequentially and passing along results, Watson runs them all simultaneously and compares all the myriad results at the end, matching up a potential meaning for the question with a potential answer to the question. The algorithms are backed up by vast databases, though there's no active connection to the internet -- that seems like it would be cheating, in Jeopardy terms.

Much of the brute force of the IBM approach (and why it requires a supercomputer to run) is comparing the natural language of the questions against vast stores of literature and other info it has in its database to get a better idea of context -- it has a dictionary, but dictionary definitions of words don't go very far in Jeopardy or in regular human conversation. Watson learns over time which algorithms to trust in which situation (is this a geography question or a cute pun?), and presents its answers with a confidence level attached -- if the confidence in an answer is high enough, it buzzes in and wins Trebek Dollars.

VW Golf Blue-e-motion and Hybrid Touareg strike a pose in Detroit

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Alternative means of propulsion are the norm at the North American International Auto Show this year in Detroit, and VW had a few options on display. First up is the Touareg Hybrid, the company's first, with a 3.0 liter supercharged V6 paired to an electric motor, offering a combined 380hp, 0 - 60 times of 6.2 seconds (not bad for a 5,000lb SUV), and up to 27mpg -- if you don't dip too deep in the throttle. Keep things light, and under 30mph, and you can drive it as a purely EV car so long as there's charge. It's available now.

Also on display is the Golf Blue-e-motion that our friends at Autoblog previously got to spend a little time with in Germany. This is currently built on the Golf Mk VI platform but, by the time it is released in 2013, will be applied to the upcoming Mk VII platform. It's said to offer a realistic 80 miles of range and, unlike the Focus Electric, hasn't made too many sacrifices in the cargo compartment.

iOS 4.3 code reveals new iPhone and iPad models, rumor mill suggests a dislike of the home button

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History lesson, folks. If you dig far enough into iOS's code, you'll eventually come across iPhone3,1, which is the AT&T iPhone 4, and the analogous iPhone3,2 (i.e. Verizon iPhone). It's nothing we haven't seen before, but then along comes iOS 4.3 with a handful of new mystery identifiers to spurn speculation -- namely, two new-generation iPhones (4,1 and 4,2) and three iPads (2,1; 2,2; and 2,3). Speculate all you want, but there isn't much else at all we can say definitively here, but if we had to take a guess, it's the GSM and CDMA variants of the next-gen models (plus a WiFi-only iPad). It is interesting to note the lack of an "iPhone4,3" given the yet-to-be-revealed iPhone3,3 is still there -- will the last member ever see the light of day? Outside of iOS 4.3 but still very much related, BGR is claiming it's heard from sources that the next iPhone / iPad models will eschew the physical home button altogether in lieu of the new multi-finger gestures and that employees at Cupertino are already testing such devices. That seems a little more out there to us; five-finger pinch to home feels extremely clunky. The real takeaway here? We can finally have an iPhone rumor that doesn't involve wondering if it'll head to a new US carrier.

Toyota puts Prius C on a pedestal, we go back for more

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Sorry, we can't help ourselves. You see, we like the Prius. A lot. But it's just so... well... boring. Not thePrius C. It's just a Concept, but it's a Curvy one, a Cute one, and a downright Catch. Call us anytime. Toyota. You have our number.

Ford takes us on the world's shortest test drive in the Focus Electric

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When offered a chance to take a Ford Focus Electric for a spin we jumped at it, though were admittedly a bit perplexed when told it would be on the show floor. As it turns out the company set up a loop upon which a Transit Van and Focus Electric were driving, one after the next, up a steep incline and over the heads of fellow journalists, stopping at a little dyno to see just what this thing was putting down, and then back around to where it all started. No shocking information was gleaned, and we still can't get anyone to confirm or deny the ability for a 480v quick-charge, but it sure beat walking.

