Filed under: Gadgets , Etc. , Porsche Porsche owners have long reveled in their ability to smoke the competition on track and street, but now Porschephiles can also leave their marque’s mark on the backside of burgers, hotdogs and ribeyes. Grill marks, of course. Barbeques Galore and Porsche Design Studio have burned the midnight oil for two years while working on the the new X-Series Grill. Under its sleek, German-styled exterior lies some fairly hot grilling technology. Instead of the standard gas burners found in most grills, the X-Series uses four infrared burners that can crank out 52,000 BTUs using 50% less fuel with 80% fewer flare-ups. By our very rough shadetree estimates, that should be good for a zero to steak time of about 10 minutes. Or so. With a starting sticker price of $5,999 Porsche Design’s first grill comes with a motorized rotisserie, an LCD temp display with remote probe, and an insulated double-walled hood. Step up to the X-Series Island (above) for $8,499 for a stainless steel finish and concealed cupboards and gas cylinder storage. All models are covered under a lifetime warranty for service, parts and repair. Also included is the right to brag to your numbers that you have a Porsche in your backyard. Car-B-Q: X-Series Grill by Porsche Design Studio originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 May 2009 07:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read ?|? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Comments

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Car-B-Q: X-Series Grill by Porsche Design Studio

Filed under: Gadgets , CES , I.C.E. , Ford Click the image above to view a video of the new SYNC system after the jump At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show ( CES ) Ford announced that three new features would be included on the next iteration of the SYNC system: traffic data, GPS-guided directions and the ability to snag information from the web through the user’s data/GPS/Bluetooth-enabled smartphone to display or read weather conditions, sports scores and other information through the stereo. On May 26th, the upgrade will be made available to all current 2010 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury owners (you download the update to your PC, then transfer it to the SYNC system through a thumb drive) and all new 2010 models will be equipped with the upgrade from the factory. But as Ford CEO Alan Mulally promised, there’s more on the way. Ford and Microsoft plan to continually update SYNC, and according to Charlotte Fisher from Ford’s Design and Technology team, “every six to eight to twelve months we’ll be delivering new services.” One of the possible features Ford could include on future iterations of SYNC is streaming internet radio, and Fisher confirmed that Ford is currently “talking with Pandora .” Can you say XM-killer? Hit the jump to watch a video of the new system in action. Continue reading Future Ford SYNC upgrade could include Pandora streaming Future Ford SYNC upgrade could include Pandora streaming originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 May 2009 19:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Comments

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Future Ford SYNC upgrade could include Pandora streaming

The Hou She Boys (aka Back Dorm Boys) hit it big in 2006 with their lip sync to “I want It That Way” . Wei Wei and Huang Yixin, students at Guangzhou College of Fine Arts, went on to star in a commercial for Pepsi , and become national celebrities . What I never realized is just how prolific they were, both in English and their native tongue. Here’s one of my favorite videos. More after the jump… We Will Rock You ???? ?? ( Boys homes after opera ) Merry Christmas One word: eyelids . ???????-???? ( Part V, after the boys homes - have to love ) The Perfect Day Get Down Radio In My Head Fairytale Love’s Encouragement Bloopers! Previously: Backdorm Boys - Boing Boing Xeni on NBC Today Show: weird viral video on the internets - Boing … New Barenaked Ladies video starring YouTube celebs - Boing Boing Weezer video stars lots of YouTube celebs - Boing Boing

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Back Dorm Boys: the lesser-known hits

The L.A. Times profiles Utah’s Neumont University , said by some to be a “geek heaven”, but also known as a school that exacerbates their students asocial tendencies. Some of Neumont’s female students, who make up about 5% of the 266 enrolled this year, are on a mission to get their peers to tune in to the world around them. In October, one posted a message on Neumont’s Web forums protesting what she called “offensive odors.” “The truth is there are people in this school who just don’t smell pleasant at all,” she wrote. There’s a lingering sneer throughout the whole piece (typified by the unflattering picture of this poor student) that makes it seem like something from thirty years ago, before geeks were an identifiable subculture unto themselves and before the business world figured out it was best to leave them alone and let them get to work. Neumont is an accelerated programming school, pushing students through a degree in two-and-a-half years—you’re gonna get some kids who enjoy a little dungeon crawling. If the worst you can claim is that they’re awkward and occasionally smelly, you’re not telling anybody anything they didn’t already know. Leave mocking geeks to other geeks. We’ve evolved far less subtle and infinitely more powerful mechanisms for inoculating ourselves against the slings and arrows of regular folk. (c.f. Something Awful ) (Although I’m going to have to back Alana Semuels on the stink thing: Geeks—and in my experience this applies trebly to those of the core gamer variant—can occasionally smell like a sarlacc’s vagina. Take a shower every single day . I don’t care to hear your excuses about sensitive skin or brittle hair. Wash yourself with soap every day, perhaps even twice if necessary, and wear clean clothes. You’re not just embarrassing yourself—you’re embarrassing the rest of us.) [via The Awl (which is read by dicks, judging by the comments. Mean ol' dicks!)]

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It’s 2009 and the L.A. Times is still treating geeks as mysterious others

Filed under: Gadgets , Etc. , Tech , Audi , Lifestyle Audi is obviously looking forward to being in the coming Gran Turismo 5. After all, the Quattro company has created a website to promote its car on the N?rburgring in real life and in the game, and it interviewed GT5 mastermind Kazunori Yamauchi about what fans can expect. Yamauchi-san revealed that the game is going to offer not only more vehicles, more online features, and increased detail, but it will also include night racing, damage rendering (previously confirmed), and weather changes. If you watch the Audi R8 Meets Gran Turismo 5 video, one of the game developers even talks of one day providing weather reports for an entire 24-hour race, and you can read the interview with Yamauchi-san by clicking on a PDF link here . The graphical and gameplay additions are surely welcome and long overdue, and could return GT5 to the head of the racing sim pack - whenever it finally gets here… View Poll [Source: GT Planet ] REPORT: GT5 to get weather changes, night racing - and yes, damage rendering [w/POLL] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 13 May 2009 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read ?|? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Comments

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REPORT: GT5 to get weather changes, night racing - and yes, damage rendering [w/POLL]