ZEO Electric Car Concept: The Next Dodge Charger?

The muscle cars that fueled automotive passion in the 1960s were wildly popular because high performance is both fun and addicting. What if a car company could capture those same emotions and sensations in a package that makes no excuses for its environmental impact ... a vehicle that doesn't sacrifice performance for green credentials that literally screams, "drive me?" Meet Chrysler's latest concept vehicle, the Dodge ZEO.

ZEO stands for Zero Emissions Operation. Where premium gasoline once flowed, electrons now deliver ample power. That's right, ZEO is a pure electric car, or more accurately an electric performance car. ZEO delivers clean electric performance on par with the venerable Chrysler HEMI V-8. Acceleration is well within the realm of a true muscle car: 0-60 mph from a standing start happens in less than six seconds.

This is possible because the ZEO is propelled by a 200 kilowatt electric motor that supplies 268 horsepower to the rear wheels. The advanced propulsion system is fed by a 64 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that Chrysler says will offer a range in excess of 250 miles. The batteries are located very low in the chassis and below the cabin floor for a low center of gravity. Although the battery pack is large, ZEO manages to weigh in at just 2,650 pounds, thus enhancing overall performance and handling.

"The Dodge ZEO concept is designed to break the paradigm of what an electric car should look like," says Bill Zheng, Dodge ZEO principal exterior designer. "An electric car can be as expressive as any gasoline powered vehicle. The Dodge ZEO concept proves that point ... and then some."

Dodge is calling the ZEO a 2+2 sport wagon. The key word here is "sport" because very little about ZEO evokes the image of a traditional station wagon. Yes, the cabin extends back to the rear bumper with cargo space behind two rear buckets, but there is certainly nothing stodgy about this wagon. Its stance is pure muscle car, with huge 23 inch alloy wheels filling the exaggerated wheel arches and wide, rounded fender lines. ZEO is a very "fast" shape. The windshield, for example, arches up at an extreme rake from the long and expressive hood, extending all the way back over the passenger compartment to the "C" pillar. The cabin tucks inward from the widest portion at the front door line to form a sculpted teardrop form at the ZEO's tail.

Fortunately, while the ZEO is very expressive, it hasn't lost the Dodge brand character. Cues like the Dodge ram head badges and crosshair grille treatment, which is illuminated from behind, make it easily recognizable as a Mopar. Both front and rear lamps are treated as separate sculptural forms that add ,to the futuristic look of the car.

Zheng and his team took an unconventional approach with the door configuration. Rather than hinging from the front or rear, the ZEO's doors swing up out of the way in a "scissor" fashion to provide unobstructed access to the interior. Once these scissor doors are open, the interior quickly becomes the center of attention. Lou Gasevski, principal interior designer of the Dodge ZEO concept, describes the interior as "an example of designing for people who are used to a dynamic lifestyle and who are surrounded with information and virtual friends at all times." Interior lines are bold, yet minimal. Trimmed in Super White leather with dark gray accents, the ZEO's interior hints at a European flair. The designers were after an integrated look and treated the interior as a single piece of sculpture, accomplished by blending individual components into a unified whole.

To create the character of a true 2+2, a dramatic center console slopes downward at an angle that extends all the way past the rear bucket seats. The ZEO's steering wheel, column, and instrument panel are a single freestanding design element that adjusts as one unit. The wheel is open, with two closely spaced spokes allowing 80 percent of the rim uncluttered. A thin blue acrylic viewing screen, which is positioned directly in the driver's line of sight through the open steering wheel, supplies critical driving information.

Clearly, Chrysler designer's had the Sixties muscle car playbook in mind when they concocted the ZEO. A lightweight platform with an oversized motor driving the rear wheels is a sure recipe for fun. Only this time around, it's good clean fun.

Camera+ for iPhone Is Back with Tons of Effects, Editing Options, Slashed Price

Developer tap tap tap has re-introduced Camera+, a powerful photography application for iOS devices. Previously rejected by Apple over a function that remapped the iPhone's volume button to trigger the camera shutter, the software is now back with a host of new features, as well as a more attractive price (albeit only for a limited time).

The developers at tap tap tap not only managed to eliminate everything that could jeopardize the app’s re-approval in the App Store, but also added a range of new functions that make this app a definite must-have for anyone using their iPhone to take photos.
In addition to the advanced zooming, focus, and lighting capabilities, the app boasts a completely revamped shooting preferences panel, timer and burst shooting modes, and new Cyanotype, Tailfins, and Depth of Field effects (complete with sliders to adjust effect amount).