Dell implants Sandy Bridge CPUs within biz-minded Vostro 460 mini tower

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Tried booting your corporate PC lately? Dollars to donuts it takes longer than three minutes to complete. The point? You need Sandy Bridge, and you need it now. Dell's hoping your IT department will agree, with the introduction of the Vostro 460 mini tower bringing along Intel's second generation Core processors (Core i5 and Core i7 options are available), Turbo Boost 2.0 and an understated design. Customers can also load it up with as much as 3TB of storage, a Blu-ray drive, 1GB NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics card and a USB 3.0 expansion card. You'll also get a tool-less chassis, eight USB 2.0 ports, inbuilt security services from Trend Micro and a starting price of $599. Surely that fits into the Q1 budget somewhere, right?

Li-Ion Motors Inzio electric supercar stops by Detroit

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We already showed you a quick tour of two of the three Automotive X-Prize winners. Wondering where the third was? Hanging out in the booth of its creator, Li-Ion motors, looking green and decidedly outclassed by the second car that company is showing off. It's the Inzio, a proper supercar of the electric variety, the base model hitting 60 from a standstill in four seconds and topping out at 130 -- perhaps not Ferrari-busting but surely more than enough to get your license taken away. If that's not enough there will be multiple models with different power levels and carbon fiber construction, with the higher-end dropping that 0 - 60 time to 3.4 seconds and boosting the top speed to 200.

We spent some time chatting with Li-Ion Motors Project Manager Paul Daigrepont about the design of the car, most interesting being the transmission. It's a custom-made four-speed unit that, interestingly, has no clutch. It's directly driven by the motor, shifting via paddles with the ECU dropping the torque on the motor momentarily to unload the gears, allowing an upshift to happen. At a stop the motor simply stops spinning and, if you want reverse, the car engages first gear and runs backwards! The company is accepting orders, starting at $139,000, a price that makes the Leaf feel like even more of a bargain.

Intel's Sandy Bridge hits the desktop realm: Dell, CyberPower, Digital Storm and more

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For the most part, Intel's Sandy Bridge introduction at CESmade a giant impact in the outlook of future laptops, but not as much was said over in the desktop world. Quietly, a slew of custom PC makers have slid out revised towers with the second generation Core lineup, with Dell's XPS 8300, Digital Storm's entire family, Cyber Power's Gamer Xtreme 1000 / 2000 and iBuyPower's Chimera XLC seeing the new Core i5 and Core i7 chips. Care to dig in deeper? Hit the source links below, and be sure to bust out your credit card -- Intel's fastest doesn't come cheap, you know.

Analog sunset begins, all the new Blu-ray players will only output HD via HDMI

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The chicken littles have been worried about this since long before the first Blu-ray (or even HD DVD) title was ever released, and the first step towards the analog sunset has officially come. Any new Blu-rayplayer announced after January 1st 2011 will only output HD via HDMI -- players that started shipping last year can still be sold until the end of this year though. If you just love component video, you might figure you'll be able to get a player today and continue to enjoy it for years to come, but maybe not. You see the studios also have the Image Constraint Token (ICT) which when set on a title will tell every and all Blu-ray players to down convert analog output to 540p. The only reprieve is that if its set on a title, it must be marked on the box, and of course it can't be retroactively set (any title you own now will continue to play exactly the same way it does on your existing players). We're waiting for final confirmation, but apparently the ICT hasn't been an option to studios until now so start looking for the icon on your latest purchases. The final stage in the sunset is 2013 when analog outputs will be removed from Blu-ray players completely, but we suspect we'll have better things to worry about by then like ultra HD or digital distribution.

Mercedes kicks off F-Cell World Drive, circumnavigating the globe on hydrogen

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Fuel cell-powered cars provide the efficiency and driveability of an electric vehicle while also offering the unlimited range of a traditional gasoline powered car -- assuming you can find a place to top off those hydrogen tanks. Right now that's a bit of a problem, but Mercedes Benz is out to show that it's not nearly as big of a hindrance as everyone makes it out to be. It'll be driving the B-Class F-Cell model around the world, starting in Stuttgart and motoring down to Lisbon, flying over to the US and driving across that, then across Australia before hopping a boat to Shanghai and driving all the way across Asia, ultimately arriving back to Stuttgart facing in the same direction they left. The B-Class F-Cell can cover 400km on a tank and can be refilled in about three minutes. At this point we have no reason to believe that either Ewan McGregor nor Charlie Boorman will be along for the ride, but given how well things went in Log Way Round perhaps that's for the best.

