New Porsche Panamera Turbo S packs 550 hp and 800 Nm of torque

Porsche has unveiled the top dog in its Gran Turismo line. The new PanameraTurbo S raises the four-door sports car bar with a 4.8 liter, V8 biturbo charged engine that delivers 550 hp (410 kW) , which is 50 hp (37 kW) more than the engine found in the Panamera Turbo. The Panamera Turbo S also ups the torque from 700 to 750 Nm, while an overboost function in "Sport" and "Sport Plus" mode sees the torque peak at 800 Nm. These improvements allow the car to go from a standing start to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 3.8 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 306 km/h (191 mph).

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Porsche says that, despite the increase in performance, the fuel consumption of the Panamera Turbo S remains at the same level as the Panamera Turbo. Under the European NEDC system the vehicle covers 100 km (62 miles) on 11.5 liters (20.45 mpg U.S.), which falls to 11.3 liters per 100 km (20.81 mpg U.S.) when fitted with the 19-inch, all-season tires with optimized rolling resistance developed especially for the Panamera by Michelin.

Porsche attributes the increase in performance of the Panamera Turbo S over the Panamera Turbo to two key enhancements. Firstly, improved turbochargers with titanium-aluminum alloy that reduces the weight of the turbine and compressor wheel, and secondly, modified engine control. The company says these combine to provide the Turbo S with a lower moment of inertia and more agile engine responsiveness.

Agility extends beyond the engine too, with a Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) active roll stabilization system that curtails the vehicle's tendency to lean when cornering. Additionally, the Gran Turismo's Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus (PTV Plus) system applies a variable torque split to the rear wheels and combines with an electronically controlled rear differential lock to provide superior traction.

The Panamera Turbo S also comes with the Sport Chrono Package Turbo as standard, which tunes the suspension and power unit for sportier performance at the push of a button.

The exterior sees an increased rear axle track width, 20-inch Turbo II wheels and adaptive extending four-way spoiler. While inside there's a bi-color leather finish, which is offered in a new black/cream combo exclusive to the new Panamera Turbo S, with an also exclusive grey/cream combo to be available from autumn (Northern hemisphere).

Porsche will start deliveries of the new Panamera Turbo S in June, 2011, with the vehicle costing EUR167,076 (approx. US$236,116) in Germany.

Volvo fits its EV’s with bio-ethanol powered heater

It's no secret that ambient temperature can have a significant impact on the performance of battery electric vehicles and temperature differences can therefore have a major impact in the range of said EVs. To combat this Volvo has equipped itsC30 Electric (which started out as the Recharge Concept) with three climate systems including a bio-ethanol powered heater and put the vehicle through a barrage of tests in the rough winter conditions found in the automaker's Swedish homeland.

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On top of the stringent testing regime Volvo exposes all its ICE vehicles to, the company has also developed several new test methods for its EVs to ensure they run smoothly in temperatures as low as -20° Celsius (-4° F). These include tests on the three climate systems found in the C30 Electric – one to supply heating and cooling to the passengers, another to cool or warm the battery pack when necessary, and a third that water-cools the electric motor and power electronics.

To provide heating for vehicle occupants in cold weather without compromising the battery driving range, Volvo has fitted it's the C30 Electric with a bio-ethanol powered heater. While it is possible to run the climate control unit on electricity from the batteries with an immersion heater warming up the coolant in the climate unit, the system uses the ethanol-powered heater by default when battery capacity is needed to extend the range of the vehicle. However, the driver is able to program and control the climate unit to suit the trip and use the batteries to power the system for short trips.

The C30's ethanol tank can carry 14.5 liters (3.83 US Gal), which provides up to 30 hours of heating comfort in freezing temperatures with the system burning through about 0.5 liters (0.13 US Gal) an hour. Volvo says it has fitted all it's electric vehicles with the bio-ethanol powered heater system.

Video: A tribute to Space Shuttle Discovery

The final touchdown of space shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier this month marked the end of a remarkable career for the oldest of the surviving NASA shuttles. Since its first mission in 1984, Discovery has carried out 39 flights and traveled more than 143 million miles. It was the first shuttle to return to service after the Challenger and Columbia accidents, it carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, has docked 13 times with the International Space Station and carried more than 250 crew members (including the oldest man in space - John Glenn).