Additional effects can also be purchased directly from within the app. The first pack is the "I ♥ Analog" effects pack, which contains the Diana, Silver Gelatin, Helios, Contessa, Nostalgia, Expired, XPRO C-41, Pinhole, and Chromogenic effects.

New borders are to be had as well. These include Light Mat, Dark Mat, Round White, Round Black, Offset, Light Grit, Dark Grit, Viewfinder, Old-TImey, Film, and Sprockets.

Softpedia has compiled the remaining key additions in Camera+ 2.0 in the list below:

- New Darken, Cloudy, Shade, and Fluorescent scene modes
- New 3 x 2 crop, and rotation and flipping of photos
- Export of geolocation and metadata when when saving photos to the Camera Roll
- Functions to save and leave photos in Lightbox, commit all edits in photos, copy photos with edits committed, copy photos without edits, undo all edits in photos, and remove geolocation in photos.
- A new photo info panel showing photo metadata, editing recipe, and a map with the photo location

Germany's Sensitive Human-Like Robot

Science-fiction movies have predicted it, but German researchers have actually built it: a robot with two arms, three cameras, finger-tip sensitivity and facial expressions. Its name is the pi4-workerbot, and since it has basically the same size as a human, it can work at any modern standing or sitting workstation in an industrial manufacturing environment. The pi4-workerbot is not only a German success, but also an European pride, since its purpose is to help maintain the competitiveness of the European production. It is able to make more movements than any other normal robot and the most prized creation of the EU-funded PISA project, whose goal is to give flexibility to industrial mass production by using robots in the assembly processes. “We developed the workerbot to be roughly the same size as a human being,” said Dr.-Ing. Dragoljub Surdilovic, head of the working group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK in Berlin.  The robot has three cameras, out of which the one on its forehead is a state-of-the-art 3D camera, capturing its general surroundings. It can do several tasks, like “measure objects or inspect a variety of surfaces,” said Matthias Krinke, Managing Director of pi4-Robotics, the company which should get the robot onto the market. For example, it can look at a chromed surface and see if the coating has been perfectly applied, depending on the way that light is reflected off the material. Krinke adds that “if you use two different cameras, it can inspect one aspect with its left eye, and another with its right,” and apparently it can do that over a continuous 24-hour period, which in medical technology could prove very valuable. As said before, the pi4-workerbot also has two arms, which, according to Surdilovic, “allows it to carry out new kinds of operations,” like transferring “a workpiece from one hand to the other.” The researcher explains that “conventional robotic arms generally only have one swivel joint at the shoulder; all their other joints are articulated. “In other words, they have six degrees of freedom, not seven like a human arm,” and also an additional rotation facility corresponding to the wrist of a human. Surdilovic’s group developed the control system for the workerbot, and he recalls that it proved to be a very difficult task. “Programming the two arms to work together – for example, to inspect a workpiece or assemble two components – was a real challenge. It requires additional sensor systems.” And since the robot has been built by Germans, it also has finger-tip sensitivity and several facial expressions. “If you set the strength of the grip correctly, it will take hold of an egg without cracking it,” says Surdilovic, and if it's doing a good job, it can smile happily. There are chances that this is the best Christmas gift ever, for people who built it and for those that will afford buying it.

Report: Nokia eyeing Microsoft's phone OS

Microsoft and Nokia are said to be working together on bringing to market Nokia-made smartphones that run Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system.

The report, which is the second such rumor in the past three months, comes from Eldar Murtazin--editor in chief of Moscow-based Mobile-Review.com, who some of you might remember making headlines earlier this year for a review of Nokia's N8 long before the device ever came out. This was followed shortly thereafter by Nokia reportedly going to the Russian police to get the prototype unit back.

Murtazin's post, which was picked up earlier this morning by blog Unwired View, goes into some detail about Nokia's new management (which includes former Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop as CEO) initiating discussions with Microsoft about creating a Nokia-made device that will blend technologies from both companies--specifically Microsoft's recently released Windows Phone OS running on Nokia's hardware.

Murtazin says the move (roughly translated) is desperate--especially for Nokia, which he compares to a diving plane with pilots who don't know what to do.

This would not be the first time rumors of Microsoft and Nokia discussing a phone collaboration have cropped up. In September, VentureBeat had a report from several sources saying that Nokia was planning to use Windows Phone 7 as "an additional platform," for its phones. This was refuted by Nokia a day later.