Ford Focus Electric motor extracted, split asunder, coppery guts exposed

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Yesterday we saw the junk in the trunk, now here's what's powering it. It's the motor that makes the Ford Focus Electric go, and while we still don't know many details (we couldn't get anyone to quote us a weight) it is a reasonably compact little thing. We did, however, get confirmation that it will not be run through either a standard transmission, like the dry-clutch automatic that the regular Focus comes with, nor something like the two-speed transmission that Tesla uses in its Roadster. It'll be "like a CVT" we're told, keeping the motor at its most efficient RPM, and while we're not sure what that looks like on the inside we're sure that there'll be no shifting involved, neither manual nor automatic.

Bigfoot Networks intros Killer E2100-powered motherboards from ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte

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Looks like that tease was more than just a tease. It's a truism. Back at Computex, Bigfoot Networks' CEOtold us that his next major target was motherboards. The company already infused its Killer E2100 gaming network card into a GPU, and here at CES, it's formally announcing three partnerships with major mainboard makers. MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte are all onboard, with the latter to offer a new line of G1-Killer mobos later in the year. ASUS will be dishing out a ROG Rampage III Black Edition (shown above) which will feature the E2100 on a combined LAN / audio called dubbed ThunderBolt, but your guess is as good as ours when it comes to specifications and CPU compatibility. Pricing and release information remain a mystery across the range, but it's practically a guarantee that we'll see more of these tie-ups in the coming months.

Toyota debuts new Prius models, family-friendlier Prius V and funkier Prius C

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Toyota made no bones about the fact that more Prius models were to be unveiled in Detroit for the North American International Auto Show, even throwing advertisements up around town asking whether it's supposed to be Priuses or Priii. (We, as you can see, chose to side-step the debate.) Now we know what's coming, first being the Prius V. It's the MPV the company has been teasing, basically just a taller version of the four-door sedan with a hatchback and a whopping 60 percent more cargo space -- 32 cubic feet, which is more than most compact SUVs. It's to be rated 42mpg city, 38 highway, and 40 combined, which is a surprising 10mpg lower than the sedan model. That's perhaps a bit disappointing, but availability this summer is a pleasant surprise.

Next is the Prius C, naturally for "concept," which is aimed at "young singles and couples." It's definitely funkier and way cooler than the current model, looking to have a nose very similar to the car's FT-86 concept. We hope the production model looks quite close to this, and while that's always a doubtful proposition we won't have all that long to wait, with it hitting dealerships in the first half of 2012. Toyota also showed off the Prius Plug-In, the very same one we test drove last year, said to be coming first to the western and eastern coasts of the US first, and re-affirmed the "patriarch" status of the current-generation Prius sedan, having sold 230,000 cars since 2009. It's good to be the king.

Mercedes SLS AMG E-Cell hitting dealerships in 2013

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You may disagree with the car's color and its powertrain choice, but you can't argue with 528 horsepower, 649lb/ft of torque, and AWD acceleration so good it should come with a neck brace. It's a legitimately hot car, and it's legitimately coming to dealerships. Mercedes today confirmed that the SLS AMG E-Cell will be available for order at dealerships in 2013, and while no price was given, expect it to be a lot. The gasoline-powered model cost around $200,000, after all. Oh, and that citrus color? It's pretty stunning in the flesh, a matte hue that makes you go "Mmm."

Intel agrees to pay NVIDIA $1.5b in patent license fees, signs cross-license

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Between slagging each other off with cartoons like the one above and taking each other to court over chipset licenses, there's been no love lost between NVIDIA and Intel over the past few years -- but it looks like the war is over. The two companies just announced a new six-year cross-licensing deal that will see Intel paying NVIDIA a total of $1.5b over the next five years for access to NVIDIA's technology, while also giving NVIDIA a license to some of Intel's patents. The two companies have also agreed to drop all pending litigation, because you know, they're now friends who just exchanged a billion and half dollars. Crucially, Intel won't give up rights to x86, flash memory or "certain chipsets," so we don't really know if this agreement allows NVIDIA to produce integrated graphics for Sandy Bridge -- although most manufacturers are going with an Optimus-style discrete / integrated switchable arrangement that pairs Intel's on-die graphics with a discrete NVIDIA chip anyway, so we're not so sure it actually matters. We would love to see NVIDIA support Intel's Wireless Display 2.0 and the new Insider 1080p movie service, though -- and if these two coming closer together results in better Intel on-board graphics that can rival AMD Fusion, well, things will get very interesting indeed. Oh, the possibilities of peace.