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Discovery's 13-day final flight (STS-133) was the 133rd Space Shuttle Program mission and the 35th shuttle voyage to the space station. The Shuttle is now undergoing a series of post flight inspections before its engines are removed and it is retired to a museum. NASA will keep the sophisticated engines for design purposes or for possible use on a future rocket.

The final chapter for the Space Shuttle Program

The Space Shuttle program is drawing to a close with Endeavor and Atlantis set to make their final flights in coming months. Endeavor will blast-off in April for a 14 day mission to the ISS and Atlantis is scheduled to make its last voyage in late June 2011. This will be the 135th and final scheduled shuttle flight.

Samsung announces world's first mass produced transparent LCD panels

                 

When it comes to display technologies nothing says "cool" like a transparent display. While we've seen a number of prototypes, such as TDK's flexible OLED display, pop up at trade shows in the last couple of years, Samsung has announced it has already started mass production of a 22-inch transparent LCD panel. Because they rely on ambient light instead of the usual back lighting, the transparent panels consume 90 percent less electricity than conventional LCD panels. But despite the fact the new panels are starting to roll off the Samsung production lines, it will probably still be a while before transparent panels make it onto our desktops.

Samsung is producing two varieties of transparent LCD panels – a black and white and a color version. Both boast a contrast ratio of 500:1 and resolution of 1680 x 1050 (WSXGA), with the black and white model sporting what Samsung says is the world's best transparency rate of over 20 percent and the color model claiming a transparency rate of over 15 percent. This compares to the five percent transparency rate of conventional LCD panels. Both panels also incorporate HDMI and USB interfaces.

No doubt reflecting the expected high price of the transparent panels – and possibly while the boffins at Samsung rack their brains for possible everyday home and office applications – Samsung is touting the possibilities for the panels for use in advertising in shop windows and outdoor billboards. It also says corporations and schools could put the panels to use as an interactive communication device.

Unfortunately there's still no word on when the prototype transparent AMOLED displays Samsung was showing off at CES 2011 will get the same mass-production treatment.

Even though the applications for home/office users may be limited, these things just look so cool we can't help wanting one. So if anyone can come up with a good use for the technology in the Gizmag offices, please let us know in the comments because we'd love to have an excuse to snap one up when they drop in price.

Video road test: The Zero S electric supermotard

The latest in our series of video road tests is America's leading electric motorcycle: the Zero S, from California's Zero Motorcycles. Seventy-five miles per hour and 60 miles between charges are the big numbers here – but how does that translate to real life use? Also, since electricity costs so much less than petrol, can an electric motorcycle be viewed as an economical option? And what about the environment? When the carbon cost of electricity generation is taken into account, how green are electric vehicles? These questions and more, answered after the jump!

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First up, watch the road test video to see how the Zero rides:

Now to the tricky bit – is the Zero S value for money, and how much better for the environment is it than an equivalent petrol bike?

Let's line it up against the Kawasaki KLX250F, a road-oriented single cylinder dirtbike of about the same weight and performance.

There's some pretty huge variables here, obviously, but we've done our best to come up with unbiased figures.

We figure the formula for cost of ownership goes something like this: Total cost of ownership = (purchase price) + (miles per energy unit X price per energy unit X miles) + (servicing costs).

We'll use 65,000 miles as our distance rating, because that's how long the Zero S will run before its battery takes a noticeable drop in performance and needs replacing.

So here we go:

Purchase Price

The Zero S costs US$10,000, not counting federal and state subsidies. The Kawasaki costs $5000. The Zero has a lot of catching up to do!

Energy Costs

Let's start with the Kawasaki. It gets 60 miles per gallon, making it reasonably efficient for a road/trail bike. Taking an average US fuel price of US$3.10 per gallon, the Kawasaki will cost you US$3358 in fuel over 65,000 miles.

Now, to the Zero. On the standard EPA UDDS driving cycle, the Zero S will travel 43 miles on a full battery charge of 3.9 kilowatt-hours (kWh). Now, electricity rates vary as widely as gas prices, but the 2010 average price per kWh in the US is 11.58 cents. So each battery charge on the Zero S costs about US$0.45 – and 65,000 miles will cost you about US$680.23 all up.

Servicing costs

Electric motors don't need servicing. There's no oil to change, valves to adjust, carbs to play with or anything else. The Zero is a zero-maintenance vehicle beyond tyres, suspension and chains, which we'll leave out as the Kawasaki needs the same things.