At the same time, these rumors do not exactly jibe with the company's talk of continuing to use Symbian and up-and-coming mobile OS MeeGo. Earlier this month, Nokia Vice President of Eseries Ilari Nurmi told ZDNet UK that the company would stick with Symbian for use on its business phone platform as a "primary"--that's even after MeeGo OS begins its mainstream roll-out in 2011.

"It's very important to note that Symbian is the primary platform today and will also be the primary platform in the future," Nurmi said in that interview.

Gift idea: 'Eye-Fi' moves photos to MacBook, PC

Though Eye-Fi's Secure Digital (SD) card has been out there for a couple of years, it's worth revisiting--just because it works. And it's not be a bad idea as a holiday gift for any digital camera owner.

Eye-Fi allows the transfer of photos from existing digital cameras wirelessly. A nice piece of inexpensive technology that has worked well for me.

Eye-Fi SD cards come in 4GB and 8GB capacities and, after a relatively painless setup, do away with USB cables and the task of inserting/removing of SD cards.

Because I own a couple of MacBook Airs, this technology makes a difference. My first- and second-generation Airs have no SD card slots and just one always-occupied USB port--one of the few downsides to an otherwise superb ultraportable laptop. So, this is a feature I need--though not to the point where I would want to limit my camera purchases to Wi-Fi-enabled models, like the Kodak EasyShare One--that was available a few years back--or the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3, among other cameras.

It's really just a matter of replacing your current SD card with the Eye-Fi card and having an in-home Wi-Fi router, which many people do these days.

Setup involves inserting a USB adapter into your system (the adapter is used only once at setup, after that everything is wireless), then confirming your Wi-Fi router information, and finally choosing where you want the photos to be stored on your laptop. There is a background application that handles the automatic transfers when you take photos.

Configuring the card requires you sign up for the Eye-Fi center. Setting up an Eye-Fi account did not go swimmingly when I set up the card--asking me to set up an account multiple times--but the Eye-Fi database seems--for now at least--to have resolved that hiccup.

I've been using Eye-Fi with my Kodak M580 and MacBook Air. So far, the card has done what it claims. As soon as you snap a picture, the photo is automatically sent to your PC over your home's Wi-Fi network. For me, it has been almost instantaneous.

And the Eye-Fi Center software also allows you to set up multiple networks. So, for example, I have Eye-Fi set up for my home Wi-Fi network and my mobile Verizon MiFi network (the latter is a credit card-size router that provides 3G connections for up to five devices.)

The 4GB version (which I have) is $39.99 at Best Buy, while the 8GB card is $99.99.

Two new Buick Regal models anticipate the road and the driver

In General Motors' latest effort to make the driving experience more comfortable, the company announced that the 2011 Buick Regal CXL Turbo offers three unique driving styles (standard, touring and sport) that can be changed by the flip of a switch from the driver, or automatically as the car senses changes in the road or the driver's style.

The new feature, called Interactive Drive Control System, alters the car's suspension, shift pattern, and steering sensitivity. The touring setting on the CXL offers a relaxed driving experience for long journeys. The sport setting enhances road-holding capability. And the standard, or default, setting is "optimized for all driving situations."

A modified version of Interactive Drive Control is coming to the 2012 Regal GS. The GS, which is a sportier Regal, will offer standard, sport, and GS driving styles. The standard mode is the setting for all-around use. The sport mode provides a level of performance between standard and the GS modes, and GS mode offers a tighter suspension and steering response.

"By enabling drivers to tune their vehicle to their driving situation and even their mood, we're better able to exceed their expectations and provide a more satisfying driving experience," said Robert Casparian, Regal product manager. "We fully expect to see this capability become more widely available in years to come."

PlayStation Phone may carry Xperia branding

A handful of new PlayStation Phone rumors surfaced this week, adding to a long list of unconfirmed reports surrounding the device.

The latest gossip concerns the smartphone's eventual     name. According to information uncovered by Pocket-Now, Sony Ericsson has registered for trademarks on Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Duo, and Xperia Arc. It's possible that the Xperia Play could refer to the device itself or an umbrella of services related to the phone.

The Unofficial Xperia X10 blog also discovered that a Sony Ericsson PR firm had registered the XperiaPlay.com, XperiaPlay.net, and XperiaPlay.org domain names. Again, it could be specific to the device, or it could be part of a user experience or portal.

It's unknown when we'll actually see the handset, though a Mobile World Congress debut looks to be the most likely scenario. Indeed, we've heard from Sony Ericsson representatives that the company plans to make a big splash at the annual event, hinting at their "most anticipated presentation of the last 10 years." This matches up with details provided by a Pocket-Lint source, which suggests that the phone will arrive in shops in April, following a February launch.

I don't know about you, but I think the phone would sell much better under PlayStation branding. The Xperia name hasn't made much of an impact yet, especially in the United States.

LaCie FastKey review: Fast, furiously expensive

LaCie's FastKey USB drive is the first USB 3.0 solid-state portable storage solution that is the size of a large thumb drive.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

What do you get when you put solid-state storage, USB 3.0 connectivity, and a thumb-size design together? Well, you'll get LaCie's FastKey.

This is a unique portable storage solution that uses the fastest technology in terms of storage type (solid state) and peripheral connectivity (USB 3.0). On top of that, the device is about the size of a large thumb drive but offers up to 120GB of storage space.

Unfortunately, for the quite obvious reasons stated above (namely is high-end functionality), it isn't cheap; the LaCie FastKey costs $475 for the 120GB version. The drive is also available in 60GB and 30GB capacities for $250 and $150, respectively.

You pay for what you get, however, as the FastKey really lives up to its name. It's one of the fastest USB 3.0 portable drives we've ever seen. If compared against any thumb drive on the market, it would be by far the fastest ever made.

The FastKey also supports AES 256-bit encryption, which allows for creating a secure partition that requires a password to access. This is a great feature to keep your data safe in case of loss or theft. And judging from the look of the device, you might create quite a bit of temptation when you show it to people. The good thing is, thanks to the size, it's easy to keep it hidden from admiring eyes.

Windows on ARM chips: Intel impact

So, what happens to Intel in the age of a version of Windows running on top of ARM chips from companies like Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Apple, Freescale, and Nvidia?

A report today is fueling speculation that Microsoft will bring a more full featured version of Windows to ARM--arguably the most widely used chip architecture in the world. This comes after Microsoft announced in July that it has gotten an architectural license from ARM.

The most obvious impact is that Windows runs on more devices, many of which do not necessarily use Intel processors. The Zune HD is probably the best contemporaneous example of a smaller, non-PC device. That media player runs a version of Windows CE on top of an Nvidia ARM processor. Then, of course, there is Windows Phone 7--most of those phones use an ARM-based processor from Qualcomm.

An ARM-compatible, more full-featured version of Windows will almost certainly run on Intel, but the point is that Intel would be just another player among a bevy of ARM chip heavyweights, such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Apple, and Samsung Electronics.

And remember the Compaq iPaq handheld? That used an Intel ARM design. But iPaq handhelds also ran on other ARM chips, from suppliers such as Texas Instruments. In that market, Intel was just another chip supplier and didn't fare particularly well. In fact, Intel subsequently sold that chip business to Marvell.

"There's no reason you couldn't build a tablet around Atom, but what does that bring to the table?"--said Linley Gwennap of the Linley Group, a chip-consulting firm, referring to Intel's power-efficient Atom chip, used in virtually all Windows-based Netbooks.

"The whole PC paradigm is being turned around here," Gwennap said. "With the [Windows-Intel] PC, you couldn't get any [other chip] architecture in there, because of the huge software base. All that software runs on Windows, runs on Intel. Now, with the tablet market, to the extent that there's a software base, it runs on ARM."

Future trends are the most worrisome for Intel. The smartphone and tablet market runs on ARM, and both of those device segments are beginning to act more like PCs every time a new product is announced from Apple, Motorola, Samsung, or HTC.

Until Intel brings out a more power-efficient Atom architecture that offers discernibly better performance than ARM (two seemingly contradictory metrics), it will have a difficult time finding space in small devices such as smartphones and tablets. So, whether the report today is accurate is practically irrelevant, since the writing is already on the wall.

2010 Car Tech awards: And the winner is...

2011 Nissan Leaf

Earlier this month we invited you to vote for the 2010 Tech Car of the Year from our five nominees. This year proved an upset, though, as our staff judges came down on the side of the 2011 Nissan Leaf, these votes overruling the general support for the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid and the Audi A8. The MKZ Hybrid is an excellent car, although its very close relative, the Ford Fusion Hybrid, won last year's award. Audi came out this year with a phenomenal flagship sedan in the new A8, which exploited many interesting technologies.

But we gave the edge to the Leaf, as it is likely a herald for a sea change in the automotive market. As a tech car, its pure electric power train shows simplicity and economy. Although limited in range, many people will find that the Leaf meets the majority of their driving needs. Staff judge Brian Cooley had this to say about his choice: "The Leaf is a very livable and fun little commuter that has new-era efficiency without any serious space, cost, or other sacrifices--aside from range anxiety, and that is very real with all current EVs."