P.S.- And seriously, what a turnaround for NVIDIA at CES: it's gone from being the company that was going nowhere with Tegra to completely dominating the Android landscape with Tegra 2, finding its way into all sorts of cars, and upending the desktop processor space with Project Denver -- all while pocketing $1.5b of Intel's cash. Not bad work for one Mr. Jen-Hsun Huang.

Update: NVIDIA just said on its press call that it has "no intentions to build chipsets for Intel processors," and that Intel will be able to use NVIDIA's technology in Sandy Bridge, so we suppose that answers that question.

AMD CEO Dirk Meyer resigns, CFO Seifert takes interim role

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What a day for chip news, eh? First NVIDIA and Intel set aside their vicious rhetoric in a $1.5 billion cross-licensing deal, and now AMD is shaking things up at the very top. Now-former CEO Dirk Meyer has resigned in what the company is a calling a "mutual agreement" between him and the Board of Directors. Interim CEO will be CFO Thomas Seifert, who has asked not to be considered as a candidate for the next chief. A search committee for the next CEO is currently being led by Board Chairman Bruce Claflin. The circumstances behind Meyer's departure remain a mystery, but something tells us they can't be as ridiculous as the last major CEO resignation we saw around these parts.

Obama administration moves forward with unique internet ID for all Americans, Commerce Department to head system up

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President Obama has signaled that he will give the United States Commerce Department the authorityover a proposed national cybersecurity measure that would involve giving each American a unique online identity. Other candidates mentioned previously to head up the new system have included the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, but the announcement that the Commerce Department will take the job should please groups that have raised concerns over security agencies doing double duty in police and intelligence work. So anyway, what about this unique ID we'll all be getting? Well, though details are still pretty scant, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, speaking at an event at the Stanford Institute, stressed that the new system would not be akin to a national ID card, or a government controlled system, but that it would enhance security and reduce the need for people to memorize dozens of passwords online. Sorry, Locke, sounds like a national ID system to us. Anyway, the Obama administration is currently drafting what it's dubbed the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which is expected at the Department of Commerce in a few months. We'll keep you posted if anything terrifying or cool happens.

Enterprise to offer Chevy Volt in California, probably ding you for bringing it back half-charged

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Not one to be one-upped by Hertz -- which already announced a plug-in rental program that'll includethe almighty Tesla Roadster and the diminutive Smart Fortwo -- Enterprise Rent-A-Car has just announced that it'll be the first to offer Chevrolet's Volt later in the month. The company's Mark Christopher Auto Center in Ontario, California will have an undisclosed amount in stock for daily and weekly rentals, and it sounds as if it'll be grappling for more just as soon as they roll off of the production line. For those who can't quite make it down to the desert, Enterprise will be offering 500 Nissan Leaf vehicles nationwide, with charging stations already installed in Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Monica. No word on what type of fee you'll be hit with when you bring it back with only 20 percent of the batteries charged, but you can rest assured the bigwigs at Enterprise are already thinking about it.

Bang & Olufsen announce chip co-op deal with Intel

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Well, along with all the other things that happened this year at CES,Bang & Olufsen announced a new cooperation agreement with Intel. What does that mean to you, the consumer? Not terribly much, on the outside -- B&O products have carried Intel chips in the past, but this marks the first time the two companies have had an official relationship, and should mean we'll be seeing refreshes of B&O products every time Intel brings forth new chips. And that's always great news, isn't it? Hit up the source link for full, flowery quotes from reps at both Intel and Bang & Olfusen.