The Kawasaki on the other hand, needs quite a lot of mechanical attention. Over 65,000 miles, the logbook requires you to bring it in for 6 minor services (at about $100 each) and 7 major services at somewhere around $220. So your servicing costs for the Kawasaki will be about US$2140 – not to mention the time you spend going back and forth to the mechanic's or doing the work yourself.

Totals and caveats

So, over 65,000 miles, the Zero is going to cost you roughly US$10,680.23 - and the Kawasaki US$10,498.

That's not much of a difference… but then, it took 65,000km of riding to get there. You'd need to commute 20 miles each way, every day for around 5 years to get to this mileage. So it takes a while for the Zero to pay itself off.

Of course, we've used US figures for our energy costs – and American petrol is massively cheaper than just about anywhere else in the Western world. In the UK, for example, petrol costs 2.5 times more – and electricity only 1.6 times more – so the equation looks significantly better for the Zero bike.

And there's some pretty significant subsidies being offered by certain government departments in the USA, which bring the initial purchase cost down by as much as $1000 – so it's worth taking those into account.

But the main thing to take from this exercise is that the Zero isn't as unaffordable as it looks, provided you rack up a lot of miles on it to take advantage of energy and servicing savings.

And what about environmental performance?

How about environmental performance? After all, while the electric bike has zero local emissions, the reality is that most electricity currently comes from fossil fuel sources. So let's check that out:

According to the Carbon Fund, the average electricity source generates 1.297 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour. The Zero averages about 3.9 kilowatt hours per 43 miles, so over 65,000 miles, the Zero will be responsible for about 7,646 pounds of atmospheric CO2 emissions.

That sounds like a lot – until you apply the same logic to a petrol bike. We don't have specific local emission figures for the Kawasaki – but if we're going to be looking back at the power plant for the electric bike, then we have to take the oil extraction and refinery emissions into account for the petrol bike too.

The average motorcycle emits a well-to-wheels figure of 0.355 pounds per mile – and over a distance of 65,000 miles that comes out at more then 23,000 pounds of CO2.

So the Zero is roughly three times better for the environment even if you don't plug it into a totally green power source.

Conclusions

Although they're well established in cities like Shanghai, electric bikes are still very much getting started in Western countries, where we tend to demand more power and performance from our two-wheeled toys.

The Zero S is designed to be a muscle commuter for the Western rider, delivering the environmental credentials of en electric but packing as much petrolheaded fun as possible into your daily commute. I'd say it does a great job. It's not going to work for everyone and it's no good for heading out of town, but early adopters are going to have a ball riding one of these things.

HondaJet achieves maximum speed in flight testing

Honda's first light business jet has exceeded its projected top speed just three months on from its maiden flight. Michimasa Fujino first sketched the HondaJet with its distinctive over-the-wing engine-mount design in 1997. Almost 15 years later the journey towards production is almost complete with the latest milestone seeing the 5-seater aircraft hit 425 KTAS (that's "knots true airspeed") or 489 mph at 30,000 ft and a maximum Mach number of 0.72 above 30,000 ft – topping the 420 KTAS maximum cruising speed projected for the production model.

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Due for delivery in 2012, the HondaJet is immediately recognizable for its over-the-wing engine-mount design. Honda says this configuration, combined with the aircraft's "Natural-Laminar Flow" airfoil and nose design reduces drag and ground-noise, improves fuel efficiency, keeps emissions low and out-performs clean-wing designs.

Power is provided by GE Honda HF 120 Turbofan engines producing 1880 lb of thrust each and inside there's executive seating for four plus a Honda-customized Garmin G3000 all-glass avionics system which includes three 14-inch landscape-format displays with dual touch-screen control.

"We are extremely pleased with the strong performance of the FAA-conforming HondaJet early in the flight test program," said Michimasa Fujino, Honda Aircraft Company President & CEO. "Our flight tests indicate the aircraft is handling and performing as expected, with excellent control harmony and stability. The HondaJet's unique over-the-wing engine-mount configuration and natural laminar-flow leading edge and fuselage nose designs significantly reduce drag and greatly contribute to such outstanding performance. In addition, the HondaJet's HF120 engines are exhibiting carefree handling of thrust and are supporting top-level performance and efficiency."

A second FAA-conforming aircraft is already complete and systems installation is underway on a third test aircraft which will be used for mechanical systems flight testing. A total of five test aircraft will be built.

