For those of you Prius owners who felt the novelty of a hybrid vehicle was finally wearing off, a whole host of new hacks are starting to emerge, which should go quite a ways in expanding the utility of your gas-sipping whip. When you're not cruising around at the tune of 116 mpg, you can purportedly flip the power in reverse and actually juice up your house with your ride. A prototype system being demonstrated by California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company utilizes Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology to actually send power in reverse to energize a few in-home lights, appliances, and of course,…

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The Geneva Motor Show usually throws up the first of the year's car oddities, and this hyper-economical 188 miles to the gallon Loremo number is a strong contender

The Geneva Motor Show usually throws up the first of the year's car oddities, and this hyper-economical 188 miles to the gallon Loremo number is a strong contender…

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Smart cars are all well and good until you start to think of the horrible consequences if something should go wrong. Honestly, we're willing to take that risk just for the rewards of cruising along in a robotic car “platoon”: saving gas, skipping traffic and perhaps getting in a bit of Gears of War while we're at it. Luckily, more judicious minds than ours are hard at work at the problem, and just might've discovered a way to keep smart car-filled roads from becoming riddled with the bodies of overly-optimistic bloggers. Alasdair Renfrew of Manchester University, UK, along with a couple of col…

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The Quadski romps over land and water like a slippery frog on amphetamines at speeds of up to 50 mph. Blessed be the all terrain vehicle

The Quadski romps over land and water like a slippery frog on amphetamines at speeds of up to 50 mph. Blessed be the all terrain vehicle…

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Although OnStar has offered Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance to its subscribers since 1996, the firm is getting set to add a snazzy new enhancement for 2009 vehicles. The feature, dubbed Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, can use GPS to pinpoint a vehicle once it has been reported as stolen, and after OnStar confirms with local police that it has the vehicle within sight, it can then be slowed down remotely. The system actually receives a signal that “interacts with the powertrain to reduce engine pow…

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Looking for a way of getting MP3s on your car stereo? Sony's just fashioned this PC-friendly system for your motor

Getting MP3 into your pocket has been a doddle, but getting it in your car has been a bit harder. A polite round of applause, then, for Sony's engineers, who've just devised this simple solution – a removable, flash stereo for your wheels.The GIGA Panel is an idiot's dream of a system – you just remove the front panel, connect it to your PC via the mini USB port, load it with tunes via drag-and-drop, and pop it back in your car.It's thankfully a software-free process, and the 1GB flash memory has enough girth for up to 500 tracks, or 60 hours of music. Any PC with Windows 2000 XP or above …

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Alright, maybe we're just turned off by the totally sketchy concept renders, but we were really hoping the car of the future would look a bit better than some high schooler's CAD project. All the same, LaBiche's claims that “A real Flying Car is finally here!” have piqued our interest, and we're pleased to hear that this FSC-1TM flying sports car thing should be able to hit an airspeed in excess of 275 mph, not bad at all for a pair of retractable wings. So far the most testing this thing has gotten is in the X-Plane flight simulator software, and in a 1/10th scale model plane prototype. A ful…

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Buried ‘somewhere in the world' is this Pirates of the Caribbean car. Solve Volvo's clues to find it and you'll be allowed to drive it home

Buried ‘somewhere in the world' is this Pirates of the Caribbean car. Solve Volvo's clues to find it and you'll be allowed to drive it home…

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Ever wondered what it would be like to ride around in a remote control car, Toy Story finale style? Then wonder no more

When we're not strapping ourselves into Subaru Imprezas to high tail it round Europe, we reach for our remote control version to ease off the stress of real driving/waiting in London traffic.Still, there's something not quite the same about watching our electric four-wheeler whiz round the newsdesk chicane. What we'd really like is to be on-board. 'An impossibility', you say? Pah! We laugh in the face of impossibility.No, we've not developed a Honey-I-Shrunk-The-Kids shrinking device; we've found this, the remote control spy car. Looking like a cross between a dune buggy and a DeLorean aside, …

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It's time to Bluetooth your ride: Sony has launched an in-car radio with the wireless tech for hands-free and music streaming action

Tired of seeing that hands-free monstrosity ruining your car dash's sweeping curves? Fear not, young petrolhead – Sony has launched a neat and tidy Bluetooth car radio to link wirelessly to your phone.The MEX-BT5000 contains an integrated microphone to pick up your nattering, and its integrated Bluetooth will let you make and receive calls while your mobile is tucked away in a pocket.You won't have to rummage around to find someone's number, either – it supports Object Push Protocol (OPP), which means you can transfer up to fifty phone book contacts to the head unit's display.After more Bl…

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