Samsung's ultrathin 9 Series laptop coming in February

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We didn't have a date for Samsung's 9 Series when it became official a couple of days ago, but now we do: it's coming next month. Sammy's press release makes sure to run us through all the bodacious specs of this 13.3-inch machine, including the LED-backlit display with 400 nits of brightness, 128GB SSD, 1.4GHz Core i5-2537M CPU, and MacBook Air-like proportions, before disclosing its arrival month as February 2011. The starting price is still a high and mighty $1,599, but then you do get a pretty stellarlaptop for your cash money.

1,000th Tesla Roadster sets production EV record: 347.2 miles

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What do you need to do to get within a whiff of 350 miles on a single charge out of your Tesla Roadster? Paint it a luscious pearly white -- and maybe close off a highway and drive at 20mph. The run was made in the Imperial Valley of California, by a team who somehow got access to a loop of closed (and presumably rather flat) roads and ran them over and over and over again through the course of two days. The result was quite impressive: 347.2 miles. Perhaps not entirely practical or attainable to the average driver, but impressive nevertheless.

General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle

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Cars are big and stupid. Well, most of the time, anyway. Need to bring home a couple sheets of drywall in the rain? Man it's nice to have a big truck with a cab. Need to run Jr. to school five miles away on a smoothly paved? Suddenly that full-size, extended cab, 13.5mpg dually monster starts seeming just a little silly. Assuming people continue their flock to the cities, in the future that latter situation will be an awful lot more common than the former and our cities simply won't be able to manage. The streets won't be wide enough, parking garages tall enough, nor oil wells deep enough. We need something different, and GM thinks that something is the EN-V. Even though it still isn't the future we just got a drive in one, so read on for our impressions.

First of all, EN-V isn't really intended to imply envy, especially in the case of the bulbous one that looks to us a little like Ponyo in her mid-transition state. It stands for Electric Networked-Vehicle and, yes, it's electric. The entire powertrain is a flat slab upon which the car sits, what's been dubbed the "skateboard." The body of the car then slides forward or backward to balance, and to go forward the body simply leans forward -- just like someone on a Segway. No surprise given that Segway helped to develop the P.U.M.A. that we test-drove back in 2009.

Its specs are easy to remember -- if you dig metric, at least: 500kg weight, 50km range, and 50km/m maximum speed. Things are a little less symmetrical in imperial: 1,100lbs, 31 miles, and 31mph. It seats two, has no suspension (other than the rubber in the tires and the padding in the seats), but we still haven't mentioned the best part: the networking.

The cars can talk to each other, and not just to say "Hey." It's more like "Get out of my way," with one car being able to automatically brake and avoid another. They can also say "Follow me," a practice called platooning with one car automatically (and safely) running in the tracks of the other.

Plenty more tricks, though, perhaps the best being that the car can park itself. Get out of the car, pull out your cellphone, hit a button, and it zips down the block and finds its own parking space. Hit another button and it comes right back. Sadly there are neither turbo boost nor air brake buttons to be found at this point, but we can hope for a future release. We'll leave the snarky British accent.

Next-generation Mercedes mbrace iPhone app hands-on

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Last year Hughes Telematics had the Mercedes mbrace iPhone app on display, providing some OnStar-like functionality like locking your car remotely, unlocking your car remotely, and even getting navigation to your car for those times when you park way out in the lot and can't find it again when you're suffering from post-shopping marathon mental lethargy. Now there's a new version coming, getting submitted to Apple at the end of the month for a February release, and it adds a suite of new navigation features. Full details after the break.

Basically the app helps to bring some of the in-car mbrace functionality to the app, notably navigation-related. In the car -- if you're an mbrace subscriber -- you can hit a button and speak to a text-to-speech system or an actual human being, with the winner sending your destination to the car. With the upcoming version of the app you'll be able to do the same, searching for POIs, contacts, or just entering a specific address, but without having to talk.

But, the coolest part is a feature called Drive2Friend. Enter in your pal's mobile number and the app will fire off a text message to them with your name and a message indicating that you're trying to find them. If the friend agrees their location is sent back to the car and you get directions, like, right there, even if they're clubbin' it up. We're told it uses cellular triangulation and that only a TXT is delivered, so it'll work with nearly any phone that's come along since the dawn of text messaging.

Mac App Store hits one million downloads on day one

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Apple's just announced that its freshly baked Mac App Store's already hit the one million download mark on its launch day, with more than 1,000 titles -- including both free and paid apps -- up for grabs. Can't say we're surprised, really, especially with popular apps like Angry Birds, Flight Control, and Twitter presumably taking a good chunk out of the bandwidth. In case you're still wondering what the deal is, feel free to take a look at our Mac App Store hands-on.

Ford unveils Focus Electric with MyFord Mobile smartphone integration

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Ford just made industry history by being the first major auto manufacturer to unveil a new model atCES, the Focus Electric. But we already knew it would. What we didn't know were the details of the thing, but now we have them. And a lot of pretty pictures. Ford is saying the car will manage a range of 100 miles and that it will offer an MPGe rating (a conceptual equivalency of miles per gallon for an electric or otherwise non-traditionally powered car) higher than the Volt and comparable to the Leaf, but crucially it's saying that it can be recharged on a 240 volt outlet in four hours or less. The Leaf can take up to seven hours with the same amount of current -- though of course CHAdeMO support there handily trumps that. More details below, along with details of some pretty blue butterflies.

As you can see in the pictures the car looks quite good, inheriting the generally taut lines (if bulkier exterior) of the 2012 focus, but doing so with a bit more bling thanks to that grille up front. Also new is the fender-mounted charging plug, with an illuminated ring that fills up as the batteries do.

The car will quite naturally feature the latest MyFord Touch, displayed on an 8-inch touchscreen in the center stack, and will be the first car to offer MyFord Mobile -- the sort of smartphone integration we've seen in the Leaf and the Volt, allowing users to monitor the car's charging status and climate settings from afar. The car also critiques your driving habits, using a rather novel approach: "the more butterflies there are, the greater the range" says Ford -- and the happier the bunnies frolicing through the fields

Power is provided by a liquid-cooled (and heated) battery pack developed in conjunction with LG Chem and, while we don't have a curb weight yet, we're told to expect a car that handles just as nicely as standard Focus does -- which is rather nicely indeed, we might add. What we don't know, crucially, how much it will cost. That is an answer to be revealed sometime before its 2013 release. Or, at least, we hope it will.

Update: Ford's wording on the release date is a bit vague, but it's looking like 2013 in Europe and late 2011 in the US for a Focus Electric release.

Tesla shows us what the Model S looks like on the inside

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We've recently had the chance to get closer than ever with the Model S, taking off the covers from a rolling prototype and gazing longingly at the fingerprints on its giant, Tegra-powered 17-inch central display inside. Now Tesla is showing what else is inside -- inside the sheet metal, though. Tesla and its VP of Vehicle Engineering, Peter Rawlinson, have taken the time to release three videos showing the construction and development of the car, giving us a tantalizing view of the frame.

Looking at the above picture the amount of cross-bracing on the front structure is impressive, resulting in what should be a very twist-averse chassis that loves being slung through the twisties. What remains to be seen, however, is how well it will hustle the weight of its battery pack around. We're just going to wait for a test drive to find out.

Intel's next CPU refresh will include DirectX 11 graphics support

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Tick, the CPU and GPU get integrated into the same 32nm die, tock, they both go down to 22nm with the latter gaining DirectX 11 support. Intel's only just unveiled its Sandy Bridge processors, but the next update to the company's desktop and laptop hardware has already gained an important detail. Mooly Eden, general manager for the PC Client Group, has disclosed the news that Ivy Bridge -- the die shrink of the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture -- will include DX 11 graphical capabilities when it arrives late in 2011. We're inclined to agree with Intel that DirectX 11 really wasn't a necessary implementation for Sandy Bridge given its humble gaming credentials, but Mooly expects a lot more applications will have harnessed the available APIs by the time we come to cross the Ivy Bridge. Let's hope it is so.