HondaJet is soon expected to move into its new production facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, before ramping-up for production next year.

• Maximum Cruise Speed @ FL300: 420KTAS
• Service Ceiling: FL 430
• Rate of Climb: 3990 ft/min
• IFR Range: 1180 nm
• Take-off Distance: 3120 ft
• Landing Distance: 2500 ft
• Engines: GE HONDA / HF120, output -1880 lb/each
• Dimensions: Height 13.21 ft (4.03 m), Length 41.70 ft (12.71 m), Span 39.87 ft (12.15 m)
• Cabin dimensions: Height 4.83 ft (1.47m), Width 5.00 ft (1.52 m), Length 17.80 ft (5.43 m)
• Payload: 2 crew + 5 passengers, baggage 66 cubic feet

World's biggest touchscreen display unveiled at CeBIT

For the last eight years, German presentations specialist Stereolize has been helping Microsoft do its thing at CeBIT, and every year the company tries to top the previous year's efforts. For this year's trade show, the company went super-size – creating 234-inches of diagonal, interactive touchscreen loveliness that towered above the Microsoft presenters and left onlookers having to pick their jaws up off the floor. Read on, to see a short video showing the huge display in action ...

Rather than stitch together a number of displays to form a kind of touchscreen wall, Stereolize chose to make one huge display from the biggest piece of security glass available – and even that proved a less than straightforward task. "We found out there is a limit on production size," Reiner Knollmueller from Stereolize told Gizmag. "Then another limit for transporting it and a third for operating it on a booth environment."

Even before Microsoft could attempt to build its booth, Stereolize had to erect the custom steel frame and then move in a specially-ordered crane to bring in and mount the high-gloss security glass – which weighed around half a ton – in the frame. "After some meticulous cleaning, a dedicated rear-projection foil was put into a frame and placed gluelessly behind the glass window," explained Knollmueller. "One of the many characteristics was keeping the frame as minimal as possible in order to create an almost borderless display impression."

Knollmueller told us that a 30,000 ANSI Lumen projector was used to beam the images onto the display, powerful enough to give the impression that the screen was self-illuminated, and that the touch functionality was generated by radartouch technology. "An invisible laser curtain generates two-dimensional position data with an update rate of 40ms, which is sufficient for content-driven presentations," he said.

The final ingredient in the mix was provided by the company's programmers and designers, who created the stunning, interactive display interface – at a presenter-friendly height, of course. "All presentations were completely restructured and redesigned to work with black backgrounds and to be totally different from an average PowerPoint presentation," said Knollmueller. "We took full advantage of the well known Windows Phone design and, without even using the Microsoft logo, were able to deliver 11 different presentations that looked and felt like 100 percent Microsoft."

The result was a fluid interface that seemed to move with the presenters and left audience members fascinated and awestruck.

Have a look at the following short video and let us know what you think of the world's biggest touchscreen display: 

Via I Started Something

T-box concept to capture wind energy from trains

As anyone living near railway tracks will tell you, speeding trains generate quite a bit of wind as they whoosh past. Industrial designers Qian Jiang and Alessandro Leonetti Luparini have come up with a device that's installed between the sleepers on a track, and as the train passes overhead, the wind drives a turbine to generate electricity. The T-box devices could be placed along railway or subway lines, and make good use of an otherwise wasted resource.

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Unlike innovations such as the Solar Roadways project and Solar Wind concept, the T-box device wouldn't have to depend on a natural energy source, but instead one that is produced as a consequence of human activity. China's Jiang and Italy's Luparini reckon that about 150 of these devices could be installed along a kilometer (0.62 miles) of track and as a train speeds along, the turbines inside the device would generate electricity.

The designers say that the turbine is based on models produced by Hetronix, although the blades are obviously designed to rotate about a central axis within the cylinder housing. Much of the T-box would be below ground level with only the vent showing, and even though the wind produced by passing trains may only come in short bursts, installing them along a busy route should result in a decent amount of energy being produced.

Of course, keeping these babies clean and safe could be a problem. In addition to the dust and debris kicked up as the train speeds along or grime and grease deposits escaping from underneath, protecting such shiny boxes from the destructive hands of vandals could prove somewhat tiresome.

However, it's an appealing concept with huge potential for further development. The T-box design took silver in last year's Lite-On awards and was exhibited in Xuexue Institute, Taipei during the summer.

Have a look at the Lite-On presentation video and see what you think: