Mini, the world famous manufacturer of tiny cars, has revealed to the world its first ever hybrid vehicle. The Mini Countryman SE was unveiled at the LA Auto Show and immediately made a big impression. This is a 4 wheel drive model but there is something unusual about how it works. The interesting thing is that the front wheels are driven by a traditional petrol engine, while the back wheels work thanks to the electric motor that is hooked up to them. The total amount of horsepower that is obtained in this way is 221. The tradition, twin...
You probably know Will.i.am best as a highly successful musician who kind of divides opinion. However, whether you think that his songs are terrible or his lyrics are pretty good, you are probably as unconvinced as the rest of us by his inventing skills. You see, the guy who was born as William James Adams Jr has been trying his hand at creating gadgets for some time now. Most people seem unimpressed by what he does but he just keeps going. Right now he has come storming back onto the new gadgets scene with something called i.am Buttons....
Research by Google has confirmed that more people than ever before now use sites with the HTTPS protocol. Indeed, the company’s figures show that over half of the total pages loaded by users on desktop Chrome use HTTPS. This also makes up over two thirds of the total browsing time of the users in question. So how do they know all this? Well, the fact is that Google has been tracking the use of HTTPS over Chrome since 2015. The latest figures are shown in the company’s transparency report. This shows the impressive increase in the use...
It looks as though Virgin Media is going to reveal their latest upgrade with their 4K TIVO device. In fact, the media giant has sent out invite for an event on the 30th of November that could be when this is revealed. The invites say that it is for “something unmissable”, which has got a lot of analysts thinking that it is the 4K TIVO box that is going to be shown off to the world. The rumours bouncing around just now suggest that this will be the V6 TIVO box that Virgin mentioned a while back and that boost users to a 4K capability. Photos...
While some markets appear to be saturated with smartphones, the overall global figures show that more and more of these gadgets are still being sold just about everywhere. In fact, in the third quarter of 2016 global demand for smartphones reached 353 million units. This is a 7% increase on the previous quarter and a similar increase on a year on year basis. The stand-out figures came from China, where impressive growth rates continue to drive sales. Indeed, all regions except North America showed better figures than before. Overall revenue...
Could a battery powered scooter that you fold away “define the future of personal transportation”? The man behind the new Immotor Go certainly thinks so. Daniel Huang is best known as having co-founded Mophie but he left that company earlier this year to chase the dream of creating a scooter that takes over the world. The Go is said to be able to run for a maximum of 30km (some 18 and a half miles) on a single battery charge. This is the range if you use 2 power cells, while using just 1 will give you half that distance. While this...
The astonishing success of the WhatsApp app has seen over a billion people download it, with some 42 billion messages being sent every single day. As if that wasn’t enough, reports now suggest that the app can also support video calls. The feature has been added to the latest beta update (2.163.318) and some users have also reported gaining the video calling facility without downloading the update. You can tell that you have this feature on your WhatsApp by the fact that you will see a small camera icon alongside your contacts. You can...
The on-going debacle with exploding phones has caused Samsung to reveal that their popular Note 7 model is now going to be discontinued forever. This news came after it was discovered that all of these phones could be potential risks in terms of exploding. Existing Samsung Note 7 owners have been advised to switch off their phones immediately and refrain from using them. It is also now possible in many countries to return the phone for a credit. Customer Safety Comes First A company statement said that they are “putting consumer safety...
Voting is now open for anyone who wants to help ZTE choose their next gadget. The Project CSX competition has a range of exciting gadgets for the public to decide upon. The Chinese consumer electronics firm has brought down the list of candidates for the crowd sourced gadget campaign to just 5. These include a self-adhesive phone that is controlled by eye movements and can be stuck to the wall. Another contender on the shortlist is a virtual diving mask that turns any sort of pool into an ocean bottom heaving with life. The Powerglove...
A weird new food gadget promises to transform our taste buds by making healthy food taste as good as all the lovely stuff that we know is bad for us. The idea is known as Taste Buddy and it sounds pretty glorious. It is based on the concept that when you put it in your mouth it can alter the electric and thermal signals sent to your brain. This could make spinach taste like chocolate and cucumber taste like, well, anything other cucumber hopefully. The gadget can handle both sweet and salty foods, so there is hope that it can turn that...