Mustang next to get SYNC AppLink smartphone integration, we hope to be next to get a Mustang

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If you've been paying attention to our auto coverage from CES this year, posts with pictures of pretty cars that go tearing down the page amidst the flood of tablets and superphones, you might have spotted our hands-on with SYNC AppLink. It's making its debut in the 2011 Ford Fiesta, letting smartphoners stream Pandora and a few other apps right through the car. Now Ford is confirming that the 2012 Mustang is going to be next to get the nod and, like on the current Fiesta, it'll be free. That said, if you can't resist ticking the boxes next to the premium options you can choose to add voice-activated navigation, which includes an 8-inch touchscreen that also displays AppLink information. No word on cost for that just yet, but you can check out the interface in the pictures below.

Microsoft and Samsung unveil SUR40, the 'Surface 2.0 Experience' you still can't buy

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It's been years since Microsoft first wowed us with Surface, years that we've been looking at cool applications for the smart tables, but still Microsoft thinks you aren't ready. Or aren't rich enough, anyway. Samsung has unveiled the "SUR40 with Microsoft Surface," a third-party implementation and what's being called the "2.0 Experience." On the outside things look a bit different, with a variety of pedestals that the thing can be mounted to, including one with two wood panels that flow up to cradle the display. But, if you like, the 40-inch, 1080p screen and the 2.9GHz AMD Athlon II X2 processor and Radeon HD 6700M behind it is now wall-mountable, meaning it really isn't technically a smart table at all. Up top the interface looks more polished and refined, and naturally Windows Phone 7 support has been added, as you can see in the video below. It all looks rather good, we think, but it's all rather focused on businesses as ever.

Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally tells us why CES is important

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Each year we see more and more cars at CES, more and more infotainment systems, and more and more reasons to get excited about driving to work. But each time Ford is the company with the biggest presence, and this year there's more Blue Oval than ever with the first CES unveil of a whole new car, theupcoming Focus Electric. Alan Mulally was kind enough to take a few minutes to speak with us about just what the heck the company is doing here and, more importantly, what kind of surprises are coming from his keynote speech on Friday. It's all in the video below. And, yes, more of that Mustang too -- which just so happens to be painted in our favorite color.

Audi rolls out updated hybrid e-tron Spyder at CES

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It's looking rather more polished since it first appeared the Paris Auto Show earlier this year, having been given a lovely coat of red paint (embarrassingly almost exactly the same hue as the Tesla Model S that's here) but keeping the some gorgeous, turbine-styled wheels. It's the Audi e-tron Spyder, a hybrid with a twin-turbo V6 and dual electric motors as well capable of 0 - 60 times of 4.7 seconds, and we thought you might want to see. Still no price or availability, though. Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler also took the time to show off the company's latest MMI system, with its character-recognizing touchpad, and also spoke a little bit about the future -- vaguely, anyway. He refuted our thoughts on the car of the future, replacing the dash with a mobile device, saying that those devices are designed to draw your attention which is, of course, a bad thing while you're driving. However, we can't help but think that there are ways to eliminate that problem with the right software layer.

Anyway, we'll be speaking with Stadler a little later today and will be picking his brain a little bit more about this and other topics of the future.

Dell Alienware M17x and Aurora hands-on

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It's true, Dell unleashed two new Alienware systems this morning, and naturally we just had to check out the two epically powerful rigs in person. We spent the most time with the new 17-inch M17x, and while the chassis has been updated, it's still loaded with lots of LEDs and chrome accents. The lid and edges have been given a more chiseled aesthetic, so we'd say it looks more muscular than ever. Obviously, the big story with the M17x is that it is now 3D capable. The full HD display is seriously beautiful, and while we didn't get to check out a Blu-ray 3D movie on the rig, we can only imagine how breathtaking the experience is going to be. We did, however, get to check out its new integrated 1080p streaming capability, which actually is based on an integrated WHDI solution. You'll need to pick up an extra box and hook it up to your TV, but in the demo we saw there was absolutely no lag between the clip of Final Fantasy on the laptop and on the TV. The unit we saw hanging around was packing a new Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA graphics, but it will apparently be available with AMD's latest graphics as well.

We also caught sometime with the new Aurora desktop, but like we said it wasn't much. The tower is still crazily-lit, but has been updated with the most powerful overclockable Intel Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge processors as well as new NVIDIA graphics that support 3D Vision. The Aurora should be available this month for a starting price of $1,799 and the M17x for $1,499 on January 10th.

