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The Europeans can mess around with urea to clean up diesel emissions, but Honda prefers to keep things simple. The company showed off its clean diesel technology at the 2007 Geneva auto show. This technology gives diesel engines the same emission levels as gasoline engines. To get technical for a minute, the system strips oxides from nitrogen oxide emissions with ammonia. The ammonia is generated inside a catalytic converter through a chemical process, then reabsorbed into the system. OK, enough detail. Honda claims the engines will meet federal emissions standards in the U.S., although the company isn't saying … Read more

Tucked away to the side of the Audi booth at the 2007 Geneva auto show is the ultimate kids' toy, a scaled down replica of the Auto Union Type C. The car is powered by a chain drive and has a seven-speed internal gear hub with a coaster brake. It uses alloy body panels and frame, plus an oak instrument panel. We thought maybe, just maybe, we could fit in it, until we read the fine print that says the car is suitable for children no more than 135 centimeters in height. That's just under 4.5 feet.

Last year, Fiat showed off a new Microsoft-powered technology called Blue and Me that let people play music from USB keys and connect their Bluetooth cell phones to their Fiat cars.

This year, at the 2007 Geneva auto show, Fiat takes the tech a step further, adding a GPS antenna and a cell phone chip. The GPS antenna means you can also load maps onto your USB key that car will use to provide route guidance. And the cell phone chip gives the car some standard features similar to OnStar, such as an SOS button that will send an alert, … Read more

Toyota showed off a new concept, the Hybrid X, at the 2007 Geneva auto show, which looks like a new incarnation of the Prius. Toyota isn't even suggesting that Hybrid X is the design direction for Prius, but the company says the new concept "proposes creative solutions that will themselves potentially become the signature points of a specific hybrid identity." The Prius is also uniquely a hybrid, with no conventional engined counterpart.

The Hybrid X shows off a few fun concept technologies, such as rear suicide doors that open electronically, as well as LED headlights that mount … Read more

Most of us have, at one point or another, been confronted with the ominous blue screen of death, that dreaded block of text that lets you know your Windows PC has encountered a serious system error and--to put it scientifically--you're probably massively screwed. According to the rules of computing, the BSOD generally appears when you're composing some life-altering document--on deadline.

Instead of tossing your computer out the window or crumbling in a heap of despair, why not enjoy a good chuckle over your ill fortune? In the spirit of laughing in the face of life's travails, PersonalizationMall.… Read more

From the very moment Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPhone at MacWorld two months ago, every corner of the tech world has been buzzing that the thing would be too darned expensive. Indeed, we said the very same thing in our initial analysis of the device. Apple is asking a lot of people to pay $599 for the 8GB version of the iPhone, particularly when that also comes with a two-year contract to Cingular. And what's more, a few studies conducted since January indicate that very few people (one study cited just 1 percent of respondents) would pay that … Read more

Continuing today's theme of ridiculous luxury items is, of all things, a high-performance mouse pad. In what could easily be a parody, BornRich says the English-made "Formula 1 Mouse Mat" was designed with "state-of-the-art automotive 3D modeling software." The carbon-fiber pad has inlaid leather with Italian suede backing and, of course, a prominently embossed "F1" logo. The price for a racetrack-grade mouse pad? It lists for 260 pounds, or about $525. But it comes wrapped in F1 tissue paper, so it's not overpriced or anything.

The 13-inch laptop is the perfect size for some people, as legions of MacBook fans will tell you. It's more portable than a mainstream 15-inch system, and easier to type on (and read) than a 12-inch ultraportable. Fujitsu wants to tempt business users with the new 13-inch LifeBook S2210, a thin and light laptop that packs in lots of business-friendly features.

Basic specs include an AMD Turion 64 X2 CPU, ATI Radeon X1150 graphics, a fingerprint reader, TPM 1.2 (Trusted Platform Module), and an accelerometer to freeze the hard drive in case of falls. The S2210 starts at … Read more

When people say "geek chic," they're usually referring to hipsters in black Dolce & Gabbana glasses typing away on their MacBook Pros. But everybody knows that your average legit geek is more in the mold of Dwight Schrute than Gideon Yago (I bet that guy doesn't even know what PHP stands for).

Want to go for some real geek chic? Check out ProductDose's feature on nerdy neckties. My favorite is the binary tie, which probably looks like a normal blue tie from more than three yards away. But up close, it's clearly a bunch … Read more