x3

Your next car WILL be connected; the Chrysler 300 gets a big change under the hood; Toyota eyes China with nervousness when it comes to electric cars; and we drive the latest Camry. (Yeah, we know. But they sell a ton of 'em.)

• Chrysler 300 Hybrid

• Keyless cars not that hard to hack

• Watch your BMW X3 being built. Oh boy.

• Toyota designs a way around Chinese access to electric motor minerals

• California has the highest cost for charging EV's -- do they make sense here?… Read more

The Eurocopter Group is working on a concept aircraft that's a hybrid of a helicopter and a fixed-wing plane, the company announced today.

Dubbed the X3, the concept--which looks mostly like a helicopter, but with airplane propellers at either side--is designed to offer "the speed of a turboprop-powered aircraft" while boasting the hovering and vertical take-off and landing capabilities of a helicopter.

Ultimately, Eurocopter hopes to sell its concept to organizations that require "maximum cruising speed." It said that the hybrid rotorcraft could come in especially handy on search-and-rescue missions and other highly time-sensitive operations … Read more

Here's a clever (and horribly overdue) idea--BMW's set to install iPad mounting brackets in the rear of its next X3 compact 4x4. Three cheers for common sense!

The brackets--an optional extra--will allow users to mount their iPads in the rear of the vehicle, just behind the driver or passenger seats. A special hinge will let the wonder tablets swivel into vertical and horizontal positions. With a system like this, the entertainment and productivity possibilities are pretty much endless. Passengers will be able to use their iPads to enjoy music, videos, books, as well as thousands of apps and … Read more

Nokia announced Tuesday that its X3 smartphone will hit the European consumer market sometime in the third quarter and sell for around 125 euros ($160).

The Finnish mobile phone maker is touting the X3 as a "Touch and Type" model, offering users both a touch screen and traditional keypad. The 2.2-inch touch screen offers a resolution of 320x240 pixels. And at 9.6mm (less than 0.4 inches), the X3 will also be one of the company's slimmest, according to Nokia.

"We have given people a larger screen with clear icons and menus plus kept … Read more

GM takes OnStar Mobile wall to wall, Nissan promises an electric sports car with the heart of the Leaf, Honda pulls the trigger on a plug-in hybrid, 2011 BMW X3 is a major redesign, ethanol fuel for cars may be on shaky ground, and we corral the 2011 Mustang Shelby GT 500.

• Honda to bring plug-in hybrids to the U.S.

• 2016 is showdown time for Ethanol

• Nissan Leaf to spawn a sports car

• Vibrating seat to warn drivers about other cars… Read more

Conceptworld's RecentX is a fast file launcher, one of many such tools designed to open frequently needed applications quickly, usually on the fly, but it focuses on recently used items. It gathers everything in one spot for quick identification and access, giving the highest priority to the most commonly and recently used files, folders, programs, and Web sites.

There are two main ways of accessing this useful tool, a system tray icon that you can also left-click to access the program's main menu, and a sidebar with quick-access tabs for files, folders, programs, and Web sites. You can … Read more

What you get with the latest version of PaintShop Pro is a midlevel photo editor with a low learning curve and some very nice editing and output features. The easily navigable interface puts photos front and center and surrounds them with tools and menus. It doesn't have all the pixel-pushing prowess of its pricier competitors, but PaintShop Pro X3 does add a few significant enhancements and new features. Support for HD video projects is the biggie here, as more users are investing in fancier digital cameras and in high-def computers and TV screens.

Shutterbugs will also appreciate the new … Read more

Over at BlueBeat.com, the best MP3-selling Website you've never heard of, has got it all for your listening pleasure, the entire Beatles catalog in MP3 form for just 25 cents each! Get them while you can (which won't be long). In other news, file sharers might buy more music, Bittorrent might save the Internet, and Apple could save the networks (but kill cable).

BlueBeat first with legal Beatles downloads — or at least a hell of a lot of cheek. … Read more

We've read about the upcoming Android-based Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 too many times to count. There was a video of its interface, images published by Expansys, even leaked specifications. Well, those speculations may soon come to an end if the latest teaser from the Japanese-Swedish company is anything to go by. If you visit www.sonyericsson.com/whatsnext, the November 3 date is prominently displayed with a few lines of text under it.

Sometimes there's a thin line between extraordinary and the magical. Did we cross it?

With a bold statement like that, it'd better be something … Read more