Fulton Innovation blows our minds with eCoupled wireless Tesla, inductive cereal boxes

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Wondering what your future kitchen looks like? Take a gander at what Fulton Innovation is showing at CES this year. They're also giving a peek at the future of retail shopping, and even parking lots. It's all the magic of inductive charging, and now that the Qi standard has been finalized it seems like things are coming together. Really together, in everything from cereal boxes with blinkenlights to Tesla Roadstersthat charge almost as quickly as with a wire but, quite obviously, without the wire. Would you like to know more? Click on through.

The thing that brought us to Fulton Innovation in the first place was the wireless Tesla charging. The model on display here is an obvious retrofit, a coil stuck between the front wheels that runs to an AC/DC converter and then, quite inelegantly, to a cable running out a vent and into the input on the car itself. This is an obvious retrofit but it was done with purpose: to show that without modifying the internal systems of the car wireless charging can be done -- and reasonably efficiently, too.

This form of charging is 80 percent efficient, but the company estimates that with a more integrated system (mainly deleting the converter) they could get to 89 percent efficiency. The wired charger? It clocks in at 96 percent efficiency, meaning for any given voltage the charging time would only be about 7 seven percent slower going wireless -- a potentially small price to pay for the ability to turn an entire parking lot into a charging station without having to worry about wires or vandalism or semi-inadvertent electrocution of curious people who decide to see what happens when terminals get licked.

Most impressive? Inductive charging like this gets more efficient as you raise the voltage, meaning that as you go from 120 to 240 and even 480 (ala CHAdeMO) that efficiency could get even higher. A 30 minute quick-charge without wires? Call us interested.

But that's just one application. There were a suite of retail packaging demos on display that blink or flash, grabbing your attention and, in theory, connecting to a grocery list on a smart phone to help you identify the product on the shelf -- imagine the cardamom amping up the blinkenlights to help you find it. Naturally, though, we think the primary application will be in sugary cereals catching the gaze of wide-eyed kids. Soon we'll all be wearing sunglasses in the cereal aisle.

There's also a can of Chunky Soup that cooks itself -- in the can -- and of course inductive pots and pans and, yes, inductive charging smartphones too. The best part is there's no need for a special charging pad: there are retrofit kits coming to install under nearly any counter top surface (up to about four inches thick) that could, in theory, turn every horizontal plane in your kitchen into a cooking surface, device recharger, and, apparently, cereal blinkelighter.

Yes, it's all conceptual, but the company has enough partners lined up now to give us hope that we'll start seeing this stuff become a reality outside of the show floor. Maybe in time for next year's show.

Toshiba updates Qosmio X505 with new Core 2011 processors and NVIDIA graphics

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Update 'em all! That's Toshiba's laptop motto here at CES. Along with the A and M series, Toshiba's plugged its Qosmio X505 with the latest Intel Core i7-2630QM and Core i5-2410M processors. The powerhouse multimedia laptop is still just that, and in fact, its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics with 1.5GB DDR5 discrete graphics memory can support NVIDIA's 3DTV Play, which lets you output 3D content or games over HDMI to your living room's 3D display. Other than that the X505 still has all the high end features you'd ever want in a 18.4-inch chassis, including a 1920 x 1080-resolution display, Harman/Kardon speakers, HD webcam, and a Blu-ray drive. The rig will be available in the coming months for $1300 to $1900 -- hit the break for one more picture.

762 horsepower amphibious HydroCar listed on eBay for $777,000

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Well, this is something you don't see every day, that's for sure. We've seen plenty of outlandish items for sale on eBay, but this one might just take the cake. A hand-built, amphibious HydroCar packing 762 horsepower is currently listed on eBay for a mere $777,000 -- that's the 'Buy it Now' price, anyway. Crafted by Rick Dobbertin, the 32-foot long steel HydroCar moves from land to water and back again, for all your amphibious vehicle needs. At the time of this writing, Dobbertin has seemingly already rejected 11 offers, so if you're in the market for a vehicle of this kind -- and let's be honest, who isn't? -- you're going to want to hit up the source link fast.