Nissan’s recent financial hardship has claimed a casualty, being the new upcoming Nissan Silvia. It is claimed that while Nissan has been working to develop a new rear wheel drive sports car for years, the Silvia project has been put on hold for now until better (financial) times. Whether the hold is permanent or if the project will recommence is unknown
Porsche has accused Nissan of cheating on the Nurburgring – A test race track for sports cars located in Germany. Porsche being beaten in its home ground tends to rub salt into the wounds as the proud German car manufacturer cried foul play. So adamant of their claims, porsche has decided to import a GTR R35 and test the car out themselves around the Nurburging by their test driver and clocked up a time of 7:54, a full 30 seconds more than Nissan’s claimed lap time. The accusation is that Nissan has used high performance race tyres on its test car, despite video proof of the GTR R35 using ultra performance street tyres in the famous youtube video of the Nurburging lap.
Independant sources has tested both cars – the GTR R35 and Porsche 911 with the GTR R35 coming out consistently quicker. Nissan’s response to Porsche accusations was a display of some proof of standard tyres being used then summed it all up by stating that Porsche’s test drive should perhaps enlist is Nissan’s performance driving course. Ouch!
Motorola has announced that it will be releasing its first smartphone powered by Google’s android operating software in its hope to boost falling market share in the mobile phone sector. The device named “Cliq” is aimed at fans of social networking such facebook, twitter, and MySpace. When an incoming call is received, the Motorola Cliq will display the caller ID, profile picture as well the latest status updates.
The new Motorola Cliq will boast a 5 megapixel camera, slide out keyboard, video recorder, music player as well as google’s mobile services such as google maps with the built in GPS. There is another Google android based phone being released by Motorola, but has not yet been disclosed. No pricing as yet has been released on the new Cliq.
It has been rumoured that Nissan are in the works of producing a new Nissan Silvia after a long absence in the market. Sure, the GTR R35 is great (if we have the money) and the Nissan 350Z is a little out of reach for most younger fans. Nissan has acknowledged there is a missing segment for the younger fans for a more affordable sports car. The Nissan silvia history dates back with the Silvia S10 in 1968 and ceasing production with the Silvia S15 in 2002. 10 years on and Nissan has finally rebirthed the much missed Silvia but is said to be built on the FM platform (same chassis platform as the 350Z and GTR) and will be an affordable, rear wheel drive turbo powered car at approx $20,000-$23,000 USD. The new Silvia will be powered by a 1.8L or 2.0L direct injection powerplant with output of approx 250hp. During several press conferences in 2003 and 2004, when asked about the possibility of a new Nissan silvia, Nissan replied with simply saying “Its a good time to be a Nissan fan. Keep your eyes and ears open around the time the new GTR is being released as you may find a surprise.”
The new Nissan Silvia is said to be due by 2010.
Microsoft has released a new program which allows users to peer into space using images and data gathered from the combination of the Hubble telescope as well several powerful telescopes on Earth. The new Worldwide telescope (dubbed as WWT) program is built on Microsoft’s visual experience engine technologies.
It is said that Microsoft’s worldwide telescope will be better than Google Sky..don’t take anyone’s word for it, chek it out for yourself here: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org
There has been rumours that Apple will be releasing a new iPhone with 3G support. The current iPhone has 2.5G support, which has slower data speeds. This will allow the new iPhone to be suitable for use across all Australian telco carriers and even better news, it is said that Australia will be one of the first countries to experience the new iPhone.
Reported rumours claim that up to 10million 3G iPhone handsets have been ordered and is due to be released around June/July 2008. Australia was one of the countries that missed out on the 1st release of the original iPhone. Sorry, no pics of the new 3G iPhone as yet!
The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) saga continues…With GTA 4 announcing its global release on 29th April 2008, it is said to be one of the most anticipated games of 2008 (or perhaps ever!) and estimated to earn sales in the excess of $400 mil or 6 million units within the first week. Upon the release date, GTA 4 has been heavily marketed around the world in the form of TV, online and print advertising.
Grand Theft Auto 4 has received shining reviews by gaming experts due to its rich environments, improved physics, in depth story plot and gameplay with many magazines giving it a perfect score of 10/10.
For the Australians…It has been confirmed by a spokesperson from Rockstar that an edited version of GTA 4 will be released in Australia & New Zealand to avoid R18+ classification, which does not exist in video games and will result in refusal of classification by the OFLC. This is believed to be due to a certain mission in the game where the main character must seek retribution of a friend who was a rape victim in jail. The mission requires a weapon which is used to sodomise the offender and due to the nature of this, it may be viewed as sexual assault which is a mandatory R18+ classification rating.
Grand Theft Auto IV has been released for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3
EDIT: Take-Two has posted that the total sales for the first week for GTA IV topped $500 mil USD (that’s right, half a billion!!), well above analysts predictions. This makes GTA IV the biggest gaming release in history, beating Halo 3 which raked in sales of $300mil in its first week of opening.
There has been recent rumours that Microsoft were releasing a Xbox 360 console with Blu-Ray support. These rumours were denied by Microsoft only to have them resurface once more. Aaron Greenberg, product manager for Xbox 360 has responded stating “Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience” in a recent Reuters interview.
The recent war between Toshiba’s HD-DVD and Sony’s Blu-Ray resulted in the demise of HD-DVD and movie studios taking up the new Blu-Ray standard which is supported on the Sony Playstation 3 over the HD-DVD which is supported on the Xbox 360. Xbox is confident that the news will not dampen the sales of its 360 consoles. Microsft boasts that the xbox 360 is the only gaming console that offers digital distribution of entertainment content (including high definition content). Recent supply problems by Microsoft in the US means that the PS3 has outsold the Xbox 360 for its 2nd consecutive month
When paintball heads goes crazy and try to come up with new cool ideas, this is the result. The EMT Paintball sentry turret system. It can hold up to 400 rounds (upgradable to 1000+), consists of colour CCD camera, remote control and 7″ LCD monitor to sport some of its features. The upgrade features are just as interesting with LED flood lights for improved night vision and virtual 50″ LCD glasses which project the image seen from the on board turrent camera to give you a cool “Turret cam” right before your eyes.
Perhaps another application is for personal home security to fend off those unwanted guests. At a price tag of $1399 USD (without the upgrades) you have to be a real paintball enthusiast to sink that kind of funds. A very interesting addition to paintball warfare I must say!
Upon further research, it seems that some people has even taken it a step further and installed laser guided targeting system on the paintball sentry gun.
As of 17th April, eBay will be enforcing Paypal payments (and cash on delivery) as the only forms of payment for all listings. Paypal, which is subsequently owned by eBay charges a fee to its sellers in accepting Paypal payments from buyers. This is on top of the eBay listing as well as final auction fee eBay charges.
ACCC has stepped in to investigate the changes which has angered many professional sellers.
Ebay has defended its change as an “improvement to safety”. Payment protection insurance for unreceived goods that can be claimed from eBay has also increased from $3000 to $20,000.
