concept

Teasing its electric car slated for 2013, Infiniti showed a drawing of how it might look.

The sketch shows a more cab-forward design than current Infiniti models, likely due to the lesser need for space under the hood. Departing from Infiniti's design language, the hood comes up higher than the fenders and a substantial contour line stretches down the sides.

The wheels are oversized, but designers typically put large wheels on concepts.

Infiniti does not have much to say about the car, merely describing it as a "stylish, compact, high performance, five-seat luxury car." The term "… Read more

Paris is noted as a fashion center, so we weren't surprised to find a number of very stylish concept cars at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.

As one example, French carmaker Citroen teamed up with Lacoste to design a very fun-looking car built for fun in the sun. Meanwhile Renault offered the very sexy DeZir concept in luscious red with pronounced curves.

But other regions of the world were not left out. Jaguar offers up the incredibly sleek C-X75 and Nissan came out with a funky utility car.

And BMW fans finally got treated to a taste of what … Read more

To achieve a weight of only 2,200 pounds for a concept based on its Gallardo platform, Lamborghini must have relied on black magic.

But although the Sesto Elemento looks devilish enough, its black magic is carbon fiber. Lamborghini previously suggested it would attempt to meet new European emissions regulations partly by reducing the weight of its cars, and this concept shows to what extremes it is willing to go.

The Gallardo weighs in at 3,307 pounds, reasonably light for a V-10 powered car with all-wheel drive. But for the Sesto Elemento Lamborghini managed to shave off more than … Read more

Not only does the Jaguar C-X75 look stunning, but its hybrid power train pushes into new territory.

Rather than build a typical series hybrid, with electric motors turning the wheels and a conventional gas engine recharging the batteries, Jaguar uses twin micro gas turbines as generators to either keep the C-X75's batteries topped off or supply juice directly to each wheel motor. These gas turbines spin at 80,000 rpm and get up to speed very quickly. Without them, the C-X75 can drive 68 miles on its batteries alone. But the turbines give it a total range of 560 … Read more

Mozilla doesn't plan to build a mobile phone, but it's hoping a new labs project called the Seabird unveiled yesterday will spur others to improving the ever more important devices.

"While mobile CPUs, connectivity and development platforms begin approaching that of desktops, the lagging ability to efficiently input information has grown ever more pronounced," said Billy May, the project leader who produced a a virtual tour of the virtual phone. "The Seabird, then, introduces a few possibilities into how user interaction might evolve with the advancing motion capture and projector driven innovation in the market.&… Read more

Dell's reveal of a 10-inch Netbook/tablet hybrid, called the Inspiron Duo, at IDF 2010 is a bit interesting: it has a funky flip-hinge built into its framelike upper lid, folds flat, and has a touch screen. But, we've seen this device before. In fact, it was shown behind supersecret closed doors, in a nonworking prototype format, back at CES 2010, along with other future-oriented NDA-covered items that seemed more concept than reality. Packing a dual-core Atom N550 processor, it's basically a Netbook/tablet with Windows 7 touch support, not unlike the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t.

Back then, … Read more

The Paris Motor Show is more than a month away, but Kia just released photos of a new concept it will put on display. The Pop shows the type of outrageous design that draws a crowd, but never enters production.

Although the front looks like it could come from a Japanese Kei-class car, the Pop's side graphic uses a lozenge shape in the door. The top of the car is all glass, letting plenty of light into the cabin.

Kia says little about the car, other than it can hold three passengers and is powered by an electric motor. … Read more

A photo that appeals to one person may look boring to another. But what if there were a set of algorithms that could determine how good your photography skills are?

The Nadia concept camera by Andrew Kupresanin is such a shooter. After you take a photo, the rear LCD display will reveal a percentage rating that rates how aesthetically pleasing your photos are. The video below shows a mockup that Kupresanin--a digital media design student the University of Arts, Berlin--made with a Nokia N73 camera phone in a black box. It should give you a better idea of how this … Read more