Nissan's infotainment features in other models are cutting-edge, and we see the same electronics here, with added capabilities specifically to address the electric power train. According to judge Antuan Goodwin, "Nissan has cleverly integrated a number of tools into the infotainment system that should help drivers to be realistic about the vehicle's capabilities." Likewise, the Carwings telematic system offers unprecedented connectivity. The Leaf earns the Tech Car of the Year award for pushing the boundaries of automotive technology beyond any competitor.

The Car Tech 10
There was a lot more going on in the past year besides five really, really good tech cars. So that's why we have The Car Tech 10, a set of inconsistent awards for various achievements in automotive technology.

Most popular

(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)

2011 Hyundai Sonata SE
Out of 24 reader reviews for the new Hyundai Sonata, it scored an overall 4 stars, or 8.3 out of 10. Most reviewers were very impressed with the Sonata, giving it a perfect 5 stars, but there were a few dissenters. The flaw Snoopy_62 found with the car was a weak horn, while gigirn66 could find nothing bad about it whatsoever. On the flip side, BMXLaurier complained about its weak engine and mediocre handling.

Rock crusher

(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Some people may think the addition of high-tech accoutrements and the adoption of unibody design made the Jeep Grand Cherokee a soft-roader. Those people did not pilot it down a steep, sandy road, or maneuver it over a trail paved with boulders. We did and can assure you that Jeep capabilities are alive and well. Even among current four-wheel-drive vehicles, few could compete with the Grand Cherokee in this regard.

Lowest-tech car

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

2011 Mazda Mazda2
Taking a maverick approach, the Mazda2 entered the market stripped of any real tech. No navigation, iPod port, or even a Bluetooth phone system. The Mazda2 is a back-to-the-future kind of car, seemingly coming to us straight from 1985. Its only Doc Brown feature is the MP3-compatible CD player.

Attention getter

(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)

2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe
We had a few cars that attracted more than their fair share of attention, such as the Ford Shelby or the Dodge Challenger, both of which made pedestrians take note. But people treated the CTS Coupe like a car from another planet. Keeping much of the concept design, the CTS Coupe has a unique look you wouldn't expect from Cadillac. If there is any car that will change this venerable American automaker's image, it is the CTS Coupe.

Fake carbon fiber

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

2010 Scion xD
Right off the lot, the Scion xD would not have made us give it this award. But the one we saw was tricked out with Toyota Racing Development accessories, which included carbon fiber appliques on the B pillar. We had a good laugh over how this treatment did exactly the opposite of what real carbon fiber does: shave weight. That carbon fiber look continued on the inside, but only on the console, not on the more visible center stack.

Least trunk room

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

2010 Infiniti G37 Convertible
Most convertibles lose some trunk space when the top is down. But the Infiniti G37 Convertible left less space than most. With its retractable hard top stowed, there was a mere narrow channel, enough space for a few umbrellas. Convertibles can be fun, but less so when you have to put all your luggage in the rear seat to enjoy open-top driving.

Most improved tech

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

2011 Subaru Impreza WRX
We've always liked the driving character of Subaru cars, but the company was slow to adopt cabin electronics, and in our tech-oriented reviews that proved fatal. But Subaru has more recently seen the light, so not only can we enjoy raising up rooster tails with the WRX on a dirt road, we can also note the very nice sound quality from the stereo and the useful navigation system.

Living room on wheels

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

2011 Toyota Sienna
Minivan makers have been heating up the competition, fitting out their vehicles with new tech features and big, comfy chairs. Wide-screen rear-seat entertainment systems, which we saw on the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey, have become de rigueur. But we are giving the nod to the Toyota for this award, as it came out of the gate first.

Ugliest duckling

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

2010 Porsche Panamera 4S
No car inspired more controversy over its looks than the Panamera. Some on staff grew to like its odd looks, but most couldn't help deriding its oddly bulbous rear. There was some strong competition in this category, as the Nissan Cube showed up with an asymmetrical design, and some suggested the Acura ZDX should be called the WTF. But the Panamera stuck out like the sorest thumb.

Oil burner

2010 Audi A3 TDI
Volkswagen and Audi have just about earned this award in perpetuity. Volkswagen makes the most popular diesels in the U.S., and the Audi gives Jetta TDI owners something to which they can aspire. With our average of almost 40 miles to the gallon, the A3 TDI makes a good argument for practicality. And then there's that premium Audi interior.