Gearfuse

Ford has unveiled its new take on automobile dashboards with what it’s calling the SmartGauge. The LCD gauge will debut in Fords 2010 line of hybrids, the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid. The gauge uses an all-digital screen with lively animations to prompt drivers on good driving habits by displaying a heavily stylized greenery for good behavior. It’s almost as bad as the teddy bear backseat driver.

The gauges are fully customizable, able to display whatever real time data the driver wishes to see. From what I’ve seen in the videos, it looks to be one of the most impressive dashboards ever put in an automobile. It also appears to be way too distracting for drivers, most of which have a bad enough attention span as it is.

Link [via]

Until I see one on the road, I won’t believe it. Apparently Lamborghini has gone soft with its latest offering, the four door Estoque. This is the premier entourage vehicle or family car for a WASPy outing in the Hamptons. Under the hood you’ll find a turbocharged V8 engine or a V8 with a hybrid module and a turbo diesel is even being considered. This isn’t a man’s Lambo. This is what your rich wife Cindy uses when she wants to look good while picking up scripts from the pharmacy. Low blow! No price or release date announced so let’s not hold our breath.
(more…)

Nothing beats driving 60 miles for one hour only to end up stopping for an 8 hour charge as you run up the electric bill of some random stranger. Not even Chevy can deny the satisfaction of only having to stop at a gas station once a month, so it’s officially announced the Chevy Volt due out on the streets around late 2010.

If you couldn’t guess it by the name, Volt, it’s the first official plug-in hybrid from a major American manufacturer. Chevrolet is promising costs of just 2 cents per mile, which certainly will put less of a burden on your wallet than any traditional foreign car.  It’s about time some major American car manufacturers stepped into the hybrid race, but I’m still waiting on the elimination of fossil-fuel operated vehicles altogether.

(more…)

A private product design firm in Glendale, Arizona is now offering a $200 set of construction plans that will allow anyone to build a plug-in hybrid that gets 225 miles per gallon. Dubbed the XR3, Robert Q. Riley Enterprises says the car has a 100-mile range can use different drive trains to make it either all electric or a diesel-based hybrid. No word on how much the parts cost to make your own car but I’d guesstimate somewhere around the $5000 range for the electric model. It’s no Batmobile but it’ll have to do.

Link (via)

Here’s another cool new design hybrid, using old technology as the basis. VinylDisc is a dual sided format with one side featuring three-minutes of vinyl goodness, with the other side featuring a standard 70 minute CD.

Other than posing a great way to compare digital and analog technologies, VinylDisc is a stroke of genius on the face of two endangered media formats. And it would be a really great way to advertise your band. — Andrew Dobrow

Link [via]

I have learned to absolutely loathe the sound of alarm clocks. The high-frequency buzzing and beeping of the things make me want to smash the living hell out of any alarm clock that comes in eye or earshot. The Hybrid Alarm Clock by Francesco Costacurta uses a pulsing, flashing, red light to wake you up instead.

Place it close enough to you and the incessant lighting is supposed to wake you, and only you, up out of your slumber. I have a feeling I would start to hate all sources of light too. Which could pose a problem. — Andrew Dobrow

Link [via]

The Lego Ring is a cool little trinket we came across. The ring is a hybrid between the classic Lego building toys and romantic jewelery, complete with a diamond. The Jacqueline Sanchez designed Forever Young Ring Number 1 Diamond Ring is a nice little novelty gift. And an expensive novelty at that!

The ring costs $250, which might seem like a lot of money for a ring made out of child toy pieces, but there are millions of Lego fanatics out there so it makes sense to integrate the two objects, creating a geeky romantic hybrid. — Andrew Dobrow

Link [via]

Venture Vehicles has announced its VentureOne, an extrememly cool hybrid plug-in tilting vehicle. The two passenger Venture will get a huge 100 mpg, to much applaud from the greeners. The VentureOne will also be able to accelerate from 0-60 in 6 seconds and reach top speeds of over 100 mph, yet keeping a price tag of under $20,000.

Not only will the Venture be a super low-emissions all electric vehicle, but will be able to travel upwards of 200 miles on one charge. Don’t forget the coolness of tilting to either side on turns, while still keeping all three wheels planted safely on the ground. Who said you can’t look cool and also be environmentally sound? — Andrew Dobrow

Venture Product Page [Fly The Road, via Gizmag]

We have seen hybrid cars for a while, now we have hybrid bikes. These new Yamaha bikes can store up energy in a Lithium battery when you are cycling, and helps you by releasing power when you are going upslope. This is all done by sophisticated sensors, and by not helping you at all when it detects that you are on flat ground or running down the hill. However, in case you are too tired to cycle back home after a day of work, you can still use the energy saved up from the morning (that is, if you have tried hard enough in the morning), Yamaha claims that it can drive you across a distance of 104km. Of course, these claims are based on lab investigations, in real life it depends on how heavy you are. In Japan, these bikes will cost you between $770 to $1200 depends on which model you pick. — Sam Chan

PAS bikes [Yamaha Motors]

CES 2007 is 5 days away and counting and more details are pouring through the wire as the 8th approaches. Eclipse Solar Gear is said to be displaying it’s Hybrid Notebook Case which not only looks like it could secure a laptop through a nuclear war, but also has the very cool feature of charging your laptop through solar panels on the case. If it sounds like a helping hand to over heat your lappie, think again. The Hybrid case also includes a thermal cooling system for those hot days.

And if that wasn’t enough, the case also supplies an auxiliary battery capable of giving your Mp3 player and cell phone a charge if they are on the fritz. The case will be available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and casing depending on your needs. — Andrew Dobrow

Eclipse Solar Gear to display Hybrid Notebook Case at 2007 CES [Laptoping]